Reena gawked at the screen in horror, the ominous red dot flashing in time with her panicked pulse.

“What is it?” She leaned closer to the screen, as though she could see details in the flashing dot. “Is it a monster? A spaceship? What, Bast?”

Bast scrambled across the computer terminal until he found whatever he was looking for. He poked a few buttons, and a readout popped up on the screen. Reena skimmed the characters. They were in Latin, but they didn’t make any sense.

Bast muttered under his breath and pushed a few more buttons until the language on the screen shifted back to the original gibberish it had been.

He sighed. “It’s an usathana.”

“What?” Mica took Reena’s arm. “What is that?”

Bast turned to face them, expression sour. “It’s a dragon, if you must know.”

“Like you?” Reena looked back at the screen.

“Not like me.” Bast shook his head, his ears twitching. “Usathana are bred on the dark side of the Moon, the shadowed side. They are brutal and vicious, mindless creatures with no soul or intellect. They only exist for destruction and death.”

“Well, that’s cheerful.” Mica scowled.

“What is it doing in Wichita?” Reena pointed to the screen. “Why did it just show up?”

Bast regarded her calmly. “It has likely been there all the time, my lady.” His little white eyebrows drew together over his snout. “I assume our transport here to the Ikroza woke it up.”

Reena clutched Mica’s hand. “It’s after us?”

Bast scooted closer to Reena. “After you, amiirad. Do you not yet understand?”

“Me?”

Bast waved a paw at Mica dismissively. “I am certain your little friend is capable, but it is you who matter in this situation. You are the Heart of Arawelo. You must assume the mantle of your father’s sister and become a Dragon of the Diamond Throne.”

“Whoa,” Mica whispered. “Fancy.”

Reena glared at her. “Mica. Really. Not helping.”

“But it’s fancy. I wanna be fancy.”

Bast snorted and leaped off the computer terminal. “Come with me. Bring the Heart of Arawelo.”

He galloped into the other chamber, his bushy tail bouncing as he ran. Snatching the glowing pink jewel off the computer terminal, Reena ran after him, still holding Mica’s hand. Bast led them to the dragon armor from before, the pink and bronze one.

Bast stood up beside it with his paws on the glass. “You must don it, my lady, and we must go into battle.”

“Battle?” Reena choked, looking back and forth between the armor behind the glass and Bast at her feet. “I don’t do battle. I’ve never done battle—not like battle-battle. I play chess.”

Bast turned to look up at her. “The Heart of Arawelo has already accepted you.” He nodded to the shimmering pink gemstone in Reena’s hand. “You are the only one who can wield the Dragon Soul of Arawelo, the mighty Ikrele Elivuthayo, and restore the honor of your world and family.”

Reena knelt and fisted her hands in the fabric of her shorts. “Bast, listen to me.” Her voice shook. “I want to help. I’ll do all I can. But I can’t fight. I’m not a fighter.”

“Reena.” Mica sat next to her. “Yes, you are. You’re awesome. You’re a Peregrine Agent.”

“No, I’m not.” Reena’s lower lip trembled. “I failed the filed agent exam, Mica.”

Mica caught her breath in surprise.

“I failed.” Tears burned in Reena’s eyes. “I’m not strong enough to be on the field with agents like Barb and Jim. I’m not fast enough or big enough. I’m too small to do anything but program and research and support other people.”

Reena’s voice caught in her throat as the truth spilled out.

“I’ll never be strong enough,” she said. “Not like my father. Not like Tay or Cecelia. I’m just me, and I can’t fight.”

Slowly, Mica reached through the cold air and took her hand, squeezing tightly.

“Reena,” Mica said softly, “you fight all the time. You’re the strongest person I know.” Mica beamed at her, eyes shining. “You never give up, and you’re always nice to people—even the people who aren’t nice to you. That’s the kind of fighting that matters. That’s the best kind of fighting there—fighting to be kind.”

Reena sniffled and wiped the tears off her cheeks. “There’s a vicious monster dragon headed to attack our city, Mica. I don’t think I can kill it with kindness.”

Mica raised her eyebrows at Bast. “Call me crazy, but I don’t think you have to do anything.” She shifted her gaze to the armor behind the glass. “You have armor. And a dragon!” Mica’s freckled face became a sun. “You don’t have to fight. You can just let them fight for you.”

Reena blinked at her best friend, hearing Jim’s voice at the back of her mind.

It’s better this way, Reena. Jim had said. Trust me. Being the smartest or the strongest isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Just be good at what you’re good at.

He hadn’t been sad when he told her she’d failed the exam; he’d been happy, almost relieved. She’d thought it was what he expected, that she would fail, but Jim never expected her to do anything but succeed.

Mica took Reena’s other hand with a reluctant smile. “You can’t be good at everything, Reena,” Mica shrugged. “Save some for the rest of us mere mortals, huh?”

Reena wrapped her arms around Mica’s neck and held on to her, eyes squeezed shut. She should have told Mica sooner. Mica always had a way of looking at things that dragged the sun out from behind the clouds.

