The Dragon of Sedona

by Genevieve Jack

  “When have I ever taken unnecessary risks?”

  Everyone at the table stared at her accusingly.

  “Please.” Gabriel rolled his eyes toward the ceiling.

  “Fine.” She raised an eyebrow at Rowan. “You’d think I didn’t have a doctor, a healing amulet, and a dragon’s tooth working in my favor.”

  Rowan gave her a crooked smile. “Boys.” She hadn’t known Raven long enough to peg her as a risk taker, but the way her brothers looked at her told a different story.

  “He’s right,” Tobias said. “You need to be careful.”

  Nick glanced at Rowan and took a swig of his beer. “Can I just say, I’ve never felt bored since I mated Rowan. You guys are an interesting bunch.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “Thanks for coming,” Raven said, staring down at the historical text she’d found in a pawnshop at the edge of town. She was drawn there by the store’s name, Indigenous Relics. An ad on their website said they had the largest selection of healing herbs and crystals in Sedona.

  But it was the collection of rare texts the owner had shown her in the back room she found particularly interesting. The man was a dark, shadowy figure, who sent goose bumps dancing up her arms every time he came within a foot of her, but he’d had the uncanny ability to show her exactly what she needed, and she’d texted Tobias immediately when she found it.

  “Should I ask now or later why you called me in and not Rowan or Gabriel?” he asked.

  “Because you worked as a healer with Maiara. You trained as a Midew. And what this says is too outrageous to share with anyone else unless I know for sure it’s true.”

  His forehead wrinkled and he sidled up to her, looking over the page she was on. It was a reproduction of a text that was originally written on birch bark scrolls, and the content had blown her away.

  “How are you even reading this? It’s in Algonquian,” Tobias asked.

  “Translation spell.” Raven rubbed her belly. It had felt tight since lunch, and she was kicking herself for overeating. “This says there were four levels of Midew magic.”

  Tobias nodded. “True. I had achieved level one.”

  “What level was Maiara?”

  “I’m not sure, but after Rowan told that story today about her becoming one with the trees, I can only suspect she was at least a third level if not a fourth.”

  “Exactly. The ability to merge with other living things is very powerful magic. Only the most experienced shaman could do it.”

  “But she was young. How on earth could she have had that type of power so early on?” Tobias flipped the page and kept reading.

  “Alexander said power ran in her family, and Willow had suspected she was a dryad, although Maiara herself said it was Midew magic. What if it was a little of both?” That was the part that sounded crazy, even to Raven, but she couldn’t shake the thought it might be true.

  “What are you saying?”

  “This ancient text talks about a people in Algonquian legend called the Pagwadjinini, direct translation—forest people or people of the trees. From what we know, Maiara’s entire family was killed, as was the rest of the Midewiwin society. We’ll never know her biological origins. But what if there was some Pagwadjinini in her ancestry that allowed her to excel at her mystical abilities?”

  “So what? She was a Midew prodigy. Why do we care?”

  “Because according to this text, a level-three Midew can temporarily join herself, body and soul, to the trees. Trees are stationary. Trees have a simple spiritual structure. It’s all here.”

  “Okay.” Tobias narrowed his eyes at her.

  “A level-four Midew can join their soul to any other living creature.”

  “Come again?” Tobias allowed the page to drop from his fingers.

  “A level-four Midew, according to this, was extremely rare, but he or she could cast their soul from their body and join it with another plant, animal, or even a person. Two souls in one body.”

  Leaning over the text, Tobias pressed a hand to his temple and began to read. “Not with anything. This says the Midew had to have had a close relationship with the living thing.”

  “And what living thing was closest to Maiara besides Nikan or Nyx as Alexander calls her? Nikan literally means my friend in Potawatomi. She told Alexander the hawk came to her when she became a healer and that the hawk was a bridge between the living and the dead. That’s a real thing. I found it in the books. Midews had an animal that helped them communicate with their ancestors. Nikan was hers.”

  “Are you saying what I think you’re saying? Because this is big, Raven. You can’t be wrong about this. If you are, it will tear him apart. He will never recover. Do you understand me?”

