by Linsey Hall
I raised my legs, tucking them under his body, and kicked with everything I had, throwing him off of me. I gasped raggedly at fresh air. He was silent as he flew through the air and crashed to the ground, but he scrambled up immediately. The other dwarf was so close I could make out the glitter of jewels stuck between the roots that formed his body.
If I couldn’t use my magic or my blades, I had no idea how to beat these guys. Aidan was holding his own, but he couldn’t kill them without magic.
I reached up and touched the comms charm around my neck. “Nix? Del? I need help!”
“What do you need?” Nix’s voice came through.
Gratitude welled through me that the Nullifier’s power hadn’t disabled my charm. Possibly because it wasn’t a kind of magic that could be used to hurt him.
A dwarf threw himself at me, taking advantage of my distraction. I crashed to the ground. Pain exploded at my back, like my ribs crunching.
“Dwarfs made of roots in Switzerland.” I gasped as I wrestled with the dwarf. “Any way… to beat them without magic?”
“Okay, okay, on it. Give me a sec.”
Nix was my remote backup on tomb raiding jobs, helping me with riddles and other challenges. Because so much was based on folklore, it often wasn’t hard to find the answers to things through research.
“‘Kay, dwarves are big in Swiss folklore,” Nix muttered, no doubt scrolling Google. It was a little embarrassing that I was a tomb raider who relied on Google, but it worked so I wasn’t going to give it up.
“Hurry!” I kicked the dwarf off me. He sailed through the air, roots flailing, but the next plowed into me almost immediately.
I glanced over at Aidan to see that he’d tied up his three using roots he’d pulled from their bodies, but three more had clawed their way out of the ground and were headed toward him. My gaze caught on the sparkling gems gleaming from the crevices between their roots, my dragon covetousness pinging. I’d like to pull those sparkles right off them.
The dwarf on top of me landed a sharp blow to my cheek, sending light exploding behind my eyes. Agony radiated from my cheekbone.
That was what I got for getting distracted by the shinies.
“Now, Nix!”
“Getting nothing here. Lemme ask Dr. Garriso!”
I thrashed with the dwarf who had me pinned, managing to slash off both his arms with my dagger. He didn’t even flinch, which I was sort of glad about because the dwarves were cute in a gross way. His arms would grow back, but I hoped it’d buy me half a minute.
I scrambled away from his flopping form, but the other dwarf grabbed my ankle. This was becoming an exhausting cycle of incapacitating one dwarf just to have the next recuperate and attack.
“Cass!” Nix’s voice blared. “Grab the gem in their forehead. Pull it out!”
Gem in their forehead? I twisted beneath the dwarf who’d grabbed me. He clambered up my body, swinging for my head. I ducked, then peered at the tangled roots that made up his craggy face. Gems for eyes, but no gem in his forehead.
I bobbed my head, as much to avoid his blows as to get a different angle to better see through the roots of his face. A tiny flash of red caught my eye, beneath the first layer of snaking roots. It was deep, damn it.
I sucked in a breath and plunged my hand through the roots. My knuckles burned as the wood gouged at my skin. Barely, my fingertips brushed the smooth stone, and I pushed harder, wincing. I tightened my fist around the gem and pulled it free.
The dwarf collapsed.
“Aidan!” I called. “Pull the gem out of their heads!”
The other dwarf barreled into me before I could get up. We wrestled, his small form shockingly strong. Eventually, I threw him onto his back and thrust my fist into his forehead. My hand screamed with pain, but I plucked the gem free.
I rolled off the dwarf, panting, my aching hand gripped around the gem.
“You okay?” Nix’s voice sounded from the charm around my neck.
“Yeah,” I panted and tipped my head back to see Aidan pulling the gem from the last dwarf. It collapsed into a pile of roots before being absorbed by the ground.
“Can I keep the gems?” I asked Nix.
“Hang on, lemme check.” Muffled talking sounded from the charm. “No, sorry. Bad luck. Toss them back.”
