Serena waited, kneeling, on the floor, as the sorceresses began to chant. She held her beaten-up paperback novel in one hand, and her leather bag, which the sorceresses had finally returned, in the other.
Their magic flowed through her, and hot, burning pain seared through her. Serena squeezed her eyes shut as the world around her blurred once again to black and she entered a new one.
The chaos of the desert world faded to a stifled silence broken only by gurgling lava pools. Once again, she smelled sulfur and felt fat ash flakes brush her skin. Around her, the mountains sat in a yellow haze, a few sparse trees bending in gales of wind that whipped Serena's hair into her face and blew her robes about.
The sorceresses' song drew the spirits back, dragging them through the earth to their world. Serena walked across the rocky landscape, pulling them with her.
Not yet, she thought as they clamored at the edges of the world— not here. Her legs ached as she clambered over the rocks.
She walked all the way back to the caves, stooping to walk through the twisted tunnels. In the room with the broken eggshells, she knelt and closed her eyes. Now.
Dark shapes swirled around her and magic surged through her. The spirits roared in her head and rushed back to their own world. She waited, a dull pain pulsing through her skin. Back in their world, the dragon-shifters twisted and shrank and then disappeared.
Serena opened her eyes to find a cavern of dragon eggs before her, the smooth silvery-blue shells unbroken. They glowed faintly. She ran her fingers over the cool, smooth surface of one of the eggs, and smiled.
Around her, the chanting trickled to nothing, and Serena opened her eyes to find herself back in the throne room, doused in cold sweat. She wheezed in a breath and released the book, sinking to the ground. She stared at the floor as she tried to regain her breath.
"Well, I hope you're happy," Lillian sneered, walking closer until Serena could see the tips of her polished black boots. "Of course, I am still in control of Redhaven." She pulled Serena to her feet.
"And as for your fate," added Daria with a sardonic smile, "I wouldn't place any bets on you getting back home in one piece."
Serena swayed on her feet slightly from the effort of the summoning, and she placed a hand on the wall next to her to steady herself. Dread curled in her stomach, and she couldn't say anything, couldn't even plead for her life. She just stood there, staring at the sorceresses. Would this really be how it all ended?
Then a screaming, cursing shape lunged at the sisters. Knives flashed and sank into Lillian's chest.
"Berry!" Serena had never been so happy to see someone in her life.
Berry turned to flash her a grin before slashing her knives through the air. Daria drew her own weapons, but Berry was faster, and the twins were weakened and distracted from the summoning. The fight was over in a few seconds, a flurry of metal.
Daria charged at Berry with her sword, but Berry parried deftly and plunged a knife into her side. Then she hit the sorceress over the head with rhe blunt end of her knife, and Daria slumped to the floor.
Berry sheathed her knives.
"Thank you," Serena said, sagging in relief. She tried not to look at the twin sorceresses bleeding out on the marble floor.
"Anytime, princess."
Then Patrick barreled through the door. His face was covered in dirt and sweat, robes torn up and splattered with blood, but he was grinning triumphantly. "I did it!" he said. "I told them who I was and I shut down the defenses. What do we do now?"
Both Berry and Patrick turned to look at Serena, which surprised her.
"I think . . ." She grabbed her bag and stuffed the Dragon's Heart book back into it. "I think we should go find the Wild Sisters."
* * * * *
The fortress was under siege by desert beasts. Their heavy bodies whammed every entrance door, snarling and huffing. The dragon-shifters might be gone, but they smelled Serena's blood. Berry had to cut through five of them before they got to the library.
Serena needed to get out of here, and fast. Her heart thrummed in her chest. She hoped, desperately, that her instinct had been right.
They flung open the door. The three witches spun to face them, and Serena's heart leapt: None of their eyes were red.
"Berry!" they exclaimed. Jayla rushed forward, and she and Berry embraced.
"What's happened?" Esther asked. She was the tallest of the three witches, with honey-colored hair and purple tattoos climbing her neck and curling around her jawline. "I . . . I can't remember anything from the past week."
Serena thought about introducing herself, but she hung back instead as the others exchanged information.
Instead, she looked around the library, uneasy. If the sorceresses were gone, and the witches free from corruption, then why hadn't she returned home? Something must still remain unresolved in the story.
The dragon's roar shook the fortress.
Of course. How could she forget?
Berry looked up at the ceiling grimly. "We gotta take care of that."
At that moment, something hard and white broke through the ceiling of the library— stone? No, Serena realized— giant claws, which curved through the ceiling. Stone crumbled to the ground. The witches around her shrieked and jumped out of the way.
With another earth-shaking scream, the dragon swiped off the ceiling of the library. A giant tail, glittering in bright blue scales, lashed through the library, sweeping entire bookshelves to the floor.
The dragon leaned its massive head into the library. Everyone gasped and backed up against the far side of the wall, drawing daggers and summoning spirits.
One giant, yellow eye swiveled, and Serena swore it was looking right at her. The color of burnished gold, the size of a small human, the eye seemed to pierce right through her.
Another swipe of the dragon's claws sent Esther flying. She hit the wall and slumped down, blood gushing from her side. Patrick rushed to her, and the dragon lifted its claw to strike him down—
Time froze. All Serena could think about was that in her outline, Patrick sacrificed himself to save Esther, dying a hero's death. She couldn't let that happen.
"Stop!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, and walked up to the dragon's head. The eye turned to look at her. Waves of stinking heat emanated from the dragon's maw. "I am the intruder," Serena said. "Leave them."
She looked at Berry across the room. Berry narrowed her eyes, as if in a question, and Serena nodded. Once the monsters cleared out of Redhaven, the story would end.
After what seemed like an eternity, the dragon's claws curled around Serena's waist. It felt like being encased in marble, squeezing around her ever tighter. She writhed in the grip to turn around and look:
The witches were staring in wonder, Esther crumpled on the ground, but still breathing. Patrick stared at the dragon, open-mouthed. The library around them had been torn to shreds, gutted library books drifting in the air, shelves overturned. Bloodstains mottled the blue carpet. Behind them all, a red sunset burned in the sky.
Goodbye, Serena mouthed. She smiled to show them that she was leaving willingly, and that she wasn't afraid.
Berry waved with the bone-white dagger gleaming in one of her hands. "See ya, princess!" she shouted. "Don't forget my gold!"
Patrick lifted a hand, his palm glowing white-hot, dark eyes wide.
Serena opened her mouth to say something. Then the library below was ripped from view as the dragon tore her into the sky with him.
* * * * *
When Serena could breathe again, she looked down. The library beneath Serena shrunk smaller and smaller, until the witches and the healer turned into black specks, the fortress into a small stone block.
Heavy claws dug into her skin. Wind roared in her ears, and she struggled to breathe through it, the atmosphere getting thinner and colder. Above her, the dragon's gargantuan wings flapped in a steady rhythm.
I'm being carried by a dragon. Magpie would be so jealous.
Higher and higher, they rose. All Serena could see were the endless dunes rolling below her. The sun sank lower and disappeared behind the horizon, leaving behind the last vestiges of its burning orange light.
Stars blanketed the sky above her, and below was a black ocean of sand shifting and moving as if alive.
Serena squeezed her eyes shut. The dragon's claws released their hold, and then she was falling through miles and miles of empty space.