“Emma, come quick! I found a bear track!” My little brother, Luke, yells.

I groan. Luke woke me up at seven today, and pulled me to the fields of our farm for some grand adventure, because it’s the last day of Winter Break. Still, with a heavy sigh, I push myself up and trudge toward Luke, since I’ve always wanted to see a bear.

I stop short and my eyes widen when I see what Luke is pointing at. It’s the largest footprint I had ever seen, easily as wide as my head length.

“This can’t be a bear,” I mutter under my breath, squatting to get a better look. The track is too big. This can’t possibly be a bear; it’s something much larger.

“I don’t think we should– Luke? Luke!” I look around, but he is already chasing behind the prints in the snow.

“Luke, wait! Come back!” I call after him, but he’s already out of earshot. Rolling my eyes, I jog after him. I pretend to be bored, but I’m actually nervous. I know this creature must be much larger than a bear. We cross over crags, duck under stray branches, and walk around trees. The marks continue, getting fresher since it has more defined edges. Soon, the prints lead us to a cave entrance. Before I can warn Luke, a figure emerges. I blink.

“A DRAGON!” Luke screams, then hides behind me.

Dragons aren’t real, duh. Yet, in front of my eyes, there is a massive dragon, with sea blue scales and long wings. With icy breath streaming from its nostrils, her navy blue eyes are staring daggers at us.

“WHAT. DO. YOU. WANT.” the dragon snarls. “Disrupting my beauty sleep is the best way to DIE.”

“Uh- uh- uh- I- we- who- what-” I stutter, too shocked to form words. I freeze, my brain short-circuiting. This can’t be happening. I open my mouth to speak, but no sound comes out. I’m too stunned to form a single word.

Then a second dragon comes out of the cave. It’s almost the same as the first one, but her scales are a pale, frosty white. She tilts her head, looking at us with amusement.

“Stop it, Icicle,” the white dragon says, rolling her eyes. I think I like this dragon better. She turns toward me and Luke. “Sorry, guys. My sister Icicle here is a little… quick-tempered.”

The first dragon, Icicle, lets out a huff of frustration, but doesn’t seem to make any more movement toward us. The second dragon smiles—well, as much as a dragon can smile—and turns toward us, her icy blue eyes softer now.

“I’m Snowflake,” she says, her voice calm and soothing, so very different from Icicle. “Sorry, she doesn’t like mornings.” Snowflake looks down at Luke, who’s peeking nervously from behind me. “But you two seem interesting. It’s not every day we get visitors.”

“Uh, right…Snowflake. Sorry to bother you. We’ll just… we’ll just head back now. Come on, Luke.” I back away slowly.

“I’m tired. Can we fly home?” Luke hopefully asks the dragons, regaining his usual troublemaking self.

“No, Luke!” I hiss. Too late.

Snowflake smiles, or at least I think she does. How do dragons smile? Can dragons even smile? How should I know? “Well, I was planning on taking a nap, but… flying is fun. Plus, it’ll be an adventure, right?”

Icicle grumbles. “I swear, every time I try to nap…”

But before she can finish, Snowflake stretches her wings, sending a gust of snow swirling around. “Oh, come on, Icicle. You love flying, I know.” She looks at Luke, who is bouncing around. “Okay, human, hop on.”

Luke’s face brightens. “Really?”

“Yeah, but just this once,” Snowflake says.

I stare at her in disbelief. “Wait, hold on. You’re telling me we’re going to fly on dragons? Right now?”

Snowflake glances over at me. “You know you want to, Emma.”

Before I can ask how she knew my name, Luke rushes over to Snowflake, who lowers herself slightly to allow him to climb onto her large back. As he does, she nudges me. “Your turn. Hop on Icicle. She’s a bit… moody, but she’ll get you up there.”

Icicle looks at me, annoyed. “Hurry up, then. I’ve got a nap to get back to.”

I swallow hard. “Um, okay,” I murmur. Me. Flying. On a real dragon. This is insane, I can’t reject such a rare opportunity.

With a deep breath, I climb onto Icicle’s back, trying not to think about how high up we’re about to be. Snowflake flaps her massive wings, sending a gust of snow into the air, and, before I can react, Icicle takes off. We’re in the air in seconds, the ground fading beneath us.

Luke whoops from Snowflake’s back. The wind in my hair, the cold air nipping at my face—this is the craziest thing that’s ever happened to me. I glance down at the snowy forest below, a blanket of white stretching for miles.

I’m too stunned to answer at first, my grip tightening on Icicle’s scales as we soar higher. “Amazing,” I whisper, trying to keep my voice steady.

Luke yells. “I can’t believe we’re flying on dragons!”

I almost can’t believe it, either.

Soon, we land back in the spot we started.

“Now, children,”Snowflake says after Icicle and she has put us down. “Keep this a secret, okay? Just between us.”

Luke and I nod in unison.

“Good. Pleasure flying with you,” Snowflake smiles. “We should go now. I’m sure Icicle needs her beauty sleep.” Icicle scowls.

Snowflake blows a wisp of cool air on both of our faces. “Bye…” Somehow Snowflake’s voice seems far, far away…

BRINGGG! Groaning, I close my alarm. Wait. Why am I back in bed? Suddenly, I sense a movement outside my window. Peering out, I catch a glimpse of two pale figures in the sky, flapping their wings. I laugh. Was that a dream? I don’t think so.