Page 48 of Ignited

And she closed her eyes and dropped into sleep.

He realized DB was standing over them. “Is she going to be okay?”

“Yeah, for now.” He leaned against the dresser, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. “Shit. That was tiring.”

“I thought you were the most powerful Draken sorcerer in a thousand years.”

“Lucky for you. And her.”

Boomer realized again how close they’d come to losing Karisma. “Thanks, man. For real.”

DB gave a weary nod.

Boomer asked, “What now? I mean, even I could see that was a temporary fix. Is it possible to break the bond between her and Maximilian?”

“Without killing her? I think so, if I had them in the same room. Especially if I killed him, which I would enjoy, and would make last a long time.”

“You and me both.”

DB said, “I’m thinking this is going to end up with Karisma taking the pieces of the Orb to Maximilian.”

Boomer shrugged. “It’s what she wanted to do anyway. Only, Thanatos needs to give up his piece.”

“I doubt that’s what he had in mind,” DB said. “I think he’s planning to go with her.”

That made Boomer’s blood run cold. “And do what?”

“No doubt Thanatos wants to kill the bastard too.”

“Yeah, but will he care if Karisma gets caught in the crossfire?”

DB stared into his eyes. “That is a very good question.”

And one they had no answer to.

After repacking the toybox with magical partitions—apparently to make sure the items in it wouldn’t blow up by mixing their magical energies—DB warded it into the bedroom closet. Boomer made him promise not to tell Thanatos it was there.

“Dude’s no friend of mine,” DB said, shrugging. “I don’t trust him any more than you do.”

Great.

DB added, “I’ll stop by and check on Karisma, but she should be fine. Just weak. Like, you’ll probably need to hand-feed her weak. Call me if you need me.” He handed Boomer a golden sphere about the size of a tennis ball. He’d seen Mikey use them once or twice—they were like Draken videophones. “Just say, ‘Call the coolest dragon ever’ and it’ll reach me.”

“You’re such a dick,” Boomer said, laughing. “But thanks.” He let himself get serious for a minute and said, “Thanks for everything.”

DB nodded. “I know what it’s like, being held captive, having your power used for someone else’s gain. Nobody deserves that.” And he left.

Chapter 21

Karisma felt like she was floating just barely underwater, where she could see the sunlight but couldn’t quite come to the surface. Every now and then she felt Boomer’s arm around her, heard his voice, and then there would be cool water sliding down her throat, or soup, or something cold and sweet.

And then she’d sink down, down, down…

It seemed forever until she made it all the way to the surface. She was awake, for real, lying in Boomer’s bed surrounded by covers that smelled like him, with the afternoon sun coming in the window.

Then she tried to sit up. It was a hard struggle, and once it was done she had to wait for a couple of minutes before her head cleared.

She really, really had to pee. She knew the bathroom wasn’t far—just out the door and around the corner.