And things did go well.
Until two weeks later, when a mysterious letter arrived in the mail. "Hey, Dad." Blake called as he examined the odd design on the front of the envelope.
"What is it, Blake?" Jake asked.
"Look at this strange letter." Blake replied. "The return address is encrypted. Can you read that?"
Jake studied it for a moment. Then he said, "I think it's Greek. Gramps once had me study Greek. Looks like it'll come in handy." he read the symbols carefully. "It's from the Isle of Draco." he said at last. "Odd."
He opened the envelope and withdrew a folded sheet of paper. Unfolding it, he began to read, "The Dragon Council orders Cody Blake Long, his family, and animal guardian to come to the Isle of Draco this Saturday at 5:00 PM for a special hearing regarding recent events."
"Hearing?" Blake echoed. "For what reason?"
"I don't know." Jake said. "But today is Saturday, and it's 4:15 now. I think we can get there in time."
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Half an hour later, the Long family, along with Fu Dog and Leone, arrived at the train station. Blake recalled from the Dragon Summit earlier that year that they had to take a magical elevator to get to the Isle of Draco.
Fu pressed the buttons a certain way, and finally twisted the knob. The elevator dinged, and opened to reveal a small magical elevator bellboy.
"How come I can't ever push the buttons?" Leone whined as everyone got in the elevator. "Because," Fu replied as the doors hissed closed. "last time I let you push them, you put in the wrong combination, and we wound up in the Teltar dimension (I made that up)."
Within seconds the elevator came to a halt. "Whaddaya know," Fu said excitedly. "I managed to take this elevator without getting—ulp…" he stopped as his face turned green. He covered his mouth and ran.
Jake rolled his eyes. Then he turned to the family and said. "C'mon, everyone. The council should be expecting us in a few minutes."
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"Cody Blake Long." Councilor Kulde, Dragon of Europe spoke to the young dragon. "In light of recent events, and how you handled these events, the dragon council has decided that you may not be ready for the task of being the American dragon."
"What?" Blake asked, stunned. Sure he'd been hard on himself, but he'd come around pretty quickly.
"However," Kulde continued. "We will not make the decision. It is up to you. Consider your choice wisely."
Blake was about to refuse. Then it dawned on him. Maybe giving up his dragon powers was a good idea. Violet could become the American dragon full-time. And how many times in the past year had he wished for that? He hated being the American dragon. Especially when he was forced to do something for the greater good, but wound up looking mean to any normal person.
Blake stepped forward. "I request that the council give me one week to make my decision." he said.
Kulde glanced back at the rest of the council. They all nodded. "Granted." Kulde said.
As the Long family headed back home, Blake thought about his choice. All he had to do was say 'yes' or 'no'. Why did that have to be so hard?
