Power of Magic

by Linsey Hall

  Maximus kept close to me, his gaze wary on the surroundings. Everyone in the group was tense as we walked, waiting for an attack that felt inevitable.

  When I first heard the growling, it was so quiet that I wondered if I was imagining something.

  But then it came louder.

  “You hear that?” Bree asked.

  She also had super hearing, a gift from the Norse god Heimdall.

  “I do. Coming from the left.”

  We kept moving, but everyone trained their gazes on the left. When the wolves appeared, I stiffened.

  “I think we’ve identified the gray shadows,” Bree said.

  There were at least forty of them, a massive group. They were big, too—each of them at least six feet long. Their fur was a rough gray-brown, and it stood up at their hackles. Their lips were pulled back from sharp fangs, and they lowered themselves in an attack stance.

  Oh fates. This is bad.

  12

  The wolves crouched low, their growls filling the air as they crept closer.

  “Crap!” I called upon Artemis’s magic, thrusting it toward them. I worked mostly on instinct, hurling the power out of me. “No one draw any weapons. Not yet. We don’t want them thinking we are a threat.”

  Ana joined me. She, too, had a gift with animals, though hers wasn’t quite the same as mine. She could calm them, though, and I felt her magic flowing on the air, moving toward them. Sweat dripped down my spine as I watched them, my muscles trembling.

  The wolves only relaxed slightly. Their growls softened, but their lips stayed pulled back from their fangs as they snarled.

  Next to me, magic swirled around Cade. It smelled of a storm at sea and tasted of tart apples. A moment later, a massive wolf stood in his place. He dwarfed the other wolves, standing at least twice as tall.

  Their gazes darted over him, confused at first.

  I pushed my magic toward them, trying to calm them. Ana did the same, and slowly, their growls softened. They never looked away from Cade, though, who maintained an alpha’s stance. His snarl was even fiercer than theirs.

  Finally, the wolves lowered their heads, signs of submission toward Cade.

  “They’ve chosen him as their alpha,” Maximus said.

  “Well, they’ll be disappointed, because he’s coming home with me.” Bree grinned. “But good work, hon.”

  Cade growled at a different pitch, and it sounded like an acknowledgment of Bree’s words.

  “Now what?” Ana asked.

  I thought of the little cat who had given me directions before. “I’m going to try to ask them where to go.”

  “Like we’re stopping at a gas station, and they’re the clerk who’s going to tell us how to get to Poughkeepsie?” Bree asked.

  “Like that, but hairier.” I looked at the wolves, keeping my voice low. “Can you tell us how to get to the Cave of Treasures? Are there any shortcuts to take or dangers to avoid?”

  The wolves kept their heads down, eyes glued to Cade. They didn’t answer me. I tried asking telepathically, sending my question along with my magic toward the biggest wolf. I had to imagine that the former alpha was a bit annoyed at the idea of being replaced. Maybe he’d help us go on our merry way.

  Unfortunately, he told me nothing. There was one moment when I thought this would work, then it passed.

  Dang.

  “Okay, I’m getting nothing.” I frowned.

  Cade stopped growling, then twitched his head toward the right. It was a clear gesture that we should get moving. I looked at Bree for confirmation, and she nodded.

  I hated the idea of retreating—of showing my backs to the wolves—but Cade had it under control. And no way he’d let the wolves come after us.

  As a group, we turned and left Cade, walking slowly away. Bree kept her gaze on her man, a frown beginning to crease her face. I could tell she was about to stop when Cade finally trotted away from the wolves.

  They rose to their full height, watching him leave. My heart set up a rhythm in my chest, and it only relaxed when I realized that the wolves were definitely not following and that Cade’s face looked calm.

  He joined us, then took the lead. We followed, and I felt like I was in an episode of some nature show narrated by David Attenborough.

  I did my best impression of his voice and murmured, “And the herd of frightened humans follows the noble wolf through the creepy desert.”

  Next to me, Maximus chuckled.

