by Lucia Ashta
She started to scream, but was silenced mid-squelch, as the light rocketed through her like a bolt of lightning. Her back arched, her chest jutted forward, and her entire body grew rigid.
Wizard Meedles rushed toward her. He positioned his body behind hers, his hands approaching the front of her shoulders. But then he halted before actually touching her.
I realized why. He was preparing for the shock of the light or spell or whatever it actually was to include him the instant he made contact with her.
“Don’t,” Madame Pimlish said, more softly than I suspected she’d ever said anything in her life.
“But—” Wizard Meedles started to complain.
She didn’t let him finish. “Don’t.” She grimaced and clenched her teeth against the swell of power running through her.
That couldn’t be it! The firedrakes weren’t going to make it much longer. How could they? No body was designed to endure this, even a scaled, fire-breathing one.
I got to my feet, drawing Nando and Walt’s alarmed glances. (I hadn’t stood since I came back to life.) But if no one was going to intervene, I was.
I was about to push away Nando and Walt’s hands, when Sir Lancelot said, “Don’t interfere, Lady Isadora.”
“But they’re going to die,” I whisper shouted.
“I hope they don’t, but it seems there’s a chance they will. Either way, I suspect they’d prefer death than life trapped in bodies that aren’t theirs.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because it’s the truth.”
“I have to do something. I managed to break this loop of... whatever it is once before.”
“Isa, no!” Nando said.
But Sir Lancelot was the one to still me with his astute, serious eyes. “Trust Madame Pimlish. There truly is no one better for this task.”
I flared my nostrils but agreed. “Fine,” I said, petulant, working to suppress every instinct that urged me forward.
The light continued to whip the firedrakes, and now Madame Pimlish, with fury. The firedrakes were so pale it was difficult to tell what color their scales had been.
Madame Pimlish was sweating and shaking. Her teeth were clenched and her expression was one of grim determination.
She wasn’t giving up, and that was something.
Tension built among the onlookers until it was a wall of palpable nerves. This wasn’t going as planned, on any level. Even Mordecai appeared nervous, and Marcelo and Brave looked as if they were also considering intervening.
I thought of something I could do! Something no one else could. At least, I believed I’d be able to do it.
Elwin! I called out through my mind, willing my words to reach to the indigo-scaled firedrake who was no longer behind me, but pacing around the circumference of the light circle.
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to speak with him like this. He’d spoken to me through my mind, but I’d talked to him aloud. Elwin, I tried again. Can you hear me?
No, I can’t hear you. But I can sense the meaning of your words.
Leave it to Elwin to be obtuse even in an emergency. Are they in danger of dying? I didn’t need to specify who they was, not even to Elwin. There was no way he wouldn’t understand who I was referring to.
It’s more difficult for me to feel into these firedrakes since they are human.
Wait. Did that mean he could connect to the other firedrakes somehow? Fascinating... and a topic of consideration for later.
But from what I sense, I do believe they are close to leaving their bodies.
Then I’m going to do something.
You’re going to touch the circle? Like you did last time to save me?
Yes. I hadn’t known until that moment that was what I planned on doing. It had worked last time. Sure, it had killed me, but I was alive, wasn’t I? Maybe I could come back to life a second time if I died all over again. At least I knew now that I’d be able to communicate to the others through Elwin. It could work... just as much as it couldn’t.
There is strength in numbers, Elwin said just as I decided to act. You aren’t alone.
You’re right! What if we all took on some of the power of the breaking spell? If we filtered it through all of us, maybe none of us would die.
Then I remembered that when I’d stepped in the last time, the power had been dispersed across Arianne and seventeen firedrakes. And I’d still died.
No, I wouldn’t bring anyone else into my harebrained plan. I’d only endanger them, and it didn’t seem as if it would make a difference anyhow.
I’m the only one who’s proven I can come back to life after death. It has to be me, Elwin.
Then, before I could think better of it, I marched right up to Madame Pimlish’s side.
Before anyone could tell me not to, I reached for the crackling light.
Chapter 6
I fully expected to take on the brunt of a lightning strike. I also expected my actions to diminish the power running through Madame Pimlish long enough for her to complete the spell or whatever it was she needed to do to end this and return the five firedrakes to the people they were.
What I didn’t anticipate was for Elwin to spring into action more quickly than I did. And I really didn’t predict that he’d manage to get every other one of the firedrakes to jump in to dilute the strength of the crackling light before I was able to touch it.
The moment I reached for the line of light that arced out from the five firedrakes to encompass Madame Pimlish, the other dozen firedrakes, including Elwin, along with Sylvia and Mathieu, thrust their wing tips into the flow of energy.
Had I been able to, I would have touched the five firedrakes in the middle of it all, since I had no intention of accidentally forging some bond with the woman as I had with Elwin. But Madame Pimlish was closest.
I barely registered what the other firedrakes were doing at first. The zap of electric power was intense enough to shake loose any thought and plan I’d had.
