No it’s not,the Leviathan hissed, moving until his huge shadow was right on top of her.We had a deal, Algonquin.
“We did,” she said, looking up at him. “But that’s why he’s right. Our deal was that you would serve me until I failed. Only then, only if I couldn’t make it, would I let you in to finish the job. I always knew you’d only agree to such an offer if you thought I couldn’t win, but I did. I’vewon, Leviathan.” She looked up into his shadows. “I don’t need you anymore.”
You will always need me,he boomed, his echoing voice vibrating through every bit of her water.You called me here. You gave me a name. I amyourend, Algonquin. I will not be sent away empty when the deal is not yet done.
“Itisdone!” she cried, rising up in front of him. “The magic is cut off! In a day, the sea will calm, and this current glut will vanish. In a year, the ambient magic will be back down to what it was that very first night. With so little magic, the Mortal Spirits can’t threaten us, no matter how many humans there are. The world belongs to the land again, as it was always meant to. I am victorious, Leviathan, and your failure to accept that is proof that what the Merlin says is true.”
Is it, now?The enormous shadow began to spread, filling the dark recesses of the Pit with tentacles that spread and multiplied, shooting across the flooded ground and up the remaining Skyway supports like spilled ink spreading across a picture.Poor Algonquin, you’ve grown so gullible. So desperate. You used to be the wisest spirit, but now any charlatan mage can charm you. All he has to do is say what you want to hear, and you eat it up.
“And you are wasting my time,” Algonquin said, drawing in her water until she stood taller than him. “You were a good failsafe, but winners don’t need those, do they? I don’t regret our deal. It’s only because of you that I was able to be victorious today, but it’s over. We both gambled, and I won.”
She lifted her water to point at the smoke-filled sky. “Go, Leviathan. Leave to find new prey, because there’s no more hunting for you here.”
Algonquin had been waiting a long time to say those words. Six decades, to be precise. They felt every bit as good as she’d imagined, but there was a problem, because Leviathan wasn’t leaving. He didn’t even seem to be listening. He was just hovering there in the dark, making the flooded Pit churn as his tentacles spread in every direction.
She couldn’t tell if he was searching for something specific or grasping at straws, but either way, Algonquin was losing her patience. But then, just as she opened her mouth to banish him for good, the Leviathan’s tentacles snapped back, snatching something small, surprised, and mortal down from the cracked Skyways and dropping it in the trash at Algonquin’s feet.
***
Marci was biting her nails again, ripping each one down to the quick.
“Don’t do that,” Amelia snapped, reaching from her perch at the edge of the broken bridge to smack Marci’s hand away. “You just got that body back. Stop ruining it.”
“Sorry,” Marci said, peering down through the crack at Myron, who was holding out impressively in the face of Algonquin and the eldritch horror behind her. “I just hate waiting. Can you hear what they’re saying?”
“A little,” the dragon spirit said. “Myron’s lying like a champ. Didn’t know he had it in him.”
“Myron Rollins is a man of many talents,” Emily said from where she was lying on her back, staring up at the smoky night sky while Raven continued working on her piecemeal body. “It’s why we put up with him.”
“I just hope he picks up the pace,” Raven said around the piece of metal in his beak that he was shoving into General Jackson’s chest cavity. “I know a good con takes time, but if he drags this out much longer, Algonquin’s going to notice that the magic’s gettingmorepotent, not less.”
Marci had no idea why she hadn’t noticed already. Myron hadn’t been kidding about the crack getting wider. Now that she was sitting still, she could actually feel the ambient magic levels rising like the tide coming in.
“And we’resurethe seal’s not broken already, right? I mean, no one’s watching it, so—”
It’s not broken,Ghost said.
She looked skeptically at the transparent cat in her lap. “How do you know?”
Because we’re still sitting around talking,he said between licks of his wounds.This is more magic than we’re used to, but it’s not even close to dangerous yet. When the seal actually breaks, that’ll change. Trust me. We won’t be able to miss it.
“I suppose that’s reassuring,” Marci said, biting her nails again. “Is Julius almost back?”
“He’s coming in fast,” Amelia said, breaking into a grin. “This issocool. Now that the magic’s jacked up, I can actually feel each individual dragon’s fire.” Her grin turned into a smirk. “I can’t wait to sneak up behind Chelsie for once.”
Given Amelia’s total lack of stealth, Marci didn’t see that happening anytime soon. Before she could say as much to Amelia, though, the water beneath the Leviathan began to churn.
“What’s that?”
Everyone moved to the Skyway’s crumbling edge. “I think they’re tentacles,” General Jackson said. “He’s sending them out.”
“Ugh,” Marci said, disgusted. “I hate those slimy things.”
“How many does he have?” Amelia asked at the same time.
“As far as I can tell, as many as he needs,” the general replied grimly. “Number, length, and size all seem to be as variable as the rest of him, but what else can you expect from a creature who’s not really here?”
Marci shivered. “He felt real enough to me.”
