by Tara West
“What?” She clutched her chest, eyes wide with fright. “I’d never hurt my godchild. Never!” She got up on her knees and reached out to Serah. “My dear.”
“Stay away from me.” She clung to Ladon, turning away from Hestia. She didn’t understand what was happening. First the school was destroyed, and the students either missing or dead, and now the woman who’d been like a mother to her had tried to kill her?
“We need to go, Serah,” Ladon whispered in her ear.
She looked up at him. “Where?”
His face hardened. “Away from here.”
When Hestia called to her once more, Serah’s heart shattered. “I-I don’t understand.”
“Someone wants you dead,” Draque said, his voice like sandpaper.
“That can’t be.” She vehemently shook her head. “There must be a mistake.” Hestia answered to Grandfather. He wouldn’t order her to kill his only grandchild.
“Serah,” Draque said grimly, holding out a hand, “take my hand.”
She shrank from him. “Why would my godmother try to kill me?”
“She’s in shock.” Draque’s voice echoed as if they were inside a tunnel. “Let’s go before more trouble finds us.”
Ladon frowned down at her, concern reflecting in his eyes. He squeezed her hand and then Teju grabbed her elbow. Before she could argue, Teju recited a spell, and they were swallowed by another bubble, this one just wide enough to hold the four of them.
In the next moment, their bubble was racing so fast through space that her head spun. Where were they taking her? Stars spun around her. A weightless feeling spread to her extremities until she was falling and then landing in a pair of strong arms. The world whirled faster.
Chapter Five
With a groan, Athena Hoofenmouth pushed the crushed remains of Doris’s bookcase off her. Sitting up, she rubbed the smoke from her eyes, swearing as she looked around the charred wasteland that was once her school.
Had those dragons burned down the entire school? No. She’d recognized them as the eldest Firesbreath brothers. They’d been mischievous, but never heartless.
Then what happened?
She vaguely remembered the elder Firesbreath brothers knocking down the wall to Doris’s office. Athena had thrown a protective barrier around her after the first dragon had poked his head through the smoke. She was about to zap him with her wand, but then the bookcase fell on top of her. By the time she’d freed herself, Doris had been taken. She’d rushed outside, only to stop dead in her tracks when she saw the crimson cloud descend on the school. She’d no time to warn the staff, but she prayed they’d known what to do. Doris had made them practice at least a dozen times this school year alone.
Athena had no choice but to throw up another protective shield right before the entire school had gone up in flames. Then another bookcase somehow fell on her, which was how she ended up inhaling charred dust the rest of the night.
Strange how there were no detectives on site yet, how she could hear not a creature stir in the forest. It was as if the evil that had descended on their school yesternight had snuffed out all signs of life. As she stumbled toward the dungeon, she prayed it wasn’t so.
PENELOPE PIXIEFEATHER Pratt fluttered around her office, wings angrily buzzing. Those idiots had failed. They had two tasks: destroy the school and kill the heiress, and not in that order. They’d said they fulfilled their assignment, that no witch could’ve survived their inferno. They were wrong, because the little bitch’s fairy godmother had just been summoned. Penelope had just sat down to breakfast with the hungover old hag when she poofed away, Seraphina’s name on her lips. Penelope was ready to bust some balls by the time Goldenwand’s goons strutted into her office.
Penelope hovered above them, waving her wand in their faces. “Sit down!”
They did as they were told, glaring at her. Insolent fools!
Prometheus Periwinkle, loyal follower of the Arcane and the reason for Seraphina’s fall from grace, glowered at her the longest, making her feel so uncomfortable in her own skin, she was compelled to look away. He knew she was a sucker for a handsome face, and Prometheus had good looks in spades. He was tall, blond, and beautiful, with vibrant blue eyes, high cheekbones, and a symmetrical nose. A modern day Adonis. He lit a pipe without asking her permission, blowing smoke rings toward her. Satyr’s hairy butt wart. Penelope had spread her legs for him a few times, and now he thought he could abuse her?
