The Dragon's Gift

Part 8

The next day was the day I had been waiting for. My mom was finally going to tell me how she learned all she knows about dragons and Nogards and Gards. I don't know why she didn't want to tell me the day before. After breakfast, Mom lead me to the living room and sat me on the couch.
"Okay, Tam," Mom said. "This is the moment that you've been waiting for, I guess. So, once when I was ten years old, before I knew about Nogards and stuff, my mom took me to a museum in Ireland."
"Hey, I think you mentioned something about that museum a little while ago," I said.
"Yes, I think I might've. Do you remember what I said?"
I thought about that. She had told Amber and I about that trip just a few weeks before. I'm pretty sure that Amber was doing some sort of project on Irish history.
"I think you told us that you saw this really cool dragon statue in the museum. Well, that's all you said about dragons. But you did talk to Amber about Irish history. That's all I remember."
"Hmm," Mom said. "Okay. Anyway, we first went to an Egyptian exhibit. My mom was reading a plaque that was on a sarcophagus and I was waiting for her to finish. I walked around the sarcophagus and there was a man looking a different plaque on the other side of the sarcophagus. I went around the man and he didn't move a muscle. I walked around the sarcophagus, which wasn't very exciting. I went back to my mom, but she was still deep in thought about the sarcophagus. I looked back at the man, but he was gone. I looked around the room and didn't see him anywhere. Confused, I tugged on my mom's arm and asked her if we could leave. So, we left the Egyptian section and went up a few levels. We passed by a room that was called 'Modern Mythology'. I asked my mom if we could go in there. She said yes, so we entered."
"Is that where you saw the cool dragon statue?" I asked.
Mom nodded. "Anyway, first we passed by a room about mermaids, which I wasn't really interested in. Then, we passed a fairy room. I wasn't interested in that room, either. Lastly, we passed a dragon room. Now, that I was interested in. We walked in and there was a HUGE statue of a Red Wyvern, which is one of the most popular dragons. I approached it and read the plaque. It said that there Wyverns are the most friendly types of dragons. They aren't the biggest, but they are mighty and powerful. They can breathe fire and invisible gasses that smell really bad."
"Can't all dragons breathe fire?" I asked.
"Not all, but most," Mom answered. "Anyway, there was another dragon section that I wanted to go see. My mom was reading about the Jersey Devils, which I told you about yesterday. I went over to her. There was a fake Jersey Devil in a glass case. It was red and very small. I didn't bother reading about those things. They aren't very interesting, just very annoying. Anyway, I told her that I was going to go in the other section. She approved and I went other there. There was no one in that room. Only me. I walked in and there was a statue of a big white, purple and and blue ball. The plaque said that it was called 'The Dragon's Pearl'. It didn't say very much about the Pearl, but it did say that it supposedly contains fragments of the moon and wisdom of the sun, moon and stars. It also said that only the oldest and wisest dragons posses one of these magnificent Pearls. And Tam, I'll talk to you about the Pearl later. Anyway, I looked around the room and there were little glass cases with other dragons in them. One dragon I mentioned in our training so far, Tam. The Ljubljana dragon. The one that..."
Her voice trailed off.
"It's okay, Mom. I know. Just keep telling the story." Mom nodded.
"Okay," she said, her voice shaky. "So, I looked around the room again and spotted a man by the Ljubljana case. It was the same man who was in the Egyptian section. I gulped and backed out of the room. As I turned my back, I heard someone call my name. I turned and saw the man right in front of me. I asked him how he knew my name. Then he said that he knows all the names of the Nogards. I was confused about what he was saying. He told me that I should train for what was coming. He handed me a card with his name and number. I asked him what he meant and I told him to back off. He just said call him whenever I was ready."
"That sounds creepy," I said. "Was it?"
"Yeah," Mom said. "I tried to tell my mom about it, but by the time I got her and brought her to the room with the Pearl, he was gone. I asked her to call the police, but she said that I was just making it all up so we could leave. I tried explaining to her that I wasn't joking, but she still didn't believe me."
"I didn't know that Grandma was that mean," I said.
"Well, I wouldn't say that she's mean, she just doesn't like putting up with kids who tell stories, I guess. Anyway, we went back to our hotel and Grandma and I started packing to go home. I found the card the man had given me in my pocket and threw it out. The next day, as we sat down on the plane to go back home, I put my hands in coat pocket and felt a piece of paper. I took it out and it was the man's info card. I ripped it in half and threw it on the ground. When we got home, I found the card AGAIN. I found it in the bottom of my suitcase. This time, I ripped it up into the tiniest pieces and flushed the pieces down the toilet. I went back into my room to finish unpacking, and there was the card on my bed.
"How did it keep reappearing?" I asked.
"Just some sort of magic Justin put on the card." Mom said.
"Who's Justin?" I asked.
"My trainer. He's the one who gave me the card. Anyway, since the card kept appearing, I gave up and called him. Justin picked up and told me that he would pick me up at my house the next day. He hung up before I could object. I told my parents about Justin and how he said he was going to pick me up the next day. But guess what? They still didn't believe me. So, I called him again, but he didn't pick up. I wondered if that was all a prank and that he wouldn't be picking me up. So, the next day, in the morning, I went outside and looked for Justin, who by the way was a very handsome seventeen year old. But I was ten so I couldn't get involved in his love life. Anyway, I didn't see anyone. And he didn't mention what time he would be picking me up at. I gave up and headed for the door. Right before I opened the door, I heard a loud roar, which scared me so much, I almost wet my pants. I turned and saw the trees swaying as if there was a strong wind. I looked up and almost fainted. There was Justin, but he was riding a dragon. A huge Black Wyvern. Justin and the dragon came down and landed. He jumped off the dragon and ran towards me. He asked me if I was ready to go. But, I didn't say a word. He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the dragon. He told me I had nothing to worry about. That this dragon was a very tame and friendly dragon. I finally gave in and got on the dragon."
Suddenly, the phone rang. Mom stopped telling me the story.
"We'll finish this later," Mom said.
I nodded.