“Of course not,” his brother said, sounding much more like himself. “I’m just relieved. That’s not half as bad as I expected.”
Julius didn’t want to know what Bob had expected if their current situation was a relief. “Well, she’s too big to move and she’s not responding to anything we say. If Algonquin’s security goons catch her like this, they’ll kill her before she can open her eyes.”
“Calm down,” Bob said. “Believe it or not, this actually is one of the better outcomes. Now listen carefully, because I’m going to tell you a fool-proof way of waking Chelsie up. Normally, I’d make you swear never to tell a soul before divulging this information, but your future’s one of the few remaining that hasn’t been scrambled into chaos yet, so I already know you’ll keep your lips zipped.”
“Of course,” Julius said, glancing over his shoulder at Marci, who was making frantichurry upgestures. “What do I do?”
“It’s easy,” Bob assured him. “Just stand back and shout, ‘I know what happened in China.’”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” Julius snapped. “This isserious, Bob!”
“When it comes to Chelsie, China is as serious as it gets,” the seer replied. “Trust me, it works every time.”
“Every time?” Julius repeated skeptically. “How many times have you done this?”
“Well, not mepersonally,” Bob said. “I’m not suicidal enough to mention China around Chelsie myself. I was referring to all the times I’ve seen it work in the future, which, counting you, is one. Coincidentally, you’ll probably want to get behind something fireproof.”
That wasn’t a comforting thought. “So what happened in China?”
“You’ll have to direct that question to Chelsie,” Bob said. “Right after you pick out your funeral clothes. Now are you going to do this or not? I thought you were in a hurry.”
Julius was, and he didn’t have any more time to waste with Bob’s Bob-ness. “I’ll give it a try.”
“Let me know how it goes,” Bob said. “I have to hang up. I’m just leaving the airport now. I’ll call you again when you get home.”
There was a lot to unpack in that sentence, like which airport? And how would he know when they got home? But Julius had been around seers long enough now not to sweat the details, and he didn’t bother asking questions. He just hung up, shoving Chelsie’s phone into his pocket as he took cover behind the truck, motioning for Marci to do the same.
“What are we doing?” she whispered, crouching drown beside him.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” he whispered back, glancing over the hood at his sister as he took a deep breath. Here went nothing.
“I know what happened in China!”
He yelled it as loud as he dared and then ducked down, covering his head and Marci’s, but there was no giant fireball. Nothing happened at all, actually.
“Um,” Marci said. “Was that it?”
“It was supposed to be,” Julius said, alternating between angry with his brother for leading him wrong and terrified at the implications. If Bob no longer knew what was happening, they were beyond screwed. “Maybe I should try again?”
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” Marci said, peeking up over the truck’s hood. “Look.”
Julius raised his head, and his breath caught. The black dragon still hadn’t moved, but she was no longer asleep. Narrow green eyes were glowing like embers in the shadows of her black feathers. That was all he was able to make out before the dragon attacked.
Later, Julius was never actually able to accurately describe what happened next. One second he was crouching behind the truck, the next he was on his back in the grass with a giant dragon coiled on top of him, her flames lighting up the back of her throat as she demanded,“What do you know?”
“Nothing!” Julius said frantically. “I swear, I don’t know anything! I was just repeating what Bob told me to say to wake you up!”
The dragon blinked her green eyes in confusion, looking around the overgrown convenience store parking lot like she was only just now realizing where she was, or whom she was pinning to the ground. “Julius?”
“Yes,” he said, panting in relief. “It’s me, and you need to change back right now. Algonquin’s people are barely a block away.”
The first cars that had pulled into the field where they’d fought Vann Jeger had now been joined by several more, plus a SWAT truck. Fortunately, the officers were all too busy gawking at the mountain of ancient weaponry to notice the giant black dragon crouched in a parking lot just down the street. That luck wouldn’t last for long, though. Already, Julius could hear thewump wumpof helicopter blades, and he turned back to his sister with his hands clasped together. “Please,” he begged. “Please, Chelsie, change back.”
The dragon stared at him a moment longer, her eyes glowing like green lanterns, and then, fast as she’d attacked, she collapsed, her enormous body crumpling until there was nothing to see but black feathers. Seconds later, even those were gone, leaving only Chelsie standing in front of them, human and—other than the empty sheath on her hip—completely naked.
Julius dropped his eyes at once, cheeks flaming. “Here,” he said, pulling off his still damp t-shirt and handing it to her.
Chelsie didn’t seem to care one way or the other about her nudity, but she accepted the clothing without comment. “Never mention this again,” she said stiffly as she pulled the shirt over her head. “Either of you. Is that understood?”
