“Look!” Lilli cried, pointing. “He’s about to blow!”
I watched, horrified, as Atreus opened his mouth, revealing his chasm of razor-sharp teeth. Sparks began to form on his tongue as his belly warmed with flame. I felt despair rise inside of me.
It hadn’t worked. I’d tried to face my fears, and I’d only made things worse.
I ducked down, knowing it would do no good. A pile of trash wouldn’t stop the mighty Atreus. We were as good as done for, once again.
“Meet you at the graveyard, I guess,” I said to my sister and Starr. “Hopefully we won’t glitch out—”
WHOOSH! The flames shot from the dragon’s mouth, fire arcing through the sky. I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful it was in some weird way. If we had to go, I guessed I was happy it was by dragon fire and not robot lasers. At the end of the day, fantasy games were still my thing.
I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the impact.
But strangely it didn’t come…
“Ian!”
I felt someone shake me. My eyes flew open. Starr was standing in front of me. So was my sister. Neither one looked burnt. Huh?
“What…” I started to ask. But then I saw exactly what. There, in front of us, was the giant killer robot.
And he was on fire.
“Oh my gosh!” I cried. “Did Atreus do that?”
There was a loud thud behind me—something big and bad coming in for a landing. I whirled around, staggering backward as I found Atreus not five feet away. The dragon’s amber eyes settled on me, and his mouth creaked open… in a smile?
Let’s go, tiny human, he purred in my head. Let’s get this game started!
Whoa. I stood there, too shocked to move. Atreus. Was he really on our side?
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Starr nudged me. “Your new teammate wants to take you for a ride!”
My jaw dropped open as I realized she was right. Atreus—the mighty Atreus—was clearly indicating he wanted me on his back to continue the fight. For a moment, I couldn’t bring my feet to work. Everything felt frozen in place. But then I felt Lilli’s hand on my back.
“You got this,” she whispered.
And I realized I did.
I ran to Atreus, still half convinced he’d change his mind and blast me where I stood. But instead, he lowered his wing, inviting me to climb aboard. My whole body shook as I scrambled up, throwing my leg around his back. I gripped the thick scales under his neck.
“Yeah, Ian!” Lilli cried. “Way to go!”
“You look awesome up there, Dragon Rider!” Starr cheered. “Now, go slay us a robot!”
I grinned at them, wanting to salute, but not wanting to let go, just in case Atreus made a sudden move. I was still freaked out, but somehow I was also kind of excited. Imagine! Little old me, on Atreus’s back, fighting a mighty robot. If you’d told me a month ago I’d be doing this, I would have laughed in your face.
But now—here I was.
“All right,” I whispered to the dragon. “Let’s do this!”
Atreus shot into the sky, leaving my stomach on the ground all over again. It felt different than riding Yano, who was smooth and gentle and actually concerned whether his passenger was about to fall off his back and plummet to their death.
Atreus, on the other hand, seemed to have no such hang-ups. He was in it to win it—literally. Regardless of what happened to me.
My stomach swam with nausea as we whipped around the robot, going so fast it was almost a blur. I swallowed down the bile that threatened to spew from my throat. No time for puking, Ian. We have a robot to take down.
Dragon versus robot. What a game!
The robot’s eyes shot lasers, but Atreus was too quick, easily darting out of the line of fire. The lasers hit a trash pile instead, reducing it to cinders. I tried not to imagine how that would feel if it were me.
“Go! Get him now!” Starr called from the ground. “Before his lasers recharge!”
Good idea. I turned to my dragon. (My dragon!)
“All right, Atreus,” I urged. “Do your thing!”
To my delight, the dragon obeyed, opening his mouth wide. From where I sat, I could actually feel his belly get warmer as the fire built up inside. I knew he needed a few seconds to get locked and loaded before he released his flames. Hopefully the robot wouldn’t have a quicker recharge.
The robot hissed, steam shooting from its nose as it raised its metal arm in a karate-chopping motion. I watched as it slashed down, trying to crush us under its fist. But again, Atreus was too fast, dodging him at the last second by darting under the robot’s arm and spinning around to its rear.
Then he released his flames. Straight at the robot’s butt!
The creature writhed as the fire hit its mark, squealing and screeching with robot rage. Sparks of electricity crackled over its frame. It tried to turn, to meet its enemy head-on, but it was too clumsy and slow. It wasn’t meant to fight a lean, mean fighting machine like Atreus. Atreus easily evaded his second attempt at a blow.
I cheered. “That’s the way to do it!” I patted Atreus on his scales.
Suddenly, the robot stopped attacking. At first I thought it had given up. But then, to my dismay, it started repairing itself before my eyes. Oh no! This thing had repair power? That was not good at all.
“Ian!” Lilli shouted. “Come down here for a second.”
While the robot was occupied, I instructed Atreus to come in for a landing by the trash pile. My sister and Starr ran up to us. “You’re doing great,” Lilli said. “But it’s not enough.”
“You’re only scratching the surface,” Starr added. “His armor is too thick for Atreus’s fire to melt through.”
I looked up at the robot, who appeared brand-new again. Great. My
