Dragon Spells

by Melinda Kucsera

  “You are.” The Memory-Eater glared daggers at her and puffed out more of that memory-devouring smoke.

  But Sovvan gripped the chain of light binding her to her brother, and it didn’t affect her. “I gathered that. Could you be more specific?”

  “You know what you’ve done.”

  “No, I don’t. I don’t even remember how I got here this time. You fogged my mind. So, why don’t you tell me what your issue is.”

  “You don’t know?” The Memory-Eater lowered its wings as its gaze probed her and found her wanting as usual. Their lot always did.

  Sovvan ran her fingers over the glowing links protruding from her chest, but she got no more information from her still-living twin, just the steady beating of his heart. “I haven’t the foggiest notion. Just tell me, so I can go help my brother. I have a feeling he’s taken on a foe he can’t handle alone.”

  Sovvan squeezed the chain. Cast really strong shields, bro, until I get there. A white flash blinded her. When it faded, she saw her brother wrapped in green-glowing shields as he tried to close a gray door on a conflagration. Oh my.

  The scene changed to an annoyed angel in full armor, with her fists planted on her hips, glaring daggers at Sovvan. Uh-oh, she was Misriah, her brother’s Guardian Angel. “He’s fine and doesn’t need your help. Go about your business. Do you hear me, Sovvan?”

  “Loud and clearly, your bossiness.” And I don’t believe you, not for a second, but Sovvan kept that thought to herself as the image of that imperious angel backlit by dragon fire faded, leaving Sovvan blinking stupidly at the Memory-Eater.

  Its mouth was moving, but Sovvan hadn’t heard a word it’d said. She chopped a hand through the air between them to cut it off mid-sentence. “Could you repeat that?”

  But Six’s eyes were widening as it pointed with its snout at something behind her. “You brought them here.”

  “I bought who here?” Sovvan spun and stared at an army of clockwork insects. “Damn it. Agents of Chaos, not again.” Sovvan backed away from them then turned and ran because they were a problem for later. But she didn’t get far.

  “Sovvan,” her brother said, and he gave their link another yank, knocking her down.

  Oof! Sovvan landed on her stomach again. Will you quit doing that, bro? I can’t help you if I never reach you, and I won’t at this rate. Sovvan pushed up to her hands and knees and yanked the glowing chain to gain some more slack, so she could stand up. She was uncommonly tall for a woman at just over six feet. But she froze as an image of her nephew kneeling on a tiled floor blossomed in her mind like some cruel flower.

  Rain dripped off his little chin as his sad eyes stared at something she couldn’t see. The sight wrenched her heart. “Why are you out in the rain? Where’s your father?” Sovvan reached out even though Ran was only an image inside her mind. Where the hell is my brother? He should be comforting his son. “Hold on until I can get there, Hun. Your Auntie’s coming—” as soon as she got a clue to his whereabouts.

  Sovvan turned her head and scanned the scene for clues while the connection held. It had never been this clear or informative. But the more Sovvan looked; the more she was certain that she’d never been there before. “How do I get to you, honey? Where are you?”

  But Ran didn’t answer because he was just a heart-rending image that shifted to show that metal-plated dragon again, and her anger spiked. “If you lay one claw on my nephew, I’ll rip your forelimbs off and beat you with them.”

  A foot slammed into Sovvan’s back, flattening her in the dirt again. “I doubt that you’ll be doing anything of the sort.”

  The hem of a black dress with spikes rising from its train entered her field of view. The dress’ owner squatted down and cupped her chin in her clawed-hand, forcing Sovvan’s head back, so she could look up at the woman wearing a twisted iron crown. “So, you’re the one.”

  “What do you mean? The one what? Who are you?” What did this woman with black-on-black eyes want with her? Sovvan struggled to her knees, and the woman let her, so did the link to her brother. It had gone quiet and still.

  Misriah, you’d better be protecting them. But Sovvan doubted that Angel would do anything against a dragon unless it was breaking the balance or some other nonsense. If a demon hadn’t violated that vaunted balance, she doubted an armored dragon would. Sarn’s guardian angel gave it wide latitude when things got surreal.

