Free A Dragonlings' Magical Christmas by S. E. Smith Page B

Zohar.”
    Bálint looked at where Amber and Jade were leaning half in, half out of the raft so they could make faces in the water. His eyes moved to where Alice was sitting before they returned to Roam. He looked back and forth several times before he finally answered.
    “Alice isn’t like Amber and Jade,” Bálint said. “Neither are Spring and Phoenix. They’s don’t beat us up.”
    Roam glanced over at where Spring was sitting. She looked up and caught him staring at her. Roam flushed and growled when she stuck her tongue out at him.
    “Well, at least Amber and Jade is good at catching fishes,” Roam admitted reluctantly, turning to look at Bálint. “Buts after we saves Christmas, I’s not being friends with girls no more.”
    Bálint didn’t say anything. Instead, he watched as Zohar ordered the symbiots to move them toward the shore again. Amber and Jade didn’t wait for the raft to touch the bank. They shifted and fell out in the shallow water, splashing each other as they waded toward the shore.
    *.*.*
    The small group moved across the rocky ground toward the tall forest of trees. The sun was beginning to sink further down and there was a chill in the air. The symbiots, tired from their journey, moved slowly along with the group.
    “I don’t wants to go in there,” Jabir whimpered, looking at the dark opening. “It’s going to be darks and there might be monsters hiding in the trees.”
    “Monsters!” Amber and Jade whispered, their eyes wide with excitement.
    “Real ones that will try to eats us?” Jade asked in awe.
    Zohar turned and scowled at Jabir. He folded his arms across his chest and stared at the youngest dragonling before he turned to look at Amber and Jade. A low snarl escaped him when they tried to move around him. Both girls looked at him in surprise and shrunk back to stare at him in confusion.
    “There’s no such things as monsters,” Zohar said. “You’s two have to behave.”
    “Why?” Amber asked in confusion. “Don’t you’s want to find a monster?”
    “I says there’s no such thing,” Zohar growled in a firm voice. “My mommy and daddy said there wasn’t, so there.”
    Jade folded her arms and stuck her bottom lip out. “I heard’s your daddy say there was monsters in the palace,” she said stubbornly.
    “Yeah, you and Amber,” Roam muttered under his breath. “That’s what my daddy says.”
    Jade turned and glared at Roam. “Takes it back,” she growled.
    Roam glared back at Jade. “No,” he said. “It’s true. You’s and Amber are always getting into things and beating Zohar up.”
    “We’s just curious,” Amber retorted, stepping up next to her sister. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Mommy and daddy says there ain’t.”
    “You’s monsters,” Roam snarled. “You’s always making noises and nevers sleep.”
    “Argh!” Jade hissed, shifting and tackling Roam.
    Roam rolled in the sand along the edge of the woods and shifted into his tiger. Amber, seeing that Roam had twisted and managed to get on top of Jade, shifted and jumped on Roam’s back, knocking him to the side. The two rolled several feet until Roam got his back paws under Amber’s belly and pushed her off. He rolled to the side to get up, but Jade tackled him before he could get all the way to his feet. Amber, mad at being pushed, grabbed Roam’s long tail and bit down on it.
    “Ouch!” Roam cried out, shifting back to his two-legged form. “That hurts!”
    Jade shifted and held Roam down while Amber wiped frantically at her tongue, trying to get the cat hair off of it. Roam started crying when Jade hit him in the mouth with her head when she tried to see what her sister was doing. What none of them expected was the sudden explosion of white, pink, and gold as Spring hit Jade from the side, knocking her into Amber.
    Jade and Amber watched as Spring put herself between them and Roam. Her head was down and a low, menacing growl was escaping her. The small group