The Faerie Plague (Dark World: The Faerie Games Book 5)

by Michelle Madow

  The Range Rover could easily do ninety—kilometers per hour. Which wasn’t very fast. I didn’t know the conversion, but I put the pedal to the metal and drove as quickly as I could along the meandering road. Driving on the opposite side of the road wasn’t as difficult as anticipated, but it did take a minute or so to adjust.

  As I drove, we devised a plan.

  “No matter what, remember that this is a dragon,” I finished. “He or she might be able to shift into human form, but dragons aren’t like the shifters we know. They’re not a natural species from Earth. They’re monsters. We can’t let ourselves forget that.”

  “Of course,” Selena said, although she didn’t sound totally convinced.

  The pendulum’s light brightened the closer we got to the pub. Finally, the sign for McFly’s came into view. I pulled into the parking lot and glanced at the pendulum.

  It still wasn’t bright enough.

  Good. Grabbing the dragon would be difficult in a public space. Given that it was Sunday night and the sun had already set, we were hoping the dragon shifter would already be home.

  Selena moved the pendulum around in a circle. At the northernmost point, the light slowly pulsed. “That way,” she said, and I kicked it into high gear and headed back onto the road, making the first right that I could.

  We continued that way until turning down a long driveway and pulling up to a house on top of a hill. More than a house—a mansion. Since it was high up on the hill, it had a great view of the ocean.

  “Damn,” I said. “This dragon’s living the good life.”

  Once we were close to the house, but not too close, I stopped the car. Selena handed the pendulum and watch back to me, and I quickly put them back on and checked the time.

  7:15 AM Eastern Time, which was the only time zone I cared about now.

  Twenty minutes to go.

  We were cutting it close. Too close. But the pendulum glowed brightly and pulsed quickly. The dragon was in this house. It had to be.

  Selena aimed some of her violet magic toward the pendulum. The magic soaked into the glowing crystal and disappeared.

  “The glamour’s working,” she said. “We can see the crystal lighting up, but to anyone else it’ll look totally normal.”

  “Good,” I said, since we didn’t want to put the dragon on the defense the moment it saw us.

  I hopped out of the car and slammed the door shut behind me. Without pause, I hurried across the grass to the front of the house, not bothering to use the sidewalk. The others followed quickly behind. The pendulum’s crystal brightened with each step.

  We gathered in front of the door—Selena next to me, and the guys behind us.

  I took a deep breath, and then I knocked.

  After what felt like the slowest few seconds of my life, the door opened. A man in khaki pants and a t-shirt that said Hill Valley High stood in front of us. His topaz eyes looked more fae than anything else, and he had naturally tan skin. He looked around my mom’s age, maybe slightly older.

  And the pendulum was going crazy.

  We had our dragon.

  “Are you looking for Ethan?” he asked.

  I stood there, shocked. Because Mira’s boyfriend lived in this area. His name was Ethan. If this was his house, then was he…?

  “We’re not here for Ethan.” Selena motioned to the car, interrupting my chain of thought. “We have a flat, and this was the only driveway nearby, so we were hoping you might be able to help us change it.”

  Dragons should be strong enough to fix a flat tire, right?

  He paused, and I worried he was going to say no.

  If he did, there was always Plan B.

  Then, he smiled. “Four young, strong teens, and none of you know how to change a tire?”

  “We’re from the city.” I shrugged. “It’s not really something we do there.”

  Before he could reply, a young girl—maybe around seven years old—came halfway down the stairs. Her coloring matched his, down to the stunning topaz eyes. “Daddy?” she asked. “I thought we were gonna read before bed?”

  “I’ll be up in ten minutes, sweetheart,” he said, and then a woman came down the stairs.

  She wore a hooded robe, and her back was toward us. She stopped next to the girl and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Come on,” she said. “Daddy has important business to take care of.”

  “But he’ll be back?”

