Santiago took a step back. “What have you done?”
She rose up, straightening her shoulders. “I was waiting until I could train you further to explain all that we are preparing to do, but it seems your education starts today. No matter. I think you’re ready.” She walked to the door and shut it, keying in a lock code.
Santiago turned, his hands forming into fists. “You better start talking. Now.”
“Calm down. Everything is fine.” She held out her hands to pacify him. “It’s all going to plan. I have the specimens I need to do the final experiments that will take our kind to new heights. Dragons will become what I always dreamed of. And you, my dear Santiago, will be able to share the glory with me.”
“What?” He shook his head. “This isn’t what we talked about. I thought you meant using science to fix the untamed’s illness. Eradicating sickness. Helping people.”
“We will help people. Our people. All of them. The perfection of our species will solve so many problems. Think about it. No one will ever have to die or be sick. No more hiding in fear. We would become a perfect species. Flawless. Made so by science and not accidental magic. We’ll do it together and be heroes.” She tentatively put her hand on his shoulder.
To my horror, he let it stay there.
“What about the humans?” he asked quietly.
“We can help them too. After we finish this. But you have to be willing to let a few things go.”
“What things?” his voice was barely a whisper.
“For one,” she said slowly. “Lila. You have to let her go, Santiago. You were already willing to part from her, so it shouldn’t be hard. She would never stop judging your decision. You said so yourself.”
He lowered his gaze, considering.
Ivy continued. “Her magic is too strong and she won’t accept what we’re trying to do. Black Rock didn’t either. And no matter how much I loved him, I had to let that go.” Ivy’s hand on Santiago’s arm slid down until her fingers laced with his. A smile played at her lips. “We can find others to help us forget the pain of our loss, don’t you think?”
His fingers curled around her hand as he nodded.
No. This can’t be. Santiago!
I fought against the paralysis that held me, but I couldn’t bat an eye. My body was dying, but my heart was what would finish me off. How could he? I know I’d hurt him, been harsh with him, but this? The betrayal was too much to bear. I wanted it to be over so I wouldn’t have to see them this way.
“I’m so glad to have you on board,” Ivy said brightly. “Now, if you’ll step outside, I’ll finish this and then we can decide what to do about your friends. Lila is very strong and the amount of solution I’ve given her hasn’t quite done the job. I’ll need to give her a final dose.”
“No,” he said. “Let me do it.”
Her smile widened. “Eager to get started. You’re stronger than I took you for.”
My heart shattered into a thousand pieces as Santiago walked over and peered down at me one last time. Ivy’s face hovered over his shoulder. I wished I could spit in it one last time.
“Is she in pain?” he asked.
Ivy shook her head, drawing her hair up to pin it behind her head. “Not anymore. It’ll be painless and quick.”
Wheels squeaked as she pulled her operating tray over and began preparing another needle.
While she drew the vial, Santiago’s eyes peered down into mine. Was he sorry? He looked resolved, like he knew exactly what he was about to do. How had I judged him so wrong? The ache was too much.
Finish it, I thought in anguish.
“It’s ready,” she said, pushing the tray toward him. The needle was loaded, lying next to her other operating tools. As Santiago reached down, his hand trembled a little, but he stilled it.
“I have to do this,” I heard him mumble.
No, you don’t.
His hand closed around the instrument. Then he straightened his posture, preparing.
Santiago’s hand sliced out, not with the needle, but with the scalpel. He caught Ivy completely by surprise. Her eyes popped open and her mouth dropped just as blood gushed out from a straight red line across her neck.
She grabbed her throat, stumbling back, smashing into equipment, and sending it clattering all over the floor. Blood spilled down her neck and saturated her collar.
“You made me,” Santiago said, standing over her. “I didn’t want to do this.”
Ivy slumped to the ground. No amount of pressure could stop the blood that was soaking her clothes and now the floor.
