Igor’s jaw drops. “He’s dead, then.”
I grimace. “He’s not dead. Not yet anyway. But he will die if I don’t help him.”
“How are you going to help him? He’s miles away from here.”
I shake my head. “I don’t have time to explain.”
I run to my bedroom to search for a piece of Vaughn’s hair. To speed up the process, I cast a simple spell, and the ingredient I need flies into my hand. When I return to the kitchen, Igor no longer looks confused.
“Did you fill him in?” I ask Tish.
“I did.”
“And I’m coming with you,” he says.
I squint. “I don’t know if I can bring anyone with me. I’ve never done this before.”
“If you want my blood donation, you have to try, Soph, because I’m coming too.”
I glance at my friends’ determined expressions and know they won’t budge. “What the hell. Fine, you win.”
If I’m going to face a psychotic three-headed dragon, I couldn’t have asked for better company. Let’s hope I don’t fuck this up.
Thirty-Eight
VAUGHN
We remain frozen, waiting for the dragon’s next move. But my heart, that’s another story. It’s pounding away, wanting to flee the confines of my chest. She unfolds her wings and then launches into the air. A second later, she’s gone.
“Fuck, she’s going after Cheryl,” Karl blurts out. “We need to stop her.”
He turns around, aiming for the stairs, but Solomon grabs his arm and stops him. “Don’t be stupid. We came for the mirror. Let’s find it first.”
“You want to steal the mirror from that beast?” I ask in a high-pitched tone. I’m not even ashamed that my voice sounded so squeaky.
“Would you rather wait for the Elder dragon to return and beg for it?” Solomon snaps. “She likes to toy with people. She’ll never let you have the mirror. Ryker said we needed a miracle to retrieve the object. This is our miracle.”
Hell, I hope Vivi and Cheryl can handle the dragon until we get what we came for.
Now that the Elder dragon is gone, we can see what her huge body was hiding. Mountains of gold coins, objects, andjewels that sparkle under the moonlight are spread throughout the chamber. It looks like the treasure cave Aladdin found in the cartoon.
“Where do we begin to look?” Karl asks.
“Let me handle the search, boy.” Solomon closes his eyes and stretches his hands forward while he recites a spell in an unknown language.
The shiny objects that are piled in several mounds start to vibrate and make a hell of a lot of noise. Solomon continues, his voice growing louder and louder as he goes.
“I don’t like the looks of this,” I mutter under my breath. “Doesn’t it seem like those mountains of treasure are about to explode?”
A moment later, that’s exactly what happens to one pile. Karl pushes me to the ground as he drops next to me and covers his head. I do the same thing, bracing to be buried under the Elder dragon’s trove, but not a single object falls on us. The noise they make as they land on the ground is deafening, though, and it seems to echo endlessly.
Finally, when the chamber is quiet again, I uncover my head and sit up. Solomon is standing in front of us, holding the small mirror in his hand and smiling victoriously.
“Got it. Now let’s get those fools before the dragon turns them into ashes.”
We make much better time going down the mountain than going up. In a minute, we’re out and running to meet our friends.
Before we get a visual, I hear Ronan say, “We can’t hope to go inside, find Karl, and run away before she returns.”
