Nemesis

by Genevieve Iseult Eldredge

  I notice it too. Two glimmers, light and dark, buried in the rubble. Smack dab between us and Jardin. My heart thumping in my throat, I try to play it cool.

  But the gleam in Jardin’s eye tells the truth. She sees them too.

  The tension shatters as we all lunge for the hearthstones.

  The ground rocks with the force of Jardin’s charge, all blasting steam and belching fire. Roue and I throw up our shields, violet lightning and white fire, and windwarp to the glimmers. Jardin’s jaws snap the empty air. We windwarp-dodge, and krunk! Her fangs punch into the broken marble, stuck fast.

  She jerks and jerks at the marble floor, but she can’t break free.

  Now’s our chance!

  I dive at one hearthstone. Roue dives at the other.

  The Dark Faerie hearthstone slides against my palm, its coldness shocking my fingers. Gah, of course I grab the wrong one! But it doesn’t freeze me. Go on, Rouen coaxes me, and I open myself, heart and soul, to her hearthstone, the way I opened myself to her. I soothe it with soft sounds, singing to it like Rouen sings to me when I’m stressed before a big test.

  The hearthstone pulses, then it opens to me.

  Winter power washes over me, not warring against my inner Summer but swirling around it, merging with it.

  It wants to become one.

  “So does yours,” Roue sends shyly, the Fair Faerie hearthstone blazing in her hand, fire licking toward her lightning.

  Each of us holds the opposite hearthstone, but we have no idea how to combine them.

  Rouen eyes hers, flashing dark in my hand. “You sure you don’t want to…?” She chin-nods at Jardin. “It would end a very big, dragon-size problem.”

  It would, but I can’t. I stand my ground. “No killing. Not unless we have no other choice.”

  Roue hefts my hearthstone like it’s a softball. “Let’s free the archs.”

  “Right!” Together, we shine the hearthstones’ energies over them all.

  The arch-Eld and -Ýdyll lurch as the control over them weakens, then fades. One by one, they all realize they stand before their mortal enemies. Magical energies explode as the most powerful elders of Dark and Fair Faerie power up, weapons leaping from sheaths, gramarye igniting in greens and whites, blues and reds, horns, tails bristling, eyes burning with their personal gramarye. Summer facing off against Winter.

  “War! War! War!”

  Even faced with their own deaths, the archs still cry out for war, weapons out, fangs and claws honed and sharp, gramarye flying around them in powerful waves of magic.

  Jardin shrieks, chewing through the marble, blasting it will hellfire.

  She’s almost free.

  I look to Roue, a feeling of love so powerful washing over me, then washing back as her love answers mine down the soul-bond. “We need everyone’s help. And we’re not leaving anyone behind.”

  She sends her agreement.

  “NO WAR!” Rouen and I shout, and our voices boom with the power of Faerie.

  Our people stagger back, shock on their faces.

  “We have to stop this,” I implore them, hands spread wide.

  “How?” Nuwal’ai steps forward. “No power in all of Faerie can stop this!”

  “You’re right about that, little Fae.” Jardin’s voice rumbles like an avalanche.

  Shrieeeyaaaank! With a squealing shriek, she rips her fangs from the floor, decimating it. She rises up before us, her neck coiled to strike like a giant snake.

  I whirl, flashing the Dark Faerie hearthstone her way. I don’t want to kill her, but it might be our only chance. “Don’t make me!”

  Her grin is a thing of legend. “You won’t use the hearthstone against me.”

  “Won’t I? We need you out of the way so we can deal with that.” I point to where the black hole slowly eats its way toward us. I pop the Dark Faerie hearthstone up and catch it. “With this, I can take away your power.”

  “But you won’t.” She lifts her coils, and my heart seizes to see a struggling Pru and Kshirin caught in them. She flexes, her armored scales rising like knives around our friends. “Shall I squeeze?”

  Kshirin caterwauls pitifully.

  “Ugh, not cool!” Pru fights, but even her Yara strength isn’t enough to break free from a dragon.

  Jardin turns her slitted reptilian eyes on us. “The hearthstones for your friends.”

  Fear shoots through me. If she gets the hearthstones, we won’t have to worry about Faerie breaking apart or the black hole zooming our way. She’ll truly be unstoppable. She’ll kill us all.

