Page 56 of Dragon My Crazy

My favorite part was the small fountain that bubbled in the corner. The water made a soft, soothing trickle. One section of the fountain formed a calm basin of water, perfect for scrying, though I’d never done something so complicated before.

The walls were lined with shelves packed full of books. Older leatherbound volumes sat beside newer journals and loose scrolls tied with ribbon. There were tons of little boxes with labels in messy, nearly illegible handwriting. And sprinkled throughout the room were trinkets of all kinds, carved animals, colored glass bottles, and pretty stones.

I appreciated that Emmett had kept this space as close to the way Sena had left it as possible, even after all these years. I was also glad that he’d never let Leroy destroy it.

Needing something to do while I waited for news of the search, I picked one of Sena’s old journals and flipped through it. It was the same illegible chicken scratch on the label, but something happened as I continued flipping through the pages. The indecipherable lettering morphed and shifted until I could read it, clear as day. It was as if the journal writing had been spelled to only allow the right people to read it, and I was the right person.

The journal entry detailed the wards on the castle and a process she’d used to create them. Sena had a lot of notes. I had to come read them when I had more time. Closing her journal, I tucked it back onto the shelf. There was a flicker through the books as if the spines were brightening one after another, and I realized it was leading my eyes toward a large magical tome.

Curious, I picked it up, then closed my eyes and opened it to wherever it wanted to open. I frowned at the spell on the page. While it was written in English, it didn’t make any sense to me, and I couldn’t figure out what type of spell it was. Something told me it was important.

I dug into one of the tool belt’s many pockets, retrieved my phone, and called Tansy. I updated her on what had happened, then showed her the spell, hoping she would be able to decipher it for me.

“I’m not great at reading old spells,” Tansy admitted. “Modern spell books are more standardized, but back in the day, everyone wrote down their spells however they wanted. But I think this is a form of scrying. Hence, the pool of water, and the mentions of linking eyes. It’s closer to the sight link spell.”

“So I can use it to see through Melly’s eyes?”

“Yes, you can. But I’m not familiar with this particular branch of magic. I’m not sure how much I can help.”

A gentle warmth had wrapped around me, as if the castle—or was that whatever was left of Sena on this plane?—was promising to help walk me through. It almost felt eager to have someone to teach, like it had been lonely.

“I think I’ll try it anyway.”

Tansy explained all that she could, then wished me good luck. The castle helped me gather the ingredients. There was still one more ingredient missing before we could start: a piece of Melly. We made our way through the corridors to the playroom and searched the room for something, anything, that could be hers. But all I found were a few strands of Dizzi’s dark hair.

Would the two be together? Or had Leroy given Dizzi to her old goblin clan?

I had to try. I made my way back down to Sena’s casting room, although I guess it was my casting room now, and got to work. Every time I got lost or didn’t know what to do next, the castle guided me, lighting up the next ingredient or highlighting a passage in the text. To my surprise, I did not set anything on fire.

I recited the final line and looked into the calmest part of the pool, not sure what to expect. At first, nothing happened. But then the water seemed to move, and slowly but surely an image started to take shape.

Bars, I was looking directly into a set of bars. Dizzi was in a cage.

Holy crap! I’d just successfully cast a spell on purpose, and I hadn’t burned anything down… yet. I knocked on the wooden table, just in case.

I tried to focus outside of the bars to see what was beyond them. It was hard to make out, but it looked like we were inside a cave. The scene shifted, and suddenly I was looking at Dizzi’s feet. I realized that I didn’t have much control over what I could see since I was looking through her eyes.

I grabbed my phone and quickly dialed Emmett’s number, hoping I was able to do both things at once. The image in the pool did not falter. But Emmett also did not pick up. He was probably flying.

But when I tried to leave a message, the pool wavered, and the scene started to fade as I started to type. I put the phone down and concentrated back on the pool; the image solidified again.

Okay, so pressing a few buttons to call the last person who texted me was okay, but typing out a whole last message? Not so much.

Then Dizzi turned to face something green and bronze. Melly! I’d recognize those scales anywhere! She was still with Melly, and in the same cage too!

Melly blew a tiny stream of fire against the bars, but it did nothing. And by the scorch marks on all the bars at that level, she’d been trying for a while.

I tried calling Emmett again, but there was no answer.

The image in the water was much clearer now, and as she turned her head, I didn’t see anyone else in the room but them. I had a sudden idea. What if I opened a portal to their location right now, right inside their cage? They could step right back into the castle! That was possible, right?

Unless they had wards preventing just such a thing. They were wizards after all. Maybe they wouldn’t expect someone to use magic. To the best of their knowledge, Emmett didn’t have any other spell-casters.

I wouldn’t know if I didn’t try.

But the image was starting to fade second by second, the spell losing steam. I had to do somethingnow.I wasn’t sure I’d be able to successfully cast that spell again. What if it had been a fluke?

I grabbed my phone, held down the dictation button, quickly rattled out an explanation, and pressed send. I glanced brieflydown at my screen. They were barely a few words, but I hope there were enough.