Dragon Oracle Urban Fantasy Boxed Set (Dragon Oracle Complete Series: Books 1 - 9)

by Jada Fisher

  Another slew of curses escaped Mal’s mouth and the dragon viciously backhanded her without even looking her way. No, instead, he stared us down, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was smelling something he shouldn’t.

  “Well, as fun as this little reunion has been, I must get back to my duties. Mal, it’s finally time to have a proper good-bye.”

  Before I could parse out what that meant, two guards came forward and grabbed Mal, hauling her to her feet and pulling her to the stairs. They didn’t walk her down so much as push her down the steps, and my heart leapt into my throat.

  “Please tell me they’re not about to do what I think they’re about to do,” Mallory whispered, barely audible even though I was right next to her.

  I tried to debate with myself, tried to answer her vaguely and not reveal what was churning in my mind. But I couldn’t. I just wasn’t that kind of girl. “I have to stop them.”

  “Don’t!” Bron hissed quietly. “They can’t know what you are. There’s still a chance we can use their ignorance to our advantage.”

  “And is that chance worth someone’s life?!”

  He quieted at that, and by then, the guards had arrived at the bottom of the lower floor. They left Mal right in the middle, releasing her from her wrist and leg shackles, then walked all the way back to the stairs.

  There was a tiny hope within me that they would just walk away and somehow that would be that, but then they stopped at the bottom stair and began to shift. Their jaws elongated while scales rolled down their body, until a drake and a wyrm stood in their place, mouths open and glowing.

  “Malia of fifth province, you are hereby found guilty of stealing dragon property, trespassing and violating curfew, aiding and abetting others in trespassing and violating curfew. Illegal trading. Espionage. Threats to the crown, and of course, assaulting a dragon resulting in permanent bodily harm. Do you have any last words?”

  “Yeah, you can take all those charges and shove them up your own—”

  “Enough,” the blond man said with a sigh. “I hate it when such bitter words come out of such a sweet little bird. Just end it now.”

  The glow in the drake and the wyrm’s mouth grew brighter and I could smell the sulfur in the air. I thought I was going to throw up, and I realized that this girl that I had just met, who was only in this position because of my sister’s harassing, was going to die.

  Fire shot out of the two guards’ mouth, and then everything was happening at once.

  Energy shot out of me, rushing across the room in a wall of hazy purple, causing the fire to bounce every which way. Heat surged across my skin, like I felt everything that bounced off the shield. To top it all off, there was a shrill, desperate sound that pierced my ears as it filled the room. It took several seconds for me to realize that it was me, screaming, but by the time I cut it off, all eyes were on me.

  The fire gone, I fell back into myself, sweat pouring down my face and my body throbbing. I guess I had pulled out the whole shield trick way too soon after my dimension-hopping shenanigans.

  “Well, what do we have here?” the man asked, taking a few steps toward me. I recoiled, nausea starting to overtake me, but I was still largely chained in my spot. “You…you’re not from here, are you, little girl?”

  I didn’t say anything, just breathed heavily as I looked up at him. He crouched in front of me, not too different than how he had been with Mal, and stared down into my face.

  “Huh, now that I look at you, you do share a certain resemblance.”

  Wait, what? Resemblance to who?! What was he talking about?

  “Bind them up and take them to the royal meeting chambers.” He walked down to Mal and patted her cheek. “Looks like you brought me the one thing that could save you from all of your unsightly little transgressions.”

  She looked past him, however, to make eye contact with me. I could see all of her questions there, but I couldn’t answer any of them.

  So, I shrugged. I had a feeling that everything was going to come to light one way or another, but I couldn’t help but wonder if I had just saved the girl only for all of us to end up in a worse position.

  I guessed we would find out soon enough.

  7

  A Royal Pain in the—

  When I was younger, I had thought that quicksand would be a much more present threat in my life considering how much it was in all of the media I consumed. Naturally, I had been endlessly disappointed that it really wasn’t a thing. But now, as I stood in the center of an ornate room full of elegant draconic sculptures and paintings, I felt like I was sinking down into a puddle of the very much exaggerated danger.

  There was no one but the guards in the room with us, and it was deathly silent. You could have heard a pin drop—if the floor wasn’t covered in thick, lush velvety carpet. After our one day in the absolutely apocalyptic, dismal abyss that was the city, this opulence came across as almost a shock.

  The door opened, and I heard several different footsteps come in. One was the now-familiar gait of the same blond dragon that we had already been dealing with, but there were two more, both light on their feet.

  It seemed to take forever for them to cross around the front. When they had, and I could see them in their entirety, I almost wished that we were back down in the execution room.

  …almost.

  One was unmistakably Baelfyre. Sure, his hair was different, and his clothes were far more fancy and formal than I had ever seen him in, but there was no mistaking that fine bone structure and intense gaze. In this world, however, he didn’t need to mask his disdain and superiority, and he wore them across his visage without any compunction.

  The other man with him was older, and I didn’t recognize him. He was dressed in full armor and had several scars across his face. Which made me wonder, did he get them in his human form, or were they earned as a dragon and then they translated to this form?