  I chanced a look back at the wolves, and they were trotting away in the other direction. Once they were fully out of sight, Cade shifted back to his human form.

  Bree pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “So, what was that all about?”

  “We just came to a friendly agreement,” Cade said. “Which wouldn’t have been possible without Ana and Rowan’s magic calming them down.” He shook his head. “They were moody.”

  “Well done, man.” Lachlan clapped him on the back. “I didn’t fancy a fight with that lot.”

  “Neither did I.” Cade ginned. “And I did get them to tell us where to find help and a shortcut.”

  “Really?” Excitement flared in my chest.

  “Aye. They understood your question, but they directed the answer to me. There is a settlement just over that rise there.” He pointed to a sloping hill with a few of the weird stone statues on it. “We should be able to find some skinny people to help us.”

  “Skinny?” I frowned

  “That’s what they said.”

  I grinned at him. “All right, then. Let’s get a move on.”

  We set off toward the hill, and I hoped these skinny people had a really fast shortcut. Their settlement was a bit out of the way, but it would be worth it if they could shave off a bit of the journey. It didn't take long to crest the rise, and I spotted the small settlement in the valley below.

  The houses were built of the rough stone that scattered the plains here, and a fire burned in the middle of the camp. A strange assortment of feathered things sat at one side of the settlement. They were about the size of cars. Bigger, actually.

  I squinted harder at them. “What are those?”

  “No idea,” Bree said.

  No one else could see them closely enough to fugue it out, either.

  We hurried down toward the main gate that led into the settlement. We were still about twenty yards away when the gate opened and a dozen slender people filed out. They really were skinny. So skinny that they looked like they were mostly bones. Their faces were different, too, with smaller eyes and thin lips. Pale blue hair flowed from their heads, matching the simple tunics they wore.

  Though they were shaped vaguely like humans, they definitely weren’t. Though they were skinny, it didn't look like a starvation situation. They all looked healthy with bright eyes, shiny hair, and beautiful clothing, and three of them were idly chewing on some kind of fruit.

  “Who dares trespass on our land?” asked the one who led the group. He was the tallest of all, nearly seven feet, though he couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred and twenty pounds.

  “I am Rowan Blackwood. I was sent by Hera to find the Cave of Treasures.” I gestured to my companions, but before I could say their names, the man spat on the ground.

  “Hera.” He scowled.

  “I know,” I said. “She’s, um, a character.”

  He seemed to get what I meant and nodded in a satisfied manner. It was good, since I wouldn’t dare insult the goddess. But since this guy clearly appreciated a little shit talking, I was glad he was able to interpret the meaning behind my words.

  “Why are you here?” he asked.

  “The wolves told us that you could help us.”

  “The wolves.” He spat again.

  Fantastic, he liked no one.

  “Could you help us?” Maximus asked. “We’re happy to pay you.”

  “Payment.” He scoffed, and I’d never heard such disgust in a single sound. “We are the Eleri, and we serve only the dragons. Yo
ur money cannot buy us.”

  “The dragons?” I asked, looking to the skies.

  “They’ve been gone many years, but we maintain our religion.” The entire group bowed their heads.

  “You worship dragons?” Bree asked.

  The man nodded.

  My mind raced. He wouldn’t take payment, but he worshiped dragons.

  Oh fates, could I do it?

  Bree and Ana both looked at me, their brows raised.

  I had to try.

  I sucked in a deep breath and called upon the magic within me. It flickered through my muscles, faint. I tried again, envisioning my transformation. The magic sparked brighter, and my muscles began to ache.

  Then I began to grow. My head rose, zooming up high above the settlement fence. The people in front of me gasped and fell to their knees, awe on their faces.

  Oh, wow. No wonder the gods liked being worshiped.

  I didn’t want this kind of attention all the time, but if my self-esteem was ever a bit down, this wasn’t the worst.

  Soon, I stood towering over them. I looked down at my feet, spotting the pale silver scales and my metallic-colored claws. Not bad. I was really a good-looking dragon.

