said, raising my hands again. “Want to play?”
The rocks in front of them exploded. The two men scrambled out of the way of the ensuing rain of gravel, and Nash trained his pistol on me. “Why the hell are her eyes green?” I heard him shout.
“Janet.” Mick’s voice was harsh with warning. “Stop.”
I had no clue how to stop. I’d killed the demons, all of them, completing the task I should have completed that night six years ago. Now I wanted to crush the entire mountain, find the dragons who’d imprisoned Mick in it and imprison them too.
Mick started for me. Brave man. I knew I could stop him, enslave him, make him obey me. Mick had the ability to absorb my storm powers and not be hurt by them, but I knew good and well that he couldn’t survive the magic in me now.
“I command you,” I said, power boiling up inside me. “You are mine .”
The white light wrapped around Mick, and he snarled. And then, without warning, the magic blinked out.
The light died, and with it went the last of my strength. I fell and started sliding toward the edge of the gorge, my fatal plunge stopped by a single boulder that hooked me around the waist. Beneath me, the rocks tumbled over the side, bouncing and rattling for hundreds of feet to the mists of the vortex, which faded into the rising sun.
Six
I woke up hanging facedown on Mick’s back. It was damn hot, and I felt as though someone had poured cleanser into my body and scrubbed my insides with a wire brush.
As soon as I groaned, Mick stopped and laid me gently on the ground. Both Mick and Nash were breathing hard and sweating, smeared with dried blood where the demons had clawed and bitten them. Mick’s wildly curly black hair hung across his face, and his blue eyes glittered behind it.
“Are you all right?” I croaked.
“We should be asking you that,” Nash said in clipped tones.
Mick was watching me in a way I didn’t like. His face bore the wary look of a man whose trained animal had suddenly remembered its wildness and turned on him.
“Mick, don’t,” I said.
“Your eyes changed color,” he said. “To very light green. Like ice.”
Fear kicked me in the gut and kept on kicking. “My mother isn’t inside me, I swear to you. I know how that feels. We sealed her vortex, Mick, you and me. Even the cracks are sealed. She’s trapped.”
Nash crouched next to us, his gun out. “What the hell are you two talking about?”
Mick broke in before I could draw breath to answer. Just as well. Explaining this was beyond me.
“The entity you saw coming out of the vortex last spring,” Mick said. “She is a goddess, trapped in the world Beneath. She created Janet, even though Janet was born of human parents. She is, in essence, Janet’s mother. She has the ability to possess women. Or had.”
Nash stared at me. “That thing was your mother ?”
“We’re not responsible for our parents,” I tried to joke.
“You’ve always had her Beneath magic in you,” Mick said. “When did you learn to channel it so well?”
His voice was quiet, dark, waiting. “I didn’t,” I said. “I have no idea how I used that magic, I promise you. I just did it.”
Nash unfolded next to me. “Good thing you did. We wouldn’t have survived that attack.”
I still didn’t like the way Mick watched me. He wasn’t going to let it go, and I had the feeling that me busting him out of that cave and then saving his life wouldn’t mitigate things. My connection to my goddess mother and the powers of Beneath were the very reasons all dragons, including, at one time, Mick, wanted me dead.
“We’ll talk about it later,” he said. “It’s going to get hot here, quick.”
It was already hot, the sun streaming over the eastern mountains, bringing another day of heat to the valley floor. Mick carried me again, and it got hotter as we descended, the white alkali flats reflecting the sunlight in bright waves. I remembered reading a statistic that the ground
The rocks in front of them exploded. The two men scrambled out of the way of the ensuing rain of gravel, and Nash trained his pistol on me. “Why the hell are her eyes green?” I heard him shout.
“Janet.” Mick’s voice was harsh with warning. “Stop.”
I had no clue how to stop. I’d killed the demons, all of them, completing the task I should have completed that night six years ago. Now I wanted to crush the entire mountain, find the dragons who’d imprisoned Mick in it and imprison them too.
Mick started for me. Brave man. I knew I could stop him, enslave him, make him obey me. Mick had the ability to absorb my storm powers and not be hurt by them, but I knew good and well that he couldn’t survive the magic in me now.
“I command you,” I said, power boiling up inside me. “You are mine .”
The white light wrapped around Mick, and he snarled. And then, without warning, the magic blinked out.
The light died, and with it went the last of my strength. I fell and started sliding toward the edge of the gorge, my fatal plunge stopped by a single boulder that hooked me around the waist. Beneath me, the rocks tumbled over the side, bouncing and rattling for hundreds of feet to the mists of the vortex, which faded into the rising sun.
Six
I woke up hanging facedown on Mick’s back. It was damn hot, and I felt as though someone had poured cleanser into my body and scrubbed my insides with a wire brush.
As soon as I groaned, Mick stopped and laid me gently on the ground. Both Mick and Nash were breathing hard and sweating, smeared with dried blood where the demons had clawed and bitten them. Mick’s wildly curly black hair hung across his face, and his blue eyes glittered behind it.
“Are you all right?” I croaked.
“We should be asking you that,” Nash said in clipped tones.
Mick was watching me in a way I didn’t like. His face bore the wary look of a man whose trained animal had suddenly remembered its wildness and turned on him.
“Mick, don’t,” I said.
“Your eyes changed color,” he said. “To very light green. Like ice.”
Fear kicked me in the gut and kept on kicking. “My mother isn’t inside me, I swear to you. I know how that feels. We sealed her vortex, Mick, you and me. Even the cracks are sealed. She’s trapped.”
Nash crouched next to us, his gun out. “What the hell are you two talking about?”
Mick broke in before I could draw breath to answer. Just as well. Explaining this was beyond me.
“The entity you saw coming out of the vortex last spring,” Mick said. “She is a goddess, trapped in the world Beneath. She created Janet, even though Janet was born of human parents. She is, in essence, Janet’s mother. She has the ability to possess women. Or had.”
Nash stared at me. “That thing was your mother ?”
“We’re not responsible for our parents,” I tried to joke.
“You’ve always had her Beneath magic in you,” Mick said. “When did you learn to channel it so well?”
His voice was quiet, dark, waiting. “I didn’t,” I said. “I have no idea how I used that magic, I promise you. I just did it.”
Nash unfolded next to me. “Good thing you did. We wouldn’t have survived that attack.”
I still didn’t like the way Mick watched me. He wasn’t going to let it go, and I had the feeling that me busting him out of that cave and then saving his life wouldn’t mitigate things. My connection to my goddess mother and the powers of Beneath were the very reasons all dragons, including, at one time, Mick, wanted me dead.
“We’ll talk about it later,” he said. “It’s going to get hot here, quick.”
It was already hot, the sun streaming over the eastern mountains, bringing another day of heat to the valley floor. Mick carried me again, and it got hotter as we descended, the white alkali flats reflecting the sunlight in bright waves. I remembered reading a statistic that the ground
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