Dragon Dreams: Book 2: Prophecy of the Dragons Read Online Free

an odd moment came up where Melissa actually did expect a response.
    They wandered into practically every store, and she still had no clue what to get Ben. There were plenty of possibilities, things he would absolutely love, but not that perfect thing. Last year had been easier. They'd bought each other cheesy dragon and knight t-shirts and iTunes gift cards. Those had been nice, and she still wore her shirt and listened to the Dollface Mirror album she'd purchased. This year, though, needed to be extra special. Especially since he had hinted he'd gotten her something perfect.
    As they headed towards the food court for lunch (Melissa needed to eat at the Mongolian-style grill because it was the trendy choice), a shadowy figure caught Andi's eye. When she looked closer, she saw how apropos that description was. It was a shadow, and it moved through space like a ghost. It was humanoid in shape and size, but its arms were much longer, like that of an ape. It glided along with the help of its oversized arms, but with a grace that reminded her of a cat. Instead of dodging around people, it passed right through them. Neither it nor they noticed. While it made no move towards her, she knew it was here because of her. Was it for a specific purpose, or just randomly drawn to her power?
    "And we have to get Boba Tea at Teriyaki Hut. Jessica — you know her, right? — says it's the best thing she's tried in ages, and that everybody should get one. So of course I tried one, and O-M-G she was so right. It was amazing."
    Andi wanted to tell her she'd had Boba Tea in Japan, but doubted Melissa would make the connection between Japan, Boba Tea, and the Teriyaki Hut. Besides, more shadow figures had popped up, and while they still hadn't done anything except keep pace, she knew they were up to something. As they passed by Paper Paradise, she grabbed Melissa's arm and ducked in, wondering what the shadows would do.
    "Why are we going in here? This store is so lame. Ooh, scrapbooking stuff!"
    Andi rolled her eyes as Melissa gravitated over to the far wall. She then turned her attention back to the shadow figures and saw they hadn't followed. She let out a deep breath, looked around the store, and smiled. She'd found Ben's perfect Christmas present.
    When she'd met him, his parents were constantly at each other's throats, so much so that they paid little attention to him. He'd been a video game player ahead of anything else, meaning he basically ignored his schoolwork. Since then, his parents had mended their differences, and they and Andi had weaned him off the video games and pushed him to become a better student. Because he desired to please his now-attentive parents (and lived to please Andi, as she did him), he thrived academically this past year. Instead of spending what little free-time he had blasting pixilated creatures, he spent it developing a love of writing. While his short stories and poems were so far amateurish at best, he showed a real talent, and would only get better. Andi wanted to do everything she could to nurture that. Hence the perfect gift.
    "Are you buying something for your grandma?" Melissa had grown bored with the scrapbooking supplies and was back, presumably to pull Andi out of the store as soon as possible. "I thought we were here for Ben."
    Andi held up the journal with a drawing of planets and stars on the cover and the fancy gold-plated pen with the refillable cartridge.
    "These are for Ben. They're his perfect gift."
    Melissa scoffed and walked with her to the register. "Whatever. Like he even wants that. It's going to be so sad when he loves my gift way more than yours."
    "You got him a gift?"
    "Yes, and it's a good thing I did. He'll get so much more use out of my Wailing Banshees concert tee than…those." She scrunched up her nose as she pointed to the journal and pen.
    "I don't think he got you anything."
    "Of course he didn't," Melissa said, as if Andi were the slowest girl in the whole mall. "He'd know