“I’m sorry, what? Enter my mind?” He’s got to be shitting me.
“It’s a dragon thing.” He comes closer to me, crouching down beside my chair even though I can tell being so close to the ring makes him uncomfortable. “I know it sounds invasive, and it requires a fair amount of trust.”
“To allow you into my mind? Yeah, I think so.”
“But, if you…get lost or have trouble controlling this…this…” He gestures at the gold dust. “I can help you back. I can ease your symptoms. I’d only do it, you understand, if you need me. But I have to ask you now, because?—”
“Because once I snort this, my mind might not be my own.”
“Exactly.”
I study his face for what is probably a minute but feels much longer. He didn’t take advantage of me today, even though he could have, and if he’s asking for my consent, that means he probably deserves it. The truth is, I might need help. I don’t know how hard this is going to hit.
“You have my permission.”
He smiles a shaky smile and nods. “All right, then.”
With one more look at Seb and then the ring, I lean over the mirror again and breathe in the goddess.
Chapter Thirteen
ZOE
The effect of the gold dust is so much stronger than last time. It feels like pure starlight has been injected into my veins, a warm, sparkling effervescence twinkling in the mitochondria of my every cell. Gold washes over the room, giving every object in it a hum. The dense oak table sings in baritone. The Ficus in the corner whistles a light, happy tune with an underlying crackle that tells me she’s ready to be watered. No walls or ceiling remain here. Nothing to contain me.
I’m temporarily lost to the wonders of the Gold Room, until my eyes fall on Seb, and I gasp. Like everything in this room, he’s frozen, watching me with unblinking green eyes. But beside him is a massive dragon with scales the color of tree bark edged in gold. His dragon’s bright gold eyes wink at me, and his tail flicks like a contented cat.
Seb is a dragon. He shifts into a dragon. It takes me a second to get my head around it, but I realize that the dragon, too, is Seb. The human-looking version of Seb is frozen on the earthly plane, but this inner dragon is here with me, on the celestial one.
The dragon chuffs and takes a step toward me but then stops, turning his face toward the box with the ring and growling. That’s right, the ring. I’m supposed to be analyzing it. I direct my attention to the contents of the box and notice two things immediately.
First, the water in the vial is singing the most transcendent aria, radiating pure gold. Warmth infuses me, all the way to my heart, and I feel happy, truly happy down to my soul, just to have gazed upon it.
And second, the ring threatens to swallow all that happiness, to flush it into a black void of darkness and pain. Even on this plane, the ring makes no sound and puts off no light. It is completely silent and dark, a black hole of energy that drains away the giddy sense of belonging I achieved from looking at the vial of water. In all the years I used gold dust, I never once came across an object like this, like a hole in the fabric of this plane, like a vacuum, sucking all the energy out of the rest of the room. Nothing else shares these qualities, and I instantly know that what I’m looking at is pure evil.
As I study it, the hair on my arms stands on end. Fuck. What dark magic is this? I draw in a deep breath and exhale. Concentrate, Zoe, I tell myself. You can do this. Lifting my hands, I form two letter Ls with my thumbs and forefingers, then lift one elbow so that my fingers form a box, thumb to thumb. Finger to finger. A magical X-ray machine. I center the ring inside the perspective of this box, not touching it but trapping it within my focus and intention. My magic locks on to it, testing its boundaries. It feels cold and icky, but I get a clear idea of where the magic starts and ends.
“Show me the weave,” I request of the goddess.
I’m shocked when a voice responds—a triune of voices—like three women speaking in unison. “Defiled. Unclean. Forsaken.”
I turn my head, trying to find the source of the voices, but there’s nothing here but light. I gasp. “You speak? Are you the goddess?”
A warm breeze caresses my cheek. “I am many but of one voice.”
I have no idea what that means, but I don’t have time to interrogate my benefactor. “I need to see the magic that fuels this ring.”
The breeze that fluttered a moment ago against my cheek increases to a strong wind. “We shall end it. We shall dissolve it in pure light.” The gold around me flares like everything is lined with lit sparklers.
“Wait!” I raise my hands. Although I’ve ascended to the Gold Room plenty of times, I’ve never heard distinct words before. Usually, I receive signs and messages, not words. As far as I know, this is unheard of. “I must understand it so that I can create a spell to defend against it. People are dying.”
“It is death. It is destruction. It will corrupt you,” the voice says, now from across the room, opposite the windows, as if whoever is speaking to me is circling the table.
“I know,” I say. “I’ve sensed as much. But my friend’s kind is being butchered by these things. I’ve promised to help him. Tell me how I can understand this dark magic enough to create a shield against it.”
“Dragon,” the voice says, now from the direction Seb stands. His brown dragon purrs and circles something I cannot see, like a cat rubbing itself against someone’s leg. “This is your friend?”
“Yes. The rings are being used to kill his kind. I promised to help him.”