“Damn.” My dragon sense winced as I tossed the glittering stone to the ground. The sparkling blue was immediately absorbed by the dirt. I scrambled to my feet.
Aidan walked toward me.
“Good thinking,” he said. “How’d you know?”
I pointed to the charm. “I didn’t. Nix did.”
“Dr. Garriso, actually,” Nix said. “We should keep him on retainer for tricky things like this. Our own phone-a-friend.”
I laughed. “See if you can work something out. We’ve got to get going now. Thanks, Nix.”
“Sure thing. Be safe. Call if you need anything.”
“Will do.”
I touched the charm to turn it off and flinched at the pain in my hand.
Concern darkened Aidan’s gaze. “You okay?”
“Yeah, a little scratch.” I eyed his big hand. It was beat up, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Hardly.” He reached for my hand and lifted it, his touch gentle. “Let me take care of this.”
“I don’t think your magic will work.”
“Let me just try.”
I held out my hand. Healing warmth flowed from his touch. My pain leached away.
“Why does it work?”
“Maybe it’s not a kind of magic that can hurt the Nullifier. Like the magic that fuels your charm. It’s got to be exhausting to continually repress the magic around you. He probably saves energy by repressing only the stuff that could be harmful to him.”
“Yeah, I guess. That feels amazing, thanks.”
“No problem.”
I couldn’t help but notice he’d healed me before himself.
“One hundred percent?” he asked.
I flexed my hand. “Yeah.”
“Good.” He lowered my hand and let go. “Which way now?”
I focused on my dragon sense, thinking of the Nullifier and my desire to find him. The tug pulled at my middle. “Left.”
“Lead on.”
We set off through the forest. I kept my gaze active, darting from tree to shrub to sky, never landing on something long enough to become enchanted.
“You aren’t going to heal your hand?” I asked.
“It’s a little thing. I’ll save the power. With the Nullifier repressing most of my magic, I don’t know how much I have to draw on.”
Like most Magica, Aidan had to regenerate his healing power if he used too much. We Magica were just magical rechargeable batteries of varying strength, though I didn’t know what our source of power was. No one did. We were all just born like this. There were myths about our origin, of course, but they were so old I’d never thought they were important.
“I think we’re almost there,” I said after a few minutes of walking. “Somewhere near—” Magic vibrated in the air, strong enough to steal my breath. “Do you feel that?”
“Yeah.” Aidan’s gaze shot alertly around the forest. “Something is coming.”
A shriek tore through the quiet, followed by the beat of wings and a whoosh of air. Aidan plowed into me, throwing me to the ground. My breath exploded from my lungs, and I stared dazedly at the sky.
Flame and smoke swooped in the air above, right where my head had been, followed by water and stone. I squinted, my head spinning from my fall.
“Dragons,” I whispered as my vision sharpened.
10
The dragons were small—no bigger than dogs—but they were dragons. They swooped in the air above, each made of a different element. The fire dragon dive-bombed us, its flickering red body hurtling through the air, its orange eyes riveted to my own.
“Go!” I yelled.
Aidan rolled off me, and I scrambled away
, dirt flying beneath my clawing hands. The fire dragon plunged low, its flaming orange belly singeing the grass. Up close, I could tell that it wasn’t a flesh-and-blood dragon, but rather a creature made entirely of flame.
And the flame was very real. The grass was black where the dragon had flown.
Something hard hit me from behind, and I flew forward, landing on my face. Burning pain fired through my nose. Smoky wind rushed by my head, blowing my hair up.
The smoke dragon had nailed me.
I scrambled to my feet and spun, finding Aidan in the path of the fire and stone dragons. He lunged to the side, but the stone dragon got him in the arm, a blow so powerful that Aidan grunted, the first sound of pain I’d ever heard him make. His arm hung at an odd angle, limp at his side.
A freezing, wet force slammed into my head from behind, soaking me in a deluge of ice water that made my brain ache like an ice cream headache on steroids. I fell to my knees, my stomach heaving from the pain. Icy water dripped down my back, and my hair plastered itself to my head.
