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

conjured a fireball in her hand and dropped it down the path like a rolling stone. It went roughly thirty feet down a slope before falling off a ledge and then sizzling when it landed. The light from the flame had gone out. “Must have hit the water and went out.” Thea shrugged, as she slowly made her way towards the edge with a new fireball lit in her hand.

“Please be careful. I don’t want to go back to the Ice King and report you fell down a hole in a cave.”

Thea waved him to be quiet, as she had her arms out to balance on the icy rocks. “I’m fine.” Carefully taking small steps the rubber on her boots was barely enough to grip the ground.

Thea got to the edge and dropped a fireball down into the tunnel below. She could see rocks with a blue hue beneath them and a large stream of running water flowing through the mountain. Once again, the light of the flame danced on the walls of the cavern and then disappeared when it hit the water. “It is too far down to jump and I can’t see how deep the water would be or if there is another opening down there.”

“You would freeze in the water and your cat would freak out.” Fig was already trying to get to the highest point on Percy to avoid the sound at the edge of cavern’s floor.

“Yeah, he would claw your chest up on that jump.” Thea replied, over her shoulder.

She dropped another fireball below, but it didn’t hit the water right away. It landed on one of the rocks, before rolling off its sloped side into the stream. “Hmm.” She furrowed her brow as she tried to make out the shapes below.

“Hmm, what?” Percy asked, as he cautiously joined her at the edge of the slope.

“I think the rocks are moving in the water.”

“Rocks don’t move. Do they?” Percy asked as he looked over the edge with hesitation.

“I don’t know, I’ve seen flying trees before.” Thea said as she dropped another fireball into the water with a sizzle. Percy saw it too. The rocks had moved positions in the darkness. “So, moving rocks could be possible, right?”

“Maybe we should stop dropping fireballs into the hole.” Percy suggested, as he bit his lower lip and slowly backing away. “Where I come from, rocks aren’t supposed to move like that.”

They watched the shapes in the darkness, with their eyes squinted, trying to see anything in the cave below.

“You’re probably right.” Thea said after the last of her fireballs fell from her hand and into the hole. This time, it landed on a piece of rock that moved when the fire touched it. It also opened its large, orange eye, right before the fireball rolled off it and into the water. “Did you see that?!” Thea was now whispering.

“Was that an eye?!” Percy was already tugging on Thea’s sleeve trying to guide her away from the mouth of the cave.

Thea lit one more fireball and held it in her hand as she looked over the edge. There were now two large, glowing, orange eyes coming toward the opening at an alarming speed. “RUN!” She yelled as she threw the fireball down the hole at whatever was coming towards them.

Percy started to run up the slope with Fig in his arms. The cat, scared of all the commotion, was hissing and had his claws out, piercing through his booties, causing Percy to drop the torch, which rolled down the slope- tripping Thea in the process, as they ran through the darkness. Thea tried to catch her balance but slipped on the ice, landing hard on her knees. Percy stopped to help her get to her feet, as the ground below them started to shake. Fig had leaped from Percy’s grasp and was now halfway to the entrance of the cave. Thea looked over her shoulder to see the massive orange eyes coming closer to the opening. Soon, a scaly snout was protruding through the hole. It was returning Thea’s fireballs with a substantial stream of fire- coming straight for them with a furious speed; the trio was barely able to make it up the sloped cave floor without being burned. Flames were hitting the high end of the ramped walkway- deflecting the stream into a wall of fire that almost caught Thea’s heels. The stench of burnt hair was coming from their arms, just from the heat that was being generated.

“Was that a Blue-Scaled dragon?! Did we find them?” Thea panted out, as they watched the wall of fire slowly extinguish, and the ample snout retreat into the darkness of the hole. The ground no longer shook and the calming sound of running water could be heard echoing below.

“I didn’t take the time to see what color the scales were….sorry.” He was bent over with his hands on his knees, as he was catching his breath.

“Where’s Fig?” Thea looked back to the entrance of the cave.

“He was long gone before you ever decided to run.” Percy chuckled as they went to the camp they had set up, far away from the dragon.

Fig was past the fire, sitting outside the entrance of the cave, in a drift of snow – staring back at the humans with very large eyes. “You are made of FIRE! You are such a scaredy cat, I swear!” She sat down next to the fire and patted the side of her leg. Fig warily came in and laid down next to her. “I thought you were supposed to protect me?” She said, as she started to scratch his ears. “That’s your one job!”

He softly meowed at her, as the hair on his tail started to relax.

“I wonder why the dragon is living under a mountain?” Percy said, as he was pacing along the cavern wall. “They like to be as close to the sky as they possibly can, so why would one be underground? I can’t