Dragonseed

Hex nodded. 'Jandra, you have my promise I won't let you out of my sight.'

Zeeky could tell from the sound of his voice that Hex suspected the woman before him was more Jazz than Jandra.

'I knew I could count on you.' She looked toward Bitterwood. 'How about you?'

Before Bitterwood could speak, Zeeky blurted out, 'He'll go. I will too.'

Bitterwood jerked his head toward her. 'No,' he said. 'I'll go if you wish, but I'm not taking you and Jeremiah into a battle with gods.'

Zeeky shrugged. 'Okay,' she said. Bitterwood frowned at her easy agreement.

Jandra, meanwhile, had turned to face Blasphet. 'I assume I can count on you? Killing a city is certainly worthy work for a Murder God.'

'No,' said Blasphet.

'No?'

'I'll never again act to harm another living being.'

Jandra sighed as she motioned toward the model city constructed from light. It bubbled away. She said, 'I don't know who you're trying to fool with this good guy act, but you weren't part of my original plan anyway.'

Vendevorex said, 'I shall go. My familiarity with Atlantis could prove useful.'

Jandra nodded. 'Good enough. Let's roll.'

She traced a half circle in the air and a rainbow formed in the wake of her motion, slowly opening into a yawning void.

'Next stop, Atlantis,' she said, stepping toward the gate.

Suddenly, a man shouted, 'Wait!'

It was Shay, sporting silver wings, floating in the doorway next to Burke. His wings folded behind him as he dropped to the ground and ran toward Jandra.

Jandra flinched as Shay threw his arms around her. 'You're back!' he cried, hugging her with all his might. She awkwardly lifted her arms to pat his back.

'Yeah,' she said, pushing away from him. 'But, as much as I'd like to catch up, I'm kind of busy right now. I have a city I need to go wreck.'

'Jandra?' Shay asked, sounding confused. 'It is you, right?'

'Of course,' she said, smiling. 'I pushed Jazz out of my brain. But, you know me. I'm always rushing off on some new mission.'

'Then I'm coming with you,' said Shay.

'I don't know that that's a good idea. You're not really the warrior type. Bitterwood and Hex are more the firepower I need.'

Poocher snorted indignantly. Zeeky knew he felt slighted not to be included on the list of great warriors present.

'Shay,' said Burke, laying his hand on the red-headed man's shoulder. 'I know your reunion with Jandra is important, but if we can get the items you mentioned, I'd appreciate it. I've been away from Dragon Forge too long.'

'Of course,' said Shay. 'Hex, do you still have your pack?'

Hex nodded, placing the large leather bag onto the straw-covered floor. Shay opened it and pulled out several silver disks like the one that sat between his shoulder blades.

'Stick these on your back and think about flying. You'll sprout wings. I have six more sets,' Shay said. 'That's enough for you and Anza, plus Vance and Thorny if they want to go with you.'

'And me,' said Jeremiah.

All eyes turned toward the twelve-year-old. He stood up from where he'd been sitting. He pulled out a knife that had been tucked into his belt. 'This is Vulpine's knife. It's not his only weapon here. He gave me yellow-mouth so that I'd make everyone at Dragon Forge sick. If you're going back, I want to come. I want to take a big handful of the dragonseed back to heal anyone who got ill because of me.'

'Boy, I didn't drag you all this way to heal you so that you could go off and get yourself killed,' said Bitterwood. 'Let someone else take back the dragonseed.'

'You're going off to fight in a city of gods. Zeeky's stood up to dragons and angels. If my younger sister can fight these battles, so can I.'

'I don't want Zeeky fighting these battles,' said Bitterwood. 'But your sister has powers. She can control the minds of animals. She can talk to ghosts and see the future.'

Zeeky didn't think Bitterwood described what she could do correctly, but she held her tongue. She knew exactly how the next ten minutes were going to play out. In ten minutes, she would follow Bitterwood through the underspace gate to Atlantis. That's where her knowledge of the future ended. Whatever waited in Atlantis, the voices either couldn't see, or wouldn't say.

Jeremiah walked over to the disks and picked one up. 'You're right. Zeeky was born with powers. She's the one who could talk to animals. She once talked a bear out of eating our grandma.' He stuck the disk on his back. He scrunched up his face, as if he were about to sneeze. Whatever mental signal he sent the disk worked. Silver wings unfolded from his shoulders, flashing in the candlelight.

'I should at least have wings,' he said, as his feet lifted from the ground.

Zeeky had to admit, the wings looked good on him.

Bitterwood, however, wasn't convinced. 'Jeremiah, you ran when the long-wyrms raided your village. You ran from the battle at Dead Skunk Hole. Why are you suddenly so brave?'

Jeremiah gave Bitterwood a serious look. 'I heard Blasphet tell you how it feels to die. It's the same way I felt fifteen minutes ago, before he healed me. As horrible as death feels, it's not as bad as being afraid. It's time I grew up.'

Vance butted in. 'There are other rebels his age at the fort.'

Bitterwood clenched his jaw. Zeeky placed her hand on his fist. 'Let him go,' she said.

'Will he be alright?'

'Yes,' she said, though she didn't know his fate beyond the next few minutes. But he wasn't going to be killed in that small window of time, so it wasn't really a lie.

Vance and Thorny took their wings and Anza grabbed a disk for both herself and her father. In the aftermath, only one disk remained.

With an excited snort, Poocher trotted up, staring at Shay with a look somewhere between pleading and demanding.

Burke looked curious. 'Would they even work for him?'

'I don't see how,' said Shay. 'They're controlled by thought.'

'Hey!' Zeeky snapped. 'Poocher thinks! He's as smart as you, just in different ways. Can you find edible roots by sniffing around? He's not even a year old and I bet he could survive alone in the woods better than you. Don't tell me he doesn't think.'

Shay looked suitably chastised. 'Fine. It can't hurt to try.'

He sat the silver disk between Poocher's shoulder blades. The pig turned around in a circle, as if he were trying to see the disk on his back, which his fat neck wouldn't allow. After his third revolution, he closed his eyes and scrunched up his snout. His wings unfolded. He floated off the ground, looking smug.

Everyone in the room knew there was something that needed to be said. But not even Hex, who'd never shown any fear of an obvious joke, dared say it.

BURKE SOARED INTO the night sky. Shay led the way, shouting out advice on how to control speed, how to maneuver, and how to hover. Burke found most of the advice unnecessary. The wings responded to thought. He was good at thought.

It felt wonderful, slipping free of gravity, taking the weight off his exhausted leg and the pressure off his aching armpit. He experienced a sense of something approaching deja-vu-it was as if he had flown before. It felt perfectly natural. Just as he could feel the ghost of his missing leg, he now felt a different sensation: the presence of phantom wings that spread from his shoulders and occupied his new metal limbs. He, like most people, had experienced dreams of flying. What did it mean? Why did he feel so at home in the sky? Was it feedback? Since his thoughts guided the wings, did the wings somehow affect his mind? Or was there some deeper mystery at work here? The dragons believed in a myth that the world had once been ruled by angels who were then overthrown by