Scale & Claw

The dragons were never supposed to return.

When magnificent creatures suddenly appear in the skies above Chicago's South Side, sixteen-year-old Marcus Robinson thinks he's just documenting an amazing phenomenon for his school project. But when he discovers his grandfather's hidden journal, Marcus learns the shocking truth: dragons have been secretly connected to his community for generations, existing only in whispered stories and faded quilting patterns until now.

As a Dragon Speaker, Marcus can communicate directly with these ancient protectors-but the government's Department of Dragon Affairs sees dragons not as partners, but as weapons to be controlled. Armed with his camera that captures more than the eye can see and his family's dragon grooming business as ground zero for resistance, Marcus uncovers a conspiracy spanning centuries. The government hasn't just been watching his community-they've been hunting the bond between dragons and the people who remember the old ways.

When Operation Harvest threatens to sever the dragon-human connection permanently, Marcus must embrace his dangerous inheritance before everything his ancestors died to protect is lost forever. From community elders who weave protection spells into everyday quilts, to underground chambers where dragons once guided escaped slaves to freedom, Marcus learns that some magic is too powerful to control-and too precious to surrender.

But some bonds cannot be broken. Some truths cannot be buried. And when a teenager's documentary might be the only thing standing between freedom and control, Marcus discovers that the greatest magic isn't in the dragons themselves-it's in the unbreakable connections between those who refuse to forget.

This is more than a story about dragons. This is a story about remembering who you are when the world wants you to forget.