Last Dragon Standing (Heartstrikers #5)(10)
“Like a body defeating an infection,” Marci said, nodding. “That’s fantastic. All we have to do is defeat Algonquin, and our problem’s solved.”
“But Algonquin’s already defeated,” Raven said sadly. “That’s how this started. She’s already given up and turned her water over to that thing because she’d rather die than lose. We can’t beat her any lower than she’s already gone. I don’t even know if she’s alive anymore, and I didn’t think spirits could die.”
The table fell silent as he finished. Marci poked her empty plate, trying to think of something that might turn this around. Then, out of nowhere, Amelia said, “We could wait for Bob.”
Chelsie snorted. “That’s your plan?”
“It’s been my plan my entire life,” Amelia said stubbornly, lifting her chin. “You think he didn’t know this was coming? He’s a seer. He’s been working on this for centuries.”
“Okay,” Chelsie said, crossing her arms in front of her daughter, who’d fallen asleep in her lap after she’d finished her second pizza. “What’s his plan, then?”
Amelia bit her lip. “I… don’t know,” she said after a long pause. “Knowing your future changes it, so he couldn’t tell me anything past my death, but I know he’ll come through. He’s never let us down before.”
Chelsie looked away. “Speak for yourself.”
“Would you knock it off?” Amelia growled. “Your secret’s out, Chelsie. We all know that mess in China was entirely your own making. You’ve been blaming everything on Bob for centuries, but he wasn’t the one who panicked and bolted. Bob could have just let the Empress Mother kill you, but no. He pulled a miracle out of his ear and got Bethesda to China to beg for your life. It’s thanks to him that you’re still alive to hold your grudge. How can you be so ungrateful?”
Chelsie opened her mouth to retort, but Fredrick beat her to it. “Ungrateful?” he snarled, moving away from Julius to stand behind his mother. “Brohomir left us to be Bethesda’s slaves for six hundred years! He only cares about his future, not about those who suffer to create it!”
Marci leaned back in her chair. She’d never seen the normally quiet F this angry. Amelia was looking uncharacteristically pissed off as well, with dangerous curls of smoke leaking out from between her lips. The atmosphere in the kitchen was getting so tense, Marci was considering preemptively ducking under the table when Julius suddenly stood up.
“You’re both wrong.”
The whole kitchen turned to look at him. His time as clan head must have done something, though, because Julius didn’t even flinch at all when all those predatory eyes landed on him. He just stared back, and when he spoke, his voice was steady and sure.
“Bob’s not nice,” he said. “But he’s not evil, either. He’s not like Bethesda, who steps on dragons for the joy of feeling taller, but he’s also not afraid to crush us under his heel if that’s what he feels he needs to do to guarantee the future he wants. Like Fredrick, I don’t think that’s right, but it also doesn’t mean that Amelia is wrong.” His green eyes flicked to Marci. “As someone very smart told me earlier today, Bob’s the reason we’re in a lot of these messes, but he’s also the one who made sure we got out, and he’s the one who brought us all together here.”
“How can you be sure of that?” Fredrick asked angrily. “No offense, Great Julius, but we’re cowering in a hovel while an enemy we may not even be able to fight is coming to power above our heads. If this was truly the work of a seer and not mere chance, where is our advantage? Where are our weapons and our armies? Why would Brohomir put us through all of this just to leave us stranded and desperate now?”
“I don’t know,” Julius said. “But I’m certain this is Bob’s work, because she”—he pointed across the table at General Jackson—“is the Phoenix, and Bob told me ages ago that I would have lunch with the Phoenix on my birthday.” His face split into a smile as he turned back to Fredrick. “Don’t you see? This is all Bob’s plan. Yes, we’re trapped, but we’re trapped together. All of us are here in this house because of Bob’s meddling. He’s the one who arranged to bring Marci back from the dead, and he’s the one who finally fixed our troubles with the Qilin.”
“Both of which were problems he caused,” Chelsie growled. “I’m not going to praise him for wagging the dog.”
“Did he?” Julius asked, turning to face her. “Did Bob tell you to run from the Qilin? Did he tell you to lie when Xian asked you why?”
Chelsie’s answer to that was a deadly glare, and Julius sighed. “I’m not trying to poke at old wounds. I’m just saying that Bob isn’t always the total villain you make him out to be. There’s no question he’s run roughshod over all of us, but you know as well as I do that he’s been building toward something huge for a long time now, and I can’t think of anything bigger than the end of the world.”
He smiled then. A big, warm, dazzling grin that made Marci’s breath catch in her throat. “I have faith in my brother. I don’t always understand what he’s doing or approve of how he does it, but I don’t believe for a second that Bob moved heaven and earth to bring us together—from China, from eggs that were never supposed to hatch, from death itself—only to drop the ball at the end. Whatever’s coming, Bob has a plan, and we’re part of it. There’s just no other explanation for how we all ended up here. That’s why I think, if we want to survive what’s coming, we need to put aside our anger and help him make it work.”