Maybe I trusted her, or maybe the truth treatment worked. Either way I couldn’t lie. “No can do. I can’t go until I get Excalibur.”
“Join the club. More ozmosis, I tell you. Only a magic sword would think of playing hide-and-seek, but I can tell it’s here in Camelot. Somewhere close.” She looked at the paper. “You would have been wolf kibble if I hadn’t shown up.” She pointed out my room assignment. Listed under sponsor was B. B. Wolfe. Hydra’s nose twitched. “Ah, bugger me. She’s coming back. My mama warned me that the first head was always the most trouble. But did I listen. No? I had to pick a doozy. Should have gotten a nice, dumb kitchen girl like you. But no, I wanted a royal.” Sigh. “I never could rein her in.” She scribbled a number on my hand. “Go here. Best I can do to keep your secret. Do not trust anyone but Kato. Even me…ah…ah…hurry…”
I ran out the door before she sneezed again.
Mortimer, a.k.a. Sparkles, waited for me at the door with the crossbow that the orderlies had taken from me earlier. “I know who you are, you know. You tried to steal me once.”
Oh great. “Sorry. You can’t tell anyone.” I racked my brain for what I could give or threaten to make the little dragon keep its snout shut.
He pointed his tail up to the highest window, where Merlin twirled his curly beard. “Already covered. And besides, you used to polish my scales at the Emerald Palace. And even though you tried to steal me, you never tried to break me, which is more than I can say for some uncivilized brutes.” He sniffed. “All this espionage is too much for me. I miss my perch and Verte.”
“How did you get here?” I’d guessed he was in a million pieces in the crater that used to be the Emerald Palace.
“Gwenevere remade me to suit her needs. The Pendragons have a gift with crystal and gemstones.” He sighed. “I do think she could have made me a bit bigger this time. It really would be the least they can do.” He spoke quietly. “Merlin promised an upgrade if I…” He used his claw to mime locking his lips.
“Okay…” Even without Hydra’s warning, trusting Merlin was not on my to-do list. There was something off about him, and somehow he knew who I was. He didn’t seem keen on exposing me—yet. Which meant he wanted something.
“That is you.” Mortimer pointed to a solid oak door in the interior of the castle, at the end of the corridor. “You are on your own,” he said and scampered away.
“Weird little dragon.” The path had cobwebs, like no one used it much. I didn’t like bugs, but I disliked villainous roommates more, especially ones who had a history of violence toward the extended Hood family. Since Hydra was protecting my secret, I figured I’d have a single, unused room. It would be nice to have some privacy.
“Thank goodness Hydra showed up when she did,” I muttered to myself and threw open the door. It oofed.
After stepping in, I slowly closed the door, hand on my crossbow, just in case.
As the door creaked shut, it revealed the source of the mysterious sound.
“Network, network, network. The enemy of my enemy is someone I can use.”
—Seven Habits of Highly Evil People
23
Heart Attacks
Kato growled, wearing a scowl—and not a whole lot else. I’d seen the show when Hydra witch doctored him from beast to boy. This was different. Back then, I thought of him like a stupid older brother. Now…suddenly I couldn’t get my mind off the kiss lodged in my memory. The butterflies in my chest turned to frenzied bats, and I bolted from the room, slamming the door on the way out.
I thought I felt hot during the honesty trial. Those nightmares were subzero next to the heat in my face, and I was pretty sure I could add “die by embarrassment” to my list.
“Please let the melodramatic dragon be dyslexic.”
I looked at the scrawl on my hand. 228. I looked at the door. No luck. 228. I was exactly where Hydra wanted me.
I paced back and forth in front of the door to get myself together and give Kato a chance to not be buff in the buff before I went in again. I was so pixed. This really couldn’t get any worse.
“This isn’t real. These aren’t my feelings. They’re fake, an illusion. I don’t want him. Dorthea does.” My pulse disagreed. So did the flood of memories that washed over me. I didn’t want to know what it felt like to be in his arms. To be protected. Valued. Loved. I had never hated Dorthea more than I did in that one moment, for this unique bit of torture, for her memories of a life that I could never have—that I would never have wanted if I hadn’t seen how wonderful it could be. It was so cruel to give me a taste of happiness that wasn’t mine.
The world is yours if you take it.
Morte? No, the voice wasn’t the slippery ink of the Grimm Reaper. It was the twisted chorus—the Emerald curse.
I closed my eyes, and for a moment, I could feel her, feel Dorthea, wherever she was. I was her; she was me. We were one. I leaned against the door and put out my hand.
That’s it. Feed us more power.
If I tried…I could call the emerald flames to my hand, just like Dorthea. I knew it. Then I could just—
In a fraction of a second, I went from standing in the hall to laying flat on my back inside the room. A jarring whack to the head broke the curse’s hold on me for the moment. I opened my eyes and looked up to thank Kato for opening the door at exactly the right moment.
The unamused eyes were not the ones I expected.
That whole “can’t get any worse” thing? I had to stop thinking that, because it always came true.
“Hi, roomie,” I said to Mordred, waving a hand in front of my face, less as a way of greeting, more so to have a chance to block a punch.
Mordred glanced back and forth between me and Kato, who was now dressed but taking deep breaths and tapping his black, broken fingernails on his chin. “What is it with the two of thee? Sir Kay, thou didn’t seem to know this rascal, yet now you claim him as kin? And, Rex, what part of my warning did thee not understand? Stay. Away.”
I couldn’t help it; the guy just hexed me the wrong way.
“Aww, yeah, sorry. I only heard the stay part.” I lifted my hand, showing the room assignment. “And according to the boss lady, this is my room. I don’t suppose you were just visiting? Cuz there are two beds and three of us…”
“Ask Arthur. I do not share well.” He picked me up by the lapels on my coat as if I weighed no more than a sapling. “Sir Kay called thee kin; he can keep thee.” With a flick of his arm, I flew toward the bed on the south end of the room. I landed on it—and Kato—with a thud.
Mordred grabbed his ax and headed out the door. “Do not—”
“Follow you,” I finished. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve no intention to. You were less of a Grumpelstiltzskin when I met you in Sherwood. I don’t think this therapy thing is working so well for you. Have they tried anti-brooding medication?”
No surprise, he left without answering.
“I think he’s warming up to me,” I said to Kato, who glared icicles underneath me.