“We come as friends!” I shouted, my own voice making my head throb. The words sounded stupid—take me to your leader-esque—but I couldn’t think of anything else with my brain frozen.
Heat flared at my back. The fire dragon! I dodged just in time, throwing myself to the ground before it lit me up.
These little bastards were pissing me off!
I scrambled to my feet just as Aidan swung a tree branch with his good arm. It cracked against the stone dragon, who’d been headed straight for my skull, and the little monster hurtled in the other direction, head over tail. It caught the air under its wings again, flying high and uninjured.
“Ideas?” Aidan muttered, chucking his broken branch aside. He gripped his dislocated arm and shoved it back into its socket, grunting.
What a badass.
My head still ached, and I was soaked to the waist. I so did not have the energy or the patience for this.
I spun to face the smoke dragon that hurtled toward us. Its gray gaze met mine as it charged.
I held out my hand, something unfamiliar but natural urging me on, and commanded, “Halt!”
The wispy gray dragon pulled to stop in midair, confusion sparking in its silver eyes. Out of the corner of my vision, I caught sight of the fire dragon doing the same.
“They’ve all stopped,” Aidan said.
“Yeah.”
My dragon sense, which up to this moment I’d only used to find treasure, tugged in my chest. Like it recognized these little guys.
“I’ve got no idea why,” I said, though I knew it had to have something to do with my FireSoul. I wanted to play with that info for a little while before sharing it. Even though Aidan was such a smart guy that he’d probably make the connection anyway.
“You didn’t mirror my Elemental Mage powers?” Aidan asked.
“No.” Though it might have worked, considering these tiny dragons were made of the elements.
I twisted my hand so I held it palm up and beckoned. “Come here.”
The smoke dragon tilted its head, its gaze considering.
“I won’t hurt you,” I said. “Now, come here.”
Its wings beat twice, sending it drifting on the wind, until it sat on my palm. It was about the size of a terrier, balancing easily on may hand. Warm tingles spread across my skin and up my arm.
Kin.
The feeling was so strong, so real, that I couldn’t ignore it. Was this a real dragon and not just an apparition of magic? It was so tiny. And no one had seen a real dragon in centuries. I peered at the dragon, trying to find something—anything—that made sense about it.
“Are you an apparition?” I asked the dragon.
It blinked and might have shaken its head, but the movement was so faint that I wondered if I was making it up.
I looked at Aidan. “Do you think it understands me?”
“Hard to say.” He reached out a finger, hovering it a few inches away from the dragon.
The little gray dragon hissed.
“Hey, now. He’s nice,” I said.
The dragon glanced at me, then at Aidan, then stretched its neck out to sniff Aidan’s fingertip. A weird, deep trilling noise came from its chest, then it rubbed its head against Aidan’s fingers.
“Like a cat,” I murmured. “I’ve always wanted a cat.”
“Well, you can’t have my dragonets,” an angry voice said.
I whipped around, searching the forest. The dragonet launched itself from my hand back into the air. I couldn’t see anyone in the trees around us.
“Nullifier! We’re here as friends,” I said.
No response. The four dragonets flew off, disappearing between the trees. I reached for my dragon sense. It pulled me forward.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s follow him.”
I ran through the forest, trying to keep my footsteps light. Though he was old, from what I’d heard, the Nullifier was fast. And he knew this forest.
“We need your help,” I called. “Please just talk to us!”
Golden lights sparkled in the forest around us, trying desperately to catch our attention. I kept my mind focused on the tug of my dragon sense and my gaze on the forest ahead.
Suddenly, the ground gave out from beneath my feet. I screamed, my arms pin-wheeling. I grabbed onto roots and dirt, clawing at anything I could touch to try to slow my descent. I slammed into the ground. Pain surged up my legs.
I scrambled up, but nothing felt broken. Aidan surged to his feet beside me.
Darkness all around. Light from above. Fifteen feet up, maybe twenty.
