“Oh no, no, no.” Solomon steps in front of Karl, shaking his head and wagging his finger. “We’re not doing this again. That’s how I lost the mirror to you in the first place.”
“We do not wish to play with you, old fool.” The head in the middle glowers at him.
“Besides, it’s not your decision,” the head closest to me adds.
“That’s right. It’smydecision,” Karl replies. “We don’t have time for games.”
“But we like to play games. We rarely have company.”
“I could sing,” I suggest.
The Elder dragon seems intrigued at first, but suddenly she stands at her full height, and then the head in the middle lets out a piercing roar that makes the walls tremble and the ground shake. Pieces of rock detach from the ceiling and rain down on us.
Son of a bitch. I didn’t think she’d get that mad about my offer to sing. Now she’s going to bury us alive.Nice going, dumbass.
“I think she really hates that idea,” Karl tells me.
“She isn’t mad at you. Something ticked her off,” Solomon explains, then furrows his brow. “Ah hell. Those stupid fools. I told them not to come.”
“Who came?” Karl asks.
Solomon looks at him. “It seems your friend Vivienne decided to crash this party. And she brought company.”
“Who?” Karl’s eyes widen.
“Your sister.”
Thirty-Seven
SOPHIE
I’m frozen, staring at my phone screen. But my heart is beating fast despite being squeezed tight.
“What’s wrong?” Tish jumps onto the couch next to me.
“Lucca is back.”
“Judging by how your face is ashen, that isn’t a good thing? Did Vaughn break up with you? Because if he did, I’m gonna claw his eyes out the next time I see him.”
“No. He didn’t break up with me. He said he loves me.”
She tilts her head. “I’m confused.”
“He went after the Elder dragon.”
Her eyes bug out. “Why? Is he insane?”
I show her the text message exchange because it’s faster, and I’m too busy freaking out to tell her myself. The Elder dragon is a legendary beast. An old-as-time dragon with three heads who’s feared by her own kind. I’ve heard many stories about her, and the warning that very few people leave her lair alive to tell the tale. Vaughn’s friends must be desperate to seek out her assistance.
“How can that psychotic beast help them open a portal to Ellnesari? I didn’t know she possessed that sort of power.”
“I don’t know.” I jump from the couch and run to my bookshelf. “Where’s that book of spells you got me at the Nightshade Market?”
“Didn’t you put it on the top shelf?”
I find the old leather tome and pull it out. I’m not sure how Tish was able to convince the previous owner to sell the ancient book for almost nothing. It’s a priceless relic, and it contains spells I’m sure the High Witch wouldn’t approve of, and it would probably put me on the Warlocks of Ivern’s watch list. She hoped I could find a spell to revert her situation, but I read the book from beginning to end and didn’t find anything to help her.
“You told me that book contained dark magic spells,” Tish says.
