Origin of Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Protector #3)(54)

They hurried toward me as I struggled to my feet. The Pū?i flew over, all of them fine except for one who wobbled a bit when he flew. I hoped he’d get better.

“What happened?” Cass demanded.

I swayed on my feet, still shocked by what I’d seen. What I’d done.

Del’s eyes landed on the body that I’d torn apart. “You got him!”

“Uh.” I looked around, my mind still struggling to comprehend what had happened. “I didn’t.”

“What do you mean?” Ares asked.

“That man—the mob boss guy—he wasn’t Drakon.”

“What?” Del frowned.

“Drakon was inside of him. I killed the body, but not the monster. Not our true enemy.” My mind scrambled, remembering what I’d seen. “And… he was a dragon made of black smoke.”

“Is that what rushed out of the tower roof?” Claire asked.

“Yes.”

“Damn.” Connor shook his head. “As soon as that thing flew away, the Yetis collapsed back into the ground. Those things were impossible to take out.”

That’s why my friends had appeared as soon as Drakon had gone. They’d been fighting the Yetis all this time.

“You’ve weakened him, though,” Ares said. “He wanted that body. Now he doesn’t have it.”

“Yeah.” I recalled the sheer crazy black magic that had emanated from the shadow dragon. “But not for long. He’s strong. And really freaking evil.”

“Then we need to destroy this place,” Roarke said. “It’s where he refuels his power.”

“Yes.” I nodded vehemently. “Absolutely.”

But how? I studied the room. The problem wasn’t the castle itself. I could blow that up with some dynamite, no problem. It was the pool of evil black oil that had me worried. It was as if Drakon had managed to liquefy evil energy and turn it into a battery.

We couldn’t just blow the oil up. It would splatter everywhere, sinking back into the earth.

The memory of the celestial stone turning to dust flashed in my mind’s eye. If only I could destroy the oil the same way. But I’d never managed to destroy something so big. I’d need more power. More energy.

My eye caught on the vines growing out of the oil and I remembered the magical energy leaching from the vines into me. They’d drawn that energy from the oil. It’d been a dark energy, but it’d been energy all the same.

“I think I can destroy the oil.” I swallowed hard, dreading what was to come.

“How?” Ares asked.

I didn’t answer, afraid they would tell me it was too dangerous. I stepped toward the edge of the pool and knelt on the vines. They cushioned my knees as I knelt forward and touched my fingertip to the oil.

Sickness flowed into me, making me gag.

“Don’t touch that!” Cass cried.

I ignored her, reaching my other hand into the vines and burying it deep among them. Energy fizzled up my hand. I imagined myself absorbing it. Becoming one with the vines.

Thank you. The vines understood me. I could feel it.

They fed me their energy. It wasn’t as dark as the oil I was touching, but it still made me queasy to absorb so much of it. As it filled me, I called on my destroyer power. It surged up inside me, a rushing wind that roared its pleasure at the dark magic filling my being.

I fed the destructive power into the oil. It was the perfect circle––the vines took their energy from the oil, which I turned into destruction and fed back into the oil.

Too bad it felt like hell. I gasped as the sickness rose inside me, black tar drowning my organs. But I didn’t stop feeding the magic into the oil.

I stared at my fingertip submerged in the oil, watching as the shining black liquid turned dull and dry. The destruction spread out from my fingertip, turning the gleaming surface to dull gray dust. Then even that began to crumble away, disappearing.

My muscles trembled as I worked, my stomach turning. Being a conduit for this much dark magic was making me ill. It took everything I had to remain kneeling.

The vines began to feed me less and less magic as the oil disappeared. Finally, there was nothing left but an empty pool covered by a fine layer of dust.

I sagged, struggling to catch my breath.

Ares dropped to his knees beside me, wrapping an arm around my waist. “Are you all right?”

“I’m okay.” I straightened.

“That was amazing,” Cass said.

“Incredible,” Del added.

Around me, the vines began to shrivel and die. My heart tugged and my chest felt heavy as I looked at them. “I’m really sorry, guys.”

“Who are you talking to?” Ares asked.

“The vines.” A smile tugged at my lips. “I’ve got some seriously badass powers, apparently. But they made a great sacrifice for me.”

“Then they deserve our thanks,” Ares said.

I smiled, pleased that he got on board with thanking plants. I knew it was a little nuts, but it was my nuts.

I struggled to rise, swaying slightly on my feet as the sickness from the dark magic polluted my insides. “It’s time to get the hell out of here.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Cass said.

I leaned on Ares as I followed my friends out of the horrible room, the Pū?i at my side. The wobbly one was flying a bit better already, thankfully.