Book Seven: Chapter 1

Mike knelt at the bottom of a slide, his hands on the cool metal. The hot summer day had been chased off by a sudden thunderstorm summoned up by the dragon Quetzalli, who sat in human form on a nearby swing. The playground was empty now, save for Mike’s family. At the top of a slide, a young boy stood nervously eyeing the slide.

“C’mon, Callisto, you can do it. It’s actually a lot of fun.”

His son shook his head nervously, causing lanky hair to blow across his face in the breeze. “It’s too scary, and I’m too high!”

“C’mon, you should try it.” Mike patted the slide again. “That bracelet Ratu gave you will only last another hour, and then you’ll have to wait for her to recharge it.”

Callisto held up his wrist to look at the bracelet. What appeared to be a simple slap bracelet was in fact a magical device that the naga Ratu had crafted to grant Callisto a human form. The boy was actually a centaur, and had spent the past year espousing interest in learning how t