“What about that thing you did before?” Marci asked. “Remember back in Reclamation Land when you yanked me inside the black-and-white world where I was a spirit voice and you were real? That was inside your domain, right?”
“I took you inside my magic,” Ghost corrected. “But while I was able to hide you as I hide myself on this side, you were still in your physical body, and physical objects cannot enter the Sea of Magic. To get you across safely, I have to separate your soul from your body. If I had a physical domain like the DFZ does, it wouldn’t be a problem, because we are gods within our own spheres. But the Forgotten Dead isn’t a place like a city. There’s nowhere your physical body can go that is totally within my purview, and without that absolute level of godly control, I don’t know how to separate your magic from your body without killing you.”
Marci swore under her breath, squeezing the cat version of Ghost in her arms so hard he hissed. “Then we’ll just have to find another way,” she said stubbornly. “Because I’m not dying again. I’ve got a fantastic dragon boyfriend, a super-powered spirit, and Sir Myron Rollins as my Merlin understudy. I’ve never had so much to live for, and Raven already told me my return ticket wouldn’t be stamped again. There has to be some other way to get there. The Heart of the World is basically the Merlins’ central office. We’re clearly meant to work there, and I can’t be the first Merlin with a nonphysical concept as my spirit. There has to be another way in.”
“I suppose you could become forgotten,” the Empty Wind suggested. “That would give you a foot inside my domain without ending your life, though I’m not sure how you’d manage it.”
He glanced over her shoulder at Julius, and Marci sighed. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to work.” She frowned, biting her nails as she thought the problem through. “The living body is really what’s at issue here. If we could manifest your domain somehow, figure out a way for me to physically walk into the Forgotten Dead, then you could pull me over just like the DFZ does for Myron, right?”
“I think so,” Ghost said. “But I’ve never done anything like that, and I have no idea how I would. The closest thing I can think of are the temples humans built for me back when I was worshiped as a god. But that was long before the drought, and those places are all dust now. I don’t think I could even find where they were anymore.”
He finished with a helpless shrug, but Marci was staring at him in awe. “You were worshiped as a god? Like, with priests and stuff?”
“Occasionally,” he said, shifting uncomfortably. “They were not kind forms of worship. I reveled in the power at the time, but you would not have liked them.”
“You are a face of death,” she said. “I can imagine things got kind of bloody. But that doesn’t bother me. I’ve always known what you are. I’m just impressed at how much you can remember now.”
“I remember everything,” he said, his voice wondrous. “The more magic fills me, the more I can recall. I can remember events from thousands of years ago like they were yesterday, and I’m still uncovering more. It seems endless.”
“You’re the manifestation of humanity’s fear of being forgotten,” Marci said, nodding. “I imagine you’re pretty old. But this is awesome! In all those memories, did you ever have another Merlin?”
“No,” the Empty Wind said at once. “You are the first and only. That I know for certain.”
“Crud,” Marci muttered. Not that she wasn’t flattered to be Ghost’s first, but she’d really been hoping he’d had a previous Merlin so she could pick his brain and discover how her predecessor had made the jump to the Sea of Magic. Unfortunately, it looked as though she was going to have to forge her own path, but Ghost’s comment about temples had gotten her thinking.
“You might not have a physical aspect to your domain, but the Forgotten Dead do have places. The whole reason you rose in the DFZ is because this city was packed with forgotten corners where people have died unnoticed. If we went to one of them, do you think you could take it over long enough for me to step inside?”
Ghost jerked back in horror. “You mean create Forgotten Dead?”
“No, no, no!” Marci said quickly. “I’m just saying that if we went somewhere where there happened to be a lot of Forgotten Dead, and you did your job by bringing them peace, then the whole place would be filled with your magic. I’ve seen the wind you can whip up when you take souls into yourself to carry to the other side. If we both happened to be standing in the same place when you did that a lot, do you think you could just, I don’t know, scoop me up too?”
Her spirit thought long and hard. “I suppose it’s possible,” he said at last. “But—”
“Possible is good enough for me,” Marci said, turning around. “Let’s go! We’re on a hard timer, and we’ve got a lot of city to cross. I’m just going to go tell Julius what we’re up to real quick, and…”
She trailed off, her sneakers crunching to a stop on the frozen, muddy ground. Should she tell Julius? It certainly felt like the right thing to do, but he was still jumpy from her last temporary bout of death. If she told him she was going to the Sea of Magic again, even if she made it clear that dying wasn’t part of the plan this time, he’d freak out, and Marci didn’t want to do that to him right now. The cavern was already half full of dragons, and Amelia and Svena were still going full tilt. Everyone had switched to their human forms to save room in the suddenly cramped underpass, but Marci could still feel the predatory menace like a knife in the air. Julius was already looking harried as he struggled to wrangle the constant stream of new, angry dragons. The last thing he needed was for her to throw a bomb like this at him. Maybe… maybe it would be better if she just snuck out and explained it to him later.
That sounded like the kinder thing, but as Marci turned to slip around the back of the house, she ran face-first into something warm, solid, and smelling vaguely of smoke.
“Ow,” she said, rubbing her nose. When she looked to see what she’d bumped into, though, confusion turned to anger. “Don’t do that!” she snapped, glaring at Bob, who’d appeared from nowhere to block her way. “Shouldn’t you be off groveling to all the family members you’ve wronged?”
“No one has that kind of time,” Bob said flippantly. “And is that any way to talk to a wise dragon who’s come to give you some advice?”
Marci had had more than enough of Bob’s “advice,” but it seemed stupid to ignore a seer, even a not-up-to-snuff one like Bob, so she waved for him to go ahead.
When she gave him the go-ahead, Bob leaned down to her eye level. It was almost certainly her imagination, but Marci could have sworn his expression softened as he whispered, “Don’t leave without saying goodbye to Julius.”