by Dyan Chick
"I have a prophecy for you," Chester said. "The help you seek will come from the one you least expect."
Blinking, I stared at him, wondering if I heard him wrong. "How does that help us?"
"You'll know when it's right," he said. "And for your vamp boyfriend, you'll need to get him out by daybreak."
A chill shot through me. "Why?"
"The hunters threw him in the daylight cells in Realm's Gate."
It felt like a fifty-pound weight fell on my heart. The daylight cells were lined with mirrors so as soon as the sun rose, the intense light would reflect around the room, causing pain on a level a human could not even begin to imagine. At night, the vamps would heal just enough to keep from dying, then the whole round of torture would start all over again the next morning.
I couldn't bear the thought of Alec having to endure that for helping me. "We have to get out of here."
Standing, I looked at Chester. "Anything else I should know?"
"We'll meet again, so I think that means you'll come out of this one alive," he said with a smile.
"Well, that's the first good news I've had all day," I said.
18
James was quiet as we drove toward Realm's Gate. I wondered if his stomach was in knots like mine. Did a dragon feel fear the same way the rest of us did?
Chester's words echoed through my head, and I tried to make sense of them. The help you seek will come from the one you least expect. They didn't make sense, and they didn't seem helpful. The only information we gained from our detour was that Alec was in huge trouble come sunrise.
I pictured Alec sitting alone in a dingy cement cell. I had never actually seen the daylight cells, but I'd been around Jimmy and his crew long enough to hear the horror stories. "Any ideas how we can save Alec?"
"Magic?" James shrugged.
"Haha, very funny." I looked out the window and watched the streetlights fly by as we sailed down the highway. We'd be in Realm's Gate in an hour, and I still had no idea how to help him.
"You're the mage, and you're the one who lives in Realm's Gate," James said. "I don't even know where these daylight cells are or what they look like or how they're guarded. What can you tell me about them?"
I took a deep breath. "According to the rumors, they're at the police station. How the hell are we going to get through that?"
"Well, there is a dragon on the loose, right? You think they'll be at the station, or will it be pretty quiet in there?"
Fear seemed to settle in my gut as an idea struck me. "I can go in as bait."
James glanced over at me. "What? How does that help?"
"What if you take me in?" I asked. "While they're processing me, maybe you can find Alec."
"How does that help us? You'll end up in a cell of your own waiting for the hunters," James said.
Shit. He was right. I looked at the glowing numbers on the dash. It was two in the morning. By the time we reached home, we'd have less than three hours until sunrise.
My throat tightened as I thought of Realm's Gate. I hadn't thought of the city as home in a long time. I'd been fighting it, telling myself I wanted nothing to do with it. But the thought of never being able to go back had been painful.
I reached for my pendant, the key we'd need to gain entry. My fingers closed in around the cross that dangled from the chain on my neck. Ice flooded my veins, and I pulled the necklace off and threw it on the ground. "Shit."
"Problem?" James asked.
"I don't have my charm to get back in," I said.
"We'll figure it out," James said. He didn't seem worried at all.
"Um, it's kind of a big deal. Unless you know something, I don't know?" I asked.
He looked over at me, a smirk on his face.
"What?" I was surprised by his calm demeanor. "You do know something, don't you."
"You ever forget it before?" he asked.
"No, I'd have been trapped if I had," I said, mentally kicking myself for leaving it behind in my apartment.
"Well, I guess we'll have to wait and see, then," he said.
Feeling frustrated, I rubbed my temples with my fingers and closed my eyes. "You know, I am not a fan of being the last to know things. If you have an idea of how we might bypass it, please just tell me."
"I won't know if it will work until we get there," he said. "Just trust me, okay?"
"Trust you?"
"Yes, trust, it's what friends do," he said.
Were we friends, then? I'd known him for less than twenty-four hours. How odd that this was how I finally went about making friends. Two new friends all wrapped up in the tragedy of Jimmy's death. It was too weird. If this was how I went about making new friends, I needed to stop making them. It was better to be alone than go through something like this ever again.
"We still don't know how we're going to get Alec out," I said.
"Well, I don't like the idea of you being bait at the police station, but I suppose we could still use that," James said.
"How so?" I asked.
"If we find whoever did this and we show up at the police station with the real killer, they'll have to let you go, right?" James said.
"The problem is that they still think I did it. Unless they have a tech mage working of the force that I don't know about, I'm pretty sure they're going to think I'm just trying to cover my tracks."
James took the exit and slowed down as we continued along a road right into the forest. My heart thumped against my ribs. We were so close to Realm's Gate, and still didn't have a plan.
"You have a cell phone, right?" James asked. "I mean, I'd offer mine, but you broke it."
My cheeks felt warm. "Sorry about that."
"I deserved it." He shrugged. "You have yours?"
I pulled my phone out of my back pocket. "Battery's almost dead, but I have it."
James opened the console in between the seats and pulled out a cord. "Charge it up."
Plugging it in, I wondered how the phone was going to help me. "Do you know some tech mage trick or something?"
"No, but you have an audio recorder on that thing. We just need to get a confession, and then you'll have the evidence you need," James said.
