“On a scale of one to ten, how important do you rate your personal safety?”
She bit her lip. “I suppose that would depend on the situation. Ten normally, but mages challenge the laws of the universe on a daily basis, so safety is never guaranteed.”
The Merlin grinned. “I see you’ve read my books.”
“With respect, Archmage, everyone’s read your books,” Alicia said. “You’re required reading in most magical programs.”
Her face lit up. “Am I? That’s marvelous!” She went back to the AR. “Final question. If you were warding a nuclear power plant to keep out a Spirit of Apocalypse while still letting in workers, would you try to target all spirits, or would you use the emotional modifier variable to try to keep out only the malevolent ones?”
Alicia didn’t even need to think about that. “Neither,” she said promptly. “A ward against all spirits isn’t specific enough to be reliably enforced, and the emotional modifier variable is too easy for an intelligent creature like a spirit to get around.”
“Fair enough,” the Merlin said, crossing her arms over her chest. “How would you do it, then?”
Alicia considered the question carefully. “If I was trying to keep out a Spirit of Apocalypse, I would use a double layer. The outer ward would be heavy, but as standard as possible, whatever the corporate mages normally put on the reactor. Inside of that, though, I’d place a second, inner ward with an emotional modifier variable set to detect for glee, because that’s what I think a spirit of Apocalypse would feel after getting through a wall into somewhere he shouldn’t.”
The Merlin was scowling when she finished, then she bent over her desk to start scribbling on a pad of spellworked paper. “A double trap,” she said. “That’s a good idea. But how would you—”
The click of a door cut her off, and they both looked up to see a handsome young man with black hair and an infectious smile stick his head in. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Only mildly,” the Merlin said. “I’m just interviewing my new apprentice.”
Alicia’s eyes flew wide. “Apprentice?”
“She means intern,” the man said kindly, turning his blinding smile on her.
“I’m the Archmage of the Merlin Council,” Marci Novalli said without looking up from her work. “Who ever heard of the archmage’s intern? It’s stupid. She’s an apprentice.”
The man shrugged helplessly. “I don’t care what you call her so long as we’re still on for breakfast. I’m starving.”
“I’ll be out in a second,” Marci promised. “This won’t take long.”
The man grinned at her and left, stopping at the door to wink at Alicia. “Good luck.”
Alicia nodded, too distracted by his inhumanly-bright green eyes to answer properly. “Um,” she said when he was gone. “Was that a Heartstriker?”
“That was my husband,” the Archmage said proudly.
The gasp popped out before Alicia could stop it. “That was Julius the Peacemaker?” She hadn’t meant to sound so shocked, but unlike Marci Novalli, the dragon looked nothing like his pictures, or even like a dragon. He barely looked old enough to drink. “But he seems so… young.”
“I know,” Marci groaned. “That’s the problem with marrying immortals. They inevitably make you look ancient. But Myron’s already hard at work on making himself immortal, and I mean to piggyback on that the moment he succeeds.” She finished her spellwork with a flourish and handed the paper to Alicia. “Was this what you were thinking?”
Alicia looked over the formulas carefully and handed it back with a nod. “Yes, exactly.”
“Wonderful,” Marci said. “You’ve got the job. When can you start?”
“Um, I don’t know,” Alicia said, too shocked to even say thank you. “I only flew in for the interview on a red-eye this morning. I don’t even have a place to stay in the city yet.” She bit her lip. “Tomorrow?”
“How about right now?” Marci said, walking away from her desk and across her bright office toward a door set in the only wall that wasn’t all windows. “I’ve got to go to breakfast with Julius before he eats me, but I need to get that double ward of yours in position by this afternoon, or we’re in trouble. Email me your details, and we’ll take care of finding you a place to stay. In the meanwhile, we’ve got a very not-nice Mortal Spirit on the loose and not a lot of time to fix it, so why don’t you come meet the rest of the team, and we’ll get you started.”
“The rest of the team,” Alicia repeated, heart pounding. “You mean…you mean I’m in?”
“I said you got the job, didn’t I?” Marci flashed a grin over her shoulder as she opened the door, which led to another door. A heavy, wooden one, its surface battered by age. It was a door Alicia had seen countless times in textbooks and movies but never thought she’d see in person.
“Oh my god,” she whispered, practically vibrating in excitement. “Is that the Merlin Gate?”
“The one and only,” Marci replied as her smile grew even wider. “You wouldn’t believe what I had to go through to get this shortcut set up, but miracles happen when you’re friends with both of the world’s greatest dragon mages. It’s the only stable portal to the Sea of Magic in existence.” Her grin turned sly. “Want to go inside?”
Alicia had never wanted anything more in her life. “Yes, please.”
Marci laughed and threw open the door, filling the room with the scent of magic. “Welcome to the jungle,” she said as she stepped inside. “I just hope you weren’t kidding about that personal-safety requirement.”
Alicia was too excited to answer. She just bounded through the door, leaping after the Merlin—her Merlin now—and into a shining world she’d never seen.
Thank you for reading!
Thank you for reading Last Dragon Standing, and extra special thanks to all of you for sticking with me to the end! If you enjoyed the story, I hope you’ll consider leaving a review. Reviews, good and bad, are vital to any author’s career, and I would be extremely appreciative if you’d consider writing one for me.