Chapter Three: More Hatchings

Adair: I watched little Trahern sleeping and smiled. He was so cute! I went to check on my own egg, and heard a gasp of surprise. I ran into Amanda's room, and saw her staring at her egg, which was moving rather a lot. I was just going to call the others when it stopped.

Amanda sighed. "Bummer. I was hoping she was hatching!" I raised an eyebrow. "She?" Amanda blushed.

"Well, it is a purple egg." I grinned and shook my head.

Suddenly Justin shouted, "IT'S HATCHING! Hurry, guys, my dragon's hatching!" I ran into Justin's room with the others just in time to see a little red dragon flop out of its egg into Justin's arms. "Watcha going to name him?" Amara asked after a shocked second.

Justin smiled at the little red dragon. "Byron." he said. Byron had black spikes running down his neck, and black wing bones.

Amara nodded, but her eyes looked confused. "Byron? Okay." She walked out of the room dejectedly. I grinned. Amara was definitely jealous. Byron made a hungry noise and Justin took him downstairs to eat.

I got on the Internet and looked up Dragons. There, I found at least ten entries. One said that dragons have slow metabolisms and only need to eat once a month. That was good, considering that we were going to have six. Another said that cooked meat is best, but that they prefer it raw. I gagged. "Yuck." How they knew what dragons ate is beyond me, but they were right.

After logging off the Internet, I went back upstairs. Amanda was still sitting on her bed, looking at the purple egg dejectedly. Suddenly, it moved. It got a tiny crack. It moved again, and the crack lengthened. I yelled for everyone to come quick, that Amanda's egg was hatching. Justin came running back up the stairs, still holding Byron. Jonathan ran out of his room, with Trahern stumbling along behind. I guess he wasn't very good at walking yet. At the precise moment Alina arrived, the egg split evenly in two pieces, and the little purple dragon looked up at us with large, golden eyes. She had a row of light gray-green spikes on her neck, and the bones in her wings were the same color.

"Hi, Fabian!" Amanda cooed at her. Fabian looked at Trahern and Byron and flapped her large purple wings. I believe they were longer than her body. Trahern stretched his neck out and touched noses with Fabian. Byron made a plaintive noise, so Justin knelt next to the other dragons and let him stick his nose next to theirs. It was a cute sight.

For a brief second, I wished that my own egg would hurry up and hatch. I hoped it'd be a girl. Arra, I thought. What a nice name. If it wasn't a girl, I'd have to get out my baby names book. I had scrounged it up in one of Mom's boxes. I stared wistfully at the dragons, sighing as Trahern licked Fabian. Fabian pulled back and squawked in surprise.

Since she was really young and not in control of her balance yet, she fell over backwards, beating her wings in a vain effort to turn herself over. Amanda tentatively reached out and flipped her over. Fabian cooed and snuggled next to Amanda.

"You know," Jonathan said. "I do believe she likes you."

Amanda grinned. "Yes, I know." Then she picked Fabian up and took her downstairs. I heard an

"Another one?"

and grinned. "I don't think mom's happy."

Then, Mom gasped. "Aw, she is really cute." I shook my head.

Finally, I had to go to bed. I curled up next to the egg, hoping it wouldn't hatch in the middle of the night. As I started to fall asleep, I smiled, remembering when Dad had gotten home from his overtime. Three little dragons had greeted him at the door, cooing and rubbing against his legs. He had been very surprised, indeed.

The next morning, Alina poked her head in my room, followed by a little gray head. "Trahern, go see Jonathan."

Trahern pulled his head out of my sight, then tripped. Jonathan's sleepy voice said, "Trahern, did you fall over again?"

Trahern made a pitiful noise that managed to say, "Help me!" I heard a bed creak, then padded footsteps coming to Trahern's aid.

Alina smiled back at Trahern, then said, "Hey Adair, what do you want for breakfast, blueberry pancakes or apple cinnamon pancakes?" I chose apple cinnamon, and Alina thundered downstairs to tell Mom.

I got up and dressed quickly, because it was kind of chilly in the attic. I went downstairs and ate, then came back upstairs. I passed Jacob's room and gasped. "JACOB!" Everyone, including Mom and Dad, came running.

Jacob brushed past everyone and picked up the egg. Dad gasped as it got a crack, then the top popped off. The little golden dragon poked his head out of the hole, and chirped loudly. Trahern, Byron and Fabian all went over and greeted the new arrival. Jacob promptly named the little guy Dion.

When he was finished feeding him, he laid Dion on his bed and arranged a bunch of pillows around him to keep Dion from rolling off. Dion had silver spikes and silver wing bones.