Chace Ogden and the Cobalt Dragon Page 10

  “How do we get ready?” Taz asked, shaking with worry, beads of sweat dripping down his magic-tech lenses as he patted Blue on the muzzle.

  “The only way you can get ready,” Tiberius said with a grin. “We have to train.”

  I let out a groan, “I’ve barely had time to recover from the last time.”

  “Not you. I mean Taz and Maps,” he said. “You two should stay and help Twee Twyla locate Seth and do some preparation of your own while we’re gone. There comes a point where even a sponge can’t soak up any more moisture, and it becomes useless. Fine-tune what you know instead of trying to learn new skills. We'll be back soon.”

  “Wait, do you mean we’re going today?” Taz said, “I have class tomorrow, my mom would kill me if I skipped it.”

  Tiberius rolled his eyes, “We’ll figure that out later. In the meantime, you should head home and get ready to depart. I’ll be by to pick the two of you up at midnight.”

  Taz opened his mouth to protest, but Tiberius was already gone, poofing away in a dramatic yet totally unnecessary, puff of smoke.

  “Are you ready to go home, Maps?” I asked.

  “Sure,” she said. “I need to mull this all over and get ready for our trip.” She nudged Taz in the side and shot him a wink. “Ready to do some training, buddy?”

  “Y-yeah, I guess so,” he said, pushing his shoulders up and turning beet red. “But what are we going to do with Baby Blue?”

  “I dunno, she’s your Dragon,” I said with a shrug before teleporting him and Baby Blue to the forest behind his house. “Just keep her from knocking stuff over and making a lot of noise, and she’ll be fine in the house. It’s not like your mom or anyone else here can see her.”

  Taz nodded, clearly too in love with his new pet to argue. The pair of them scurried up toward his house as I dropped Maps off in her basement.

  “You’re becoming a little too much like Tiberius just disappearing into thin air,” Raven said with a scowl as I reappeared in Twee Twyla’s living room. “We should head home for now as well. Then, once we get some sleep, we can meet here tomorrow morning. Keep your phone on you at all times in case Twee Twyla needs us.”

  “Okay, see you tomorrow,” I said, feeling terrified as well as exhilarated by everything that lay ahead of us. Did we really have the power to help unite the Realms? The thought was almost overwhelming. It would change...well, everything.

  "See you later," Twee Twyla said, already moving to sit in her computer chair. "I'll have some information dug up by the time you're back."

  I made quick working of transporting Raven to her front door and was about to leave as she stepped inside, but paused, calling after her.

  “Raven!”

  She turned to face me with a curious expression.

  “Yeah?”

  “Listen...Did you want to come to my house and maybe talk to Pop for a while? You know... about your dad? He probably has some great stories to share.”

  “I’d like that,” she said with a sad smile, “but it’s still all too fresh right now. I just need some more time. I’ll let you know when I’m ready, okay?”

  I nodded solemnly, poofing away without another word. It had been an emotional roller coaster these past months, and a new set of feelings washed over me as I landed on my front steps.

  Home sweet home.

  Tears welled up in my eyes as I stepped into my own house for the first time in what’d felt like an eternity.

  “I’m here!” I yelled, shuffling over to hug my mom, who was cooking some delicious smelling chicken nuggets on the stove.

  “You sure are. Do you feel okay, honey?" my mom said, worry in her voice.

  “I’m fine, it’s just good to see you,” I replied. I couldn't imagine ever getting used to this. I'd lived all of three months without seeing any of my family, and it'd been just a day to them.

  “What a weirdo,” Max said, walking past the kitchen and into the living room, eyes glued to the Gameboy in his hand.

  “Welcome home,” Pop said from behind me, trying to hide the emotion in his voice. “Why don’t you come into the living room and let your mom cook while you tell me all about your day?”

  I grinned at him and blinked back the tears.

  We still had a lot of work to do. Our courage would be tested, our powers pushed to the limit, and in the end, we might not prevail. But this time, we’d done it. The Myth Squad had saved the day.

  This time.

  The fourth MYTH Squad book is available for pre-order.

  You can find it on Amazon.

  Buy it now.

  Special thanks to my friend Ricky Gunawan.

  He designed and created the cover for Chace Ogden and the Cobalt Dragon.

  About the Author

  Once upon a time...

  Trevor's mom got a call from his third grade teacher.

  Trevor had never arrived at school. His mom grew worried. She searched high and low for him. He was nowhere to be found.

  Until she opened the door to a small sewing room...

  Trevor was sitting on a pile of blankets, reading his favorite book. His mother scolded him and sent him to school. He was not deterred and continued reading his book as he walked to school.

  To this day...

  Trevor is most often found in a comfortable niche, reading his next favorite book.

  But sometimes...

  He can also be found writing.

  Influences include: Dave Wolverton, L.E. Modesitt, Michael Moorcock, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, George Orwell, Jim Butcher, Terry Pratchett, and Anne McCaffrey.

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