Was he saying it because he was bound to protect me? Or because—
“Gemma.” He let go of me and nudged me toward the door. “Use your key. I’ll be right behind you.”
I froze, numb from everything that had just happened. Fire blazed through the room, but I couldn’t feel its warmth.
All I could feel was the pit of horror in my stomach at the knowledge that Harper was dying.
If I’d rushed to help a few seconds earlier, maybe I could have saved her.
“She was impulsive,” Ethan said, as if he knew what I was thinking. “It wasn’t either of our faults. She chose her own fate. Now, you need to choose yours.” He looked to the door, then back at me, his eyes begging me to do as he asked. “I won’t leave until you do.”
I nodded slowly. Because every moment that Ethan and I stayed, we were putting ourselves in more danger.
We needed to get back to the Ward.
Back to Mira. And eventually back to Mom, who was still in the Haven and had to be worried sick about us.
I glanced at Harper. She’d stopped breathing.
Hopefully she was with her mom now, in the Beyond.
“You’ll be right behind me?” I asked Ethan.
“Always.”
I reached for my key, faced the door, and slipped it into the keyhole. It clicked to the side and the clock started rotating.
This is it.
I took a deep breath, opened the door, and stepped back into Hecate’s Eternal Library.
50
Harper
I sucked in a sharp breath and brought my hands to my neck.
I’d expected more pain.
But the skin there was soft and smooth. Like it had never been slashed so my life’s blood could pour out of it.
I felt weak—as was to be expected—and I couldn’t feel my magic.
But I was alive.
How…?
I pushed myself up and looked around. I was in a child’s room with pink wallpaper, on a twin bed with a lacy white comforter. A woman with black hair and snow-white skin sat on a small rocking chair across from me, holding the Dark Wand.
Lavinia.
Her eyes met mine, and she smiled. “You’re awake.”
“What did you do to me?” I’d expected my voice to be raspy, after the slash to my throat. But it was the same as normal.
“I healed you,” she said simply.
“But that wound was fatal,” I said. “I was dying.”
“You were.” She nodded, continuing to rock back and forth. “I brought you back.”
“That’s not possible.” My eyes went to the Dark Wand.
It had enough power to break down the boundary dome around Utopia.
Who was to say it couldn’t have healed me from the brink of death?
“I didn’t use the Dark Wand.” Lavinia stopped rocking, sat straighter, and placed her feet on the ground. In her frilly white dress, she could pass as a child. An evil child. “I used another method.”
“What method?”
“I had you turned into a vampire.”
“What?” My stomach dropped, and I stared at her, willing her to take it back. This couldn’t be happening. I was a witch. She couldn’t have turned me into a vampire. Because if I was a vampire, it meant I’d no longer have my…
I reached for my magic.
There was nothing there.
My magic was gone.
I leaped off the bed to rip that wand out of her hand. But the moment my feet hit the floor, my knees buckled and my legs gave out like wet noodles from under me.
Lavinia walked over, picked me up, and set me back onto the bed.
I leaned against the wall, my chest heaving as I tried to catch my breath.
She studied me, amused. “You’re in transition,” she continued. “You need to drink human blood within three days to complete your change into a vampire. After that, you’ll only be given animal blood, to keep you weak and under control.”
“I won’t do it,” I said. “I’d rather die.”
“We’ll see about that.” She raised an eyebrow, smirked, and made herself comfortable in the rocking chair again. She watched me, waiting, like she knew I had more questions.
I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.
But I did have more questions. And there she was, sitting so casually, waiting for me to ask them.
I might as well take as much advantage of the opportunity as I could.
“Where did you find the Dark Wand?” I asked.
“The question isn’t where I found it,” she said. “It’s how I found it.”
“I already know you found it with the dragon heart.”
With Ethan’s father’s heart.
My heart broke as I remembered the devastation on his face when he’d found out. Because I knew that feeling—the icy numbness that rushes through your body as your heart shatters into pieces. It can never be glued back together, no matter how much time passes.
“I found it with help from the Queen of Wands.” She smirked again.
I blinked, confused. Because the Queen of Wands—Selena—and her best friend Torrence had come to Utopia a few months ago. They’d needed to find a dragon heart to make sure Torrence wasn’t taken prisoner by the goddess Circe. Queen Elizabeth had directed them to the Gemini circle for answers, and they’d been on their way.
But according to Gemma and Mira, Selena and Torrence had never talked to them. And everyone knew that Circe had taken Torrence, which was why the Queen of Wands was off on an adventure of her own, trying to rescue her best friend.
“The Queen of Wands failed to find a dragon heart,” I said simply.
“Wrong,” Lavinia said. “She and her friends found the dragon. They nearly killed him, although it didn’t seem like they were going to go through with it. But then I stole him from under their noses and left them in the dust. Well, in the sand.”