  “Don’t do it!” Etana’s the first to protest, knives in her hands.

  Nuwala'i bangs her staff on the broken ground. “Majesty, no!”

  Even Laguna sadly shakes his head. “I’m sorry, sweet Summer child.”

  The shouts comes from all around, from both the arch-Eld and the arch-Ýdyll as Roue and I stand there, trapped between one terrible decision and another. Jardin snarls, seeing that the vote’s going against her. She squeezes, and our friends cry out.

  “Don’t give them to her, Syl! Don’t you dare!” Pru shouts.

  I look at my bestie then at Kshirin. She’s just a kid. My heart leaps into my throat. “Roue, Kshirin helped save you from the Oubliettes. Pru didn’t hesitate to jump into the fray when it was us on the line.” I heft the Dark Faerie hearthstone.

  “No one gets left behind,” I whisper.

  Then, I pitch it to Jardin underhand, lobbing it up high.

  Rouen meets my gaze, the reflection of the black sphere in her eyes. “No one.” She kisses the Fair Faerie hearthstone and lobs it after mine.

  Two spheres, light and dark, arc in the air toward Jardin., She flexes her long neck, and snatches them in her jaws. The tink tink against her swordlike teeth sets mine on edge. She holds them, flashing, in her maw.

  And then she swallows them whole.

  28

  ROUEN

  Us against the world, baby girl

  Just you and me

  We’re all I need

  - Eternal - Euphoria

  Syl’s plan is crazy, but her hope thrums down our soul-bond as we toss the hearthstones to Jardin in exchange for Kshirin and Pru. “Once our family’s back together, we’ll figure out a way out of this, Roue.” The world as we know it is coming apart at the seams, so why not trust to hope? It’s what brought us together after all.

  Holding her hand, I fill myself up with it.

  Dragon Jardin rears up, snatching the hearthstones from the air. As they flash in her jaws, she tilts her massive head upward, rolling her black tongue over the two sources of all magic in Faerie. Like she’s tasting them.

  Dread and disgust coil in my stomach. “She wouldn’t.”

  Turns out, she would.

  Her throat works as she swallows both Dark and Fair Faerie hearthstones. They vanish down her dragon gullet, distending her throat as they slowly, inch by bulging inch, work their way down her long serpentine neck. I imagine I see them flashing even through her scaly hide.

  All my hope dies.

  “Why???” I throw up my hands in exasperation and look around at Syl, the dark Fae kids, the arch-Eld and -Ýdyll—anyone who’ll answer. “Why are people always swallowing those damn things?”

  The archs, Eld and Ýdyll, look at us with disapproval, readying their magic and weapons, but Syl and I haven’t fought our way to the end of our world just to restart the ancient war.

  Syl holds up a hand.

  She plays it cool, her grey eyes fixed on Dragon Jardin. “We need to get the hearthstones.” Already, the plan’s brewing in her mind. She shows me a glimpse down the soul-bond, and I hate it. Well, I hate the part that requires close hand-to-hand combat with a dragon the size of New Zealand.

  But what choice do we have? Plus, I trust my girl. “All right, princess.”

  Jardin’s throat works, trying to push the hearthstones as fast as possible into her stomach, where she’ll digest them.

  A
nd that will probably be very bad indeed.

  I put my hand up, too, holding off the arch-Eld. Locking eyes with Etana, I give her a slow nod. She relaxes, moving to get angle on the huge dragon facing off against us. Mizumichi flows to her side, sword out, magical tattoos swirling around him.

  I step forward. “All right, Jardin. A deal’s a deal. You’ve got the hearthstones. Now free our friends.”

  Jardin’s chuckle sounds hollow around the hearthstones she’s busy swallowing. “Take them.” With a flick of her tail, she flings Pru and Kshirin into the air like hot potatoes.

  Then she attacks.

  Fwoosh! Together, we windwarp around her thrashing coils. As Syl zips toward Pru, my eye fixes on a small orange form plummeting to the ground. I put on a burst of speed. “Gotcha!” I snatch Kshirin up, and she clings to me, needle-sharp. “Ow, ow, ow, claws!” I windwarp her over to her mom.

