Chapter One Paley Dixon had almost earned enough gold to buy a dragon’s egg All she had to do was accomplish three more tasks for the Elder Mage and she would be on her way to Glendel Cave The light from the screen illuminated her face as she spun the wheel on the mouse and directed the Blue Elf toward the Misery Marshes Paley had stayed up all night to get this far Out side the sun began to climb in the sky In-game it was dusk and the Blue Elf was on the move Reeds rustled against her leather pants Gold coins in the pouch at her thigh rattled On the other side of Paley’s bedroom door she heard steps Her mother no doubt pausing to fret at Paley’s door 1
before moving on to wake up Paley’s nine-year old brother in the next room Paley reached for her headphones without taking her eyes from the screen to block out the loud noise her brother would be making soon This part of the game was tricky There were fire snakes The Elder Mage a tall copper-skinned man with a hooked nose and a mane of silver hair held out a piece of parchment The Blue Elf took it in her slender dark fingers and read the message Retrieve twelve hairs from the tail of a golden fox The elf bowed her blue hair like a waterfall She swept it back and turned away from the Mage and toward Paley The graphics were so real that Paley thought she caught the Blue Elf wink at her one sky-blue eye in a face as dark as night Paley winked back as if the Blue Elf were her own reflection even though her own eyes and skin were brown and her real-life ears were definitely not pointy Then the Blue Elf was off again muscles rippling as she raced across the Misery Marshes Paley reached for a bag of chips Empty She balled the foil and tossed it to the floor There was no time to stop for food The faster she got those fox hairs the closer she’d be to her dragon 2
Light flooded her room as her dad flipped on the switch and pulled the cord on the mini blind It’s time to go Paley squinted against the brightness as she scrabbled at the keyboard Can’t Got to finish So close Paley he said shut down the game Just a second she screeched sounding way too goblin even to herself Her dad picked up the potato chip wrapper It crinkled as he threw it in the trash The car is loaded I have to finish this quest We have to drop your brother off at his friend’s house and hit the road He leaned over and turned off the computer Paley roared more cave troll rumble than goblin shriek this time You can’t do that I can and I did It’s time to go he repeated plucking the headphones off her head She slammed the mouse on the desk and refused to look at him He watched her without speaking for a long time She glared at the blank screen You agreed to this Only because it was better than stupid basket ball camp 3
Her dad’s eyes narrowed and his nose pinched together like he’d stumbled into a stench pit in the Misery Marshes We’ve been through this Paley You can’t stay in this dark room playing video games forever You’ve got to make an effort She spun her desk chair around so she wouldn’t have to look at him Moving from Los Angeles to Denver right before starting middle school had been awful Her parents thought she hadn’t tried to make friends but she had At least at first But all the kids already knew one another from fifth grade and were into stuff like skiing and cyclocross It didn’t help that she was one of the only black kids at school The Blue Elf had better things to do than suck up to a bunch of obnoxious brats and it wasn’t like she expected seventh grade to be any better Right now all Paley wanted was the summer The whole summer To lose herself in the world of Dragonfyre the place where she could accomplish anything Hey you two Paley’s mom leaned into the room her smile as forced as her cheery tone Horses are waiting 4
