The Dragon of Sedona

by Genevieve Jack

  Avery stopped crying. It was like she’d flipped a switch. Her blue eyes turned cold and hard as ice. Her voice was even when she said, “What do you need me to do?”

  “I’m going to need you to babysit.”

  Chapter Forty

  Crossing to the fireplace, Raven heaped wood inside in the shape of a cradle and placed the egg within it. With a snap of her fingers and a whispered incantation, she ignited the logs. Flames enveloped her precious child, and she watched the shell glow bright within its heat.

  “What do you want me to do?” Avery had washed the blood from her face and looked ready for anything.

  Raven kissed her on the cheek. “Keep the fire burning. And…” She handed her the phone from her pocket. “Gabriel’s sister’s name is Rowan Valor. If I’m not back in twenty minutes, call her and tell her we need her help.”

  She nodded. “I love you, Raven. Whatever you’re going to do, please be careful.”

  Raven pulled her into a hug. “I will.”

  She left her sister’s side and walked through the wards to the lip of the cave. Below her was a scene that didn’t look real. Aborella’s dark purple form stood among the desert brush, looking like a flower among the red soil and green foliage. Her fingers crackled with dark energy. She didn’t have a weapon. She didn’t need one.

  Two dragons circled above her. The emerald heart of Gabriel blazed across the sky from Tobias’s sapphire one. They’d become a yin and yang, spiraling dark and light, the fire in their lungs building. On the ground, Alexander, turquoise with scales lined in bronze, prowled toward her, Maiara straddling his back with the fireplace iron in her fist. The two were closing in.

  One of Aborella’s purple hands weaseled into a bag on her hip and removed a glowing blue marble. Another orb, slightly bigger than the one that had been around her sister’s neck. A Paragonian grenade! Raven had intimate experience with the weapon. Scoria had used one on her in Chicago. If Aborella cracked it open, the magic inside would cripple the nervous system of anything it touched. All their muscles would seize until they couldn’t even draw breath.

  “Not on my watch,” she whispered. Calling on a spell she’d absorbed in New Orleans, she spread her arms wide and recited the incantation. “Turbinis vasti scorpum compriment. Turbinis vasti scorpium compriment.” The words tumbled from her lips in rapid succession.

  The clicking came from far and wide, winds sweeping toward her, carrying hundreds of scorpions to the base of the mesa. Bringing her hands together quickly, she gathered them all into a whirlwind of death, her arms shaking from the effort. Forming a triangle with her thumb and forefingers, she made sure the tornado had the size and strength to reach her target. Thrusting forward with all the physical and mental strength she could muster, she pushed the spell toward Aborella.

  The dusty cyclone sped across the desert and rammed into Aborella just as she attempted to drop the grenade. But the orb was caught by the wind as the scorpions attacked. The fairy howled and swatted as hundreds of claws and stingers dug into her flesh.

  Raven twisted her shoulders and teleported to the scene below just as the whirlwind died. She caught the grenade in her hand before it could reach the ground. Aborella seethed, tearing the scorpions off her flesh and crushing them in her fists.

  “You fucking witch. I’ll fry you until your eyes pop out of your skull.” Aborella raised her hands and blasted black lightning from her fingers.

  “Cogitatio!” Raven crossed her arms before the lightning hit her, the reflection spell forming a shield around her body. Raven smelled the ends of her hair burning as it blew beyond the shield’s boundaries, but it worked. Aborella flew back as her own lightning plowed into her.

  Panting, Raven dropped the shield. Gabriel landed behind her, Tobias to her right. Alexander closed in. The great turquoise dragon snapped and tore Aborella in two, throwing her head and arms in one direction with the flick of his massive head and letting her legs fall where she’d stood, her purple blood soaking into the earth.

  Maiara raised the bloody iron poker into the air and whooped a warrior’s howl that seemed too loud and deep to come from her small-statured frame. But Alexander’s dragon began to cough, then spit bursts of fire, then trembled from head to tail.

  “Maiara, get down. There’s something wrong.” Raven gestured to her. The dark-haired woman leaped from her seat, landing in a squat.

