Akasha nodded and shook her hand. “You have a deal. She’s in there.” Akasha tilted a blue book, then a green one on an adjacent shelf, and finally, the purple one that had caught Sovvan’s eye.
Before she could ask about it, a section of shelving swung out, forcing her to back up or let it hit her. Sovvan peered into the alcove from a safe distance and spotted a familiar orangey-pink wing, Metalara. “There you are.” Sovvan darted inside without a backward glance. She trusted Akasha to keep her word right up until the shelving unit swung closed with a quiet click and locked.
Oh well, it’s not like I haven’t been betrayed before by my supposed allies. Sovvan shrugged and followed the curve of the shelving units to Metalara. The clockwork angel was suspended from silk scarves because that was the only way the awkwardly posed creature could fit. Sovvan scaled the nearest shelving unit until she could reach the key in the heart-shaped hole in Metalara’s back.
“You’d better not strangle me for this, or I’ll never wind you up again. That truce had better still be in effect.” Hopefully, she’d never see this creature again after they parted ways. Sovvan grasped the key in both hands and turned it, bringing Metalara back to life.
What Else Did They Say?
[Westchester, NY]
The alarm quieted, and blue-glowing boxes appeared in front of the dragon as she swiped her claws through the air. Data cascaded down them in thin ribbons of ones and zeros while she muttered something about ‘hackers and their black hats.’
Her tail was still wrapped tightly around the wheezing boiler system, which she was still squeezing, as the blue glow of her data windows slowly turned as red as the code visible through the gaps in her armor. That couldn’t be good. Heat wafted off the dragon, and steam puffed out of holes in the boiler.
We’d all cook in our skins if we didn’t do something to cool off soon. I glanced at Papa, but the warmth had sent his tired mind back to dreamland again. Maybe I should lay off the daytime adventures for a while to let him catch up on some much-needed sleep. I bit my lip. Papa was zonked, and at the worst possible time. It was my fault too. I liked to play when he needed to rest.
“How much magic did he use before I showed up? I’m guessing a lot.” Uncle Miren squeezed my shoulder.
I nodded because it was a lot, and we had no idea what he’d been doing at work. Because Papa didn’t talk about what he did every night if he could help it. He could have been using a lot of magic there too; he was a mage after all.
“My brother has never functioned well without a full reservoir of magic at his disposal, and I’ll bet my boots he’s running low on magic right now.” Uncle Miren gave my shoulder one more squeeze before letting go. “He’ll be okay once he recharges.”
“Can he recharge here? Tech rules, not magic.” I squeezed the phone in my hands as worry chewed on my insides.
“Yes, there must be some magic here or there wouldn’t be a magical doorway in my apartment, and none of this would have happened if it wasn’t there.” Melinda folded her arms in consternation then remembered she was on crowd control and spread them to stop the old lady lining up a shot of the dragon on her phone screen.
“I forgot about the portal. Can someone check if it’s still there?” I gave the old lady a pleading look. I needed that portal for Auntie Sovvan. She couldn’t reach us without it, and we could use her help right now.
“You’re just trying to keep me away from the action.” The old lady planted her fists on her jean-clad hips.
I gave her my best wounded-puppy look, and her shoulders slumped as she caved in.
“Oh fine, I’ll go take a look.” The lady threw her hands up in defeat.
“How about you bring back a snack for your hungry heroes?” Uncle Miren patted my back when I looked up at him, and I caught on to his plan to use my cuteness as leverage while the dragon was distracted.
“A snack would be awesome right now.” I smiled at the old lady, and my stomach growled in support of that idea. “Some food might help Papa to get better faster.”
And that finally cinched it. Several people volunteered to rustle us up some sandwiches, and the crowd shrank by about three people. But there were three fewer people we needed to protect from the dragon’s ire.
Behind the dragon, the boiler system melted some more, and parts of it liquefied. Molten metal dripped into silver puddles on the ground, and they flowed toward the dragon’s hind claws. Uh-oh. Heat wafted off the boiler. It was also turning red and making a high-pitched screaming sound as it shook and rattled, but the dragon just ignored that.
