Chapter 38
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, and jewels 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.”
It seems they’ve done something to the Elder dragon to deter her temporarily.
“You won’t need to,” Karl replies.
They turn in our direction, and a second later, Cheryl runs into Karl’s arms. “You’re okay. I was so worried about you.”
“I’m fine, Cheryl. But what are you doing here?”
“I came to help you.”
“And help you did, girl.” Solomon smiles from ear to ear.
“Did you recover the mirror?” Ronan asks.
Solomon pulls the small object from inside his shirt. “I sure did. Thanks to your distraction.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I look at the sky and see the dark shape of the Elder dragon getting bigger and bigger.
“We need to leave,” Cheryl says.
“I can’t walk the wind with all of you at once,” Vivi replies in a high-pitched voice.
“Can you use the mirror to open a portal for us?” Karl asks.
“I don’t know.”
“You have to try, or we’re all doomed,” Ronan says.
“Stop putting pressure on her!” Lucca pulls her closer to him. His eyes flash red, and his fangs are on full display.
“Calm down,” Cheryl retorts.
“Hand over the mirror.” Vivi holds out her hand.
“Here. I’ll ground you,” Solomon says, “and feed you my power if needed.”
I glance at the sky again. “Guys, the Elder dragon is getting closer.”
“Another dragon is coming,” Cheryl announces.
I follow her line of sight and see a dark shadow approaching from the east. Great. Another fucking dragon decided to join the party. “Fucking hell. We’re dead.”
Ronan steps forward, squinting. “I think I know that dragon.”
“Great. Maybe you can sit down and have tea with it,” I grumble.
“Holy crap. That’s Larsson,” Cheryl blurts out.
“What?” Fear squeezes my heart tight like talons. Pretty much what I foresee Larsson will do to me.
“Hell, what is he doing here?” Lucca asks.
Larsson zooms across the sky, going straight for the Elder dragon. I can’t believe this. “Apparently, he’s stopping the Elder dragon from killing us.”
“Forget the dragons,” Solomon snaps. “Vivi, I need you to concentrate on where you want the portal to open.”
“But I don’t know the spell,” she whines.
“And won’t we need a ritual like last time?” Cheryl asks, then glances at Ronan and blushes.
“This isn’t like the Taluah Mirror, which was used for many things and required more magic in order to work as a portal creator,” Solomon explains. “This is the Kashir Mirror. Its sole purpose was to allow people to see their destinations before they arrived.”
“So not to open portals, then,” Cheryl concludes.
“Correct. However, I was able to make some tweaks and change its setting, per se.”
“You modified one of our relics?” Vivi asks. “How did you have the knowledge to do so?”
“Ah, that’s a story for another time. Let’s try to get you lot to Ellnesari before something else happens.”
“You knew this mirror could open a portal into Ellnesari and you didn’t think to tell us until now?” Lucca asks, clearly annoyed with the familiar.
Solomon returns the glare. “The mirror couldn’t do that without Nightingale magic, and we didn’t have that at our disposal the last time.”
“What do I need to do?” Vivi asks, getting us back on track.
“Like I said, look into the mirror and picture the location where you want to go. Ideally, somewhere in Ellnesari that’s safe.”
“I don’t know where is safe and where isn’t anymore. I definitely can’t get inside the palace. It’s protected by heavy wards.”
“We should cross into where we last saw Manu,” Karl chimes in. “It’ll be impossible to track her otherwise.”
Vivi isn’t happy about his suggestion if the furrow of her brow is any indication. “We were in the Hornet’s Gardens. Hardly the safest palace in the Kingdom of Aquila.”
“We don’t have a choice,” he insists.
“I know.” She looks at the small mirror in her hands, and soon her eyes gloss over.
Without further instruction from Solomon, she begins the spell in a foreign language. Her eyes go from blue to silver, and then her entire body glows from within like a damn firefly.
Strong winds blow from behind us. Shit. That must be one of the dragons coming to finish us off.
My muscles tense, ready to run out of Dodge, but my conscience knows it’d be an exercise in futility.
I look over my shoulder, but to my utter astonishment, it’s not a beast from the skies coming to burn us to a crisp. It’s a portal.
“Vivi, you did it,” Karl says, then runs toward the portal. One moment he’s there, then he’s poof, gone.
“Karl, wait, damn it.” Cheryl rushes after him, but the portal is already getting smaller.
Ronan follows just in time before the portal disappears. Vivi drops the mirror and collapses into Lucca’s arms.
I close my eyes, curling my hands into fists. I knew coming on this mission was dangerous, but I’m mad as hell that my second life will end so quickly when I was finally in a good place.
I take my phone out and call Sophie. Maybe I have time to say goodbye before either Larsson or the Elder dragon kills me.