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  PART ONE

  A BETRAYAL

  ONE

  THE FOUR MYSTICONS flew through the air on their massive griffins, swerving this way and that. The glowing orb was up ahead. They urged the great creatures on, trying to get as close as they could to it.

  “Faster, Izzie!” Arkayna cried, holding tight to her griffin. She never took her eyes off the orb.

  Tazma, their Solon (the fancy Astromancer word for trainer), stood on a floating energy platform below. She watched the girls pursue the orb. With a wave of her hand, she split the ball into four smaller balls—one for each Mysticon.

  “Divide and conquer, Mysticons,” she called out.

  Zarya rode Archer, a griffin in the back of the flock. Beside her was Choko, a cute, fuzzy little critter who always stayed near the Mysticons. Archer flew out front, and Zarya lined up an arrow, aiming for one of the balls. But before she could fire, Arkayna swooped down in front of her. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! She took out the four orbs with precise fire bolts from her magical staff.

  “Thanks for the assist,” Zarya said, rolling her eyes.

  “You’re welcome!” Arkayna said, not realizing Zarya was being sarcastic. She steered Izzie down toward the energy platform and landed in one graceful motion. Flying griffins was second nature to her, so it was silly for her to have to practice with the others. She’d been training at the castle for years.

  Arkayna was the princess of Gemina and the daughter of Queen Goodfey. For as long as she could remember, her mother had taught her to defend the Dragon Disk, an ancient artifact kept in the castle treasury. Their clan had taken an oath to protect the Disk after the first Mysticons fell defeating Necrafa, Queen of the Undead. That had happened nearly a thousand years ago. But in just the last few weeks, the Disk had started glowing again, ready to bestow powers on a new group of warriors. The evil Dreadbane and his skeleton army had sensed a new era was coming and tried to prevent it. During an attack on the castle, he’d turned both of Arkayna’s parents into bone.

  But they’d also failed to stop the Dragon Disk from activating—and a new team of Mysticons was born! Arkayna, driven to find a way to restore her parents to normal, had quickly become their unofficial leader. With the help of the Dragon Disk, Arkayna had been transformed into the fierce, fire-bolt-shooting Mysticon Dragon Mage.

  Joining Arkayna was Emerald “Em” Goldenbraid, whom she’d known for years. Em, a dwarf from a small town outside Drake City, had been Arkayna’s griffin wrangler at the castle. Em had become Mysticon Knight, with an energy shield and a powerful sword. Their team was completed by two street urchins—an orphan named Zarya Moonwolf and Piper Willowbrook, an elf Zarya loved like a sister. Zarya had been transformed into Mysticon Ranger, with a bow and magic arrows, and Piper had become Mysticon Striker, armed with spinning hoops. Together they had to find and unify all four pieces of the Codex, the mystical book that shared power with the Dragon Disk. But the Mysticons also had to learn to work together as a team.

  They had some help with that, luckily. The Astromancers were an ancient order of mages who protected the realm, and they’d trained the first Mysticons centuries before. But they were also notoriously hard to please. Nova Terron, head of the Astromancers, had assigned Tazma to help train the new Mysticons here at the Astromancer Academy.

  “Griffin training, check!” Arkayna said as her friends landed their griffins beside her. “What’s next? At this rate, we should be through everything by noon.”

  “The Dragon Disk will activate when it senses you are ready,” Tazma said. “But there is much work to be done beforehand.”

  “Hear that, girls?” Arkayna asked. “We’re going to need some hard work from you.”

  “Whatever,” Zarya grumbled.

  Tazma glanced from the other Mysticons to Arkayna. “Perhaps a more difficult trial is required … of you,” she said.

  She led Arkayna down to an ancient stream. It was at the bottom of a steep hill, with a long staircase leading up to huge stone statues of the original Mysticons. She handed Arkayna two empty buckets and smiled.

  “Seriously? You want me to haul … water?” Arkayna asked. “Forgive me, Solon Tazma, but … why?”