  “You’re the one who is in two places, forever divided, one part alive and one part dead.” Miss Spikey Dress tapped her curving black claws against Sovvan’s cheek. “Why you’re just like me, a destroyer of worlds.”

  “I’m not a destroyer.” Sovvan pulled out of that woman’s black claws and gained her feet and a significant height advantage. “Who are you? What do you want?”

  “Oh, but you are. You’ve made quite a mess here, haven’t you? And let’s not forget your former guardian angel. You sent him to the dark side when you were just a wee little thing. Not many can claim that you know.” Miss Spikey Dress spread her arms to encompass the foggy plain. The Gray Between was living up to its name today.

  “I had nothing to do with his fall. He made that bargain with the Adversary before I was born.” Sovvan folded her arms and realized she was letting this creepy woman sidetrack her from her mission: saving her family. Right, it was time she got back to that. Sovvan spun on her heel, but that woman poofed herself in front of her.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Away from you.” Sovvan tried to sidestep her, but that woman flowed into her path again. “Get out of my way. I have somewhere I need to be, and it isn’t here talking to you.”

  “Oh, but it is. You see, you’re the fly in my ointment.”

  “I’m the—what? Who are you, and what do you want with me?”

  “I’m Dysteria if you must know, and I suppose you do have a right to know who your jailer is.”

  “My what?” Sovvan stared at Dysteria. “Are you out of your mind? I’m not staying here, and you can’t make me. Plenty of entities have tried that. It didn’t work then, and it won’t work now. I’m out of here.” Sovvan faked left and darted to the right and slammed into the metal spike shooting out of the ground in front of her. Ouch. She rubbed her nose as she dashed sideways only to crash into another spike.

  They were all around her—dull metal spikes rising higher and higher. Sovvan wrapped her arms around one, but it sidled closer to its neighbor forcing her to withdraw her arm or let it be crushed. The spikes were smooth too, giving her no way to climb them, and her wings were still bound, not that she could have flown out of there anyway. The circumference of her jail was too narrow to permit that. Sovvan felt like screaming in frustration, but that was probably what Dysteria wanted her to do, so she held that scream in.

  Instead, Sovvan dropped to her knees and dug through the gray dusty ground. If she couldn’t go over the spikes, then she’d go under them. But she had to be quick about it. Time moved slower here.

  “That won’t work either. I know all your tricks. You’re well and truly trapped now. Don’t worry. I’ll be back for you. After all, we destroyers have to stick together, don’t we?” Dysteria laughed. Sleighbells jingled and feet beat the dirt. What on earth was that creepy woman up to now?

  Leaving. Damn. Sovvan watched as a sleigh pulled by dragons dwindled until only a black dot was visible against the cloudy sky. When all was quiet again, Sovvan did scream because Dysteria had thought of everything. Those spikes just kept going deeper into the ground as she dug. Sovvan finally quit because she was getting nowhere fast.

  How am I going to get out of this one? Sovvan touched the link. It was softly glowing, but it didn’t provide any information anymore. She was well and truly trapped. Hang on, Ran. I’ll be a little delayed.

  Don’t Burn Papa

  [Westchester, NY]

  White fire licked Papa’s shield as he struggled to shut the fire door. “Take cover.” He backed up that warning by nudging me
out of the way with his leg.

  I didn’t take the hint though. Instead, I tried to peer around him at the fire. It couldn’t be real, but its smoke was, and I coughed when it wafted my way.

  Papa grabbed my arm and pulled me behind him. “Will you please get away from that fire?”

  “Where’s she getting all that fire from? She’s not a real dragon. She’s only digital.”

  “I don’t know. We can figure that out later after you move a safe distance away. Find some cover in case it gets past me.” Papa glared at me until I complied. He might be right about the danger.

  I backed up until I was even with a shaking washing machine. Melinda reached around it to grab me and pull me behind it. “Do you know what’s up with that whole breathing fire thing? Because I’m pretty sure that’s not something a digital creature can do.”