“Good trap,” Aidan said.
“Yep.” The walls were vertical and the tree roots too skinny to be used for climbing. “Really good trap.”
Aidan walked the perimeter of the hole as I let my eyes adjust. It was about fifteen feet in diameter. A dark, deep pit perfect for sitting in while applying the lotion to its skin.
“No way out from down here,” Aidan said.
“Hello!” I called up. “We’re just here to chat!”
Okay, that was a lie. We were here to ask him to risk his life to save Magic’s Bend. But I didn’t think I should lead with that.
There was only silence from above.
“I’m Cass Clereaux,” I called up. “I’m here with my friend Aidan. Your friend Aethelred sent us.”
A head appeared from above. It was backlit by the sun, so I couldn’t make out features, but it had to be the Nullifier.
“Aethelred?” His voice sounded creakier and older than it had.
“Yes! Aethelred. Though he appears to like the color blue better.”
The figure grunted. “That he does.”
“Will you let us out?” I asked.
“No way to get out,” he said. “Gravity only works one way.”
“A rope, maybe?”
“Why are you here?” Distrust tinged his voice. “And how’d you get past my security?”
“Your security quite liked me,” I said, recalling the dragons.
The figure grunted again. “Terrible taste, those dragonets have.”
“What is a dragonet?” I asked.
“A small dragon, naturally. Not flesh and blood like the old dragons, but magic. They’re part of Swiss folklore.”
Of course. “They’re amazing.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere, girl.”
Damn. I’d been hoping it would. Though I had meant every word. Those dragonets had been amazing.
“She means it,” Aidan said. “Cass doesn’t lie.”
Yes, I do. And he knew it.
“Who are you?” the Nullifier asked.
“Aidan Merrick.”
“The Origin. Don’t like your kind.”
“How many could you have met?” Aidan asked.
“More than you’d expect.”
“Hopefully not my father,” Aidan said.
“Fortunately not. Though I’ve heard of him. I hope the
apple falls far from the tree.”
“It does.” There was no offense in Aidan’s voice. Not that I’d expected any, considering his father’s wrongdoing. Murdering friends and colleagues was hard to come back from.
“Good, then.” The Nullifier shifted so that his head disappeared. “Enjoy your stay!”
Like the freaking Holiday Inn?
“Wait!” I called. “You have to help us! Aethelred’s home will be destroyed if you don’t. Thousands of homes will be lost. People’s lives.”
An aggrieved sigh sounded from above. His head appeared a moment later.
“How can I trust you?” he asked. “If you know what I am, you understand why I must be wary.”
“I do! I do understand.” And could relate, considering that I, too, spent most of my life hiding. “It’s smart to be wary. Call Aethelred. He’ll vouch for us.”
“Call him? With what? Do I look like someone who would have one of those blasted mobile telephones?”
I didn’t know what he looked like, but he sure didn’t sound like someone who would have anything to do with technology.
“Use my phone!”
“But then I’d have to let you out,” he said. “And I don’t think I’ll do that. Farewell!”
His footsteps hurried away.
“Shit.” I looked at Aidan. His face was cast in shadow. “Any chance you could fly us out of here?”
A second passed. Tension creased his brow. “No. My magic is still blocked by the Nullifier. I can’t access my Magica or Shifter powers.” He shuddered. “It feels like hell.”
A sympathetic shiver crossed my skin. I tried my Mirror Mage powers again, hoping I could mirror Aidan’s power over the earth and lift us out of here.
I breathed deeply and called upon my magic. I found nothing but emptiness, like a gnawing hunger. Not unexpected, but miserable.
I sank down against the dirt wall and clutched my stomach.
“This is the worst,” I said.
Aidan dropped down next to me and looped an arm around my shoulders. I snuggled up against him. He smelled like himself—soap and spice—but his distinct forest scent was missing.
“I think I get why the charms comms and your healing work. They can’t hurt the Nullifier. But I don’t get why my FireSoul power works,” I said. “I could use that against him.”
