Billy looked down at Spark, and saw that her cage and collar had vanished, as had the rope of electricity around her snout. She leaped into battle. Stay focused, Billy, she thought. I’ve got to help the others. With your power, you can manoeuvre better than any of us to destroy the hearts. Our bond is strong. It will keep you afloat. You can do this. Spark’s trust in Billy filled him with renewed energy.
The cages holding Buttons, Xing and Tank disappeared too, the bolts of electricity sizzling as they went out. Charlotte, Ling-Fei and Dylan ran to their dragons and jumped on their backs.
‘Get all the dragon hearts!’ Billy yelled to his friends. ‘The faster we get rid of the hearts, the more dragons we’ll have on our side!’
Several of the nox-wings chasing Billy dived towards the ground to fight the newly released dragons. Billy raced to a second heart and ripped it from the flames, destroying more cages. Below him, the portal began to shrink.
The previously caged dragons and the nox-wings were fighting all around Billy now. Streams of fire and ice slashed through the air. Billy dipped and dodged on his floating ice board as he flew towards another heart.
‘GET HIM!’ yelled Dimitrius.
Billy zipped over a flying ice boulder and under a bolt of electricity, grabbing a third dragon heart.
‘I’ve got one!’ shouted Charlotte.
‘Me too!’ yelled Dylan, looking triumphant as the black heart in his hands turned to ash.
‘Take that!’ cried Ling-Fei, grabbing a sixth heart.
Only two hearts remained.
Billy flew towards the next closest heart, dodging the fire coming at him from all directions. He could feel Spark through their bond, helping him guide the ice board.
‘You will not succeed!’ Dimitrius screamed from behind him.
Billy reached for the heart, but as he did something struck the back of his ice board, smashing it to pieces. His momentum carried him through the air and he tore the heart from the flames as he flew. But Dimitrius caught up to Billy as he fell and clutched him in his paw – his claws piercing through his protective suit.
Billy screamed. The pain was excruciating, and he was terrified. He was going to die. He would never see his parents or his brother again. He wished they could somehow know he died trying to save them, trying to save everyone.
‘You shall pay for what you have done,’ said Dimitrius as he swooped towards the ground, holding Billy out in front of him. ‘You have no idea what you almost ruined.’
Billy slammed into the earth with a thud, and pain shot through his whole body. It felt as if every one of his bones had shattered. His vision blurred. He never knew he could feel such agony.
‘Spark,’ Billy whimpered.
‘Pitiful,’ said Dimitrius, his front leg pinning Billy to the ground.
Tank charged from the other side of the clearing, headbutting nox-wings out of the way, as Charlotte held onto his horns and screamed like a warrior queen, trying to get to Billy. Buttons and Dylan flew high above with Xing and Ling-Fei, dodging fire and ice and pelting the nox-wings with their own attacks.
Dimitrius reached up and plucked a star from the sky. ‘I am going to enjoy this,’ he said as he threw the star up towards his open jaws.
Billy saw a flash of blue and gold and a familiar electricity buzzed through the air.
It was Spark! She had eaten the star. Within moments, she had grown bigger than Dimitrius.
‘Let him go!’ she shouted and she shot a jet of electricity at Dimitrius. He dodged the attack and fled upwards, leaving Billy on the ground.
‘Buttons! Come quickly!’ Spark shouted, pulling Billy out of the fray. Billy heard a familiar hum as Buttons placed a giant paw gently on Billy’s chest.
‘This might hurt,’ said Buttons. ‘Your body is very broken.’ As he spoke, a searing pain shot through Billy, making him feel as if he was being melted from the inside out. His body went numb, and a moment later feeling slowly flowed back to his limbs.
‘Billy, are you okay? You did great up there,’ said Dylan, kneeling next to him. Charlotte and Ling-Fei were there as well.
A single purple flame remained, burning high above. Dragons continued to fight all around them.
Billy sat up gradually and looked at Dylan. ‘I… I think I’m fine.’ His voice shook. He couldn’t quite comprehend that he had survived, but then his incredulity gave way to a fierce determination. He wasn’t going to give up. He was going to keep fighting alongside his friends.
Dylan stood and offered a hand to help Billy up.
As Billy reached for Dylan’s hand, a figure dashed out of the forest and grabbed Dylan. Dylan yelled as he was pulled away towards the centre of the dome.
Billy flung himself to his feet, adrenaline rushing through him, and chased after Dylan. He thought at first it must be a rock troll or another Dragon Realm monster, but as he came closer he realized it was a human.
And not just any human.
‘Old Gold!’ Billy shouted, still running after them. ‘Get back! It’s dangerous.’ Billy’s brain went into overdrive as he tried to work out what was happening. What was Old Gold doing here? How had he even found his way into the Dragon Realm? He must have read their notes and somehow followed them. But why had he grabbed Dylan? If Old Gold was trying to protect Dylan, he should be going back into the forest.
‘Yeye!’ shouted Ling-Fei. ‘What are you doing?’
Old Gold moved with intent, hurrying towards the closing portal.
But then he turned and gave Ling-Fei a nasty smile. It transformed his entire face, and Billy felt as if he was looking at a stranger. A terrifying stranger. In one arm Old Gold lifted a ball of purple electricity up to Dylan’s face. His other arm held Dylan tightly in front of him like a shield. ‘Leave me be or the child dies!’
Billy halted immediately, horror spreading through him.
Old Gold looked
