New Dragon City, page 1
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2022 by Marianne Mancusi Beach
Cover art © 2022 by Vivienne To. Cover design by Jenny Kimura.
Cover copyright © 2022 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Mancusi, Mari, author.
Title: New dragon city / Mari Mancusi.
Description: First edition. | New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2022. | Audience: Ages 8–12. | Summary: Five years after dragons decimated the world, a chance encounter with a young dragon leaves twelve-year-old Noah questioning everything he thought he knew.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021058477 | ISBN 9780316376686 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780316376891 (ebook)
Subjects: CYAC: Dragons—Fiction. | Toleration—Fiction. | Fantasy. | LCGFT: Fantasy fiction. | Novels.
Classification: LCC PZ7.M312178 Ne 2022 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021058477
ISBNs: 978-0-316-37668-6 (hardcover), 978-0-316-37689-1 (ebook)
E3-20220830-JV-NF-ORI
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine: Asha
Chapter Ten: Noah
Chapter Eleven: Asha
Chapter Twelve: Noah
Chapter Thirteen: Asha
Chapter Fourteen: Noah
Chapter Fifteen: Noah
Chapter Sixteen: Noah
Chapter Seventeen: Noah
Chapter Eighteen: Noah
Chapter Nineteen: Noah
Chapter Twenty: Asha
Chapter Twenty-One: Noah
Chapter Twenty-Two: Noah
Chapter Twenty-Three: Noah
Chapter Twenty-Four: Noah
Chapter Twenty-Five: Noah
Chapter Twenty-Six: Noah
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Noah
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Noah
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Asha
Chapter Thirty: Noah
Chapter Thirty-One: Noah
Chapter Thirty-Two: Asha
Chapter Thirty-Three: Noah
Chapter Thirty-Four: Asha
Chapter Thirty-Five: Noah
Chapter Thirty-Six: Asha
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Noah
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Noah
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Noah
Acknowledgments
By Mari Mancusi
To Diana. Mother of dragons and best of friends.
The library? Again? Really?”
Maya raised her eyebrows at me as we stepped out of an old hotel and onto the sidewalk of what used to be known as Times Square. The sun was shining high in the sky, and the air was warm and sweet, with only a hint of ash to it, thanks to a light breeze. A perfect April New York City day. I slung my empty backpack over my shoulder, then leapt onto a cracked cement barricade, jumping off the other side.
“What can I say?” I gave her a devilish grin. “I’m out of books again.”
“Of course you are,” she groaned, dodging a parked car with a smashed windshield as we abandoned the sidewalk to head down Forty-Second Street. Maya always liked to tease me about my obsession with reading and my superpower of finishing books at lightning speed. But I knew, deep down, she didn’t really mind our frequent trips to the New York Public Library. For one thing, it was a supercool building, with huge marble lions standing guard outside and endless stacks of books once you walked in, just waiting to be borrowed.
Maya liked books, too, even if she didn’t have much time for reading, after putting in long hours helping out with her family’s shop. Her mother had one golden rule. Work first, play second—and that included reading.
My mother, on the other hand, had been a teacher back in before times and always made reading a priority. In fact, she’d built a tiny library filled with our favorite books down in our family bunker when we’d first gone underground five years ago. When we had left the bunker three years later, there were still books I hadn’t gotten a chance to read yet. Mom had wanted to take some of them along with us, but Dad insisted we save the room in our packs for more essential supplies like food and water. Which made sense, of course. My dad was always the practical one. But I knew it had made Mom sad to leave her precious collection behind. To know they would remain there forever, gathering dust, unread.
“Fine. We’ll hit the library,” Maya agreed. Then she wagged her finger at me. “But seriously, Noah, no more than three books. The last time we went you picked out so many books you had no room left in your pack for actual supplies.”
“As if you didn’t fill half your pack with chocolate that day!” I shot back with an impish grin.
She rolled her eyes. “It was Valentine’s Day! We needed it for the shop!”
“For the shop! Right!” I gave her a teasing look. “And you wouldn’t dream of eating any of it yourself, now would you?”
She shoved me playfully. I scurried away, dancing down the empty Forty-Second Street, my steps light as I leapt over piles of trash and other debris. It really was a beautiful day out. Great scavenging weather.
Maya and I were gatherers, along with some of the other kids in our group. We’d go out into the city and search for stuff like canned food and batteries and medicines and other nonperishable items and bring them back to our home base to barter with. It was kind of like a treasure hunt. You never knew what you might find abandoned from the world before. One time, I found this amazing, limited edition Zelda figurine in an old comic book store. The box said there had only been a hundred made, which meant it had probably been worth a ton once upon a time. But now it was free for the taking.