Santiago turned to me, pressing his hand on my arm. “Lila, we’ll get you help. Just hold on.” He pressed my hand to his lips.
My elation at not having lost Santiago evaporated as I saw what was happening with Ivy.
She was using magic to heal her throat! The cut sealed itself. Slowly, she began to rise behind Santiago.
Santiago, look out!
But nothing got through. He didn’t pivot or try to defend himself. He just stood there, watching me, eyes heavy with concern.
Quicker than lightning, Ivy grabbed the syringe from the tray and plunged it into Santiago's neck.
He cried out, stumbling back, the poison spreading to every corner of his body, as it had done with me.
Santiago fell to the floor, his legs betraying him as Ivy gripped the table and mopped up the blood on her freshly-healed neck.
He shook his head in shock. “I thought... you said... magic was the root of all that was wrong with the world.” He struggled to get the words out as his limbs lost their strength.
My broken heart shattered as I watched him sag unable to do anything.
Ivy squatted beside him. “It’s a shame. You would’ve made such a wonderful apprentice.” She reached out to touch his neck, but stopped. “Where’s your surgery scar?”
Santiago’s hand shot out, latching onto Ivy’s throat. “I never went through with it. Like you, it seems.”
A blast blew through the room like a atom bomb. Energy like staring into the eye of my lighthouse blinded me. When it died down, Santiago was hovering off the ground in a golden cocoon, his body vibrating so fast he was difficult to see.
Ivy was pressed against the back wall, her shocked expression covering her whole face. “How?”
Santiago held out his hands. “Like you said. I’m stronger than I appear.”
A blast of energy blotted out the world. My consciousness faded.
But warm hands brought me back.
I felt my body rise as if I were being levitated by a world-class magician. Then the vibrating started, first as if Santiago had laid me on a clothes dryer, then faster and faster. Every particle of my being was shivering, the bonds that held my cells together loosening until I became a cloud of floating atoms. Warmth spreading out around me, I soared toward the ceiling.
It was the most glorious feeling I’ve ever experienced.
When it subsided, I was almost sad. But then Santiago’s face appeared in front of me, still glowing with golden light. His arms held me to his chest as he gazed into my face. “Don’t worry, Lila. It’ll all be better from here.”
Chapter 20
Santiago brought my hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the extended tips of my fingers. My eyes stretched wide open at the sight of my smooth and blemish-free skin.
I pulled away from his grasp. We were on the floor, surrounded by fallen pieces of medical equipment. Turning my hand over, I marveled at the perfection.
“You… you…” I touched my fingers to my throat. My voice wasn’t raspy anymore. I sounded like myself. “I’m… I’m…” I would have cried from joy and relief, but I was still parched.
Santiago nodded and smiled, kneeling beside me. “You’ll be fine, Amor,” he said. “One day you will recall this day as nothing but a nightmare. There’s only one problem...” He let the word hang.
Panic squeezed my heart. I wanted to run a hand down my face to make sure eve
ry part was still there, but I was afraid to find my nose or my lips were gone.
“You are bald as a bowling ball,” he said with a devastated expression.
I frowned. That was it? I didn’t have hair? That didn’t matter. I wasn’t in excruciating pain anymore, and that was enough for me.
“No eyebrows, no eyelashes.”
It didn’t sound so terrible—not when I considered he healed most of me. I could live without hair. It would probably grow back.
“Uh… it’s okay, Santiago,” I said. “You healed me. I can—”
Behind Santiago, something moved. My eyes homed in on Ivy’s rising figure.
Noticing my alarmed expression, Santiago began to turn, but he wasn’t fast enough.
Ivy picked up a metal tray and slammed it across his face. Santiago’s head whipped back, and he toppled over, falling face down over my naked body.
“No!” I screamed, catching him as he fell. His weight pinned me to the floor, making me immobile.
Ivy hovered over us, the tray still in one hand, her blood-soaked lab coat rising and falling as she panted. She let the tray go, and it clattered to the floor.
