Dragons Rising: My Mistake Changed My Kingdom {Book One}

Chapter Four: Animus Magic?

    Okay, so for this chapter, I made up a name for Orca's brother.

     Once again I slipped out of the bedroom, making my way to the island I visited not a week ago. I followed a different current, aware of the dragon on my tail. My older brother.
     I whirled around, baring my tiny teeth at him. He laughed. He didn't believe I could hurt him.
Well, brother. That can be fixed with a simple action, can't it? I started swimming toward him, claws outstretched. Humpback was still laughing. As I got closer, he stopped. Stared at me.
     Then he swam away in a flurry of bubbles.
     He might be going to tell mother or father. I have to cover my tracks. Now, it turned out I was a pretty smart dragonet. I swam in circles and circles. I even went to another island. And then finally, I rubbed against coral so that I might get the scent on me and would not leave behind the scent of an eight day old SeaWing dragonet.
     When I made it to the island, an idea popped into my mind. A few times, I had snuck out, doing the same things I had on the first time I came here to get the tingling out of my claws. But this time was different. I could do all those things at once, not wait in between before doing them!
     Just then, my brother emerged from the water.
     "What are you doing here, little Orca?" He asked gently.
     "That's none of your business." I snapped. Humpback did a double-take.
     "You-you're talking!" He cried.
     "Oh, nice of you to finally notice. I've been having polite conversations with mother for a week!"
     "You were just born," He protested. "Most dragonets don't begin to talk until they're at least a year old!"
     "Maybe I'm different." I replied. "Now leave."
     "Have you ever heard of animus magic?" Humpback blurted. I raised an eyebrow. Humpback laughed. "Of course you haven't. Here, let me explain."
     He explained all about animus magic, right down to the fact that there was an annoying sign that you had. Apparently he couldn't remember what it was. He read it in a scroll.
     My eyes widened as he finished. I turned back to the palm trees.
     "Brother, watch this." I whispered, my eyes still wide. I picked up a pile of sand and spoke to it. "Enchant this pile of sand to build a sand castle instantly any time I want it to."
     In front of me, a sand castle appeared. Humpback gasped. He yelped with joy.
     "You have animus magic! I have animus magic!" He said.
     "So if you have animus magic, how did you forget what the annoying thing was?" I asked. Humpback sat and waited patiently for me to figure it out myself. Apparently he thought I was smart enough. And he was right. I worked it out in my head. Humpback is an animus dragon, and no one knows. He wanted to keep it secret, and since he didn't know that I was an animus dragon, he said that he forgot what it was and that he read all that information in a scroll. He didn't forget . . . he wanted to cover his tracks!
     I stared at my brother, who stared nervously back. "You're an animus dragon . . . promise to keep my secret if I keep yours?" Humpback said. I nodded, and we spent until morning playing until mother came up and scolded me about scaring her half to death. Then she stopped when she realized I was playing with Humpback and mumbled about how we were never really close. Then she told us we had another hour outside before we had to go home.
     "So, why do we have to keep our magic secret?" I asked when I looked around to make sure no one was listening. Humpback looked around as well before he spoke.
     "We have to keep it a secret because there is a war going on, and they'll use you. They'll - they'll use your magic to a point where you go insane. Insane to the tips of insane. We can't let them use it."
     "I'll do anything to protect my secret." I said. "Up until the moment I die." I replied.
     But if I had noticed the green scales of the King of SeaWings swim away, things might have been different.