The Circle of Owls (The Grimalkin Book 3) Dani Swanson (best books for 8th graders .TXT) 📖

this back to one of the mothers before they all die off!” Robin gently took her bag off her back, removing an egg that was as big as her head. It shimmered in the blustery snow, showing off the scales on its shell in different hues of blue. She hugged both the egg and the cat close to her body as she cautiously entered the cave. The inside smelled damp with a small amount of smoke that burned the inside of Robin’s nose. She set Tinker down and slowly felt her way along the wall of the cavern.

She could feel her heart beat hard in her chest. Her short breaths were audible and echoed through the cave. She wanted more than anything to find one of the blue-scaled dragons; no, she needed this cave to be the one that had a dragon in it. She had been through so many caverns on every peak of the mountain range. All she wanted to do was to go home to her friends and to not sleep on the floor of a cave for one more night. She blindly walked through the dank cave sliding on the slick floor.

“You’re going to break that egg if you’re not careful, dummy.”

“Will you please, shut up!” She shouted with a glare on her face. “I’m so tired of you putting me down!” She went back to walking into the cave, briskly walking on the icy floor. “I wish you would try to find a way to be help……” the heel of her boot got stuck in a crack of the floor, causing her to tumble over a rock – sending the dragon egg flying into the darkness. A loud thud was heard ahead.

“No, you’re not going to break the egg Robin. I’m so sorry that I said that.”

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” Robin screamed. Her voice echoed and shook icicles off the ceiling. Tinker hissed and jumped out of Robin’s grasp.

She wasn’t returned with any banter but was greeted in front of her by the muzzle of a dragon. “Oh…hi…..”

The dragon’s muzzle alone was as large as Robin’s entire body. The scales were harder than stone but felt soft to the touch -as Robin reached a shaky hand out to touch the dragon on the nose. The dragon’s eyes were a sharp orange with a long skinny pupil that fixated on her. Its nose had smoke coming out of its nostrils as it was smelling the scent from Robin’s head.

“You better run….”

“Shut up!” Robin hissed through gritted teeth. A nervous smile crossed her lips as she was gently stroking the silky scales of the snout of the dragon. “I brought you an egg.” Her eyebrows were raised, and her voice was airy as she spoke to the dragon. Tinker had already retreated out of the cave. “Is the egg alright?”

The dragon slowly backed away from Robin, as if it was understanding every word that was being said to it. Robin gingerly walked along the wall, feeling for the egg, hoping that she wasn’t going to find it broken. She picked up every rock that felt to be the egg, then gently set it back on the floor when she realized it wasn’t what she was seeking – trying to not startle the dragon with any sudden movements.

“Here it is! It’s okay!” Robin’s eyes started to water as she was crying with joy. The dragon came back into Robin’s view from the darkness and opened its mouth, exposing many rows of jagged teeth with a spliced tongue. “Here….it’s yours.” Robin was shaking with her nerves taking over her body.

The dragon reached out a scale covered arm, with three digits at the end of it. It swiftly grabbed the egg from Robin’s hand and took it back into the depths of the cave.

Robin let out a sigh of relief as she had done what she set out to do. The dragon came back into focus and nuzzled Robin with the tip of her snout. It was making a pleasant bleating sound that mimicked the sound of Tinker purring.

“Make sure that you tell the dragon how you got the egg in the first place! How you have us tromping around in the frozen tundra because you were hunting for eggs! Yes, that’s right! She stole that egg from a dragon in the first place! She was going to cook it up!”

“STOP IT! WILL YOU STOP?!” Robin shrieked. She turned back to meet the stern glare of the dragon. Its eyes narrowed as the smoke from the nostrils started to increase. “I didn’t mean any harm.” Robin’s voice was breaking as she talked. “I brought you the egg, so it would hatch….” She had her arms up in front of her, as she defensively backed away from the dragon.

“You better start running, Robin.”

Robin agreed and gave into the advice and started to run as fast as she could across the cave. The dragon started to chase after her. The floor shook, and rocks fell from the ceiling as the dragon followed. The dragon snapped its jaw right behind Robin’s ankles, just missing her by less than an inch. The cave narrowed the closer to the entrance the dragon got. It was done chasing Robin and let out a stream of fire behind her. Tinker came charging back into the cave and jumped in between her human and the fire. She grew to the size of a lion- launching shards of ice off her silvery fur, fashioning a wall that slowed down the flames. Robin was able to escape the cave, without being touched by the fire.

When Tinker emerged from the cave, she was back to her normal, small size, dripping wet from the melted ice. She took a moment to smooth her fur back into place, before meeting Robin at the entrance.

Robin picked up her little cat, thanking her for saving her life. She snuggled her into the liner of her jacket. She looked around the mountaintop to find