Page 64 of Sea of Stars

“Stop!” Denton screamed. He picked up the other two daggers from his satchel and ran over to me. “We can use the daggers. We can use the blood from the daggers!” He dropped the daggers next to me. I placed the dagger I had been holding on the ground and rubbed my wrist where I had almost cut it.

“Will it be enough?”

“I don’t know if it needs to be. It’s magical, isn’t it?” Denton said.

“Do you really think that’s true?”

“I don’t know about magic, but I’ve read enough about its healing abilities. This could work.” He sounded confident for the first time since mentioning the blood transfusion.

“Okay, what’s first?” I asked.

“Use the sharp crystals to get the grips off the daggers. And be careful not to spill any of the blood,” he instructed.

I picked up the daggers and ran over to a cluster of the razor-sharp crystals. I found the sharpest one and put its point into the top of the hilt. I pulled down but the grip was on too tightly. I kept the crystal’s point in the same spot on the dagger and stood. I lifted my leg and slammed my foot down on top of the blade. The grip stayed in the same position but the blade came loose. A few drops of the blood trickled out of the bottom of the blade. I steadied my hand and looked down into the dagger. The blue blood of the dead king swirled around inside.

I went over to Denton and handed the broken dagger to him. He crouched down next to Mahlia.

“Get the rest ready and we can start," he said.

I went back over to the crystals and broke off the other two grips, this time not spilling any of the precious blood. Denton was sweating profusely. His hands were shaking as he lifted up the dragon’s tooth. He cringed when he stabbed the sharp tip of the fang into Mahlia’s skin.

“Okay, I think I pierced a vein. Pour her own blood in first.”

I lifted the bottle and let the small amount of blood trickle into the hole at the top of the fang. When it was all in, Denton nodded toward the daggers. This had to work. I poured the blood from the first dagger in slowly. Nothing happened. I did the same with the other two daggers. Denton’s face was stern as he removed the fang from her arm. Some blood gurgled out of the hole in her skin, and Denton quickly pressed his hand against it to prevent any more from escaping.

I stayed quiet. I didn’t want to state the obvious that nothing was happening. I took a few deep breaths and waited.

“Oh crap,” Denton said. "Oh, no!"

“What? What did we do wrong?”

“Well, I just remembered. Oh crap,” he said again. “I forgot that you have to have the same type of blood.” He slapped the palm of his hand against his head.

“It is the same type. It was divinare blood in the daggers. It was even blood from someone who also had the gift of the Moira.”

“No. I mean you can only do it with blood from someone who’s related to you.”

“Well that’s perfect, we can just go get Augury or Achates...”

Denton cut me off, grabbing my arm. “But we already did the transfusion, Breghton.”

“That’s okay, we can fix it. She still feels cold. It’s not too late.”

“No, it is. We already used the wrong blood. We just poisoned her.”

I looked down at Mahlia’s body. I didn’t realize that I had been holding my breath while I listened to Denton’s words. I exhaled. “What about the healing properties? Couldn’t it still work?”

“I think if it was going to work, it would have already. Her body must have rejected the blood. I’m so sorry, Breghton.”

I felt the ground shake. Crystal rods crashed and broke around us. I stayed still and stared at Mahlia.

Denton put his hand on my back. “Breghton, we have to get out of here.”

I ignored him. The ground began to tremor again.

“There’s another dragon coming. We have to go.”

I felt frozen; I couldn’t possibly stand. And I definitely couldn’t carry Mahlia’s

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