"You think that would be enough?" I asked. Things like that seemed to work on television, but would it work in real life?
"Doesn't matter if it works, we just need him to think it does."
"How does that help?" I asked.
"If he thinks he's caught, he'll be more likely to make stupid choices; he'll be easier to handle."
A chill shot through me. "Handle? I gotta tell you, I'm pretty good at taking care of myself, but if whoever did this has the kind of magic where he can replace his face with mine, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do anything."
"Don't worry. I'll take over once we get him to that point."
A sense of unease spread through my limbs. This whole plan was relying on trusting James and the hope that the murderer would cooperate. "I still don't understand how we're going to pull this off."
"Have a little bit of faith, okay? I've seen enough desperate and cornered people in my lifetime to know that when people lose hope, they get sloppy. They make mistakes. I know we can corner him. And if we can't get him to the cops, we'll bring the cops to him."
I took a deep breath. None of this plan was something I could prepare for. There were so many unknowns, and I didn't like that. While my job regularly handed me surprises, at least I could map out a plan for the day. This didn't even have that luxury. "So I'm just supposed to wander around Realm's Gate until someone comes after me?"
"Where was the last place you were, before Jimmy's?" James asked.
"The Dizzy Dragon." As I said the words, a flicker of hope rose inside me. "Hey, do you think they have cameras? If I can prove I was there at the time of the murder, I could show that I have an alibi."
"They arrested your alibi already," James said. "We'll go there and check, but I have a feeling this is bigger than we know."
>
His words were chilling. So far, I spent most of my time focusing on saving my skin. Proving that I didn't kill Jimmy. Now, I had to focus on getting Alec out of that daylight cell. Throw in a fire-breathing dragon, and my head started to spin.
At first, I had just thought the whole thing was about stealing from Jimmy, but the fact that the intruder knew the combination and had used my face meant it was someone close enough to know those details. "It's got to be someone we know."
I'd always known, but I was finally letting myself admit it, and my throat tightened. How could someone who knew Jimmy be willing to kill him? Jimmy took care of his own. He had a reputation, sure. And if you crossed him, you'd probably end up in the bottom of the lake. But he'd never hurt any of us. How could someone who was part of it have taken such extreme measures against him?
"I'm sorry," James said. "I liked Jimmy. He was a good guy."
"Thanks," I said, feeling numb as I retraced my interactions of the last few days. Who could have done this? And why hadn't I thought about it sooner?
"Can you think of anyone who might have wanted to hurt Jimmy? Or you?" James asked.
"Lots of people had it out for Jimmy," I said. "I mean, that's part of what comes with the job. But I can't figure out how they knew the combination to the safe or how they would have known to use my face. Especially on that day."
"Don't worry, we're going to find the guy, and we're going to save your friend," James said.
19
James slowed the car down and pulled to the side of the road. The first signs of sunrise streaked across the sky, and I shifted in my seat. We weren't going to make it to Alec before the sun came up.
Ahead, I could see the shimmer of the ward that protected Realm's Gate from the human world. I still wasn't sure how we were going to get inside, but James stepped out of the car without a word. I had to trust that he knew what he was doing.
With a sigh, I left the car and walked over to where James stood in front of the ward. He didn't look concerned. Instead, he looked at me with a relaxed expression.
"So, how do we do this?" I asked.
He looked down at my hands, then back up at my face. "Fire."
"Fire won't break through," I said. "Otherwise we wouldn't have to give anyone a charm to enter. We'd just use a lighter."
He shook his head. "Not any fire. Dragon fire. It breaks magic. It's part of why dragons are so feared."
My forehead creased and for a moment, I felt sorry for him. Was it possible he wasn't living alone by choice? "Is that why you don't live here?"
"That's not important. Right now, you need to make fire. It might be enough to break the ward."
I shook my head. It didn't seem real. Despite the fact that James had said I was part dragon, I wasn't sure I believed him. "It's not the same thing as breathing fire, you know I can't do that, right?"
"Not yet," he said.
Raising my eyebrows, I stared at him. There was never a time in my life I would want to have fire come out of my mouth. "Yeah, that's not happening."
"Just conjure some fire, would you? You're the one in a rush to save your boyfriend," James said.
I took a deep breath and raised my arms toward the ward. "Right. But he's not my boyfriend."
Fire had always come naturally to me, something that many mages I grew up with struggled to conjure. I thought it was just one of those things, we all have different skills. As I whispered the words for the spell, I wondered if it was the dragon blood. Flames licked my palms, and I glanced over at James. "Now what?"
"On the ward," he said.
I took a few steps closer and extended my fingers. As they brushed across the shimmering surface, I gasped. My hand went through the ward. The fire had penetrated it. My heart raced, and I stared in surprise. Had that power always been there?
Moving my hand along the surface of the ward, I felt the invisible barrier give way wherever the flames touched. How was this possible? Fire shouldn't do this.
I stepped through, then shook the flames off of my hands, staring back at the road on the other side of the ward. James followed me. "Nice job, dragon mage."
