Dragon's Awakening (Heir of Dragons: Book 1)

by Sean Fletcher

  “No thanks,” Edwin said, breezing past him.

  “Somebody needs to talk to that guy about location selection,” Jade said.

  “And how to cater to customers,” Kaylee said.

  “Seriously, did he think we were five?” Edwin said.

  “I thought the flames looked cool,” Maddox said. “I would have also picked the one with the monster trucks.”

  Kaylee glanced back. The man at the stand was still watching them, the cell phone cases forgotten at his side.

  An etched metal sign greeted them at the store:

  Magical Trevor’s Magical Emporium of Wondrous and Mysterious Wonders™

  On the front door was another sign, pasted prominently and written in large print:

  You enter, you know what you’re getting into. You touch it, you buy it (this includes the Hand of Death). Solicitors will be turned into maggots, which would be an improvement. Not responsible for dismemberment, disembowelment, or accidental transportation to an alternate dimension.

  “He’s always had trouble keeping business,” Maddox said.

  “Can’t imagine why,” Kaylee said, trying to keep a straight face.

  Just as Kaylee reached for the door a woman barged out, nearly bowling her over. She was flushed and brushed right past the group without so much as an apology.

  “Another satisfied customer,” a stuffed gremlin sitting on a perch just inside the store said, its beady eyes following the woman. It swiveled around to face them. “Come in or stay out. Can’t stand there all day.”

  Kaylee decided it was best not to question a stuffed toy, magically talking or not, with that much sass.

  They entered. A bell jangled somewhere in the back. Behind the counter a reedy man wearing a crooked toupee and a suit jacket so small it squeezed him like an ill-fitting straightjacket stood with his back to them, messing with something Kaylee couldn’t see.

  “Customers!” The gremlin screeched.

  The man sighed. “I told you already, Mrs. Rochester, the Elixir of Beauty can temporarily transform you into a wondrous supermodel, but it has to have at least a smidgen of actual beauty to start with. I sell magic objects, not miracles.”

  “That’s exactly what we’re looking for,” Kaylee said.

  Trevor turned. His eyes narrowed when he saw them. “Not you again,” he said.

  Then he promptly vanished.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Not this time!” Jade said, dashing forward and sliding across the counter. She lashed out with her foot and the spot where Trevor had been standing let out a curse and a yelp.

  “OW! Watch it! I just had these pants freshly pressed!”

  Maddox joined Jade and gripped the air at head level, grasping something that wasn’t there. There was another small pop! and a disgruntled Trevor appeared dangling from Maddox’s fist.

  “Okay, okay! Let me down,” Trevor complained. Jade nodded at Maddox and he dropped him unceremoniously on the floor.

  “You know that’s a terrible way to treat someone you want information from,” Trevor said, dusting himself off. He pulled a ring off his finger and banged it a couple times against the counter. “Stupid thing. Knew it was running out of juice.”

  “How do you know we want information from you?” Kaylee said.

  Trevor gave her a shrewd look. “Oh good, you added another one. You’re new to this, aren’t you sweetheart? I know because everybody comes here for information. Nobody actually buys anything.”

  Kaylee could imagine why. The shop was cramped and claustrophobic. The only open space was in the back where they now stood. Dusty children’s magic kits and useless toys like Slinkies and yo-yos were piled atop cardboard boxes and clusters of You Too Can Be a Magician! DVD’s. The only thing of remote interest was something called a ‘Magic Tablet’ with a note above it explaining that it was really a holopad from the year 2119. All in all, Kaylee didn’t think she’d ever seen a sadder attempt at a magic shop in her life.

  “Rare stuff’s in the back,” the stuffed gremlin squawked when Kaylee picked up a replica wand from the Harry Potter movies. Behind it was a wrinkled, waxy hand with a small note tied on its thumb: Hand of Death. If you don’t know what it does, you shouldn’t be touching it. That means you, Kaylee.

  Kaylee stepped back, startled, as the print on the note vanished.

  “All right, all right, give a man some space,” Trevor was saying. He waved Jade and Maddox off him. “Kids these days have no respect for their betters. I swear, you’re all how old? Ten? And you act like a bunch of mafia thugs.”