  “You’re absolutely certain that she’s like the other?”

  The other? The other! That had to be Mickey, right? They had Mickey! Then why couldn’t I feel her? Why wasn’t she reaching out to me in joy? Something wasn’t making sense and it set my teeth on edge.

  “Confirmed. Saw it with my own eyes. So did these guards here.”

  “Impressive, Galvinod. And how did you come across them?”

  “I was out searching for a previous transgressor when fortune smiled upon me and they all happened to be in the same place at the same time.”

  “Previous transgressor?” Baelfyre’s grin widened. “Ah, the little birdie that plucked out your eye when she escaped?”

  I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I heard the tiniest bit of embarrassment to the blond dragon’s answer. “…yes. And as you can see, she is here in my custody, waiting to be dealt with after we handle the more important development.”

  “Right, good work.” Baelfyre nodded, then looked to the man in armor. “I think this warrants alerting the prince.”

  “I concur.”

  “Wait,” Mallory interjected, causing me to wince. “You’re not the prince?”

  Baelfyre just laughed. “What, is that what it’s like in your dimension?” My eyes widened at that and his mirth just grew that much louder. “Yes, we know about the realities and the thin veils between us. You think you and the other were the first little seers to get lost in the spiderweb?”

  I was so tired of being scared and capitulating to these fanged jerks. Before I could think it through, I was retorting snarkily. “No, but I’m surprised you didn’t just execute them for no reason like you did your world’s own seers.”

  Baelfyre straightened at that. “Oh, did you see that in one of your visions?”

  “Something like that,” I shot back despite the pleading look Bron was giving me. “Her father committed some grand sin against you, and you killed both of them before they could even know their power.”

  “Well, that really is a shame, I suppose, but thankfully we’ve got the two
of you now to make up for it.” He raised a finger and looked to the blond dragon. “Take them to the others. I will inform the prince and he will no doubt want to meet them in person.”

  “Very good, Lord Advisor. I will see to it.”

  “And don’t worry, Galvinod, I will make sure that he knows it was you who brought this gift in. This just might be enough to make people forget about how a little songbird bested you.”

  The blond dragon bristled. “As I have said, I was drugged an—”

  Baelfyre held up a hand. “Until next time.”

  Then the two were off in a flash of cloak, leaving us with the two guards and Galvinod. Which, by the way, was a really stupid name. They didn’t give us any time to rest, however, and got us to our feet before marching us out the door.

  We traveled down halls and up staircases that were practically dripping with wealth. They even had electrical wiring! The stark difference between the land of dragons and the human territory was insane. It made me want to do something about the situation, but right then, I couldn’t even save my own sister. It was important I didn’t let my savior complex get in the way of what needed to be done.

  My thighs were screaming again by the time we reached the top of a particularly long staircase, and I was actually relieved when Galvinod moved to the front of us to swing the door open.

  Just like I expected, it was a little mini-dungeon, but well-lit and lacking in the grossness one might expect. Instead, I smelled incense burning in the corner and there was even a barred window looking to the outside.

  But most importantly was what was in one of the two cells. Laying there on the floor were several blue, crystalline forms.

  “Mickey!” I cried, rushing forwards.

  But one of the guards grabbed my shoulder and forced me into the empty cell. “Glad to see that the two of you know each other. Should give you the proper motivation to wake her up.”

  I glared fiercely as the guards slid the door closed on us. “Why do you care if she’s awake or not anyway?”

  “Because, if she’s stuck in her crystal like that, how are the two of you going to help us cross into other worlds until dragons rule all of them?”

  I took a step back, nearly colliding into Mallory, and I felt my stomach drop. “That’s why you want us?”

  He shrugged. “That’s just what I’ve heard through the grapevine. I’m not particularly into the military scene, so you’ll have to see what the prince has to say to you.” He smiled wanly and gave us a wink. “I’ll be seeing you later, Mal.”

  And with that, he and the guards were out the door, leaving us alone to our own devices.

  “You shouldn’t have done that,” I was surprised when it was Mal speaking, not Bron. “You should have let them roast me to a crisp. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about this anymore, and they wouldn’t know they have exactly what they’ve been hoping for.”

  “I couldn’t just let you die,” I murmured, sinking down to the ground, my eyes affixed on my sister’s body.

  “Well, you should’ve.”

  I didn’t have it in me to argue with her. Instead, I just closed my eyes and tried to reach out to my sister.

  I couldn’t believe it. We were so close, and yet it still seemed like we were impossibly far. She was just across the room, but whatever she had sealed herself in was barring me from communicating with her. How was it that she could send me dreams across dimensions, but couldn’t even manage the slightest of responses right now?

  Wait, maybe that was the answer. Maybe the realm of the unconscious was the only place where we could communicate. I… I guessed that made sense? I supposed there wasn’t much else I could try, so I tilted my head back, slowed my breathing, and told myself to calm down.

  Easier said than done, of course, but luckily, my friends seemed to get what I was doing and didn’t interrupt me. It felt like a thousand thoughts flew through my mind, ranging from bitter to defiant to defeated, but I refused to follow any of them. I let them flow through me, like water under a bridge, until finally I started to slip under.