  “That’s what I’d like to know.” Melinda rested a hand on my shoulder and pulled me back behind the clanking washing machine when I tried to peer around it. “Stay hidden until he gets that fire under control.”

  I crept toward the edge of the machine when she let go of me. “Can Papa fight the fire with his magic?” I’d never seen him go toe-to-toe with a full-on blaze before, and there was one pushing against the door he was trying to close. Tongues of white fire curled around the door, seeking fuel to burn. Don’t burn Papa. Please, don’t burn Papa. So far, his magic was stopping the fire from reaching us, but for how long? And at what price?

  “I don’t know. His magic likes stones, and stones don’t burn. So, maybe that’ll give him an edge.” Melinda put her arms around me and hugged me tightly. She didn’t pull me back into cover this time.

  “There’s got to be something we can do to help. Where’s your phone?”

  “It’s right here. Why?” Melinda patted her pocket.

  I held my hands out for it. “Can I borrow it?”

  “Sure.” She handed me the phone. “What are you planning to do with it?”

  “Ask for advice. Someone must know how to defeat a dragon.” And we had lots of subscribers. I swiped to unlock the phone, opened a new email, and touched the screen. My finger tingled as technology transferred the plea for help I composed in my head to the screen:

  How do we stop the dragon from frying us? If you have any advice about that, let me know!

  Thank you!

  –Ran, son of Sarn, beggar of boons

  I hit the send button, and my message flew into cyberspace. Soon, I’d have some actionable advice. I just hoped Papa’s magic would hold out until it arrived, but I needn’t have worried because the phone vibrated with an incoming reply.

  “Who’d you ask?”

  “Our newsletter subscribers. I just hope the Newsletter-Dragon didn’t read the message.”

  But she must have because she let loose a roar, and the door swung in, revealing her angry mug. “How dare you ask them for advice about battling me. I’ll get you for that, you little twerp, and your bear too!” The dragon blew a stream of flame into the room, but it slammed into Papa’s shield.

  Melinda pulled me closer to the wall and further from the fire as Papa angled his shield to send that flame back where it belonged. The veins in his neck bulged as he pushed against the door and fought for every inch he gained.

  “Papa, are you okay?” I coughed from the smoke wafting our way.

  “Yes, stay hidden,” he said, but his voice sounded strained.

  “I wish the fire extinguisher wasn’t in the room with the dragon because we could use one right now. Here, let’s see what our subscribers say.” Melinda scooped up her phone from where I’d dropped it.

  An explosion startled us, and I rushed to the edge of the washing machine to look out just as a red cylinder shot past, propelled by the foam it expelled. It struck the door to the foyer, and it swung open and stayed that way since it was a flimsy fake wood door, not a heavy fire door like the one Papa was trying to close.

  “Well, there goes the fire extinguisher. I guess we’re on our own. You’d better stay back here where it’s marginally safer and help me sort through these replies.” Melinda sneezed into her sleeve as she tugged me away from the action into the alcove between the washing machine and the wall. It was rather dusty back there.

  I swiped to reveal the first message and touched it to activate it. Words jumped into my head, transferring the content of the message I’d received. “J. asked if the dragon is thirsty or cold. She suggests we try giving her something to drink. If that fails, get the dragon another boiler to hug.”

  “What else did she say? Because I don’t think this started because that dragon was thirsty or cold.” Melinda read the message over my shoulder. “Hmm, I don’t think we can do that either. We need your father to keep that fire away from us.”

  J’s other suggestion had been to ask Papa to make a boiler with his magic. I wasn’t sure if Papa could do that, and I certainly wasn’t going to interrupt his magicking to ask, not when our lives were on the line.

  “Scroll to the next message. We’ll find something. Just keep thinking positively.” Melinda squeezed my shoulder.

  I resumed scrolling. “Did you know you receive a lot of spam messages? I wish the dragon would eat them instead of trying to burn us.” She was digital after all. I made a mental note to ask the dragon about that if we ever got our rivalry back to a less lethal footing.

