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Either ingest the poison or inject the venom. Two ways toward immortality.
A gentle cough made us all whip around.
“War,” Dawn said, going to our brother and putting a hand under his arm. He had never looked more frail. Cheeks gaunt, eyes sunken in. But he still smiled. That was our Warrick. His dimples always on display, no matter what fucked-up situation we found ourselves in.
“I didn’t want to miss ou—” Another fit of coughs cut him off. “Out on the fun.”
“Oh, War, you’re burning up.”
I went to help Dawn hold him. She was right—heat steamed off his sweat-stained pajama shirt. We walked him to the couch, laying him down. Xavier was there with a glass of ice-cold water moments later. Warrick sipped at it, barely able to hold his eyes open.
“It’s so hot, you guys.”
The rage was back, but this time, it blended with a deep and unsettling hopelessness. Enough to suffocate me with it. We were helpless as we watched our youngest brother burn from the inside out. I crouched down, put a hand on his burning forehead. His hair was slick with sweat, sticking to him. I pushed aside a light brown curl.
“I’m going to do everything in my power to save you, War. I swear it. Whatever it takes.”
He managed to open his eyes, and somehow, he smiled even wider, dimples like craters. “I know, I believe you.”
The smile spread to me. It felt like a stranger breaking into my home. Shouldn’t be there but was. That was Warrick’s special gift. He didn’t need access to his dragon to make others around him feel better.
“Thank you,” he said before resting his head back onto the throw pillow. His eyes slowly shut. He wore his sleep like someone lying in their coffin at a wake. I stood up, unable to look at him, unable to smile anymore. None of this should be happening.
Dawn sat on the floor, laptop on her lap and the book opened next to her. The keyboard clicked furiously under her nails. Xavier had moved to the bookshelf bordered by two velvet red tapestries, pulling out a book that I was sure he had no idea what it was even about.
I didn’t blame him. We all flailed for something to grasp onto. Maddox had likely gone to a bathhouse, Xavier was sinking into his own thoughts, and Dawn disappeared behind her computer screen.
“I’ll be back.”
Dawn looked up from the computer, eyebrow arched. I could tell she had questions, but she could see I didn’t have any answers. Xavier gave me a wave before looking back down at the thick book in his hands. He wouldn’t find anything in there. It was a book of natural ailments and cures for a variety of different diseases.
I had already combed through it weeks ago.
Still, if it helped him feel useful, then so be it. Maybe he could pick up on something I’d missed.
The rest of the castle was dark, the lights all off, and my footsteps echoed as I went down the hall and up a long set of stairs. Oil paintings of each of us hung to my left, depicting us as smiling humans with our dragon forms towering proudly behind us. It had been father’s idea—back when he was still present in our lives and not just a shadow that flitted in and out whenever he pleased.
I passed my bedroom, the two sets of oaken doors shut tight. I climbed another set of stairs, this one spiraling and tight. They seemed to extend up into the sky, the cramped walls giving you no opportunity to see the end.
Fortunately, the stairs did end at a locked door. I tapped in the password, and the heavy dead bolt clicked open. Pushing the door open, I was met with a gust of wind from the other side. Salt tickled at my tongue, carried from the ocean that lapped up onto the dark beach below. I walked out onto the top of one of the five turrets—a private sanctuary for each sibling. I moved to the edge, where I placed a hand on the smooth stone that formed a barrier between me and thin air. The moon appeared to shine a spotlight down onto the shifting waters. Behind me were the jagged green teeth of the vibrant Malibu mountains.
How could a scene so peaceful coexist in a world so chaotic?
I gripped the stone and climbed up onto it, the tips of my shoes touching the edge. The ocean looked so inviting, even with its ability to put out any amount of flame I could manage to produce.
I dove, as if falling into a pool. Red mist swirled around me as I took my true shape, and my inner dragon roared to the surface. Long, leathered, and scarred wings beat at the air as I gracefully redirected myself back upward, spiked tail acting like a rudder, wings adding propulsion.
