Six months after Kendra Blake was abandoned on the desert planet called Astrid, failing her coming-of-age ritual—where eighteen-year-olds are sent to a dystopian world to pass a series of tests to prove themselves and are abandoned there to die if they can’t—she’s settled into a new life. With her handsome alien friend, Kai, and her baby sand dragon, Oz, all she’s trying to do is survive on a hostile planet and protect her new village.

But when her best friend from Earth, Hayden Peterson, arrives to take his ritual, Kendra knows she has to help him. With the tests becoming even more challenging, it’s clear the ritual’s creator, Richmond Gideon, the billionaire owner of a space company called Minerva, is trying to punish her for daring to start a rebellion to end the cruel game.

When her alien friends start creating their own spacecraft to head to Earth and confront Gideon, Kendra will have to find more allies to join her rebellion in the dangerous outskirts of Astrid, dodge enemies and traitors, and try not to die on an increasingly lethal sand planet. Can Kendra get back to Earth and save the two worlds?

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Teen

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Excerpt

Chapter One
The Rider's Bond

 

“Higher, Oz!” I called out. “You can do it!”

I stood on the sandy grounds of the dragon raceway track, watching my animal, which I had nicknamed Oz after the old movie, fly around. He was a sand dragon, shimmering golden in the sunlight with protruding scales. And in the past few months, he had nearly grown to a full-sized adult after I’d found him as a baby.

My heart still ached when I thought about how I had accidentally killed his mother, one of the larger sand dragons, but he was doing much better now. We’d been inseparable ever since then.

Oz glided around, getting stronger in flying as he burst through another ring that had been set up for the dragon racing festivals. He then set himself down, shaking sand off his wings as I stepped closer to pet him.

“You did a great job, Oz,” I told him, scratching his ears. The sand dragon purred beneath my hands. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Incoming!”

On the back of his sand dragon, Hera, Kai flew through a large ring—holding on to the dragon’s scales as she did a turn in the sky, adding flair to her routine. Kai gestured for Hera to set down near me and Oz, blowing up sand in our faces as her feet hit the ground. I coughed and waved the sand away.

“Show off,” I teased as Kai jumped off Hera, patting her back.

“Guilty as charged.” Kai grinned. “So, how’s it going? You getting the hang of dragon-riding?”

“I haven’t gotten on Oz yet. I wanted to give him a chance to learn how to fly by himself.” I turned back to the sand dragon, its beady yellow eyes on me. They were so big and expressive and full of adoration. “And he’s doing great. A total natural.”

“Well, that’s good. But like I said—you two have a bond. You’re meant to be his rider.” Kai gestured at Oz. “And I think he’s ready. Go on, get on him. I’ll give you some pointers.”

As I looked at Oz, I hesitated. Was I ready to have my own sand dragon? What if I messed up or hurt him somehow?

“It’s all right,” Kai said gently. “Every rider was nervous to get on their dragon for the first time, even me, but it all worked out. You have a bond for a reason, Kendra. You can do this.”

I took a deep breath, reaching up toward Oz’s scales. He had gone from a baby to an emerging adult in front of my eyes. “Right, I can do this. Here I go.”

Pulling myself on his back, I sat down and held on. Oz didn’t throw me off or even react—a good sign. As I got used to sitting on my own sand dragon, something I hadn’t even thought was possible a year ago, Kai jumped back on Hera.

“Come on, follow me,” he said, tapping her side. “And hold on!”

When Hera took off into the air, I tapped Oz’s back, and he seemed to understand what I meant. His growing wings flapped, then we took off into the sky, following after Kai on his creature. I held on for dear life, unable to believe I was actually flying.

Riding my own sand dragon, completely by myself. It felt like a dream.

As Oz chased after Hera, I worked up the courage to look down, noticing endless dunes. Astrid was a desert planet, just outside Earth’s solar system, with little water or forestry. It had been a miracle Kai and his people, the Jahara, had survived on it for as long as they had, but his people were native to the planet and knew what they were doing.

The sky was a bright blue above us, the sun beating down hot as Kai tapped Hera’s back to get her to fly toward the ground. When she did, I tapped Oz to do the same, then we joined Kai below on a long stretch of sand. Nothing was around for miles. Kai jumped off Hera, stretching his legs and looking out into the horizon.

“See that?” he asked me as I jumped off Oz, catching up to him. “Almost time for the sunrise. Beautiful, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “Very.”

I had been on Astrid for six months, taken here for a cruel ritual, far from Earth, and it was beginning to feel like my home. I knew I would probably never see Earth again. While that was something I was still struggling with, I was grateful to have Kai and the others here for me. I couldn’t imagine going through all this alone. I probably would’ve been dead, taken by this cruel planet like all the others.

Kai turned around, reaching into his pocket. “Anyway, I brought you here for a little picnic. Thought we could spend some time together.”

