turned into pure, shining fire. Below them, there was a shout and he looked down as part of a stairway sprang into existence.
Justin had the dragon light each of the stars in turn until the stairway extended to the top of the tower. The creature swept toward the ground in a dizzying rush before it carried him up again. He clung to his saddle and his blood raced, and he honestly didn’t think he had ever been this happy in his life.
When the dragon deposited him outside the wizard’s inner chamber, his heart pounded. He stroked its snout a little regretfully.
“I hope we meet again,” he said gruffly.
It blinked slowly at him again and banked into the night with a final roar.
“Shall we?” he asked the other two.
His companions nodded and with his heart in his throat, he thrust the door open and strode into the wizard’s sanctum.
Chapter Thirty-Three
The room held nothing Justin would have expected in a wizard’s tower. The only thing present was the machine—a giant computer shimmered white, its casing carved ornately of ivory with a throne atop it. Sephith sat with his head tipped back and his arms resting on the arms of the throne. One hand clutched something but otherwise, he looked as if he might be asleep.
Around him in a circle were a dozen people, each suspended as Zaara and Lyle had been. They looked as if they had been there for some time and the lines of blue power that led to the machine were very faint.
No one in the room seemed to be aware of their presence. Justin edged closer with his sword drawn and Zaara and Lyle followed. All three of them exchanged glances as they moved. Where were the guards? Where were the traps?
The answer turned out to be about a yard from the throne. Sephith’s eyes flew open and the door to the stairway slammed shut. With a shout, he elevated and hovered once again on flames of black and green. He was smiling.
“So you defeated your other half.” He began to laugh. “You could not even make yourself whole.” He held an iron key up, the thing he had clutched with one hand. “Only together could you take this from me—and you need it to get home.”
“He’s bluffing,” Lyle said immediately. “Humans are terrible at it. I know.”
Sephith snarled at him. “What do you know, dwarf? You’re a drunk and a brawler. I’ve seen dozens of your kind and drained them of their life. I’ll take yours, too. All three of you will give me your talents and your thoughts—so much better, I must say, than these simpleton villagers.”
“You must have learned a lot about herding cows over the years,” Zaara taunted. “And breeding pigs. Who was the last person you took—the baker? Can you make a good sweet roll?”
The man’s mouth twisted. “You want to play, the three of you? You have no idea what you’re up against.” He slipped the key into his belt. “On the count of three? One, two—three.” With both hands, he unleashed a pure, roiling cloud of black directly at the companions.
“Oh, my.” DuBois snatched his phone up and his fingers fumbled over the keys. He could barely drag his gaze away from the screens as he typed.
“What’s going on?” Mary had stopped crying but she still clutched Nick’s hand in a death grip.
“He’s beginning…to show some progress.” The doctor tore his gaze away from the monitor. “I’m ordering a portable MRI machine to be brought right now. We need to know what’s going on.”
“What’s going on?” Tad asked from the doorway. He looked at them one by one. “I’ve had the worst flight you could imagine and not a single one of you has answered your phones.” His look took in Mary’s tear-streaked face and DuBois typing furiously. “What’s going on? What happened?”
“So much,” his wife said finally. “So much.” She smiled. “He loved the dragon.” She looked at the monitor. “But now, he’s fighting the wizard.”
“It looks like I got back just in time.” Tad wrapped her in his arms.
The spell surged through the air and Zaara yelled, “Duck!”
Lyle and Justin crowded close to her and a magical barrier suddenly activated. Her face paled as she fought to keep the shield operational. Around it, the air seemed to be at once melting and on fire, as well as being pitch black. Justin had a feeling the sight would haunt his nightmares if he ever got out of this alive.