Prince Charming Must Die

38. In a Land of Unicorns and Dragons, You Better Believe in Yourself Too!

Derek hissed.

Ashley held out her hand. "Scissors."

"Knock yourself out. And when you're done, knock Layyin out. For her own safety."

"Hey," Layyin complained.

Ignoring their spat, Ashley traversed the garden, trying to draw from her memory the exact spot Dru had come through from the lab. Where had the shadows fallen across the fountain, the sunlight dappled the leaves? What was the angle of the topiary through her peripheral vision? She paced and circled, but nothing felt right until she passed through a spot that sent chills rippling along her neck and spine—like walking through the spectral remains of a castle ghost.

Her bones knew.

This had to be the place.

She lifted the scissors, and feeling a lot like an idiot, snipped the air.

Nothing supernatural happened.

The air behaved as air normally would when attacked by scissors, meaning it didn't do a thing and continued not doing a thing as no matter how vigorously she snipped.

Ashley dropped her arm and took a deep breath. How could she be so stupid to think this would work? One needed magic for supernatural results, and despite the claims of the cloistered witches, her magic lay dormant, if it existed at all. Still, she owed it to the children to try. She dipped into her core, searching, searching, searching, but only felt that tiny spark in her abdomen. Not enough to even ignite a twig, when what she needed was a full-on magical blaze.

"You must believe," warbled a disembodied voice at the edge of her consciousness.*

Ashley scanned the garden to see who might've spoken, but all she saw was a crow gazing down at her with black eyes. "Believe what?" Ashley whispered.

"Who are you talking to?" Derek said, raising a green eyebrow.

"There was a voice."

"I think this garden is making all of you ladies loony," Derek said.

"Only the ladies?" Tressa grumbled.

"Pot, kettle, Derek?" Layyin said.

Ashley pressed her fingers into her temples to soothe a rising headache. "Never mind. I tried to access my magic, but it's barely a flicker, not an inferno."

"Excuse me?" Kai said.

"Yes?" Ashley said.

"We do have a source of fire magic."

"Where?"

Kai nodded at the baby dragon.

Ashley clapped her hands. "Oh, my gosh, Kai. You're brilliant."

Derek hugged his "baby" against his chest. "You're not using Derek Junior for experimental magic."

"Derek Junior?"

"Yes. That way, he has both my name and the name Ruth and Deathgiver gave him. In their honor, may they rest in peace."

Ashley pressed her fists into her hips. "Derek, they're not dead. You do know you're going to have to return their child, right?" Ashley said.

"No, I'm pretty sure they're dead. Poor little orphaned dragon. But I will take care of him."

Rolling her eyes, Ashley held on to the hope that the dragons, the guards, and Gerald were all alive in a very close-by, easily-accessible universe. "How do you know he's a him?"

"Trust me. It's obvious, right, Derek Junior," Derek said, with a proud dad smirk."

"As if you're responsible somehow for his "endowment," Tressa said.