  Alexander’s dragon heaved once more. Purple poison sprayed between his razor-sharp teeth while his body seized and shook. The two women watched in horror as he transformed into his human form and curled on his side, shivering.

  “Alexander!” Maiara rushed to him. “He’s sick. Her blood is poison. Help me move him.”

  Raven took his legs and helped Maiara carry him to the base of a nearby tree, away from the blood. “Do you have your amulet?”

  “Always. It is the Midew way.” She pulled it from a pouch at her waist and put it around Alexander’s neck.

  Raven turned back toward Aborella and the two dragons watching the fairy’s remains wearily. She didn’t blame them. After seeing what her blood had done to Alexander, she didn’t want Gabriel anywhere near that blood.

  Like something out of her worst nightmares, Aborella’s head rose off the stone, and her arms and wings moved. Raven’s stomach clenched. The land around Aborella was dying. Every plant turned brown and curled in on itself. Even the nearby trees and bushes succumbed to the blight. It spread like a dark brown plague from her remains outward. She was draining the life, feeding herself. Raven’s stomach turned. It looked like… yes, her legs were moving toward her torso, as did the purple innards Alexander had purged.

  “She’s pulling herself back together,” Raven said. “She’s draining the life around her and using the power to heal herself. I have to stop her.”

  “Why don’t they burn her?” Maiara asked, her eyes darting toward the dragons.

  Alexander’s eyes fluttered. “She’s immune to dragon fire. A gift from my mother.”

  Raven frowned. “I have to drain her. I did it before when I was in Paragon. If I can touch her, she can be killed.”

  “Hurry,” Maiara said. “Before she becomes whole again.”

  Raven agreed. With a twist of her shoulders, she teleported to Aborella’s side. The fairy’s legs had reached her torso, and purple ribbons of magic were winding between the two halves, rejoining them. Raven reached out and grabbed Aborella’s upper arm, feeling her fruity magic absorb through her fingers. Her purple skin faded to lavender.

  “You should know, witch, to never underestimate a full-grown fairy.” Aborella had used her free hand to reach into her bag and produce a glowing blue disk. Gabriel roared from behind her, and Raven reached for the weapon whose function she did not know. But it was too late. Aborella hurled the disk to the ground between her, Gabriel, and Tobias.

  A net of purple lightning wrapped around them, and the world started to spin. Raven felt her reality rip like a delicate piece of tissue paper. She was a marble tipped from a cup.

  The next moment, her legs collapsed and her elbows slapped a polished obsidian floor. All the wind squeezed from her lungs. She drew air in tiny sips and had to fight to lift her head. Gabriel was there. He blinked rapidly in the dim light, then crawled to her. Together, they helped each other up. A polished black floor. Roughhewn walls. Aborella was gone. Where the hell were they?

  “Fucking fairy,” a voice rasped behind her.

  “Tobias!” Raven ran to him. He was in his human form as well. Together, she and Gabriel helped him to his feet.

  “Are we where I think we are?” Tobias asked.

  Raven took a good look around. There was only one door and it was barred.

  Gabriel placed his hands gently on her shoulders. “We’re in the dungeons of Paragon.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  It took all her will and power for Maiara to drag Alexander out of the tree. He was naked from shifting, as was she—her clothing was shredded fr
om entering the tree without undressing—and the sun beat down upon their exposed skin. Underneath her, the rocks dug into her knees as she gathered his head in her lap.

  When she’d watched Aborella pull the disk from her pocket, she felt like she was in the woods again, running from the wendigo, her hand in her father’s. The function of the object was a mystery to her, but Aborella’s nature wasn’t. The fairy was evil and the disk had to be dangerous. She saw her escape, but this time she refused to leave the one she loved behind. Despite the promise she’d made to Alexander the night before, she wasn’t willing to live without him.

  It had been centuries since she’d used her magic and even then, she’d had more consistent results with oak trees than any other type. But her power had grown since then. She’d felt it inside her, swelling like a frog’s throat. She’d prayed to the Great Spirit, wrapped her arms around Alexander, and willed them both into the trunk of the strange desert tree beside them.