  “I’ll read to you while we wait,” she said, and she ushered the girl back up the stairs.

  Guilt panged in my chest.

  I couldn’t go through with this. There had to be another way…

  He’s a monster, I reminded myself. I’ve killed plenty of monsters before. Don't be deceived by his human form. Besides, there’s no more time. Either go through with this, or be trapped on Circe’s island for all eternity.

  I reached for my dark magic and pushed down the guilt until it was gone.

  The man—the dragon—waited until the woman and the girl turned into the hall. Then he looked back to us. “Right,” he said in his bright Australian accent. “Let me grab my tools from the garage. I’ll meet you at the car.”

  “No,” I said, since I didn’t want to let him out of our sight.

  He turned around, surprised.

  “We have tools in the trunk,” I said quickly. “We just don’t know how to use them.”

  “Hm.” He glanced at the car. “All right, then. Let’s go check out this tire of yours.”

  We walked over, and the sky rumbled with thunder, and lightning flashed overhead.

  “The weather didn’t call for a storm tonight.” He stopped walking and looked up at the cloud-covered sky. “Looks like a nasty one. Hopefully we can get this tire fixed up before the rain comes.”

  “Hopefully,” I agreed, and I headed toward the trunk and opened it up. “The tools are in here.”

  Selena looked at me, doubt shining in her violet eyes. I knew that look. She was having second thoughts.

  Maybe we should stop.

  This man had a family. And he was being kind to us.

  Then Circe’s face flashed in my mind, her lips curling slightly upward into a satisfied grin. Back on Aeaea, she’d looked at me so hungrily. And then there was the way she’d kissed me to seal the deal, like a promise of what she expected from me if I returned.

  I won’t let that be my future. I won’t let an evil sorceress take advantage of me for all eternity because I let myself be deceived by a dragon. A monster.

  My dark magic swirled angrily inside me, and I shook my head, silently begging Selena not to turn her back on me now.

  We’re doing this.

  The man joined me and took a look. “Where are the tools?” he asked. “I don’t see—”

  Selena grabbed his arm, the three of us grabbed onto Selena, and a bolt of lightning struck us before he could finish his sentence.

  42

  TORRENCE

  THE ELECTRICITY RIPPED me apart from the inside out. I would have screamed, if I wasn’t reduced to tons of tiny particles zipping through the sky.

  Piecing back together hurt even more.

  My feet landed on the sand, and the pain stopped, although the memory of it remained. The light around us dimmed and went out.

  We were in the same cove where we’d arrived. The one at the abandoned beach. With the sun down and no artificial light in sight, the cove felt haunted.

  Technically, we could have teleported the dragon there, like normal. But we wanted to hurt him. Weaken him. Scare him.

  Selena’s lightning-travel was perfect for the job.

  From the terrified expression on his face as he backed away from us, it had worked.

  He held his hands up, palms out, and made no moves to attack. “I don’t want to fight,” he said, calm and serious.

  “That’s too bad.” Reed’s eyes flashed black. “Because you don’t have a choice.”

  The man didn’t flinch. “Why did you bring me h
ere?” he asked. “And what type of magic was that?”

  He waited calmly for our answer. Standing there, seemingly defenseless, he was a perfect target. And we were running out of time. I needed to take care of this—now.

  I reached for my dark magic. It swirled inside me, ready for me to aim it toward this man, just like I’d aimed it at the cyclops.

  But his daughter’s voice echoed in my mind.

  “He’ll be back?” she’d asked the robed woman.

  The woman hadn’t said yes.

  My entire body shook. But then I thought of Circe and called on more dark magic.

  The smoky darkness smothered my guilt, and I stood strong.

  The man slowly lowered his hands. “How did you find me?” he asked.

  “Why aren’t you flying away?” I asked in return.

  “Fly?” He laughed. “What are you talking about?”

  “Shift,” I said. “Fly away.”

  Prove you’re the monster we know you are.

