The mountaintop was peaceful and bright as Naida, a water elf, gathered herbs in a basket.

She cut a branch from a yellow bush, and inhaled the scent of its turquoise flowers. They matched her hair. And her dress. And her jewelry. And they smelled amazing. They would be perfect for making lotion for her friends!

Suddenly, a dragon’s scream echoed through the mountains. “What on earth?!” she exclaimed. Where was that coming from? She paused for a long moment until the cry came again.

Grabbing her basket, Naida hurried toward the sound, climbing over tree trunks and scrambling through bushes. Finally, she reached a small clearing in the woods—which held a dragon queen!

“Ohhh …” Naida gasped. The dragon was beautiful—glittering gold with white and blue markings like clouds in a sunny sky.

The dragon screeched again, sounding intensely scared.

It was then that Naida noticed the nest behind the dragon. It held five dragon eggs, each a different color. One was turquoise with silver glitter, and Naida blinked as the sun glinted off it.

Just as she was about to step out into the clearing, a female figure emerged from the shadow of the tallest tree. This was who the dragon was afraid of.

The figure circled the dragon queen, swinging an enchanted green chain. She whipped it around in the air, and it gave off sparks of magic. Then she lassoed the dragon around the neck.

The dragon shrieked in protest, louder and more fiercely than before, and tossed her head, struggling to escape the chain. The woman only laughed.

Naida had been frozen in horror, but then snapped into action as she felt a wave of sympathy for the dragon and her innocent unhatched babies. She didn’t think she could help the dragon, but those eggs were in danger. She had to keep the eggs from being captured!

She tiptoed around the edge of the clearing as quickly as she could, keeping low, as the dragon continued to thrash. She finally reached the nest and carefully set the eggs, one by one, in the bottom of her basket. Just when Naida was about to grab the last egg—the glittering one—the figure saw her.

“Get your hands off those!” she shrieked. Naida could see the figure was an elf, but one who was clearly using her magic for evil: an elf witch. The witch levitated the glittering turquoise egg up out of the nest. Naida jumped for it, but it was too late. The witch plucked it out of the air and screeched, “Now give me the others!”

“No!” Naida yelled back, heart pounding. She saw the dragon’s head was lowered in defeat. “I’ll save your babies!” Naida told her. “I promise!” She ran back through the trees as fast as she could.

“I’m telling you, that evil witch almost got me. I barely made it out alive!” Naida was teary and shaking. Her friend Farran, an earth elf, wrapped her in a soft blanket while fire elf Azari stoked the fire to heat a cup of soothing tea. They had been planting seeds in the meadow when Naida arrived in a panic.

“I got your message! I’m here!” Aira, a wind elf, arrived with a gust of wind. She put her hand on Naida’s shoulder, and took a peek in her basket. “Wow. Those eggs are amazing! I want to hear the whole story from the beginning.”

With a deep breath, Naida repeated what had happened. By the time she finished, she’d stopped shaking, but her grip on the basket was so tight, her knuckles ached.

Azari shook her head, tousling her wild red hair. “The witch had the dragon on a chain?”

“Yes! It was like—” Just then, Farran’s squirrel friend Miss Spry approached. She circled the elves, sniffing at the basket.

“What’s Miss Spry doing here?” Naida asked, pulling the basket away protectively.

Farran listened as Miss Spry huffed and chattered at him—as an earth elf, he could communicate with her. “There was a fire in her forest,” he told them. “Her home was destroyed.”

“Her home?!” Azari exclaimed. “Who would burn down the forest? As a fire elf, I am personally offended. That’s not how fire is intended to be used!”

“How awful!” Aira said.

“There’s evil in the forest, that’s for sure,” Naida said.

With a frightened look back at the woods, Miss Spry rushed up into Farran’s tree house, chattering away.

“Squirrels …” Farran muttered. “How’s the saying go? Can’t live with them—”

“You aren’t supposed to live with them,” Azari interrupted.

“Well, true,” Farran agreed. “But until her home is safe again, she’s welcome here.”

“What are we going to do?” Naida rubbed her forehead. “The eggs, the dragon queen, the forest fire … What is going on?!”

“I wish Emily was here.” Aira sighed.

“Me, too,” Azari said. “I wonder what she would say.”

“You don’t have to wonder—look!” Farran exclaimed, pointing toward the forest. Emily was running down the path, headed straight for them.

The elves all rushed to her. “We’re so happy you’re here!” Azari cried, throwing her arms around Emily in a big hug.

Aira and Naida threw themselves into the hug, too. “How’d you get here?” Aira asked at the same time that Naida asked, “Did you know we needed you?”

Farran leapt into the group hug, and everyone toppled over onto the soft, mossy ground.

“Welcome back to Elvendale!” Farran cheered. They all laughed as they untangled themselves, helping one another up. Naida ran to get the basket of eggs.