Either she didn’t feel the heat, or it just didn’t affect her at all. Either way was bad for us because the heat made the air thick and hard to breathe. I felt faint, and everything started to get a little fuzzy until someone handed me a clear knobby bottle with what I hoped was water inside it, and even better, a nice big sandwich loaded with meats and cheeses I couldn’t identify.
“Thank you,” I said to my benefactor before she darted over to rouse Papa and hand him a bottle and a sandwich too. “Was the portal still there?” I asked as the old lady reappeared.
She shook her head. “I didn’t see any magical portals. Sorry, kid, Melinda has a small apartment. If there was a portal there, I’d have seen it.”
“Oh, thank you for trying.” My little shoulders slumped in defeat. How could we defeat a dragon without my aunt or magic?
“Hey, are you okay?” Uncle Miren wrapped an arm around me.
Papa and Uncle Miren had larger sandwiches than mine, but they were big strong men, and I was a hungry kid. I was just glad Papa was awake and eating. “Yeah, I’m okay. I'd just hoped for some additional help, but with the portal gone, we won’t get any. We’re on our own.”
“Aren’t we always? It’s always been the three of us against the world. I don’t see how this is any different.” Uncle Miren paused to take a bite of his sandwich.
He was right, of course. I guzzled the water and crammed the sandwich into my mouth, making short work of both while the dragon spawned more data screens and muttered curses.
“How is she spawning those boxes of data?” I tapped Melinda’s leg to get her attention.
The crowd had swelled while we’d snacked, pushing our poor Scribe further into the room. She was still trying to block access, but just past the doorway, this oddly shaped room widened out to be a lot larger than her arm span. So some of her more intrepid, and more gray-haired neighbors, stood well past her reach.
“You should get back,” I told one of them, but he ignored me. He was tall and muscular, but not in the lean way that Uncle Miren and Papa were. This guy had tree-trunk size legs and big burly arms he crossed over his chest. Maybe he should take a turn battling the dragon.
“You really should listen to him.” Uncle Miren gave my shoulders a squeeze, and I eyed that cascading data, and the glowing boxes that comprised it.
The Newsletter-Dragon’s claws blurred as she manipulated the data, and a metal clang startled me when a piece of her armor flew off her claws. The fires she’d started extinguished and no more came out of her mouth as she muttered imprecations about hackers.
“I’m fine where I am,” Melinda’s neighbor replied, and there was a knowing smile on his lips. Was he affiliated with these ‘black-hatted hackers’ the dragon kept complaining about?
He winked at me, confirming it then placed his index finger in front of his lips, and I nodded. His secret was safe with me. How long would those hackers distract the dragon, and what could we do with that borrowed time?
The dragon punched the ceiling in triumph, and dust sifted down on her, but she ignored it. She was intent upon her screens, and so were we. “They think they can hack me? Me? I am the Newsletter-Dragon! I’ll show you who’s boss!” She stabbed one of the transparent screens in front of her, and the data turned blue again.
In fact, the red glow left her eyes and body too, returning the Newsletter-Dragon to her usual color and just maybe to her
former self. Another loud clang announced more of her armor had dropped to the floor, revealing the ball of lightning in the blue-glowing latticework that was her belly.
But the dragon was still behind a wall of transparent screens made of some sort of air-born tech. Was it a solid wall? Or was it just a projection?
I looked at the bottle in my hand. It was made of a clear substance that was much lighter than glass, but it wasn’t naturally occurring. That much I could tell just by touch. The bottle was as manmade as the tech that ruled here. What would happen if I chucked it at that wall of data?
I launched it, determined to find out. The bottle flew in a perfect arc. All my days of skipping stones had come in handy. But a claw punctured the bottle, and the dragon looked from me to it in growing anger. Uh-oh. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.
It’s My Turn
[Somewhere in Between Worlds]
Sovvan kept turning the key until it slid out of her hands. Metalara grasped the silk scarves holding her aloft like she was some sort of acrobat and spun to face her.