  “I’m not wrong. I felt it the moment I held her. That hawk has magical energy. And it wasn’t just because of a three-hundred-year-old spell that made it immortal.”

  “Don’t say it. If you say it, we can’t put the genie back in the bottle.” Tobias squeezed his eyes closed.

  “Maiara’s soul is in that bird.”

  Tobias steadied himself on the desk. “All these years…”

  “She knew she was dying and that you might not get to the amulet in time. So she put her soul into Nikan. Only no one understood what she was doing and there were no Midew left with the magic to put her back. Once they’d burned her, she had no body to put her back into!”

  “We still don’t have a body. Even if her soul was in the bird, what then?” Tobias asked. “We can’t give Alexander false hope, Raven. It isn’t fair to him.”

  She raised her eyes to his and smiled. “I think I can do it without a body. It won’t be easy. As far as I know, no one has done anything like this before. But I found a spell, an ancient spell, and you know I can execute it.”

  “I was afraid you’d say that.” Tobias rubbed the back of his neck. “Fuck, I can’t decide if this is the best thing that could happen or the worst.”

  “It might be either. Let’s wait to see if I can pull it off.”

  “Gabriel isn’t going to like this.”

  Raven tucked the book under her arm and lifted the basket of crystals and other magical accoutrements she’d gathered from the floor near her feet. She headed for the owner, who was waiting in a pool of darkness behind the cash register. “Gabriel is my mate, not my prison warden. I’m doing this.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Willow, bring me more yellow,” Alexander said, using his brush to tease the last of the color from his palette.

  Willow appeared with a tube in his hand. “This is the last of it.”

  “Seriously?”

  “I haven’t ordered more in ages. You’ve preferred darker colors for some time.”

  Alexander added more of the sunny hue to his palette. “Well. Order more. I feel like trying something new.” He blended the yellow with a bit of white and layered highlights into his work.

  “It’s beautiful.” Willow perused the painting from behind him. “The best you’ve done this year.”

  The picture was a self-portrait, Alexander as a dragon standing at the center of the Potawatomi winter village, a sunset behind the teepees, casting golden light over the snow. A glow came from the dwelling that had once been his and Maiara’s. The happiest days of his life happened there, when he’d come back from patrolling the village and she’d be waiting for him beside the fire.

  “For a long time, I was afraid to remember,” Alexander said. “I thought it would hurt too much to think of her how she was, to talk to her spirit, and to open myself to whatever feelings came with it. I was wrong. Remembering this, it’s helped me.”

  “You’ve done it justice. It is exactly as I remember it.” Willow brought his pearlescent face closer to the canvas to appreciate the texture of the individual brushstrokes. Beside him, Nyx shifted on her perch and bobbed her head toward the painting. “Nyx likes it too.”

  When Alexander regarded his art, he felt—it wasn’t exactly happy—bu
t warm. For a second he forgot where he was and he was there again with her, in their home. He knew she was gone, and he was still sad about that. A piece of his soul would always be missing. But Rowan was right. Telling her story had made him lighter. Each word he spoke was like moving a weight off him and onto whoever was listening. It had become a shared burden with his telling it. He’d have to admit as much to Rowan when she returned. He owed her that.

  “Do you think we should have a memorial for Maiara?” Alexander asked softly.

  Willow’s wings fluttered. “I think that is an excellent idea. What a wonderful way to honor her, and with your siblings here, they could also pay their respects. Tobias cared for her very much as a fellow healer, and Gabriel and Rowan knew her as well.”

  Alexander nodded his head. “I think you’re right. She’d love it.” He almost dropped his paintbrush when, in a flurry of flapping wings, Nyx flew from her perch and sailed out the mouth of the cave. “That’s odd. She doesn’t usually hunt this time of day,” he said.

  “It seems everyone in this family is changing.” Willow smiled wistfully. “I’ll bring you some tea and sandwiches, and we can make a plan for the memorial.” He blinked out of sight.

