I nodded nervously. He was right. My mother was clearly some badass battle druid, second in power only to the queen ofFaery.
He squeezed my shoulders. “Youcando this. I believe that with all of my being. We will defeat Ardan together, and bring an end to his barbaric custom of killingskyborn.”
My throat tightened then as emotions rolled through me. I looked over and saw Casey and Geoff laughing together, pointing at Hemlock and Mittens, who’d come to watch. They were so … innocent. I didn’t want this world to take that from them. Ardan would, if we didn’t stop him. He would rip the future away from all ofus.
“I’ve got this,” I told my mentor with strength in myvoice.
I would practice day and night, and I wouldn’t rest until I was one hundred percent certain I could light Ardan on fire without even touching him. For my dad, for Casey’s mom, for the countless skyborn he killed and sucked dry, I would make himpay.
Isaac stepped aside then and I took a deep breath, calling to my power, feeling it pulse from the necklace down my arm and to my palm. I aimed at the first paper plate off to my right, about five feet away, but instead, a ten-foot stream of purple fire erupted from my palm, nearly hitting Sophie and Nadine, arcing over the plate and missing itcompletely.
Sophie grabbed Nadine and stumbledbackward.
Oops. I shook my hand and itstopped.
Sophie put her bullhorn up to her mouth: “Everyone step back. She needspractice.”
And practice I did. Over the next week I was either training on the course with Sophie and Isaac, meditating and learning about plants, or working with Logan on certain aspects of dragon magic. I could hit the paper plates directly from about ten feet away, but if they were moving I was less accurate. I’d also learned to tap into Isaac’s power and shake the earth a little, enough to make Dominic fall over. Isaac was able to tap into my power and make Sophie’s skin heat up. Hearing her scream “Stop!” in fear was one of the highlights of my training. So it looked like Isaac couldn’t quite conjure fire but he could make someone feel pretty darn uncomfortable and distract them. I didn’t think I was going to be opening any sinkholes soon, but shaking the earth was enough to give me the upper hand in afight.
Early in the morning, a week later, Logan and I met for a lesson near thewaterfall.
“I didn’t want to bother you with this before,” Logan confessed, “but I think you’re ready now, and it might help to strengthen yourdragon.”
Strengthening my dragon was a good thing. I could feel her, but as I practiced the fire magic more and more, she seemed so faraway.
Logan had a glowing-red druid blade in his right hand. He was wearing a glove, so I was curious where this wasgoing.
“When a druid dies, all of the dragon magic he has taken leaves his body. If it’s not reabsorbed by a skyborn, it dissipatescompletely.”
I nodded. I remembered when we were in his house and he’d killed that druid. A fine green magical smoke had come up off of the druid’s dead body, and Logan had taken it intohimself.
“I can’t take on any more dragon magic. I’m full, so to speak, but you, Casey, and the others can. If we’re going to war with the druids, we might as well get our power back,” he stated, looking at the glowingblade.
“Why do I have a feeling you’re going to cut me with that?” I eyed the glowing redblade.
He met my eyes. “You think I would ever hurtyou?”
Never in a million years.“No,” I answeredhonestly.
He nodded. “I’m going to cut myself and release a small bit of dragon magic. I want to see if you can breathe it intoyourself.”
I sat up straighter at that. “Can’t that thing kill you? Where did you even getit?”
Logan’s face looked dark. “It was found near Ruben. It could kill me, but only if stuck in me for a time. Not a small quick swipe likethis.”
My mind flashed back to when he had died at the truck stop but I’d brought him back. It had been one of the worst moments of my life, and I was glad to be pastit.
“Now, if your dragon isn’t ready, it will simply not absorb it into you, and it will be lost, carried away by thewind.”
“Seems easyenough…”
He smiled. “It is, and it’s a very powerful tool when fighting druids. For each bit of dragon magic we take back from them, the scales of power tip in humanity’sfavor.”
“Alright, then. Do I need to prepare in anyway?”
He shook his head. “You’re kind of either born to be able to harness the magic or not. It’s kind of like being submissive or dominant in a pack. Some people are just born with their own magic, and that’s all they can ever handle. Others are born to be able to take in large amounts of others’ power and hold it. That’sme.”
I grinned. “Well, I’m clearly not submissive, so I’ve gotthis.”
