The sun came out again as the clouds dissipated.
“Huh,” I said. “That storm front came out of nowhere perfectly timed with you being angry and—oh. Yeah. Okay, I get it. Related.”
Randall’s eyes were blazing. “You need to take this seriously.”
“Yeah, you guys,” I said, glaring at the others. “Be serious.”
“Sam,” Ryan whispered. “He’s looking at you.”
“That’s because he’s silently asking for me to be his backup while he chews the rest of you out for acting ridiculous.”
“How are you still alive?” Dimitri asked me.
“Sheer force of will,” I said cheerfully. “Anyway, Randall thinks you all suck and you guys should shut up because we’re trying to be for real right now, okay?” I smiled at Randall. “Go ahead. I’ve got you, dude. You don’t need to—are you okay? Like, your face is really red. Are you feeling ill? Are you dying? Man, talk about terrible timing. You can’t die yet. We have some villain ass to kick before your body can collapse in on itself since you are so old.”
“—DRAGONS COMING! DON’T BE SCARED! THEY NO EAT—” Tiggy skidded to a halt next to Gary. “Done and done. I fast.” Gary hoof/fist-bumped him.
Randall looked up toward the heavens.
We all turned our heads skyward too.
“What are we looking at?” Gary whispered.
“I have no idea,” I whispered back. “That cloud over there looks like a dick.”
“Ha! The sky has a dick.”
We looked down when Randall did. He seemed like he was feeling a little better. His face wasn’t as red. I winked at him, just to let him know I totally got what he was doing.
“Sam,” he said, voice oddly flat. “Summon them.”
I sighed. “I was hoping you’d forgotten about that. Do I really have to?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. You all might want to take a step back. This could get a little sticky.”
“Why the hell would it get sticky—” I heard Justin say before I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
They were always there, these low pulses of light, these threads that had attached themselves to the electrical impulses of my brain, curling down my spine until they circled my lightning-struck heart. Kevin’s was the strongest. Yes, we’d all just spent a year practically in each other’s minds, but Kevin was… different. He fit with us here.
After him was Zero Ravyn Moonfire, the teenage emo snake dragon monster thing who acted like he had crows in his soul but only ever wanted someone to love as he grew his trees and his flowers. Zero’s pulse and thread were as red as his scales, burning under a desert sun.
Then came the blue pulses, the fluttering of feathers. Pat and Leslie, the mated snow dragons who had once chased Randall and me off the edge of a cliff as their way of seeing if I was worthy of their time.
The last thread was the brightest. Not because of our connection, but because he was the oldest living thing in the known world, and he was made of magic. The Great White was a dragon, but he was different. Kevin was a conduit, helping direct my magic. Pat and Leslie were dreamwalkers. Zero could grow his forests. That was their magic. Their gifts.
The Great White held us all together.
The Great White was who had imbued me with magic that should have taken decades for me to learn.
The Great White was the unifier, the reason I felt them all in my head and heart to begin with.
I’d learned in the woods that my link to the Great White was the reason my eyes had gone black for Kevin, red for Zero, and blue for Pat and Leslie. He was the reason I’d heard them in my head in the desert and the Northern Mountains. He’d been aware of our connection. Of me. Of everything. The whole time. From the first vision when Vadoma had appeared in Castle Lockes and pressed me up against a wall to the second time when he’d told me I wasn’t ready, he’d known. How much he knew was still a mystery. I didn’t know if he could see the future. I didn’t know if he was actually a god. The world had supposedly been built on his back. I didn’t know if that was true, but not for lack of trying.
I’d asked all these questions.
I’d usually been ignored.
Now, though.
Now he wasn’t ignoring me. I wondered if he’d been waiting for this moment.
The pulses were bright, and the lightning scars on my chest burned.
Come, I said to those lights.
I’m already here, the black one said, because he was an asshole.
I wasn’t talking about you.
Oh. Right. You can still ask me to come, if you want.
Gross. Stop it.
Heh. I’m funny.
Finally, the red one said. This has taken forever and I’m bored and starting to get sleepy, and Pat and Leslie won’t let me go make friends with skunks even though they are the only ones who understand me.
That’s because they smell bad, dear, one of the blue lights said. Why, Pat ate one once, and I wouldn’t let her kiss me for a year afterward.
That’s not something they need to know, the other blue light said rather gruffly.
So lame, the red light muttered.
Hey, baby bro, the black light said. Try sheep. They scream when you chase them. It’s hysterical. Also, Gary got his horn back!
Oh, a blue light said. How lovely for him. I bet you’re both thrilled.
It’s about damn time, the other blue light said.
See? I told you she was a softie. A bull dyke exterior, but nothing but fluff on the inside.
We are coming, the white pulse said, and the others fell silent.
I sighed and opened my eyes. The haze of green and gold felt thick around me. I glanced back up at Kevin, whose eyes were completely black as he watched me. He was rumbling happily deep in his chest, tendrils of smoke curling from his nostrils. It hadn’t been so long since we’d seen the others, but there was a sense of relief at the idea of all of us being together again, regardless of how GW frayed my nerves. Though to be fair, I did the same to him.
“They’re coming,” I said.
“I felt that,” Ryan said, sounding awed.
“You did? Like, each of them individually? Could you hear what they were saying?”
He shook his head slowly. “No. I didn’t hear anything. It was more like… a feeling. In here.” He tapped the side of his head. “I think it was more from you than anything.”
Dimitri fluttered about in front of him, eyeing Ryan curiously. “Cornerstones.” He looked at Randall. “Their bond is strong. Especially for ones so young.”
“Their history goes back further than even I knew,” Randall said. “And I’ve learned to never set expectations for them. Usually they end up defying them, one way or another.”
“Was that a compliment?” Ryan whispered to me.
“Yes. No. Maybe?”
“Thanks for clearing that up.”
From the woods came a great roar.
“Here we go,” I muttered. “Whatever you do, don’t run.”
Zero appeared first, bursting from the tree line into the sunlight, muscular body twisting and kicking up dust as he slithered toward us. I had to remind myself to take my own advice and not run screaming at the sight of a gigantic snake dragon monster thing hurtling at me, because Zero was sensitive to how he looked. The bony hood around his face was flat against his head, and I knew he was showing off when he snapped at the air, fangs large and quite frightening.
“Holy shit,” Justin breathed, and I realized that he’d never seen Zero before. He hadn’t been in the desert. “That’s…. I think I just shit myself.”
“How princely of you,” Gary said dryly.
Zero slowed as he got closer, and I could feel a low pulse of uncertainty, like he was shy, of all things, so I stepped forward and grinned at him. “Hey, dude.”
“Sam,” Zero said, body coiling underneath him as he came to a stop a few feet away. “Hi.” His serpentine eyes darted to the people behind me, and he swallowed thickly before he looked down at me again. “That took you forever.”
I rolled my eyes. “Only been a few days.”