“I’m sure it is,” Marci said, dropping her hands from Julius’s eyes. “But as a wise man once said, ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ I don’t mind you stuffing yourself full of magic, but please don’t send Julius into an existential crisis. I just got him back.”
“Sorry,” the spirit said again, and then his voice brightened. “I stopped the magic.”
“I saw,” she said proudly. “And caught the house! A-plus job on both, by the way. Just keep up the good work until Myron and I can reestablish the ward.”
“I can hold it for as long as you need,” Ghost said, his empty voice a bit too joyful for Julius’s comfort. “It’s just like it was back in the Sea of Magic, but even greater. I can fly here, Marci. I can feel the dead all over the world. They call to me, and I can help them now. I can help themall.”
“And we will,” Marci promised as she helped Julius back to his feet. “But right now, we have to focus on the immediate concerns, like what hit our roof.”
She turned to look through the shattered front of the house, glaring at the giant dragon that was still lying in the long gouge he’d put in their gravel driveway. From the feathers, it was obvious the culprit was a Heartstriker, but Julius had never seen one so colorful, aside from Bethesda herself. Even covered in insulation and drywall dust from the house he’d just destroyed, the dragon looked like a giant bird of paradise. His feathers were a riot of tropical greens, reds, purples, golds, and rich blues. Heavy bone gauntlets encased the delicate scales above his clawed feet, the transformed evidence of a Fang of the Heartstriker. Despite all this, though, it wasn’t until the pigeon swooped down through the hole the dragon had left in the spiraling Skyways overhead that Julius finally realized exactlywhichHeartstriker he was looking at.
“Bob?”
The beautiful dragon shook the dust from his feathers and rolled over, pulling himself out of the crater to smile down at Julius. “In my defense,” he said, “that was not the entrance I’d planned.”
“Not the entrance you…” Julius trailed off as his hands clenched into fists. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to make a smooth recovery,” Bob replied, looking around until he spotted something in the dark. “Ah-ha!”
He reached out and snagged a backpack hidden under the edge of the on-ramps. “I stashed this here months ago, in case of just such an emergency,” he said, unzipping the bag delicately with his long claws to pull out a set of perfectly folded clean clothes. “I’d intended to fly in, of course, not crash, but I’m actually only a few feet from where I’d planned to—”
“Brohomir!”
The name came out in a roar, making even Bob jump as Chelsie stormed out of the broken house. She crossed the dirt in record time, stopping right in front of the bigger dragon’s enormous claws with a look of pure murder. “What game are you playing now?”
“At the moment?” Bob held up the folded clothes. “Attempting to get dressed so we can have a proper conversation. I can’t have my grand entrance spoiled by distracting nudity, and trust me, my nudity ishighlydistracting.”
“Distracting is all you do,” Chelsie snarled, but she turned her back just the same. Smiling down at her, Bob’s dragon disappeared in a puff of smoke and rainbow feathers. When he reappeared a few moments later, he was wearing a pair of ripped jeans and buttoning a Hawaiian shirt over his still-healing chest. “Is Amelia here?”
“Where else would I be?” Amelia called, picking her way through the debris toward them. “It’s good to see you,” she said, pushing Chelsie aside so she could hug her brother. “But seriously, how long were you planning to make us wait? I was getting sick of—”
Whatever she’d been about to say was lost in a squeal as Chelsie’s daughter—who’d been hiding with Fredrick in the kitchen the last Julius knew—burst out of the ruined house and charged full speed at Bob. She leaped on him a second later, knocking him back into the crater when she hit his chest like a rocket. He hugged her back with a laugh, keeping his fingers clear of her excitedly snapping teeth.
“Yes, yes, I missed you too,” he said as he rolled them back to his feet. “But this isn’t the time for games, little ratter. Now run back to your mother.” He lowered his voice to a stage whisper. “You’re making daddy jealous.”
The Qilin didnotlook happy to see his youngest daughter, who’d only just begun to let him touch her, fawning all over the seer. His scowl deepened further when the whelp ignored the order, choosing instead to clamber onto Bob’s back like a monkey. He wasn’t the only one who looked upset, either. Svena and Katya had come out of the destroyed house as well now to see what the fuss was about, and the moment the White Witch saw the child clinging to Bob, her blue eyes widened in a look that made Julius’s blood run cold.
“Bob,” he said quietly, taking a nervous step toward his oldest brother. “I don’t think this is a good time for—”
“It’s the only time,” Bob said, the laughter leaving his voice. “This might not be the way I’d planned to kick things off, but everything I see says we’re still on course, which means this might be all the time I have left.”
“There is no more might, Brohomir,” replied a deep voice.
Julius whirled around just in time to see the Black Reach step to the edge of the now-roofless front porch. “I gave you more chances than you had any right to expect, but no more.” The oldest seer lifted his chin to look down his long nose at Bob. “This is the end.”
The finality in his voice made Julius’s stomach clench. “It can’t be,” he said desperately, taking a step toward the construct. “How is this the end? Everyone’s still alive, and we’re all here together. We can beat Algonquin!”
“I’m not here for what could be,” the Black Reach said dismissively. “I’m here for whatwillbe.” He lifted his eyes, looking over Julius’s head at the taller dragon standing on the edge of the crater behind him. “This is your very last chance, Brohomir. Turn back now, and you may yet have a future.”
“If I turn back, there’s no future for anyone,” Bob said, his voice shaking for the first time Julius had ever heard. “I’ve looked down every possible path millions of times. This is theonlyway.” His green eyes narrowed. “And you know it.”
The Black Reach released a long breath, and Julius’s hand dropped to the Fang at his hip. He wasn’t even sure what he meant to do with it—if there was anything hecoulddo against a power like the Black Reach—but he refused to stand by while his brother died. To his surprise, though, the Black Reach made no move to attack Bob. He just held out his arms.
“If you’re intent on destroying yourself, at least give me the next seer,” he said. “It’s too early for her to see the end that awaits her.”
It was a reasonable request, but Bob made no move to comply, and why would he? Even if he hadn’t adored the whelp clinging to his back—which he obviously did—it was clear he didn’t mean to give the Black Reach anything. The oldest seer had to know that, so why bother to ask? Julius was still wondering when a sheet of ice flew across the ground to bind Julius’s and Bob’s legs to the ground. That was when he understood. The Black Reach hadn’t made the request for the baby seer’s sake.
He’d said it for Svena.