  “I’m not a shifter.” He held a hand up at chest-level, palm to the sky, and a small bit of fire burst out from it. The flame danced over his skin, and the light flickered around the cove. “I’m a witch, like you. Or at least, like I think you are. I assume that’s why you’re wearing a pendulum?” He glanced at the crystal hanging around my neck.

  It was still pulsing like a strobe light, although thanks to Selena’s glamour, it would have looked like a plain pendulum to him.

  But we were wasting time.

  I reached for my magic again and shot it out at him. But not black, smoky magic.

  Bright, purple magic.

  He jumped above the beam of magic and exploded into a flying beast ten times his size. A giant, topaz, deadly-looking dragon. His head was taller than I was, and his slit, gemstone-like eyes glared down at me. His wings flapped as he hovered overhead.

  The breeze stirred around me. I stared up at the monster he’d become, amazed by his majestic beauty.

  But hesitation would kill me. So I raised my hands and released my dark, smoky magic toward his chest.

  He snarled, opened his mouth, and blasted a laser beam of fire at my magic. The smoke and fire crashed together between us and boomed like thunder. The heat burned hot like a convection oven, but I forced my eyes to stay open and held strong onto my magic.

  The fire inched closer to me.

  Now that he was attacking in his dragon form, it was clear that I was right. He was a monster. And he was trying to kill me.

  Die, I thought, and I pushed with all my might against his fire. Circe’s face flashed in my mind again, and rage spread through me, strengthening my magic enough to stop the fire’s progress.

  Reed rushed to my side, held up his hands, and released his dark magic. It joined with mine, and together, we pushed the fire back farther.

  Sweat beaded on my brow and dripped down the sides of my face. My arms shook from the strain of holding back the fire. I bent my knees to brace myself, but I didn’t know how much longer I could keep this up.

  Spears flew toward the dragon and embedded themselves into his scaly neck. Julian. But the weapons might as well have been toothpicks against the beast’s thick, spiky hide.

  Apparently realizing that he was getting nowhere, he threw one at the dragon’s wings. It hit, leaving a small hole where it had pierced through. The next spear missed, and the one after it hit again.

  But the dragon’s wings were massive. The spears weren’t taking him down quickly enough. The dragon’s nostrils flared, each spear through its wings angering it further. The fire inched closer to me and Reed. The heat blazed against my skin, and it hurt to breathe.

  We were going to burn to death.

  I could try to teleport to another location in the cove and attack from a different angle. But then what would happen to Reed? And if we both teleported at the same time, what would happen when the fire hit the sand? Would it expand like a bomb and consume us all?

  The risk was too big.

  So I pushed out my magic harder. But it was no use.

  We weren’t going to win.

  I glanced back at Selena.

  She was standing there, staring up at the dragon, like she was helpless.

  “Do something!” I yelled to her. “Now!”

  She snapped back into focus and pulled the Holy Wand from the ether. The wand’s crystals glowed, thunder boomed, and multiple bolts of lightning shot down from the sky. They hit the dragon and surrounded him with dancing webs of electricity that held him up in the air. He convulsed, and his fire stopped.

  Reed’s and my dark magic rushed forward and hit the dragon. But Selena’s electricity acted like a shield, and the magic poofed into nothing.

  No longer needing it to defend ourselves, we both let go of our magic. I released a long, exhausted breath, and wiped sweat off my forehead.

  “Back up!” Selena hurried backward toward the ocean and stopped at the last of the dry sand before it turned wet from the waves.

  The three of us followed, going backward as well so we could keep our eyes on the dragon.

  Once the four of us stood in a row, the electricity around the dragon fizzled out and the beast crashed to the ground. Sand flew up around it in all directions.

  That would have really hurt if it had gotten in our eyes.

  The sand settled around the giant, collapsed heap of the dragon. Its wings were charred, and thin trails of gray smoke drifted up from them. The smoke traveled in the breeze, and the smell of burnt flesh assaulted my senses.