  “Just trying to make sure you don’t scamper off like last time,” Maddox said.

  Trevor snorted. “Last time, this guy,” he pointed a finger at Edwin, “nearly torched my place to the ground because he thought he could handle the Amulet of Eternal Fire.”

  “I honestly didn’t think the flames would be that big,” Edwin said.

  “Kid, it’s called the Amulet of Eternal Fire for a reason. Now,” Trevor snapped his suit, which didn’t do anything to improve his appearance. His eyes narrowed on Kaylee. “M’k, so I know thug one, thug two, and boy wizard wonder, but who are you?”

  “Kaylee Richards. I’m a storm dragon-kin.”

  Trevor’s eyes widened. “Uh…You really shouldn’t be here right now.”

  “We’re looking for something we think you might know the location of,” Edwin said.

  “Yeah, but if they find her here—”

  “Then we’d better make it quick, shouldn’t we?” Jade said.

  “Please, Trevor,” Edwin said, and Kaylee was surprised to find there was an actual note of pleading in his voice. “You’re the only guy I think can actually help us out.”

  Trevor swelled at that. “All right, all right. What can I say? I’m a softie at heart. Can’t turn down a charity case.”

  He tapped the bell on the back counter in a complicated rhythm. The sound echoed more than was possible in the small space. The front doors snapped shut. The stuffed gremlin’s stand skated in front of the doors and the gremlin said, “Lookout mode, engaged.”

  Behind Trevor, the shelves filled with boxes of rings, ribbons, scarves and what Kaylee really hoped were fake white doves, opened up to reveal a narrow hallway. Inside this were more shelves on either side, each one stretching higher than Kaylee thought the mall’s ceiling went.

  “Hurry up,” Trevor said, pushing them all through, then closing the shelf behind them. “Squeeze in a little—watch the elbows! Now…” He brought his hands together, “what particular brand of mischief are you getting into this time. Ah!” He shuffled past Jade to a nearby box and produced a rusty dagger. “A blade that, if thrown, shall never miss its intended target? Great as a last resort, but don’t think of any of those nasty ex-boyfriends when you use it, eh?” He said, winking at Jade. “Perfect for a Tamer or Protector.”

  “No thanks,” Jade said, slipping her own knife out of its concealed sheath in her sleeve. “I’m set.”

  Maddox held up his fists. “Same.”

  “Trevor,” Edwin said, “we’re looking for a sun-kissed meteorite.”

  Trevor froze his digging through the boxes. “Sentry! Report!”

  “No customers in sight for at least two hundred yards,” the gremlin’s voice magically projected around them. “Therefore, everything is completely normal.”

  “What’s your problem?” Trevor said to Edwin. “You cannot be asking questions like that around here. What would kids like you do with a powerful item like that anyway?”

  “So you do know where one is?” Kaylee said.

  “Of course I do! I’m the best purveyor of magical items for a hundred miles in any direction.”

  “Which is why your shop’s just oh-so-popular,” Jade said.

  “I have a selective client base,” Trevor mumbled. “I’ll ask again: what do you need it for?”

  “We don’t need it,” Edwin said. “We’re trying to stop someone else from getting it.
”

  “The Slayers,” Trevor said. “No, no, no, I’m not playing this game. Count me out.” He shooed all of them out of the back room. “Just forget about the star-kissed meteorite,” Trevor said. “Expunge it from your mind, scrub it from your brains.”

  “But if you know you have to tell us!” Kaylee said.

  “Of course I don’t!” Trevor said. “And it’s not me knowing that I’m worried about.”

  Trevor had started to sweat. He tapped the counter, distinctly not looking at them as though that would make them go away. The gremlin had been oddly quiet. Kaylee saw that the cell phone stand outside the front had vanished.

  “When did they come by?” Jade said, breaking the tense silence.

  “Who—who came by?” Trevor said.

  Maddox placed one hand on the counter and leaned uncomfortably close to Trevor’s face. “It’s obvious the Slayers were here. We know what they were looking for, so if you just tell us where we can find it, we’ll leave.”

