Amelia’s eyes went wide, and then she burst out laughing. “Me?” she whooped. “Miss Killjoy? Do I look like a humorless killing machine?”
Hearing Amelia talk that way about Chelsie raised every hair on Julius’s body. He didn’t even wait for her to finish laughing before he launched into a self-defensive round of proper introductions. “Marci,” he said quickly, hopping to his feet. “This is Amelia, my oldest sister. Amelia, this is Marci Novalli, my mage and partner.”
By the time he finished, Marci’s eyes were as wide as eggs. “Amelia?” she said. “A-melia? But…doesn’t that mean…”
“It means everything you fear and more, pet,” Amelia said, her boisterous laughter cutting off as quickly as it had started. “But I promise I don’t bite unless you ask. I just dropped by because I heard you had a Kosmolabe.”
Marci opened her mouth, but Amelia beat her to it. “I already know you don’t have it anymore,” she said, strolling over to run her hand over the multiple rubbed out chalk circles on Marci’s casting table. “Just tell me whatever you can about where and how you lost it, and I’ll be on my—”
She cut off so suddenly, Julius thought maybe she’d hurt herself on the residual magic, but Amelia wasn’t looking at the spellwork. She was staring at Marci’s desk in the corner. Specifically, she was staring at the cat bed beside it where Ghost was still sleeping, his body curled into a furry, glowing ball.
“What is that?”
“My cat,” Marci said defensively, stepping over to stand between Ghost and the dragon. “And Heartstriker or no, I’m not telling you anything about my Kosmolabe until you tell me why you want to know.”
Any other time, Julius would have been both proud of Marci for standing up to a dragon as obviously dangerous as Amelia and terrified of what would happen because of it. Right now, though, all he felt was confusion, because Amelia didn’t look angry at all. She didn’t even seem to care that a human was talking back to her. She just pointed at Ghost and asked, in a trembling voice. “That’syourspirit?”
“Yes,” Marci said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Now, would you please—”
Amelia stepped in before she could finish, stopping right in front of Marci with a smile so genuine and friendly, she didn’t even look like a dragon anymore. “I think we got off on the wrong foot,” she said brightly. “Let’s try this again. Hello, I’m Amelia the Planeswalker, and I am absolutely delighted to meet you, …?”
“Marci,” Marci prompted.
“Marci,” Amelia said, eyes sparkling. “May I pet your cat?”
By this point, Marci had gone from the usual healthy suspicion that came from having a dragon suddenly appear in your house to looking flat-out ready to fight. Julius wasn’t far behind her. He had no idea what had caused his oldest sister to flip into best friend mode, but he didn’t like it one bit. “What are you doing, Amelia?” he asked, walking over to stand beside Marci.
“What areyoudoing, Baby-J, asking such silly questions?” Amelia said, never letting up on her smile. “And I was talking to Marci, not you.”
That made Julius more alarmed than ever, but Marci actually looked slightly mollified. “I suppose you can pet him,” she said, turning around to scoop Ghost up off his pillow. “But I’ll warn you. He’s cold.”
“Cold,” Amelia whispered, placing her shaking hand on Ghost’s back. “So he is.” It didn’t seem possible, but her smile got even wider. “Magnificent. Absolutely magnificent.”
“Thank you,” Marci said, giving the dragon an odd look as she clutched her sleeping spirit back against her chest. “Now, about the Kosmolabe—”
“Forget it,” Amelia said, waving her hand dismissively. “It’s just a long running side project. It can run a bit longer. We’ve got more important issues on our hands.” Her light brown eyes flicked up. “Or necks, in your case.”
Marci flinched, and Amelia’s smile grew pointed. “Having a dragon hunter problem, are we?”
“How do you know about that?” Julius demanded.
Amelia rolled her eyes. “You have a human with a Sword of Damocles on her neck that reeks of Vann Jeger’s magic. It doesn’t exactly take Sherlock Holmes levels of deduction to guess what that’s about. Though I am curious what you’re planning to do.”
Marci and Julius both dropped their eyes to the ground, and Amelia smirked. “Thought so,” she said. “Up curse creek without a paddle, I see, but don’t feel singled out. Targeting humans was always VJ’s opening move. He almost got me that way once.” She sighed. “I guess some things don’t change.”
Julius gaped. “Youfought Vann Jeger?”
“Of course not,” she said. “Why else do you think I’m still here? I did lose the human, though. Real pity, too. He was one of my best.” She smiled at Marci, who’d gone very pale. “Not that that’s going to happen to you, of course.”
“So you know how to break the curse?” she asked, her voice so hopeful it hurt.
Amelia shook her head. “Nope. It’s absolutely impossible. The Sword of Damocles curse is perfect in its simplicity. Once it gets in, nothing can stop it from fulfilling its purpose.”
Marci looked instantly crestfallen, though not as much as Julius had feared. “Well,” she said with a grim smile. “At least I know it isn’t just me.”
“Not at all,” Amelia said. “But just because we can’t break it doesn’t mean it’s going to kill you.”
“How does that work?” Julius asked.
