Julius blinked. “Um, that’s fantastic, but how do you know they’re coming? I only said we should work together a minute ago.”
The Qilin shrugged. “Because I want them here, and when I want something, my luck generally makes sure I get it.”
“Really?” Marci whistled. “Dude, that is acrazypower.”
The Golden Emperor shrugged again, but Julius was grinning from ear to ear. “I think I see how this is supposed to work,” he said excitedly, turning to Fredrick. “You’ve got Chelsie’s old Fang. That means you can cut to any Heartstriker, which gives our clan a way into the city as well. Between the Heartstrikers and the Golden Empire, we’ll have half the dragons in the world fighting together against a common enemy. That hasneverhappened before!” He smiled even wider. “Don’t you see? This has to be Bob’s plan! This is why he had us jump through all those flaming hoops! It was so we’d all be here at the right place and the right time with the trust and the tools necessary to fight together against the Leviathan!”
“It does make sense,” Marci admitted. “But weren’t you the one who always said it was foolish to try to guess a seer’s intentions?”
“What else could it be?” Julius asked. “He got you here too, along with General Jackson, Raven, and Amelia, plus the Mortal Spirits. That gives us the Merlins, the human UN, and both types of spirits. Between all of us, every sentient magical force in the world is represented. We’re even stuck in the samehouse. If that’s not a seer’s doing, I don’t know what is.”
“You make a good point,” Fredrick said, frowning down at his Fang. “I suppose I should start bringing in the rest of the clan, then?”
“Not yet,” Amelia said quickly. “The magic’s better than it was last night, but it’s still waaaaaaay too unstable for teleportation. If you try to cut anywhere, you might end up slicing off your own head.”
“And we need a better idea of what we’re up against,” Julius added. “The Golden Emperor can command his dragons however he likes, but I’m only one vote on the Heartstriker Council. If I bring Bethesda and Ian into this, and they see the Leviathan as an unwinnable fight, they might decide to take their chances underground instead. We may only get one shot at this, which means we can’t bring anyone else into this fight until we have some kind of idea of how we’re actually going to win.”
“Assuming wecanwin,” Myron said glumly.
“We have to assume that,” Marci said. “Otherwise, what’s the point of fighting?”
“Thankyou, Marci,” Julius said, flashing her a smile. “Our first hurdle is to figure out how to get out there and take a look at the problem. Once we know what we’re actually up against, we can put our heads together and figure out how to beat it, because therehasto be a way. Bob wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble of bringing us together if we didn’t have a chance.”
“Then why doesn’t he just tell us?” Emily said, glaring at him. “Everyone goes on and on about how powerful dragon seers are, but what’s the use of all that power if they nevertellyou anything?”
“Because knowing the future changes it,” Amelia snapped. “Seriously, Phoenix, pay attention.”
“Bob won’t tell us his move until he’s played it,” Julius agreed. “But the fact that we’re on the board he’s set up means that move is already in play, and we’re part of it. The only thing he’s ever told me since the beginning is to be myself, and this is what I think we should do. If I really am the seer lynchpin everyone keeps telling me I am, that should be a pretty good indicator of which way we need to push for success. And even if Iamwrong about all of this, how can us working together be a bad idea? The forces sitting around this table represent the combined strength of our plane. If anything we have is capable of beating the Leviathan, it’s this.”
He placed his hand down on the center of the table with athunk, and Marci held her breath. She’d seen Julius do his thing enough now to know this was his big push to get everyone on the same side, and it seemed to be working. All around the kitchen, heads were nodding. Even Chelsie looked convinced, and Amelia had been on board from the beginning. The only holdout was General Jackson, who was looking at Julius as though she wasn’t sure what to make of him.
“You truly are a very strange dragon,” she said at last. “I have no interest in trusting humanity’s survival to one of the enemy’s seers, but I’m in no position to turn down allies. If you can get me the world’s two largest dragon clans and a promise they won’t eat my soldiers, we’ll work with you. I’ve already put in a call for backup from the UN’s headquarters in New York, as well as our field offices in Chicago and Toronto. The moment the magic clears enough for aircraft, we’ll have helicopters, gunships, battle mages, everything but tanks. I’ll have to warn my people not to shoot at the dragons this time around, but if this is going to be as bad as I fear, I don’t think target confusion will be a problem.”
“We’ll help too,” Marci said. “I mean, obviouslyIwas going to help, but I’m formally offering my assistance as the First Merlin, which I’m pretty sure means I speak for Myron as well.”
“I was already in through the UN,” the older mage said stuffily. “But if it makes you feel important, feel free to claim me.”
This time yesterday, Marci wouldn’t have claimed Sir Myron Rollins if he’d been the last mage on earth. But his words to the DFZ last night and his steadfast efforts to protect the world from magical disaster had raised him a great deal in her opinion, enough that she met his grumbling with a smile. Julius was smiling too, beaming at her with a happiness that lit him up from the inside out, and no wonder. He’d brought everyone together, which was all Julius ever wanted to do. To pull it off so quickly now, when so much was at stake, he had to be feeling on top of the world. Maybe it had only worked because they were stuck on the rails of Bob’s plan, but Marci was proud of him anyway. She was proud ofallof them, because they were finally going to fight back.
After so long spent scrabbling in the dirt, so many defeats, they were finally going to end this. She still owed Algonquin for what had happened in Reclamation Land, and for Vann Jeger. Now, though, everything was coming up aces. They were going to finish Algonquin and end her stupid, reckless idea of a super-weapon Leviathan once and for all. Marci was already imagining armies of dragons backed up by fighter jets soaring through the sky when something hit her ward so hard it nearly knocked her over.
She grabbed the table, fighting to stay upright as the wrongness rolled through her. It was gone a second later, leaving her blinking in pain and surprise. Amelia looked equally shocked, her amber eyes wide as she jumped to her feet.
“Anyone else feel that?”
“Feel what?” Julius asked, looking at Chelsie, who shook her head.
“I felt it,” Myron said, putting a shaking hand to his forehead. “Someone just did something awful to the magic we wrapped around the house.”
“They tied it in a knot,” Amelia snarled, stomping out of the kitchen. “A verygoodknot at the end of a verygoodspell.”
“But that’s insane,” Marci said, scrambling after her. “Good or not, casting a spell in magic this thick is like throwing a lit match into a sea of gasoline. Who in the world would be stupid enough to risk—”
She didn’t get to finish, because at that moment, a giant sphere of ice materialized in their living room, landing with a thud on the hardwood floor. Cold rolled off it in waves, dropping the temperature of the house ten degrees in an instant. Marci was still gaping in surprise when the outside of the sphere exploded into ice dust, releasing the winter cyclone of fury that was Svena the White Witch.
Chapter 2
“Where is she?”