  Vanya Visya’s glowing orange eyes soften as I place her daughter in her arms. “Thank you, Majesty.”

  Syl lands with Pru as Dragon Jardin whips around for her next assault.

  Whoosh! Her tail lashes out, slamming through the castle debris to crush us flat. We’re pelted with flying rock, dodging thrashing dragon flesh. “Did you really think I’d let you live once I had the hearthstones?” She swallows, and they slip another inch down her long gullet.

  Slash! Her claws cut the air as Syl dodges one way, and I windwarp the other.

  Clearly it’s a rhetorical question because she just keeps yapping. “Once I ingest them, I’ll have all the Fae magic.” She eyes the collisions happening in space above us. “The power to take over the multiverse.”

  Crap. So that’s her game.

  Syl and I had the power all along. We could’ve stopped this, had we known.

  But we gave up the hearthstones, the source of our power.

  Syl’s pain shoots down the bond, wrapping with mine. Tears fill her eyes, guilt in her heart. “I’m sorry, Roue.”

  “No.” I send back. “I’m glad we traded them. Our family is more important.” I dance back as Jardin’s jaws snap shut an inch away. “What good is Faerie if we have to sacrifice our own people for it?”

  I want to say more, but Jardin lashes out again, her maw opening too wide for me to dodge. Desperate, I grab her by the fangs. Instantly, we’re locked in a vicious tug-of-war, her yanking me so hard my arms scream like they’ll tear from their sockets. Rotted breath blasts me, poison spittle hissing as it hits my leathers.

  “Roue!” Syl windwarps my way, but I stop her.

  “No!” I take in a deep breath and fill myself with hope, push it down the bond to Syl. “Time for our plan, princess.”

  She nods and straightens. Every inch a queen, she turns to the archs. “There is our enemy!” She points at Jardin. “We have to fight together!”

  Grudgingly, the archs eye one another, then the massive dragon.

  A low growl rumbles from Jardin’s throat. I hear the hearthstones tinking together way, way down inside. “Help us!” I call to our people. “The only way to get back the hearthstones is to fight together!”

  “Together!” Syl cries.

  Pru stands next to her. “Together.”

  Kshirin windwarps in, fur standing on end. “I’m in too!”

  “Together.” Vanya Visya growls.

  Etana raises her writs crossbow. “Together.”

  “Together!”

  “Together!”

  Arms aching as I wrestle the dragon, I close my eyes, feeling each “Together” wash over me like a healing balm. It buoys me up, gives me strength. Jardin flexes her jaw, trying to spear me with those teeth.

  “Not today, Satan.” I twist, ripping out a fang in the process.

  She kreels, shrieking, rearing back with her head as black blood pours from her mouth. The ground shakes as she stomps and wails, shaking her head, one black eye fixed hatefully on me.

  “Ya big baby.” I throw the fang away as Syl windwarps to my side. “Ready, princess?”

  “Yes.” Her plan burns bright in her mind.

  Have I mentioned I hate this idea?

  I do, but I support my girl. As she races in, I distract Jardin throwing lightning bolts at her. The archs, the dark Fae kids, and Pru all help me, barraging Jardin with every kind of magic in Faerie.

  It barely slows her down, cracking off her dragon scales.

  “Hnh.” I bare my fangs. “She really does have skin as tough as armor. Go figure.”

  Syl darts beneath our lashing energies. She throws her hands down, and two blades made up pure sunlight coalesce in her hands. She’s going to carve the hearthstones from Jardin’s body.

  I hope.

  “Hey, lizard!” I pelt Jardin in the neck with a lightning bolt, taunting her. “Betcha can’t catch me!”

  Snap, snap, snap! Her teeth gnash in at me, and I windwarp away. The archs also scatter and regroup, and now the fight’s on.

  She roars and dips her neck, lashing out for me, but Etana fires a sorcero-bolt right into her face. Wham! Green energy zips and zaps over her. Mizumichi’s and Thu Leian’s blades and gramarye keep Jardin off balance, while Griffa slams her sideways, banhammer whipping through the air.

  Jardin snarls, righting herself, swatting at us all with claws and teeth.

  I dodge the web-sized snout, and hammer my fits down, cracking her in the nose. Pluck flies in and breathes pink pixie dust on her. Dahari follows it up with a blast of super-heated sand, and Zoba’ah calls howling winds down upon her.

