And then I turned and started running.
Kevin’s back was wide enough that I was able to move left or right to dodge the spikes. The muscles beneath my feet shifted as he tensed. The wind at my back pushed me along, my strides swift and sure. My eyes watered. I heard him shout my name as I reached his midback. I heard him scream for me as I neared his tail, but it was muted now. The blood was roaring in my ears, the scars on my chest felt as if they were electrified, and I saw green and gold darting around the edges of my vision. There was magic here. It carried me past the moment of no return, my mind whiting out at the last possible second.
I took a breath.
I balled my hands into fists.
And then I leaped from Kevin’s back into nothing, narrowly avoiding his tail as it whipped by me.
It wasn’t like jumping from the cliff.
I wasn’t suspended in midair.
I saw the sun, and then I saw the dragon and the clouds below as I began to fall.
Kevin roared above me.
I folded my hands against my sides as I fell face-first toward the Great White.
BAD IDEA, my brain supplied helpfully. THIS WAS A VERY BAD IDEA.
It took only seconds, but they passed by in an age.
I didn’t even have the wherewithal to scream as I plummeted toward the Great White.
I narrowed my eyes against the wind.
There was the green-black of the forest, but then all I could see was white, white, white, and the moment before I landed, the moment before I crashed into it, I thought, no, and the green and gold were as bright as I’d ever seen them. The air around me liquefied, the moisture being sucked out of the sky and gathering below me, water swirling in a swift eddy until it was bigger than I was. I hit the surface of the water, feeling it close up and over my head, slowing my descent, bubbles trailing from my nose and mouth. I slid through the depths of it, burst through the other side in a shower of droplets that caught the sunlight around me, glittering brightly.
I landed on the back of the Great White’s neck, water raining down around me, in the shadow of the dragon’s crown.
“That,” I wheezed, rolling onto my back, “was so fucking awesome. Stupid, but fucking awesome.”
And the dragon known as the Great White said, “Wizard.”
Chapter 19: The Choice
I PUSHED myself up slowly, the skin beneath my hands wrinkled and tough. It was thrumming, like it was roiling with magic just underneath the surface. It was warm and vital and alive in a way I’d never felt before. The way it emanated from the dragon was overwhelming, and the green and gold felt out of control, like if I were to just let it go, my magic would take over and everything could be consumed.
It was a seductive thought.
I tried to push it away.
Why, though? a little voice whispered in my head. Why can’t you let it? It would be so easy. All you have to do is close your eyes, and there will be green, and there will be gold, and it will become everything you hoped it would be. The things you could do with it, Sam. You could end this. You could end him. And then the star dragon would be a liar. There would be no sacrifice. Vadoma would be a liar. Ryan would not be upon a slab of stone, a shell, a husk, that which makes him him having crossed the veil.
I squeezed my eyes shut, gritting my teeth against the onslaught. Because that voice was right, wasn’t it? It would be easier. To let it all out, to see what I could become, to be stronger than anything else in the world, stronger than Myrin. I could control it. I knew I could. I could control it and shove it back when I was finished—
“No,” I ground out, hands fisted at my sides. The air tasted burned and crisp around me, like it was lightning-struck. I opened my eyes, and everything was covered in a haze of white, like the brightest light was shining from within me. It was too much, too strong, too powerful, and I wanted it, and I didn’t. It was everything and nothing, and as it railed against me, as it bowled over me, I knew it was right there, right there for the taking, and all I had to do was—
Because it’s always been you, Sam. I promise. I promise. I promise, because when I look upon these stars, there is nothing I wish for more than you.
“No,” I whispered.
And then it was gone.
All that was left was the sky above. The clouds below.
I stood upon the back of the oldest living creature in the known world, his great wings moving slowly up and down. I couldn’t see Kevin, though I thought he was near, having ignored my order to find the others. He was stupid like that. I might have loved him just a little bit.
“Why have you come here?” a voice asked, the words reverberating all around me. I couldn’t be sure if they were spoken aloud or just in my head, but I didn’t think it mattered.
I stepped forward until I was back in the shadow of the crown, which blocked out the worst of the wind. I reached up and pressed a hand against it. It was smooth, the skin stretched tight over bone that was as hard as steel. The moment my fingers touched the Great White, there was a little burst of light in my head, and I thought of Zero, the way his garden had grown in the ruins in the desert, of Pat and Leslie, their devotion to each other, the weight and power of their dreams.
And I thought of Kevin, bright and brash Kevin, who’d been scared and unsure of his place in the world until he’d carved himself a home in the hearts of a hornless unicorn, a half-giant, a knight, and a wizard’s apprentice.
I pulled away from the Great White, seeing my handprint left upon his crown, the green and gold burning like a brand into his skin. I watched as it faded until it disappeared altogether.
“Just because my kin believe in you, apprentice, does not mean you have what it takes to fulfill what the gods have demanded of you.”
I stared up at the back of the dragon’s crown, unsure of what to do next. Unfortunately for me, my mouth moved before my brain did. “Dude, four out of five ain’t bad, you gotta give me that at least. And the star dragon keeps saying he’s impartial, but we both know that’s a lie. Also, it’d be totally cool if you could stay out of my head, because that’s just rude. Don’t be a dick.”
Man, Morgan and Randall were going to kick my ass if they ever found out about this.
“Why are you here?” the Great White asked again.
“You know why.”