by Lisa McMann
“The cavelands.”
“That seems like a reasonably safe place,” Maiven pointed out. “But I agree the sudden change seems suspect.”
Rohan looked at the note. “So, wait. I’m confused on where we think everyone is. If we believe Fifer to be at Ashguard’s palace, and we believe the Revinir is holding her hostage there and forcing her to write these notes… where is Thisbe? Also at Ashguard’s palace, despite Fifer telling us she went to the castle?”
“Potentially,” said Simber. “If so, the Rrrevinirrr has set up a strrrange and unnecessarrrily complex rrruse to keep us frrrom finding them.”
“Why would the Revinir tell Fifer to make us come, and then try to keep us from finding them?” Florence shook her head wearily. “This is getting complicated.”
“I’m starting to think we’re the ones making it complicated,” said Ishibashi in a quiet voice.
Aaron looked at the man. He knew the old scientist didn’t speak often in situations where someone else was leading. But when he did, it was usually something impactful. So Aaron took Ishibashi seriously. “The simplest answer is often the right one? Is that what you’re saying?”
Ishibashi’s lips tightened into a line. “I don’t want it to be true, but perhaps it is.”
Rohan was growing more distraught over it all. And the evolving discussion now seemed to swing in the direction of all of this really being true. He had to get some answers. Find out the truth about all of this. His broken heart longed to know, one way or another. Was Thisbe really betraying all of them? Or was something else going on?
He slid down Gorgrun’s wing onto the island, too caught up in the Thisbe and Fifer saga to spend much time worrying about traveling via volcano. He pulled the component out of his pocket again and looked at the note he’d barely started. His heart was heavy. Could he risk this? What would happen if he did? But also… what would happen if he didn’t reach out? Maybe, if Thisbe had really followed her dark side to the Revinir, he could be the one to stop the worst from happening.
He sat down in a quiet spot and pulled out the pencil, then continued where he’d left off.
Thisbe,
How could you do this? To me, and to all of us? Please reconsider. I’m devastated. I await your explanation while clinging to hope and love.
Rohan
The ground shivered. Sky shouted a warning and a reminder to everyone: “Be ready! Just a minute or two and we’ll all go down. Stick together if you can and aim for the first portal!”
Rohan quickly reread the note. His hands were sweating. Should he send it? Or not? Did he sound desperate? Afraid? Angry? He shouldn’t have said “love.”
The pencil had no eraser. As Rohan’s heart pounded faster and faster, the ground began to shake more and more. “Rohan!” Maiven called out. “Come join me, please.”
Rohan gripped the component and rushed toward Maiven just as the volcano shook again. He grabbed the queen by the hand and tried to take a few deep breaths. When the volcano began to descend, Rohan squeezed his eyes shut. He concentrated. And as water came up around his ankles, he whispered, “Send.”
A Major Wrinkle
Thisbe opened her room door and ran into her servant, who’d been newly assigned to her apartment to watch Thisbe’s every move. “Oh,” said Thisbe. “Hello. I’m ready to speak with the Revinir again.” She hesitated. “What is your name?”
The woman, whose eyes were glazed with mind control, didn’t answer. She went down the hallway and stopped, then turned and looked at Thisbe as if she expected her to follow. Thisbe hastily grabbed her wooden dagger, shoved it into her belt, and closed her door. Then she went after the servant, straightening her vest and double-checking her inner pocket. Everything was where it should be.
They returned to the ballroom, where several servants awaited instructions that might never come. Thisbe’s servant went out to the balcony to let the Revinir know that the girl had returned. The two came back inside.
“Have a seat,” the Revinir said, pointing to a table set for dinner. She sat on her haunches and worked her curly front talons together like a chef sharpening knives. Thisbe didn’t doubt they were just as sharp. Was the dragon-woman trying to intimidate her? If so, it wasn’t a smart tactic. They would have to be on equal ground in order to enter into a partnership, and Thisbe wouldn’t hesitate to remind the Revinir of this every time she tried to take the upper hand.
