“Why are you in such a hurry?”
“Because I have a lot of plans in the air, and I’d rather the world didn’t end before they came to fruition,” David said. “I’m also chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee, and I’ve already pulled every string I have convincing the president to scramble all of our forces to the DFZ’s defense. That’s a lot of political capital wasted if I’m not there for the victory photo op.”
Fredrick sighed. There was the David he knew. In a way, though, his blatant maneuvering for power was reassuring, because it meant he was serious. If David saw Fredrick and the others as the means to his ends, he’d keep his promise to the letter, and he’d force every Heartstriker below him to do the same. That was as much as Fredrick could hope for, and he found himself reaching out for the older dragon’s hand.
“We’ll take it,” he said as they shook.
“As you should,” David said, squeezing Fredrick’s fingers painfully before looking over his shoulder at Conrad. “Your turn. Quickly now.”
“I will swear nothing,” Conrad snarled, looking down his nose at Fredrick. “Knights do not give in to threats. But I will give you my word that if you fly with us against the enemy, I will treat you all as Heartstrikers. Nothing less, nothing more.”
“Yeah, what he said,” Justin piped up, standing as tall as he could at his older brother’s side. “Now can we get going? At this rate, Julius will probably trip over something and kill the Leviathan by accident before we even get there, the lucky bastard.”
Fredrick glanced at his siblings. When they nodded their agreement, he turned back to the knights. “We accept.”
“About time,” Justin growled, drawing his sword. “Take us to Detroit!”
Fredrick nodded and bent down to pick up his sword. When his hand wrapped around the hilt, though, David placed his elegant Italian leather shoe on the blade. “Not with that,” he said when Fredrick glared at him. “I know how Chelsie’s blade works, and if we have to wait for you to ferry the whole clan over by twos, this will take forever. I have a much better idea.”
Fredrick snatched his sword out from under the older dragon’s foot with a growl. “What?”
David lifted his phone again with a smirk, dragging his fingers through the invisible AR interface before raising the speaker to his ear. “Mother?” he said when the call picked up, his smirk transforming into a full-on grin as he met Fredrick’s eyes. “It’s me. I’ve got them.”
Fredrick didn’t need to hear Bethesda’s cackle on the other end. He was already wincing, sliding his sword back into its loop on his belt as he hoped against hope that he hadn’t just made a terrible mistake.
***
Julius paced nervously back and forth beside his ruined front porch. A few feet away, Amelia, the Qilin, Svena, Arkniss, the infamous Marlin Drake, and all the other heads of the newly arrived clans stood in a loose circle. In a concession to the now-cramped space, all of the dragons had donned their human forms, which just made it easier to see the angry impatience on their faces as they waited for the one clan that had not yet arrived.
“Where are they?” Julius hissed, pacing faster. “What is Fredrickdoing?”
“Relax,” said Bob, who was sitting on the cracked porch step, eating an apple he’d found who knew where. “They’ll be here before you know it.”
Julius looked at him hopefully. “Did you foresee that?”
“No,” Bob said, biting a chunk out of the fruit with his sharp teeth. “I’ve been too busy searching the future for an exit ramp to worry about nonessential details like arrival times. But Fredrick is loyal to you to an unhealthy degree. If he told you he’d bring them, he’ll make it happen. In fact, I bet we’ll hear something…” He paused, mouth moving silently like he was counting in his head. “Now.”
Sure enough, Bob’s brick of a phone began to vibrate in his hands. Grinning, he offered the device to Julius, who snatched it up, slamming the antique to his ear with a rush of relief. “Fredrick!”
“Not quite,” replied a cruel female voice.
As always, the sound made his stomach clench, and Julius closed his eyes with a silent curse. “What are you doing, Mother?”
“That’s my question,” Bethesda replied idly. “Planning a war without telling me, Julius? That’s not very democratic. Aren’t you the one who’s always going on about how we’re an equal council and no one should make decisions on their own?”
“This was an emergency,” Julius said sharply. “And I was trying to bring you in. Fredrick said he would—”
“Fredrick’s donequiteenough,” Bethesda snapped. “Fortunately for you, David’s already handled everything. But we’ll discuss your pet F’s almost-treason later. For now, be an obedient child for once and hand me to Amelia.”
Julius almost dropped the phone. “Youwant to talk toAmelia?” He glanced at his oldest sister, who looked as shocked as he was. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Less talking, more doing,” Bethesda replied, snapping her fingers—or maybe her teeth—into the phone. Unsure what else to do, Julius handed Bob’s phone to Amelia. She snatched it up with a bloodthirsty smile, bearing all her teeth as she said in her sweetest voice, “Hello, Mother, this is your new god speaking.”
Julius wasn’t above blatantly eavesdropping on this conversation, but even his sharp ears couldn’t hear what Bethesda said in reply to that. As best he could tell, she’d ignored it entirely and was now rattling off instructions very quickly. Utterly unacceptable instructions if the look on Amelia’s face was anything to go by.
“Have you gone senile?” Amelia snarled into the phone. “Why, inanyworld, would I lift a claw to help you?”
“Because it helps you as well,” Bethesda said, her smug voice finally loud enough for Julius to hear. “A mother knows her children, and you’ve always been more greedy than vindictive.Too greedy to throw away your chance for a grand display of poweranda fast solution to your problem just to spite me.”