  “If you want to save the king and queen,” Tazma said sharply, “you’ll have to trust me.”

  TWO

  ARKAYNA LOOKED DOWN at the buckets, then up at the countless stairs in front of her. Was Tazma serious? Why was she being punished for being the strongest and most experienced flyer? Didn’t the other girls need her help in training?

  Tazma knew Arkayna wasn’t happy, but she left her there and returned to the other three Mysticons, who soon were back to running flying drills on their griffins. Zarya, Piper, and Em dive-bombed their targets, taking them out with arrows, hoops, and power blasts. They had more time and space to execute moves without Arkayna there to steal all the attention.

  As Piper swooped down and took out an orb with her magic hoops, Tazma said, “Excellent. When the Dragon Disk senses that all of you are committed to your quest, it will reveal the first riddle. The riddles will lead you to the hidden pieces of the Codex. And each piece will give you special powers. Once all four pieces of the Codex are combined, your powers will increase one-hundred-fold. Just as the original Mysticons used the Codex to destroy old evils, like Necrafa, Queen of the Undead, you must use it to destroy new evils.”

  Piper, Em, and Zarya listened to Tazma as they flew through the air. Anticipating their new Mysticon abilities becoming even more powerful, they were more determined than ever. They homed in on three targets up ahead, imagining they were Dreadbane and his skeleton warriors. The Mysticons blasted the targets one by one, then let out a cheer.

  It felt good to soar through the air together, protecting the realm. Maybe they still needed to build up their skills, but they were starting to get the hang of this whole “hero” thing.…

  *

  The next day, Piper, Em, and Zarya were tending to their griffins. Em held up a bucket of oats in front of hers. “Come on, Topaz,” she urged. “Eat your oats.”

  “She’s probably freaked out by Dandruff the Grey,” Zarya said as she polished her griffin’s armor. She pointed up at the Star Chamber, where the Astromancers could look down on everyone in the Academy. There, in one of the small circular windows, was Nova Terron, the leader of the Astromancers. “He’s so creepy…,” Zarya muttered.

  “Good night, Nova Terron!” Piper said, knowing he couldn’t hear her. “Sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbugbears bite.”

  She waved up at him, and he slammed the window shut.

  When the Mysticons had first met Tazma, they’d thought she was unfriendly. She was blunt, cold, and could be really sharp with them. But Nova Terron made her look like the Grand Welcoming Committee of Gemina. The old Astromancer was always stewing about something.
<
br />   “Awww, he’s so cute,” Piper said.

  “At least Tazma’s not a thousand years old,” Zarya said.

  “She’s pretty amazing,” Em chimed in. “Working her way up the ranks couldn’t have been easy.”

  “Yeah, Tazma’s the best!” Piper added.

  “Tazma is the worst!” a familiar voice called out. They looked up to see Arkayna on her griffin, Izzie. She flew down and landed right beside them. “She totally hates me.”

  She hopped off Izzie and stormed toward the elevator doors. Em followed behind her, trying to calm her down. “Whoa, take a deep, cleansing breath,” Em said.

  But Arkayna just ignored her. She strode into the elevator and pushed the button to take her to the top of the tower. Em was left outside, still talking to her as the doors shut.

  “Tazma does not hate you,” Em said. “She’s probably just pushing you harder because she believes in—” Em was left staring at the elevator doors, which had shut in her face. “You,” she finished in a sad voice.

  Arkayna saw her target as soon as the doors dinged open. Tazma was studying mystic symbols in the Star Chamber, a troubled look on her face. The Dragon Disk was just a few feet away.

  Arkayna was seething. Why was the rest of the team able to practice ducking and diving on their griffins, while Arkayna had to haul water like a servant? She’d been training to protect the Dragon Disk her entire life. Wasn’t it a waste of her time and talent to have her filling a fountain?

  “Do you have any idea how hard it is to lug those buckets up those stairs?” Arkayna asked, storming toward Tazma. “My hands hurt; my legs hurt; my hair hurts! I am the Dragon Mage, the leader of the Mysticons! This is humiliating! Not to mention pointless!”