Thisbe remained standing and put her hands on her hips. She studied the Revinir. “Are you planning to murder me with those glorified fingernails? I’m not sure that’s how a good partnership works.”
The Revinir stopped sharpening her claws. “No. They just… hurt sometimes. When they grow quickly.” She frowned, as if unsure how to handle Thisbe’s bolder personality.
“Great,” said Thisbe. “Then I expect you won’t do that again in my presence. How do we proceed? What has to happen before we can go forward with this plan of yours?”
“I— Just wait a minute,” said the Revinir, sounding frustrated. Smoke drifted from her nostrils. “I’m not sure about this.”
Thisbe stared at the dragon. “You’re… what? I’m sorry. Did I hear you correctly? You’ve asked me more times than I can count to join you. You’ve kidnapped me on multiple occasions with the intent of convincing me to help your selfish cause. Most recently you dropped me onto some falling-apart monstrosity of a palace and left me to fend for myself with the hopes that I would come crawling to you, broken, and finally see the wisdom of your plan. Am I exaggerating?”
“No, but—”
“And now that I have done exactly what you wanted me to do, you are the one having doubts? Is that what’s happening here?”
“I have questions!” the Revinir said sharply. A shower of sparks flew from her mouth and made tiny burn marks on the carpet. The dragon-woman rose to her tallest height.
Thisbe dodged the sparks but didn’t back down. “You have wasted and ruined enough of my life. I don’t care if you have questions.” She held out her arms, covered in scales, and then blew an arc of fire into the room. “You did this to me, and I’ll never be the same again. And now you can’t decide if you want to be my partner? It’s a little late for that, Emma.”
The Revinir recoiled at the use of her given name. She hadn’t heard it in a very long while. “What? H-how?” she sputtered. A roar rose up in her throat, but she held it back, not wanting any extra dragons and servants to come running in right now. She was confused and furious and insecure all at once. And she needed to take back control of this conversation.
The Revinir wrinkled up her snout scornfully. Just as smoke started pouring from her jowls, a ball of light zipped in through the balcony doors and stopped in front of Thisbe.
Thisbe froze and stared at it. And then both of them lunged for it. Thisbe’s touch opened it, and as it melted into her hand, the Revinir grabbed it before the girl had a chance to read it.
“Give me that!” Thisbe screamed. Fire shot from her eyes and fingertips.
“ ‘Thisbe,’ ” the Revinir read in a mocking voice. She stood tall and kept the letter out of Thisbe’s reach. “ ‘How could you do this? To me, and to all of us? Please reconsider. I’m devastated. I await your explanation while clinging to hope and love. Rohan.’ ”
Thisbe’s face burned.
The dragon-woman began to chuckle. “Wow,” she said. “Hope and love? So dramatic.” She eyed Thisbe, who had stopped clawing at the dragon and had given up once she realized who the note was from. But she couldn’t let on how devastating this was. She couldn’t show that she cared the Revinir was reading anything anyone sent her, because that could give away her secret. Thisbe had to act like she’d abandoned everyone in her past life and that this was easy to explain away. The young mage stood tall and narrowed her eyes. Sure, the words from Rohan had hit her hard, and she could almost hear the disappointment and shock in Rohan’s voice. She could fall apart later. But now she had a job to do.
The Revinir moved around Thisbe, studying her closely and trying to get some sense on how the girl was handling this note. Was she moved by it at all? Or had she been playing Rohan all along like she’d played her sister? It was impossible to tell with Thisbe, which frustrated her, but at the same time, it was the thing she most admired.
The dragon-woman read the note again. “Poor Rohan,” she said bitingly. “You’ve devastated your dearest friend. How does that make you feel, Thisbe?”
Thisbe stared straight ahead, fixing her gaze on a large plant that rested on a bejeweled table in the corner. How did it make her feel? Horrible. Awful. Terrible. Like giving up. It made her feel like running away. Like abandoning the plan. Like going in search of Rohan and telling him everything. It made her feel like her chest had been ripped open and her heart sliced by those awful curling claws. It made her want to crumple up in a ball on the floor and die.
