Tasia had recovered very quickly from the ordeal and was normal again by the time everyone else in the house got home. Her fussy soul mates still insisted on making her rest, though, so she obligingly sacked out on the couch and read a book. When the doorbell rang, she didn't bother to move. She instead tilted her head back over the arm and watched upside down as Rhya opened the door. To her vast bemusement, her princess took one look at the people on the other side of the door and promptly fainted dead away into Rachel's arms. "Well, hi to you too!"
Rachel tried not to laugh as she held Rhya in her arms. "You know, I half expected that. She's been a bundle of nerves and anxiety, all but staring at the door hoping to see Pallas walk through, so of course the moment he does, it overloads her!"
"I think we're glad you didn't just transport in." Tasia rolled up to her feet just as Raine rushed down the hall. The Daffodil Cultivator looked at Rhya, at Rachel, at Pallas, and then at Tasia with a lifted brow. "Emotional overload," Tasia confirmed.
"Criminy, is that all?" Raine rolled her eyes. "Rachel, hand off Rea to her boyfriend. He broke it, he bought it."
Pallas blinked as he was unceremoniously handed the unconscious princess, but the moment she was in his arms, he forgot everything and everyone around him. His arms tightened as he pressed his cheek to her hair and struggled to endure the powerful emotions consuming him. There were too many to name, and they grew more powerful with every passing year. His dearest, dearest friend and most beloved person. He'd had no choice but to fall in love.
The other Resurrection Cultivators had gathered by then, and they all looked at Beth and Arabella. Both looked teary eyed and sniffling. Ryan had also gotten a bit sniffly, and even Tasia looked unusually emotional. They had all been expecting something to happen, but this was not what anyone except the two pattern masters had been able to see as a potential outcome. The timing had felt right to them both.
Pallas barely remembered anyone else was there. Nothing but his Cultivator was in his world. He softly brushed her lips with his and let his power well to bring her out of sleep. Those with deep enough ties to the Field could bring dream-inducing sleep, and end it as well.
Her lashes fluttered and then slowly opened as she looked up at him for long moments. She began to smile and lifted her hands to frame his face. "It's not a dream," she whispered thickly. "You're here. I've been waiting for you." Her arms slid around his neck, and she held onto him as tightly as she could. She would let go only when she was forced to do it. "Welcome home."
"Damn it, people! Always with the making the empaths cry!" Beth stalked toward the kitchen. "Where's the tissue this time?"
"I'll find it," Arabella followed her on a sniffle. "Ryan?"
"Had some in my pocket." He scrubbed at his eyes. "I've learned!"
Pallas smiled as he put Rhya onto her feet and then kept an arm around her shoulders. "I hope there is room for me, if I may stay here as well. I imagine there is not much time left before the end of the war, though. With Arabella here, I feel we are on a close track to the end."
"You're not kidding." Tasia huffed out a breath. "For the most convenience, Pallas can have the couch, Aldan can share Rachel's bed." Before anyone could comment on that, she added blithely, "I would tell Pallas to share Rhya's bed, but, really, that is not fair to them. Aldan and Rachel can behave themselves while having roommates because they've been together long enough to find self-control. The other two? Not-so-much. I don't think they want to invoke certain laws until Pallas' own role is better established."
Rhya coughed, and the other Cultivators almost doubled with laughter. She fought to ignore her friends—just because it was true didn't mean they had to be mean—and instead turned to Rachel and Aldan. "Welcome back! Everything taken care of? It's been a few days."
It had only been a few hours in Ephemeral Plane, but the off-kilter passage was not unusual. It happened sometimes thanks to the Hall of Records, and Pallas himself being apart from time. "We did," Aldan agreed. "And I have someone else for you all to meet." He pulled off his hat, and Melina blinked owlishly in the sudden light. She stood up and stretched largely before flying down off his shoulder and landing on his outstretched hand. "This is Melina," he said. "She's my partner, and familiar."
