Page 5

“Being held hostage by the heavy atmosphere all around us?

“Yep!” I huffed.

"Fine. Let's try the old-fashioned way," I muttered, gritting my teeth.

Focusing everything inward, I blustered, “Come on, NeyNey. It’s your turn.”

“About damn time!”

Instantly heating up from the inside out, I felt the ageless Magic of the Irish Goddess Flidais, the Deity who saved the Unicorn and the Pegasus from certain destruction, filling every fiber of my being. Neysa’s Enchantment was flowing freely as the image of her true Alicorn form flashed to life in my Mind’s Eye.

It was always the most invigorating, exciting feeling in the world. Sure, I hate all the girlie, frilly, sparkly shit that came along with my Unicorn side, but Shifting felt amazing. It was second only to flying.

Smiling, knowing I was about to walk out the blasted Wards and back onto the cool sands of the Chihuahuan Desert, I pushed everything that I was into our Shift and…

Not one damn thing happened.

All that wonderful Magic built up to its usual, beautiful crescendo…

And fizzled out like a fart in church.

“Anyone out there?!" I screamed at the empty desert I knew was beyond the barrier. Pounding my fists against the purple, shining Magical Barrier, I kept right on yelling. "Help! Let me outta here! Shut this shit off! LET. ME. OUT.”

Sadly, only the howling wind answered.

Then, a sound cut through the silence. My goosebumps jumped to life as the sound shook the very ground beneath my boots.

Spinning on my toes, I was still in motion when a deafening, agonizing scream cut through the silence like an electric knife on Thanksgiving.

It wasn't human, and it wasn't the low clicking, cracking, and moaning of the ghouls. It was a massive, ancient roar of pure, unadulterated rage.

Somebody– or something– was pissed. And it was getting closer.

Common sense told me to hide. Unfortunately, I was trapped in a cage with Demons. My Magic, right along with NeyNey’s, was dead as a doornail, and my instincts were screaming that sitting still meant dying.

Squatting down, I crept low to the ground, following the echoing roar around the base of a jagged rock formation. Down on my knees, I crawled as far as I could, then peeked over the ridge, and instantly struggled to process what I saw.

In a wide, ash-covered clearing, a small army of Hell-creatures had swarmed a single target. And that target was magnificent.

A colossal bronze Dragon stood his ground. His metallic scales gleamed like polished shields under the eerie light of the floating sphere. They caught the dim reflections of the hellscape in an incredibly artistic display and flashed with every move he made.

He wasn't flying. He was grounded, fighting tooth and nail in tight quarters. Standing at least ten feet tall, based on my five-foot-three stature, he reminded me of Lon Chaney’s Wolf Man but with scales, claws, and the ability to breathe fire.

A massive, horned demon lunged at his flank. The Dragon swerved with terrifying speed, his massive tail whipping around like a battering ram, crushing the creature against the canyon wall. Two more ghouls leaped for his neck, their claws scraping uselessly against his bronze armor. The Dragon roared, a blast of white-hot fire erupting from his jaws, incinerating them into ash before they even hit the dirt.

He fought with brutal, practiced precision, moving like a warrior who had done it for centuries. He was entirely alone, surrounded, and completely unstoppable.

He was one of the infamous and highly regarded Dragon Guardsmen. I knew it as well as I knew my name: Masie Mae MacDonald.

Within minutes, the clearing fell silent. The remaining monsters scattered back into the shadows, leaving nothing but smoking ash and black blood on the cracked earth.

I held my breath. What the hell else could I do? What I had just seen was absolutely amazing, and incredibly scary.

Gripping the rock so hard my knuckles turned white, Neysa and I were debating what to do next when the massive bronze Dragon exhaled a plume of smoke. Slowly, his great, horned head began to turn.

He didn't look at the sky. He didn't look at his fallen enemies.

His piercing, ancient eyes locked directly onto me, and I worked as hard as I could not to swoon with a case of the vapors like all the silly women I’d seen in the movies.