Chapter 20
Felix wet his lips, at loathe to ask the question, but— “Who is he?”
“Salsibar,” Sarah croaked out miserably. “The dragon.”
“You knew it was out there?” Jena asked, exchanging glances with the rest of the adults in the room. “I think you need to tell us what else you know about him.”
Sarah sniffed and ran the back of her hand beneath her nose.
“I didn’t know about him until after my dad left, but I think my mom had been seeing him for a lot longer.
She used to come home sometimes…” She paused, chewing her lip and worrying at the ends of her sleeves.
“I don’t know how to explain it. It was like she was in this happy dream and nothing bothered her.
That happened a lot more after Dad left. ”
“Dragons can rapture their victims,” Aggie murmured from her chair. “If this has been going on for that long, then I’d hazard a guess that Jenny’s been completely enthralled by him.”
Felix sighed. “Liam said that she’d turned into a different person.” God, he almost felt bad he’d been hating on her so hard.
“Yeah, because she got lobotomized by a lizard. Then what?” Aggie asked Sarah.
“Mom found out about some job offer, and she and my dad got into a really big fight. S-she said some really awful things about him and how he is.” Her eyes flicked to Felix.
“I don’t blame him for leaving. I would’ve, too.
And then Pete moved in. He was a jerk, but he really loved my mom.
” Sarah looked around the room, then ducked her head again.
“She didn’t come home one night, and he went out looking for her.
When they came back…things were different, and he started drinking a lot.
They would fight, mostly about money. I didn’t understand why, because I saw some of the checks Dad would send home, and they were really big, like Total Housewife big. ”
“They shouldn’t have been fighting about money.” Felix frowned. “Liam said he’d sent hundreds of thousands of dollars back, and that Jenny had recently taken out two massive loans in his name without anything to show for it.”
“Dollar to a donut, she was funneling it to the dragon,” Aggie said.
Sarah nodded. “Yeah. That makes sense. The first time I met him, I had a swim meet in Klineville, and she made me wait in the car outside of this big, green brick building—”
“That had to have been O’Shay’s Exchange,” Chase said, scratching his jaw.
Jena’s eyes bugged out. “Your mom took you there? That part of town’s shady as hell.”
“It’s the only building out there that fits the description.” Chase shrugged. “And dealing with leprechauns is the only way you’d be able to move that much gold without flagging the feds.”
“I-I don’t remember what it was called,” Sarah stammered, “but it was really scary. I hid in the back seat under a blanket until she came back with two men carrying a big case, and the whole van dipped when they put it in the back. She seemed really nervous driving home.”
Jena snorted. “With that much gold? I would be, too.”
“I-I don’t think that was why. We pulled off at that trailhead I was talking about. By then, it was dark. She made a call and almost as soon as she hung up, this tall, pale man was standing in the beams from headlights. He’s—the twins and Mike look just like him. He’s their dad.”
“Well, that’s an issue,” Aggie murmured. “If you’re right about that call to CPS, it’s no wonder he went apeshit. Dragon spawn wouldn’t survive for long away from his horde, and their diet’s not something anyone would be keen on providing.”
“Do I want to know?” Jena asked.
“Probably not, but I can tell you exactly where all that missing livestock ended up.”
“Talk about livestock later,” Felix said, focused on Sarah’s story. “Then what happened?”
“My mom got out, yelling about how she couldn’t do it anymore, and h-he hit her,” Sarah rasped. “Then he looked at me and said something to her with an awful smile on his face. The next thing I knew, it was morning, and I was in my room.”
“Then when did you go to the cave?” Jena asked.
“The next time I had a swim meet. We just had bags that time, and she made me carry one. It was really heavy, and I dropped it when I was squeezing through the crack.” Her throat bobbed. “He got really mad and told her if she brought me again, he’d kill me.”
“Charming.” Jena huffed out her cheeks and fell against the cushions.
“So, this asshole has been pulling Jenny and Pete’s strings for years right under everybody’s noses, and I’m gonna bet that’s why your pack can’t stand to be around the swamp.
That fucking altar has got to go. There’s no other reason he would’ve landed in Havers. ”
“Maybe,” Aggie said, raising her brow. “Maybe not. An untended node would’ve been an awfully ripe cherry, just waiting to be plucked.”
Jena threw up her hands. “Great, so it’s my fault.”
“You said it, not me.”