Anna had been watching as well, and she let out a loud gasp. "A fae!" She dashed over to see better. "She's so pretty!" Remembering, her eyes went wide. "Oh, but is it safe?" she asked Aldan fretfully. "Fae aren't able to live off the Plane. That's what Mommy said. So is Melina safe here?"
Melina nodded firmly. "I'm a different fae, so I'm okay. As long as I'm with Aldan, I'll be okay. Hold out your hands!" When Anna obliged, she flew over to land on the girl's palms instead. "Little witch! Ooh, you're pretty special I think. But! I don't tell any what they are unless they're an adult." She held up a finger. "I confirm what you already know, because if you don't know, then it's not my job to tell you. But you have wonderful majik! You're like your mommy and daddy both."
All knew she referenced Tasia and Rodi, and it confirmed anew that the majikal bonds they had suspected did, in fact, exist.
Melina suddenly spotted Anira sleeping on the back of the couch, and gave a little gasp not unlike Anna's. "A baby!" She zipped over to land beside the baby dragon, and revealed they were much the same size, though Anira looked bigger because she was slightly stockier. Melina knelt to look at Anira's face better, and the baby opened her eyes on a sleepy yawn before watching Melina curiously. A little squeak made offering, so Melina happily wrapped her arms around Anira's neck. "She's so pretty and cute and huggable!"
"Told you," Raine said to Ryan on a grin. "The 'oh my god so cute can I keep/hold it' thing is completely universal across most species."
Aldan inclined his head toward the kitchen where Arabella had gone with the others. "Speaking of Arabella, when did she get here?"
"Yesterday," Beth offered. "Showed up right after Emily and Ryan evolved to their next tier." And found their Caretakers, but she did not say it out loud. Both siblings were . . . raw. "She knew that what Alloran thought was not jiving with what she had been seeing, so she came to get the truth. We've cleared the air and are basically just waiting for Alloran to come beat down the door looking for her. She thinks he sees now that what he did was wrong and that what he believed was really wrong, but we may still have to work on him." She slid a look at Rodi. "As is normal for the members of the Arian royal bloodline, he's both blind to the obvious and excessively stubborn."
"I'm ignoring that," Rodi said mildly.
She grinned. "Anyway, she also gave us information on the real enemy. His name is Splice, and he's a demon that is the mortal enemy of Tananeen's line. Well, actually, he's kind of the mortal enemy of anything living but he really hates Tananeen's lineage because they have the power to destroy him—or to summon Tananeen to eat him. Whichever comes first."
Tasia bared her teeth in a mockery of a smile. "He's lucky I'm not full dragon myself or I would eat him personally."
"Down, girl." Leslie put her hands on her shoulders and steered her toward the kitchen. "Eat some cookies instead. Stormy made peanut butter ones this morning."
"Slave drivers."
* * * * *
The roar that echoed through the room made nothing but a chilling sound of evil. It echoed with enough force to nearly rend a soul from a body, and Alloran had no choice but to cower as small as he could in the furthest corner of the room. He was terrified in a way he never had been before. He could not run, not even as blood slid down his face from where Splice's claws had ripped open his skin once more.
He had met Splice in his quest to save his wife, and until now he had not realized just how truly terrible the demon may be. He had accepted the necessary evil as a chance to get revenge and save Arabella, but now everything he had believed lay crumbled before him as he painfully confronted the truth he had tried to resist for years. Even before Arabella had told him what she had felt from his father, he had just always . . . suspected. He hadn't wanted to believe it. Now he had to accept his father's evil as fact, and face the reality that he himself had not been much better. He had not done necessary evil. Just evil. He could feel the jagged spikes inside his soul gouging deeper as the hate fled him for grief and remorse. Arabella had fled for fear of her life, and he bitterly accepted that she may have been running from him as much as the demon. What had he become himself, really?
He'd had no choice but to tell Splice about Arabella fleeing, and now his eyes opened only more as he stared at the true form of the disgusting demon dragon he had bound himself to serve. Trapped. He was trapped. Splice's rage at Arabella's disappearance was horrific and, strangely, excessive. The demon had been even fouler in mood ever since the shockwave the day before.
