“Of course,” Fredrick said, ducking out of the room with the tray. “I’ll be back with more food in a bit.”
Julius mouthed a silentthank you, but he couldn’t say anything out loud because he’d already hit Marci’s picture in the contacts box, wincing as the fancy new phone automatically popped up a video call. He was trying to figure out how to cancel, because the last thing he wanted was for Marci to see him looking like this, but it was already too late. He didn’t even hear the ring go off before the call picked up, and Marci’s lovely face appeared in the AR right in front of him.
“Julius!” Her dark eyes widened in horror as they roved over the bandages wrapped around his head, neck, torso, and pretty much everywhere else. “Oh myGod, are you—”
“I’m fine,” he said quickly. When it was clear she wasn’t buying that, he added, “Okay, it hurts a lot. But I’ll heal. I’m a dragon, remember?”
That was a line he never thought he’d say, but for once, Julius felt quite comfortable in his own feathers. Now that his stomach was bursting with food, he could actually feel his magic working, making him itch worse than ever as the burns began to heal. “I’m sorry I missed your calls. I just woke up.” He frowned. “Um, how long was I out, anyway?”
“About three hours,” Marci said, leaning to the side so he could see the not-quite-setting sun over her shoulder…along with what appeared to be a view of farmland from several thousand feet up in the air.
“Whereareyou?”
“On a plane,” she said, sitting back up. “That’s what I’ve been calling about.”
Julius froze. “You left?”
That sounded heartbroken even to him, and Marci began frantically waving her hands. “No, no! It’s not like that! I didn’t want to go. I had every intention of staying until the vote tomorrow at least, but then Gregory attacked me after you went down, and—”
This was going from bad to worse. “Gregory attacked you?”
“Don’t worry, I put him in his place,” she said with a wicked grin. “And before you ask, no, I didn’t kill him. Iwantedto after what he did to you, but I wasn’t about to undermine your dragon-Gandhi shtick, so I just roughed him up a bit.”
By the time she finished, Julius was smiling so hard his face ached. If he hadn’t been head over heels in love with Marci already, that show of understanding would have finished the job. “Thank you,” he said when he could speak again. “For everything. I’m sorry I ever doubted that you could take care of yourself, but I still don’t see how getting attacked ended with you being on a plane.”
“About that,” Marci said, shifting uncomfortably. “I didn’t see Gregory’s initial attack. Ghost protected me from getting insta-roasted, but it took everything he had left to do it. Now he’s hurt really bad, and I can’t fix him with the magic I’ve got access to here. The only way to save him is to take him back home to the DFZ.”
Fear closed over Julius like a fist. “The DFZ?” he whispered, hands shaking on the bed. “Marci, you can’t go there. Algonquin’s on the warpath against dragons. She knows you’re with me. If she—”
“Normally, you’d be right,” Marci said. “But I’ve already got it covered. I’m going to the DFZ as a special guest of the United Nations, and Algonquin’snotat war with them.”
“That’s not going to stop her,” Julius said, trying not to sound as panicked as he felt. “The UN is a human organization. Algonquin doesn’t follow their rules. What are they going to do if she attacks you? Embargo the DFZ?”
“It’s not like I have a choice,” she said angrily. “I’m not doing this because I want to. If I had my way, I’d be there with you, but Idon’t. I’m doing this for Ghost. He’s my spirit, he’s sick, and he needs my help. If that means taking him back to the DFZ, then that’s where we go. You’d do the same thing if I was the one in trouble, right?”
In a heartbeat, but that didn’t do anything to stop the icy dread crawling up Julius’s spine. “This isn’t going to end well.”
“It’ll be fine,” Marci assured him. “These UN guys are total bosses. We’ll be in and out before Algonquin even knows we’re there.”
That might be true, but the way she said it only gave Julius something else to worry about. “Why are they helping you?” he asked suspiciously. “I get that Ghost is special, but you have to admit it seems a bit suspicious that a general and the undersecretary of magic would just drop everything to fly you to the DFZ.”
“Notthatsuspicious,” she said, her eyes gleaming with the Marci-brand excitement that always meant trouble. “Ghost is the spirit who defeated Vann Jeger, but there’s a chance he might be alotmore. You remember that Mortal Spirit stuff I told you about?”
Julius nodded.
“Well, he might be the first,” she said proudly. “That’sbig. Big enough to make the UN play taxi, anyway.”
That was exactly what Julius was afraid of. He’d only met the UN humans once, but once was enough to recognize both of them as power players in their respective fields. In his experience, power players—human, dragon, or spirit—didn’t let assets like Marci go once they had them in hand. They’d happily fly her to the DFZ now if it protected their interests, but it was what could happen afterward that had Julius tied in knots.
“Would you relax?” Marci said, rolling her eyes. “You are such a worrywart. Look, it’s going to be fine. Everyone knows this is a one-time gig to save Ghost. Once he’s up and running again, I’m heading straight back to you. With any luck, we’ll have this wrapped up in a few hours, and I’ll be back at the mountain in time for the vote tomorrow morning.”
“Actually, Ian’s pushing to have it tonight,” Julius said. “But that doesn’t matter. Whenever you get back is good with me, so long as it’s soon. I miss you.”
He hadn’t meant to say that last part. The sentimental words had just popped out, and Julius’s face began to burn. Thankfully, bandages made a good mask, but nothing could hide the fact that he was acting like a mopey, clingy idiot. But while he was kicking himself for being stupid, Marci seemed to be having a very different reaction to the words.
“I miss you, too,” she said quietly, giving him a shy smile that made him forget all about that other stuff. “I know we haven’t gotten a chance to talk much these last few days, but while we’re here and on the subject, I want you to know that I…that is…”
She stopped to brush her hair back from her eyes with nervous fingers, but Julius wasn’t moving at all. He didn’t even dare tobreathelest he risk missing a millisecond of whatever Marci was trying to say. Before she could take another stab at it, though, something black and feathered flew in front of the phone’s camera, making them both jump.
