Chapter 8

8 Flutterdash landed on Quinn's shoulder. "Someone needs to play the Heartstring Violin before it's returned to the vault," she tweeted softly. "We must get the forest back in tune." "You play it, Quinn," said Aisha. Mei nodded. "It has to be you."

"I'm a trumpet player," protested Quinn. "I don't know the first thing about playing the violin!" "But you're musical," Aisha pointed out. "You've got a better chance of figuring it out than we do." Quinn knew Aisha was right. And weirdly, she had the feeling the violin wanted her to play it. She picked it up. The wood felt warm. She reached for the bow and drew it across one of the strings. A single, perfect note floated from the violin and hung in the air. Rather than getting fainter as the seconds passed, the note grew stronger and louder.

Quinn heard a faint rustling noise all around her. "Finally, I can hear the wind," she called to her friends. Flutterdash rose into the air. "You must get the violin back to the vault as quickly as possible," she urged. "The Shadow Queen will not be happy. She might try to stop you. Hurry!" As Flutterdash spoke, the sky darkened as if a storm was approaching. Quinn quickly tucked the

violin and bow into her bag. "Shadow Sprites!" yelled Mei. "And they look angry," muttered Aisha. Quinn looked up to see a mass of furious Shadow Sprites streaking toward them. The staticky noise was even louder now. The sound rattled through Quinn's head, making it hard to think. "Let's roar them away!" Aisha said. "Should we?" Quinn asked. Her head felt like it was full of cotton balls. She couldn't think clearly. The Shadow Sprites began to dart toward the birds. "They're trying to steal the birdsong." Mei groaned. "We have to do something!" Mei and Aisha began to roar, and Quinn joined in. Soon the air filled with swirls of ruby red, sapphire blue, and jade green. The sight was glorious, right up until something terrible happened! A pack of Shadow Sprites grabbed the

swirls and sucked them up like long strands of spaghetti. "Stop roaring!" yelled Quinn to her friends. But it was too late. Quinn watched as the Shadow Sprites pulled the roars directly from their mouths, like plants pulled up by the roots. Furious, Quinn charged at the sprites with her head down, sending them flying in all directions. "Mei? Aisha? Are you okay?" she cried, but only the tiniest whisper came out. Her friends opened their mouths to speak, but they couldn't, either! The Shadow Sprites had not only stolen their roars, they'd stolen their voices! Quinn's anger bubbled up inside her. "Feeling angry, are you?" sneered a sinister voice. "You Dragon Girls thought that if you worked as a team, you could do anything. How wrong you were! You are no stronger together than you are alone." Quinn whirled around. There, in the middle of the mass of Shadow Sprites, hovered a tall, thin

woman in a billowing gray dress. Her long hair was gray, too. It was impossible to tell if she was old or young, but she was definitely mean. Her eyes gleamed nastily. Quinn knew right away who this was: the Shadow Queen. The urge to roar was very strong, but Quinn knew it would not help.