by Rachel Aaron
“I’m a scavenger,” Raven said defensively. “I made do with what I had. But that’s the lovely thing about my Phoenix: she may not look pretty, but she always rises from her ashes.”
“Sorry for being out of service,” General Jackson said, her voice creaking and rusty but unmistakably human. “I’m obviously not field ready yet, but Raven’s been filling me in, and when we heard you were planning to go fight Algonquin, we had to come out ahead of schedule.”
“Got jealous, did you?” Amelia asked, wiggling her eyebrows. “You’re welcome to come with.”
“You’re not going at all,” Raven said firmly.
“What?”
“He’s not saying you can’t fight her,” Emily explained patiently. “But Raven’s plan requires Algonquin to think she’s won, which will be difficult if there’s a brand-new hybrid Spirit of Dragons blasting fire at her.”
Amelia’s face fell. “I suppose if you put it that way.”
“There’s no other way to put it,” the general said, turning to Myron. “Have you convinced the DFZ to do her part yet?”
“Not yet,” he said. “I was just about to…that is…” He trailed off, looking at her in helpless bewilderment. “Are you not mad at me, Emily?”
“Mad at you?” she asked, crossing her makeshift arms over her makeshift chest. “You abused your position, sided with the enemy, ripped my body apart, and used it to launch yourself to power. Now I’m stuck in this rusted-out hodgepodge made from whatever bits Raven could scavenge out of the Pit. I’m furious at you, Myron, but we don’t have time for that now. We’re on a mission here, people.”
“What mission are we on?” Julius said, utterly lost yet again as he turned back to Marci. “How many people did you bring with you back from the dead?”
“It was pretty busy,” Marci said. “But I’m glad you asked about the mission.”
She turned to face the DFZ, who’d been quietly trying to slink off into the dark. “Julius was right when he said you weren’t alone. We’re all here to fight against Algonquin, but what you don’t know yet is that Algonquin does have an ally. A terrible one.”
“Not so free with that information, if you please,” Raven said quickly, flapping his wings. “Remember what I said about this being a very big secret for Merlins only?”
Marci rolled her eyes. “It’s a little late for that. If Julius is putting his neck out for this, he deserves to know why, and the DFZ needs to know. She’s kind of integral to this whole thing.”
“Why me?” the DFZ squeaked, glaring at Myron. “I’m only here because he and Algonquin yanked me up.”
“Exactly my point,” Marci said, turning back to her. “You’re not a natural Mortal Spirit. You were engineered by Algonquin specifically so she could get her hands on the first Merlin and gain control of the magic. She’s terrified of you and Ghost and all the other Mortal Spirits because you’re bigger than her, and she hates humans because we cut off her magic and sent her to sleep. To be fair, those are both valid. Mortal Spirits are dangerous, and the ancient mages did screw her over. But rather than deal with that herself, Algonquin brought in outside help.”
“What do you mean ‘outside help?’” Julius asked nervously. “What’s outside for a spirit?”
“She’s talking about the Leviathan,” the DFZ said, her voice shaking. “I knew he wasn’t a spirit.”
“He’s not anything we know,” Marci said. “He’s not part of this world at all. He’s an extra-planar being called a Nameless End, and though he answered Algonquin’s cry, he’s not here to help. He’s here to take advantage of her.”
“It didn’t help that she made herself an easy target,” Raven said bitterly. “Algonquin’s so obsessed with the wrongs that have been done to her that she’d rather destroy the world than accept them.” He looked pointedly at the DFZ. “I imagine you can sympathize with that.”
The DFZ dug her claws in stubbornly. “I was just trying to protect myself.”
“So is she,” Raven said. “In her own fashion. But that’s actually good for us. So long as Algonquin has hope, she’ll keep fighting, and as destructive as that is, it’s preferable to the alternative.”
Julius winced. “What’s worse than fighting Algonquin?”
“What happens when she gives up,” Marci said quietly.
