Chapter 7

7 Aisha turned to face the bears. She wasn't quite sure what she was going to say to them, but she knew it had to be good. She opened her mouth to speak, but her paws slipped in different directions. She fell—splat—on the ice. As she tried to stand up, she slipped again, landing on her tail. Aisha

wasn't much good at skating as a human girl, but as a dragon she found it virtually impossible! A strange growly noise filled the air. Aisha looked at the bears. "Are you laughing at me?" she asked, laughing herself as she tried to stand up straight. "Sorry," said a bear with a glittery silver scarf and matching tutu. "But you are a really bad

skater!" "I know." Aisha sighed. "How about you show me how it's done? I really need some tips." The bears put their heads together and spoke in quiet, deep voices. Then the silver-scarfed bear looked back at Aisha. "We will do a short routine for you, but only if your dragon friends join in." "We'd LOVE to!" said Mei. "Let's go over there," suggested Quinn. "The ice is smoother." She winked at Aisha as she and Mei led the bears away from the mirror shard. As the bears began to skate, the wind jangled the icicles dangling from the trees. They made a tinkling, bell-like sound. Beams of soft light fell in shafts across the icy lake, gleaming like spotlights. Faster and faster the bears skated, twirling and leaping with strength and grace. Their tutus fluttered. Mei and Quinn tried to follow along, and soon the bears held on to their paws to include them in the routine. Aisha felt a little pang as they

all whooshed over the smooth ice in complicated patterns. She wished she were part of the dance! But I have a job to do, she reminded herself. We can come back another time, and I'll learn how to skate then. Aisha slid carefully over to the mirror shard, which was jutting out of the ice. It was snowing again, and the mirror was half-covered in fresh snow. "I'll help you dig it out," said PlushyPup. He began digging at the snow furiously with his front paws. Snow sprayed in all directions. Aisha dug, too. But it seemed that no matter how hard they dug, they could not get through the pile of snow. It felt like they weren't getting anywhere! And then Aisha heard a noise. Looking up, she saw a bright blue puppy with big blue eyes, fluttering in the sky above her. "PlushyPup?" Aisha called, confused. But PlushyPup was still next to her! And now that she looked closely, Aisha saw the puppy

above her was even smaller than PlushyPup. "It's TrustyPup, my little sister!" barked PlushyPup in delight. "What are you doing here?" "I've come to help you, of course," said the tiny puppy, landing in the snow.

Aisha wasn't sure how much help this teensy creature would be. But the moment TrustyPup started digging, snow went flying everywhere. TrustyPup was small, but she was an excellent digger. With her there, PlushyPup seemed to dig even faster, too. Soon, the shard of mirror began to budge. Aisha's heart thumped with excitement. "Keep digging!" she called to the hardworking puppies. "I am going to try and pull the mirror out of the ice." Being careful not to look into it, Aisha gripped the mirror's frame with her claws. She tugged and tugged… but the mirror was stuck. The sky darkened, as if a big storm cloud had formed overhead. But Aisha knew it wasn't really a storm cloud. Looking up, she saw masses of Shadow Sprites swirling above. One sprite pulled itself from the pack and lunged down at her. As it wrapped around her wing, Aisha felt a coldness spread through her.