"They're only witches," Alloran tried to reassure. "With magikry, yes, but they can—"
"They are not just witches," Splice gritted out in a gravelly voice. His tail lashed violently across the floor to send a pedestal flying to the ground. "They are summoners, and you so graciously helped them figure that out! The sorceress has awakened, and He will soon make an appearance to her!"
"He?"
"The accursed king." Splice's claws raked across the walls and gouged out stone so that rubble fell like bloody tears. "The one to whom all dragons bow!" His voice dropped to a vicious hiss. "I knew the sorceress was a threat, but I did not realize she was his blood!" The words gained in force until the last was a roar that echoed in the room and pierced eardrums painfully.
There was only one recourse left to Alloran if he wished to live to see his wife again. He might still struggle with some seed of wariness for the Resurrection Cultivators, but they were a damned sight safer than Splice! He got to his feet and conjured a dagger into his hand. With all his strength he hurled it right toward his former master's back. The demon roared as the blade struck, but he could not turn in time before Alloran used the last of his magic to teleport from the building. In shedding the power he had been given, he shed the connection between them.
Splice stared at where he had been and watched his plans fall apart. His scream of fury then echoed out of the building and into the city where it made everyone feel a chill without knowing why.
* * * * *
The roar trembled on the air and curled into the house. Haeth and Striker bared their teeth and claws, but they didn't move from where they had curled together on the couch. Anira was snuggled between them, and Melina slept against her side. Neither of the adult dragons wanted to disturb the sleeping innocents.
Tasia was in the kitchen with Pallas and Anna. She competently made a sandwich for her daughter, something that made her tell the Archon dryly, "I can't cook, but I can make a sandwich. Good thing too else I might have starved at school. Well, maybe. Storm is good at feeding me, and he's been teaching Rodi things as well."
Pallas grinned at her. "I find it entirely amusing that you are so much like Yvonne and Doug without sharing blood."
She grinned back. "So do we!" She started to say more when she suddenly went very still and her eyes flew wide. The color left her skin.
"Mommy!" Anna grabbed her legs to try to help but was too small to offer any balance.
Pallas was fast enough to catch the sorceress as she collapsed but his eyes briefly widened as he staggered under her unexpected weight and then fell to the ground holding her. It was still a softer landing than if she had fallen on her own. "Anastasia!" he said sharply. She did not respond. "Rodi! Raine!" he shouted.
They were already running and briefly got stuck with Leslie in the doorway. The others hurried in as well, yet there was nothing Raine could do. After a brief examination, she said curtly, "She did not pass out. She's having a vision."
"Huh." Rachel frowned. "Odd. I mean, yes, visions that enter directly into the mind rather than behind the eyes are known for knocking out people—I'm an old hand at that—but I'm a little puzzled to see it happen to Tasia. She and Shana alike have rubber brains and incredible ability to take in information; Tasia especially because she's a pattern master. Things others would need right into their mind for them to process can absolutely just go behind their eyes because they can process it quickly enough. They just stare at nothing for a little longer than the rest of us."
"I've never seen it happen to Tasia either," Theo admitted. "And she's seen terrible things. S'why she's an insomniac without Rodi around. I think this may not be a normal vision, if there is such a thing. It may not be a vision at all. Put her on the couch. I'll go in after her."
"You can do that?" Rhya asked in surprise.
"If it's not a vision, yes. It's a majik-related skill usable between two people with overlapping skills. Since we all overlap Tasia, any of us could do it, but because I'm the most experienced with Sight thanks to being Aster, I'll do it. I know what I'm doing. Put her on the couch."
Rodi carried Tasia to the couch where the dragons and faerie moved to make room. Anira immediately crawled into Tasia's bra again, and her parents perched on the back of the couch with Melina. "Is this safe?" Rodi asked Theo.
"No more or less than anything else." He sat down beside his friend and laced their fingers together. "Let's hope this turns out to tell us something we need to know."
