Page 26 of Dragon Tempted

“The name on the inside cover, Margaret Collins, is Adam, Eric, and Sienna’s great-grandmother. We think she might have been an oracle, or the story was passed down to her through generations from an oracle and she documented it. From what we’ve seen so far, it somewhat depicts what’s been happening.”

John closed the book. “Explain.”

Megan nodded. “The story is about three children, two brothers and a younger sister who must save their dragon clan. In this part of the story, the brothers are sent on a quest by an oracle. They meet a teller of tall tales who provides them with two paths. The boys argue on how to save their people and go in separate directions.”

“We think the teller of tall tales is Katherine Wallace,” Eric said. “She pitted Adam and I against each other, and then we fought about how to run the clan, causing me to be banished.”

Megan continued. “The oldest brother, Samuel, is given a shield with the dragon sentry emblem to protect him like Adam’s pendant. We know the pendant is magical since the wearer can interpret the words from the curse when they touch the scroll. Plus when Eric wore it, the pendant helped him get his memories back of meeting me.”

John looked at Sienna before speaking. “What happened to the little sister in the story?”

“Mother used to tell me the story,” Sienna said. “She talked about the brothers heading to the woods to start their adventure. But I would stay in the village and take care of the clan. I would sing to the clan and keep them calm.”

“And now she’s our clan leader and our people listen to her,” Adam said. “I remember bits and pieces of the story, but I didn’t know it was written down until Mia White gave me the storybook and told me it was written by an oracle. She was also the one who told me about the curse and the Death of Magic painting.”

Megan nodded. “We think there has to be one or more volumes of the story missing since it doesn’t tell us how the story ends.”

John set the book on the table. “It all comes back to Mia, doesn’t it? I tried to find her to study the painting.”

“What made you reach out?” Tessa asked. “You had stayed hidden for centuries. Why put yourself at risk?”

He frowned. “Because I had been trying to figure out how to break the curse on my own and it wasn’t working. So I researched who could help me. Since dragons are considered make-believe, I had to find someone who was an expert in the mythology. Mia’s name kept showing up as the expert in dragons and their impact in art.

“When I finally got my hands on the painting, it felt like fate. Mia would be the one to help me. I knew it held the key to figuring out the curse. I had no idea it literally held the curse in its frame. But Mia had gone underground, so I researched some more and found Megan had been a student of Mia’s and worked in the museum in Nashville. Again it felt like it was meant to be. It was time to show the painting to the public and see what happened.”

“It got a lot of attention all right,” Eric said.

John ran his hand over the back of his neck and rubbed it. “I had no idea you and your clan would come under attack.”

Adam shook his head. “You weren’t the only one pulling us into the fight. Mia had reached out to me and convinced me the curse was real, which is why I started my campaign to break it, and why Eric and I were attacked. And now we also know that Mia hid Lily away with her foster mother, Evelyn, when she realized Lily was an oracle and in danger.”

“Except we can’t trust her now that we know she’s a Templar,” Megan said.

Tessa shook her head. “We don’t know that she’s truly bad.”

“She has a tattoo of the Templar cross and, oh, yeah…kidnapped you,” Eric argued.

“She didn’t kidnap me,” Tessa argued right back. “The witch did. Mia helped me get away.”

“By having you jump out of a sixth story window!” Megan exclaimed.

“She waited until Adam flew close enough to catch me.”

“So she could escape.” Megan leaned forward. “Even though she was my mentor, I still don’t trust her. I think she’s unstable.”

“That I won’t argue with,” Tessa said. “She was very angry and confused.”

Adam wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “I’ve been sending messages to Mia for months through the secured messaging we used in the past to communicate, but she hasn’t responded.”

A headache was starting behind Sienna’s eyes. “From what Tessa told us about Mia, she thinks Adam abandoned her and left her to fight the curse alone. She may never be willing to talk to you again. Have you found anything in the clan history books you’ve been reviewing, Megan?”

“I’ve read through most of them. There’s reference to losing powers, but nothing about the curse or Templars. There are some references to the dragon sentries, but John has provided more information on them than the books.”

Sienna looked at John. “Do you have any ideas of how to break this curse?”

His perpetual frown greeted her. “Not at the moment.”

She frowned back at him. Maybe it was revisiting all the crap that had happened to their family in the past couple of years, or maybe it was the responsibility that weighted down her shoulders as clan leader, but she was done being nice. “So if you don’t have some idea on how to end all of this, then what’s the point in leaving?”