She glowered at the older witch. “Then where does that leave us?”
“Sounds like we need to rout the dragon, rescue Liam and Axle, then cleanse the altar and put up that ward. If the others stopped it from getting to the node, another should keep it out of Havers,” Chase said.
“Oh, well, if that’s all we have to do,” Felix quipped, rolling his eyes.
“Yeah, no joke,” Jena muttered. “I’m sure it’s gonna be a piece of cake.”
“Speaking of which, I’ve got some in the fridge,” Aggie said, standing. “How about you kiddos come help me eat it. And by help, I mean get your asses in the kitchen and let the adults talk.”
The three of them shuffled out after her, and Felix blew out his cheeks, trying to wrap his mind around this grand plan of Chase’s.
The logistics of everything else aside, the ridiculous amount of karma they’d have to raise to power the ward was daunting.
Granted, Jena’s mom had done that herself around the Eastern pack’s territory, but she’d had the node right there—he was jolted out of his thoughts by Jena and Chase’s fervent whispers.
“Oh God, you have a plan, don’t you? Please, tell me it doesn’t involve sneaking out the coal chute,” Felix moaned.
Jena sighed. “No, no coal chute, but you’re probably going to be as excited about it.
I’ve been going through my mom’s grimoire, and when she put up the wards around the pack’s lands, she had to create a reserve nexus of the node’s power down in the hollow to fuel her spell.
It being there was the only reason I was able to reestablish them when the Westside pack attacked.
With the scope of we’re talking about, I would need to do the same to create a border ward. ”
Felix looked between them. “Which means what?”
Chase ran a hand over his face. “It means that she’s planning on eating all that sin around the black altar and pushing the karma to me so I can manifest a channel from it to the node and establish another nexus.”
Felix felt himself pale. “You’re fucking kidding, right?”
Jena shook her head. “No, even if we performed the rite to cleanse the altar, that kind of karma leaves a stain, but if the node extended out that far, we’d have warning of anything going on out there and fingers crossed it eats away any lingering residue.”
“That’s a big fricking if,” Felix said. “And I doubt the dragon is just going to let us waltz right in.”
Jena nodded. “No, but I don’t see another way to do it, and if the dragon’s adding to the negative karma out there, it might pack enough of a punch to banish him while we’re at it.
That vision I had of the altar was of Malcom crossing the veil through the fire at the center of the standing stones.
If it’s already been compromised, maybe we can open it again and send the dragon through. ”
“I’m going to assume that today’s killing and maiming of people while inflicting widespread property damage alone will guarantee that, but I’m more concerned about you,” Felix said, frowning at her rounded abdomen. “How the hell are you going to safely channel all of that?”
She chewed her lip. “If we can get the node to reach that far, I don’t think I’ll have to do it alone. It’s…it’s like a spider. All the wards are part of its web, and everywhere I walk, I carry a thread strengthening its connection throughout Havers.”
Felix cocked a brow. “Wouldn’t that make you the spider?”
“Shut up, you know what I mean. My point is that the node naturally wants to expand. If we provide the channel, it will rush to fill it, especially if I’m feeding karma into it at the other end.”
“Your shitty mixed metaphors aside, I get what you’re saying, but that still leaves the dragon,” Felix said. “How are we supposed to get him out of his cave?”
Jena and Chase exchanged another look. “If Aggie’s right about the node drawing him here in the first place, I’m pretty sure he’ll come to us when we start raising power,” she said with a measured breath.
“And if the wards around the tor kept him from the node, one around the dark altar when I call corners and set the circle should keep us safe.”
“Well, isn’t that just tidy.” Felix clapped his hands together, and Myx popped his head up, hissing at him.
“Deal with it,” he muttered at the cat, then turned back to Jena and Chase.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say we’re doing this sooner than not?
” God, it was already almost eight. They were supposed to be eating dinner with Liam’s parents, not—
Shit. Liam’s parents had no idea he’d been taken.
“Moon’s almost full, and there’s not a cloud in the sky,” Chase said, looking out the window. “The sooner we get out there, the better. If the dragon took Liam and Axle, there’s a reason for it, and I’m pretty sure we don’t want to give him enough time to find out what that is.”
He had a point. Felix frowned down at his loafers. “Cruze, I’m borrowing your boots!” he called into the kitchen.
“Don’t mess them up!”
“Are you leaving now, Uncle Felix?” Sway asked, running back in.