She was alone within her own mind. She knew that had to be where she was. It felt familiar, and it felt comforting. It was a swath of gray color for as far as her eyes could see, and that suited her fine. Shadows moved along the edges of her vision.
She heard a sound and turned toward it, and the gray suddenly flooded with light. She blinked once to adjust her eyes and then had to blink again as the light faded into white. She moved forward a step into the light, already suspicious she knew just who or what had brought it in.
"My child."
The deep male voice made her turn around again, and she cocked her head curiously as she studied the figure inside her mind. He was quite tall—roughly six-six in height—and built strong in the shoulder. He had waist-length hair that looked white until light strafed across it to reveal a rainbow of other hidden colors. His eyes worked the same, that white-multihue, and his skin was a familiar mocha brown overlaid by dragon scale birthmarks. His pupils, visibly, looked diamond.
He wore an ornate open tunic with matching slacks, the likes of which only gods might wear. His feet remained bare, and a circlet inlayed with ten gemstones rested on his head. He looked strikingly handsome, and his eyes held bottomless wisdom. That wisdom turned to amusement as he saw her study of him. "Haven't you ever seen a mighty dragon before, fledgling?" he asked.
"No," she answered absently. "I'm trying to decide if I'm seeing one now."
Tananeen threw his head back and almost roared with laughter. "I can see that my beloved Anastasia's sense of humor has never been lost even after all these years." He lifted his hands and framed her face. "Just as her coloring has never been lost, and neither has my spirit. You make this old dragon proud."
"Thanks, I think." She felt a little surprised at herself with how utterly blasé she felt to be talking to Tananeen, the King of all Dragons and God of the Skies. She should have been afraid or nervous, but all she felt was comfort and ease. It felt right to be there with him. "So, old man, I assume you had a good reason for knocking me out?"
"I have things to tell you." He took her hand and pulled her along with him as he began to walk. When it became clear that she couldn't keep up, he slowed his pace so that her strides were able to match his. "Things I have waited very long to tell you. I think I knew," he murmured, "the moment Sia told me she was pregnant. Just that feeling."
"She was special," she said softly.
"My darling, she was the founder of your Faith."
Tasia did not stop walking, but her steps paused ever so slightly. "I . . . had begun to wonder. It seemed so . . . plausible, given other things. Even we in the Faith had forgotten by the Rebirth Era just where we had come from, short of how we had come to be. That we had been given majik for taking Destiny as our Goddess."
"That is so, but there is more. Anastasia Courimay was not human. She was a demi-goddess. She had been raised by humans, but she had questions. She petitioned to Destiny herself and found her answers. The force of Hope in the universe . . . did you know there should be a God of Hope?"
"Of course. He is our Father God, the one we worship and love alongside our Mother Goddess, Destiny." She cocked her head. "Though, I admit, his presence is . . . quiet. I'm not sure any of us ever really understood what had happened to him that only his power remained across the universe."
"Allow me to explain. He appeared at the moment Destiny did yet faded almost instantly. Such a young universe could not sustain him. His presence continued to linger, though, and as hope grew, so did his power. Sia was born from that power. When Destiny told her such a thing, told her that the force of Hope needed to continue to grow to allow for the birth of the Apexes of Light and Dark, Sia wanted to help. She felt it her sacred role as the daughter of the God of Hope."
"The power of Hope had to be strong enough for the Apexes to be born," Tasia murmured, "because it is a part of the arcane forces they use. Mine, too, I guess, but I can't gather all of the hopes of the universe inside me and create a Whisper to unleash a miracle."
"Well, to help with such a thing, Sia founded the Faith and accepted Destiny and Hope as her Mother Goddess and Father God. This moved Destiny so much that she gave the Faith majik, and, well, you know the rest from there out. After the first year, Destiny sought me and asked me that my dragons should ally and befriend the witches. It was no hardship to ask!" He smiled. "My kin had been watching the witches quite wistfully. So the alliance formed that lasts to this day. Well . . . round about five thousand years after the founding of the Faith, I . . . got a little curious."