  “Well, you found me.”

  We were back in the hub again, but away from the center of town that I was so used to. It was funny how similar the hub looked to the world I was in now. If it weren’t for more of the craters, radioactive glow, and slightly more violent destruction of the rotted dragon’s prison, the two realities would be nearly identical.

  “It’s not exactly the most ideal of situations, but hey, at least we’re back together again, aren’t we?”

  I looked over to see Mickey sitting across from me on a pile of rubble. She looked wearier than I had ever seen her, and I pondered if that ethereal projection of her was more my mind’s doing than her own.

  “But are we really?” I asked. “Because last I checked, you’re kinda cocooned up and non-responsive.”

  She chuckled dryly at that. “Oh, so you noticed that? And here I thought I was playing it subtle.”

  “About as subtle as a sledgehammer…”

  She stood and crossed the distance between us, holding out her arms in a hug. I couldn’t help but return it, tears coming to my eyes as we embraced. “I missed you so much,” I managed to say without my voice breaking, but only just barely.

  “I know. I missed you too, little sis. But you’ve been doing amazing. I wish you had stayed in our dimension, but I’m guessing that you had plenty good reasons to come here.”

  “I didn’t mean to. The dragons attacked where we were and one thing kinda lead to another.”

  “Oh, sounds scary. Well, I guess I should be glad that we’re together now.”

  “Kinda together.”

  “Goodness, you’re being so picky with semantics. I thought I was the English-lover and you were the artist.”

  As much as I adored my sister, I didn’t have it in me to joke around like we normally did. There was just too much at stake. “Do you know why the dragon wants us?”

  “I imagine for the same reason that the rotted dragon wants us. Everyone wants to hop over the reality barriers, but we are the only ones who can. And from what I can tell, there’s less than a hundred of us over the fabric of all of time and space. As you can imagine, that makes for a bit of a supply and demand issue.”

  “Wait, you know what the rotted dragon wanted too?”

  “Well yeah, it was just a simple matter of context clues.”

  “So, are him and the dragon supremacists working together?”

  She let out a short bark of laughter. “Oh no, and perhaps that’s the funniest part of this. The rotted dragon feeds on his own kind just as much as humans and animals. From what I’ve been able to learn, the hub is…not entirely as we see it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She sighed and looked to the ground. “You ready for a story?”

  “Sure. This is a dream, isn’t it? So, time is impermeable and uncontrollable.”

  “Ah, there’s my literal baby sis.” We both settled ourselves down and then she continued. “As far as I can tell, the hub was once a whole entire world, thriving with life and civilization. In fact, it might have been the world, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

  “There were all sorts of species that lived there. Elves, shapeshifters, nymphs, centaurs, you name it, it existed. There was a balance through magic, or energy, or whatever you want to call how that place ran.

  “But then the dragon began to rise to power. War became a thing, and peace was no more. As far as I could tell, he eventually became so powerful that he ruled the entire world, and with a very cruel fist, I might add.

  “Naturally, people aren’t going to like that much, so all the seers and magicians and what have you from their realm got together and made a spell to exorcise him from their planet.

  “But it didn’t quite work that way. Instead, it created a version of their planet that he was trapped in, and then another that he couldn’t go to. So, the rebellion moved there, hoping to find their peace.


  “Of course, the rotted dragon wasn’t so hip to that idea, so he sent his hordes after them, and thus, they ran, creating world after world after world, until finally his forces were spread so thin that they actually stood a chance of fighting back. Then, when they were absolutely sure that they would win, they severed every connection to each other, obliterating all of the portals, until the rotted dragon was stuck alone on his hollow shell of a planet.”

  “…you learned all of that while encased in blue rock?”

  “A woman’s got to keep herself busy. It’s not exactly entertaining to just lay around all day.”

  “I don’t know, after the time we’ve had this past month, I think lying around sounds quite nice, doesn’t it?”

  “You have a point there. I’ve been seeing a whole lot of running in your life lately.”

  “Yeah, my least favorite activity.”

  She squeezed my hands and gave me a sweet kiss on top of my head. “I know you wanna see me pretty bad, but I need you to promise me something.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Don’t free me until you’re absolutely sure you have a plan to escape. We need to buy all the time we have, and if we’re both active, they’re going to force us to help them cross the divide as fast as possible. I’m sure you saw the other two crystal forms next to me. Those are dragon soldiers. They’re on our side…or at least they will be once we’re all free.”

  “So you want me to stall?”

  “I want you to stall.”

  “But what if I can’t get you freed from the blue crystal?”

  “Don’t worry, I have faith in you.” Yet another sweet hug and then she was stepping away from me. “You should go back now. I feel that the prince is coming and he’s not the nicest of people. Promise me that you’ll be strong?”

  “I promise,” I said.

  “Good. Be safe, baby sis.”

  “I’ll try my hardest.”

  With that, I fell away from her, tumbling backward into the abyss until I landed right back in my own body.