“Love them,” Amelia said eagerly. “Seriously, I’ve never even eaten one.”
“She’s one of the good dragons,” Marci said at the same time. “She sacrificed her life to help me get here.”
“All the more reason to deny you,” Shiro said, putting a hand on the door. “I met many dragons with my master before he died, enough to know that they never act without benefit to themselves. If a dragon gave up her immortal life to help you reach this place, she must have something very great to gain by you becoming a Merlin. Since you are clearly beholden to her, that makes you a servant of the enemy, and thus unworthy of this place.”
“So you’re not even going to let us try?” Marci said angrily. “Because ofAmelia?”
“Because you belong to her, yes,” he said coldly. “The Heart of the World is too important to risk exposing to a dragon’s tool. If you abandon her to the magic and sever all ties, you may attempt to step through this door again. Until then, we have nothing left to discuss.”
“But that’s crazy!” Marci cried. “Amelia’s my friend, not my puppet master. I’m not going to throw her away for a shot at getting in. What kind of cheap, backstabbing villain of a Merlin would that make me?”
“That is not my concern,” Shiro replied. “You asked what you needed to do. I told you. If you will not do it, that is your decision.”
“But—”
“The matter is closed,” he said, stepping back. “Good luck, young lady. If you change your mind and come back without your dragon, we will talk again.”
And then the door slammed shut.
Marci slammed her fists down on the boards, but there was no gong this time. Just the ineffective slap of human skin on unyielding hardwood. She pulled her hands back with a pained curse, sucking on her smarting fingers as she glared furiously at the sealed door. “Can you believe this?”
“That a dragon caused a problem?” Ghost sneered. “Yes.”
Amelia sighed. “I wish I could say Shikigami-Face was just being a racist jerk, but historically speaking, he’s more right that wrong. Dragons haven’t exactly been good neighbors since we arrived on this plane.” She shook her head, looking up at Marci with her smoldering wings tucked meekly against her body. “Thank you for not throwing me over, by the way.”
Marci snorted. “Like I’d ever. You’re the only one who explains anything to me, but I don’t know what we’re going to do.” She glared at the closed door. “This is the only way in, right?”
“The only one I’ve seen,” the Empty Wind said.
She’d thought as much. “How serious do you think he was about the no-dragon thing?”
“Pretty serious,” Amelia said. “He’s got the teeth to back it up, too. His master, Abe no Seimei, was one of the most powerful sorcerers in history, and he was particularly famous for his shikigami. His constructs were all no joke, but I remember Shiro specifically as being one of his big guns. I’ve actually encountered him once before, back when Seimei was still alive.”
Marci gaped at her. “Youknewhim? Why didn’t you say something?!”
“Because he was trying to slay me at the time,” Amelia said with a shrug. “To be fair, I was robbing his library.”
“Amelia!”
“What?” she cried. “I was young! I needed the books! Thankfully, I don’t think he recognized me. I do look pretty different now. But I don’t think we’re going to be able to talk him around on this. Book theft notwithstanding, I was hardly the most dangerous dragon back when Seimei and his shikigami were active, nor the worst behaved. He comes by his prejudice honestly, is what I’m saying.”
Ghost snorted. “Most do.”
Amelia could only shrug at that, and Marci dragged her hands over her face with a groan. “So what do we do if we can’t change his mind? Becoming a Merlin was plan A, B, and C. We can’t stay out here.” She threw out her hands at the chaotic black morass of magic that surrounded them.
“We’re not beaten yet,” Ghost said angrily. “A shikigami is neither human nor spirit. Who is worthy of being Merlin is not his to say.” He turned his glowing eyes on the pillar above them. “I say we make our own way in.”
“I’m not entirely against it,” Marci admitted. “But I don’t think force is the right answer here. Shiro’s just doing his job, and that barrier of his is no joke. I barely took one step into the light, and the stupid thing hit me like a—”
She stopped, grabbing her spirit’s freezing arm for balance as the stone rumbled under her feet. “What was that?”
“Not sure,” the Empty Wind said, his glowing eyes darting through the dark as the swells of magic began to churn. “I’ve never felt anything like it before.”
“Wearedeep inside the tectonic magic,” Amelia said, tilting her head to listen to the rumble. “Could be a manaquake.”
“Quakes don’t go on this long,” the Empty Wind said, his deep voice starting to sound nervous. “And it looks wrong. See?”
He pointed up, and Marci lifted her head dutifully. As always, though, she couldn’t see anything in this place except the pillar, the rocky sea floor, and the swirling, nausea-inducing movement of the dark magic that surrounded them.