  “So this is all about you, then?” Tazma asked.

  Tazma’s brother, Malvaron, also an Astromancer and assigned to help the new Mysticons, wandered in. He immediately sensed the tension between Arkayna and Tazma. “I’ll come back later,” he said.

  “No, it’s fine!” Arkayna said. “I was just leaving.” She turned and strode off, but then the elevator doors opened again. Piper, Em, and Zarya stepped out. They’d followed Arkayna up here, worried about what she’d say to Tazma.

  Arkayna looked at her fellow Mysticons. What was she going to do? Give up? That wasn’t an option, not when her friends were counting on her.

  “I get it,” she said, turning to Tazma. “This isn’t about me. It’s about us … as a team.”

  She turned to go, but a blinding light erupted out of the Dragon Disk. The gold Disk floated off its pedestal and moved toward them.

  “The Dragon Disk senses your commitment,” Tazma said, obviously pleased.

  The Disk projected a series of letters into the air in front of them. Arkayna and the girls huddled together, trying to decipher the message.

  “Sweet—your first riddle!” Malvaron said. “Let the quest for the Codex begin.”

  THREE

  THE MYSTICONS STARED at the glowing letters hanging above the Dragon Disk.

  “I hate riddles,” Em mumbled.

  “The first piece to look for,” Arkayna said, reading the projection, “is not behind just any door.”

  Zarya continued, “The most regal of wyrms is where you’ll find…”

  “Fiery magic,” Em added, “through peace of mind.”

  “The most regal of worms?” Piper repeated, confused. “Ugh, gross!”

  “Nah, I think it means dragons,” Zarya said. “The most regal would be the—”

  “The queen of the dragons!” Arkayna said. She thought about what that could mean, remembering all the different landmarks in Drake City. “The ancient statue of Auratha, the Dragon Queen! It’s in Drake Central Station. Mount up, girls.”

  As the girls headed for the elevators, Tazma pulled Arkayna aside. “Well done,” she whispered. “You’ve worked hard for this. Just make sure your team works as hard as you do.”

  “Thanks for pushing me, Solon Tazma,” Arkayna said. “I won’t let you down.”

  “May the Star of Gygax guide you on your quest!” Tazma called out to the girls. Her expression soured as she turned to her brother. “And may it guide you over a cliff.”

  Malvaron ignored his sister as he watched the Mysticons depart. “Not bad, Dragon Mage. You survived my sister,” he called out to them. “Be careful out there.”

  *

  The Mysticons cut through the night on their griffins, getting closer and closer to Drake Central Station. It floated high up among the skyscrapers, with elevated trains zooming in and out of it. When they were within a few feet of the station, they jumped off and zip-lined down a nearby energy cable, landing on the D-train platform. They surveyed the scene.

  “The statue of the Dragon Queen,” Arkayna said, spotting it in the distance.

  “Looks like we’re not the only ones interested in it,” Zarya whispered.

  Two shadowy figures were watching the station. Choko growled.

  “They look like some kind of … Shadow Mages,” Piper said.

  Em narrowed her eyes. “They must be looking for the Codex, too. But how did they know the Codex piece was here?”

  “We’ll just have to beat them to it,” Arkayna said. She repeated the words of the riddle. “The most regal of wyrms is where you’ll find … fiery magic through peace of mind.”

  “It’s messing with my mind,” Em said, rubbing her temples. “I want this riddle out of my head. Now.”

  “You’re a genius, Em!” Arkayna gasped. “Through peace of mind. The Codex piece is in the dragon’s head! Let’s go, girls!”

  The Mysticons ran toward the statue and flipped up to its right wing. Another flip brought them to the statue’s head. But there was no obvious trapdoor or way to get in. Arkayna would have to rappel down to get a better look at its face.

