Excerpt: The Dragon Whisperer

Most people don’t panic when paid a lot of money for a simple job. I didn’t used to panic either. That was before Jake disappeared, taking with him my ability to understand and influence animals’ thoughts, and taking my livelihood along with the ability.

Before Jake disappeared, I’d been paid a lot of money quite often. I’d tamed unicorns for wealthy women to ride, captured snow tigers and griffins and black swans for menageries, saved the last herd of star deer in the world from destruction. Once I’d persuaded a basilisk to move its nesting ground a mile to the east—away from the only mountain pass in a hundred miles. I’d been sought after by kings.

And then Jake had disappeared. Not that he’d ever been visible in the first place.