  The dragon didn’t move.

  “Is it dead?” I asked, my voice only slightly louder than a whisper.

  Selena’s eyes were sad, and I knew what her answer would be before she shook her head no. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t.”

  I nodded, since I understood. It was the same reason why I’d originally attacked with light magic instead of dark. The dragon wasn’t a monster. He had a teenage son, and a young daughter. The woman in the cloak was likely his wife. He was going to help four random teens fix their flat tire.

  A disgusted pit formed in my stomach. Because he hadn’t attacked first. He’d tried to make peace.

  We were the bad guys here.

  I walked slowly toward the dragon, and the others followed.

  The tip of one of the dragon’s wings twitched, and I stopped moving. The creature raised its head slightly, the air shimmered around it, and the space where the majority of the dragon had been was empty.

  All that remained was the man in the center, curled in a ball on the beach. His skin was red and blistered. A few patches were charred black.

  He groaned in pain, although the black patches were already starting to disappear. Accelerated healing.

  How much longer until he was completely healed?

  I glanced down at my watch.

  7:24 AM Eastern Time.

  A little more than ten minutes to go.

  If I killed him right now and cut out his heart, would I have time to bring it back to King Devin, exchange it for the staff, and deliver the staff to Circe?

  It would be tight, but yes. I’d just have to be quick about it. After all, it wasn’t like we could let the dragon go. He’d gather more of his kind—if there were any more of his kind—and come for us.

  So I didn’t have much of a choice.

  There’s always a choice.

  But sometimes—like when choosing between sailing closer to Scylla or Charybdis—neither option was a good one.

  “Are you just going to stand there staring at it?” Reed asked.

  I didn’t answer.

  “All right, then.” His eyes flashed black, and he gathered a ball of dark magic in his hand. “I’ll do it.”

  Before I could think twice, I blasted him with a beam of purple magic. His eyes widened right before it hit him. He flew back in an arch through the air and landed on his back in the sand.

  He groaned and sat up, looking at me with murder in his eyes
. “Fine,” he said. “Wimp out and be imprisoned on Circe’s island for all eternity. What do I care?”

  His words stung, and I sucked in a sharp, pained breath. I wanted to sink into the sand and disappear. Because despite everything, I’d always believed that Reed cared if I lived or died.

  Now, I wasn’t so sure.

  Selena and Julian watched, waiting. I understood why. What we were doing was murder. They wouldn’t interfere, but if someone was going to kill this man, it needed to be me.

  I reached for my dark magic again, but stopped.

  This wasn’t me.

  I can’t do this.

  There had to be another way out of this mess I’d gotten myself into. A way I’d be able to live with if I ever escaped Circe’s island.

  The man pushed himself onto his knees, although his breaths were labored, and he barely had the energy to sit up straight. He leaned back onto his heels and stared at me like I was the Devil incarnate. “If you’re going to kill me, then do it already,” he said. “But I know what you are. And I promise you that soon, my people will break free from their chains, and your kind will pay for what you’ve done to us.”

  His threat weighed heavily in the air. But I dropped my arms to my sides, because I knew I couldn’t kill him. “My kind,” I repeated. “Do you mean witches?”

  “Witches.” He chuckled. “Do you really expect me to believe you’re—”

  A woman appeared behind him and slashed a knife across the front of his throat before he could finish the sentence.

  The life dimmed out of his eyes, he sagged forward, and the woman wrapped an arm around him to hold him up. His blood poured from the gash in his neck onto her pale, snow-white skin.

  “This gift will please Lilith greatly.” Lavinia flashed us a wicked grin and blinked out, taking the dead dragon shifter with her.

  43

  TORRENCE

  I FELL to my knees and stared down at the bloodstained sand before me.

  That was it.

  We’d failed.

  Reed blasted the bloodied sand with dark magic. “Dammit,” he said. “We should have killed her when we had the chance.”