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As soon as I get a chance, once Ornix is busy with his advisors, I take the seal and I go to Equinox. I don’t know why I take the seal. I just do it, naturally, as if it belongs to me. It feels like picking up my phone. God, I miss my phone.

I open the door and go into the chamber, just like he said to.

“Oh, my god, you have computers in here!”

Equinox swings around and smiles at me. His dark hair is tied up in a ponytail and he’s wearing a T-shirt, which looks wild ona man with scales. It’s interesting to see a dragon dress like a human man. He’s even wearing dark jeans and trainers.

Ornix pretended to be human as well, but he was in a kind of disguise where you couldn’t see the scales or the eyes, or the full extent of his majesty. Equinox is just in his dragonkin shape, but he’s dressed like a gamer bro. I guess it makes sense. That’s what he is.

“Yes, they help with the coding,” he says. “You’re ready to go?

“Yes. Thank you.”

“I’m going to open a portal, you need to go through it, and get as far away from the portal as possible. They’re going to know it was opened. Ornix is going to feel it. He’s going to know you’re not on this plane anymore. And he’s going to come for you.”

There’s so much intensity in Equinox’s voice right now, it’s kind of freaking me out.

“This is your chance, maybe your only chance, okay? So the second you get through that portal, you have to run. Get the fuck away from there, and never, ever go back to anywhere or anyone he might be able to track you to. Go get a job in the middle of Texas as a waitress. Stowaway on a cargo ship to Shanghai, if they’re still running. Take a position as a cleaner in Antarctica. If you stay in even remotely the same geographical area, he will find you.”

“Oh, um. But. I don’t have any money over there.”

He pushes a piece of paper into my hand. “This is my number. Use it when you’re through. I’m going to stay here and mirror the portal.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’m going to push it behind seven different proxies. He’ll know it’s open, but he won’t know where. The tech doesn’t really matter. All you need to know is that you have a chance to escape now, and only now.”

“I’m scared.”

“You should be. Use the fear to escape.”

“I mean, I don’t know how to do any of that stuff. I don’t know how to get to Antarctica…”

He nods, briefly. “Okay. Then I’ll take care of all the details. Don’t worry about any of it. Just worry about walking through the portal.”

Anxiety twists my gut. I know I said I wanted to leave this world, and I do, but I am also starting to freak out. He’s being so intense, and this all feels so high stakes, and I know if I just go back upstairs, I won’t have to do anything that frightens me again. Ornix will take care of me until I give birth…

Oh, fuck that.

“What if I’m already pregnant?”

“Your baby won’t show any signs of the nature of the father while it remains in the human world. There are actually quite a number of biological half dragons in the world, but they’ve never been to this realm and they do not understand what or who they are. If you happen to be pregnant—and it is very possible you are not, more likely than you are—then your baby will live a happy human life never knowing any different.”

“But then Ornix will never know his child.”

“Ornix kidnapped you and forcibly mated you. Fuck Ornix.”

Equinox really does not like his uncle. I can already tell that all of this has fuck all to do with me and a lot to do with getting back at his guardian.

“I’m going to open the portal now,” he says. “But you should get changed first. If you appear in the human world dressed like a dragon princess, people are going to raise their brows.”

I almost forgot I was wearing a long golden gown. That’s how quickly you can get used to nice things. He’s right. If I show up, even in Los Angeles, looking like this, people are going to notice. They’ll pretend they don’t, but they will.

“Where will the portal go out to? My phone and stuff is still at Tempest’s house.”

“I’m going to put you back there, but I’m also going to send a car to that address, and that car will take you to the airport,” he says. “Once you get to the airport, there will be a ticket waiting for you at a counter that I’ll text you. Don’t worry. I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you.”

He really has planned this all out. Nothing has been left to chance, even with having to shift plans, he’s ready to act.