The Hidden Dragon


 
 
 
 Also by Melissa Marr
 
 Young Adult Fantasy
 
 Wicked Lovely series
 Made for You
 Seven Black Diamonds
 One Blood Ruby
 
 Middle Grade Fantasy
 
 The Blackwell Pages trilogy (with Kelley Armstrong)
 The Hidden Knife
 
 Picture Books
 
 Bunny Roo, I Love You
 Bunny Roo and Duckling Too
 Wild Horses
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 NANCY PAULSEN BOOKS
 An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York
 
 
 
 First published in the United States of America by Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2023
 Copyright © 2023 by Melissa Marr
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 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Names: Marr, Melissa, author. | Title: The hidden dragon / Melissa Marr.
 Description: New York: Nancy Paulsen Books, 2023. | Summary: “A sea-faring girl and her friends take on pirates and grown-ups and bond with dragons as they work to make the world a better place”—Provided by publisher.
 Identifiers: LCCN 2022036104 | ISBN 9780525518556 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780525518563 (ebook)
 Subjects: CYAC: Magic—Fiction. | Dragons—Fiction. | Gargoyles—Fiction. | Pirates—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Sea stories. | Fantasy. | LCGFT: Fantasy fiction. | Novels.
 Classification: LCC PZ7.M34788 Hi 2023 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022036104
 Ebook ISBN 9780525518563
 Edited by Nancy Paulsen
 Cover art © 2023 by Vivienne To
 Cover design by Kaitlin Yang
 Design by Eileen Savage | Adapted for ebook by Michelle Quintero
 This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
 The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
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 To all the kids (young and old) who dream of exploring the sea, of meeting dragons, or of changing the world.
 
 
 PROLOGUE
 
 
 
 At first when the door between worlds opened, it was mostly the creatures that flew who went. Gargoyles crossed. Faeries crossed. Even a few dragonets crossed. The water things couldn’t pass as easily—except for the kelpies. They needed only a teaspoon of water at a time to slip from world to world.
 No logic to kelpies, shrinking themselves into a 
 CHAPTER 1
 
 
 
 London
 London had every intention of buying passage out of Glass City. He carried his savings—gold coins and silver ones, a few bits of copper, and assorted gems—as well as a small bundle of clothes, as he set off toward the docks. London had been there often enough that his feet could find it even if his eyes were