Last Dragon Standing (Heartstrikers #5)(47)
Chapter 7
Even with dragons rapidly filling the urban cave that sheltered their broken house, the Empty Wind towered over everything. Over the course of what had happened with Bob and the rest, he’d expanded his barrier to cover the entire cavern. His shadowy form had grown with it, leaving him so tall, he could easily touch the top of the spiraling underpasses. That was actually where his hand was now, the giant palm pressed flat against the same spot in the roof where the hole to the Sea of Magic had been inside Marci’s death. Considering what she was here to ask, the coincidence made Marci shiver, drawing her spirit’s attention as he appeared beside her.
“Whoa,” Marci said, hopping back as Ghost—in a new but still completely solid and real-looking body—materialized next to her. “Nice,” she said, looking back and forth between the towering giant and the regular-sized Empty Wind at her side. “So can you just multiply yourself now?”
“I’ve always been able to do this,” the Empty Wind replied, his glowing eyes glancing up at the massive version of him. “I just never had the magic to waste on it before. I have so much power now, though, I can divide myself however I like.”
To prove it, a ghostly cat appeared in the Empty Wind’s arms, his glowing blue eyes smug as he flicked his tail at Marci. Amazed, Marci held out her hands, and the cat jumped over to her, purring deep in his transparent chest as she petted his soft, freezing head. “This is so weird.”
“The word you are looking for is ‘useful,’” the Empty Wind said as the larger version of himself above adjusted his grip. “I can do many useful things now. Things I haven’t been able to do in a thousand years.” He closed his eyes. “I feel whole again.”
Just like back in the kitchen, Marci felt his happiness vibrating down their connection like a plucked string. Beautiful as it was, though, they had no time to bask in the glow. “I’m really happy for you,” she said. “But if you’ve sobered up from your magic binge, we need to talk strategy. Myron and I have cooked up a plan to banish the Leviathan, but I need to get back to the Sea of Magic to do it. Can you just take me there now that you’re all souped up? You know, open a portal or something?”
She finished with a hopeful smile, but though she couldn’t see the Empty Wind’s face inside the shadows of his helmet, she could feel him frowning.
“No.”
“Why not?” Marci demanded. “The DFZ can take Myron any time he wants. Look, she’s doing it now.”
Sure enough, Myron had finished his discussion with the general and Raven and was now talking to the DFZ, who still looked a little loopy. A few moments later, the city spirit nodded and grabbed his hand. The moment she touched him, his body fell unconscious to the ground beside a closing manhole that hadn’t been there a second ago.
“See?” Marci said, turning back to Ghost. “I’m not generally a fan of leaving my mortal shell just lying around, but that’s pretty convenient. Why can’t we do that?”
“Because I’m not her,” Ghost said irritably. “This entire city is DFZ’s domain. So long as Myron is inside her borders, it’s easy for her to pass his soul back and forth across the barrier, but I have no such physical domain. My realm is the Forgotten Dead. I had to cheat to get you through before since, though you were dead, you were not forgotten. Now you’re neither, and that means I cannot pull you through.”
“What about that thing you did before?” Marci asked. “Remember back in Reclamation Land when you yanked me inside the black-and-white world where I was a spirit voice and you were real? That was inside your domain, right?”
“I took you inside my magic,” Ghost corrected. “But while I was able to hide you as I hide myself on this side, you were still in your physical body, and physical objects cannot enter the Sea of Magic. To get you across safely, I have to separate your soul from your body. If I had a physical domain like the DFZ does, it wouldn’t be a problem, because we are gods within our own spheres. But the Forgotten Dead isn’t a place like a city. There’s nowhere your physical body can go that is totally within my purview, and without that absolute level of godly control, I don’t know how to separate your magic from your body without killing you.”
Marci swore under her breath, squeezing the cat version of Ghost in her arms so hard he hissed. “Then we’ll just have to find another way,” she said stubbornly. “Because I’m not dying again. I’ve got a fantastic dragon boyfriend, a super-powered spirit, and Sir Myron Rollins as my Merlin understudy. I’ve never had so much to live for, and Raven already told me my return ticket wouldn’t be stamped again. There has to be some other way to get there. The Heart of the World is basically the Merlins’ central office. We’re clearly meant to work there, and I can’t be the first Merlin with a nonphysical concept as my spirit. There has to be another way in.”
“I suppose you could become forgotten,” the Empty Wind suggested. “That would give you a foot inside my domain without ending your life, though I’m not sure how you’d manage it.”
He glanced over her shoulder at Julius, and Marci sighed. “Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to work.” She frowned, biting her nails as she thought the problem through. “The living body is really what’s at issue here. If we could manifest your domain somehow, figure out a way for me to physically walk into the Forgotten Dead, then you could pull me over just like the DFZ does for Myron, right?”