Part of me wanted to try it again, explore the possibility of this magic. I wanted to ask a million questions. What did this mean? So far, all I knew was that James had been telling the truth. That I had dragon blood. What else could I do with that magic flowing through me?
Something inside me vibrated with an energy I'd never felt before. Elation surged through me, rising up to embrace this newfound power. I felt stronger than I'd ever felt before. Something had changed. Then, I heard it. The flapping wings and a roar louder than any creature I'd ever heard before.
Looking up, I saw her for the first time. Large brown wings attached to a massive body with a spiked tail streaked across the sky. My insides seemed to hum in response to seeing her. Unconsciously, I reached my fingers toward her just as she let out another roar. Fire shot from her mouth in an arc across the sky, illuminating the dawn.
James grabbed me, throwing me to the ground and shoving me behind a bush.
"What the?"
His large hand covered my mouth. "Shh."
The dragon passed over us, letting out a cry that sounded more like a bird than I would have expected. My heart hammered in my chest, but not from fear. Inside, was a tangle of anticipation and energy I couldn't pinpoint. As she flew from view, panic seized me, and I turned to James. "What was that for?"
"Dragon."
"Yeah, I got that," I said. "Why did you pull me away?"
"That's a wild dragon. They are very territorial, nothing like shifters or Dragon-Bloods. The last thing you need is her sensing another dragon as a threat."
"But it didn't feel like a threat," I said before I could think about what I was saying.
"I know," he said. "But you can't give in to the pull."
"Do you feel it, too?" I asked.
"Not the way you do," he said. "But yes, there's a connection dragons have to each other, even if most of them want to be alone."
I stood, brushing the dirt off of my pants. Whatever had risen inside me when the dragon flew by was still there. An uncomfortable swirling sense of emotions I couldn't place. "Something feels different."
"Remember how I told you that being in the presence of a dragon is what makes your powers wake up?"
"I've been around you for a couple of days, and I never felt anything like that," I said.
"I'm not in dragon form."
I shook my head. There were so many questions but now wasn't the time. Staring ahead, I could see the buildings and familiar shapes of Realm's Gate. We were about a fifteen-minute walk from the main street and the Dizzy Dragon. As I started walking, I glanced over at James. "After this is over, I have some questions for you."
"I imagine you do," he said.
The sky was glowing pink now. My body tensed as I considered how far we still had to go. "We're never going to get to Alec in time."
"We have to stick to the plan," James said. "The sooner we get there, the less pain he'll have to face."
I didn't want Alec to have to face any pain. "You can't think of another way we can get him out?"
"Not without you taking his place," James said.
Picking up the pace, I headed toward the Dizzy Dragon. The sooner we got this over with, the better. Whoever was trying to frame me had better be watching for me. Otherwise, this whole thing was a waste of time. "You think this is going to work?"
"Just have a little faith, okay?" he said.
My stomach twisted as I walked down the abandoned streets. In the distance, I could hear the cry of the dragon every so often. But it now seemed that the beast was no longer interested in setting fire to the town. When the occasional burst of flame filled the sky, it shot through the air instead of down at the people and buildings below. "Why isn't she attacking?"
"Dragons only attack when they feel threatened. She must feel safe now," James said.
The empty str
eets were a clue. "Everyone is hiding."
"Until they can catch the dragon or send her away, that's what's best."
We walked in silence the rest of the way to the bar, meeting no other people on our way. I'd been out early on occasion. Often on my way to estate sales during the busy time of year. Sometimes driving a few hours to try different towns. Never had I seen Realm's Gate so empty. A hollow feeling filled my stomach. I hoped everyone was hiding. As much as I said I disliked living in Realm's Gate, there were a lot of good people here. And none of them deserved to be killed by a rampaging dragon. Especially one that I had brought into town.
Trying to shove the guilt away, I paused in front of the entrance to the Dizzy Dragon. Though it was more crowded at night, the bar made a mean breakfast burrito and decent espresso. So there was usually a steady stream of people in and out of it most of the morning. Today, the lights were off. Shattered windows and upturned tables greeted us. Some of the tables rested up against the exposed windows in an attempt to keep out the elements.
I tried the door, pulling on the handle. It was locked. Despite the broken windows, the door remained intact.
Without a word, James walked over to one of the windows and pushed the table out of the way. I followed him, stepping over the windowsill. My boots crunched over the broken glass, and the temperature seemed to drop ten degrees when I stepped into the dark bar.
Dirt and debris littered the ground. Shattered light bulbs and overturned tables and chairs filled the seating area. Bottles and broken glass littered the dance floor, and the cages that held the dancers were laying sideways on the ground.
"This way," I said, leading James past the bar to where I'd seen managers and servers disappear through a set of swinging doors.
I stepped over a fallen barstool and pushed the doors open to find the kitchen. Away from the windows, the large room was too dark to see much in the way of details. Lit only by an emergency light over a countertop, I could just make out the cooktops and freezers. There didn't appear to be anything of use in here, but there was lots of space to hide. Clicking on the flashlight on my phone, I walked around, making sure nobody was hiding in here. The last thing I needed was someone jumping out of the dark scaring me.