She didn’t look at the Revinir. Her eyes didn’t weep, and her voice didn’t waver. She just stared at the plant on the table. “How does it make me feel?” she said, hearing the pride swell up, though she felt none of it. “Of course I’m sad my friend doesn’t understand. But his love guarantees he’ll be on my side eventually.” She turned to look at the Revinir with a gleam in her eye. “Our side, that is. So everything is falling into place.”
Regret
Florence, Simber, the two ghost dragons, and all of the humans exploded out of the first portal and landed in the crater lake in Grimere. Simber and the dragons plucked the humans out of the water and brought them to the narrow path on the shore to collect themselves. It was a bittersweet moment for Rohan and Sky—they’d spent a lot of time here with Thisbe. But they were glad they weren’t staying.
The team was much closer to their destination now, but the skies overhead were filled with dragons in flight. Some of the dragons were watching them. “This isn’t good,” Maiven said, wringing the water out of her braid. “The dragons are everywhere. I’m sure they’ve already gone to tell the Revinir about our arrival.”
Rohan’s expression was slack, and his eyes were half-dead. He didn’t care about the dragons. He could hardly muster up a sense of guilt for employing the send spell to Thisbe. He hoped it didn’t cause a problem, but really… Thisbe was the one causing all of the problems right now. So he didn’t feel too bad about it. “We’re doomed anyway,” he said to Maiven. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Stop that,” said Maiven, harsher than she’d intended.
But her tone seemed to penetrate Rohan’s funk, for his eyes focused on her. “If the simplest explanation is usually the correct one, and if what Fifer is saying is true, then Thisbe really has joined the Revinir and we’ve lost her forever… and possibly our future, too. And if Fifer is being manipulated by the Revinir, we’re all heading for a huge amount of trouble. There’s no good side to any of this.”
Carina spoke up. “You’ve left out the possibility that Fifer is lying of her own accord.”
Seth looked up.
Simber growled. “She wouldn’t do that.”
Carina lifted her chin. “I know it’s hard to hear, and I know she’s not known for lying. But I’m just laying out all of the possibilities,” she said. “We would be foolish not to consider everything.”
Simber nodded. “That’s fairrr. I apologize.” He turned away. “I still think she wouldn’t do it,” he mumbled. Carina let it go.
“She would lie for Thisbe,” Seth said quietly.
Carina glanced sharply at her son. “Do you think that’s what she’s doing now?” she asked. “If so, why? She’s not making Thisbe look very good.”
“I don’t know. Maybe they’re plotting… something. Together. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
Carina frowned, thinking about the notes Fifer had sent. “If they are, I can’t imagine what it could be.”
Rohan glanced over. “Do you mean plotting together against the Revinir? Without telling us?”
Seth nodded. “Yeah,” he said, though nothing made sense.
“I… still don’t see it,” said Carina.
“No,” said Rohan sadly after a minute. “Carina’s right. They wouldn’t do that without telling us. Why would they lie about it when we could help them carry it out? It doesn’t make sense. Nothing does.”
Seth sighed. “I know. I’ve just—I’ve known Thisbe and Fifer almost my whole life. They’re my best friends. I guess I’m looking for any reason to believe that something other than what Fifer wrote is happening. I was… grasping.” He shook his head. Ishibashi was right. The simplest explanation was probably the correct one—that Fifer was telling the truth. And Thisbe had turned her back on all of them.
* * *
After Maiven gave Florence a quick tutorial on where they were, Florence called for everyone’s attention. The ghost dragons hovered above her, for there was no place onshore large enough for them to land between the lake and the mountain that rose up sharply. Florence worriedly eyed the mind-controlled dragons overhead. And she still hadn’t decided what to think about Fifer’s most recent message telling them not to come to her. Was it a trick? Everything that was happening seemed suspect, and there was no telling what was the truth.
The warrior trainer knew she had a lot of great minds in front of her, though. She recapped the situation and reread Fifer’s messages to them. “Now that we’ve had some time to mull this over, what do you make of it?” she asked. “Who thinks we should continue to Ashguard’s palace?”
