They were sitting on the roof of the hospital Julius had been taken to, which turned out to be an Algonquin Corporation private hospital on the edge of Reclamation Land. Like everything else in the city, the modern steel-and-glass building had taken heavy damage during the fighting, but it was now as good as new thanks to the DFZ.
“Pro tip: it’s not a good idea to call the god of the city you’re currently in ‘vermin,’” Amelia whispered loudly. “This building was on its side when we found it, but she set the whole place to rights in under ten minutes with a flick of her little pink tail. Imagine what she could do to a delicate snowflake like you.”
“I’d like to see her try,” Svena said with a sniff, though Julius couldn’t help noticing the White Witch’s retort was much quieter than usual. No one was stupid enough to point that out, though, for which Julius was profoundly grateful. He’d had enough conflict to last him a lifetime, and Svena was surprisingly pleasant to be around when she didn’t have her hackles up. Pleasant and amazingly knowledgeable. The things she would casually mention about magic constantly blew his mind. He just wished Marci were around to hear them.
Now that all the Mortal Spirits were up, the new Merlin had her hands full. She was in the Sea of Magic right now with Myron for a big peace talk. Ghost, Raven, and the DFZ were with them as well, though somehow also here. Julius wasn’t entirely sure how that worked, but apparently spirits could be in multiple places at once now. He’d tried using that to his advantage, asking Ghost about Marci when she wasn’t here, but the cat’s shoulder was as cold toward him as ever, and he hadn’t gotten far.
That was probably for the best. Marci didn’t need him distracting her while she was trying to convince the new Mortal Spirits to cooperate with the Merlin Council she and Myron were trying to found here in the DFZ. As she’d explained it to Julius, the idea was to locate, test, and train a whole bevy of suitable mages so that new Mortal Spirits could have their pick of certified not-crazy humans for their potential Merlins. Something certainly needed to be done. In the fourteen days Marci had spent by his side helping keep him alive, the new gods had been running amok all over the world. She’d left to help Myron calm things down the moment she was certain Julius wasn’t going to expire on her. That was two days ago, nearly all of which she’d spent inside the Sea of Magic, but Julius was confident she could handle it. Meanwhile, he was relearning how to handle himself.
Not being a mage or fond of burning things, Julius had never paid much attention to his fire. Since he’d woken up, though, the emptiness in his chest had been a constant ache. His family and friends still dropped by regularly to make donations, so at least he wasn’t flat on his back anymore, but he was still confined to a wheelchair. Amelia had assured him his flames would come back in time, but time was a fuzzy thing to a dragon who’d lived for thousands of years. Julius hadn’t gotten her to specify yet whether they were on a schedule of months, years, or decades. There was nothing he could do about it, though, so he tried not to worry too much. His magic would recover eventually. What really mattered was that everyone was safe.
After the Leviathan vanished, UN troops had swarmed in to take control of the city. The people had started coming back a few days later, though most had been forced to turn right back around again since their homes were in ruins. Normally, damage on this scale would have taken years to repair, if it could be rebuilt at all. For them as for Julius, though, having a god on your side changed things. The DFZ wasn’t just powerful—she was the city. She knew how every inch of it should be, and she could put things back to rights in minutes, raising the broken buildings with a flick of her hand. She’d already made a ton of progress, but the DFZ was a big city, and all of it needed work. She was also very busy with Myron, keeping the other Mortal Spirits from destroying things. Unlike Ghost, though, the DFZ always took time to pass Julius’s messages along to Marci. Provided he paid her, of course.
“Julius?”
He looked up to see Amelia staring at him. “Are you okay?” she asked, cocking her head. “You’re awful quiet.”
“What else can he be?” Svena snapped. “You take up all the available air.”
“I’m fine,” Julius assured her.
“You sure?” his sister asked, her eyes sharp. “Because I can get you more fire if you need it.”
“I’m fine,” he said again. “Really.”
She nodded and turned back to Svena, but her eyes kept darting back to him. The watchfulness ruined the rooftop’s happy mood, and a few minutes later, Julius grabbed his wheels and turned his chair away. “I’m a little tired,” he said. “I think I’ll go downstairs and rest.”
Amelia stood up at once. “I’ll push you back down.”
“That’s okay. I’ve got it.”
Now she looked really suspicious. “You sure?”
“I’m sure,” Julius said, wheeling toward the elevator as fast as he could go.
He knew she meant well, but Amelia’s hovering made him feel like an invalid. Even Svena’s presence was only for show. She far preferred to spend her time with Ian, whom she’d immediately moved back in with the moment the DFZ had repaired their superscraper apartment building. But he’d noticed Amelia always seemed to have another dragon around whenever he was awake, and it was starting to get to him. Having so many people watching made him feel like a drain, especially since he knew Marci could have used Amelia’s help. She hadn’t figured out the trick to being in multiple places at once yet, but she was a spirit too. She should have been in that meeting in the Sea of Magic, but she’d insisted on staying here. Ostensibly because of Svena, but Julius didn’t believe that for a second. As flighty as she could be, his sister took her position as the Spirit of Dragons very seriously. The only reason she’d skip out on something this big was because she didn’t think Julius could be left alone, and that made him feel like a failure.
With a frustrated sigh, Julius took the elevator back down to his floor. With so few people in the city, they had the hospital mostly to themselves, which meant no one was around to see him get out of his chair and hobble the last few feet down the hall to his room. It was really too soon, but he was so tired of feeling useless. He was trying to open his door without falling over when a hand shot past his to grab the knob.
“Let me get that.”