Mom had never liked me scavenging. She worried it could be dangerous. You never knew if a floor had become unstable, rotted away over the years. You’ll break your leg, she’d say, and who will fix it if you do? After all, while there were still hospital buildings, there were no doctors left to run them. And while there was still medicine, much of it was years past its expiration date. Which meant something as simple as a scratch from a rusted piece of metal could be a death sentence. Something Mom used to love to remind me of.
But Mom was gone now. And Dad didn’t worry about silly things like—
SCREECH!
A sudden shrieking sound tore through the air, stopping me dead in my tracks. My eyes snapped to Maya beside me to see if she’d heard it, too. She stood still as a statue, her brown face lifted to the sky, her eyes wide and searching. My heart skittered in my chest.
Was that…?
Could it be…?
I swallowed hard, trying to will my hands to stop shaking, all thoughts of books and bright spring days vanishing in an instant, as my mind raced with panic and fear.
It couldn’t be, right? There was no way. It was way too early. Way too early for—
SCREEEEECH!
Maya’s mouth dropped open. A fraction of an inch, but it was enough. Enough to confirm my greatest fear. A moment later, a dark shadow crossed over us, blocking out the noonday sun. Another moment, and my ears began to pick up the thrum of leathery wings, snapping at the air. Like the beat of a deadly drum.
Thrump.
Thrump.
Thrump.
Yup. It was a dragon all right. I didn’t even have to look.
It was all I could do to remain motionless, barely daring to blink as fear burned through me like wildfire. If we stayed perfectly still, the dragon might miss us. They had poor eyesight and we were wearing black, our bodies blending into the charred city in a perfect apocalyptic camouflage.
But if we moved—even a muscle—it would see. It would come.
We would die.
What was it doing here? My mind raced with questions. It was only April. We should have had a month before they came back from their winter hibernation. Plenty of time to pack up and head down to the underground subway tunnels as we’d done the last two years. But if they had already returned…
We had to warn the others!
Sweat dripped down my face, stinging my eyes, but I didn’t dare reach to my face to swipe it away. Instead, I glanced upward, hoping the quick flick of my pupils would not register as movement. The dragon circled, high above, swimming through the sky with impossible grace. It was a big one, I realized with rising dread. Possibly full-grown even, with silver scales that flashed blindingly in the sunlight. Even from here I could see the twines of smoke twisting from its ugly snout. And I knew if I were to somehow touch its belly, I would burn my fingers on its brewing fire.
I’d almost forgotten how terrifying they were up close. I hadn’t seen a real-life dragon in years. Not since shortly after we’d emerged from our family bunker and met up with a group of survivors who had charted the dragons’ hibernation cycles. They taught us when it was best to lay low and when it was safe to come back up for air.
Today should have been safe.
You just have to wait, I reminded myself, trying to wrestle my heart back under control. We’d been lectured countless times on what to do if we ever ran into a dragon. But all the lessons seemed to flee from my head as my stomach swam with nausea. It’ll fly away and you can run back to the hotel. We’ll pack up quick and get down below before the rest of them return.
It hadn’t seen us.
It was about to leave.
For a brief moment, it appeared as if I was right. The dragon snorted loudly, a black cloud blooming into the air, filling my nose with smoke. As I watched, still holding my breath, it dipped its head, changing its pattern. No longer circling. Preparing to fly away.
But then Maya sneezed.
The dragon’s head snapped back in our direction, its beady eyes locking onto us below. Its snout started quivering madly, as if it had caught our scent. My stomach heaved. A horrified gasp choked from my throat.
We’d been spotted.
We were as good as dead.
“Run, Maya!” I cried, diving into a nearby alley. My feet pounded hard against the pavement, making far too much noise as I tried to dodge piles of garbage and burnt debris. My breath came in short gasps as I ran, and my ears strained as I tried to listen for Maya, praying she was behind me but not daring to turn back to look. I could sense the dragon was still above us, attempting to track us down. The tall buildings gave us some cover. But it wasn’t enough. It would eventually find us. And when it did, we were toast. Literally.
Suddenly, I came to a dead end. A chain-link fence, rising high and blocking our path. I whirled around, heart in my throat, eyes darting from building to building, praying for an open door. A collapsed wall.
Something.
Anything.
Maya ran up beside me. But she didn’t pause.
“Come on!” she cried, throwing herself at the fence. She was small but strong, easily scaling it like an alley cat. I started after her, but I was so winded, I could barely catch my breath. My mind flashed to all the times my father had scolded me for skipping his daily workouts in order to read in my room. At the time, it hadn’t seemed like a big deal.…
Now it might cost me my life.
