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“If a dragon’s going to bond my little brother eventually, it sure would be nice if it could be Gordon.”
Do you really think that?
“Why not? You mean, because he can’t fly?”
He’s earth blessed.
“I know,” Liz says. “But he’s still a dragon, and he’s powerful and strong while also being kind.”
They’re the lowest caste among us. You wouldn’t mind that?
“He’s not slated to be eaten soon, is he?” She arches an eyebrow.
Only the very old are consumed— Her smirk tells me that she was jesting. We need to get everyone through before we’re all swimming our way there.
As if he could hear our conversation, Hyperion lands next to me, his enormous shape sinking deep into the mud forming in front of the Convention Center. I’m willing to make the portal for all the earth blessed, and you can?—
I’ll handle theirs, I say.
But there are more of them. It’ll take longer, and that will tire you.
I’m entwined now, I say. I have more strength than I did before.
More than me, Hyperion says. That’s what you mean.
He’s different from my other brothers, which is why he doesn’t become upset by my comment. He has never grown angry easily, but he’s especially tolerant with me. I would greatly appreciate if you would open a portal for the water and strike blessed.
You open yours first, he says. Then I’ll match it.
We’re going to land in the mountains, just North of Selfoss. I’ve promised Liz that we’ll first petition the local humans for their assistance.
Why don’t we just go straight to the volcano you want to investigate and see whether the heart’s there? Father wants to hear from you soon—we can’t mess around. We need results.
Hyperion has always tried to boss me around, and I usually don’t mind much, but this time, I was placed in charge of the search. Not him.
I won’t let him force me into acting rashly.
I refuse to rush this. Thorough and measured action is better. We’ll go to Selfoss and establish a base of operations. Then we’ll check things methodically, and once we have any evidence of where the heart may be, we’ll take it to Father.
If he doesn’t come looking for us first. Hyperion looks displeased, but he doesn’t press it further.
“How do you do it?” Liz asks. “Opening the portal, I mean.”
Carefully and with great concentration, Hyperion says. Or he’ll open a hole into the ground or a portal into the middle of the sky.
Which is fine for me, I say.
But it would be very bad for the earth blessed your dear friend leads. His sneer when he mentions Axel’s also expected. He may be my kindest brother, but that also means that he resents my friendship with Axel more than the others do. Hyperion vaults into the sky and shoots across to the other side of the courtyard, where the heads of the strike and water blessed have congregated.
One of the reasons Father chose me is that I’m very, very good with portals. I can open one faster and hold it longer than any of my brothers. Only this time, when I finally open one, it’s large, even for me. It’s easily twice as large as the one I opened on our journey here.
Showoff, Hyperion hisses.
But I have more blessed to transport than he does, so I ignore him. Once I’ve checked that it opens onto solid ground, the edges of the portal held open with a churning red energy—a shuddering expulsion of magic—I order the earth blessed through.
Rufus and Gordon surge forward as they normally do, but I stop them.
Hang back.
