the scent of smoke, and I knew they weren’t clouds at all.
The Greyworld was ripping open and the world beyond it was full of fire.
Silas swore and tore a stick from a tree.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
“Wand,” he said. “It concentrates power. Sometimes it can make it easier to direct magic in a fight.”
“How come I’ve never seen you with one before?”
He waved the stick at me. “Because it’s embarrassing!”
Then the four of us turned to face the rip as it continued tearing down, through the pine trees until it struck the ground. There was a crashing sound and the earth itself seemed to shake under our feet.
Silas cursed, and he had the look of someone bracing himself.
“We should get out of here before we draw attention to ourselves,” I said.
“Don’t worry, no one’s coming,” Silas said. “The town doesn’t have any magicians to defend them.”
He glanced down the hill at the village below. “We can leave it to burn, or we can fight them off and give the villagers time to escape. We can buy time now. Maybe we can even seal it without them knowing we were here—sometimes rips heal naturally. Just…not often enough, anymore.”
“We’re buying them time from what?” Rafe demanded.
“Dragons,” Maddie managed.
My attention snapped back to the rip just as the first dragon sailed through the gap. It had to be ten feet long, its wings twice that. It felt like we were about to be attacked by a sentient airplane.
Rafe swore and drew his sword. I already had mine in hand; I’d drew it without even thinking.
“Will it come after us?” Maddie demanded.
As if it heard her, the dragon let out a caw that seemed to shake the earth, and headed our way.
“They really don’t like people,” Silas said. “Except as snacks.”
Another dragon burst out of the rip, and then another. The first two barreled toward us, but the third hooked left and flew toward the village. Silas raced after it, throwing his wand out and shouting a word. His magic rippled through the air and slammed into the dragon, who wheeled around to face him.
“Do they breathe fire?” I shouted. The world beyond had looked as if it were in fire but hey, maybe that was coincidence. Maybe today was our lucky day and we didn’t have to fight fire-breathing monsters.
One of them helpfully answered by diving toward Silas, flames shooting out of its mouth like a flame thrower.
Today was not our lucky day. It was never our lucky day.
“Yep,” Silas said, blasting magic at the dragon with his right hand, then raising his left arm to throw up a shield of protection.
The golden shield shimmered around us, absorbing the fire that seemed to beat against it. Flame danced over the surface of the shield and it was suddenly far too hot in my coat.
“Do you guys want to be bait?” Silas asked. “If you blast magic at them, they’ll focus on you. Then I’ll freeze them.”
He spread his fingers out, and icy blue magic whirled around his fingers.
“Want, no,” Rafe said. “Will I, yes.”
“Let’s see it, boy wizard,” I said. I dove to one side to get away from the others, then sent a blast of magic toward one of the dragons.
“You have a lot of faith trusting me to shield you while you call me names,” Silas said, but without much rancor.
I was already raising my own shield, a sheet of green shimmering magic that expanded in front of me as I parted my hands. The dragon dove as me, breathing out flame, though I was just as terrified of being flattened into the ground by the enormous body.
But Silas’s shield was there first, a powerful golden wave of magic that overshadowed my own. Then his attack magic blasted the dragon sideways. It slammed into the earth, shaking the ground beneath our feet. Icy magic rippled over its body, and a few last wisps of smoke crept up from its giant nostrils.
Maddie and Rafe were both attacking other dragons. Silas moved so quickly his magic was a blur; although they shielded themselves, he threw his own shield over them both.
But just as the last dragon slammed hard into the ground, it opened its mouth, breathing out a final blast of blue flame into Silas’s direction.
Silas threw up his arm, raising a shield, just before I lost sight of him in the flame and smoke. I coughed, trying to get to him. The ground shook beneath my feet as the last dragon