  Piper, Em, and Zarya quickly rigged a pulley so they could lower Arkayna safely. She gripped the rope and walked down the statue’s face. She quickly noticed a weird gem in its forehead.

  “Hold it steady,” she called out. As she touched the gem, she realized it was an illusion. It was actually a window into a small room. “It must be in here. I said, hold it steady!”

  “Relax, princess,” Zarya snapped. They were doing the best they could. Why was Arkayna always so hard on them?

  Arkayna was anything but relaxed. “If we unify the Codex,” she said to herself, “we might be able to save my parents.”

  She reached in, grabbed something from inside the room, and pulled it out. It was the first Codex piece, a green book that held some of the realm’s most important secrets. She was about to call up to the others when the Shadow Mages blasted her with dark energy. The Codex piece fell from her hand and landed on top of the D train below. The train immediately pulled out of the station, with the two Shadow Mages following it.

  “Let’s go, girls!” Arkayna unhooked herself from the rope and somersaulted down to the top of the train, the three other Mysticons right behind her.

  FOUR

  THE SHADOW MAGES were already on the train. There were six of them now, all making their way toward the Codex piece—ahead of the Mysticons. Arkayna kept her eyes on the Codex and struggled to hang on as the train sped on wires high above the city.

  “I’ve got this,” Arkayna said as she launched a fire bolt at one of the Shadow Mages. She’d aimed well, but then the train changed directions, and the fire bolt zoomed past the mages. Arkayna struggled to keep her balance.

  “You sure?” Zarya challenged. She launched arrows, blasting two mages off the train. “That’s one you owe me, Dragon Mage.”

  Before Arkayna could reply, the four remaining mages turned on the Mysticons, ready for battle.

  “How did these guys know the Codex piece was in the statue?” Em asked as she brought her sword down again and again, fighting off the mages.

  “Yeah, fishy…” Piper flipped backward, avoiding a blast of dark energy. Then she crouched low and kicked at a m
age. “Very fishy.”

  “Can we please focus on getting the Codex back?” Arkayna said, fighting off her own mage.

  One of the Shadow Mages dove for the Codex piece, and Zarya blasted the mage back. But the energy was so strong that both the mage and the Codex piece went flying off the train, down to a passing train below. Arkayna didn’t hesitate. She jumped through the air and just barely caught the other train. She clung to the back of it as it barreled off in another direction, leaving her without her team.

  “Arkayna!” Em shouted after her. “Why does she keep doing that?”

  Using all her strength, Arkayna pulled herself onto the top of the train. She grabbed the Codex piece and held it high in the air. “I got it!” she called out. “I got the first piece!”

  She turned back to show the others, but a Shadow Mage was right behind her. Its long, sharp claws reached out for her. It pulled its arm back, about to slice her in two, when poof! It disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

  Arkayna looked up at Tazma, who was floating above the speeding train. Arkayna had never been so grateful to see someone in her entire life. “Tazma,” she said. “Thank you.”

  The other three Mysticons landed on the top of the train with their griffins, whom they’d summoned once they’d realized Arkayna was in danger. They were happy to see Tazma, too. It finally seemed like the battle had turned in their favor.

  “No,” Tazma said. “Thank you, Dragon Mage. You have been … my greatest student.”

  She threw her head back and let out an evil laugh. Then she snatched the Codex piece out of Arkayna’s hands. Long, dark tendrils rose up around the Mysticons, wrapping them and their griffins in Tazma’s dark magic. Arkayna struggled to get free, but she couldn’t. “What’s … what’s going on? Tazma?” she asked helplessly.

  Black smoke and dark energy swirled around Tazma as she transformed into an evil mage. “Tazma Grimm,” she said, introducing herself. “Mistress of the Shadows.”

  “This was all just a game for you?” Arkayna asked. “You helped me so you could betray me?”

  “Nothing personal, Dragon Mage,” Tazma said. “But I toiled for years under the Astromancers. Slaved away for nothing. Now I have the power. And I’ll destroy them before the very eyes of their sacred heroes.”