Santiago moaned and blinked, starting to push up as I tried to help him along, but Ivy put a stylish pump to his back and forced him down.
“Indeed you are powerful,” Ivy said, her green eyes traveling the length of my body. “But so inexperienced yet. With time, you might have learned to channel your magic in more than one way, but you have quite spent yourself with that blast of healing power, haven’t you?” She took a hand to her neck and nodded approvingly. “Thank you, by the way. Not even the slightest scar will remain.”
Hoping to take her by surprise and trip her, I slid my arms from under Santiago and tried to grab her ankle, but she jumped back too quickly. Santiago rolled away from me and came up to his feet in a low, predatory squat. He looked unsteady, but ready to face our enemy with whatever he had left.
Without thinking, I found myself standing, too. I was naked, but it barely registered. I was glad to have my skin back on and actually have chance to fight this sycophantic bitch.
To my surprise, Ivy chuckled. “And what do you think you will do now? Give your catastrophic powers another try, Lila? You already killed Black Rock.” Her voice broke a little at the mention of his name. “Are you ready to add Santiago to that list?”
A commotion outside drew our attention to the door. Without warning, Santiago ran toward the keypad Ivy had activated. It didn’t seem he would know how to unlock it, but Ivy didn’t let him get anywhere near it anyway. Instead, she lifted a hand and clenched it into a fist. Santiago froze on the spot.
With the kind of control and precision none of us possessed, Ivy jerked her hand upward and then down. Santiago’s body shot up, crashed against the ceiling, then plummeted to the floor. He crumbled like a heap of broken bones and didn’t get up again.
Such strong magic for someone who professed not to need it.
A few bangs sounded at the door, yet it seemed nothing could breach it.
“He will still help me, whether he wants to or not,” she said, turning her attention from Santiago to me. “Now you.” Her hand went up and curled into a claw.
My windpipe closed shut. My feet came off the floor.
“I have no use for you.”
I could feel my power thrumming inside me, heat building up. The sensation was familiar now, and I knew all I had to do was let go, and this room and all its contents would burn, burn, burn. What I didn’t know was who would live and who would die? And as much as I wanted to make Ivy suffer, I couldn’t put Santiago through what I had just experienced. If I did nothing, if I let Ivy kill me, at least he would live and, maybe, have a chance to escape her.
Judging by the satisfaction in Ivy’s eyes, she had reasoned all of this as well, and knew she had me. I would not sacrifice Santiago.
I could not attack.
As soon as Ivy saw the decision had clicked in the back of my mind, she increased her chokehold, completely cutting my air flow. I closed my eyes.
A hum filled the room. My skin tingled as the air crackled with an electric buzz. My eyes sprang open just as the door burst open and blue lightning hissed into the room, hitting many of the metal surfaces and snapping with power.
Tom, Ki, and Fang marched in shoulder-to-shoulder, murder in their eyes.
Ki! He was on his feet. Something inside me unclenched. I’d been worried about him all along, and seeing him was a great relief. I didn’t know how to process the fact that Ivy had saved him, and yet she was doing all of this.
As soon as Tom realized Ivy had a hold of me, he focused his energy and sent a blast of light straight toward her chest.
Her hold of me ceased as she shifted to a defensive position and released her own electric energy against Tom’s. Blue and green magic collided, crackling like an electric storm.
I crashed to my knees, coughing, a hand to my throat.
Ki and Fang rushed to my side.
“Lila,” Ki put an arm around my waist, helped me to my feet, and began to drag me toward the door.
I shook my head and pointed. “Santiago,” I said in a hoarse voice that sent me into another coughing fit.
Help him! I said telepathically this time, realizing it would work again.
“I’ll get him. You two go!” Fang said, hurrying to Santiago’s fallen shape.
Electric sparks rained all round us. Tom’s knees bent under the pressure of Ivy’s attack, his blue magic quickly being overtaking by her green force.
