“Timothy, you old coward, surprise seeing you here,” Cole barked at my father.

  “I’m doing what’s right, and I’m not planning to explain myself to either of you,” Timothy snapped back. Then Gregory walked a few steps forward, suddenly standing in front of his face.

  “You have always been a coward, Tim, and it’s because of you, Jess is gone,” he whispered. Then electricity moved between them. Okay, that was new. We didn’t want any trouble now.

  “Right, that’s enough. This is my home, so you two need to respect it. We are all working together against the Dark Ones. Put the past behind you; this is what I have done, and let’s get on with it,” I shouted, having had enough of their arguments. We all had to put the past behind us.

  I was too emotional about everything that had happened in the past few hours. The memories about Dara just kept flashing in front of my eyes. I needed to pull myself together.

  Cole went to Gregory and pulled him away from him. My brother kept staring at Timothy with fury in his eyes. I still didn’t know what their deal was, but right now that didn’t matter. Rhian took them both upstairs. We didn’t really have a chance to talk, me and my brother. There was too much going on right now, but once this whole thing was over, I was planning to get to know him.

  Five minutes later, the warlocks showed up, too. Harvey looked much better. His injuries were mostly healed. Idris was still nowhere to be seen, and I was worried about him. He knew what time we had arranged the meeting.

  “The city is booming. The wardens are excited, and the Dark Ones are concerned. The council arranged an emergency meeting tonight,” Ripley told me after taking a drink from the fridge.

  “So, they know about the uprising?” I asked, and my heart skipped a beat.

  “No, I used a spell to prevent any warden from sharing information with the other side. It’s strong magic that no one can break,” Ripley assured me. Frederick mumbled something to him and left, giving me the look of a lost puppy. He still couldn’t stand me, but the feeling was mutual.

  “We should start, Francesca. We have a lot to discuss,” Harvey said, moving past me and then added, “Don’t wait for Idris. He’s probably at the meeting; he won’t be able to get away, especially now.”

  This wasn’t good, but Harvey was right. Idris wasn’t coming back tonight, and we had to make sure everything was arranged.

  Avianna was already in the largest room upstairs. The wallpaper around the four walls was peeling away. Everyone was situated by the window. Gregory and Timothy were glaring at each other from across the room. Nicolas smiled at me when I cleared my throat, letting everyone know it was time for the meeting to start.

  “Tomorrow night we, and all the wardens in the city, are going to march on the council. Everything is working in our favour. The eggs have healed a lot of wardens, but we need warlocks, too. The Dark Ones have stronger magic. This will be a bloody fight, but the League could get us a head start with setting up explosions in strategic places around the city,” I said, trying not to think about how nervous I was.

  I never thought I would be standing in front of everyone talking about an uprising. My heart was beating loudly inside my chest.

  “Yes, everyone is mobilised. We have everything we need,” Cole added. “The Dark Ones will use all the magic they have against us, but we have to hold onto our position. They lost the eggs, maybe not all of them, but they haven’t got as much leverage.”

  “What about other warlocks? Are they going to join us?” I asked Ripley.

  “Some, yes, we managed to convince at least a hundred to be on our side,” Harvey answered for him. “Frederick is working on the crack of magic, so they can get here without any problems.”

  Rhian smiled and the warmth spread over my heart. This was good news, very good news. Now we actually had a chance to go through with this. I no longer felt like I was pushing everyone into a suicide mission. Draconia was my city, the place where I was born and grew up. I couldn’t let anyone die for me, especially wardens who had been living in those horrific conditions for decades.

  That news kind of lifted everyone’s mood. The warlocks were powerful. I also thought about Fae creatures, but they were too unpredictable. Their magic collided with dragons and wardens. I nodded to Nicolas and, a moment later, he spread a giant map of the city on the table. There were several points where we would all need to be. We had to be separated; the Dark Ones weren’t expecting it, and that was our main advantage.