She began to grin. "About the mysterious leader of the Faith who kept to herself as a quiet and mostly reclusive sort due to her immortality forcing her to watch those she loved leave her." She clasped her free hand to her heart as he smiled. "The handsome King of the Dragons presented himself to this beautiful witch, and they fell in love."
"Bed," he corrected wryly. "I'm fairly sure we fell in bed first."
She had to laugh. "Same difference in the end. I think it's beautiful and fitting, and I agree with Haeth that it is sweet. I know everything after that. I . . . don't want to think about it, if that's alright."
"I cannot blame you. And I would never have asked for any of the burdens that have befallen you to do so, but there is so much potential inside you, Tasia. So much greatness." He stopped walking and turned to face her. "There is so much more than you yet know, but to have dumped all of it on you at one time could have torn even you apart." He brushed at her hair affectionately. "Even now, I have to ask you to save me, and my Sia. She entered into limbo when she was killed because the universe quite frankly did not know what to do with a demi-goddess dying on the physical realm. Those in the Realm who are killed cease to exist. Ultimate Gods can't die though they can fade away if not strong enough. But demi-gods and goddesses can technically die and should ascend to the Realm but they're technically OF the Realm . . . it was a mess."
She huffed out a breath. "I bet. So the stones holding the parts of your essence have now shattered, meaning you can be basically reassembled if ten summoners, including one who is a sorceress descendant of you, put you back together like a divine puzzle."
"Make sure you put my tail in the right place."
She laughed. "I think maybe my humor is as much yours as your soul mate's, old man!" She shook her head. "And Anira is a key piece, isn't she? She has your heart inside her." When he lifted a brow at her, she smiled. "I'm a pattern master. It's what I do." She cocked her head slightly. "I won't say I was sure from the very beginning, but I was definitely suspicious. Anira hatches from an amethyst right as I awaken fully as a summoner, and then I find out you're sealed and broken into ten pieces inside gemstones that need to be awoken?"
"I suppose it is obvious only to someone like you." There was a hint of humor in his voice. "Anira was indeed born with my heart inside her. She has two hearts. Once I am summoned and returned to whole, my heart will leave her and she will return to you perfectly normal. It had to be her. She is the daughter of my most beloved Haeth, and Striker's potent elemental flexibility aided as well."
"Did you maybe set up Striker's birth so he'd match and meet Haeth?"
"Now how would I do that? I've been broken for millennia."
"Uh-huh." She let it go.
He lifted her chin so their eyes met. "The strongest part of any creature is its heart. Only you could command mine for you are already a piece of it. You may be my descendant, but you feel more like my great-granddaughter. I see much of the ones before you inside you, including my beloved mate and daughter and Jean. Much planning went into your birth."
"I had already gotten that," she muttered. She huffed out a breath. "So what do we do specifically?"
"You must summon each piece of me to one of you. There's a ceremony to do so, and you know it in your heart. All of you will all be divinely sanctioned summoners after that, and when the final fight begins, you will be allowed to summon each piece of me into Anira. I will be able to briefly borrow her body to destroy Splice, and then I will be able to tear open limbo to free my Sia. We will then ascend together to the Realm where I will regain my own body and form, and Anira will return to you.
"Good." She tossed her ponytail back. "Don't worry about anything, old man. I'm not going to let Splice win this one. I have this terrible dislike of evil entities in general, but that he was once a dragon just really sticks in my craw. This is a wee bit personal now."
"That's my girl." He leaned down and kissed her forehead gently. "Wake up, fledgling. And awaken your friends as well. Only you can."
"I'll awaken the sleeping power. Yeah, I've got that." She watched as he disappeared and felt tears stinging the back of her eyes. It was both humbling and awe-inspiring to think she was so important to this powerful god that he would find the strength to reach out to her even though so little of his consciousness remained. She sensed Theo reaching out for her instead and held up a hand to reach for him in return. Now she could go back. Now she knew what needed to be done.
