Quest Maker
Page 24
He gave Ms. Jackson his most charming of smiles. “You’re looking old, Ms. Jackson.”
She raised the ladle as if she was going to strike him. Rath Dunn, however, caught her arm. “Now, now. It seems that little enchantress is more devious than we thought.”
Ms. Jackson then looked ready to strike Rath Dunn. He released her arm.
“Don’t be upset; as acting principal, I’ve pardoned all teachers and staff from the events of the last week,” Rath Dunn said. “Don’t make me reconsider.”
Ms. Jackson looked at him coldly.
“And you can have her soon enough. The others, too. As many children as you need.”
That seemed to appease her somewhat. Not Caden, however. He straightened his posture. “No,” he said. “You can’t have Jane. You can’t have any of them.”
“Of course we can. You’ll help us,” Rath Dunn said.
Caden felt cornered, but he had to stay brave. “I’ll stop you.”
Rath Dunn walked around the desk. “You will do as I tell you.”
An order. But the moon was days past half-full. “I must decline,” Caden said. Suddenly, he felt vulnerable in the office. He stood in front of the desk, trapped between the heavy door, an enraged lunch witch, and the gleeful math tyrant. “I should return to class.”
“I’m not done with you yet,” Rath Dunn said, his voice a wolf’s growl. He looked Caden up and down, then turned to Ms. Jackson. “What do you think?”
She sniffed Caden’s hair. “There’s definitely some magic attached to him. It’s faint, at the moment.”
From outside, there was a loud thud and a screech. The door swung open a moment later. Jasan stood there. He was dressed in black slacks and a long-sleeved blue shirt, the cuff pulled over his magically attached hand.
“What’s going on here?” he said in the common tongue.
Rath Dunn motioned to Jasan’s hand. He, too, spoke the common tongue. “Nice trick. You’ll have to show me how you did that one day. Not that it will matter in the end. Now, get out. You’ve got a class to prepare.” He smiled. “And I’ve a student to discipline. I can’t let this school’s reputation fall into even deeper disrepair, can I?”
Blood trickled around Jasan’s sleeve. It wasn’t like his hand was severed, however. It was more like a modest cut—the enchanted paper clip chain countered the blood dagger, but not completely. Jasan took a step forward. “I’m taking my brother. Best you let him go.”
“Don’t try it, boy,” Rath Dunn said. “I’m head of this school. Show some respect, or you’ll be terminated. Ms. Primrose remains part of that committee.”
“Before she lost this position,” Caden said, “Ms. Primrose gave Jasan special accommodations.”
“Excuse me?” Rath Dunn said.
“He has permission to be difficult as long as he teaches his class.”
Rath Dunn looked curious. “Is that so?”
“Like you,” Caden said, “I don’t lie.”
“That won’t keep you from being punished.”
Caden knew what to say to that. He raised a brow. “Disciplining students is the vice principal’s job. Not yours.” He moved back to Jasan. When he was out of reach, Caden said, “She’ll eat you one day. You understand.”
Rath Dunn laughed. “I’ve broken no rules.”
“You cut off Jasan’s hand!”
“One, it looks like it’s still attached. Two, I’ve pardoned everyone for those events. It’s my discretion as acting principal. With everything that happened, many people were confused. I won’t hold their behavior against them. And, three, let’s be honest,” he said, and motioned to the place where Caden had been cut by the blood dagger months earlier, “a little blood’s never bothered her.” He walked back to the desk and made a show of stretching in the chair. “If you want, I’ll put an incident report in both our employee files.” He opened the desk drawer and pulled out two purple forms. Then he looked in the drawer again. “Now, what’s this?” He reached back into the drawer and pulled out a bottle of perfume. He sniffed it, then tossed it to Caden. “Take that to our dear vice principal. I’ve taken what I need from it.”
Caden looked at the bottle in his hand. It was medium sized and of beveled crystal. The liquid inside had a pinkish tint, and smelled strongly of roses.
“Let’s go,” Jasan said.
Before they closed the door, Rath Dunn yelled out, “You two aren’t nearly as much fun as your brother Maden,” and broke into booming laughter.
Jasan froze for a moment, then slammed the door shut behind them. They walked back down the long hall. Once they were alone, Caden turned to him. “I’m surprised you didn’t lose your temper and attack him.”
“Desirae is counseling me on anger management. Besides, I’m uncertain how stable my right hand is. With his current position, your Elderdragon might be obliged to guard him.” He turned. “Still, she’s angry at him.”
