The dragon pulled back, pressing her face up against his.
Jason held the leaf up, wondering if this was something that she had wanted him to have in order to be able to communicate with her. How would the leaf help?
“This is what you needed me to have?” The dragon breathed out, and he stared at it. “I don’t understand.”
Colors swirled along the side of the dragon, and as he looked, the same matching colors swirled along the leaf.
Was that it? Did she want him to have it because she thought he could find some way of understanding? If that were the case, then what would it take for him to comprehend the nature of power coming from the leaf?
He held on to it, staring at it, but there was nothing. Why she had given this to him didn’t make any sense.
“I still don’t understand,” he said.
The dragon lowered her head, getting close to him, and those deep green eyes stared at him before turning their attention to the leaf.
Did she want him to use it like a dragon pearl?
Perhaps that was what it was.
He focused, sending power through it.
He didn’t know how to connect to this dragon pearl. When it came to the typical dragons, he had to use the sense of fire, that of heat within him, and in doing so, he was able to feel that heat, let that flow through him, and he was aware of it throughout his entire body.
With the ice dragon, it came from using his sense of cold, the connection to the chill that washed through him.
Then there was the iron dragon. His connection to that dragon was more about anger and rage, filling him with the fiery heat that matched the rage within the iron dragon at his captivity.
What would it take to connect to the forest dragon?
He stared at the leaf, thinking about what it would take to understand, but nothing came to him. There might be some way to reach that power, but it wasn’t anything he knew or understood.
The dragon watched him, and he sensed her frustration.
Jason looked up, meeting her deep green eyes. “I’m sorry.”
The dragon retreated, pulling her head back. Jason held on to the leaf, and as she retreated, colors swirled along the surface of it.
And then she was gone.
He stared at the leaf, wishing there was some way to understand what she wanted him to know, but he didn’t—and he couldn’t.
As much as he wanted to and as much as he wished he could grasp what she was trying to show him, it wasn’t within him.
He breathed out a frustrated sigh.
When he looked down, he saw the others. He could feel the iron dragon again.
Somehow, the forest dragon had separated him from his connection to them.
But that wasn’t altogether surprising. When he’d first seen her, he’d noticed how she had a natural resistance. She didn’t need someone to protect her from the potential of the training. She would hide on her own.
Maybe that was what it was going to take. If he could figure out the nature of her resistance, then maybe he could use that in order to help protect her, and he might be able to understand just what it would take to reach her.
He slid down the tree. When he reached the base, he stuffed the leaf into his pocket. It would be something to examine later, to try to understand how to use it, to master a connection to her, if it were possible. Jason didn’t know if he would be able to reach that power, but he was determined to try. And from what he had felt alongside her, he thought that she wanted him to share in that connection.
Where were the others?
He didn’t see them in the forest, but he did feel the iron dragon.
He focused on that. A surge of power flowed through the iron glove, and heat washed over it, warm and pleasant, leaving his hand glowing softly. He clenched and unclenched for a moment before thinking about the iron dragon, focusing on that power, and drawing it through himself.
The iron dragon remained nearby, though not so near that he could see him.
Then again, the iron dragon preferred to weave between the trees. Jason had no idea what the dragon was searching for or what purpose the creature would have, but he could feel him moving. There was a connection shared between them he could use to understand, but had not.
When he went to Lorach, he would need that connection in order to reach the power of the ice dragon, and he would need it to heal the other dragons and free them. He would need that connection.
Jason breathed out, focusing on the heat in his hand, on the connection he had with the iron dragon. As he did, there was a sense of power that washed over him, a warmth, and he thought for a moment that he could see something.
It came distantly, though it was there.
It was a flash of movement, of color. It was a strange sensation, and it took a moment to realize what he was seeing. Colors.
Not just any colors, but those of the trees, the colors of the leaves, and everything around Jason.
He was seeing what the dragon was seeing.
How was such a thing possible?
He didn’t think he should be able to see what the iron dragon was seeing, but here he was. As he looked out, staring through the dragon’s eyes, he thought that was exactly what he was picking up on.
His heart started to beat quickly.
Could he maintain that connection?
If he could, then he would be able to use it. He understood the nature of the dragon’s sight, mostly because what he possessed was similar, the surge of color, but what the dragon saw was different than what he saw.
Could he do the same thing? Could he send the dragon what he saw?
And it was possible the dragon didn’t even care. The iron dragon might not want to see the world in the way that Jason thought.
“Jason?”
Sarah’s voice slipped through the forest and he stepped away from the tree, looking for her. When he did, the dragon sight suddenly faded, leaving him with only his own eyesight.
But even that was enough. He had made a connection between himself and the iron dragon that he didn’t have before. With that bond, Jason had to believe he might be able to do more than he had ever known. And if he could use it in that way, then he had to think there would be something else he could do with it.
It was just part of his evolving abilities. Those abilities would be useful over time, but he first had to understand what they meant for him—and the dragon.
“I’m over here,” he said.
“What happened?” she asked, stepping around the tree.
Henry was nearby and he joined her, looking over at Jason, the corners of his eyes narrowed, his frown deepening as he looked all around the clearing.
“I went looking for the forest dragon.”
“Did you find her?” Henry asked.
Jason touched his pocket, feeling the leaf within it. “I caught a glimpse of her,” he said.
“Just a glimpse?”
“I don’t think she wants us to see her.”
“If she’s one of the hatch mates, and if she has any of the same traits as the others, we might need to work with her,” Henry said.
“I understand, and I think that we do, but I also think she has a natural resistance to her. I don’t think that the Dragon Souls would be able to train her if they were to catch her.”
“How do you know?” Sarah asked.
“When I try to use my way of healing, there isn’t anything to do. It’s different than what I experienced with the iron dragon. I don’t think they would be able to do anything to her.”