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Matilda shouts at the monster. "Be gone you beast, you abomination. Be gone!" Once again, she uses her wand to attack, but this time the bolt of lightning is directed back at her and she's hit in the chest and collapses to the floor.

Ignoring my pounding head, I run to her, nearly vomiting at the movement.

I can't tell if she's alive or not. "Liam! Help her!"

Despite his own anger, he comes to her and checks her pulse, but the monster descends on us, and I am in the direct line of its fire. I attempt to create a shield to protect us, but I'm not fast enough.

Just as the monster is about to impale me with its drill horn, Racul jumps in between us and the horn plunges into him instead. He's hit with such force that both he and the creature crash through the glass window, over the balcony and into the garden.

The light rain that had begun earlier is now a raging storm, darkening the Dragon's Breath in the sky and turning everything murky and wet.

With fear pulsing through my veins, I plunge into my power and pull on every strand I can find, then fly through the broken glass and down to where Racul and the monster are.

Racul lays unconscious in a bush as rain pelts him.

The monster turns to me, and using all the elements, I weave a cocoon trap that I throw on it. This seems to work for a moment, as a magical net wraps around the beast and slows its progression.

But it breaks free too soon and lunges at me.

In a blink, the four Night brothers jump off the balcony with ease and join me.

I grab the hands of the two nearest brothers while they form a circle around the monster, hands held. I channel the power they offer in addition to my own and cast another shield around the creature, this time creating a dome prison in which to trap it.

The monster screams and thrashes against the barrier but the power I’ve thrown into the barrier zaps it back each time it hits.

“I think it’s holding,” I say, my body buzzing and my head pounding.

I feel as if I’m about to vomit.

I sag into Sebastian’s arms and he catches me, holding me close.

“Matilda?” I ask.

“She’s alive,” Liam says.

“Racul!” I scream and pull out of Sebastian’s arms and run over to the Fire Dragon. His body is crumbled in a bush and I tug at him to turn him over. There’s a horn sized hole in his chest and he’s not breathing.

“Liam?” I ask, knowing he won’t love helping but he’s a healer before anything.

True to form he rushes over and examines the dragon. There’s no gloat in his face when he turns to me and frowns. “He’s dead.”

Chapter 13: The Truth

“Lookfor the answer inside your question.”

~Rumi

The storm continuesto rage around us and a deep dread builds within me. I stare at Racul's body and can't stop shaking. He died to save me, which goes against everything I thought I knew about the Fire Dragon.

His burnt red skin looks paler in death, as if the flames of his soul are being extinguished. I take his hand, but it is heavy and limp. A tear slides down my cheek. I didn't exactly like the man, but over the last few days I had developed a kind of bond with him, and this death hurts. They all hurt.

I turn to look at the creature in the makeshift cage we created. Its thrashing has calmed, and it seems to be tiring out.

In fact, it looks to be curling up to rest. The fight must have drained it.

As it falls asleep, we all watch in stunned silence as its body begins to glow and its shape changes. Its legs lengthen, its body shortens, its head becomes smaller, until it's no longer a hideous monster at all.

It's a girl.