  A few minutes later, Alexander was putting the finishing touches on his painting when he heard footsteps behind him. “Just put it on the table, Willow.”

  “Alexander, it’s me. Let me in,” Rowan called through the wards.

  He concentrated on his ring and flourished his hand in the air. “Come in, sister, and explain to me why you broke your promise. You told me three days, remember?” He grinned at her, happy to see her despite her early arrival.

  “Wow,” Rowan said as she neared his latest work. “This is stunning. Is that what it was like there?”

  “I remember it like it was yesterday.” He scratched his stubbled cheek. “I hadn’t thought of it in a long time. I owe this one to you. You helped me remember. It feels good to remember.”

  “Where is Nikan? I mean Nyx?”

  “Out hunting. She’ll be back soon.”

  “Oh.” Rowan fidgeted.

  “You’re early. What do have to tell me? Is Gabriel giving you a hard time?” He selected a different brush and dipped it into the black paint, adding his signature in the lower right corner of the painting.

  “Uh, actually…”

  He glimpsed her fidgeting out of the corner of his eye. “Out with it, sister. Where’s Nick anyway?”

  “He’s with the others… right outside the cave.” Rowan winced.

  “What?” Alexander stood, paint from his brush dripping on the floor. “Why did you bring them here without my permission?”

  “They have something to tell you, Alexander, and it’s really important that you listen. Like, really important. Potentially life changing. You know I love you, and I would never invite them here if I didn’t know in my heart that this was the best place for this conversation.”

  Alexander scowled. He did not like the sound of that. “And what is this life-changing thing?”

  “I can’t tell you. I can’t, okay? I don’t really understand it. Only Raven and Tobias do and you have to invite them in if you want them to tell you.”

  He shook his head. Maybe this was for the best. After they shared whatever so-called emergency that had brought them to his door, he could ask them for their help with the memorial. He went to the edge of the cave, past the barrier spell, and yelled down to the group gathered in the valley. “Come on up. Family reunion. I hope you brought snacks because Willow and I are running dangerously low on supplies.”

  He stepped back as Gabriel, carrying Raven, and Tobias, carrying Nick, landed on his ledge. They followed him inside. He motioned for them to find themselves a chair from the eclectic collection in his living room. Then he stared at Raven.

  “Mountain help us, you look even more pregnant than two days ago.”

  “It just keeps growing,” she said. She supported her back with both hands.

  “My sister tells me you and Tobias are the only ones who can explain why you are here,” he said to get the ball rolling. He couldn’t take much more of this silent staring routine.

  She nodded. “That’s true.”

  “Then spill it. You’re keeping me from my work.” He gestured toward the painting.

  Raven took a deep, fortifying breath. “When I held Nyx the first day we were here, something happened.”

  “Don’t keep me in suspense.” Alexander grabbed a clean towel and wiped the excess paint from his hands.

  “A shock ran up my arm. It’s the kind of thing that happens when I come in contact with a magical being.”

  He shrugged. “Nyx is an immortal hawk. Can’t get much more magical than that.” He wiped his brushes clean and dipped them in safflower oil, before laying them out to dry.

  Raven cleared her throat. “The power I felt wasn’t from an enchanted animal. It was more a creature with true, inherent power. Like a witch or, or…”

  Alexander turned back around, stared at her, and waited. What exactly was she trying to say?

  Tobias nudged Raven’s elbow, and the next words came out of her mouth in a flood of syllables. “I think Maiara’s soul is in your hawk and with the help of this, we can bring her back.” Alexander watched in horror as Raven pulled Maiara’s healing amulet from her bag. He rushed toward her, taking the shell in his hand.

  “Where did you get this?” he asked. His blood surged in his veins, and he swayed on his feet. Absently he noticed scales shingle up his arm. Raven’s eyes.

  “Deep breath, brother. Just listen to her.” Tobias’s hands were on his shoulders, and Gabriel moved between him and Raven, who took a healthy step back.

  He closed his eyes and tried to settle the beast within. “For fuck’s sake, I’m not going to hurt her. I just want to know what she’s doing with my wife’s amulet.”

