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“This is the way to the evil-sealing tower?” Leila asked and turned her head towards Grimmy. The two dragons were standing over a large hole that had opened up in the middle of the palace’s living room. Behind them, Gloria and Ramon were peeking around their parents’ legs to get a better view at the entrance that had opened. And behind the two baby dragons, Vur was sitting next to Tafel on an earthen construct with six legs. The halls were too long, and dragons covered much more distance with one of their steps compared to a human’s; Tafel didn’t want to half-jog, half-walk to keep up, leading to the creation of the earthen mount.
On the other side of the hole, Gren was standing next to Kondra, giving the holy dragon a mean look. After glaring at Kondra for a bit longer, Gren turned her head towards Leila. “Yes,” she said. “This is the entrance to the evil-sealing tower.” She glanced at Kondra from the corner of her eyes. “I’m not sure why your mother insists on staying though.”
Kondra snorted. “Do you think I’m just going to let my grandchildren wander into a such a dangerous place unsupervised? Of course not!”
“Didn’t you come here to find Lulu, Mom?” Leila asked. “Shouldn’t you be more worried about her?”
Kondra waved her paw. “Since I’m already here, I’ll stay until I’m absolutely sure my grandchildren are safe.”
Ramon poked Gloria’s side with his claw. “Aren’t we already supervised?”
Gloria fidgeted and glanced at her brother. She whispered, “Grandma Kondra doesn’t trust Grandma Gren to keep us safe.”
Ramon scratched his head. “I thought the evil-sealing tower was supposed to be safe.”
“Sshh!” Gloria raised her claw to her lips and shushed her brother.
Ramon’s eyes widened. If it was before they had met their grandmothers, Gloria would’ve never tried to shush him! He snorted and turned his head away. His gaze landed on his grandfathers, the two of them still watching moving images being projected from the Recordkeeper. Ramon gulped as their faint laughter reached his ears. He’d much rather be doing that than waiting around here.
“Don’t get distracted, Ramon,” Leila said and tugged on Ramon’s wing. She gestured towards the hole in the middle of the room with her head. A gust of cold air brushed past Ramon’s body, causing him to shiver. He swore he saw a pair of floating pink eyes staring at him, hovering just over the entrance.
“What is that?” he asked and pointed.
“What do you mean?” Leila asked.
Ramon glanced at the people and dragons surrounding him. They were all looking at him as if he were crazy. “There are eyes staring at me,” Ramon said and swallowed. “They’re pink, and they look really weird. The black part is horizontal instead of vertical.”
Gren blinked. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure!” Ramon said. He stared at the eyes, and one of them winked at him. Then, they both disappeared. “They’re gone now.”
“Pop quiz time,” Grimmy said. “Which sealed evil has pink eyes?”
Gloria and Ramon exchanged glances with each other. Then, they turned back to look at Vur and Tafel. Tafel scratched her head and shrugged.
“Do you know?” Gloria asked.
“I don’t think we learned anything about sealed evils, right?” Ramon asked back.
“Kozabokget.”
Everyone turned to look at Vur—even Stella crawled out of his chest to look up at him. Vur cleared his throat. “Kozabokget has pink eyes,” he said.
“Where did you learn this?” Tafel asked.
Vur tilted his head. “From the stone tablets.”
“I read the exact same tablets as you did, and there was nothing about a Kozabogetti or however you pronounce it,” Tafel said. “Even if you can learn while you’re sleeping, you can’t learn something I didn’t show you, right?”
Vur shrugged. “Am I right?” he asked Grimmy.
Grimmy scratched his chin. Then, he glanced at his mom. “Well? Is he right?”
“Don’t tell me you forgot the characteristics of the ancient evils,” Gren said and narrowed her eyes at her son. She snorted before looking away at Vur. “Yes. Kozabokget is the sealed evil with pink, goatlike eyes.”
Question marks popped up all around Tafel’s head as she glanced between Gren and Vur. Although she had barely accepted being weaker than Vur, how could she also be less well-learned than him? Did that make any sense? For goodness’ sake, he spent all his time sleeping!
“Oh!” Stella’s eyes lit up. “I know how Vur knows this!” She grinned at Tafel. “Remember that time you took a break and Emile was messing around? He switched out the tablets when you weren’t looking.”
Tafel’s brow furrowed. Something like that had happened; in fact, it happened on multiple occasions. Emile was a very fidgety bird. If he didn’t have anything to eat, he needed someone to bother. “So, Vur learned about the sealed evils in the few minutes I wasn’t paying attention?”
“That’s right,” Stella said and nodded. She glanced at Grimmy. “Do we get anything for being right? Err, I mean, does Vur get a prize for being the best student?”
Grimmy chuckled. “Don’t forget what kind of dragons we are,” he said and smiled at Stella. “We’re cursed dragons. We don’t believe in positive reinforcement.” He glanced at Ramon and Gloria. “The ones who get the quiz wrong should be grateful they aren’t being punished.”
Gren reached over and slapped Grimmy’s snout. “Don’t threaten my grandchildren.”
Grimmy blinked and rubbed his nose. “What? Aren’t I just raising them the same way you raised me?”
Gren snorted and glared at Grimmy. “I never threatened you when you were little.”
“What about the big stick?” Ramon asked, but his voice shrank to less than a whisper before he even finished his question. He shrank his neck down into his shoulders. Since everyone was talking, he had almost forgotten the most important rule: if he didn’t want to be targeted, he had to keep his mouth shut.
Leila coughed twice, clearing the tension between Grimmy and Gren. “What about Kozabobo or whatever? Why did Ramon see those eyes?”
“It means the seal trapping her has weakened,” Gren said and frowned. “Keep your wits about you, everyone. This trip may be more dangerous than we think.”
Ramon resisted the urge to raise his front paw. He really didn’t want to go anymore; after all, the eyes were only targeting him! However, if he asked to be excused, who knew what other kind of educational tool Grandma Gren would whip out to threaten him with? He’d rather face the ancient evil than his grandmother. At least the pink eyes seemed nice.
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Do you think I’m just going to let my grandchildren wander into “a” such a dangerous place unsupervised