Excerpt

Deanna smirked at the incongruity of someone claiming magical creatures weren’t real when the Great Dividing had shown everyone that magic was more real and more widespread than anyone had ever believed. She reached up and petted the creature sitting on her shoulder. Her hands smoothed over scales warm to the touch, and the gentle caress of a leathery tail against the back of her neck reassured her. She, just like her grandmother before her, lived here and protected the dragons. If the strangers on Radio Arcanum didn’t believe in unicorns or pegasus, they sure wouldn’t believe in dragons, and it was her job to make sure no one found out about them.

She reached for the power button to turn off the radio. Listening to men scoff about things they didn’t understand wasn’t a good use of her time and she wanted to hike out and check the nesting grounds before the first real round of spring storms moved in.

“…some say dragons exist too. That they’ve seen them in the desert. You read that article in the Times, didn’t you?” the first man said.

“What article? There’s been a lot of crazy stuff there lately,” the second man replied.

Her hand halted in mid-air, caught by the mention of dragons. She struggled to remember if she’d read anything about dragons but couldn’t recall anything. The weekly news tried to bring the various magical factions together, and as someone who couldn’t care less about the Musimagium, she skimmed a lot. Stuffy lot of old blowhards, as far as she was concerned, and she hadn’t seen or experienced anything to the contrary.

“A couple of weeks ago. Some Musimagium guy was on an expedition to Brazil and thought he saw little dragons in the rainforest. I think he ate some mushrooms or something. Maybe mistook a python or lizard for something it wasn’t,” the first guy replied. “Look, as far as I’m concerned, it’s just one more way for the Musimagium to think they’re better than us. If they have magical creatures, then they can act as if they’re more powerful or something.”

Deciding she’d heard enough as the man went on a tirade about the Musimagium, Deanna switched off the radio. “Anacondas, you moron. The big snakes in the rainforest are anacondas or boa constrictors.” She sighed and leaned back in the chair. Her dragon nuzzled her neck, and though she lacked direct mind-to-mind communication with the youngster, she sensed his need to reassure her. She scratched the back of his neck. “I’m okay. Just afraid that someone will discover you, and I don’t know what will happen then. Guess I’m going to have to find this article and hunt down this member of the Musimagium.” She frowned, not really wanting to deal with anyone belonging to that magical society.

She had no choice. The discovery of unicorns and pegasi changed everything, as if the Great Dividing hadn’t done enough.

Like the book? Use one of these links to purchase it either direct from my bookstore or at your favorite retailer.