Fanning her face, she buzzed to the other side of the room, With a flick of her wand, she zapped the pipe out of Prometheus’s mouth and flung it against the brick wall, smiling when it smashed into tiny pieces.
Shooting to his feet, he raised his wand, ready to fight. “What the hell was that for?”
She eyed him coolly. “Seraphina’s godmother was just summoned.”
The beautiful, peach glow of his skin turned ashen gray. “No. Serah was at the school when it was razed.”
“How do you know this?”
He played with a silver band on his wrist. “Because she wore a tracking device.”
“What kind of device?” she asked, annoyed this was the first she was hearing of it.
“None of your business,” he said coolly, casually folding one leg across the other.
“It damn well is my business.” Her voice rose to a feverish pitch, along with her ire. Ugh, she hated him even more for upsetting her. “I’m running this operation, and I need to know your methods.”
He gave her a serpentine look. “You don’t need to know shit.”
Frustrated, she let out a huff of air, then smiled when she remembered that ugly fake emerald bracelet Serah had been wearing when she’d dropped the girl off at school. Serah wouldn’t have been caught dead wearing knockoff jewelry, unless it had sentimental value. She didn’t want to give Prometheus the satisfaction of knowing she thought his tracking device was brilliant. “Did this tracker tell you if she was at or below the school?”
He shrugged, feigning indifference. “I couldn’t tell.”
She eyed him through slits, smug satisfaction at his shortcomings warming her chest. “Not a very good tracking device.”
Prometheus’s sidekick, Saul Slugstack, who resembled a slug with the many folds on his bald head and neck, spit phlegm into his handkerchief, not even bothering to fold it when he shoved it back into a vest pocket. “She had to have been in the dungeon.”
Prometheus’s cheeks turned bright pink. “I delivered the check to Dame Doublewart myself, with the instruction that she was not to serve detention.”
Penelope angrily buzzed back to him, wagging her wand in his face. “I told you the old witch couldn’t be bought.”
“We’ll take care of it.” Jumping to his feet, Prometheus swatted Penelope as if she was a fly.
Squealing, she flew into a wall, then angrily bounced back. “No! One failure is enough.” She refused to show Prometheus how much his rough treatment offended her. Had their trysts meant nothing to him?
“If we don’t kill her,” Slugstack whimpered, “our master won’t have reason to wage war against the dragon kings.”
Penelope flashed a triumphant smile. “She’s dead by now. I’ve activated her godmother’s wand.”
Prometheus gave her a look that made her want to crawl into a cocoon and never come out. “Her godmother will tell.”
Penelope squared her shoulders, forcing herself to be brave. Prometheus was her subordinate, after all. “No she won’t, because you are going to dispose of her.”
The men shared wary glances, then Prometheus cleared his throat. “When?”
“Now,” she shrieked, “or there will be hell to pay.”
She was pleased when Slugstack jumped to his feet and rushed to the door. Anger welled, threatening to split her skull in two when Prometheus shook his head at her before slowly sauntering toward the door. She wanted to curse him when his back was turned, make his nose grow three times in size, and shrivel up his balls.
> He paused at the door, his back ramrod straight, as if he had read her thoughts. He was trying to usurp her. She’d fought too long and too hard to rise to the rank of semis-wizard in the Arcane Army. She’d smite him to dust before she let that happen.
HESTIA GOLDENWAND FELL back against a tombstone, rubbing her aching temples, her wings drooping. One minute she was lying in her feather bed, sleeping off a hangover, and the next she was in a smoky cemetery, trying to kill her beloved godchild. Then she remembered her wand had been enchanted and she’d been possessed. Great Goddess, she’d no idea her wand had such a function. Having served the Goldenwand family for the past eight hundred years, she was always gifted with the latest in wand technology. The Goldenwand 2050 had just come on the market. It was too expensive for the average witch, but Nathaniel Goldenwand had gifted all the members of Parliament with the wand.