  But now what?

  My friends were staring at me with awe, and the skinny people below were still bowed low over the ground. I shifted on my feet, wondering if I should try flying to impress them even more.

  My memory of my previous flying pulled me up short, though. That wouldn’t impress anyone.

  So I tried for some fire. At first, it was an unimpressive little blast of smoke.

  Come on!

  I needed this to work. Not just for right now, but for when I faced the Titans. I didn’t have a lot of time to practice, and now was as good a time as any.

  Again, I tried, feeling the burn in my chest. It rose up through my throat, and excitement thrummed along my nerve endings. Finally, a blast of fire puffed from my lips.

  I nearly jumped with excitement.

  The Eleri definitely did. They leapt to their feet and began to dance below me, their hands waving toward the flame.

  “More!” they cried.

  Uh, okay.

  I tried again, blasting the flame above their heads. The fire was even bigger now, and the people shrieked their joy.

  “Lower!” they cried.

  I wasn’t sure they worshiped dragons so much as they worshiped dragon fire. But I did as they asked, blowing the flame a little closer to them.

  “Lower!”

  I blew it a little closer. One of them leapt up into the air, high enough that his fingertips brushed the red flame. Instead of shrieking in agony, he howled with delight. His form glowed a bright gold, as if he’d absorbed some magic from my fire.

  The rest tried to jump that high, too, but they couldn’t manage it. I blew the fire a little lower, and they leapt into it, crowing with joy.

  Okay, this was odd, but who was I to tell them what to enjoy?

  Finally, I felt like I was nearly tapped out. It wasn’t easy to be a dragon. It was a huge drain on my magical resources. I stopped blowing flame and shifted back into my human self, my head spinning as I shrank quickly.

  The people blinked at me, their forms still glowing golden from my fire.

  “You’re human.” The leader blinked again.

  “Not exactly,” I said. Actually, I was human. But he sounded so disappointed that I didn’t want to confirm it. Honestly, it was almost as if he’d forgotten that I’d been a human to start with. The excitement of seeing the dragon had wiped it from their memories.

  “We need your help,” I reminded him.

  He nodded, his gaze still traveling over me, confused and disappointed.

  “We’re going to the Cave of Treasures,” I prodded.

  His eyes brightened at that, as if he recognized it. “Yes. We can help you. If the dragon comes back and gifts us with more fire.”

  “Okay, but help us first,” I said.

  He nodded, then gestured for us to follow. “Come, come.”

  I shared a glance with my friends, who nodded. We followed the group of strange people into their settlement. The houses were more sophisticated up close, but it was the strange feathered contraptions that caught my eye. They sat at the other side of the compound.

  If I wasn’t mistaken, they were simple flying devices. The wings were covered in actual feathers, and each had two seats with pedals in front. The propeller in the back was connected to the pedals.

  We followed the group toward them and stopped in front of the closest one.

  The leader walked up to it, looking at us suspiciously. Finally, he stopped next to it and gestured at the wings. “We use these to fly over the Darklands. It is safer.” He fiddled with the feathers. “The feathers make it appear to be one of the local birds, so they do not attack. They will accept you as one of their own.”

  The leader paused again—an unusually long pause—and inspected us. He seemed to be looking for a hint of the dragon that I’d turned into and was disappointed not to see it.

  I shifted uncomfortably. It felt like this guy might go back on his word at any time.

  “Clever.” Maximus approached the flying device and walked around it, getting a good look. He ducked low to look underneath, and paid special attention to the props and gears.

  “You will make it safely across as long as the Giant Monster doesn’t appear.”

  “Giant Monster?” I asked. That was really generic. “What kind of monster?”

  “The flying kind.”

  Okay, not great. “This is really the fastest and safest way?”

  He nodded quickly. “Much faster and safer than the ground.”

  “We won’t be too heavy for the machines?” Maximus asked.