When her eyes opened, she found twelve faces leaning over her and peering down at her. She stifled a yelp and scowled as she sat up. It forced them to fall back and she snapped, "Damn it to hell and back, don't do that!" Her daughter nearly flew into her arms and clung on tightly, and she sighed as she held her closer. "It's fine," she murmured into Anna's hair. "Easy, baby. I'm not going anywhere." She looked up at her friends. "We need a meeting with the Elders. Emily, call Shana and roust the ranks."
"Yes'm." Emily pulled out her PCA and headed into the hall to make the call.
Tasia opened her mouth to at least give her friends a brief overview when someone knocked on the door. Arabella immediately gave a little cry and rushed toward the door. She threw it open and leapt into Alloran's arms, and she nearly knocked him over because he had not been expecting her.
The Resurrection Cultivators stood and closed ranks protectively around Tasia and Anna. The sorceress calmly put her daughter down and then moved around her friends to walk toward Alloran. His shoulders tensed a little as she studied him and the wounds on his face. After a moment, she said conversationally, "I will assume you had no idea what you were getting into since I would like to believe you're smart enough to know demon dragons like to claw first and ask later."
He smiled but then winced when the movement made his wounds throb painfully. "Correct on all of it." He held Arabella tighter when she burrowed against his side. Though he had questions about the truth of what he had mistakenly believed, he also knew that it was not necessarily important. The most important truth was already here in front of him. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I can't excuse my actions, but I can try to make amends."
"That's good enough." Tasia studied him and then winced as she realized he was covered in blood. "Holy icy hells, you're in bad shape. Raine, heal what you can. Rodi, lend him something to wear. Damned if I'll let him walk around like that."
Alloran glanced warily at his cousin who was glaring hotly at him. "You've earned the right to kick my ass," he told Rodi politely, "but it might be best to wait for me to be whole again otherwise it won't even be worth your effort."
"No fighting at all!" Rhya scolded them mutually.
"Can I do it?" Leslie muttered.
"No!"
Rodi bit back a soft snort of amusement and disappeared down the hall to get some fresh clothes. Luckily for Alloran, they wore the same size. Raine made the former villain sit down and got to work on healing the new wounds as well as what old ones she could. Arabella very concisely told her husband what she had learned—she tried to keep it brief for the sake of the Cultivators—but they all flinched more than once. That alone seemed to kick Alloran even harder. They had suffered in ways he did not want to comprehend. "I'm sorry," he said again softly. "I truly am. I can't even begin to tell you how much I regret what has happened." He looked at where Anna clung to Beth's leg. "Little one," he told her softly, "I will never stop hating myself for costing you your father."
Anna shook her head a little bit. "I have a new family now. I'm happier now than before. I will have a baby brother soon, too. It's okay if lives end because new lives always start after."
"Could you be any more like your mother?" Storm asked dryly.
"Tasi," Arabella looked at the sorceress fretfully, "can you . . . fix him? Remove those spikes? Please. I know it is something terrible to ask of a spiritual healer, but if anyone can do it, you can as High Priestess. He hurts already. He should not be an Other!"
"And if my guilt alone is not enough," Alloran admitted softly, "I will take whatever punishment is issued."
Tasia walked over and leaned down to catch his face in her hands and force him to meet her eyes. "Guilt is not atonement," she told him, her voice almost resonating in a way no one else had heard. "Guilt is the impetus to atone. You broke laws and rules and attacked innocents. You planned evil. You are the reason an innocent man died." She paused. "However, what you did, you did out of love for your wife and father—and that makes all the difference. For as deep as those spikes of hate have pierced, they could not turn you from love entirely. You have done something near impossible, Alloran. You ripped out the spikes by your own hand. You have done terrible damage to your soul, but you are no longer an Other, nor in danger of becoming one again." Majik spread from her fingers in a healing, soothing, wave of silver-gold. "Your punishment is simple: live. You and Belle will return to Aria, and you will help it continue to grow and return to its glory. Put only good energy out into the universe, and the scales will balance."