  I was just about to go over the plan again, when we all heard banging downstairs. I glanced at Rhian, wondering what was going on. We didn’t expect anyone else unless the warlocks were. Harvey and Ripley shrugged their shoulders.

  “I’m going to check it out,” Nicolas said. After he was gone, I started splitting everyone into groups, but it wasn’t long before Nicolas came back.

  “There is an old warden with some girl. They want to speak to you; apparently it is urgent. They are refusing to leave,” he said, brushing back his hair nervously.

  “Just check it out, love, see what’s going on,” Rhian said. I went downstairs, thinking that maybe we healed too many. Sooner or later wardens were going to charge into Mangus’s residence, and this entire operation could be thrown into the fire.

  When I got to the kitchen, I saw a female warden, almost holding an older warden. He was in really, really bad shape. His skin was rotting, and the smell was horrendous. For some reason, she looked familiar, but I was certain I hadn’t seen her in my life, but her eyes. They were incredible: a yellow-golden colour, just like mine.

  “Please help us; my grandfather is dying. He won’t survive until tomorrow. You’re our only chance,” the warden girl said. I had to bring my hands to my nose. There was something about her that was pulling me to her. The old man was staring at me with a mixture of resentment and pain. I didn’t understand what was going on, and then it hit me.

  “Well, well, well. I knew I felt the scum in the room. The great Bobby is here,” said a voice behind me. Then Avianna flew inside the room; I sensed her presence. I glanced at Gregory and Timothy who stood behind him. They were both staring at the old warden with annoyance.

  “Gregory, Timothy. It’s odd to see you together,” the female warden said, and the old man moaned. The smell was just too much for me, so I backed away toward the door.

  “You look like her,” I whispered.

  “I’m Natalie and I’m your aunt. This is your grandfather, and he’s desperate. Please—”

  “I can’t believe you’re here, Natalie. I see you have no shame bringing this monster in here. Fran won’t help him. He’s the reason she was an orphan,” Gregory spat. Timothy looked confused.

  “What’s going on? Who is this female? The warden is old, and he hasn’t got much time left,” Avianna said.

  I was in too much shock to even answer her. Suddenly my whole family was standing in the kitchen. Someone gasped behind me. It was Rhian. It looked like everyone came down to see what was going on.

  “Please, Francesca, in the name of your mother. This is his last chance; Dragon Fever is killing him. He has been in unimaginable pain for some time now,” Natalie said. My throat was tight. I glanced at Gregory, who looked cross.

  “That man is a monster. He worked for the council; he slaughtered many wardens, and now he’s begging for his life. I would let him rot. It’s because of him your mother ended up in Dimond City,” Gregory said, and I took a deep breath. My thoughts were racing. We didn’t have time for this. We needed to figure out a plan for tomorrow. His magic, the warden who was part of my family—it was all gone. I couldn’t sense anything. His skin was almost black, burned. For Quesborth, why was he here now, asking me to make a decision?

  “I agree, he was a monster, but now he’s just an old man, so show him so mercy. Please, Francesca. We are family, after all,” Natalie begged me. She was so beautiful, and I couldn’t move.

  I felt like my whole body was rooted to the floor. Sweat gathered on the side of my brow.

  “So, he’s my mother’s father, right?” I asked Timothy, who still wasn’t saying anything. I wanted to ask him why. “What’s happened to him?”

  “Nothing, he just got old and useless, so the Dark Ones tossed him to the side. I heard the rumours from distant family that he was infected, but I never thought it was actually true,” my father stated. Rhian moved past them, wanting to say something, but Gregory beat her to it.

  “It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t fucking matter. He’s a coward, and we shouldn’t even be talking to him. Let him rot, Fran. Everything started because of him,” Gregory shouted, looking very pissed off. His chest was rising and falling in rapid movements. I didn’t know what to do. I was numb from head to toe.

