His gaze narrowed. “Who do you think you are, boy?”
I grinned rakishly at him. “I’m Sam of Dragons.”
I moved then. In that alleyway. I ran toward Myrin the Bright Star, feeling the scars along my chest crackle with electricity. A crack of thunder burst overhead, and then a flash of lightning arced down from the sky and slammed into my raised hand. It crawled down my arm and wrapped around my heart, the green and gold bright against the blue electricity that rolled through me. I moved quicker than I ever had before, like I was lightning, striking out at Myrin before he could even— A hand closed around my throat.
I was lifted off the ground.
My feet kicked.
“We’ve been here before,” Myrin snarled up at me. “Did you really think I’d fall for this again, you little shit? The time of Sam of Dragons is over. You have lost.”
Lightning racked through me and onto him. The muscles in his arm twitched, the hairs standing on end, but his grip only tightened. I pushed as hard as I could, but it was no use.
He opened his mouth wide.
And that horrible pulling that I’d only felt a fraction of in Mashallaha began again.
His eyes were dark as he began to consume my magic.
It was a terrible sensation, like I was being drained from the inside out. I felt it being pulled toward him, like I was caught in a storm I couldn’t escape. I screamed in his face, unable to— And then it lessened. It just… fell away. All of it.
He said, “How are you doing that?”
I struggled feebly in his grip.
He said, “How are you making your eyes change colors? What is this?”
I felt them.
Black. And blue. And red.
And white. So much white.
“This?” I snapped at him. “This is Kick Myrin’s Ass Part Two. Capitalized, so you sure as shit know it’s true.”
He sneered at me as he squeezed my neck even tighter. “And just what is your plan?”
“You wanted the dragons?” I managed to say. “Well guess what, motherfucker. You’ve got them.”
From above came a great roar.
The pulses in my head bloomed bright and strong.
The blues were the strongest.
They said, Here, Sam. We’re here. We’re here. And we have a plan. You must trust us. You must put your faith in us. Prepare yourself. Because this must end, one way or another.
The world exploded around us and—
Chapter 20: A Destiny of Dragons
I OPENED my eyes.
Through a canopy of trees, I saw a sea of stars.
I sat up.
I was in the middle of a forest. The air was warm. The grass was cool.
Randomly, on my feet were a pair of pink shoes, the tips of which curled up.
I pushed myself up slowly.
In the distance, through the trees, I saw what looked like the lights of fairies.
I remembered everything.
The way Ryan had fallen, lungs made of stone. How I’d torn right down the middle.
The lives I’d taken after. Caleb and Ruv.
I’d felt them die.
And for a moment, hadn’t I relished it? Hadn’t I wished that it’d been all the Darks?
I had. I’d been more powerful in that moment than I’d ever been before.
I pushed through the trees.
Morgan had told me once that every person, whether a wizard or not, had the propensity for darkness inside of them. That it all came down to choice. “You are,” he’d told me once, “who you choose to be. It’s as simple as that, little one. And I am here to help you make the right choice, because I believe in you more than I’ve ever believed in anyone before.”
I’d been too young—too na?ve—to understand what he’d meant.
I did now.
Because being a force for good was so much harder than being one for evil.
I came upon a large clearing where the fairy lights burned bright.
Except—they weren’t fairies, were they?
There was a red light, flitting about. As I stepped into the clearing, it buzzed around me quickly, warm and safe, and I could hear a voice saying, Gods, this is so lame. Sam, if you die, I will never forgive you, and when I wake up again in a hundred years, I will find your grave and then chew on your bones.
The blue lights were bright and kind as they settled on either shoulder. The one on the left said, You’re dreaming, Sam. You’re dreaming, except this is as real as it will ever get. Whatever happens here will be in the real world. You can get hurt here, Sam. You can die here.
The light on the right said, But you better not let that happen. Leslie will be sorely disappointed if it does. She has grown rather fond of you, in case you couldn’t tell.
You old dyke, the left light said sweetly. You love him just as much as I do. He belongs to us. We belong to him. It is the way of things.
The black light, so dark it seemed to swallow up all other light around it, buzzed round my face. Look at me! it said gleefully. I’m here too! Kevin’s here to save the daaaaaayyyyy! He pressed against my nose, vibrating lightly and causing me to sneeze. I heard him laugh about it, and I didn’t think it was possible to love him more than I did right then.
But these lights fell silent as the final light approached.
He was the brightest of all of them. The white.
He said, Sam of Dragons.
“GW.”
I told you not to call me that.
“Yes, well. That’s probably not going to change, dude. If I’m being honest.”
You’re near.
“To?”
The end. But I fear that it won’t be as simple as you think. Your heart is conflicted. Your soul is fractured.
I swallowed thickly. “I did what I had to. I know you didn’t like the plan, but it still—”
What’s done is done. And I can’t fault you for that. But this is as close as you’ll ever be to losing yourself to the Dark. You have tasted the power. You must let it go.
“I’m not going to—”
He’s here, Leslie said. We brought him here too.
“Who?”
Myrin, Pat said. He is in the dream.
“What about Ryan?” I demanded. “He’s—”
He’s safe, Kevin whispered. For now. But it won’t last long. Myrin is strong, Sam. Stronger than we expected.
So you need to kick his ass, Zero said. Because I’m getting really sick and tired of all you old people fighting over stupid stuff.
“Did you make this?” I asked him quietly. “The forest? It’s… familiar.”
Yeah, Zero said, sounding strangely proud. Pat and Leslie made the dream. I made the forest. Kevin will be your conduit, and the Great White is holding us all together.
We get one shot at this, Kevin said. So, no pressure or anything.
“Asshole,” I muttered.
Dragons, GW snapped. You know what to do. It’s time to fulfill your destinies. The Dark wizard will awaken soon, and we must— Yeah, yeah, yeah, Kevin said. We know what to do. We’re not idiots.
I wouldn’t go that far, GW muttered.
You’ve got this, Leslie said. I know you do, Sam.
Just don’t mess it up, Pat grumbled. I will kill you myself if you do.
I can’t wait to go to sleep so I can ignore you all for a hundred years, Zero said with a sniff.
Hey, little bro, don’t you worry about that, Kevin said. I’ll be right there when you wake up again.
The lights flitted up around me, spinning in a circle that sped up until they blended together. It was almost like a halo swirling above me, until it shot toward the sky, rising toward the stars. It reached its apex and then fell back toward me. I closed my eyes as they slammed into me and I— so much energy so much power I could I could I could this could all be mine —breathed in and breathed out and in again as my scars burned, as my heart raced, as I— easy it’d be easy keep them here trap them here make them obey —struggled to find control again. It was more than I expected. We’d never done this in the Dark Woods. Never once had they given me their dragon magic, though we’d talked about it. GW had thought it’d be too much too soon, and I’d agreed.
It was almost too much now.