Kai reached into the pocket of his robe, pulling out some of the food the Jahara enjoyed. Mostly fruits and vegetables, whatever they could grow in their greenhouse, and meat from the wrathbeasts. They were vicious animals, something like wolves, but they tasted delicious.

“Thank you,” I said, accepting Kai’s outstretched hand of dried fruit and wrathbeast jerky. “You didn’t have to prepare all this.”

He reached into his other pocket, pulling out a small blanket. It looked handmade from one of the seamstresses back in the village. “But I wanted to. Thought you could use a break after all the hard work you’ve been doing. And, you know, getting used to flying with Oz. You did great for your first ride, by the way. Both of you did.”

The sand dragon made a sound at the mention of his name, looking so cute and attentive. I petted his ears as Kai set the blanket down for us on the sand. I joined him, watching as Hera and Oz play fought in the sand while making cooing noises at each other.

“Well, thank you,” I finally said, eating some of the jerky. “It’s been a great day.”

Kai nodded. “I thought so too. And it’s nice to see Oz and Hera getting along. She can teach him a lot.”

“True. And if their owners are best friends, they should be too.”

Kai smiled at me as we continued to eat our snacks, and I thought about our time together. We had grown so much closer than when I first arrived on Astrid. And it was all because of Richmond Gideon, a billionaire back in my hometown of Marvel City, California.

Due to overpopulation and climate change, he and the other world leaders came up with a solution—that at the age of eighteen, everyone would be sent to Astrid from Earth, made to pass a series of difficult tests and try to survive on the dry, desert planet. If they succeeded, finding all the crystals that were earned after completing a test, they would be able to return to Earth.

If not, then they were too weak to have the privilege of living on our planet. And they were abandoned here—left to die like many before, including my brother, Harris. I had been so close to passing, but I had broken the rule of getting close to Kai and the rest of the Jahara, the true owners of Astrid.

And as I stared at him, his dark hair in braids, black tattoos running up and down his tanned arms, and piercing green eyes, I knew I had made the right decision.

Kai cleared his throat, breaking the silence. “I, uh, had another reason for bringing you out here.”

“Oh?” I finished the last of my jerky, wiping my greasy hands on my robe. It was designed to protect us from the heat. “What’s going on?”

Just as Kai opened his mouth to tell me, Hera started squawking. It sounded like she was in distress. Our heads snapped over, glancing at her as she stared out at the horizon. Oz looked worried too.

“What’s going on?” I asked as we rose to our feet.

“I don’t know.” Kai’s eyes swept over the desert. “Something’s spooked Hera, though I don’t see anything—”

When a violent wind swept by, almost pushing me off my feet, I realized what was going on. “Sandstorm!”

Kai nodded, grabbing the picnic blanket and our things. “Back to Hera and Oz. Go!”

Running as fast as we could, our sandals beneath us, we reached our sand dragons and jumped on. Sandstorms across Astrid were powerful—and deadly. We needed to get back to the village and warn the others.

“I don’t understand,” I called out over the wind as it picked up. “There’ve been so many sandstorms lately. Too many. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll talk about this back at the village. Where it’s safe.” Kai gently tapped Hera’s side. “To the village, girl. Kendra, Oz—follow me!”

As Hera lifted into the air, I tapped Oz, expecting him to do the same. But he stayed put on the sand, shaking when he saw a massive sandstorm coming at us. Sand and other debris were heading toward our spot.

“Oz, fly!” I called out. “Get us out of here!”

But Oz didn’t move. A second later, a wall of sand and hot air hit me, sweeping me off Oz. I fell off his back and rolled away on the sand. When I finally stopped rolling, I struggled for air, opening my mouth and coughing out the sand particles that had lodged down my throat.

The sandstorm raged on around me, so thick that I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t know which direction was up or down. Trying to walk forward while the sand pushed me back, I called out for Oz.

“Oz, where are you?” I yelled. “Are you all right?”

Silence. Only the slapping winds and pelting sands answered.

I lowered my head, trying to hide it in my robe. Why hadn’t I brought a sandstorm mask, just in case this happened? I had been foolish. And now, I was going to die here, paying the price.

As I stumbled around, struggling to breathe and see, I felt an arm grab me. I was pulled to the left, then I noticed it was Kai. He and Hera had come back for me. As he helped me sit down on Hera, keeping a firm grip around my waist, I shook my head.

“What about Oz?” I called out. “He’s still out there. We can’t just leave him—”

“He’ll be fine!” Kai shouted. “Sand dragons can withstand sandstorms, remember? A lot better than we can. Let’s just get back to the village!”

With a sigh, I nodded, then Kai tapped Hera to take off. Without hesitation, the creature took flight and flew north, knowing the way to the camp by heart. Still struggling to see and breathe, I looked out for Oz, seeing nothing but flying sand.

A few minutes later, still clinging to Kai and keeping my head in my robe, we arrived at the village. At least, I thought it was the village—it was hard to see anything. Hera set herself down, then Kai reached for me.

