“But that’s what got us into this mess in the first place,” Julius said. “This may be our only chance to keep our clan intact, and we might just fix six hundred years of broken relations with the second-largest dragon clan on the planet in the process. Wehaveto take it.”
“The only thing we have to do is stay alive,” Bethesda snarled. “I will not be told what to do by a whelp who’s never even—”
“Enough,” Ian roared, shocking them both into silence. When the echo faded from the hangar, he turned to Julius. “Can you fix the problem tonight?”
Julius nodded determinedly, and Bethesda threw back her head with a hiss. “This is suicide. You’re toying with a nuclear weapon. If Julius’s stupid plan upsets the Golden Emperor, he couldcausethe disaster, not stop it.”
“I know,” Ian said.
“You came home to prevent this,” she went on. “This entire thing was your idea!”
“Iknow!” he yelled. “But that was before I knew Julius had a plan.”
Bethesda took a step back. “You’re trusting him over me?” she said, eyes wide. “Who do you think built this clan?!”
“As of right now?” Ian jerked his head at Julius. “He did, and so did I. This isn’t your show anymore, Bethesda. It’s ours. I was prepared to bow if that was what was necessary to save Heartstriker, but if Julius thinks he can do it without giving up what we’ve fought for, I’m willing to let him try. At this point, I’ve seen him do the impossible too many times not to.”
Julius broke into a grin, but the smile slipped off his face just as fast when Ian turned back to him. “You have until midnight,” he growled. “If the Qilin hasn’t agreed to shelter us as allies by then, my vote goes with Bethesda to surrender.”
“I’ll do my best,” he promised.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” Ian said darkly. “Because if you screw this up for us, I will eat you myself, Fang or no Fang.”
Julius swallowed. He’d thought he was used to death threats, but Ian looked like he really meant that one. When it was clear Julius understood he was serious, Ian leaned down to grab the hangar door.
“I’m going to change my clothes,” he announced, throwing up the rolling steel. “And then I’m going to find someone to help me get my plane out of the dirt. Call me the moment you have something concrete.”
Julius nodded again, but his brother was already gone, leaving him alone with Bethesda, who looked as if she was going to be sick.
“I don’t know how you do it,” she said, shooting him a poisonous look. “Everytime I think you couldn’t possibly ruin us more, you find a way.”
“I’m not ruining us,” he said angrily. “I’m—”
“I don’t care,” she said, pulling out her phone. “You do whatever you want. I’m going to check informants to see if I can pinpoint when we’re all going to die. If you need me, I’ll be in the bunker. The deep one. Maybe when you’re done destroying everything, I can come out and be queen of the mutants who remain.”
From anyone one else, Julius would have called that a joke, but Bethesda looked absolutely serious as she stalked out of the hangar as fast as she could without actually running. A few seconds later, Julius followed suit, except hedidrun, sprinting as fast as he could down the brightly lit runway back toward the mountain.
Chapter 10
Marci considered herself pretty well traveled when it came to the metaphysical. She’d been through portals and to the dead plane of the dragons. She’d been trapped in Algonquin’s Reclamation Land and inside a spirit. She’ddied, fought her way out, and then journeyed across the Sea of Magic. At this point in her life-slash-death, being able to keep on trucking despite industrial levels of weirdness was a point of pride, but no matter how jaded the insanity that was her life since she’d met Julius had left her, it was impossible not to stop and stare at what was waiting on the other side of the Merlin Gate.
From the outside, the wooden door had looked deceptively simple. As simple as anything leading into a giant stone pillar rising from the floor of the Sea of Magic could be, anyway. But the moment she stepped over the threshold, everything changed. There was no more dark, no more swirls of nauseating magic. Even the grave-like cold of Ghost’s wind vanished, giving way to a warm, tropical breeze blowing down from what could only be described as paradise.
She was standing in a circular courtyard paved with rough-hewn interlocking white stones at the foot of a verdant mountain. At the paving’s edge, tropical plants grew in wild abundance, creating undergrowth so thick, a cat couldn’t have squeezed through. But while the jungle surrounding it was a wall, the courtyard itself was clear and open to the blue sky, and standing at the center was Shiro, the conjured servant of the ancient Merlins who’d turned her away before.
Seeing how she’d let herself in, Marci fully expected him to tell her to get right back out, but the shikigami made no move to oust her. He didn’t even say anything when Ghost, Amelia, and finally Myron came through the door—which looked like a massive iron gate on this side—after her. Only when the iron slab swung closed again did the shikigami finally make his move, stepping forward and bending at the waist in front of Marci in a deep, formal bow.
“Welcome, Merlin,” he said respectfully. “To the Heart of the World.”
“Merlin?” Marci took a step back. “You mean I did it? I’mfinallya real Merlin? Like officially?”
“You can be nothing else,” Shiro said as he straightened up. “The Heart of the World was created by and for the Merlin Circle. Its door opens only to those deemed worthy, and it opened for you. That makes you a Merlin by every possible measure. As I am a servant bound to the Heart of the World by order of the Last Merlin, Abe no Seimei, it is now my duty to welcome you and your guests.”
“If it’s your job to welcome us,” Ghost said skeptically, crossing his arms over his transparent, shadowy chest, “why did you turn us away before?”
“That was my duty as well,” Shiro said. “I only welcome the worthy, which is a title your mistress had not yet earned when she first knocked.”
“But has now,” Amelia said, tapping her claws thoughtfully. “I wonder what did it.” She looked at Marci. “Did you pass a test or something?”