Could they be programmed to possess their witches, too? How could Nathaniel create such an evil device? She straightened and looked ’round, her wings erratically flapping, when she heard a twig snap behind her. The next thing she saw was a massive fist coming at her face. She had no time to duck; her nose was split open and starbursts went off in her head. Falling over like a pile of dominoes, she stared up at the shadowy figure hovering over her, unable to make out her assailant’s features before she succumbed to darkness.
IT TOOK ALL OF SERAH’S willpower not to throw up after they landed with a jarring thud, their magical bubble popping and coating her skin in a fine, sticky film.
Wherever they were, it was as black as pitch. Teju’s wand illuminated first, making his face orange and frightening in its hazy glow.
Teju waved his wand over the group. “Purifico.”
She was relieved when the sticky film dissipated. Ladon and Draque lit their wands, making everyone glow like demons. Their shifter eyes were bright gold, revealing the dragons beneath.
Trying to adjust to the strange light, she blinked at Ladon, thankful he’d been holding her. The air was thicker here; a sulfuric smell filled her lungs like soup and she had trouble breathing.
Dragon breath. Bleh.
Draque and Teju jumped down from wherever they’d been standing and went down a long tunnel, leaving her and Ladon behind.
She pulled out of Ladon’s arms after she found her footing, then grabbed his elbow when she slid on a slick surface.
“This way,” he said, clambering down the rocks and holding out his hand. “It will be easier once we leave the tunnel.”
She took his hand, grateful for his support.
They walked through a winding tunnel for what felt like an eternity, their path lit by Ladon’s wand. She could no longer hear his brothers, who were far ahead, their wand lights flickering before they disappeared.
She was perturbed that Teju and Draque had abandoned them. Why? Were they ashamed to be seen with the Goldenwand Heiress or were they that much in a hurry? It wasn’t her fault she wasn’t used to walking on mossy rocks. She was thankful for Ladon, the only kind brother, for dropping his grudge and keeping her safe.
I think they’re right, Thelix said.
What?
Who else could’ve bewitched Fairy Godmother’s wand but Grandfather?
I’m going to say this once, and only once, Serah mentally hissed. Shut the fuck up.
Thelix huffed and then went silent. Good. Hopefully, she’d stay gone a long time.
By the time the tunnel spit them out, she was dripping with sweat, and her muscles ached from tension. What a shitty portal entrance. She didn’t have to ask Ladon where they were because obviously this large cavern was the smelly, dirty butthole of the magical world, the fringe of the four realms beneath the surface of the earth, and the one place she never wanted to visit: The Grotto.
She turned to Ladon when a pack of monkey men hopped up to them, screeching and pounding their chests, then sniffing her back. When Ladon covered her ears and roared, they scurried away, whimpering and bouncing off the walls.
She clung to him as they went deeper into the cavern that had a ceiling so high, it disappeared into darkness. Long rock formations as sharp as daggers hung from the ceiling—massive columns of white with sparkling crystals. They looked so precarious, she feared one would fall and impale them. After they’d navigated through a maze of lavender pools and more jagged crystal rock formations jutting up from the ground, they went even deeper into the bowels of the earth and came upon a massive gathering. They wound through what appeared to be a center for trade, with all kinds of makeshift stands and shops, where shifters bartered their wares.
Draque and Teju were talking to a tall man who appeared to be part tree. Draque impatiently waved them over .
As they approached, she realized the shifter was indeed a walking, talking tree, with flowery leaves growing out of his head.
Tree Man glared at them. “You boys are in a world of hurt.”
Draque threw up his hands. “We didn’t do it.”
Tree Man snickered, his branches shaking with mirth. “Why is that always the first thing out of your mouths?”
“This time it’s true,” Teju said.
Serah pressed closer to Ladon when Tree Man looked over their heads and directly at her.
“Who do you have there?” Tree Man asked, his voice dark and rough.
Ladon wrapped a protective arm around her. “A friend.”
She was grateful beyond words for his protection. Too bad she couldn’t mate with just one brother.
The lines framing Tree Man’s eyes deepened. “Smells like a mermaid.”