  Raven cleared her throat. “I believe that Nikan, Nyx as you call her, is a vessel for Maiara’s soul. She transferred her soul into the bird before she died. With the amulet, the hawk, and a totem of Maiara, I believe I can bring her back.”

  Raven kept talking, but Alexander couldn’t hear what she was saying. A buzzing started in his head, like a swarm of cicadas, low at first and then building to a deafening hum. Everything felt removed and disconnected, as if he were watching himself from outside his body. When was the last time he blinked? When was the last time he breathed? Had she really said what he thought she’d said?

  A storm was brewing inside him. Anger, hurt, betrayal, fear, disbelief, and so many more emotions he couldn’t even name swirled in his head and his heart. Torn in two was an apt analogy. He wanted to hug someone and hit someone all at the same time. “How sure are you?”

  Rowan chewed her lip. He hadn’t intended it, but there must have been menace in his voice because Rowan had moved in, shoulder to shoulder with Gabriel in front of Raven.

  “Alexander, Raven is doing her best to help you,” Rowan said. “Try to calm down.”

  He glared at her. “I’m not going to hurt Raven. But I think I deserve to know how sure she is about this. Is this a theory or a fact?”

  Raven looked down at the floor of the cave. “A theory. This is all based on texts that are centuries old and written in an indigenous language. That said, I am 95 percent sure they are authentic and that this will work.”

  “How do you know?” He narrowed his eyes on her.

  “It’s how my magic works. I can absorb a spell off a page and perform it perfectly the first time. I can touch a magical object and completely understand its power. I’ve touched your bird and I’ve touched the amulet. I can see the magic. I’ve seen this spell. I know what it feels like to perform it.” She frowned. “No witch can guarantee the outcome of something like this, Alexander. It’s never been done before, as far as I know, and there are so many variables. But I feel like I can do it.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” How could he put any hope or trust into a
woman he’d known less than a week?

  Raven sighed heavily. “It’s like… like… seeing pieces of a puzzle that you know will fit before you try to put them together. I can see this, Alexander. The only thing I can’t see is Maiara because I never knew her, but if you can show me her likeness, I know I can do it.”

  Mind racing, Alexander ran his thumb over the smooth white shell in his hand. A growl came from deep within his chest. “How is it that you even have her amulet? It was burned with her body.”

  “Oh shit, here we go,” Nick mumbled and backed toward the kitchen.

  Gabriel stepped forward. “I returned to the village and took it the night she died.”

  Alexander’s wings punched out and he tackled Gabriel, rolling him backward. His fist connected with the dragon’s jaw with a resounding crack that made everyone else gasp. It wasn’t a premeditated thing. Old anger rushed to the surface and overflowed onto his brother.

  To his surprise, Gabriel didn’t block the punch or return it. Although far bigger and in peak physical condition, he allowed Alexander to sit on his chest and press a talon into the side of his throat. “You took my wife’s migiis without permission? You fucking asshole. And you’ve had it the whole… this entire time! Why didn’t you return it to me!” His talon dug in, and a bead of blood bubbled from Gabriel’s neck.

  “I didn’t know where to find you until recently. You took off. You went into hiding, remember?” Gabriel’s voice was matter-of-fact and surprisingly devoid of the aggression that seemed so at home in his disposition.

  “Don’t turn this on me.” He hissed in Gabriel’s face. “You never should have taken it.”

  “But it’s a good thing I did, because it might just be the reason you’re reunited with the one you love,” Gabriel said. Although Alexander desperately wanted to channel the tangle of pain he was feeling into another blow, he took a deep breath instead.

  “We’re wasting time,” Raven said. “Alexander, you can wail and fight this as long as you need to, but I’m pregnant and there will come a time sooner rather than later when I will have to leave this place. I have a flight Friday, in fact. And I don’t know how long I’ll be out of commission trying to bring this little beasty into the world. I can’t make you any promises. Life isn’t fair and magic isn’t foolproof. But if you want me to try, you’d better decide now.”