“Come on, follow me!” he said. “We need to get into the bunker.”

I nodded, holding onto his arm so we wouldn’t get separated in the sandstorm. We pushed through the strong winds into the camp before Kai found his way to the tent that had the bunker. There was a small crevice in the sandy ground, leading to a bunker underneath where we could take shelter from sandstorms and other natural disasters. The Jahara were smart to build it, and it saved our lives a bunch of times.

Most of the camp had already gone underneath to the bunker. Rahna, an elderly woman from the village and a master of herbs and medicine, was the only one waiting for us. She had dark skin, greying hair, and a brown robe with sandals and a pouch attached to her hip with elixirs and plants from all over Astrid. Someone was calling out her name from below but she was waving them off.

“Not yet!” she called out. “I must make sure Kendra and Kai make it back safely. Ah, there you two are. Quickly!”

Kai nodded, shoving me down into the bunker first. I rushed down the stairs and turned back to make sure they kept up. Rahna went down first, then Kai followed and shut the trap to the bunker. The loud winds echoed above us, sending a chill down my spine.

Any longer out there and we would’ve been swept away to our deaths. It had been a miracle Kai and Hera had come back for me. But where was Oz? What had happened?

“Good, you two made it,” Chieftain Vernus said, walking over to inspect us. He was Kai’s father and the leader of the village. “We were worried about you both.”

“It’s all right, Father. We’re fine,” Kai said, coughing out some sand debris from his lungs. “We were just practicing flying when Hera alerted us to the sandstorm. She’s a lifesaver.”

“What about Oz?” I asked. “Are you sure he’ll be okay out there? Maybe I should go look for him—”

“No,” Kai said, reaching for my arm. “It’s too dangerous. He’ll be fine—his species can tolerate the sandstorms, I promise. Once it dies down, we’ll go looking for him.”

I took a deep breath, calmed by his touch. Kai had a special way of easing my anxiety. “Okay. I told him to take off, to head back to the village, but he just...froze.”

Kai nodded, removing his hand. “He was probably just afraid. He’s growing fast, but he’s still a baby. He has a lot to learn about being a sand dragon.”

And I had a lot to learn about being a rider. Sighing, I sat down on a nearby log, glancing around the bunker. All the Jahara from the village had made it, looking relieved to see us as well. They ate stew that Rahna prepared and sang songs from their history to pass the time.

Kai stayed with me, sitting next to me on the log as we all waited for the sandstorm to die down. Alia, Kai’s sister, rose from one of the bunkbeds, reading an ancient text from one of the Jahara. She set her book aside and headed over to us.

“Hey, good to see you both made it,” she said. “I was about to send a search party if you hadn’t.”

“No need, we’re fine,” Kai replied. “And our training went well. Hera’s good at flying as always, and Oz seems promising.”

“He is.” I took a deep breath. “I just hope he’ll be all right.”

Kai smiled. “You love him already, don’t you?”

“Of course. I want to keep him safe.”

“That’s the sand dragon rider bond, all right,” Alia explained. “Happens to all of us. When Kai first bonded with Hera, by the Stars, she was all he could talk about. I’m glad he got a little better with time. Nowadays, all he talks about is you, Kendra.”

Kai blushed. “Sister, please. Why don’t you go help Rahna with some potion-making? I’m sure she could use a hand.”

Alia glanced between us, a sly smirk spreading across her face. “All right. See you two later.”

As she walked away, Kai shook his head. “Sorry about her. My sister can be... embarrassing.”

“Yeah, my brother was the same way.” I rose to my feet, pacing. “I’m worried about him too. Will he be all right out there?”

“Yes, I think so. He managed to survive on Astrid this long. I have faith in him, Kendra.”

I took a deep breath, hoping Kai was right. Harris, my older brother, had arrived on Astrid years before me to take his ritual. He hadn’t passed, and in the process, killed Kai’s mother, Elora, in self-defence. The Jahara thought he was a monster until we realized what had happened.

In order to survive, Harris went to the Dreamers Bay, a spot on the planet with mind-altering fog. It could cause hallucinations and brain damage if someone stayed in there for too long. When I found Harris, he was delirious and tried to kill me, completely unlike himself. He and some friends who were also on Astrid to take their rituals had been in there for too long. We had managed to free his mind for a little while, using one of Richmond’s many drugs, but then his mind was corrupted again. The vial had only worked for so long.

Rahna promised to find a cure—for all the issues on the planet—and I hoped she would soon. Having my brother back, by my side was all I wanted.

Kai placed a hand on my shoulder. “Hey, I know you’re worried about Harris and Oz and everything else. Just know I’m here for you, all right?”

I turned to face him. “Thanks, Kai. Not sure what I would do without you.”

When he smiled, I heard Vernus and Rahna whispering in the corner, preparing bowls of stew for everyone in the bunker. It looked tense, worry across both of their faces. I gestured for Kai to follow so we could find out what was going on.

On Astrid, our worries never ended.

 

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