Bast cleared his throat. “Not to interrupt this highly emotional moment,” his tone sounded irritated, “but your pale, skinny friend is right.”

Reena pulled back from Mica and looked down at him. “I don’t have to fight?”

“No,” Bast shook his head again. “You must fight. But you needn’t use your own strength. That is why you have armor.” He pointed to the glassed-in chamber and the bronze-and-pink dragon armor that gazed down at them. “And you needn’t battle a dragon—not when you have me. We must work together to bring this threat against your city to an end.” Bast hesitated. “But you will need to be present. I cannot promise that you will not be injured.” The little furry creature crawled to Reena’s knees and stared up into her face. “But I can promise that whatever battle you face, I will face it with you, and my strength will be yours.”

Reena squeezed Mica’s hand.

She took a long, deep breath. And she held her hand out to Bast, who took it with his paws.

“All right,” she said. “Show me what I have to do.”

Bast shooed Mica away with his paws, and she giggled and stepped back from Reena’s side.

“Take the Heart of Arawelo in your hands.” Bast cupped his paws.

Reena stood up and did as he showed her. The pink gem flashed and sparkled with a million points of light inside.

“To bond yourself to the armor, you must speak the pledge,” Bast said. “And then the armor will come to you whenever you call it.”

Reena nodded. “What’s the pledge?”

“Speak your name.”

“I, Sareena Ellis—”

Bast nodded in approval and shivered his tail. “Declare your vow to bear the Dragon Soul of Arawelo.”

Reena licked her lips. “I, Sareena Ellis, vow to bear the Dragon Soul of Arawelo.”

The moment the words left her mouth, the jewel in her hands burst into pink shifting light, filling the entire chamber with rose-colored radiance.

“Pledge your sword to protect.”

Reena turned her eyes to the armor and watched as the lights around them pulsed in time with her heartbeat. “I pledge my sword to protect.”

“Your heart to serve, your mind to wisdom.”

“I pledge my heart to serve.” Reena trembled as a wave of heat washed over her skin, “and my mind to wisdom.”

“Your life for the Diamond Throne.”

Energy spilled out of the pink jewel in her hands, lifting her braids off her shoulders and rippling her clothing in its power. “My life,” she whispered, watching the eyes of the Dragon Armor sparkle, “for the Diamond Throne.”

“Repeat,” Bast said. “Ade akhululwe—”

“Ade akhululwe—”

“—okanye afe.”

“—okanye afe.”

The pulsing jewel Reena held erupted in a blaze of fiery light, sweeping up her arms and over her shoulders. Searing heat followed the pink fire, surrounding her completely but not burning her. In the swirling tunnel of fire, Reena felt a sigh of relief in the back of her mind, as though a powerful force had been holding its breath and suddenly released it.

With a blow that felt like thunder, the fire vanished.

Reena stood in place, unmoving, uncertain of what had happened. Nothing had changed, but everything felt different somehow. Her skin tingled, and the dark chamber was brighter. No, not brighter–a different color?

Reena blinked at Mica, who stood staring at her slack-jawed.

“What?” Reena asked and looked down.

Her stomach flipped.

“Oh.”

She wore armor.

The pink and bronze armor from the glassed-in case had covered her from head to toe. She wore the helmet shaped like a dragon’s face. Scaled armor hung from her shoulders and protected her forearms, her shins, and her hips. A strange fabric patterned with dragon scales protected her skin from the armor itself, but it was cool to the touch, like metal.

“Wow,” she whispered.

Bast bounded off the floor and leaped up to her shoulder. “It suits you well, amiirad.”

“How do you feel?” Mica took a step toward her.

“Weird,” Reena said, holding her gloved hands up to examine the metallic not-fabric between her fingers. “Very weird.”

“You look epic.” Mica grinned.

Reena turned to face Bast who perched on her shoulder plate. “Are you sure about this?”

Bast nodded. “I am. You unbound me from my prison of stone. The Heart of Arawelo accepted you. The Dragon Soul of Arawelo has embraced you.” He bowed his furry head to her. “Lady Sareena Ellis, Inamba Yeziko, I am yours to command.”

Reena patted him on the top of his head, and this time he didn’t swat her away.

“And you’re going to help me, right?”

Bast smiled. “Always.”

Reena nodded. “Okay.”

Bast sat back on her shoulder, blinking at her. Reena looked at Mica, who was still grinning, bouncing excitedly from foot to foot.

“Okay,” Reena said again.

“Yes.” Bast bowed.

Mica bounced.

Reena raised her eyebrows at the red panda before she remembered he couldn’t see her expressions in the helmet. “Bast?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“How do we go back to Earth?”

Bast shifted his weight slightly. “You must take us.”

Reena sighed. I was afraid of that. “Bast, I don’t know how to do that.”

The red panda rolled his eyes. “Ai-yah. This is going to take a lot of work.”