  The leader shook his head, his pale blue hair flying. “No. We are heavier than we appear. Very dense bones.”

  We’d have to take his word on it. “Okay, then. We’d like to take three machines if we could.”

  “First, the fire.” The leader’s gaze hardened.

  “Okay.” Crap. The pressure was on.

  I closed my eyes and focused on the fire within me. It represented the dragon, and soon, my muscles ached. I grew tall, my head shooting up high. I looked down on the worshipers, whose eyes glowed with a fanatic light.

  They waved their hands high.

  I called upon the fire, feeling it rise in my chest. This time, I’d give them just a little poof of it. Not much.

  I sucked in a breath, then expelled it, expecting to see a little burst of flame shoot from my lips.

  It didn’t.

  Instead, an enormous jet of fire exploded from me. It was huge—almost the size of a house. It enveloped the people, who shrieked with joy. It also lit the closest flying machine on fire. Maximus lunged out of the way, barely avoiding certain death. The feathers on the flying machines went up like kindling, creating a bonfire that spread to the other five machines.

  Within seconds, the entire fleet was aflame. The worshipers ran into the fire, darting around like kids on Christmas morning.

  Horror opened a hole within my chest.

  I stared at the inferno around me, then looked down at my friends. Their faces were white as they stared at the flames, shock dropping their jaws.

  I tried to speak, to say “let’s get out of here,” but another little bit of flame burst from my lips.

  As if she’d read my mind, Bree said, “Run for it.”

  We turned and sprinted away from the inferno, leaving the worshipers still shrieking with delight. My friends were fast and graceful as they ran through the settlement. I thundered along after them, trying to keep my tail from slamming into any of the buildings. I also made sure to keep my lips zipped up tight.

  Since the gate was far too small for me to fit through, I decided to jump it. Of course my tail caught it on the downswing, and I dragged the gate down with me, like some drunken partygoer tipping over the red velvet ropes at the cl
ub.

  Together, we ran from the settlement, sprinting back up over the hill. Finally, we stopped. I panted, directing my face away from anyone who I could possibly light on fire.

  Once I’d caught my breath, I shifted back to human. I sat on the ground, exhausted and feeling much smaller in this form. Everyone else sat around me, staring.

  “Sorry about that.” I tilted my head back to stare at the sky. “What a disaster.”

  “It’s just the learning curve,” Ana said.

  “Did you have such a big learning curve?” I asked, knowing that she hadn’t. Bree hadn’t either.

  “No, but you’re a freaking dragon.”

  “It’s literally the coolest animal there is,” Bree said. “If you got it easy, I’d be so consumed with jealousy I’d spontaneously combust.”

  I chuckled, looking away from the sky to meet their eyes. “I don’t have a lot more time to practice.”

  “You’ll get there,” Maximus said.

  “Speaking of getting there,” Cade said. “We need to keep moving. With the shortcut gone, we need to pick up the pace.”

  I nodded, feeling even guiltier than I had been.

  He held out his hands. “Don’t feel bad, Rowan. Seriously.”

  “Yeah,” Maximus said. “Especially since I can conjure some machines anyway.”

  My heart leapt. “Really?”

  “Really. I got a good look at them. I didn’t like that leader guy. He was too suspicious. I don’t think he was ever going to let us take those machines.”

  “Maybe not.” I shook my head. “He knew I wasn’t a real dragon.”

  “He liked your fire fine enough,” Lachlan said.

  “Let’s get out of here before they’re out of their stupor.” Maximus stood, raising his hands. His face creased in concentration as the scent of cedar filled my nose and the taste of fine whiskey exploded over my tongue. Magic swirled in the air, and a moment later, one of the flying machines stood in front of us. “I sure hope it has all the right parts.”

  I chuckled.

  “We’ll only need two,” Bree said. “Ana and I can fly alongside.”

  “What about the birds that we’re supposed to be camouflaged from?” I asked.

  “I’ll make us invisible with my illusion,” she said.