“Then you used the heart to find the Dark Wand,” I said, and she nodded. “What other Dark Objects do you have?”
“Now you’re asking the right questions.” She looked at me approvingly. “So far, we have the Dark Grail, the Dark Wand, and the Dark Crown.”
My mind spun.
Because we didn’t have a Holy Crown. I’d never even heard of the Holy Crown.
It has to be the Holy Object for the Queen of Pentacles.
The queen who hadn’t risen yet.
“What does the Dark Crown do?” I asked.
“Why would I tell you?”
“You don’t know what it does.” It was a guess. But she’d been pretty open with me so far, so calling her out seemed the best way to go.
Her eyes narrowed, and she pressed her lips together, like she wasn’t sure she was going to say more.
I sat there silently, my eyes locked on hers, waiting.
“We will know, once the Dark Queen of Pentacles rises to claim it,” she said. “Which is why we’ve been putting all our energy into bringing her here. You made it a lot more difficult by killing that vampire, but we’ll figure out another way.”
“The twins,” I realized. “You think the Dark Queen of Pentacles is one of the twins.”
“I don’t just ‘think’ the Dark Queen of Pentacles is one of the twins,” she said. “I have it on good authority that one twin will wield the Dark Crown, and the other the Holy Crown. The question is—which twin is which?”
“Neither of them will ever want to help you, no matter what this ‘good authority’ of yours says.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that, little witch,” she said, and I balled my fists to my sides at how condescending she was being. “Oh, wait. You’re not a witch anymore. It’s a shame, really. I heard you were quite gifted with magic. You had to have been, to be a high witch of Utopia at such a young age.
“I’ll be a strong vampire, too.”
“So I was right.” She laughed. “You’ll complete the transition.”
I said nothing.
“You’ll get to see which twin joins me,” she continued. “Which do you think it’ll be? Gemma or Mira?”
“I already told you. Neither will join you.”
“But one of them will step into the role of the Dark Queen of Pentacles.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.” She stood up, held the Dark Wand beside her, and raised her chin like a queen. “It’s time for me to leave you on your own to get settled in. Don’t bother trying to escape—I have demon guards stationed outside your door. And not only do you no longer have a holy weapon, but you’re too weak to put up a fight.”
Again, I didn’t bother replying. Because we both knew she was right.
She gave me another smug smirk, and then left the room, closing the door behind her.
The door.
I reached to my neck, relieved to find the chain still there, and pulled my key out from under my shirt. My beautiful key with stars and the crescent moon. My gift from Hecate.
My ticket out.
Gathering as much strength as I could, I pushed myself out of the bed and crawled—slowly—to the door. My legs were too weak to stand, but I was able to reach up and get my key inside the keyhole.
I waited for it to click open.
Nothing happened.
I tried again, and again. But still, nothing.
My heart sank into my stomach.
Of course nothing happened. The key only worked for witches. And I wasn’t a witch anymore.
Grief rushed through me as the loss of my magic became real. The loss of my identity. Because without magic, who was I?
Too weak to get back to the bed, I stayed on the floor and cried for what must have been an hour. But eventually, I got ahold of myself.
Because I couldn’t change what had happened to me. But I’d been a strong witch. And while it was going to take work, I was going to stick to my promise to Lavinia and become a strong vampire, too.
And I wasn’t going to rest until she and Lilith were dead.
I hope you enjoyed The Dragon Twins! If so, make sure to leave a review on Amazon. The more positive reviews I have, the more motivated I am to write the next book faster!
Here’s the link on Amazon where you can go to leave your review ➜ mybook.to/dragontwins
The next book in the series—The Dragon Realm—is coming soon!
Go to michellemadow.com/subscribe to get an email from me when The Dragon Realm releases.
Are you new to the Dark World universe?
While each series in the Dark World universe can be read and enjoyed individually, I recommend reading all of the series’ for the fullest reading experience.
To start, check out the original series in the world—The Vampire Wish. Read on to learn more about it! (You may have to turn the page to see the cover and description.)
Magic. Romance. Adventure.
And twists you’ll never see coming.
Experience the now completed Vampire Wish series, which has garnered over 1,500 reviews on Amazon and over 5,000 ratings on GoodReads.
For Annika Pearce, spring break with her family was usually a boring affair. Not this year. Everything changes in an instant when vampires attack Annika’s family and abduct her to the hidden kingdom of the Vale.
In the Vale, her normal life is turned upside down. Her role? To give blood whenever vampires demand.
As Annika desperately searches for a way to escape, she meets a mysterious stranger named Jake who just might be her only hope. At first, Jake seems like a dream come true. But as Annika peels back the layers of the mystery surrounding her abduction, she learns that things aren’t as they seem. Everyone seems to be hiding a secret. Including Jake.