His breath unraveled as the pain in his soul faded. "We will."
"Good." She straightened. "Now, excuse me a second." She dashed down the hall quickly, and all heard a bathing room door slam.
Raine sighed tiredly. "Well, better this than morning sickness. At least this is just a one-shot deal. We'll be back in a few minutes. This should be fast." She ran down the hall after her sister.
Emily stepped back into the room and said, "We're on. Aunt Shana says to just head right over since we'll all get there about the same time." She ignored Alloran though she had heard everything. She was still annoyed, and she knew she would probably sock him if she spoke to him. "They," she pointed at Alloran and Arabella, "are to come along."
Alloran winced, and Theo said breezily, "Don't worry, we'll protect you."
They arrived at the temple only a few minutes after all of the Elders and Commanders, and Chance of course. The Elder generation had already found places to sit or stand, and the Resurrection Cultivators stood together behind Alloran and Arabella. Tasia guiltlessly gave Alloran a shove that moved him forward and isolated him, and he warily watched the crowd as more than one person glared at him. He particularly didn't like the look from the redhead off to the side; it felt more dangerous than the rest. "Uhm."
"So, this is Alloran. He's realized he was an idiot and is here to help us," Tasia said dryly. "Don't kill him."
"Can we maim him?" Chance asked.
Nope, Alloran thought. He really especially didn't like that look.
"Leave him be, Chance." Tasia inclined her head toward Rachel and Aldan. "Obviously, Aldan is back and in full capacity as a Caretaker once more. He's the Knight of the Immortal Fields, and we can let Shana and Edgar go over those details later since they knew from the moment Aldan landed there."
The siblings winced as new glares came toward them. "Busted," Shana groused.
"It was your idea to say nothing," her brother groused back. "And Tasia knew too! Why isn't she in trouble?"
"Because she's Tasia," Leslie told him dryly, "and she's worse than Mom about keeping secrets for the sake of others!"
Tasia coughed. "Also, you'll notice Pallas is here. Obvious reasons. Shana and Edgar have given him leave to act as Rhya's Caretaker for this war and then all of us will discuss in the future Era where things will go from there." She huffed out a breath. "Our real enemy isn't my cousin-in-law. It's the demon dragon he stupidly joined forces with. Splice can only be destroyed by the raw force of dragon power, and as powerful as I am, I only have a bit of actual dragon power. It's all jumbled into everything else about me. I have a really," she sought the right word, "chaotic sort of power. It is plausible my arcanistry could destroy Splice, but not without potential damage to either me or my son."
"So . . .?" Michael asked.
"So . . . we summon Tananeen and reassemble him. That is why we ten are summoners. We can call the fragments of Tananeen to us and then summon them into Anira to bring him back to life. She will be his vessel until he can ascend. Along the way, we will also free his soul mate, Anastasia, from limbo."
"That explains the most recent vision," Sherry sighed. "That was driving me crazy."
An odd look crossed Rocky's face. "What does Tananeen look like?"
"Well I haven't seen him as a dragon yet, but logic based on the Coda human form he used says that he should be pure white with rainbow iridescent scales, and he would have horns longer than Haeth's," Tasia offered.
"And that explains my vision," he said. "Finally, the pieces come together!" His vision actually had already started to make sense ever since he had learned Tasia had dragon blood of her own. He had confirmed the woman in it as Tasia, but now he knew why she had been surrounded by dragons and the white Elder had in particular been holding her protectively. "So how are you going to call the fragments to you guys?"
"Just a ritual." Tasia smiled. "We witches are big on rituals and ceremonies. The stones the fragments were in are already shattered. We just need to call out to them."
"You shattered them with your awakening, didn't you?" Clara asked softly.