“Nameless Ends survive by eating planes,” Amelia said. “Normally, this happens after the plane collapses, but it seems the Leviathan convinced Algonquin to let him in early, and the only reason he hasn’t eaten everything already is because he’s here on a probationary basis.”
“What does that mean?” Julius asked.
“Nameless Ends are extra-planar powers,” Amelia explained. “As in outside. Since our plane is healthy, that means he can’t cross the planar barrier unless someone with power on the inside—like, say, a giant lake spirit—gives him an in. It’s kind of like what I did for dragons when I became their spirit. We could live here, but we weren’t actually part of the native magic until I blended my fire with the magic in the vessel I took over to become a spirit. Now we have an anchor, a magical connection. If the Leviathan wants to come all the way inside, he’s going to need the same. That’s why he’s playing Algonquin. If he can get her to surrender her magic to him, that’s his way in. Algonquin hasn’t given in to him yet because she’s still hoping to salvage the situation, but if she loses that hope—”
“She’ll let the monster run rampant,” the DFZ growled, lip curling to show her pointed teeth. “Prideful lake.”
“So how do we stop her?” Julius asked, looking at Raven. “Everyone keeps saying you have a plan.”
“A very clever one,” Raven assured him. “We—”
“We trick her into thinking she’s won,” Marci said excitedly. “If she thinks she’s got control of the magic, she’ll have no reason to keep the Leviathan around. In order to convince her of that, though, we need to prove she’s got control of the Heart of the World, which means sending her spirit/Merlin pair in to break the news.”
Julius wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but the DFZ jumped like Marci had taken a swing at her. “No.”
“It’s only—”
“No!” the spirit screeched, her beady eyes staring at Myron in fear and rage. “He chained me! Bound me! I am not accepting him as my mage.”
“Assuming the Merlin Gate would let him in even if you did,” Amelia said with a snort. “What?” she added at Marci’s angry glare. “Someone had to say it.”
“Amelia,” Marci said through clenched teeth. “You’re not helping.”
“But she is right,” Myron said, turning to face the DFZ, who took another step back. “I’m sorry.”
“Little late for that,” the rat hissed. “You let me be born into chains.”
“I did you great wrong,” he agreed. “You and many others, but I was only trying to do what I thought was best for everyone. I was…”
He trailed off with a sigh. “I was afraid,” he said at last. “In my work for the UN, I saw human cruelty in all its terrible forms. I spent my whole life believing that Mortal Spirits would be our salvation. That they were the good and righteous forces in us that would finally elevate humanity to an equal playing field with dragons and spirits. That was my dream, but after the Empty Wind, after I saw Algonquin’s pool of blood, I felt like a fool. Then, later, when Algonquin told me the real reason the magic had vanished was because the Merlins had bound it to banish the monsters that were humanity’s uncontrollable gods, it fit my own experiences too well for me to disbelieve her. That was when I decided to seal the magic away again forever. That’s why I used you. I wanted to save humanity from itself.”
The DFZ glowered at him. “But?”
“There is no but,” Myron said. “Humanity is foolish, selfish, fearful, and violent, and our spirits reflect that. If I’ve learned anything from all of this, it’s that you truly are Mortal Spirits. You are us, and I am sorrier for that than anything.”
Marci put her hand over her face. “Myron,” she groaned. “This isn’t useful.”
“It’s not meant to be,” he said angrily. “I’m telling her the truth. I watched everything that happened here from the Heart of the World. I saw the DFZ’s rage, and I know it wasn’t only from the spirits Algonquin used to fill her. My anger was in there, too. I was also ready to destroy myself and all of human magic if it meant defeating Algonquin and everything like her. I still think it would be a worthy sacrifice to give my life to make a safer world for future generations. That’s why I joined the UN, why I’ve done everything that I’ve done. The only difference now is that I no longer see Mortal Spirits as an enemy to be defeated.”
He looked at Marci. “You were right, Novalli. They are us, and that’s better reason than any to lock the magic away again forever. It’s the only way to make sure they don’t suffer as we do. If you think about it, all Mortal Spirits are is magic that we’ve dragged down to our level. The only reason I’m here doing this instead of dragging you back to the Heart of the World to banish all spirits forever is because that doesn’t work. We can’t stop the magic. It just keeps flowing no matter what we do. Even if we could make another seal, it would just be this problem all over again in another thousand years.”
