Nobody said anything for quite a while. We just stared at the last spot we’d seen Mavros, waiting for him to reappear.
Malcolm was the first to look away. “Your demon’s words rang with truth. Maybe you were right to trust him.”
Cody stepped away from me. “I’ll go with you.”
Samantha sat up and covered her face with her hands. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” I sat down in Cookie Monster and looked at the place Big Bird used to be. It was so weird having one without the other.
“He was the reason we’ve been staying away.” She stared down at the ground. “I thought he was manipulating you. I didn’t want to suffer for your mistakes. I—” her voice broke “—I was being selfish.”
I leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “I thought you and Dan just wanted some privacy. I should’ve asked what was going on, but I’ve been so wrapped up in my stuff, I didn’t. I’m sorry.” I got up and sat beside her, bumping her shoulder with mine. “I don’t blame you for trying to stay out of my crazy.” I tugged my hand through my hair while I searched for the right words. “He’s the only one who can tell me who summoned him. I don’t trust him blindly, but I have to find out who it is.”
She looked up at me. Her eyes were red-rimmed. “I get it now.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “I’m sorry.”
“No harm done.” I got up and walked over to Malcolm. Can you have the dragons watch my friends? I’d like to talk to you in private.
He bowed his head ever so slightly.
I slipped my hand into Malcolm’s and felt like a tiny kid. “You guys’ll be safe. We’ll be back.” I didn’t give them a chance to respond. I closed my eyes and felt the stretching sensation of being teleported. When I opened them, we were in the clearing where I’d killed myself to return Mavros to the Abyss. The mountains surrounding us stretched to the heavens. The ground was covered with snow. The heat from some of the larger boulders had melted them off. I found one of those and sat.
Malcolm looked around. “Is this where you disappear to with Cody?”
“Nope.” The p popped out of my mouth. “That’s going to remain a secret.”
He positioned himself beside me. “What do you need from me?”
I focused on my flames, not igniting them, but bringing them to the surface to see if they’d warm me. “I need to know what you’d do. Would you go with them? Or should I just disappear?”
“They will expect you to disappear.” He held his hand over his mouth, slowly dragging it down. “If they catch you, they’ll punish you.”
I huffed out a humorless laugh. “I thought they were creatures of light.”
“You will find that sometimes there isn’t much difference between darkness and light.” He paused for a moment. “Both sides believe in punishment. Light punishes in the hopes that you will repent. Darkness punishes for pleasure, for retribution, to feel strong.”
I lowered my head and nodded. “Okay.”
“The forces of light don’t recognize that there are shades of gray. I believe it is better to see the varying colors and to try to bring them closer together.” He squeezed my shoulder. “There is no one right answer for everything. You were kind to Mavros, and because of that, he is fighting his master. Actions and not beliefs are what is important.”
It was hard to believe that I was sitting here with a dragon who had once shredded my back with his claws. It was hard to believe that I now counted him among my friends, but he was right. If I’d only believed the worst in him and not given him a chance, my world would be much different.
“So, what would you do?” I leaned into him, needing to not feel quite so alone.
He casually slung his arm over my shoulders. “I will never be held captive again.”
My stomach plummeted, and I pinched the bridge of my nose. “So, will you run with me?”
“For eternity if you need me to.”
“Why?”
He stared off into the distance, not answering for a long time. When he finally did, he didn’t look at me. “I have not always done the right thing … even before Draconian. I am not proud of what I did and how I acted. You showed me that one person with a desire to do good can change the world. Even after all he did to you and your friends, you tried to spare him.” He lowered his gaze to me. “How many people do you think would do that? Then you sacrificed yourself to save your friends”—he waved his hand in front of him—“to save the world.”
My face felt hot. I chewed on my lip to keep a stupid grin off my face.
“You befriended your enemies.” He lifted his arm off my shoulders and patted my back. “You’ve shown me what we can do to make this world better.”
I wiped my hands over my face. “So where do we go, and how do we make it seem like you’re hunting me, not helping me?”
His head snapped back. “I don’t care if they know.”
“If they think you’re after me, if they think I evaded you, we might be able to keep informed about what’s going on.” I massaged the back of my neck. “We might know when it’s safe to go home.”
Chapter 18
Deception
When we got back, Cody was sitting in Cookie Monster, holding his head. I stepped toward him, and he looked up. He’d been pressing