  “They’ll be after it too. It’s suicide.”

  The gremlin let out a warning squawk.

  “Quickly, please,” Edwin said.

  “But I—I can’t!”

  “Yes you can.”

  “Okay! Okay!” Trevor said. “If you die, the Convocation better not blame me! The closest one is with the Northern Scarsdale Convocation. But they’re temporarily keeping it in the Scarsdale Heritage high school. I’m sure they guard it with a bunch of spells and stuff and that’s all I know! Now leave before—”

  “Customer alert!” the gremlin said. Then, “Correction! We are under attack!”

  Kaylee had all of a second to brace herself before the entire front of the store exploded.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Kaylee was tossed like a tissue in a tornado. She felt her body tilting, squeezed her eyes shut, and—

  Her shoulders collided with something soft against the back counter.

  Edwin.

  “You okay?” Edwin groaned.

  “Just peachy,” Kaylee said, helping him up. “Thanks for the body cushion.”

  He grimaced.

  The shop was a wreck. Tattered boxes and shredded scarves cascaded through the air. Somewhere through the dust of the destruction Jade coughed and waved her way through to them. “Move!” She commanded. “We need to get out of here!”

  All of them bolted for the exit. They’d just cleared the entrance when another earth-shattering rumble collapsed what remained of the front of the store. Kaylee rolled clear as rubble and plaster rained down, covering the gremlin who screeched, “Come back any time!”

  Maddox and Jade were already on their feet, scanning their surroundings for danger. Sunglasses man was nowhere to be found. Thick fog was gathering in the air around them, growing every second. Through the haze, Kaylee spotted a small urn placed on the ground not twenty yards in front of them. It appeared to be made of sand-blasted stone, couldn’t have been any bigger than her arm, and all the smoke was pouring from its open top.

  “Summoning Urn!” Edwin said.

  “I thought those were illegal!” Jade said.

  “Slayers, Jade,” Maddox said. “If they’re willing to kill us I’m pretty sure they don’t care about legality.”

  “I’ll try to cap it!” Jade said. But no sooner had she made a break towards it then another belch of thick smoke and an explosion like fireworks sent them reeling towards the stairs.

  “Down!” Maddox yelled. “Regroup at the bottom!”

  Shoppers on the floor below had frozen in place when the four of them made it down through the smoke. Kaylee thought fast. She wasn’t sure exactly what thing the Slayers had unleashed, but she didn’t want any bystanders around when they found out.

  “Fire!” She cried, waving her arms. “A horrible fire! Everybody run!”

  That did it.

  Shoppers pushed one another in a mad scramble to get as far away from the growing cloud as possible. In less than a minute the entire bottom floor looked as lifeless as a zombie apocalypse.

  “Good thinking, Kaylee,” Jade said. “Now all we have to do is make sure whatever this is doesn’t get—”

  An arm as big as a semi-truck emerged from the fog and planted a hand in front of them, the weight of it cracking the stone. Its fingers were thick as Kaylee’s entire body. The skin was oddly smooth, tanned a golden hue with three giant rings like hula hoops jangling around the wrist. A form rose up in the haze behind it; what might have been a body, maybe shoulders and a head. Glowing eyes swiveled their direction.

  “Seriously?” Edwin said weakly. “A djinn giant?”

  Maddox gaped. “Oh, sh—”

  HIISSSSSS!

  A sound like a thousand angry snakes trapped in a bag tore at their ears, shattering the surrounding store windows in a glittering explosion of glass.

  “We have to beat it back before it fully emerges!” Edwin yelled, hands clamped over his ear.

  Kaylee raised her hand, summoning lightning to her fist. Maddox gripped her arm and yanked it down.

  “Djinn’s absorb magic. You’ll just make it mad.”

  Kaylee stared helplessly as the djinn’s form began to move. “Then what can we do?”

  “Let Jade and me handle it.”

  Just then Jade lunged towards the djinn’s planted arm, knife out. The djinn let out a howl as her blade sank into its knuckle, sending it stumbling back into the fog. The air in front of them cleared a bit, quickly replaced by another earsplitting hiss.