  The silence stretched for so long that it became uncomfortable. At times it was broken by my grandfather’s whizzed breathing. This was ultimately my choice. It was up to me, and I felt like I was somehow playing God. This wasn’t fair. This man influenced everyone around me. He caused death and suffering. I chewed my bottom lip, placing my palms on my head.

  “I don’t want to be like him. I’m not a monster; maybe he can help us. After all, he worked for the council, for the Dark Ones,” I said, sounding a bit crazy. Rhian shook her head, but she didn’t say anything. Gregory’s fists were clenched. He looked like he was just about to lose his temper.

  “Francesca, this is your operation, but you’re blind. He is the cause of all the evil in the city. It is because of him, and that bastard, your mother abandoned you,” Gregory said, pointing at Tim and my grandfather, then left the room.

  “Take him to the living room,” I said to Natalie, convinced that I was doing the right thing. My heart was beating very fast. Avianna was telling me that this man didn’t want to live, that I should let him die. She kept telling me I was too nice for my own good.

  Natalie helped him out. We laid him around the eggs, and I told Avianna to connect with the creatures. The magic expanded, swelled inside me. Bobby closed his eyes. The warlocks were still upstairs, and in a way, I was glad they hadn’t come down.

  What were the odds? I had no one a few months ago, and now I had my whole family with me. It was the strangest moment in my life.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The end?

  He was healed, but it took a long time for his skin to go back to a usual shade. The eggs took their time. My grandfather was old; Natalie said that he was in his nineties. His eyes were clear, and his breathing was normal now.

  Gregory was furious with me, but at the end of the day, it was my decision. Timothy kept staring at me in silence. Rhian told the warlocks that we had to postpone the meeting for a little while. I just couldn’t believe Natalie looked like my mother. The past was so complicated and painful. Maybe I was making a mistake, but every creature deserved to live.

  Finally, after some time, he opened his eyes and got up, looking around. Natalie started sobbing, and hugging him, but he pushed her off.

  “Get off me, you stupid girl. Why did you bring me here to these filthy half-breeds?” Bobby asked, and Rhian gasped. I was speechless, too. Gregory and Avianna were right; Bobby didn’t want to live. He glanced around the room, and then his eyes stopped on me. All right, so I was wrong and didn’t listen. He never wanted to carry on living. “You’re going to fail. The Dark Ones are the force of this world. I would never join you!”

  “You should have listened to Gregory; old Bobby was never going to change. It was a waste of time,” Timothy said, shaking his head.

  “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. He’s confused, and we are grateful, Francesca.” Natalie was saying, helping the old man to get back on his feet.

  “She’s fake, and ugly just like her mother.” The old man kept mumbling. I was too shocked to react, to even make a sound. I just wanted them gone from this house.

  “Make sure you keep what you’ve seen here to yourself. I don’t care which side you are on, but don’t interfere, because if I find out you did, I’ll kill both of you myself,” I snapped through gritted teeth. She widened her eyes, and then nodded. The old man was still mumbling something, calling me a coward and all sorts of other names.

  “You have a good heart, Fran, but he didn’t deserve to be healed,” Rhian told me.

  “It’s done, and we have to get back upstairs to discuss the rest of the plan. Come on,” I added, forcing myself to swallow back my tears. I was done with being sentimental, done with being the old me. I was ready for a war with the Dark Ones with my family standing on my side or not. It didn’t matter anymore.

  I was worried about Idris when we left Mangus’s residence the next day. It was already dark, and the streets were quiet. None of us liked it for some reason. This was it. All the wardens had been told to position themselves around the strategic points in the city. Rhian was supposed to leave with the warlocks. Timothy and Avianna were coming with me. Nicolas went along with Gregory and some of his people. Cole left straight after the meeting last night. My stomach was full of knots. I had never experienced the streets being that empty. The silence was ringing inside my ears.

  We were heading to meet the League in the tunnel to set up some explosions. Wardens with warlocks were charging the council. We heard that the numbers were in the thousands, and apparently, even the wealthy wardens decided to join us. Our campaign had made an impact on them.

