He rolled his eyes at me. “You’re the one who hears dragon voices when none of the rest of us can.”
“Fair point. No voices in my head. Kevin?”
The dragon shook his head. “I got nothing. Maybe he’s not here.”
“Great!” Gary said, stomping his hooves in the grass. “We should probably just go home, then. Everyone? Everyone! It looks as if today’s event has been canceled. If you could please direct us to the nearest tavern so that I may have a wine or six and sit in front of a fire while someone rubs my thighs—”
“Not it,” Ryan said immediately. “Ha! I got one! I don’t have to rub Gary’s—”
A loud boom echoed throughout the forest.
“Huh,” Gary said, looking down at his hooves as if the answers could be found in the ground under his feet. “That’s not a good sign.”
I took a stumbling step toward the fairies. They immediately scattered and began to spin like a tornado, their wings glistening from the rain. Dimitri was at their center, and he looked back toward me.
“What is it?” I asked him as Ryan gripped my elbow.
“In the end,” Dimitri said, voice soft and hard to hear, “it is about the choices you make. Never forget that.”
“I don’t understand.”
Another boom burst from the trees. Birds took flight, crying out as they flew away.
“He’s coming,” Dimitri said. “He’s calling for you, Sam of Wilds. This is what your choices have led to. This moment.”
“Sam?” Ryan asked. “What’s going—”
But before he could finish, I was hit by the strongest wave of magic I’d ever felt in my life. I’d felt something similar with Kevin. With Zero. With the feathered dragons. It was wild and strong and threatened to crack me right down the middle, but those times had been nothing compared to this. It was pure magic. There were no voices in my head. No threats, no promises. There was only magic, and I couldn’t breathe.
My back arched as my head tilted back. My skin was crawling with it, gold and green and white. There was so much white that I thought it was going to consume everything. My heart thundered in my chest, and my blood was singing, feeling like it was going to burst out from underneath my skin and fall to the earth, getting soaked up into the ground like an offering.
“His eyes,” I heard Justin say. “Do you see his eyes? They’re—”
“Sam,” a voice whispered fiercely in my ear. Arms came around my chest and clutched me tightly. “Sam, I need you to listen to me. Whatever it is, you need to fight it. You’ve done it before and you can do it again. I’m here, okay? I’m here with you, and I need you to fight this.”
I could. I could push against it, force it back. I could fight it so easily.
But I could also let it consume me, and wouldn’t that be the easiest thing of all? To let whatever coursed through me take over completely? I wanted to give in because of the way it made me feel. It promised me things without words. I could have it, if I let it have me. I could make it my own if I just gave it myself. If I just took that last and final step into nothingness, it would give me everything I could ever wish for.
It was a choice.
And for a moment, I considered giving in.
Ryan Foxheart said, “Sam.”
I began to push it away.
Curious, a voice whispered in my head. How curious you are.
The magic slipped from me.
I gasped as I collapsed against Ryan.
“What the hell was that?” he demanded. “Your eyes were—”
“The Great White,” I panted. “It’s coming.”
“I don’t see it,” Kevin said, sounding worried. “If it’s as big as you said it was, shouldn’t we be able to see it?”
The ground began to shift beneath our feet as it was cracked apart by a great roar.
“Well that just fucks up my day,” Gary said as we all looked down in horror. “Like, really fucks up my day.”
“Oh shit,” I breathed.
“He’s coming,” Dimitri singsonged, and I was convinced that I would never hate anything more than I hated Dimitri at that very moment.
“Tiggy!” I snapped as I pushed myself up. “Princely sack of potatoes!”
Tiggy moved without question, taking three lumbering steps before reaching out and grabbing Justin, throwing the Prince over his shoulder. Justin squawked in anger as Tiggy turned back toward me.
Trees began to fall in the forest as I turned toward Ryan. “Babe,” I said, “you gotta ride my best friend.”
His eyes bulged. “Now is hardly the time for that, Sam. Or ever! What the hell are you even—”
“Gary,” I said quickly, “remember that time you allowed Ryan on your back because you were riding in all badass to save me at Kevin’s keep?”
“I did look amazing, didn’t I?” Gary said, stumbling forward as the ground split along the edges of the clearing. “Granted, I only allowed it because you were in danger. Everyone knows that’s normally racist as all hell to allow—”
“Gary, I have something to tell you.”
“Yes, Sam?”
“It’s not racist.”
“What? Of course it is.”
“Do we really have time to be talking about this now?” Ryan snapped.
“Do you trust me?” I asked Gary.
“Yes,” Gary said immediately.
“I need you to let Ryan ride you.”
His eyes narrowed. “Are you propositioning me? Because that’s not—”
“Why does everyone think that?” I growled. “No. I’m not propositioning you. I need you to get him the hell out of here. You and Tiggy don’t stop running until you can’t run anymore. Do you hear me? You run.”
“But—”
“Please,” I begged him. “You have to go.”
“What about me?” Kevin asked.
“You’re with me,” I said, looking up at him. “It may be big, but you’re gonna be faster. And if we take this to the sky, then we’ll have a chance. I need you to help me, Kevin. Can you do that?”
Kevin nodded without hesitating.
“What the hell are you planning?” Ryan growled at me, grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me a little. My scars felt like they were on fire. “You’re going to do something stupid, aren’t you?”
“Hey! I resent that. I never do anything stupid.”
But his eyes were wide and wild, and his grip was biting. “Sam,” he said, voice hoarse. “I’m going with you.”
I leaned forward and kissed him fiercely. “That’s not how this works,” I mumbled against his lips as another roar echoed through the forest. “You gotta trust me, okay?”
“I trust you with my life,” he said, pressing his forehead against mine. “But I don’t trust you with your own.”
I ignored how much that hurt. I could deal with it later if I wasn’t being slowly digested in a large stomach. “Well, you gotta try,” I said, “because that’s what I need you to do. I need you to go.” I shoved my pack into his hands.
He took it but didn’t step back. “You don’t have to do this!”
I grinned rakishly at him. “Of course I do. I’m Sam of Wilds.”