11 Petra's Good-bye

CHAPTER 11 PETRA'S GOOD-BYE Drake ran to Worm's cave. "Where's Petra? Where's the hydra?" Drake asked Worm. Drake waited for Worm to answer. But there was only a fuzzy sound in his mind. Drake looked at his Dragon Stone. The light was flickering on and off.

That's strange, thought Drake. "Worm?" he asked. Worm's body started to glow, and Drake knew what that meant. He touched Worm's head. A green light flashed. A second later, they landed in the Valley of Clouds. The valley was hidden behind the castle, tucked between mountains.

Petra was halfway across the valley. She was trying to climb up on the hydra's back. Drake thought the dragon looked worried. "Petra! What are you doing?" Drake called to her. "I'm going home," she replied. "The hydra can fly me there. Queen Rose is right. The Dragon Stone chose the wrong master. But maybe someone else in my family can connect with the hydra and help the king."

"But you're the hydra's Dragon Master!" Drake said, running over to her. "Sorry, Drake," Petra said. "I will send the hydra back with her real Dragon Master as soon as I can. Good-bye!" She started to climb up onto the hydra.

Drake ran over and grabbed her arm. "Petra, no!" Drake cried. "You don't have a saddle! You don't even know how to ride a dragon! You could get hurt!" Griffith and the other Dragon Masters ran into the valley.

"Petra, stop!" Griffith called out. "Drake! We saw you run out, and we knew something was wrong!" Ana cried. Drake turned toward the others— and lost his grip on Petra's arm. She slipped off the hydra's back and tried to break her fall by grabbing the hydra's tail. "Aaaaaieeeee!" the hydra cried out.