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

Chapter Six: A Round Piece of an Anemone . . .

     "I'm back!" I said. My brother looked up and smiled. He was better!
     "Good." He said. His voice was stronger, slightly, but it was hard to notice. "You erased father's memory of the animus magic before he made it to the Palace?"
     "Yep! What's next?" I asked.
     "This is going to be hard to explain. There's a lot to do to get the cure. First, you have to collect a piece of an anemone. Make sure it's shaped like a bowl. Not so hard, right? If all else fails, you have animus magic. Two, you have to find an Electric Eel and put it in the anemone. You with me so far?"
     "Yes, but one question."
     "Yeah?"
     "How do you know all this?!"
     "I was there, actually when the animus cast the spell. I was spying on her."
     "Good to know." I mumbled. Humpback nodded.
     "Okay, step number three. You have to go to where the dragon who cast the spell lived, and collect any sort of treasure that is in there. Any sort of gem."
     I nodded, my heart thumping. That part might be difficult. "Do you know where she lives?" I asked.
      Humpback nodded, drawing a map in the sand. "Can you memorize this?" He asked. I nodded, and he continued. "Just follow along the Kingdom of Sea, and you'll eventually reach the Mud Kingdom. Careful to avoid the MudWings, though. They can tell if you're royal, and they'd sure LOVE to get their talons on a royal SeaWing. The heir to the throne, no less. From where the Mud Kingdom meets the Kingdom of the Sea, you have to go . . . left. There's a scavenger den there, and a small hut next to it. That's where the animus lived."
     My brother's words swirled in my mind until I memorized it. My brother continued.
     "Lastly, step four to the cure, you have to . . . you have to collect a scale from the dragon that found it out. Best time to do this is at night, while father's sleeping. Just . . . be careful, and if he wakes up, pretend to be asleep. Hide the scale under your wing."
     I swallowed. I had to take a scale off of my father! THAT was probably going to be the hardest part. "I'll go get the anemone now," I said. "You stay here! But, if anyone comes here to find you, just say you're playing."
     "Mother said we have an hour."
     "Right. And that hour's up, isn't it?"
     "Yeah . . . "
     "So I'll go anemone hunting with father. And while I'm at it, I can - "
     "No!" Humpback yelled. I stopped short. "You can't get the scale when you get the anemone. You can only do one ingredient at a time! And you have to do it in the order I listed. If not, it could cost me my life."
      "Oh . . . okay. I won't get father's scale, I promise. But can he help me look for the anemone?" I asked. Humpback thought for a moment.
     "I think you can, as long as he doesn't know the reason. I think you're okay."
     "Okay. I'll go get father. And . . . I'll tell him it's a science thing!"
     "Okay. That's good. See you later. I'll go back to the Palace. Come back when you can."
     "Which Palace?"
     "The Summer Palace. That's where mother is."
     "Okay, see you soon!"
      Humpback dove into the water, his tail kicking as hard as it could toward the Summer Palace. I dove into the water and swam to where I last saw my father, the sapphire still clutched to my chest.
      As I neared the silhouette of a dragon, I tossed aside the gemstone and it floated down to the ocean floor.
     Father? Are you okay? What happened to you? Father! I flashed, pretending to not know what happened. Gill opened his eyes and smiled.
     I don't remember. But how do you know Aquatic? Don't tell me Whirlpool already taught you!
     He didn't I just . . . Humpback taught me, yes yes. Humpback. You know, the gray SeaWing with the royal patterns and the blue underbelly and green wings? Him. My brother.
     I remember him. My father flashed. What do you want to do? You have that 'Let's go do something' look.
     I want to go find an anemone that looks like a bowl. I said cautiously. My father looked surprised.
     Why?
     Uh . . . because I . . . want to have an experiment? I flashed slowly, indicating that I would be speaking slowly if I was above water. Which was not the smartest thing to do, because it caused my father to have a suspicious look, but he must have realized that a dragonet my age couldn't really do any harm (which was unfortunately true, by the way). He nodded and beckoned for me to follow him to a coral reef where there were so many anemones . . . too many to count.
     This is where we'll look. I'll flash really bright if I find something. My father flashed. I nodded. You do know we're splitting up . . . right?
     Yeah! Of course I do! Okay, let's . . . start . . . NOW!
      Gill started tearing through the reef, while I searched quietly. Patiently. Soon, my father came over to where I was searching, but as he was about to move on to another spot . . .
      Aha! I found one! I flashed excitedly and teasingly. Gill stared in awe, quickly recovering and ducking behind a piece of coral.
      So . . . pick it up. He said.
      I have to make sure there isn't poison in it before I touch it! I flashed back. Gill smiled, no doubt congratulating himself on how smart I was.
     After checking for poison, I thanked my father and picked up the anemone. Nothing happened, but just in case, I went to the surface and whispered a spell. "Enchant this sea anemone to get rid of any poison it had and if it injected any in me, it will remove it." Nothing really happened after that, but I enchanted it just in case. I took it back to the Summer Palace where my brother was waiting for me, ready to take the anemone and send me off for the Electric Eel.
     That's going to be slightly hard to manage. But, despite everything, I smiled, knowing that I would be able to help my brother, even if it was in vain.