“Whoa, I’m on your side, remember?” Sovvan jumped off the shelving unit, but Metalara slipped her arms out of the silks and caught Sovvan in a headlock before she could dodge. “We had a truce.” Sovvan pounded on the arm wrapped around her throat.
“We did. Now, we don’t.” Metalara stomped to the blank wall and kicked the mechanism that operated it.
The door popped open, revealing Akasha, but something about her was subtly wrong. Maybe it was her too-serene face, which looked about as real as Metalara’s expressionless metal puss. Or maybe it was the tan flap in Akasha’s arm which displayed several nice shiny gears before she flicked it closed.
“You’re like her?” Sovvan waved to Metalara then resumed prying that metal maniac’s arm away from her throat.
“I’m nothing like her.” Akasha turned up her pert little nose.
“I’m the rough draft, and you’re the finished product, right?” Metalara cocked her head to one side like a bird and narrowed her eyes.
“I’m a more ordered and more perfect system than you. I am syntropy.” Akasha raised her hands, and her whole body glowed a soft white. The shelves rotated clockwise around the library in an orderly fashion. Every book stood spine out on its revolving shelf.
“Then you don’t need her since you’re so perfect.” Metalara squeezed, and the world started to gray out.
As Sovvan became the ghost she’d been for the last fourteen years, she lost cohesion. I knew I’d regret waking her up. I just didn’t think it would be this soon. “Let me go. We had a truce.”
Metalara eased up a bit, and Sovvan solidified again. But that metal maniac glared at her as if she were trying to silently communicate something. What the hell did that psychotic creature want from her now?
Sovvan was having enough trouble just staying on her feet, but she must. She couldn’t black out because this time she’d end up back in the Gray Between and have to do this all over again. Sovvan felt its pull, and there was no escaping it.
“No, don’t let her lose consciousness.” Akasha dropped her arms and the body glow and rushed forward, but the shelves kept revolving, each at a different rate. “I need her.”
“To get your orb back? I don’t think so. I think there’s something else you want her to do. Maybe another orb you want her to fetch. By the way, where’s the entropic orb right now? Metalara turned, dragging Sovvan with her and out of Akasha’s reach.
“There are two magic balls?” Sovvan asked when Metalara’s grip eased a little more. Sovvan pried one of Metalara’s arms away from her neck, and Metalara let the other one fall. Her point had been made.
“Yes. They’re supposed to balance each other, but that’s not what’s happened. As one gained more power, the other diminished. Isn’t that right, Akasha?” Metalara shot Akasha a murderous glare, and Sovvan took that opportunity to step away from both those crazy creatures.
“Yes, and that’s why we need the orb you took back. Give it to me.” Akasha extended her hand for it, and her eyes glowed the same pink as Metalara’s.
“I can’t give you what I don’t have. Did you think they’d let me keep it after they kicked me out of the Order?” Metalara kept her gaze on Akasha as she darted forward and seized Sovvan by her arm this time.
“Must you manhandle me?” Sovvan picked at the hand manacling her arm.
“I’ll try to be more gentle next time.”
“There won’t be ‘a next time.’ Not if I have anything to say about it,” Sovvan muttered darkly. “I’m tired of everyone trying to use me as a pawn in their games. I quit.” Sovvan reached up to that spot on her throat that made her world fade to gray, and her arm became as insubstantial as air. “I’m going to save my family. You two can fight each other until the sun dies. I don’t care.”
Sovvan floated away from both creatures then let go of that pressure point on her neck before she blacked out, but she didn’t become solid immediately. She regained her corporeality slowly, and that was fine by her because Metalara’s grabby hands went right through her chest. So did Akasha’s when she lunged at Sovvan.
“Wait. That entropic orb is—” Akasha started to say as Metalara slammed into her.
They wrestled, but Metalara had mass on her side. After a few minutes’ struggle, she pinned Akasha to the ground. “Where is it?”
