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Christopher
Being the middle brother had its perks.
For one thing, Brian and Declan were always fighting for positions of power. Declan liked being the baby of the family and Brian loved being the bossy older brother. Each of them was constantly trying to engage the other in battles of wits and other stupid nonsense, which meant they mostly left Christopher alone.
In being left alone, Christopher was able to do the things that he really wanted to do.
In this case, it was watch the skies.
The weather was bad. There was a huge storm coming. Brian needed to hurry it up and get back to them before they lost everything. This boat had been designed for their journey, yes, but it hadn’t been designed to withstand something truly horrible.
Christopher had spent enough time reading about these isles to know that whatever was happening wasn’t normal weather. It was cursed weather. They knew that people didn’t venture to this part of the Chrysolite Isles unless they had a damn good reason, and Felix?
Well, Felix was a pretty damn good reason.
“We need to be careful,” Christopher told Declan.
“Something’s coming,” Declan agreed.
The two of them stood, staring at the water. The ocean was no longer calm and relaxing, but instead wild and crazy. The waters were bumpy now, and their vessel shook as they continued heading straight for the island ahead.
“Brian should be back soon,” Christopher commented, wondering if it was true. Brian should have been back hours ago. How long did it really take one dragon to explore an island? Was he lollygagging? Picking flowers? Christopher didn’t really want to know, actually.
“I hope so.”
As Christopher and Declan stared straight ahead, silently worrying about what was happening to Brian, the skies ahead of them began to grow cloudy. Fog seemed to float up from the surface of the water, blurring their vision.
“So much for a clear journey,” Declan muttered.
“Look,” Christopher reached for Declan’s arm and grabbed it, holding it tightly. “Something’s coming toward us.”
“What, like a fish?”
“No.”
It was a canoe. A tiny little canoe floated past that held a tiny little person. The inhabitant looked up, smiling at Declan and Christopher.
“Lovely day to get away, isn’t it?”
“Um,” Christopher looked at Declan. Was this dude for real? “Yeah, I guess. Uh, where are you going?”
“Anywhere but here, my friend. Anywhere but here.”
“There’s another one,” Declan pointed to the opposite side of the boat. “Another canoe.”
“What?”
“And another.”
Sure enough, two more canoes floated by with happy riders who seemed like they were having the most wonderful, most lovely time.
“Happy to see you,” one of them called out.
“Have a good day!”
“Why are they being so friendly?” Declan lowered his voice, whispering to Christopher. “There’s something strange about it.”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.”