Directly on the other side of the translucent red surface was a solid limestone wall.
‘You’re right,’ Billy said. ‘We’ll have to walk round the edge until we find an opening.’
‘Wait, look here!’ said Ling-Fei, darting to the left and crouching low. ‘There’s a small gap in the wall that we could crawl through.’
‘And we should have enough of those needles to knock out a dragon if we need to,’ said Charlotte.
‘This feels like a deeply flawed plan,’ said Dylan dubiously. ‘We’re just going to sneak around and try to get more information? With nothing to defend ourselves against the nox-wings except needles?’
‘It’s the only plan we’ve got,’ said Billy. ‘Look, at least we’ve got the element of surprise this time. If Spark hadn’t sacrificed herself to save us we’d already be in there as prisoners, and what help would we have been then? Come on, I’ll go first.’
Billy got down on his belly and army-crawled through the hole in the wall. The others followed. The air had a different quality inside the red dome. It was crackling as if it had a static charge.
The tunnel was longer than Billy expected. His whole body was now snuggled into the crevice, and he couldn’t see out the other side. He held his breath, trying to work out if he could hear anything. Nothing. But he knew Spark was close. For the first time since they’d been separated, the bond felt stronger than a mere flicker.
After a few more minutes of wiggling through the tunnel, Billy saw a dim glow ahead. ‘We’re almost there,’ he whispered over his shoulder. The closer he got to the inside of the dome, the more he felt the bond with Spark. But his joy at sensing his dragon quickly turned to fear. She was in pain. Billy wasn’t sure if she was close enough to hear his thoughts, but he tried anyway. We’re coming, Spark. Just hold on.
There was no response. Billy gritted his teeth and continued wriggling with new determination.
When he reached the end of the tunnel, he paused and listened again. Still nothing. He slowly emerged into the back of an enormous cavern. Charlotte, Ling-Fei and Dylan came out behind him. There was a large pile of gold in front of them.
Billy held a finger to his lips, and silently started to walk towards the cavern entrance.
Suddenly, something rumbled up ahead and a huge shape appeared from behind the pile of gold. It was an enormous maroon-coloured dragon.
The four friends froze.
‘Oh, no,’ moaned Dylan.
‘Maybe it can’t see us,’ whispered Charlotte.
The dragon whipped its head round and stared straight at them.
‘Get the spikes out! Now!’ said Billy, hoping his idea would work. If it didn’t, they were dead.
Dylan fumbled with his backpack as smoke started to come out of the dragon’s nostrils.
‘You!’ it roared, fire shooting out of its nostrils. ‘How did you get in here?’ It flashed its teeth. ‘What a treat this is. I will feast on your small bones and my fellow nox-wings will be pleased with me for getting rid of you bothersome children.’
Billy knew they only had one chance. ‘Now, Dylan!’
Dylan quickly handed a fistful of poisonous spines to Billy, careful not to prick either of their hands. Charlotte and Ling-Fei grabbed some too.
‘Throw!’ said Billy.
A shower of poisonous needles fell on the maroon dragon and bounced off its scales.
‘What is this?’ said the dragon, amused. It picked up one of the needles and let out a laugh. ‘Silly humans! This mere plant cannot pierce my armour.’
Billy’s heart sank into his stomach.
‘Don’t eat us!’ yelled Dylan, making eye contact with the dragon.
‘And why would I not eat four delicious humans?’
‘Oh, well, we are highly poisonous beings. Didn’t you know?’
The dragon blinked at Dylan a few times, clearly rolling what he’d just said around in its head.
Billy had an idea. He took the chance and dashed up to the dragon.
‘Humans are not poisonous,’ the dragon finally said. ‘Do not try to fool me.’
Billy swept up a handful of needles from the floor before leaping towards the dragon’s face. As Billy went to jab the spines into the dragon’s eye, the dragon turned towards him, breaking free of Dylan’s charm and swatting Billy out of the air. Billy flew into the dragon’s hoard, sending gold coins in every direction.
The dragon roared and charged at Billy, its mouth wide. Billy fumbled around in the coins, trying to get away, but he couldn’t move quickly enough. The dragon’s jaws came closer and closer, and suddenly snapped shut just short of Billy’s face.
‘I’ve got it!’ cried Charlotte, holding the dragon back by its tail.
The dragon let out another frustrated roar and, as it did, Billy jabbed a handful of spines straight into its tongue and pulled away.
The dragon’s roar turned to a sputtering cough, and then its head slumped to the side and it collapsed on the ground with a thump.
‘Let’s go! Now!’ said Billy. ‘We don’t know how long that nox-wing will be out for!’
The group ran past the dragon and out of the other side of the cavern where the forest foliage continued under the dome. They raced to a line of trees and ducked low in the high grass.
‘That was madness!’ Dylan whisper-shouted. ‘I can’t believe it worked!’
‘But now we’re out of weapons,’ said Charlotte. ‘We used all the needles!’
‘Let’s worry about that after we find Spark and the others,’ said Billy. ‘I know they’re close. I can feel it. Can you guys?’
They all nodded.
‘Look,’ said Billy, pointing through the trees towards the centre of the dome. Up ahead was a clearing that crackled and flashed with electricity. ‘Let’s get a better
