“More like dragonbite, am I right?”
No one laughed, and Tabby gave Claire a slight love tap on the shoulder, causing her to wince and suck in air through her teeth.
“Think of it like a snakebite, Maria,” Salem continued. “Once the venom is in the body, it slowly makes its way toward the vital organs. In your case, the heart and the brain—the two places where magic matters most. We cannot let that poison sit in your system for much longer.”
Gramps nodded, but he looked worried. “I can do my best. If I die, so be it. That is my destiny. I believe I’ve had a good, long run, and I will not be dying in vain. Within Maria lies a power greater than all of us, and an even greater hope.”
“Ignatius—” Frieda said.
He cut her off by placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I will be okay. Do not worry.” He turned and put the same hand on Maria.
She was taken aback, but noted how real it all felt.
“Yes, we can do this,” said the new witch, who wore glasses. She absentmindedly pushed them up the bridge of her nose.
Then came Agnes, Salem, and Frieda. Maria’s eyes were wide as she took it all in. The others, however, closed their own eyes and leaned closer and closer to the young witch. From their mouths came the gentle, sweet song Maria had been hearing all her life. It reached her ears as softly as the sighing wind through trees full with budding spring leaves.
Before she closed her own eyes, for her weariness was too much, a great burst of red light engulfed them. It was an angry color—the same shade as Odarth’s eyes, the same shade of death. That light floated into the brightening sky and dispersed like the rain clouds above.
Then Maria fainted.
When she awoke, Sherlock’s paws were planted on her shoulders, pinning her down, and his tongue was working overtime on her face. She was slick with his drool. His breath was not the best. It was about time she scheduled a teeth cleaning for him. Now that he talked, she wondered how much harder it would be to get him to the vet’s office.
Damn near close to impossible, she thought.
Sherlock barked, and soon the faces of her family flooded her vision. They were no longer dulled by the hazy dreamlike quality that had engulfed them earlier. Some dream, huh?
“She’s up!” Claire shouted. “Oh, thank God.”
Maria shook her head, pushing Sherlock off of her and simultaneously scratching him behind the ears as she did so.
Oh, Maria! I thought I lost you! I ran all the way up here for you. Even though these assholes, he tilted his head backward in the direction of the others, didn’t tell me they were opening a fucking portal! That would’ve saved me so much energy. But hey, on the brighter side, this quest life is working me out pretty well. I think I’ll finally be able to fit into that Speedo I showed you the other day. Remember? The neon green one. And since I don’t have any balls—
“Okay, that’s enough about Speedos and your balls,” Maria said, cutting him off.
But I was just getting started.
Gramps leaned down now and put the back of his hand on Maria’s forehead. “Ah, cool as a cucumber!”
She arched an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”
They all stared at her blankly for a moment.
“She doesn’t remember,” Gelbus said, wringing his hands. “Do you think that means she doesn’t remember Ash—”
“Of course I remember Ashbourne, but what are you checking me for a fever for? I’m fine. A little banged up, but fine.” Then she looked at the new witch she hadn’t recognized. “Who are you?”
“I’m Lois, dear, an old friend of your grandfather’s.”
Maria stuck out her hand, but Lois didn’t take it. Instead, she leaned down and hugged Maria. This made Maria smile. It was nice to be hugged after all she’d been through. The rest joined in as well; one large group hug.
“The dragonfire’s poison was coursing through your veins, sweetheart,” Frieda said after they parted. “Your grandfather and his friends saved your life.”
“Don’t be modest,” Gramps said. His voice was very weak. “We all helped save your life, Maria—Frieda included. But that is nothing compared to what you did for all of us in Ashbourne; not to mention those in Ashbourne that you saved.”
Maria shook her head. Sudden sadness overtook her. “I didn’t save them all.”
“You saved most, and those who died will not have died in vain, Maria.” Gramps brushed a budding tear away from the corner of her eye.
It wasn’t a dream. It was all a waking nightmare.
A deep roar rolled out from the cave’s mouth, and Maria shivered.
“I didn’t slay Odarth,” Maria admitted. “She said a war was coming.”
“War?” Claire asked. “If that wasn’t war back there, I don’t want to know what is.”
Gramps nodded, his look harsh. “She told the truth,” he said. “A dragon never lies underneath the spell from the Dragon’s Rites. If that is the case, Maria, you did right by not slaying the beast…for now.”
Maria knew that, of course, but she didn’t want to come to terms with the fact she would have to slay the dragon once the war was over. When the time came, she would slay it without so much as blinking an eye, but she would carry the beast’s death, as well as the others she had slain, for the rest of her life.
“Come,” Ignatius said, “we must discuss this war.” He nodded to Salem, Agnes, and Lois. “Can you three do me the honors?”
With a grin, Salem nodded back. The two joined hands and their lips moved soundlessly as they called upon their magic. A portal opened, and inside was Maria’s house.
Time to go home.
Lois stepped forward with a smile. “It was
