“I saw something,” I said slowly. “After the challenge.”
I explained the vision, as much of it as I could remember, to Hirani and the spirits. Their faces grew darker and grimmer with every new revelation. When I finished, all three of them stared at me like I’d grown a second head.
“And the leader of the Shambala team was with you through all this?” Hirani asked in grave tones.
“She saw it all,” I said.
“That’s not great,” Niddhogg said quietly. “Who knows how she’ll interpret any of that.”
“I’m afraid you’re right,” Hirani said quietly. “This definitely relates to the convergence, and if the dragon was there, then she’s tangled up in this, too. Jace, I need to bring this to Sanrin, immediately.”
And, with that, Hirani opened a portal with a wave of her hand and stepped through it into a street lined with bombed-out buildings that reeked like a garbage dump. Before the portal snapped closed behind the elder, I heard the distinctive crack of gunshots and a long, drawn-out cry of pain. It was hard to believe that the battle against the heretics had escalated to open warfare in the streets. I wished for the thousandth time that I hadn’t broken my veil, so I could help my clan put an end to the threat the rebels posed to Empyreal society.
Though if I hadn’t broken my veil, I’d never have advanced, and I wouldn’t have stopped the Locust Court or the Lost from invading the world. Things were bad now. I’d prevented them from getting infinitely worse.
I shook my head. I’d go crazy if I second-guessed myself on every decision I’d made. There would always be trade-offs, no matter what I did.
“I don’t think Trulissinangoth was any clearer about what we saw than I was,” I told Niddhogg. “We were both pretty freaked out.”
“Maybe.” Niddhogg flapped over and landed on the bed next to me. “Dragons are sore losers, kid. They live for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years, and they never forget anything that happens to them. You insult a dragon when it’s a whelp, it’ll wait a hundred years to strike you down in revenge. After humanity became the Empyrean Flame’s favorites, the Scaled Council vowed to make everyone regret the decision to put men in charge of protecting the Grand Design. That vision you saw is basically the dragons’ worst fears. Trulissinangoth will run home and tell everyone what she saw. Bet on that.”
Something about what the dragon said didn’t make sense to me. The vision had clearly shown men, the Locust Court, and some weird tentacle monster burning up the pattern of the Grand Design. But it had also just as clearly shown dragons doing the same thing. If Trulissinangoth reported her vision to her elders, they’d have to see that dragons weren’t any better than humans.
“That’s not how the dragons will see it,” Niddhogg said when I explained my reasoning. “You see dragons destroying the Design alongside humans. A dragon will see their people as the heroes of this story. To them, fire can be used as a weapon, but it also makes a heck of a shield. They’re burning the Design, sure, but they aren’t destroying it. They’re making fire breaks to save as much of the pattern as they can.”
“Listen to the dragon,” Hahen said. “Despite his size, our friend was raised among them and shares their instincts.”
“Watch your mouth.” Niddhogg exhaled a tongue of flame toward the ceiling. “I understand them, but I’m not one of them. I’ll never forgive them for what they did to me.”
There were a ton of questions I wanted to ask Niddhogg after that last sentence. The angry gleam in his eye told me that wouldn’t be wise, though. I let it drop and considered what he’d said.
If Trulissinangoth really thought everyone else was out to destroy the Grand Design, she’d look for any edge to win the Gauntlet. Given her superior size and strength, she might be tough enough to take me down despite the differences in our cores’ power levels.
Not that I could depend on my core, anyway. That last challenge had shredded its shell down to a fraction of its full power. Pushing it any further could split it right in half.
I had a lot of work to do, and I’d need even more help to get it done before the final challenge.
“I have to ask you a favor, Niddhogg,” I said.
“Fire away, champ.” The dragon puffed out its chest and flapped its stubby wings.
So far, the challenges had all been one team against the arena. Something told me the last phase of the Gauntlet would pit the teams against one another much more directly. My hands balled into white-knuckled fists at the thought of going up against the Shambala team.
“Teach me how to kill dragons.”
The Wheel
THE MEDICAL STAFF DIDN’T have any trouble keeping my friends out of the infirmary, but Ishigara cut through their nonsense with the ease of a fusion blade slicing through a stick of butter. The scrivenings professor swooped into my hospital room with a string of annoyed nurses, staff members, and one very angry doctor trailing behind her like a war kite’s tail. It was the first day of classes after the holiday break, and I was almost excited by the ruckus after three days of bedridden boredom.
“You cannot disturb my patients,” the doctor snapped once everyone had filed into my recovery room. So many people had crowded around my bed I was afraid they’d step on a cord and disconnect one of the machines that hummed night and day. I had no idea what most of those contraptions did, but they certainly seemed important to my continued well-being.
“I can,
