Or, at least, that was what he’d thought before he realized just howbigthe spirit’s magic was.
The attack crashed into him like a cruise ship running aground. It was stronger than his mother’s fire, stronger than anything Julius had ever been hit with before. It hadn’t even finished washing over him before he felt himself start to dissolve. But then, just as he realized he was probably going to die, something in his fire twisted, and a dragon appeared in front of him.
She’d already done it once before, so Julius wasn’t too shocked to see Amelia suddenly flicker into existence. Whatwasshocking was the fact that there was no fire this time. She was simply there, grabbing the hardened lump of pure, angry magic the DFZ had thrown and tossing it away.
It landed like a bomb in the dark several blocks over, exploding in a blast wave that sent everyone except Amelia and the DFZ to the ground. Even Raven was knocked to the dirt, flapping and cawing, but Amelia didn’t so much as flinch. She just stood there and took it, watching the DFZ with a sly smile as she lowered her smoking hand.
“What did you do?” the city demanded, looking nervous for the first time. “This is my domain. How did you do that?”
“Easy,” Amelia said casually. “I’m bigger.”
The DFZ narrowed her orange eyes. “You lie.”
“Try me,” the dragon taunted, blowing out a line of smoke. “You might be all ’roided up on stolen power right now, but that doesn’t change the fact that your domain is nothing compared to mine. I am Amelia the Planeswalker, the Spirit of Dragons, andthat”—she pointed at Julius—“is my vessel. I’m no longer a dragon who has fire. Iamdragon fire, and I’ve burned better cities than yours.”
She grinned as she finished, showing the DFZ all of her sharp white teeth. It was pure predator, the essence of what it meant to be a dragon. Even Julius cringed away, and she wasn’t even facing him. But though she couldn’t hide her flinch, the spirit of the DFZ didn’t falter, and she did not back down.
“This is my world,” she said, clenching her fists. “My one chance to destroy the tyrant that has always held me down. You will not stop me!”
“She’s not trying to,” Marci said, pushing herself up from the ground.
“Oh yes I am,” Amelia snapped, keeping her fire-colored eyes on the city spirit. “I’m sick of this nonsense. I’ll keep her busy. You cut the cord.”
“No,” Marci said angrily, glaring at Amelia’s back. “You arenothelping.” She turned to Julius. “Tell her.”
“Don’t you dare sic Julius on me,” Amelia said, but to his surprise and despite her obvious anger, she did step back. A concession that did not escape the DFZ.
“The Spirit of Dragons takes orders from a human?”
“I don’t take orders from anyone,” Amelia said flippantly. “But unlike you, I’m smart enough to listen to sense when I hear it. Marci’s never done anything but try to help spirits like us. She’s the one who freed you to go crazy, in case you forgot. If you had the brain of the rat you’re always pretending to be, you’d listen to—”
She cut off when the ground heaved. Julius’s first thought was that it was the DFZ again, but she looked as surprised as they were.
“What was that?” Marci asked, clutching the ground.
“Algonquin,” the DFZ growled, her face contorting in hatred. “She’s landing another wave.” The city shook again, and this time, itwasthe DFZ. “I will kill her for this! I will—”
“Julius!”
His name was the only warning he got. He was still staring at the DFZ’s tantrum when Marci grabbed his left hind foot, and he felt the belovedly familiar—but still extremely uncomfortable—sensation of Marci yanking his magic out of him.
She grabbed the silver circle surrounding Myron next. As she connected them, Julius felt the full scale of the DFZ’s magic for the first time. How huge she was, and howangry. It was only for a fraction of a second, but in that fraction, he was connected to the magic of the world like never before.
To his amazement, it reallywasa sea. A vast, violent ocean of power rocking in a storm, and he was part of it. They all were. Deeply. Intrinsically. How had he never realized this before?
Because it wasn’t true before,Amelia whispered through his fire.Bob and I did this, and we’ll do a lot more. Just wait and see.
The last thing Julius wanted was to wait. Before he could demand an answer, though, the incredible connection vanished in a blinding flash as the surging power finally overwhelmed Marci’s interruption, causing a backlash that knocked them both into the air.
As always, Julius missed landing on his feet. He managed to scramble back to them in record time, though, following his nose frantically to Marci, who was groaning on her back a few feet away. “Are you all right?!”
“I’m fantastic,” she croaked, reaching up to wipe away the trickle of blood running down from her nose. “Haven’t been backlashed that hard in a long time, but look.” She tilted her head back toward the spirit. “Itworked.”
Sure enough, the DFZ was frozen when he turned around, her mouth hanging open as the roaring magic drained out of the air. “No,” she whispered, desperately grabbing at the emptying space in front of her. “No, no,no!” She turned on Marci. “How could you do this to me?”
“Actually, she was just the interruption,” Raven’s voice croaked from the dark. “I’m the one who took your power.”
The spirit whirled around only to freeze again. Raven was sitting inside the silver circle, which was still shining as bright as ever, though it was no longer shiningout. All the light was focused inward now, shining in a laser pinpoint on the piece of metal where Raven was perched, the only bit of the circle that wasn’t gleaming silver.