My own body went entirely rigid, as if I were long dead, before I realized I wasn’t dead at all. In fact, I was in so much pain that I was absolutely certain I wasn’t dead. Every nerve in my body was on fire. I think I might have screamed, but I wasn’t sure. My brain was fast becoming muddled, and precise thought, a dream.
I tried to make out what had happened to the other firedrakes, or even the five firedrakes who were actually people, but I had no luck. I registered vague impressions only: cries of alarm, movement all around us, and the all-consuming rush of electricity, which I was starting to fear might be frying me from the inside.
I lost sense of time. All I was capable of doing was holding on for dear life. In passing, I registered the irony that I’d only just returned from death after a similar experience. But I couldn’t hold onto the thought. Neither could I hold on to my concern over Nando and how he must be freaking out about what I’d done.
I just hoped he’d be smarter than I and stay away. Nothing good would come of his intervention now.
I was locked into this with a whole lot of firedrakes and one woman who was nearly as bad as the great Lady Gosselin whom she detested.
My teeth chattered. I swear even my eyeballs had started to rattle when I heard a terrible and imperious roar.
I registered that they were words, and that Madame Pimlish was probably the one to have spoken them. But beyond that there was nothing more than agony and the dwindling strength I needed to hold on.
Next the power surged to levels I was sure no living organism could withstand. My insides were liquifying. My brain was mush. All hope was gone.
I wanted to let go—I was actually desperate to let go. But I couldn’t. The force of the breaking transformation spell was enough to hold me right where I was against my will.
The energy pulsed one more terrible time, pushing my sanity to the edge of breaking, and then... it waned.
Just like that, it was retreating. Like a tsunami, it’d done its damage and now was rolling back.
My hands plucked free of the light as it diminished, and my arms fell limply to my sides. I wondered if my legs would be able to support my weight just as they gave out.
Someone caught me as I fell, and leaned me into his arms. I wanted to see who it was, hoping it was Nando and that he was all right, but my eyes had a will of their own. They shut in relief, blocking out the outside world for just a few moments.
I was only able to draw in shallow breaths at first. When I managed to pull in a deep inhale, it wracked through my body in spasms. But I wasn’t about to complain. I was alive, and every ache that throbbed throughout my body was proof of it.
“Isa,” a voice said, sounding as if it was coming from far away.
“Isa, wake up.” The voice was already desperate, and it was definitely Nando’s.
“I’m not asleep,” I garbled, my tongue unwieldy and thick, but working. That meant my insides weren’t mush. Good news.
“Then open your eyes.”
“Hmmm.” Couldn’t he see I was worn out? Couldn’t everyone just leave me alone?
“Look at me.”
No, apparently not. But since I’d already put my brother through too much torment for one day, I struggled to comply. I squinted, but they were open. “There.” I sounded like the town drunkard.
“Are you all right?” Nando asked, desperation tinting every syllable.
“Yes.” I wasn’t sure I was, but he looked so worried, I wouldn’t say anything else.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Totally sure?”
I groaned. “Yes.” I blinked up at him, hoping the blur in my vision would go away. It was as if I were looking at him underwater.
He sat haphazardly on the grass, and I lay in his arms across his lap. I considered sitting up, but just the thought of it was too much. So I remained right where I was.
Then Walt’s face appeared above mine. “Is she all right?” he asked Nando even though I was staring right up at him.
“She says so, but she doesn’t look all right.”
I’m right here, sillies, I thought, only realizing later that I’d meant to say the words not think them.
Sir Lancelot appeared in my field of vision next, flying in to land on Walt’s shoulder. He blinked comically at me and I smiled.
“She isn’t fine,” Nando said. “Look, she’s grimacing.”
No, I’m smiling.
“You’re right,” Walt said. “She must be in pain. What do you think, Sir Lancelot?”
“I think she’s mighty fortunate to have survived at all after what she did.” He peered down at me. “And quite courageous too, it would seem.”
“Courageous?” Mordecai said from somewhere I couldn’t see. “That wasn’t courageous. That was foolish.”
“Oh, shush,” Arianne’s voice said. “If she hadn’t done what she did, those firedrakes would have died.”
So they made it?
“Prudence had it in hand,” he argued.
“That transformation spell was so dark and so strong that even after the binding curse was broken it still almost took her down. Had Prudence been any less of an expert at what she does, I have no doubt it would have killed her. It might have even killed her this time if Isa hadn’t done what all of us wanted to do.”
“Not me. I knew to wait.”
“Then you might have waited through everyone’s death.” Arianne snapped at Mordecai, something she rarely did. “Prudence was losing the fight, and you know it.”
The fact that Madame Pimlish wasn’t immediately jumping to her defense told me she was probably sprawled out in a heap on the ground somewhere, just as I was. Likely playing the role of damsel in distress in Wizard Meedles’ hold.
Elwin? Even my mental voice was weak.
Yes?
Oh no, you sound awful. Are you all right?
