Page 98 of Dream Reaper

“He will if we promise to set him free when we’re done. My magic isn’t strong enough to kill this thing…but Talos has powerful magic, and if I feed him our energy…it will make him strong enough to defeat the shadow.”

Jerrid’s lips parted, but for a moment he seemed at a loss for words. “Your solution to our problem is to give Talos more magic? Make him more powerful? He nearly killed us last time, and we barely contained him even with all of us working together. This will never work, Ava.”

“It has to work,” she argued angrily, “because it’s the only idea I have!”

He’s right, you know. It’s a really bad idea.

“Talos believes in one thing,” Ava persisted. “Self-preservation. If we prove to him this is the only way he survives, he’ll help us.”

Jerrid and Dragon snorted as one. “We’re not doing that. Niflheim will freeze over before I agree to this plan.”

Agreed.

Ava ground her teeth together. For the first time in their lives, Jerrid and Dragon finally agreed about something…but why did it have to be about disagreeing with her?

“Unless you can think of some way to defeat a monster of immense magical ability, we don’t have any other options right now.” She crossed her arms over chest and glared at Jerrid, hoping Dragon knew that look was for him too.

I am feeling glared at, if it makes you feel better.

“It doesn’t. We need a plan, and neither of you is helping.”

Jerrid rubbed the back of his neck wearily. “We’re helping you not get killed.”

“What about everyone else? We brought this thing upon them. Well, technically Prince Haryk and Persis brought it upon them…”

What are you scheming now?

Jerrid’s gaze pierced her, asking the same unspoken question. “Spit it out, Ava. What are you thinking?”

“Prince Haryk,” she said, a sickish feeling rising in her gut. “He cast the shadow out once… If anyone could destroy this thing, it would probably be him. But he’s back in Eroth…and you would have to go get him. Tell him that we’re in trouble.”

And leave you here alone? Jerrid’s nostrils flared at the same time Dragon growled, Bad idea. Really bad idea.

“Is it as bad as giving Talos your energy and asking him to fight the creature? If you two join forces for once in your life, you could fly straight to Eroth and be back in a wink.”

“It’ll take longer than a wink, and we’d have to leave you here unprotected. Absolutely not happening.”

“Well, Echo can’t go. Her wings are too badly damaged. And it would take too long for someone to walk. The only reasonable option is for you two to fly to Eroth and tell the prince that his nightmare monster is still on the loose. He’ll come. I know he will.”

“No.” Jerrid shoved himself to his feet and began to pace back and forth, shaking his head as he did so.

Ava rose as well and backed up to give him more room. “I’m the only one coming up with ideas here. Either you come up with a better plan, or you’re going to have to choose one of these. I don’t have any more brilliant ideas hidden in my head. As you well know, Dragon, because you’re in there poking around.”

A guilty silence answered her.

“Please. We don’t have a choice.”

It’s still a bad plan…but it’s not as bad as giving Talos more fuel for his flame.

“But what about the connection between us?” Jerrid argued. “We don’t know what will happen if we’re separated from you. What if the distance is too great, and Dragon’s hold on you causes harm?”

“What could it possibly do that it hasn’t already done? And if the distance does happen to snap the bond between us, it will solve a lot of our other problems. I don’t see the issue as a valid concern.”

He scowled in her direction before spinning and pacing away. Silence wrapped around them, a cold and bitter kind that left one feeling raw and vulnerable. Not the cozy sort between comrades. No, this was the silence of frustration and hopelessness.

They were running out of options.

And time.