Page 53 of Dragon My Crazy

“What about the witch?” asked a voice I didn’t see. It was tinny, like it came through a speaker.

“The witch is gone too, and I don’t think she’s coming back. It’s almost as though someone warned her of our plan.”

What plan was this? Was this the thing Cassian had been suspicious about but couldn’t name? But that didn’t fit. Cassian had been wary of Leroy long before Elana ever stepped foot into my castle.

“The new guy’s going to be pissed.”

“I don’t care what this new wizard thinks,” Leroy snapped, his voice dripping with disdain. “The witch isn’t even very powerful. If he wants this useless witch so much, he can go find her. He wasn’t even in on this plan when the witch first came. If I stay here, I’m only wasting my time and my magic, so I say I make my exit now. We’ll recapture the castle later.” His tone shifted, sounding smug. “I have the goblin girl. She’s been snooping around. That alone will buy us support from the goblin clan.”

Dizzi. I switched the feed over to the second camera hidden beneath the chair.

There, on the other side of the room, was Dizzi, bound in ropes of glowing magic that bit into her arms, a strip of tape slapped over her mouth. Her eyes were wide, furious, and terrified all at once. But it was Melly curled up in a ball inside a cage beside her that had my dragon rearing up, ready to burst out of my skin.

I broke into a run, fighting to hold the shift at bay. A full transformation would leave me the size of a barn, all wing and tail and bulk, useless in the narrow stone corridors ahead.

Please let me get there in time.

My body was covered in scales when I slammed open the door. Cassian was already there, having magically transported himself in a puff of smoke. But the demon was bound tight with shimmering bands of magic. There was a portal in the middle of the room. Leroy was already stepping through, the cage in one hand, and Dizzi tossed over his shoulder unceremoniously like a sack of potatoes. Our eyes met, and the shock in his eyes was clear as day.

He had not expected to be caught in the act.

“How did you… No matter, you’re too late.”

And I was, because he was already stepping through.

I lunged for him, but the portal closed behind his form, and I was left with nothing but a handful of air. I stood in the playroom with the stench of brimstone burning in my nostrils, and my dragon roared.

Chapter 24

Elana

Ipacedthepenthousekitchen like a caged mama bear, back and forth, back and forth across the tiles so hard that I was surprised that my feet weren’t worn down to nubs by now.

Blaze had appeared ten minutes ago right inside the penthouse, because unlike Cassian he was actually allowed in here. And what he’d told me had completely gutted me. Melly and Dizzi had been kidnapped. They were gone. Taken from a castle full of staff, wards, and—oh, I don’t know—a freaking dragon.

Flame and Cassian were out there right now, combing the woods for any signs of them and the duplicitous wizard.

If I got my hands on Leroy, he was going to end up toasted crispier than that goblin mage.

I pressed a hand to my chest, right over my heart, and tried to think. Right before Blaze had shown up, I’d gotten a feeling—a sudden, horrible, sinking fear—that I couldn’t explain. I’d assumed it was mine, my own stress finally boiling over after days of simmering.

But what if that terror was Melly’s? She was somewhere out there, terrified, and I was here, doing jack-all but wearing a hole in the floor.

“I have to get out there,” I said, my voice shaky. “I have to do something.”

“Do what?” Tansy stood on the other side of the island. Eadie was down for her nap, and the penthouse was finally quiet.

“Find her. I think I can. We have a connection. I can feel her. If I get close enough, I think I can follow it right to her.” I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but I wasn’t going to say that part out loud.

Tansy’s frown deepened, her eyes narrowing like she was already calculating all the ways this could go horribly wrong. “Then I’m coming with you. I can help.”

And she could. She was the one with magic that she could actually use and control. Not me. But I couldn’t ask that of her,not when she had Eadie to care for. And besides, this felt like something I had to do. But I wasn’t going to be an idiot about it; I’d take all the help I could get.

“You have a child to care for. But you can help me in other ways. I’ll need to get close to Melly, so that means a portal there and a portal back when I have her. I’ll have Flame and Blaze. Maybe you can make me some canned spells I could use. Spells set to draw on my own magic.”

I might not be able to control my own magic consistently, but I’d had a lifetime of being a magical battery. This time, the spells would be wielded by me.

Tansy pressed her lips into a thin line. “I don’t like this.”