About half of them raised their hands.
“And the rest think we should follow Fifer’s order to go to the cavelands? Anyone else have an alternate idea?”
Aaron, who hadn’t raised his hand at either suggestion, asked to see the thread of messages. He read each one carefully, looking for hidden clues that would indicate that Fifer was being coerced, but nothing jumped out at him. “My gut says we do what Fifer says.” Like Rohan, his voice was dull. The truth of what Ishibashi had said earlier was starting to sink in. And he still felt strange about it. Like maybe he wasn’t the only evil one in the family. And that thought didn’t give him any comfort. Had his past influenced Thisbe in some way?
“Mine says we go to the palace,” said Carina.
“I also think we should follow Fifer’s command,” said Ishibashi. “Go to the cavelands.”
Sky spoke up. “How about we go to the cavelands to set up camp, and then send a small team in the morning to do a flyover of Ashguard’s palace and check things out?”
Florence nodded. “That sounds like the best plan so far. Gorgrun, is it possible for the dragons to hurt you?”
“It is not,” said Gorgrun. “We are more ghost than dragon.”
“But you cannot harm them, either, correct?”
“Under the Revinir’s spell, they act like enemies, but they are the future of our land. You are correct: We cannot harm them. But we can do our best to protect you from them should the need arise.”
“That’s what I figured,” said Florence. “So you’ll at least give us a safe ride overhead, won’t you?”
“Absolutely,” said Gorgrun. “Perhaps they will hold their fire and listen to us. Though, if I recall, we have not found that to be promising with other dragons under the Revinir’s mind control. If they have been given commands, they will follow through.”
“It’s a start,” Florence said, looking at Simber. “Do you agree?”
“I do,” said Simber. He looked at Maiven and Rohan. “And you?”
Rohan’s face was haggard. He seemed startled to be asked, even though he’d been a part of the conversations all along. “I… have no opinion,” he said.
Maiven pocketed his bent arm inside her own. “We defer to you,” she said to Simber and Florence. “You know the twins better than we do.” She glanced at Rohan. “Or so it seems.”
Florence and Maiven exchanged a pained look. Rohan was taking this news harder than anyone else—not that the others were glossing over
its severity. The confusion of it all kept hope alive for most, but it only seemed to drag Rohan down even farther.
“Let’s go with Sky’s option, then,” said Florence. “Everybody back on your dragons. We’re heading for the cavelands.”
As she spoke, a dark purple dragon swooped low overhead. Most of the people ducked, but Simber saw who it was. “It’s Drrrock,” he said.
“Is he under the Revinir’s mind control?” Florence asked, peering up at the creature.
“He’s too farrr away to tell,” said Simber. “Let’s see what happens when we lift off.”
The ghost dragons landed in the shallow water, and everyone boarded them. Then they and Simber took off, trying to steer clear of the other dragons, which continued to fill the skies all around Dragonsmarche.
“They’re like vultures waiting for roadkill,” said Sky.
“I think we’re the roadkill,” Aaron muttered.
* * *
Gorgrun and Quince dodged and weaved between the mind-controlled dragons as they headed for their homeland. Simber kept Drock in his sights, which wasn’t too difficult, because the dragon seemed to be staying fairly close without looking like he was traveling with them.
Florence had something else on her mind. She turned to Rohan. “I see how glum this has made you,” she said.
Rohan tried and failed to smile. “I can’t deny that.”
“It’s very serious,” said Florence. “But until we know the truth, there’s no sense giving up on the world over it.”
“If I’m being honest, it’s very hard for me to think that way at this point.”
“What helps me is to remember that Fifer and Thisbe are incredible mages,” said Florence. “They are smart and bold and brave. Perhaps there will be some surprises coming our way.”
Rohan looked up, horrified. “More surprises? I don’t know if I can take any more.”
Aaron, who’d been uncharacteristically quiet recently, was listening in. He caught Rohan’s eye. “If it’s any solace,” he said, “people can come back from grave mistakes.”