by Liz Flanagan
One little girl laughed louder than the others. She looked about eleven years old, with glossy chestnut plaits down her back, a wide dimpling smile, and eyes that glittered with mischief.
Let it be her! Milla thought. She reminded Milla of herself, when she had nothing and wanted everything.
The girl pulled a little pipe from the pocket of her dress and played a three-note trill. She stopped, listening.
The dragon raised its little head high and fluted the notes back to her.
And Milla saw their fledgling bond: a ribbon of crimson-and-yellow fire that danced out from each of them. It met in the air and redoubled, stronger now, passing from one to the other.
No one else seemed to see the dragonbond as Milla did: careful questioning had proved that. She didn’t know what that meant, so she kept it quiet for now.
The girl put her hand out, calling, “Charo?”
The dragon trotted clumsily over to her and climbed onto the girl’s lap. She bent her head, whispering to him, tears in her eyes.
The rest of the young people sank back on their heels, disappointed.
“Don’t give up!” Isak told them. “There are five more today. Be patient and listen to your heart. Soon, there will be another clutch of eggs. Soon the Dragon School will be full again.”
Milla thought of Kara and whispered, “You did it. The dragons are back for good.”
Iggie rumbled his approval.
Thank you to my brilliant editor Rosie Fickling, who has worked very hard with me on this. If you hadn’t loved this book so much and believed in it so deeply, we wouldn’t have reached the finish line.
And everyone at David Fickling Books (in alphabetical order this time): Bronwen Bennie, Cecilia Busby, Jasmine Denholm, Phil Earle, Caro Fickling, David Fickling, Alison Gadsby, Anthony Hinton, Sabina Maharjan, Simon Mason, Carolyn McGlone, Bella Pearson. I count myself so lucky to work with you all.
Thank you to Angelo Rinaldi and Paul Duffield for the stunning artwork that graces the cover and interior of this book. I’m dazzled by your talents.
Thank you to Sam Palazzi for your energy and enthusiasm, and to everyone at Scholastic who helped my dragons fly across the Atlantic, and become Legends of the Sky.
Thank you to my agent Ben Illis, for years of support.
Huge thanks go to Tara Guha, for arranging the writing retreat where this story began, and for reading dozens of drafts along the way. And my other writing group friends: Sally Ashworth, Brianna Bourne, Kate Sims—thank you for your insight and encouragement. Thank you to my dear friend Elizabeth Bananuka for all your support, and for our conversations about representation and diversity: you’re an inspiration to me.
Thank you to all the bloggers, teachers, librarians, and booksellers who have supported this book from its early days.
Thank you to Sophie Anderson and her daughter, Nicky, for reading and responding to this when it mattered most, and especially for the wonderful testimonial! Thank you, Francesca Chessa for beta reading for me and advising on Italian names: Grazie mille! To my fellow BIA writers, Lu Hersey, Karen Minto, and Kirsten Wild: thank you for reading and sending me your thoughtful feedback. And to Tiffany Murray, thank you for reading it way back when: it got there in the end! And to the wonderful and talented Chloe Daykin, thank you for the friendship, support, and many sanity-saving emails and phone calls; you are such fine company on this writing journey.
Thank you to all my friends, especially to Angela, Helen, Jennie, and Kirsty for years of encouragement and Friday lunchtime chats. Thank you to my beloved family: especially to Molly for painting the island of Arcosi so beautifully; and to Hanna for reading this over and over and telling me exactly what you thought, for the Minecraft version of the island, and for the gorgeous felt dragons. Thank you, CK, for everything, down to imagining the geology of this world—what would I do without you?
Liz Flanagan adores animals and would have loved to find a hidden bag of dragon eggs as a child. She has to make do with her cat, dog, and small flock of chickens. She also likes to travel and has taken inspiration from many of the beautiful places she has visited, mixing them all up into the imaginary island of Arcosi.
Liz teaches creative writing and lives with her family in Hebden Bridge, England. You can find out more at lizflanagan.co.uk or by following Liz on Twitter at @lizziebooks.
Text copyright © 2018, 2019 by Liz Flanagan
Interior illustrations © 2019 by Paul Duffield
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920, by arrangement with David Fickling Books, Oxford, England. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. DAVID FICKLING BOOKS and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of David Fickling Books.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2018 as Dragon Daughter by David Fickling Books, 31 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2NP.
davidficklingbooks.com
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
First edition, October 2019
Jacket illustration © 2018 by Angelo Rinaldi
Jacket design by Shivana Sookdeo and Stephanie Yang
Author photograph © 2019 by Sarah Mason Photography
e-ISBN 978-1-338-34970-2
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