With time running out, Annika races to unravel the mystery of the Vale—and decide who to trust. With her heart pulling her in one direction, and her instincts in another, she faces an impossible decision.
How far is she willing to go to escape the vampire kingdom?
Start the journey today and experience the series fans of Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, and A Shade of Vampire are raving about.
Get it now at:
mybook.to/vampirewish
HAVE YOU READ MY OTHER NOVELS?
If you love young adult fantasy, then you need to read my USA Today recommended series, Elementals!
Check out the cover and description for Elementals below. Then, keep reading for a sneak peek of the first few chapters! (You may have to turn the page to see the cover.)
MAGIC. ROMANCE. ADVENTURE.
Experience the *now completed* bestselling series that fans of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson are raving about.
“A must read!”
-- USA Today
* A Top 100 Amazon Bestseller in the entire Kindle Store *
Nicole Cassidy is nervous about her first day at a new school. She’s worried about her outfit. And her hair. She’s imagined the teacher introducing her to the class, only to hear snickers around the room.
It turns out, things at her new school are going to be a lot harder than that. At Kinsley High, there’s something new on the curriculum: magic.
It’s not just the other students who have magic. So does Nicole.
She’s a witch.
Not only is she a witch, she’s descended from Greek gods.
It’s almost too much for her to process. Luckily, one of her new classmates is more than happy to take her under his wing to teach her how to use her magic. His name is Blake, and he’s sort of her type: mysterious, possibly trouble.
The connection between Nicole and Blake is instant. There’s just one problem: Blake has a girlfriend, Danielle. Rumor has it she harbors a penchant for using dark magic. Especially on anyone who gets near Blake.
As Nicole tries to navigate her mysterious new school—and stay out of Danielle’s crosshairs—a new threat emerges: the Olympian Comet. The comet hasn’t been seen for thousands of years, and it’s about to change everything.
With the Olympian Comet burning bright across the night sky, Nicole’s sleepy town is turned upside down. Ancient monsters emerge, wreaking havoc on everyone and everything.
An ancient prophecy may hold the key to stopping the monsters and surviving the comet, but time is running out. As Nicole and her new classmates race to unravel the clues left by the prophecy, they soon learn that it’s not just their town that’s in danger. The Olympian Comet may be far more deadly than they ever imagined.
Start the adventure today and escape into this world of magic, romance, and mythology!
This five book series has been a perennial bestseller since its publication and has garnered over 2,000 reviews on Amazon, 10,000+ ratings on Goodreads, and millions of pages read in Kindle Unlimited.
Get it now at:
mybook.to/elementals1
Turn the page for a sneak peek of the first few chapters!
Elementals
The Prophecy of Shadows
1
The secretary fumbled through the stacks of papers on her desk, searching for my schedule. “Here it is.” She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. “I’m Mrs. Dopkin. Feel free to come to me if you have any questions.”
“Thanks.” I looked at the schedule, which had my name on the top, and listed my classes and their locations. “This can’t be right.” I held it closer, as if that would make it change. “It has me in all honors classes.”
She frowned and clicked around her computer. “Your schedule is correct,” she said. “Your homeroom teacher specifically requested that you be in the honors courses.”
“But I wasn’t in honors at my old school.”
“It doesn’t appear to be a mistake,” she said. “And the late bell’s about to ring, so if you need a schedule adjustment, come back at the end of the day so we can discuss it. You’re in Mr. Faulkner’s homeroom, in the library. Turn right out of the office and walk down the hall. You’ll see the library on the right. Go inside and head all the way to the back. Your
homeroom is in the only door there. Be sure to hurry—you don’t want to be late.”
She returned to her computer, apparently done talking to me, so I thanked her for her help and left the office.
Kinsley High felt cold compared to my school in Georgia, and not just in the literal sense. Boxy tan lockers lined every wall, and the concrete floor was a strange mix of browns that reminded me of throw-up. The worst part was that there were no windows anywhere, and therefore a serious lack of sunlight.
I preferred the warm green carpets and open halls at my old school. Actually I preferred everything about my small Georgia town, especially the sprawling house and the peach tree farm I left behind. But I tried not to complain too much to my parents.
After all, I remembered the way my dad had bounced around the living room while telling us about his promotion to anchorman on the news station. It was his dream job, and he didn’t mind that the only position available was in Massachusetts. My mom had jumped on board with the plan to move, confident that her paintings would sell better in a town closer to a major city. My younger sister Becca had liked the idea of starting fresh, along with how the shopping in Boston apparently exceeded anything in our town in Georgia.
The Dragon Twins (Dark World: The Dragon Twins Book 1) Page 20