“Wait!” My excitement screeches to a halt as I scan the crowd. My eyes narrow. “Where’s Celutok?”
I lean closer to Sandra, lowering my voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Why are you still with that farmer guy?” The words hang between us, a reminder of an unfinished agreement. “I haven’t forgotten our promise, Sandra. We’ll get you back to Earth—or at least somewhere not covered in snail poop. Just say the word, and we’ll get this...” I wave a hand over her muck-streaked brown leathers. “Mess cleaned up.”
Sandra recoils as if I’m the one covered in giant monster snail crap, her face shadowed with annoyance for some reason.
“Celutok’s areallynice guy, Lexie,” she snaps, her blue eyes sparking with unexpected anger. “After you... disappeared, I was terrified. I had no idea what happened to you—no idea where togo.” She gestures sharply at the bubbling molten geyser behind us. “Eventhisbloody volcano was too warm for me.”
Yep, Stockholm Syndrome. Definitely Stockholm Syndrome.
“So, yeah, Celutok let me stay with him,” Sandra continues, her voice softening as she looks down, fidgeting with her thumbs. “He looked after me. Even took me to Star City!” Her sweaty, tired face brightens with sudden enthusiasm. “Ack, it was so much fun!”
“You don’t say,” I mutter, glaring at Dracoth. Jealousy burns low in my chest. She gets a luxury vacation to Star City while I’m dragged through alien Antarctica and the Amazon rainforest.
“When we got back to Scarn,” Sandra adds, her grin wide and infectious, “we heard you were here after completing the Mortakin-Tok.” Her excitement is almost childlike as she leans closer. “Crazy, right? So, what the hell happened? Oh, and congrats, by the way!” She giggles, glancing meaningfully between Dracoth and me.
“Itwascrazy!” I burst out, the words tumbling over each other. “We were on this massive spaceship, and—”
“Enough!” Dracoth roars, stiffening my spine like that horrible etiquette training I endured in boarding school. “It is forbidden to speak of with the uninitiated,” he growls with an extra-intense Mr. Frowny Face glare.
“Alright, jeez.” I mutter, trying to rein in my breathing. My pulse is hammering. “Maybe tell me these rulesbeforehand?” I shoot him a pointed look, but his face remains unreadable. “Anyway, Sandra, trust me—it was completely insane.” I lean toward her, dropping my voice back to a whisper.
“What of Ignixis?” Dracoth interrupts, his focus zeroing in on Sandra like me spying a beautiful dress. “Did he come to you?”
Sandra frowns. “Ignixis?” She pauses, as if tasting the name before grimacing. “No... I haven’t seen him since that bar in Star City.”
“That creepy Demon Egg-Head!” I sneer, my annoyance echoed by Dracoth through our bond, though his face remains as expressionless as a thrift-shop outfit. “I asked him nicely,” I titter, once again savoring the memory of his panicked face as my divine barriers nearly flattened him like a syrupy pancake. “To keep you safe.”
Sandra’s face softens, a warm smile blooming. “Ack, that’s so sweet of you—both of you—to think of me.” Her tone is genuine, almost glowing with gratitude, a sharp contrast to my own exasperation. “I’m sure Ignixis heard I was safe with Celutok and decided he had better things to do.”
“Yeah, like creeping under beds, the freaky weirdo,” I mutter darkly.
Next time I’ll crush him from above, force him to crawl on his belly like the snake he is.
My vindictive musings fizzle out almost immediately. I still need the slippery bastard to teach me the Sacred Words of great Arawnoth.
“Hey, Celutok!” Sandra’s warm greeting jolts me from my thoughts. I glance up to see the returning farmer. His weathered face splits with a grin as he carries sizzling stone plates. They’re loaded with charred white meat carved from the fanged monstrosity snaking through the cavern behind him.
“Hail,” Celutok says, his voice hearty and full of cheer. “An impressive and generous feat, great War Chieftain,” he adds, offering Dracoth a steaming plate. “I can’t remember the last time these halls hosted Sneachir meat,” he adds, laughing as he passes Sandra and me our portions. “It might be the first!”
Ugh, I hope he washed his hands.
Chapter 50
Alexandra
Catch up
Throughourbond,Dracoth’spride soars, warm and unyielding like a wildfire. But in typical Dracoth style, he tempers it with only the briefest nod.
“It was a glorious battle,” he rumbles, crimson eyes flashing as he tears into the charred meat with a ferocity that makes it look like he’s still fighting the beast for his life.
I sniff my plate cautiously. No scent. It looks dry—dry as Michael made me. If we were back on Earth, I’d send it back without a second thought. But witnessing Dracoth and Celutok rip through theirs like starving wolves at a gourmet feast, I keep my complaints to myself. Grumbling would probably get me thrown out of Scarn—or worse, accused of dishonoring the fish monster’s ancestors or some equally ridiculous nonsense.
“It must have been incredible!” Sandra exclaims, craning her neck to get a better look at the immense skeletal remains looming behind us, like something straight out of a dinosaur exhibit.
The Magaxus swarm the fallen beast, poking and prodding at its carcass while happily eating their share of the kill. “Just look at the bloody size of it!”
“Nothing my Dracoth can’t handle,” I chime in, sidling closer to my towering red radiator, trying to soothe my bubbling irritation that I forgot to praise him myself. “He’s the strongest,” I purr, fluttering my lashes at him for good measure.