Teju flashed a crooked smile and adjusted his glasses. “Close enough.”
He nodded at rows of makeshift tents. “Go see your fathers.”
Ladon puffed up his chest. “That’s where we’re headed.”
Two more trees stomped up behind Tree Man, one of them so tall, she could barely make out the whites of his eyes and long, drawn mouth.
“Leave the mermaid with us,” the tallest said as he leaned over and studied Serah with big, bulging eyes.
Ladon squeezed her tighter. “Over my dead body.”
Her insides churned. Thank the Goddess for Ladon. She wanted to show her appreciation for his loyalty with makeup sex. If only she could leave out his brothers.
The tallest tree’s leaves drooped. “We won’t hurt her.”
“You heard my brother,” Draque growled. “She’s coming with us.”
She was dumbstruck. Why was Draque protecting her? Did he trust her now? Did he care about her? Her heart did a little backflip until she caught him scowling at her.
He waved them forward and pushed his way through the gathering crowd of shifters.
Holding tightly to Ladon, she struggled to keep up with Draque’s long strides, falling farther behind him and Teju while they barged through the throng of sweaty, smelly onlookers. So much for Draque caring about her. Obviously whatever grudge bug had crawled up his ass still hadn’t died.
BY THE TIME THEY ESCAPED the noisy throng of people, they had reached a pair of massive golden gates guarded by a three-headed dog as big as an elephant.
“Cerberus,” she breathed.
“Not exactly,” Ladon whispered. “That’s Garm, a distant descendent of Cerberus.”
The dog let out three barks, followed by three growls, the hair on the back of his necks standing on end.
Draque’s shift happened so fast, she was taken by surprise. A massive golden dragon ripped through his mortal skin. Roaring, he hovered over the dog until it whimpered three times and backed away from the gate.
Teju shifted, too, snapping at the dog until he tucked his tail between his legs and ran inside a shallow cave, looking at the two dragons from behind paws that shielded one pair of his eyes. Holy heck! She’d had no idea dragon shifters got so big. They were easily twice the size of the three-headed dog.
She was grateful Ladon didn’t shift. Holding her hand, he urged her to follow the two massive beasts who’d been her lo
vers. She gaped at the dome of sparkling stones overhead. Was the ceiling dusted with diamonds? It would make sense, since dragons were known to have an affection for sparkly things. They walked across the polished stone floor of a wide hall to another set of tall double doors made of dark wood. Though the doors were open, she could barely see into the darkened cavern. Why did it feel like they were taking her to be sacrificed? She cleared her throat, readying her siren voice should she need it. Her power of persuasion was all the magic she had left, since Doublewart had taken her wand.
“Ladon,” she whispered, “what’s happening?”
He squeezed her hand. “You must be quiet and let us do the talking.”
“But why?” She’d done nothing wrong.
Draque spun on her so fast, she barely had time to jump back. He hovered over her, his long, serpentine neck glowing like he’d swallowed hot coals.
“You say nothing,” he growled, his voice low and deep and sounding like a steam train rolling through her ears. She’d no idea they could talk in dragon form. The only other dragons she’d encountered had been dumb beasts, not shifters. This monster hovering over her was no dumb beast, and he had teeth as long and sharp as daggers.
“Whatever, asshole,” she muttered. Fanning her face, she She gagged on his hot breath. If she had her wand, she’d shrink his head. Or maybe his balls.
Careful, you may need those balls later, Thelix warned.
Not likely, Serah grumbled.
“He’s only looking out for your safety,” Ladon whispered.
She rolled her eyes but said nothing, and not because Draque intimidated her. She was still trying not to choke on sulfur fumes. How could he be so concerned about her safety when he was obviously the most dangerous creature here?
A thunderous roar shook the ground. She lurched forward, nearly falling face-first onto Draque’s spiky tail. Ladon clutched her elbow, steadying her.
Another roar shook her to her core.
“Where are those cursed boys?” The deep bellow resounded in her skull.
