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

darkness…and a single light that Celeste carried with her down the path. Lilly’s eyes turned black as she twisted her body and turned into the Grimalkin. Her vision in the dark was much better in her cat form. She stalked Celeste through the dark path of the cave for what seemed to be half the night. Celeste stopped and dropped her torch onto a pool of what Lilly mistook as water. Whatever the liquid was ignited, sending flames down a stream and illuminating the entire cavern.

Celeste created an entire camp below the mountain. She had gone down to where her cauldron sat, lighting the fire below. Lilly watched from the shadows as Celeste filled water bottles with the boiling water. She then walked over to a pile of laundry against the far wall. “Time to warm up again, little ones.” She pulled back a blanket to show four eggs, larger than her head, that were tinted blue.

Lilly changed back to her human form as she hid behind a pile of rocks. “Dragon eggs?” she whispered to herself as she tried to creep towards Celeste.

“There you go babies, I hope you hatch soon!” Celeste covered the eggs with the blanket again, tucking them in as if they were her babies.

Celeste took some raw meat that she had in a large pot by her make-shift kitchen and traveled down a path in the dark. Lilly could hear the roar of what she could only suspect to be a larger dragon echo back at her.

Lilly could feel the walls of the mountain vibrate as she heard a growl come from the depths of the cave. Celeste was soon to return to the light, carrying two shimmering blue scales from a dragon. She took a soft cloth and polished the scales before carefully putting them into a wooden crate that was almost the size of the witch; the crate was filled with scales.

“What are you up to?” Lilly whispered to herself, as she ducked farther behind the rocks.

Lilly sat and watched from her hiding spot for over an hour as she saw Celeste care for the small eggs as if they were her own children. Celeste continued to make the eggs warm, and she talked to them about her plans for when they hatched.

“I’ll find a new wing of the cave for you littles to live in. Your mother won’t let me near you, but I will raise you myself. Once you’re big, I’ll be able to harvest your scales and then I can take my powers back! We’re going to be so great for each other! I just need my sister to make a fire hot enough to melt the scales down….one more crate to go! She doesn’t need to know that your mommies can lay eggs, you’ll be my dragons.”

“You’re not going to make it back to your sister.” Lilly had heard enough of the plan. “You’re going to give those eggs back to their mother!” Lilly started to walk closer to Celeste, who was shielding her eyes from Lilly.

“You’re not going to do that controlling elf magic on me! Get out of here Lilly! This doesn’t concern you!”

“What’s with your family separating babes from their mothers? I’m done being told what to do by you and your sister! I am done allowing you to hurt others for your own gain! If you’re not going to look at me, I will have to take care of this some other way!”

Lilly’s eyes turned black as night as she morphed into the Grimalkin on all fours. Once transformed, her eyes burned a bright yellow that glowed through the cave. Celeste tried to retreat into the depths of the cave, but Lilly was faster than she was. The Grimalkin jumped in her path, blocking her in a corner.

“Lilly! You don’t need to do this!” Her words were lost in the echoes of the cave; The Grimalkin was already sucking the soul out of her, only this time she ate it herself instead of it floating away to the crystals with Cricket.

Celeste’s body slumped over the rocks, the color of her skin went to a greyish hue and her eyes showed no sign of life as the last of her soul came pouring out of her open mouth and over to the Grimalkin’s. She didn’t turn out to be stupefied like the others; her soul barely put up a fight as if it had already given up a long time ago. The Grimalkin had taken every part of her being away from Celeste, leaving nothing more than the empty shell behind.

Lilly slowly turned back into her human form, however, her eyes stayed a dark black. She could feel a surge of power through her veins into her heart and up to her brain. It felt amazing! The euphoric high she got from Celeste’s soul made her feel a sense of emotion she thought had been lost. Was it happiness? Was it power?  Lilly didn’t know but had no regrets for her actions. “Can’t hurt any more creatures if you’re dead.”

She stretched her back with her arms over her head, smiling and enjoying the fulfilling feeling, or whatever it was that she was experiencing. She turned around and saw the eggs, which slowly brought her back to reality. “Oh yeah, we need to find your mommy.” She said as she walked over to the makeshift nests. The eggs were all still warm under their covers.

Down the dark trail into the belly of the cavern she traveled. She could hear rushing water and the clanking of metal against the rocks. There was a light somewhere below by which she could see the glistening blue of the dragon’s scales and she knew where the eggs needed to go. There were three dragons chained to the rocks below with chain mail thrown over their wings – two were Blue-Scaled dragons and the other was one that Lilly couldn’t identify. It was almost like it would change colors when you moved