  Kaylee clamped her hands over her ears. Beat it back? There was no way they could do that without magic. They needed backup. Some way they could—

  That’s when Jade and Maddox went on the attack. Kaylee realized she had never seen her best friend and Maddox actually fight together, but the results were glorious.

  Maddox came in close, rolling as one of the djinn’s fingers made to crush him. While the djinn was distracted Jade had moved into position and made a dozen clean slices across the creature’s palm. They seemed to read each other’s moves, anticipating the attacks and blocks each would do, covering their weaknesses and blind spots. Jade spun low and Maddox swung high, both connecting with the djinn’s nearest arm. A monstrous howl ripped through the air, just as the arm slammed down again. Jade and Maddox leapt out of range, both looking frustrated.

  “We’re not doing enough damage!” Jade yelled.

  “Again!” Maddox said. “We’ll just keep wailing on it until it falls.”

  Both leapt into action again, but despite how well they were fighting, each attack seemed to do less. They needed another plan.

  Kaylee’s eyes found the nearest store, Forever Sixteen.

  “Edwin!” She barked. “Come with me!”

  He saw what she was pointing at and his eyes lit up. “You go there. I have another idea.”

  Kaylee rushed inside the store and headed straight for the perfume section. She scooped every bottle she could get her hands on, stuffing them into her pockets and piling them into her shirt before rushing outside again.

  “Jade!” She dumped the perfumes on the floor outside the store and grabbed a couple bottles. Jade gave her a momentarily confused look before sprinting over and picking up some of her own.

  “Aim for the head,” Kaylee said. As if to prove her point, the smoke swirled again. Kaylee felt fixed in place as the two glowing eyes fastened themselves on her. The presence of ancient evil seeped into her body, a nauseous, aching pain. She was pinned like a butterfly to a corkboard. Her muscles wouldn’t respond. A giant hand raised above, ready to end her.

  Jade wound up and threw a bottle. Kaylee made a note to remind her to try out for softball because it went straight and true, shattering as it smacked the djinn between the eyes. A low groan escaped the smoke. Kaylee could suddenly move again.

  “Have some Jo Malone!” Jade cried, hurling another.

  Kaylee threw her own. “Viktor and Rolf!”

  “Lancôme!”

  “M
arc Jacobs!”

  “Coco Mademoiselle!”

  “Wait! I want that one!” Jade said.

  The djinn was now retreating under a hazy assault of scents and misty colors, shrinking every second back into the mist.

  “Now’s our chance,” Maddox said. “Where’s Edwin?”

  “Yaaah!”

  Like a hero from a bad action movie, Edwin came shooting out of the sporting goods store, feet planted firmly on a skateboard. A batting helmet covered his head, football pads were slung on his shoulder and he had various sports-related weaponry sprouting off him like the world’s most irrationally violent peacock of death.

  “Catch!” He said as he rolled by, tossing the gear to them.

  Maddox snagged a compound bow with practice arrows in the quiver and grinned. “Now we’re talking!”

  “We are?” Kaylee said, hefting a hockey stick.

  “Yahh!” Edwin’s glorious charge led him straight to the base of the djinn’s planted fingers. He wound up and bashed them with an aluminum bat. Maddox drew back the bow and rattled off shots, each movement fluid and practiced. The djinn roared and tried to swipe them away.

  “Kaylee, with me!”

  Kaylee followed Jade back up the stairs. Back towards the urn. They ducked as the djinn’s hand shot from the fog and slammed into the wall above their heads.

  “We have to close that urn,” Jade said. “That’s the only way to stop it for good. The lid should be up there somewhere.”

  “Got it.”

  At the top of the stairs they emerged into the thickest fog yet. Kaylee covered her mouth and peered around, squinting to try to see anything.

  There! The djinn had swiped at another of Maddox’s attacks. The wind cleared the fog just enough for Kaylee to spot the lid not ten feet away.

  “Cover me!” Kaylee said. She sprinted forward. She hit the floor and slid as the djinn made a lunge for her, but then Jade was on it, battering it back with more swipes of her knife and spritzes from the perfume clutched in her fist.