Page 120 of Dragon Fires Everywhere
And I refuse to let that land inside me like a new kind of grief.
Because I have shit to do. I don’t have time to grieve.
When my reading is done, I walk off the stage and to my seat. By the time we’re all done with our readings, Jacob and Emersonwill be alone with the priest and priestess to give their vows, to bind their hands and ceremonialize what is already true.
I hope I’ll be back in time to see it.
But right now I have to focus on more than this wedding.
Real snow begins to fall along with the lovely snow Emerson whipped up for the ceremony, but the magical warmers and actualheater towers keep us all cozy. Even out here in the middle of Main Street, St. Cyprian. It’s perfect, just as Emerson wanted,and I wish I could enjoy it. I wish we could all enjoy it.
But as Jacob said, what kind of wedding would Emerson have except one that might free people from terrible curses and bringthe Joywood and Carol down for good?
Nothing could be moreher.
Now seated, I create the projection inside me, and then Ellowyn and Zander give it life. While they make the projection spella reality, I let it go and then simultaneously magic myself out of the seat and off to the front of Carol’s house.
I tried to land inside, but she’s got enough wards and locks to keep even the strongest witches out. Plus I’ve never actuallybeen inside, so there’s no picturing it to project myself there.
I told my coven I’d bring my father, so I reach out to him.
Dad, I need you.
It’s real winter on this side of town, and freezing, so I magic myself a coat plus one for Dad. When he appears, looking morethan a little concerned, I hold it out to him, and he slides his arms inside.
“Georgie...”
“I need you to be brave,” I tell him, staring at Carol’s house. Not at him. “I need to get in her library.”
The truth is there. I know it.
As ever, my father focuses on the puzzle, not the problem. “How are you going to get in?”
It appears to me like a flash. I am not justahistorian. I amtheHistorian. And a key once unlocked many secrets to me. Why wouldn’t it unlock this?
I call out for the key. When it arrives in my outstretched palm, it is warm and glowing, just like when I go into the archives.
Please work.
I move forward, past Carol’s gate. I start walking toward the looming door. But I can tell Dad hasn’t followed, so I lookback.
“I can’t pass the gate, princess,” he says.
He stands there, pushing against something invisible that won’t let him pass. But I’m so close. And the wedding is only solong. I can’t wait. I can’t worry about why I can get through and he can’t.
“Stay right here,” I tell him. “If you see anything fishy, reach out to me. Reach out to my coven.”
“This isn’t safe,” he admonishes me. “You know it isn’t.”
“Maybe not. But I have to do it.” I feel it like a pull. And it’s a bit like the pull of the river, so maybe that should stopme, but the key is glowing...
And the key is not black magic. It is notbad.
When I reach Carol’s door, I see gold shining from the keyhole. This is right. This isright.
I put the key in the door, and the lock gives.
My heart is beating like a hammer against my chest. The key feels like holding a hot coal, almost, and something in the shapeof a circle burns around my finger where Azrael’s ring once was.
