“It’s human daycare,” she grumbled, shoving away the watery vodka cocktail the bartender had sullenly dropped in front of her. “They put me in freaking human daycare.”
Why are you complaining?Ghost asked, cracking a glowing eye from where he was sleeping on the barstool beside her.I thought you enjoyed being a dragon’s human.
“I like being withJulius,” she corrected, glaring over her shoulder at the giggling cluster of perfectly groomed co-eds. “All they care about is how important their dragon makes them.” They didn’t even seem to mind that they’d been dropped off here like pets while their dragons attended to more important business. “I bet they don’t even know where their dragons are.”
Do you know where yours is?
Marci grimaced. “Fair point,” she said, dropping her phone back into her bag with a sigh.
To be honest, she was a little ticked that Julius hadn’t come to get her like he’d promised, but she wasn’t about to blame him for it. He’d just become one of the most important dragons in his clan literally overnight. That was a change that was bound to cause some upset, though at least the girls who’d snubbed her for being with a J would soon be laughing out of the other side of their mouths.
It might not have been mature, but that was still was averycomforting thought, and Marci wasn’t above giving the groupies a superior look before putting them out of her mind and turning back to her spirit, who was now fully awake for the first time since she’d been injured.
“So,” she said, leaning her elbows on the bar. “Now that you’re awake, we have a lot to go over.”
I’m not awake because I want to be,he said with an irritable flick of his tail.I only woke up because you were upset, and that turned out to be about the stupid dragon.He yawned.I’m going back to sleep.
“No, you’re not,” Marci said firmly. “We still have to talk about what happened with Vann Jeger.”
What’s to talk about?We won.
“Using an army of ghosts,” she reminded him. “Call me crazy, but I think that’s the kind of thing we should discuss. Like, for example…” She leaned in closer, dropping her voice to an excited whisper. “How did you do it? I know you’re the Spirit of the Forgotten Dead, but how does that work? Is anyone who dies and is forgotten part of your magical domain? And if so, what does that say about death? Do we all stay around as ghosts or—”
You do know that “talking” implies you give me a chance to answer, right?
“Sorry,” she said with a sheepish smile. “I’m just so excited. You’re a whole new frontier of magic. Can you blame me for wanting to know?”
No,Ghost said, staring through her with his glowing eyes.It’s part of why I chose you. But I’m afraid I don’t have many answers.
“What?” she cried too loudly, drawing startled looks from the beautiful people around her. “Why not?” she asked, dropping her voice again. “I gave you magic, we bought your name. You said you’d know!”
I do know. I know my name, The Empty Wind, and my purpose, to aid and champion those who have been forgotten. Considering how little I knew when I woke, that’s a lot, but it’s still not everything.
He rose to his feet and stepped forward, walking across the bar until they were nose to freezing nose.I know I was right to choose you,he said solemnly.Just as I know that neither of us was born to be alone. We are both human magic, and humans are meant to be together. Beyond that, though,I have no idea. It’s just like that time in the alley. Iknowthere’s something I need to do, somewhere I must take you, but I don’t know what or where or why.He flattened his ears.It’s frustrating.
“You’re telling me,” Marci said, reaching out to scratch his head. “But we’ll figure it out.”
How?
She shrugged. “I don’t know. But I didn’t craft a whole new binding spell for us after Vann Jeger just for kicks.” She smiled and wrapped a firm mental hand around the thick cord of magic tying them together. “This new connection binds me to you as much as it does you to me. That means I’ve got as much skin in this game as you do now, so you can believe it when I say we’re going to figure this out. We might have started this partnership by accident, but we’re going to finish as a team.”
I know,the spirit said proudly.I’ve never doubted that you would not rest until you’d pried every secret from its hiding place.
“Who wouldn’t?” Marci asked, her voice humming with anticipation. “You’re our chance! I was doing some research while you were asleep, and I couldn’t find a single thing about Mortal Spirits. At least not in the modern references. So far as I can tell, you break every rule we know about spirits, and that is so exciting I can’t even put it in words.” She reached out to pick him up. “We’re going to change the world, Ghost! I’ll help you, you help me, and together we’ll helpeveryonerediscover what we forgot about magic during the drought. We’ve already learned more in one fight than I could have hoped for, and this is just the beginning! We’re so close to the truth I can taste it, so you just tell me whatever you need, and I’m there.”
The spirit’s eyes flashed.Whatever I need?
“Within reason,” Marci amended quickly. “No unlimited access to Julius’s magic or anything like that.”
Ghost glowered.Spoilsport.
Marci was unmoved. “I’m on to your greedy ways, mister. And I know that I can end up being your human just as fast as you became my spirit, so don’t even try.”
It wouldn’t be that bad, you know,Ghost said, but he didn’t argue the point. He looked more tired than anything else, settling back down on the bar’s surface with a yawn.Though I could use some more magic. It’s too thin here. I can’t stay awake.
That wasn’t actually an unreasonable request. Compared to the molasses that was magic in the DFZ, the ambient power out here in the desert felt like thin gruel. Marci had actually forgotten how hard it was to pull magic out of the air normally until she’d tried to recharge some of her bracelets this morning while she was lying around waiting on her discharge. It had taken her almost half an hour to collect enough power for one shot of her microwave spell, a process that had been instant in the DFZ. Clearly, she’d gotten spoiled. Ghost, on the other hand, had been born in the DFZ and, until Marci had taken him here, never left it. At least so far as she knew. Poor little guy must be starving.
“Here,” she said, shoving the reserve magic she’d managed to scrape together down their connection. “That’s all I’ve got. I’ll ask Julius about securing more when I see him again.”Ifshe saw him again. “Is it enough?”