You aren’t actually hearing me. I survived, but I’ve been better.
If he was up to correcting me about our telepathic mode of communication, I suspected he was going to be just fine—a year or two from now maybe. That’s how I felt, at least, like the ability to lead a normal life was terribly far away.
Arianne and Mordecai were going back and forth, but I could only focus on one thing at a time. Are the others all right too?
Those firedrakes who helped are as well as you and I.
So not that great.
Precisely.
And the initial ones? The ones Madame Pimlish was trying to transform back?
They survived.
That’s it. They just... survived?
For now.
Well, I suppose that’s something. I swallowed away the lump forming in my throat.
Considering they were almost dead, it is something indeed.
They will recover though... right?
I believe so, but I can’t predict the future. Their bodies are weaker now than they were when they were firedrakes. That will make it harder for them to recover. Our bodies are much more resilient than those of people.
I’m sure they are, I sent to him before I registered all that he’d said. Wait, they’re human?
It sounded like he was laughing at me—though of course he’d say it didn’t sound like he was doing anything. Yes, he said, and I was sure he was laughing at me.
So it worked? They’re back to being people?
I’m not sure how well it worked, but they are undoubtedly people.
Who are they?
I don’t know. I’ve never seen them before. Elwin seemed thoughtful. They’re magicians though, of that I’m certain.
Good magicians? Or dark sorcerers?
That’s precisely what I was wondering.
You don’t know.
I don’t know everything.
He knew a whole bunch more than me—enough to fill an entire library.
“Are they good or bad?” I asked Nando with urgency.
“Who?”
“The firedrakes?”
“The firedrakes with us are good.” He spoke to me slowly, a bit as if I were a child.
“Not Elwin and Sylvia and Mathieu and all of them. The five. The ones who’re human.”
“Oh. Wait, how’d you know they were human?”
“Elwin told me.”
He arched an eyebrow at that while Walt sounded confused. “Elwin?”
I ignored them. “Are they good or bad?”
Nando diverted his attention from me for the first time since I’d collapsed in his arms, and Sir Lancelot flew away—to go see for himself, I presumed.
“They’re asleep,” Walt said.
“You’re sure they aren’t dead?” I croaked.
“No.”
“Never mind. Elwin told me they were alive.”
Walt and Nando shared a look. Again, I ignored them. “What do they look like?”
“Like normal people.”
“That’s super helpful, Walt,” I said, finding that my tongue was working better, and my mind was starting to function like it normally did. What a relief. I was neither dead nor permanently impaired—at least, I didn’t think I was.
Nando, responding to my sarcasm, said, “A man, woman, and three adolescents from the look of it.”
“A family?”
“Maybe.”
“Help me sit up so I can see.”
Just then Count Vabu spoke, loud enough for all of us to hear. “They have the mark of the SMS.”
Then chaos broke out all over again.
Chapter 7
“What do you mean they carry the mark of the SMS?” Marcelo asked, peering suspiciously at the bodies of what I was sure must be a family. The children looked far too similar to the man and woman not to be related to them, which made their captivity in the bodie
s of firedrakes all the more curious.
“Is it a branding of some sort?” Mordecai followed up before Count Vabu had the chance to answer.
“No, nothing like that,” the tall, elegant vampire said. “I suppose I should have expressed myself more clearly.”
“You should have,” Mordecai said with impatience but no ill will.
“It’s more a taint, shall I say? An impression left behind by the dark magic after they’ve interacted with it. The magic of those associated with the SMS has a specific flavor to it.”
“So it isn’t something that would remain behind because the SMS spelled them?” Gustave asked.
The vampire was already shaking his head, every black hair staying right where it was supposed to as he did. “No, that’s different. This is a stain that remains linked to them once they’ve used the same brand of magic as the SMS.”
All of us, even those who were in the midst of recovering, had rushed as best we could over to the unconscious bodies of the five humans we didn’t know. We formed a motley circle around their bodies, peering down at them.
Although my attention was riveted by the five people, who might hold both answers and threats, my eyes moved toward Count Vabu. His gaze flicked toward his sister, who stood at his side, so quickly that I wasn’t sure I’d actually seen it.
Hmm. The way he did that was... strange, almost as if he recognized this branding of the SMS because he’d sensed it in Priscilla. Of course, I might be thinking that only because I was aware that the staff magicians of the academy were leery of her because of her rumored associations with dark magic.
I wasn’t sure what I’d seen, but I was plenty suspicious. When Count Vabu continued, I returned to studying the family on the ground. “I’m certain that at some point they’ve done dark magic while in the employ of the Sorcerers for Magical Supremacy.”
“But you don’t know whether or not they’re still associated with the SMS?” Gustave asked.
“No, though it’s clear that they were cursed into the bodies of those firedrakes by someone of the SMS.”
“Maurisse himself, I’d guess,” Mordecai said, continuing to sound bitter about the betrayal of the head of the Magical Council.