Akasha looked at Sovvan and spoke directly to her, not the maniac on top of her. “Dysteria gave part of it to a dragon and used the sliver that remained to create enough chaos for that dragon to cross over to your family’s world. From there, she found a portal to another world where that Scribe I was telling you about lives.”
“And then what happened?” Sovvan prompted when Akasha clammed up and started glowing. But this was starting to sound familiar. Sovvan had a brief flash of a blue-glowing dragon in metal armor. “That dragon is growing that orb, isn’t it?”
Akasha nodded in defeat. “And creating more chaos, yes. That’s the last thing I saw. I know everything that’s said or thought, but I rely on what is written to make sense of it all.”
“And that Scribe isn’t writing everything down because she’s living it.” Sovvan approached the giant book. A black bar blinked as if waiting for input at the end of a line of text, and it was so familiar. Sovvan touched it, and she saw that dragon breathing fire on a cowering boy. Oh hell no, you don’t get to barbecue my darling nephew.
“Auntie Sovvan? Hurry up. We need you,” Ran said, and his voice startled her so much, Sovvan whirled around half expecting to see him. Instead, she found Metalara running full tilt at her. “What the hell are you doing?” Sovvan stepped aside, but a long metal arm hooked her now solid waist and pulled her along in that metal maniac’s wake.
“Keeping our bargain. That book is important, and so are you.” Metalara struck the giant book with her shoulder, tipping it into the hole in the floor. It fell, and they went over the edge after it.
“No!” Akasha screamed, but her negation dwindled away.
They plummeted toward a blue-green world that grew until all Sovvan could see was the land rising rapidly to meet them. Her brothers and her nephew were down there. Sovvan could feel it and the heat building on her skin as their velocity increased. “We’re going to burn up out here.”
“Not if you get inside that book.” Metalara extended her wings. They blazed from the buildup of heat, but that didn’t phase that psycho creature.
“It’s not going to save me.” But Sovvan grabbed hold of the book’s glowing cover and pulled herself onto it anyway. It was reassuringly solid, and she was wishing she wasn’t. That landing is going to hurt a lot. The book’s purple glow reminded her of the portal Miren had disappeared into, but it didn’t work the same magic for her and whisk her away to them. No, she’d have to reach them the hard way, as usual.
“Of course, it will. It’s a magical book. Just crawl between the pages. Let it take the brunt of the fall.” Metalara flew over and l
ifted a handful of pages.
“Are you sure about that?” It seemed like a crazy idea to Sovvan, but then nothing had made any sense since she’d woken up in the Gray Between that first time fourteen years ago, so why was she expecting the world to start making sense now?
“Yes, I can see its power matrix. You’ll be safe in there.” Metalara tapped its purple-glowing cover.
“Okay then, but you’d better be right about that.” Sovvan squirmed under the pages in question, and the lid slammed closed, trapping her inside. “You tricked me!”
“No, I didn’t. Stay in there, and you should be safe. It’s a magical book. I wasn’t lying about that.” Metalara did something, and there was a loud click.
Was that a lock? Did she lock me in here? “Let me out!” Sovvan beat against the pages as the book jerked sharply to the right and slowed considerably. What had that metal menace done now? “I just want to save my family. Why is that so hard?”
But she was graying out again. This time, it wasn’t the Gray Between pulling her down. It was something stronger and far more insistent. Things were about to get weirder. Sovvan could feel it as the darkness pressed against her, muffling her scream of frustration.
You Dare Interrupt Me?
[Westchester, NY]
“I’m trying to protect your subscribers, and this is how you repay me?” The dragon shook the water bottle impaled on her claw as she swelled up to three times her height.
Her horns punched through the ceiling, raining dust down on her head, and lightning crackled in her belly. She reached into that glowing maelstrom and withdrew a lightning bolt as long as a spear. More data boxes appeared as she kept typing one-handed on an invisible keyboard with her other claws while she aimed that bolt at me. Her arm spikes punctured the boiler and steam puffed out while she lined up her shot.
“Everyone, get back now!” Melinda shouted as she shoved people toward the crush in the doorway. “Get into the foyer.”
Dragon Spells Page 14