"Yeah. They always said I'd be the one to awaken the sleeping power. I never knew until just recently what power they were talking about. I think the only thing we need to know before we do the ceremony and prepare for the final fight is to get an aerial view of Splice's headquarters and scan it to see if it has any mystical defenses. Not even Alloran or Belle know, and we need that information sooner rather than later. We don't want surprises on the day of the fight." She looked at Yvonne and smiled. "Hey, Mom, want to go for a dragon ride?"
"I . . ." Yvonne let out a little breath. "Sure, why not? Are there seatbelts?"
Tasia laughed and then turned and flung her arm into the air. Striker, who had been perched there, flew up into the air and began growing quickly into his full size. He landed on the ground gracefully, and Tasia stroked his face gently with a smile. "He won't drop us, will you, Striker?"
"That's . . . wow," was all Juliet could manage to say. It was followed by, "He's a small dragon?!" She winced. "I don't want to know how big Tananeen might be."
"Height runs in the family," Raine told her solemnly.
"A multi-colored dragon!" Sherry exclaimed. Her shoulders slumped in sheer relief. "And that's the last of the visions to be explained. The one that set all this off was seeing Yvonne in Mask and armor riding on a rainbow dragon with some unknown female figure."
"And wearing our Masks sounds like a damn good idea to me," Tasia agreed. "Damned if we're going in unprotected." She pulled on her own Mask and then climbed up onto Striker's back. Once Yvonne had been Masked as well, Tasia tugged her up behind her. Yvonne held onto her daughter's waist as tight as she dared, and then she gulped as Striker flew straight up into the air and left her heart in her throat.
The dragon flew across the sky as if gravity had ceased to exist. Yvonne got her nerves in line and looked down to see the city streaking below them as nothing but a blur of color and light. Her fear eased and she began to smile. She had always wondered what it would be like to fly. "Amazing."
"I thought you'd enjoy it." Tasia's eyes narrowed suddenly and she called Striker to a stop as they approached a tall building in the center of the city. Tall enough to be noticed but not so tall as to be suspicious. Lux did not run to exceptionally tall buildings; the tallest was the Chivanti Corporation building. "That's the place. It was just completed when we arrived, and Splice took over before it could be leased. We need to know what sort of defenses it has."
Yvonne dug out her PCA and pulled up the scanning function once more. Striker flew slowly around the perimeter to allow her to make full scans, and Tasia used her eyes to check the surrounding landscape. The building was set in a central area between many intersections, and there were ten junction points along straight lines that would create a perfect pentagram around the building.
Her blood boiled, and she looked up sharply. A horde of Icewings had just lifted off the top of the skyscraper and approached rapidly. "Oh, hell. We should've brought Aunt Sherry with us. Hang on, Mom!"
Yvonne muffled a shriek as Striker shot forward into a loop and barrel roll that turned them around and had them rushing toward safety. The Icewings were close on their tail, firing blast after blast of ice breath at them, and she winced. "I guess we're not effective against them."
"That and they want to eat us."
Luckily for them, the Aster Defenders had sensed the trouble, and Sherry stood perched on a picnic table watching the sky. Striker zipped past, and she released a wave of scorching fireballs that obliterated the Icewings in a single shot. "Once you know their weakness, they're pretty easy to handle," she decided as she hopped down off the table.
Striker looped back around and landed, and Yvonne slid weakly off his back. Doug caught her before she could fall and held onto her tightly as his heart raced madly. His eyes ran over his daughter sharply, but she didn't even seem concerned let alone harmed. "You're going to be the death of me," he scolded. He scowled at Virginia. "I don't envy your parents! Lead Defenders are far worse than the average ones!"
She just grinned at him as everyone laughed. Tasia hugged her father tightly for a moment but did not apologize. She couldn't apologize for what she did not regret. "Guess we should have expected that. Oh well. Mom, did you see anything magical on the place?"
"Nothing extraordinary," Yvonne answered after a quick check of her PCA. "I don't think Splice was anticipating this to happen. So, what now?"
Her daughter walked over to where her friends waited, and she smiled over her shoulder. "We have a ritual to do."
©Stacy J. Garrett. Do not reprint or redistribute without permission.
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