DRAGON IN THE SHADOWS - 1st book in the cat analysis trilogy

Chapter 10: The Room of Shadows

     The next day was not as cold, but still cold enough for Peter to travel as dragon only, for the scales covering his body stayed the cold in horrific temperatures.
     That morning he flew over Frostvale and viewed the small town with distaste. He wanted to live somewhere he could do what he liked without anyone around to tell him off or stop him from doing anything dangerous.
     Just a few weeks before all the excitement had started, he was suspended from the lab for two days for going ahead with a canceled plan.
     It was all he could do to stop flying away from Frostvale and building a new house far away in a remote place.
     But now he had to stay behind to look after the newborn dragon.
     Besides, it can't even hunt or fly yet. He thought negatively.
     He flew back to the house and tried to contact Midnight but found he could not. It was strange, for he had never encountered this sort of problem before.
     He tried again and could pick up on his location, but could not yet contact him. He flew back home and told Lucinda of this issue.
     She was slightly worried, but after all that she had experienced with Midnight, decided that he would be alright.
     Peter went out again and decided to see if he could track Midnight down. He flew around the town and could sense Midnight and was alarmed to realize that he was underground.
     Peter pinpointed the location and dove down in a spin.
     He landed and noticed a gaping crack in the wall. He took another look at it and realized that it was not a crack, but a tunnel.
     Peter crept silently in and almost immediately felt a severe temperature change. The tunnel continued on, taking swift turns every now and then.
     After about 5 minutes of walking, he saw a black door with a red, crossed out dragon embedded in it. As soon as he had seen it, he left to get Lucinda.
     When he arrived home, she was sitting on her chair with the television on in front of her. He transformed and walked inside. Without turning, she had somehow noticed him and held out her hand calmly. The television flickered and turned off.
     "How did you do that?"
     "I've been practicing while you were gone."
     "Oh. Right. I've found something weird, but interesting. There is a massive tunnel on the other side of town. I explored it, and found that at the end was a door, with the same symbol as the one on The Shadow X's note."
     "So, we may have found his lair?"
     Peter glared at her hard.
     "I found it, but yes. Have you tried to find Midnight with magic?"
     "Yes, but to no avail. I fear witchcraft is included in his disappearance."
     "How do you know so much, let alone classify it?"
     "Your books have a heap of wonderful information that sufficed."
     "Oh. Come on then, I'll take you to the door."
     He went outside, transformed again, and let Lucinda hop on his back.
     He flew out to the crack, transformed and quietly guided Lucinda inside. When they reached the end, Lucinda agreed that The Shadow X would have had something to do with it.
     She went up to the door and quietly knocked a few times.
     When no answer came, they started to leave when a voice from inside boomed:
     "Leaving so soon?"
     Peter whipped around. The door was open and inside was a man in black robes, with a hood covering most of his face and holding a long black staff in his right hand. Behind him was a group of black figures.
     "I hope you like my collection, it took me a while to enclose them all in shadows."
     "Who are you and what are those... things?"
     "Oh, me? I'm sure you know me, and these," he gesgured towards the figures, "are my shadow men... and cat." He spoke the last words so quietly that Peter could barely hear them.
     Peter and Lucinda walked into the room and looked at the shadow men closely. He noticed that each one was a normal human, but they were encased in a dark shadow.
     On he went, through the room, looking at each one He came to the end and there, in the corner, sat Midnight, encased in shadow from head to toe.
     "Why did you do this?!" Peter exclaimed.
     "To attract you of course." He flung out his hand and the door the doors around him swung shut. "I knew that if I caught you, dragon, then I can stop dragons from returning! This won't hurt a bit, in case your wonering, it will slowly immobilize you, until you are completely mine to control!"
     He raised his staff and a blast of black energy shot towards Peter. He easily dodged it, but The Shadow X continued to shoot rapidly, each one missing him by an inch.
     "Lucinda!" He called frantically.
     "I know, I know." She said.
     Another blast shot past his face. He continued to dodge the blasts, but it was tiring and he was slowing down quickly.
     Just as he thought he could go no more, a blast struck him in the centre of his chest. He felt a strange sensation as a tingling feeling slowly made it's way down his legs. He tried to move and found his legs were already immobilized. Peter looked down and found his legs wrapped in a black shadow that concealed any type of movement.
      "LUCINDA!" He called at the top of his lungs as the shadow covered his arms. It was creeping up to his face and Peter thought he was done for when the shadow dissolved and Lucinda was up next to him.
     "Thank goodness!" He exclaimed, gasping.
     "Yes, it's lucky magic works on the shadow as long as it is uncompleted on it's victim."
     "Quick, let's get out of here!"
     "I agree." She held out her hand and the door started to open, but closed again.
     "Do not start to even think that you will escape today!"
     "Oh, I think we will", said Lucinda holding out her hand again. The Shadow X was blasted back and the door flung open.
     Peter transformed and, once Lucinda was on his back, raced out of the crack at top speed, and quickly flew back home to formulate a plan.

     The first thing they did when they arrived was check on the dragon. It had nearly doubled it's size since Peter had seen him last. He flew up and the dragon followed. It can fly! Peter thought happily. He flew around the little animal and played with it for a while. After he was tired out he went inside to find Lucinda. She was in the study, looking at all the things a dragon can do.
     "Let me guess, you were playing with the dragon."
     "Yes, and what are you doing?"
     "Looking for information on dragons and their abilities."
     "Cool," he said, "Found anything?"
     "Yes, I discovered that dragons have a high resistance to magic, can teleport occasionally, can sometimes travel in time and can blow two types of fire, both able to form a column reaching up to 25 metres in length. They can also blow a wide flame, reaching up to 8 metres wide either way and 10 metres in length."
     "Ok. This is getting exciting, but we still need sleep. I say that we get to bed early so we can go after The Shadow X tomorrow."
     "I agree. Goodnight, Peter."
     "Goodnight." Peter said before entering his room for the night.