“That’s what I said,” Marci grumbled.
“And I’m admitting you were right,” Myron snapped. “I don’t like it, but anyone who can’t change his mind in the face of evidence is an irrational fool, and for all my other flaws, I’ve never been one of those.”
Marci stared at him in wonder, but before she could follow up, the DFZ beat her to it.
“So what are you going to do?” the spirit asked warily. “Just because you’ve given up trying to block the magic doesn’t mean the rest is forgiven. Good intentions don’t excuse what you did to me. Why shouldn’t I cut you loose?”
“Because we need each other,” Myron said sternly. “I thought cutting off the magic was the silver-bullet solution to all our problems, which was why I was willing to do such terrible things to get it. I’m sorry for that, and I don’t expect you to forgive me, but that doesn’t mean I’ve quit. I’m still in this for the future of humanity, only now, instead of a single simple solution, we have to do things the hard way. We have to change, fight humanity’s inclination toward cruelty and violence spirit by spirit, mage by mage. That’s not a task I can accomplish in my lifetime. I’m not confident it can be accomplished at all. But we will absolutely fail if Algonquin gives the Leviathan what he wants.”
He held out his hand. “I’m not asking for your forgiveness. All I want is for you to help me stop this disaster. Let me be your Merlin long enough to fool Algonquin, and I promise, I will set you free immediately after.”
“Set her free?” Ghost said, incredulous. “There is no setting free. The Merlin bond is for life.”
“Then I’ll end mine,” Myron said without missing a beat. “I’ve staked my life on far less. If I have to die to help humanity avoid this disaster, I’ll count it cheaply bought, but I will not stand by and do nothing.” He thrust his hand at the DFZ. “Let me be your Merlin, and I swear, I will not live to see you regret it.”
That was a terrifying way to put it, but to Julius’s amazement, the DFZ was smiling. She shifted next, her rat-shape collapsing into her human body, who was staring at Myron with a new gleam in her orange eyes.
“You’re crazy,” she said. “And a pompous jerk. But I’ve always been a city of people who don’t take no for an answer. Dreamers, too.” She tilted her head at him. “Being Merlin was always your dream, wasn’t it?”
“My greatest ambition.”
The DFZ grinned, and then she grabbed Myron’s hand. “I accept,” she said, squeezing his fingers until he winced. “If only to see how you’ll try to cheat your way out of death.”
“That’s her department,” Myron said, tilting his head at Marci, though his attempts to play it cool did nothing to hide his obvious relief. “Shall we go try the door again? With less breaking, this time?”
The spirit’s answer was to jerk him forward, and then the two of them vanished down an open manhole that definitely hadn’t been there a second ago. It vanished a second later, leaving Myron’s body lying facedown on the piled trash, empty again.
“That can’t be healthy,” Amelia said.
“Myron’s never been one to let physical limitations get in his way,” General Jackson replied, walking over to flip Myron onto his side so he could breathe more easily. “Do you think he’ll survive?”
“You mean, ‘Will he make it through the Merlin Gate?’” Marci shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m still not sure what logic governs the gate’s decision, but I’d say he’s got a much better chance this time around. Other than having a Mortal Spirit, the only real requirement for being a Merlin is ‘be a champion of humanity.’ You don’t have to be a nice person or even a good one. You just have to be willing to protect humankind. All of it, including our spirits. I think Myron’s got that now. We’ll just have to hope the Heart of the World feels the same.”
“Oh, goody,” Raven said with a sigh. “Our survival depends on a vetting program written by the same humans who thought cutting off the magic was a great idea.”
“It’s your plan,” Marci reminded him. “And speaking of, we’d better get into some kind of position, because if this is going to work, it’ll work fast.”
“So what happens next?” Julius asked as Marci climbed onto his back.