  Blinded, Jardin roars, rears back, and blasts the area with hellfire.

  Liquid flames rush out at us, the heat singeing my eyebrows. Nuwala’i bangs her staff on the ground, and a shield shoots up over us, just in time. The fire hits it, baking it black.

  “Now, Syl!”

  “On it!” Syl races up, blades in hands. She leaps into the air, both swords carving in at Jardin’s neck, right at the bulge where the hearthstones are.

  My heart’s in my throat.

  She’s going to make it.

  And then Jardin shakes it off, sees Syl bearing down, the blades coming straight at her throat. Like quicksilver, her claws flash out.

  “Syl!”

  Jardin snatches her from the air.

  I have the longest moment in my life watching Jardin dangling my beautiful Summer princess in the air.

  And then she does the unthinkable.

  She opens her maw and swallows Syl whole.

  29

  SYL

  The hearthstones

  Were one

  When Faerie was

  One

  -Glamma’s Grimm

  Okay, I know what you’re thinking. This is B A D. And it is. In my old life, before I was a sleeper-princess of the fair Fae, a plan failing meant things like Mom grounding me or getting detention for passing notes in class.

  As a Faerie queen, it means getting swallowed by a dragon.

  Trying not to panic becomes my whole life.

  The second Dragon Jardin’s gigantic jaws snap, fangs closing over me, tingles rush across my skin and whoosh! My shield forms a perfect bubble around me. The darkness of her maw lights up in a bright flare, but even her insides seem to be invincible, because she’s not scorched. Not even one little bit.

  I, on the other hand, am quite vincible.

  I try to windwarp back out of her mouth, but slam! Her teeth crunch together like the slimiest portcullis ever.

  “Roue!” I glimpse her behind the sword-like teeth, her face white, terror for me in her eyes.

  Doesn’t help that I can feel it down the soul-bond. My impending death.

  “Syl! Hang on!” Roue windwarps in, her hands crackling with violet lightning. She fires, her bolts cracking harmlessly off Jardin’s armored hide. Below, I glimpse the archs and the Dark Fae kiddos, charging toward Jardin.

  I can’t let them fight alone!

  I summon more white flame, ready to break those teeth if I have to.

 
And then Dragon Jardin swallows.

  Hissing, her poison saliva slicks my shield. My entire world tilts wildly as my bubble rolls toward her gullet. Pink serpent flesh flexes, a black abyss opening up beneath me. Desperately, I try to stop my momentum, but the sphere’s too slippery. Her black tongue shoots out and shoves me toward her throat.

  Like that last second when the roller coaster holds you at the tippity-top, your heart pounding in fear.

  Then, the moment breaks, and I slide down, down, down…into crushing darkness.

  Panic seeps into my brain, tightening my spine. “Keep calm, keep calm, Syl.” My voice echoes weirdly in my bubble.

  How long before I run out of air?

  Down the soul-bond, I feel Rouen struggling with her own panic, then she shoves it down. Her calm voice enters my mind. “It’s all right. You’ll be fine. Can you get out?”

  I shake my head though she can’t see it. “Nope. I’m…” My bubble pitches, and I nearly lose my balance. I swallow hard. “Sliding down her throat.”

  “Okay.” Rouen beats back another stab of panic and fear. “Well, she’s got a long neck, so you’ve got time, princess.”

  Time for what? I want to scream, but suddenly my entire prison lurches, and my sphere’s pinged and banged off the walls of Jardin’s throat like some kind of white flame pinball. “Roue, what’s happening?”

  Roue’s mind becomes a storm of violence. “She’s attacking us.”

  My dragon captor lurches again, and a deep ruuuumble shudders from below me, in the furnacing pit of her belly. Dread spikes my heart.

  “Roue, I think she’s gonna— Look out!”

  Glowing hot magma blasts up and around me, washing over my shield. I pour more power into my bubble, my white flame the only thing keeping her hellfire and poisonous breath from insta-killing me.

  That’s something, right?

  Roue’s mind flashes with determination, and I glimpse in her thoughts what’s really happening: Jardin blasting the archs back, spewing volcanic heat that turns the world molten, hellfire fencing them in while she closes in for the kill.