  “It’s too bad we don’t have any water,” Melinda mused as she scanned the wall beside and behind us.

  “Why? Does fire not like water?” I didn’t know much about fires since the enchanted forest that surrounded our mountain home had a rule forbidding its creation and use, so everyone used glowing crystals for light and heat in my corner of the world.

  “Water will douse most fires. It should douse this one.”

  “Where can we get that water?” I shifted my weight from foot to foot. My head was level with the top of the shaking machine. Laundry tumbled about inside it. Was there water in that machine? Could we get it out? I eyed its metal side speculatively. Would there even be enough in there to fight that fire?

  “Up there. Do you see them? There are several spigots in the ceiling.” Melinda pointed.

  I shook my head as Papa strained to hold the door closed. His magic dented the floor with its efforts to hold back the metal door and the fire pummeling it from the other side.

  “Well, they’re up there. If we could trigger those sprinklers in the other room, I’ll bet that would douse the dragon and put out her fire for a while.”

  “How do we set them off?” I stared at the ceiling and the smoke clouds building up there.

  “With that smoke alarm.” Melinda pointed at a white disc on the ceiling that was about an inch tall and a hand-span wide.

  The smoke alarm was covered with vents, but a green light blinked intermittently, like a tiny eye winking at me. “How do we set it off?”

  The fire ran across the smoke-stained floor tiles like bright snakes searching for prey. Before we could move, a green dome of energy sprang up over us, and the circular door on the front-loading washing machine flipped open with a loud bang. Wet clothes flew out of its still spinning drum and landed on the flames rushing toward us.

  “Did it extinguish them?” I edged out of hiding and slammed into a shield, which pushed me back into my Scribe.

  Melinda caught me around the waist and steadied me, but she didn’t let go. “Did you open that door?”

  “No, I don’t know how to open it.” I hadn’t seen how that was done, just the result.

  Smoke curled up from the wet clothes. They’d smothered some of the flames. I pushed Melinda’s phone into her coat pocket to free up my hands. Thankfully, the washing machine had stopped spinning by then. I reached into its belly and threw wet clothes at the fire shooting under and around the heavy door Papa tried so hard to close.

  A shrill alarm sounded, and I covered my ears. “What’s making that noise?”

  “It’s the smoke alarm.” Melind
a pointed to it. The light now flashed red instead of green, and that was fitting.

  Water rained down by the bucket full, soaking me, and the fire shrank away from it, but it had nowhere to hide as the rain beat down, stamping it out.

  “How is it raining? We’re indoors.”

  “It’s the sprinkler system I told you about. The fire alarm finally triggered it.” Melinda pointed at the spigots spraying the room down with water.

  “Is it raining in the other room too?” Hope filled me up as I wiped my eyes.

  “It should be. That’s where the fire originated.”

  A scream cut through us, making us both jump then we both laughed. The dragon was getting just what she deserved.

  “I hope you melt!” I shook my fist at the fire door.

  As the last of the flames died away, Papa swayed then sat down in a puddle of water, utterly spent. Water rolled down his face in thick rivulets, and he turned dull green eyes on me as I rushed to his side. His magic loathed water.

  “Papa!” I crashed into his chest, and he hugged me, but his arms were shaking. The rest of him wasn’t convulsing, so it was just exhaustion, not anything worse.

  “Everything’s okay now. I’m just tired,” he said into the top of my head, but he wasn’t all right, or he would have said so.

  “Papa.” I buried my face in his strong shoulder.

  He held me tight. “I’m here.”

  But his magic wasn’t, and we still had to confront that dragon. Who would protect us until Papa’s magic came back?

  Chasing Clockwork Creatures

  [The Gray Between]

  Metalara was slowly vanishing under a dense fog, courtesy of the elephantine Memory-Eaters who dwelled here. None of them came to greet her as she stirred. They just kept pumping out that amnesia-causing fog by the lungful even though it didn’t affect her. Metalara flexed her fingers and toes. Good, she was still in one piece despite her crash-landing.