  Getting him inside the bark with her was only the beginning. She’d held him there as long as she dared, as the strange purple net captured his siblings and fell ineffectually around them. Could he breathe through the branches the way she could? By the gasping breaths he took now, she assumed she’d been right not to wait a moment longer before coming out.

  “They are gone,” she said. “Aborella took them.”

  Alexander clambered onto his knees, still drawing deep breaths into his lungs. “We were inside the tree?”

  “Yes. I hid you.”

  He cradled her face and landed a kiss on her lips. “By the Mountain, Maiara, you are the bravest woman I’ve ever known.” She took the compliment with a soft smile and a raised chin. “Did you see what happened to my brothers and Raven?”

  She explained about the device Aborella had used.

  “That’s a Paragonian immurcador. It’s like a net of pure energy.” He cursed. Overhead, he saw Rowan fly by with Nick in her arms and land on the lip of the cave. “Someone called my sister. Good, we’re going to need her.” He stood and held his hand out to her. Maiara allowed him to sweep her into his arms.

  Rowan waited with Nick outside the barrier, her heart racing. “Oh, thank the goddess! Alexander, Maiara, what’s going on? Where’s Raven? She texted that it was an emergency.”

  “Come inside and we’ll explain.” Alexander waved his hand and let her through the ward where Avery was waiting for them, Raven’s phone in her hand.

  “I texted you,” Avery said. Rowan hadn’t seen the woman since Raven’s wedding, but there was no forgetting Raven’s sister. They looked remarkably alike. “Raven told me to. I didn’t know what else to do.” She stared out at the place where Aborella and her sister had once been as if she could will them back there.

  Rowan watched Alexander sweep Maiara into his room, noticing they were both naked. Alexander’s lack of dress, she could explain. Maiara’s was a mystery. Beside her, Nick looked as agitated as she felt.

  She focused on Avery. “Tell me what happened to my brothers and Raven.”

  “They’re gone. That purple… fairy thing used some sort of disk. There was a… net of magic.” Avery shook her head. “One second they were there, the next they were gone.”

  “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” Rowan grabbed her head. “That’s an immurcador. She’s got them. They’re probably in the dungeons of Paragon by now.”

  Avery’s face paled to the point it was almost gray.

  “Avery, I think you should sit down.” Rowan helped her to the couch. “I know this is a lot, but stay strong. We’ll figure out what to do.” She had no idea what they would do, but she didn’t need the added trouble of Avery hitting her head when she passed out.

  “It’s just…” Avery rubbed her palms on her thighs, her gaze locked on the fireplace.

  Slowly Rowan turned her head. There, nestled among the logs, a dragon egg glowed and pulsed within the flames.

  “Is that Raven’s?” Rowan asked. Maiara and Alexander, now dressed, arrived by her side and stared into the fireplace in horror.

  “Yes. That’s my niece or nephew.” Avery blew out a heavy breath. “In a shell… in the flames. She told me to keep the fire going.”

  “Fuck.” Rowan’s knees gave out and she landed on the sofa on the other side of Avery.

  “Fuck,” Avery repeated.

  “What does this word fuck mean?” Maiara asked. Her and Alexander seemed to be holding each other up.

  “It means this is terrible,” Rowan explained. “We’re in an unpleasant situation where life has wronged us.”

  Maiara nodded. “Fuck.”

  “Rowan, what do we do?” Alexander asked, slumping in the chair next to the fire and pulling Maiara into his lap.

  “Why are you asking me?” Rowan snapped. “I don’t know anything about dragon eggs!”

  “You’re a girl and you were going to be queen,” Alexander protested. “Didn’t anyone teach you anything about raising whelps?”

  Rowan rolled her eyes. Typical male. “Yes.” She tapped her foot in annoyance.

  “Well?”

  “All we need to do is find a volcano and leave the egg at its heart, and it will hatch in six months,” she said, layering on the sarcasm. “Oh wait, that doesn’t apply to this situation at all because this thing is half witch and we don’t have a volcano!” Rowan crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “There. That’s the extent of my knowledge.”

