I took a sharp breath. The plan forming in my mind was nuts even by my standards, but I didn’t see anything else that would work, and really, what was the difference between a human and a dragon? Sure, the nature and source and mechanics of our magic were all totally different, but ultimately speaking, we were both just souls stuck inside a physical shell. Connected souls, and if he could leave his body, why couldn’t I leave mine? After all, as I’d learned the hard way when I’d nearly broken mine, human souls were just magic. Delicate, unique, irreplaceable magic, but so was everyone else here. I couldn’t replace Nik or my father or my mom, and I was going to lose them all if we didn’t beat the Gameskeeper soon. There’d be no second chances if I held back, so I did what I did best and went for it, diving headfirst down the thread the same way I’d sent every other bit of magic to my father since I’d first brought him back from the embers.
And sweet fire, did it hurt.
Accidentally dislocating my soul had been painful and terrifying. Intentionally ripping it out and sending it down a magical link was all of that again times ten. If I hadn’t had such a solid link to hold on to, I would have torn myself to pieces, but even when I was panicking from the pain, the silver thread held me together. Every time he’d acted out of love for me, every time I’d refused to throw him away no matter how mad I got, every sacrifice, every hardship, every trial we’d passed, it was all there. All of it counted, and all of it held, forming a bond strong enough to shield my soul from the chaos as I shot through the arena god’s wall of magic to my father’s side, appearing on his shoulder with a suddenness that made us both jump.
“Opal?” he panted, his eyes wild with battle rage that was rapidly changing into fear. “What are you doing here?”
Steadying myself against his scales, I looked down my hand, which was now made of the same curling smoke his had been the first time he’d left his body. Whoa, I said, breaking into a delighted smile. It worked!
“You are not allowed to be happy about turning yourself into a ghost!” my father shouted, blowing another blast of flame at the Gameskeeper before turning his glare back to me. “Get back in your body this instant!”
No way, I said, clutching his scales tighter. I didn’t turn myself to smoke for funsies. I’m here to help you.
I could tell he desperately wanted to snarl that he didn’t need help. But while he had many faults, my father had never been a liar.
“I don’t see how you can,” he said in a resigned voice, grunting as another invisible blow smacked into his side. “This fool doesn’t take damage.”
Maybe not in the normal way, I said, pointing beyond the wall of screaming magic at the stands, which were now nearly empty. But he can’t keep this up forever. Mom’s breaking the crowd hard, and I’ve already smashed his circle. There’s no more magic once this is gone. If we can just hold tight, he should run himself dry.
Easier said than done. Now that I was inside the maelstrom with him, I could see that my dad was in even worse shape than I’d feared. He was tough and fast, but the Gameskeeper had him surrounded. Dodging one blow just threw him into reach of the next. Freed from the restrictions of mortal eyeballs, I could actually see the bloody magic coming in like a bludgeon from above to bash my father’s skull. He got out of the way at the last second, but the blow still glanced off his back, making him stagger.
Dad!
“I’m not that weak,” he growled, lashing back with claws that went straight through the Gameskeeper’s smug face. “But if you have an alternate approach, I’m open to suggestion.”
That was as close to a cry for help as the Great Yong got. Unfortunately, he wasn’t going to like my answer.
You need to stop dodging.
My father growled, almost knocking me off as he rolled through the dirt to avoid a swift strike from the ground. “I fail to see how letting him hit me is going to help.”
If we keep letting him set the pace, you’ll be dead way before he is, I explained. He knows that you can’t hurt him, so he’s conserving his strength, using just enough magic to keep you pinned while he takes you down with a thousand cuts. But this is a bleeding battle on both sides! If we want to win, we have to make sure that he bleeds faster, and the best way to do that is to bait him into a full-power attack.
“That’s what I’m afraid of. He hits hard.”
Only because your scales don’t work against the damage he dishes out, but that’s about to change. I balled my smoky hands into fists. You’re not alone, Dad. I got this. Let him swing.
I knew that my father’s trust in me had grown enormously over the last week, but I was still surprised when he actually did as I asked, placing his feet back on the ground where he’d already lifted them in preparation to jump out of the way of the next hit, which was coming in from the left.
I saw it, too, a mass of screaming power coming at us like a
