“Thankyou,” Marci said, rubbing her bruised lips in exasperation as she turned around. “There was no need for—”
She stopped, eyes wide. The female standing directly behind her was only a little bit taller than Julius, but a thousand times more terrifying. Her black hair was cut military short, and her wiry body was clothed from neck to boots in the same sleek, urban combat armor SWAT teams wore when they were going on a night raid. A sword that looked like a smaller version of Justin’s was belted onto her hip, and her eyes, though clearly Heartstriker green, looked more like gemstones than anything soft enough to be alive. Likewise, her face—which, like all dragons, should have been inhumanly beautiful—was the cold, efficient mask of a career killer. It was probably the most intimidating sight Marci had ever seen, and she was still trying to get up the courage to speak when the dragon growled, “Three seconds.”
“Who are you?” Marci said, trying not to let her voice shake. Interrogating angry magical predators was usually the sort of suicidally stupid antic Marci tried her best to avoid, but as she’d just told Amelia, she had some experience with dragons now, and withholding useful information was a pretty good tactic if you wanted to stay alive. Besides, even though it was obvious that the dragon in front of her was a Heartstriker, she didn’t knowwhichHeartstriker, and she wasn’t about to give up information on Amelia to just anyone.
The dragon had clearly picked up on this as well, because she released her death grip on Marci’s shoulder. “You’re Julius’s human.”
It wasn’t a question, but Marci nodded anyway. “And you are?”
Rather than answer, the dragon began to inspect the storage unit’s destroyed door. “Svena’s work?”
“That depends,” Marci said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Name?”
The dragon gave her a cutting look, but she answered. “Chelsie.”
Marci’s eyebrows shot up. Chelsie was the dragon Justin was always going on about, the one who’d taken his sword. That immediately put her up several notches in Marci’s estimation. Anyone who saw Justin as a menace rather than a champion was clearly a sensible creature.
“Svena and Estella attacked us,” she reported now that she was satisfied Chelsie could be trusted. “Amelia had a portal open to her island. We were talking through it when they came, and then she and Svena fought. Amelia was winning until Estella hit her with a plane. I got knocked out after that.”
Chelsie looked like she wasn’t sure if she wanted to believe that or not. “A plane?”
“A cargo jet,” Marci explained. “It was seer work. Svena played like she was losing for the first part of the fight, and then she trapped Amelia in the exact right spot where the plane would crash. By the time Amelia noticed, it was way too late.”
“You know a lot about seers for a mortal,” Chelsie said, arching an eyebrow. “But that’s useful at the moment.” She lowered her gloved hand to the hilt of her sword. “Do you think she’s still on her island?”
Marci nodded. “That’s where they all were when the portal closed. I suppose she could have left after the crash, but—”
“No,” Chelsie said firmly. “Even Amelia can’t make portals when she’s seriously injured, and if she was trapped by Estella, injured is the best we can hope for.” She drew her sword with a ringing sound. “Looks like we’re going to the Philippines."
“W-we?” Marci sputtered, backing away from the long, naked blade that was much too close to her. “Why me?”
“Because you’re my only witness,” the dragon explained. “I can’t leave you here, but I can’t leave my sister either, so we’re going to do both at once.” She raised her sword. “You might want to stand back.”
Marci jumped back to the wall. “But I can’t leave the DFZ! And Amelia’s on the other side of theworld.How are you—”
Before she could finish that question, Chelsie answered it. The dragon swung her sword down in a beautiful arc. Where the blade passed, the air split open like paper, opening a rift into what looked like a warzone. Smoke and wreckage were everywhere. If the shape of the island itself hadn’t been identical, Marci wouldn’t have believed it was the same beach. More importantly, though, she didn’t see Amelia anywhere.
For a horrifying second, Marci was convinced the giant dragon had been blasted to pieces. Then Chelsie jumped through the portal, skidding down the edge of the massive crater of wet sand to what looked like a heap of dirty, water-logged trash at the bottom. It wasn’t until the dragon fell to her knees beside it, though, that Marci realized the pile wasn’t trash at all. It was Amelia. A human, naked, very bloody Amelia lying face down in the water at the bottom.
“Is she—”
“She’s breathing,” Chelsie said, hauling her bloody sister into her arms. “Barely. Do you know any healing magic?”
Amelia looked way beyond any of the spells Marci knew. Considering the trail of blood she was leaving in the sand as Chelsie sprinted back up the crater, Marci wasn’t sure how the dragon was still alive. “I can do basic first aid,” she said. “But I can’t move from this spot. I told you, I’m trapped—”
“Trapped in the DFZ, I heard,” Chelsie snapped, giving her a hard look.
Marci bit her lip, terrified she’d just identified herself as more trouble than she was worth. But to her enormous shock, Chelsie didn’t say a word more about it. She just ducked back through the hole she’d cut in the air, cradling Amelia in her arms as she moved back to Marci’s side. “Guess we’re doing this the hard way, then,” she said, offering Marci her shoulder. “Grab on.”
Marci blinked. “Grab on to what?”
“Me,” Chelsie growled, shifting Amelia’s body to one side to free her sword arm. “And hold on tight. This is going to be a rough ride.”
Her tone didn’t allow any backtalk, and Marci really didn’t want to stay here alone, so she shoved her bag back onto her shoulder and latched on, wrapping her arms around the dragon’s armored waist as tight as she could. “Where are we going?”
“Don’t know,” the dragon said grimly, lifting her sword again. “I just hope my brother does.”
Before Marci could remind her again that she really,reallyhad to stay in the DFZ, Chelsie brought her sword down. Like before, the air split beneath them, peeling away from the blade’s razor edge to drop them into the unknown.