Emily touched the medallion around her neck. “I had the scariest dream,” she said. “It was about Elvendale, and it felt a hundred percent real.”

Naida asked, “Was it about a dragon?”

“Yes!” Emily exclaimed, startled. “How did you know? It was about this poor, trapped dragon that was so beautiful, all white with—”

“Blue and gold markings?” Naida finished.

“Yes!” Emily nodded.

Azari leaned toward Farran and said, “Okay, this is freaky …”

“Totally freaky,” Emily agreed. She didn’t have magical powers like the elves. How had she dreamed about something that was really happening in Elvendale?

She glanced around. It was a warm day, but a chill crept down her spine.

“It wasn’t just a dream,” Naida said, as if she could hear Emily’s thoughts. She told Emily what happened in the woods and all about the dragon queen. “I saw it.”

“The dragon queen is in terrible danger!” Aira added with a shiver.

“Whoa.” Farran pointed to Emily’s medallion. A shimmering blue glow was coming from the stone.

“Weird, right? This happened at home, too,” Emily told them. “I saw an image of the dragon from my dream in it.”

“It has more magic in it than just letting you through the portal!” Azari said.

“Maybe it has other secret powers, too,” Emily said. She lifted the medallion so they could all look into the stone.

It again showed an image of the dragon queen—an even clearer image than before. They could see the dragon’s pained face in such great detail that Emily nearly dropped the pendant.

“That was awful,” Naida said after the image faded.

“Poor dragon,” Aira moaned.

Farran ran a hand through his dark hair, and said, “I’ve heard rumors about an elf witch. She’s tall as a mountain and covered in warts.”

“Tall? No way, Farran. You have it all wrong,” Azari said. “I’ve heard she’s got a humongous head, but the legs of a baby chick.”

“Guys, I’m the one who saw her!” Naida exclaimed. “She was normal sized … just evil.” She shook her head. “Wait! I’ve actually heard and read a lot about this elf witch.”

“Well, tell us!” Farran exclaimed.

Naida closed her eyes. “She was an elf who was born with weak powers. When she was at school, she started comparing herself to other elves—her magic just wasn’t very strong, and she became more and more frustrated. But instead of working hard and putting in extra training, she looked for another, easier way to increase her magical powers.

“High in the mountains above the school is the Shadow Fountain. Legend has it that drinking from its waters will bring great magic. So the elf snuck up to it and drank deeply. Power flowed quickly through her veins—she was no longer weak. But the Shadow Fountain’s water came with a price. Its power was evil, and the elf did not resist it. She became an elf witch. Since dragons have great power, she became interested in them and used her evil power to turn the dragons against the elves—but it ended up turning the dragons against her as well.

“The witch ran away, and time passed. Everyone thought she was gone for good, but she was really just developing her powers. Recently, she returned and captured the dragons of fire, wind, earth, and water with magical chains—taking them to a hidden castle. If she could harness their power, she could rule all of Elvendale!

“But the wind dragon, earth dragon, and water dragon managed to break free, returning to the Dragon School. The fire dragon still remains the elf witch’s prisoner and is under an evil spell. And now she has the even more powerful dragon queen, too—and one of her eggs.”

As Naida finished her story, everyone was staring at her in horror.

“How terrible!” Emily cried.

“The poor, poor fire dragon.” Azari sniffled. “Wait—what if the fire dragon is being forced to burn the forest?”

“That would be the worst!” Aira said. “Let me call Pluma and ask her if she knows anything about it.” She whistled for her bird friend, and had a quick conversation. “Pluma says that Flamy is in the forest.” Flamy was a fire fox that they’d met on their last adventure. “He’s surveying the damaged part of the woods.”

“If anyone can investigate a fire, it’s Flamy,” Azari said.

“Being fireproof definitely helps with that!” Farran added.

Pluma nestled up close to Aira and chirped in a rapid squawk. Aira turned to Naida. “She says that all the animals in Elvendale are afraid.”

“We have to find the elf witch and save the dragon queen!” Emily said with a hand on her heart.

Farran was more reluctant. “How about we just return the eggs to their nest? Those other dragons managed to escape the witch. Maybe the dragon queen will escape, too, and come back for them. Besides, do we even know where this elf witch’s castle is?” Everyone shook their heads.

Just then, a distant dragon scream echoed through the forest, and Emily’s medallion flashed a brilliant blue.

“That doesn’t sound promising,” Aira said. Glancing at the eggs, she continued. “I don’t think the babies will be able to live without their mother when they hatch.”

Naida nodded in agreement. “We need to get the dragon queen’s eggs back to her—and free her.”

“And help the fire dragon, too!” Azari added.

“It must be the reason I’m here! Let’s do it!” Emily cried. Now she knew why she had been called to Elvendale!

Farran started to say, “I—” but at Aira’s stern look, muttered, “I’m in.”

“All of us are in,” Aira said. “But where do we start?”

“The Dragon School!” Naida cried. “We can get some help with these eggs …”