  “Good luck, Rhian. Take care of yourself,” I said to Idris’s aunt when we reached the crossroads. She hugged me. The other warlocks were planning to join us, too; this is what Harvey said last night. Avianna was invisible; she didn’t like it, but I wanted to avoid mass hysteria.

  “I’m confident we will succeed. Keep that dragon safe at all times,” she told me, squeezing me tight. Harvey nodded to me; it was a silent good luck. Frederick and Ripley were already walking ahead. This was going to be a difficult fight. The Dark Ones were stronger, but the wardens had their magic now.

  “If we get access to the council, that will give us time to prepare for Dimond City,” Timothy said later on when we accessed the tunnel. The abandoned house in which I was attacked by the vampire was in the distance.

  A burning smell wafted through the air, it was faint, but I smelled it. Avianna was batting her wings, telling me she was a little scared. The tunnel narrowed and narrowed more as we walked. My anxiety shot up. Everything was planned carefully. Everyone I knew in the past was getting involved. Everyone wanted to gain their freedom. The Dark Ones had denied it from us for too long. John was leading the wardens who lived on the outskirts, and yet I couldn’t help but wonder if we had done enough. The fear of losing, or anyone getting killed was causing a lot of anguish inside my heart.

  “We will, the Dark Ones are aware of what is going on, but they didn’t have time to prepare. We mobilised the wardens fast and having the eggs helped,” I said. We kept walking for about twenty minutes, moving further down toward the underground.

  Then, in the distance, we saw a few figures; my heart skipped a beat, then raced triple time. No one was supposed to be here.

  “It’s that boy from the League, Robin,” Timothy said, and I relaxed a bit. I was way too anxious. Within five minutes, I was shaking his hand; he had soft palms. He was with two other boys who were much younger than him; they were holding torches. Avianna liked Robin. She kept saying that if I didn’t have Idris, I should go out with Robin. Funny she was thinking about this now, under these circumstances. Well, she was a baby dragon after all.

  “How is it going?” he asked, smiling at me. “Everything good? A lot of wardens are already out on the streets.” The smell of burning rubber intensified. The magic drifted around; there was a lot of magic. I didn’t understand where it was coming from.

  “Yes, we didn’t have any problems. How long do we have before the explosions start going off?” I asked him, while Avianna was mumbling in my head that something was wrong. She tended to panic for no reason.

  “Few minutes. Go to the end of the tunnel and activate your magic the way I showed you last night. The Dark Ones won’t realise what’s going on for a while afterward,” Cole added. “I need to get further down. We meet in ten minutes.”

  I nodded and followed the dark tunnel, along with my father. It was strange that he was here with me. I hadn’t seen Idris for a good two days, but I kept telling myself that everything was all right, that he just couldn’t get away.

  “There is someone there. I can sense it. Maybe we should get back to Robin,” Avianna suddenly said, when we reached the tar-black darkness. My heart was jackhammering in my chest.

  “What are you talking about, I don’t—”

  Then I felt at least three Dark Ones appearing right in front of me. This wasn’t possible; there wasn’t any other way to get here, and they couldn’t have just shown up out of thin air. Someone lit up a torch, and my breath caught in my throat when I saw Idris with two other Dark Ones. They looked like elders from the council. Baxley was there, too, and he was smiling at me.

  “You were right, Idris. She’s here with her dragon. I must say, I guess I deeply discounted your intelligence,” a voice to the right said. I was seeing Idris’s face clearly. It was stone cold, no acknowledgment or anything. He was in his act.

  “What do you want? It’s too late to stop us now. The wardens are attacking the council as we speak,” I said confidently. Baxley had recovered. The man could not die.

  “Do the honours, Idris—tell her you have been working for us all this time, even when she thought you had feelings for her.” Baxley cheered, folding his hands over his chest. I needed Cole now. I couldn’t just defeat them on my own, especially trying to use my magic for a completely different purpose.

 

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