I shook my head. I needed to focus. On my fingers, clawing at the metal. My toes digging into each chain link as I pulled myself upward.
Upward.
Upward.
Finally, I reached the top, throwing myself over. I hit the ground too hard, nearly eating it as my feet slammed down on the concrete. Maya caught me before I tumbled, giving me a worried look. I could read the question in her eyes.
What do we do?
The dragon roared into view, flying lower now, so low I could see its razor-sharp teeth and blackened tongue as it opened its mouth in another scream. The dragon didn’t need to worry about scaling fences. Dodging debris. It only had to lock its eyes on us and unleash its deadly fury.
I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to watch.
“It’s unlocked! Noah! It’s unlocked!”
My eyes flew open. Maya was standing by a door, holding it ajar and gesturing wildly with her hand. Without a second thought, I dove through it, into the dark room beyond. I didn’t like going into abandoned apartments—where the smells of smoke and death still lingered, even after all these years. But at this moment? It was our only hope.
Once inside, Maya slammed the door shut. She turned to me. “The bathroom! Quick!” she commanded.
I didn’t need a second invitation. Running through the apartment, we attempted to avert our eyes from things we didn’t want to accidentally see. We dove into the bathroom, which luckily contained a large claw-foot tub—not every NYC apartment did. Jumping in, we huddled together and tried the tap. A trickle of water leaked out.
Yes! Another bit of luck.
The front door exploded, flames rushing into the apartment, greedily eating up everything in their wake. The dragon was trying to smoke us out—so it could grab its prey for dinner. But we forced ourselves to stay put, crouching lower in the tub, splashing ourselves with water, praying it would be enough protection. The temperature in the apartment rose sharply, and I broke out into a fierce sweat, my eyes itching from the intense heat. I splashed more water on my arms, trying to cool myself down. The smoke began to seep into the bathroom, and I couldn’t help but start to cough. Maya handed me a towel drenched in water, and I put it to my nose.
“What is it doing here?” she whispered, tears streaming from her eyes—probably only half due to the smoke. Somehow it made me feel better to realize she was as scared as I was. “They’re not supposed to be awake yet!”
I nodded grimly. But I had no answer. She was right—everyone knew dragons hibernated in the winter months and didn’t wake until late May, long after we humans had vacated the city streets and taken cover down in the subways below.
So why was this dragon awake in April? And did that mean others were, too?
There was a large snort, sounding vaguely annoyed. I glanced over at Maya and caught hope reflected in her eyes. The dragon couldn’t figure out where we went. It was growing frustrated. Maybe it would give up and leave. Maybe we’d survive this after all.
Maybe…
Suddenly the ground seemed to shake as the dragon pushed off on its mighty back legs, thrusting itself into the sky. My ears once again filled with the sound of its thrumming wings. But this time I was relieved to hear the sound.
It was leaving. We were safe. At least for the moment.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” I whispered, scrambling out of the bathtub and offering a hand to Maya. She took it in her own, and I realized she was still trembling. But then, so was I. Shaking like a leaf, more like.
We rushed out of the apartment. My legs felt wobbly, like they were made of Jell-O. As I stepped back into the alleyway, I dropped the cloth from my mouth and released the cough I’d been holding in as my eyes scanned the sky above.
It was empty. Just the sun and a few puffy clouds. A perfect April New York City day.
The dragon was gone.
For now.
Maya glanced at me. “That was close.”
“Too close.” I swallowed hard, my eyes fearfully lifting to the sky once again. It might have been gone, but I was no fool. It would return. And when it did, it would not be alone.
Which meant we had to get out of here. Now.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go tell the others.”
No one could have predicted the dragon apocalypse.
Sure, we’d all been warned by Hollywood about all sorts of potential doomsdays looming on the horizon. Zombies? Seemed legit. Plague? Been there, done that. Giant meteors crashing into the earth and throwing the planet off its axis, bringing about spectacular and certainly Oscar-winning special effects? About as American as the Fourth of July.
But massive, fire-breathing beasts of legend swooping down on the earth and decimating everything in their wake? No one had that on their bingo card. And when it happened, no one was prepared.
Well, except my dad, of course. He had been prepping for some kind of apocalyptic disaster since before I was born. And when the beasts finally did come, we simply did what any self-respecting prepper family would do. We retreated underground to my dad’s bunker in Cold Spring, New York, to wait it out, eating canned food and reading books and watching old movies on something Mom called a DVD player. I had my own room, which was small but cozy. And there was even a gym with a weight bench so we could stay in shape. Don’t want to get soft in here, my dad would lecture every time I tried to get out of a workout to finish my latest book. In the end, only the strong will survive.