Raven fluffed his feathers. “For us? Hiding. This whole thing depends on making Algonquin believe Myron has the Heart of the World under his sole control, and there’s no chance of that if she spies Little-Miss-Miracle-Merlin-Back-From-The-Dead running around.” He poked his beak at Marci. “I say we all get somewhere high and dry and watch the show.”
“What about my family?” Julius said worriedly. “They’re still fighting Algonquin, or at least they were.”
“Then you’d better tell them to stop,” Raven croaked. “The calmer she is when Myron talks to her, the better. We want her cocky and confident, not in a dragon-induced rage.”
That was a good point, but Julius still hesitated. He needed to warn Chelsie, but that meant leaving Marci behind, and he didn’t think he’d ever be able to do that again. If he didn’t go, though, he’d leave his family in trouble, which he absolutely couldn’t do, especially since they’d flown into that trouble for him. He was warring back and forth between these two priorities when Amelia’s hand landed on his wing.
“Go,” she said gently. “I’ll keep an eye on Marci. You go get our sister out of danger. Bob didn’t reunite her with her lost love just so she could get herself killed.”
Julius’s heart clenched. “You really think that’s what Bob was doing?”
Amelia flashed him a smile. “I was never privy to that part of the plan since it happened after my death, so I can’t say for sure, but it fits his style. He might run you over a few times to get there, but Bob’s endgame is always worth playing. Trust me, he’s a good kid.”
Julius didn’t see how anyone who let their sister and her children suffer for six hundred years just to line up a coincidence qualified as a “good kid,” but Amelia’s words were still like water in the desert. All this time, through all the evidence to the contrary, he’d wanted so hard for Bob to be exactly what she said. He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to accept someone who thought it was okay to run over you so long as he made it up to you later, but just knowing Bob had killed Amelia at her behest in the pursuit of greater power was a lot better than what he’d thought for the last twenty-four hours.
It wasn’t perfect, but Julius was so tired of losing people, he was more than ready to take it. Especially since, if he could just keep Chelsie safe now, he wouldn’t actually have lost anyone at all.
“I’ll go get her,” he said, steeling his nerves.
“Atta boy,” Amelia said, helping Marci down off his back again. “Round ’em
up and get to a safe distance. We’ll take it from here.”
Julius nodded, but his attention was already back on Marci. “Be safe.”
“I’ll be fine,” she promised. “I’m a Merlin now, and I’m with Amelia and Raven and everyone else. What could happen?”
“You were with a lot of powerful people the first time you died, too,” Julius said. “Including me, and I…I can’t take that again, Marci. I’m sure you can’t, either, but I just…”
He leaned down, resting his head against hers. “Please be safe.”
She smiled warmly at him, rising up on her tiptoes to press a kiss against the short feathers of his nose. “I will,” she whispered. “Now go save your sister.”
He pulled away reluctantly, but as he was spreading his wings to take off, Raven flew in front of him. “One more thing,” the spirit said quickly. “Don’t breathe any fire.”
Julius hadn’t been planning to, but that didn’t make the warning less alarming. “Why not?”
“Because Myron wasn’t wrong. I don’t even need to go back to the Heart of the World to know the seal protecting us from a thousand years of magic under high pressure is hanging by a thread. This wouldn’t normally be a problem for you since dragons make their own magic, but now that you’ve got a spirit of your own, you’re in the drink with the rest of us, and that has consequences.”
He flapped in Julius’s face. “This is a team effort now, so don’t breathe any fire, don’t let anyone else breathe any fire, and whatever you do, do not let the Qilin drop another one of his giant luck bombs. Good or bad, they’re horribly disruptive, and I don’t know if we can take one now that Amelia’s sunk all of you into the Sea of Magic.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Julius said nervously. “But I don’t know how I’m going to stop—”
“Don’t think,” the bird said, giving him a push with his claws. “Just do. Now shoo. We don’t have much time left.”
Feeling more nervous than ever, Julius cast one final worried look at Marci and took off, flying as quietly as he could out of the Pit, through the holes in the broken Skyway, and into the smoke of the burning city.