  “How are we supposed to care for that thing until we find Raven and the others?” Avery’s voice rose in pitch, infused with panic and anxiety. “I told her I’d keep the fire going while she helped fight the battle. I didn’t know she wouldn’t be coming back.”

  “Fuck!” Maiara said again.

  Alexander raised an eyebrow at his mate.

  “Did I use it incorrectly?”

  He shook his head. “Oh no. This is exactly the type of situation that warrants that particular word.” His eyes drifted back toward the pearl among the flames.

  “How do we get them back?” Avery asked. “Is there even a way to go to Paragon?”

  Rowan’s mouth worked uselessly until she found her voice. “Technically, yes. Either Alexander or I can open a portal using our rings. But…”

  “But what?” Avery spread her hands, completely exasperated. “We need to get my sister back so she can be with her baby.”

  Alexander shook his head. “It would be a suicide mission. Aborella works for the empress. The palace is protected by an army of dragons. It would take more power than all of us have together to get them out, even under perfect circumstances.”

  “Then what do we do? We can’t just leave them there. From what Gabriel told me, they would be political prisoners. Will they be tortured? Killed? What about the egg?” Avery leaned forward and rested her head in her hands.

  “It doesn’t help if we’re all killed too,” Rowan said softly. “Action is needed, certainly, but we have to be smart about it.”

  Tears gathered in Avery’s eyes. “I feel like this is my fault. Aborella used me to get to you.”

  Rowan rubbed Avery’s back with her hand. “Aborella has worked for our mother for centuries. She’s an extremely powerful and wicked fairy. Believe me, there was nothing you could do.”

  Nick massaged Rowan’s shoulders from behind the couch. “As the other human here, I concur. You can’t blame yourself, Avery.”

  “Guilt isn’t going to bring our family back,” Alexander said.

  Nick’s hands paused on her shoulders. “No. It won’t. Only one thing will.”

  Rowan turned her head to look at him. “Nick?”

  “An army. We need an army. When I wanted you back from the vampires, Rowan, I found your brothers, and they helped me bust you out. I’m going out on a limb here and saying that the way to get Gabriel, Raven, and Tobias home is to find your other siblings. They know the palace, just like you do. If we work together—”

  “We haven’t seen them in hundreds of years, Nick. I wouldn�
�t even know where to start looking.” Rowan threw up her hands.

  Alexander agreed. “Not a clue where they could be.”

  Nick squinted at Rowan. “What if we use Harriet?”

  “Who’s Harriet?” Avery asked.

  “My best friend,” said Rowan. “She’s psychic, but her powers do have limitations.” Still, Rowan was sure Harriet could help them, perhaps not with an exact location, but she could get them close.

  Nick tipped his head. “She’s done a bang-up job finding things in the past, and Tobias’s mate Sabrina seems awful good at making things happen. If all else fails, you’re mated to a detective.” He winked at Rowan over a crooked grin. “I have resources. If Harriet and Sabrina get us close, given a description, I might be able to track them down.”

  Alexander rubbed his hands together. “It could work.”

  Rowan sighed. “Before we go any further, we need to tell Sabrina what’s going on. She deserves to know her mate has been kidnapped.”

  Avery blinked. “Can you also ask her if she knows what to do with that?” She pointed back at the fireplace.

  The room plunged into silence. Rowan frowned. She’d almost forgotten about the egg as they’d discussed their plans to get Raven back. “It needs to stay hot,” she said. “Someone needs to make sure it stays hot.”

  Everyone in the room stared at her. She stood from the couch and approached the fire. Squatting down, she watched the pulsing blue beat of the baby’s heart. “Gabriel, you are so going to owe me for this until the day you die.”

  The silhouette shifted, and a tiny hand pressed against the inside of the shell. She could see it clearly through the smooth ribbon of white that wrapped around the otherwise bumpy exterior. Five fingers like a human hand. A living hand.

  Nick appeared beside her. “Just until we can get Raven and Gabriel back, right? How hard could it be?”