“Malachai?”
He stopped as he heard the little dragon’s voice. “Hey. Where did everyone go?”
Her eyes turned sad. “The evil Malachai came and took them.”
Nick’s heart stopped. “What?”
She nodded. “We were waiting for you to return when he came out, screaming. Before anyone knew what he intended, he took them.”
“Took them where?”
She shrugged.
Nick cursed himself for the stupidity. Grim must have betrayed them after all. “I can’t believe I let Grim dupe us!”
“He didn’t betray you.”
“What?”
“He tried to fight the others and was wounded.”
That stunned him. Grim had stuck to his word. Wow. The world must be ending for real.
Growling, Styxx lunged at him.
Nick stepped aside. “Can you please stop that? I’m your friend.”
Then again, Styxx lunging at him reminded him of how he’d behaved when he found out Nick and his daughter were dating.
Why did he remember that?
It was hard to forget a giant man trying to strangle the life out of you.
Sighing, he looked at the dragon. “I forgot your name.”
“You didn’t ask my name. It’s Alura.”
“Sorry, Alura. Do you know any way to snap Styxx out of this spell?”
She moved over toward Styxx and whispered something in his ear.
Nothing happened, but at least Styxx wasn’t trying to kill him.
“What did you do?”
“Something my mother taught me.”
“What is it?”
Before she could answer, Styxx groaned and rubbed his head as if he were waking up with a migraine.
Alura smiled. “It’s a special enchantment that can break most spells.”
“Most?”
“There are some so powerful they can’t be broken by anyone other than the caster or by killing the caster.”
That was good to know.