Ki, Fang get them out of here! Tom’s desperate message broke through our private channel. I can hold her long enough for you to get to the platform and fly away.
A jaw muscle jumping as he clenched his teeth, Ki began to pull me out of the room once more. I stood my ground and shook my head.
We have to help him.
Ki seemed torn between taking us to safety and helping Tom.
There’s nothing we can do, Ki said.
Tom was nearly on his knees, arms over his head, face twisted in a grimace of effort.
Hurry, guys. Fang was by the door already, dragging Santiago by the arms, feet trailing behind.
Please, I begged of Ki, our eyes locking. The understanding of our impossible situation flowed between us.
He shook his head. You’re too strong. I’m too weak.
His head lowered in shame, and I knew he would start trying to drag me out again. Should I let him? Would my risky behavior put everyone, not just Tom, in danger again? Had I learned nothing?
My heart broke in two as I squeezed Ki’s hand and said, Let’s go.
I took a step toward the door, but Ki held me back.
I have an idea, he said, as I felt him reach into my mind.
His thoughts always brushed mine when we communicated telepathically, but this was different, similar to that time I’d been in Santiago’s head, the day Tara Palmer sent me a challenge through the dragon grapevine.
Show me your power, Ki said.
Except it wasn’t a voice; it was more like a feeling, Ki’s actual wish to see within me and understand. Through this silent messaging, I knew what he intended to do, and I immediately realized it was our only hope to save Tom and destroy Ivy.
I gave Ki a nod of assent.
In that instant, we both understood that if this failed, it could mean our death. We also understood that we were alright with it. For Tom. For others Ivy might hurt. For who we had become together: a single unit that could not be torn apart, not without giving it our all.
Ki stepped behind me, placing his hands around my waist. I turned to Ivy, then extended my hands in her direction.
I opened myself up to Ki, letting him even deeper than he already was. He saw into me, stared at my power, that throbbing mass of heat, and examined it from every angle until he understood exactly how it worked.
When he was done, he invited me to do the same. He let me in, and we merged. I saw and full
y grasped the way he used his skills to control people’s minds. At the same time, I realized why his power was a mere trickle while mine was out of control.
I see, a single thought formed in unison.
While I was force and peril, Ki was gentleness and care.
Yin and yang.
My hands began to glow, the heat of my power tempered by Ki’s tranquil manner. He held me back, reining my energy back into place as it threatened to erupt.
The glow in my hands built up, escalating.
Tom was on the floor, barely holding Ivy back with the last bit of magic left in him.
I urged Ki to hurry while he bid me to wait just a little longer. My body vibrated, and I felt I would implode if I didn’t do something right away.
Yet, Ki held me back a little longer.
Just when I thought Tom would be destroyed, and it had all been in vain, Ki set me free.
Red fire, like a laser beam, exploded from my hands and shot in Ivy’s direction. She was so distracted with Tom and confident of herself and our ineptitude that all she managed to do before my magic hit her was form a small “o” of surprise with her pretty mouth.
Fire engulfed her in an instant.
Turning her magic away from Tom, she focused it on fighting back the flames that lapped at her skin like waves against the hull of a boat. A fire storm raged around her, enveloping her, all that power and skill she’d boasted about barely able to fight back.
Even though it felt like an eternity, it was only an instant before Ivy dropped to the floor, twitching and looking exactly the way Black Rock and I had.
Understanding the horror all too well, I turned away from the awful sight, threw my arms around Ki, and buried my face in his neck.
It was finally over.
Chapter 21
Ki gently drew me out of the room and I let him, feeling too exhausted and emotional to deal with all that had just happened. Ivy was dead. Black Rock, too, was gone. That information still swirled around my brain, never landing. How could someone so large, so omnipotent be dead? It felt like saying God was dead. It just couldn’t be possible.
Perilous: The Dragon’s Creed Series Book 3 Page 13