The halls were so cold, Caden’s skin pimpled, his breath fogged. “I can tell.”
“The minute he makes a mistake, she’ll act on it.”
“He makes few mistakes, Jasan.”
“Don’t overestimate him,” Jasan said. “He’s already made mistakes. He failed to kill me. That’s a mistake. He’s trying to control the Elderdragon. That’s like leashing a blizzard. It won’t last. He’s foolish.”
Jasan was sounding less like his banished surly self, and more like his normal surly self. Was his brother ready to fight? The obstacles were many. “As foolish as he is,” Caden said, “Ms. Primrose is still under Rath Dunn’s control.”
“Only as much as he was under hers. No one can truly control an Elderdragon. We should talk to her. She might not be able to remove Rath Dunn, not yet, but she could give us information on magic, on the realms, on how to contact home. If Rath Dunn can do it with dark magic, it can be done, and maybe in less-wicked ways.”
“He has allies here.”
“So do we.” Jasan rubbed his wrist, thoughtfully. “We’ve got an enchantress and a powerful spellcaster. We’ve the allegiance of the Conqueror and Ninth King of the Seven Deserts.” At Caden’s confused expression, he added, “Manglor. Ward’s father.”
“And we have Sir Tito,” Caden said. “Don’t forget him.”
Jasan ran his hand through his hair. “But we must stop Rath Dunn here, and Maden there. Too many perished in the last war. And this city and these people would be the first casualties in another.”
Caden looked at him. “Does this mean you’ll forgive Father and the others?”
Jasan’s eyes flashed. His cheeks turned red. “I’ll never forgive them.” He clenched his fist and glared at a locker like he was about to hit it. He breathed in and out for a moment. Counting, Caden thought, like Rosa did when she was angry. After a moment, he spoke again. “But I don’t want the city destroyed or Razzon conquered.” He let out a breath. “I don’t want our father and brothers dead.”
Perhaps there was hope for Jasan and the others to reconcile.
Jasan clenched his jaw. “I want them to beg me for forgiveness,” he said, his voice a pitted blade, “and I want to refuse them.”
Perhaps not. Caden looked up at his brother and raised his brow.
“They need to be alive for that,” Jasan said.
At least Jasan would fight, would protect those he loved even if he couldn’t forgive them. In this dark time, with Rath Dunn close to his goal, they must unite. They must stop the villains to save both Asheville and the Greater Realm.
With Brynne, Tito, and Jane, they would be formidable. Maybe Ms. Primrose would help them. If Caden said the right thing, offered the right words, she might. If Caden couldn’t prove his honor by slaying a dragon, perhaps he could by charming one.
My sincerest thanks to my awesome agent, David Dunton, and to my excellent editor, Jocelyn Davies. Thanks to everyone at HarperCollins who helped me make this book happen and to the wonderful cover artist, Eric Deschamps.
I’d like t
o tell my family—my mom, Pat; my brother, Orren; my sister and also critique partner, Sarah; my brother-in-law, Stephen; and my nephew, Edward, and niece, Marie—how much I appreciate all they do for me.
Also, I appreciate the support from all the Balls, from Quin and Tamera, and from my good friends Janie, Adrienne, and Amy, who are always great company for a Friday dinner; from my writing buddy Kat and fellow writer Dawn Reno Langley; and from my friends Lorrie, Krista, Laura, and Sam.
I’d especially like to thank my good friend Christine for being the type of friend I can see every day or every decade yet who I always feel like I just spoke to yesterday.
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About the Author
Photo by Sarah Ball
LAURIE MCKAY is also the author of Villain Keeper, the first book in the Last Dragon Charmer series. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her master’s degree in biological oceanography from North Carolina State University. She’s taught at the Chesapeake Bay Governor’s School for Marine and Environmental Science and in the North Carolina community college system. Laurie lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her family and her two dogs. When she’s not dodging students and prepping lab activities, she’s sitting at a local coffee shop and daydreaming about all things fantastical. Follow her on Twitter @McKayLL and visit her online at www.lauriemckay.net.
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Credits
Cover art © 2016 by Eric Deschamps
Cover design by Bob Steimle
Copyright
THE LAST DRAGON CHARMER BOOK 2: QUEST MAKER. Copyright © 2016 by Laurie McKay. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2015943569
ISBN 978-0-06-230846-7 (trade bdg.)
EPub Edition © January 2016 ISBN 9780062308481
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FIRST EDITION
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