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Naseem kept a close eye on the one who gave the most guff even to their most feared tutor, Terra, and noticed she was scowling.

Her brown tresses, interwoven with hints of blue strands, whipped around her as she turned.

Her eyes had one colored blue and the other brown.

She would probably carry Water or Earth elements when her powers kicked in, or she could be like Stone and carry multiple at once.

If that was the case, Alessandro would take her under his wing and she would join a rare set of dragons who could one day be their Dragon King.

While Stone had been a studious and meritorious student, Talia Rain was easily bored, determined to do things her own way and often skipped lessons in favor of watching TV.

As Alessandro approached her, Talia’s movements were perfectly precise. She scowled the entire time, obviously displeased.

Alessandro crouched down in front of her to get face to face, then with a one finger push on her forehead he threw her off balance.

She landed on the soft dirt and stayed there for a moment before she slowly sat up and glared at him. “What’s your problem, huh?”

Alessandro leaned his head on his hand as he stared down at her. “I’m not the one who forgot to keep their core engaged and feet firmly planted. Forms only do so much if you don’t engage the basics as well.”

Talia moved in a dash and she was face to face with him, covering his eyes with her hands. “You look scary. Go away.”

Naseem was moving to intervene, but Alessandro held a hand up in his direction. He didn’t remove the girl’s hands but stayed crouched there. Naseem watched in horror as Talia began to tear up and cry.

It was only then that Naseem noticed every child was on the verge of tears. As Talia wailed, it broke a dam of emotions and all fifteen kids fell into sobs.

Alessandro pulled the small dragons into his embrace and they sat there for ten minutes, just crying and holding on to one another.

Naseem recalled the first time Alessandro had met Stone. He’d been as gentle as he was now. Kids were his king’s ultimate weak spot.

Alessandro whispered something to the group and then laughs bubbled up and it was as if it had never happened.

As they walked away from the group, Naseem asked, “What was that about?”

Grim faced Alessandro answered, “They’re overwhelmed by the panic the adults are trying to hide from them. They know something is wrong, but no one will tell them what.”

Right, and seeing their Dragon King upset had been the breaking of the hold on their emotions. “What did you say that made them feel better?”

“That my old knees were on the verge of giving out. Kids find old people hilarious.”

It was a joke, but there wasn’t a trace of humor on the Dragon King’s face.

Naseem gave a grunt of understanding, though he didn’t, and then said. “Since you’re being so open, mind telling me what’s happened overnight that you feel like a bomb about to explode?”

The Dragon King stopped mid step and turned to him. “The crown feels heavy today, that’s all.”

And Naseem knew he would get nothing else out of his king. He frowned, but continued following him through the cobbled streets of Dragon City.

Chapter 18

The winding paths of the labyrinth underneath the pyramid hadn’t seemed like the best way to sneak into the sphinx lair, but Rowan trusted that the map Kin had procured for their break in would be accurate enough to get them to the dungeons.

It was where Louisa thought the sphinx leader had locked himself away, preparing for his execution.

Rowan hadn’t expected the ceilings to be so tall that they weren’t visible as she looked up. She had never actually met a sphinx, and she wondered if in their beast forms they required so much space to move.

Ahead of her, Kin and Zeva moved with confidence. As they both enjoyed hunting treasure, they were the logical choice to lead their walk to avoid booby traps.

They learned their lesson at the beginning of the tunnels when boulders erupted from the sidewalls. If they hadn’t been such excellent spellcasters, Rowan was sure they would have ended up as nothing more than piles of pulp.

“Okay, one more left turn and we should reach this ‘Chasm of Eternal Pain’. Once we pass that, the dungeons should be right there.” Zeva’s tone was cheerful.

The way she had said ‘Chasm of Eternal Pain’ was a contrast to how dreadful the thing sounded. Her heightened senses could pick up the screams from the dark pit before they arrived. The bottom of the pit was too far to locate the source of all the noise.

Rowan turned to Louisa, whose breath got slow and deep. Her eyes were wide and glowing.

“There is so much blood down there.” She whispered.

“You brought your hunger suppression tablets, right?” Rowan asked.

Louisa nodded and reached a shaky hand into her fanny pack to extract a small red pill. She was shaking so much that it slipped out of her hand. Rowan caught it mid-fall.

“Let me help you with that.” Rowan suggested. Ever since the incident in Greece, Louisa hadn’t seemed as controlled as she once had been with her cravings. She’d taken to carrying around hunger suppressant pills Rowan had only seen her take twice in their whole friendship.

Rowan waited until some color was back in her cheeks before she turned to Kin and Zeva, who were observing the chasm oblivious to the redhead’s plight.

“There’s a bridge, but it looks a bit worn.” Zeva pointed to a rickety contraption of ropes and slabs of wood.

“Zev, we can fly. I’d suggest phasing, but there are some wards preventing that kind of magic in here.” Rowan watched the realization hit her sister’s face, lighting her blue eyes to an electric level.

Rowan wondered if the rest of her family was still so unaware of the different level Rowan was at now that the Coven rescinded their goal of attaining her as an asset.

“Oh my gods, yes! We are so going on all of those ‘too dangerous’ adventures dad barred us from.” Zeva squealed, wrapping her arm around her younger sister. “Is this what true freedom feels like?”

Rowan snickered and then turned to look at the slowly recuperating vampire. “You good?”

Louisa gave a thumbs up.

Kin looked unsure, but his amusement replaced concern as Rowan picked Zeva up bridal style even though Zeva had a good four inches on her.

“Stop moving, or I’ll drop you!” Rowan warned, as her wings shot them into the air. She wasn’t used to carrying more than her own body weight around and it showed in their shaky flight path.

Zeva pouted. “I wanted to see if I could tell what’s in the pit.”

“It’s at least three miles down. Even I cannot make out what is down there.” Kin said from next to them.

“And he has better vision than a half-blind bat like you,” Rowan teased.

Zeva pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose and huffed as she looked away, “Remind me not to do you guys anymore favors for the rest of the year.”

“As the baby sister, I refuse to allow you to tell me no.”

The ground was sand on the other side of the chasm. Rowan’s boots sunk so low the sand covered the top of her foot.

Zeva frowned, “Let’s stick to the walls, it’s less likely to have traps.”

The walls were cool to the touch.Rowan kept a guiding hand on them as she led the way up the sharply inclined field of sand that kept sliding under her feet.

It felt like a small lifetime had passed when they finally reached the apex, each breathing hard from the exertion.

Two giant cages of gold sat only a few yards away. They reflected the flames of torches lined against the cavern walls, giving them plenty of light to take in the sight.

One cage remained empty, but the other had a sphinx occupying it. The sphinx had the head of an older man, aged by the lines around his eyes and mouth. He was undeniably handsome.

He wore a white nemes headdress. The sculpture of the cobra that decorated it was as tall as Rowan. His great lion body was a dark brown shade sprinkled with random spurts of gray.

Rowan didn’t know how to process the smell around him. Like some older scrolls that Zeva had discovered through her adventures, it was reminiscent of the era it originated from, something out of temporal space.

He was facing them by the time they made it to the bars of his cage, paws crossed in front of him as he leaned down so close she could reach through the bars and touch his sharp nose.

She didn’t, though. Instead, she bowed her head and waited.

“Salam alaikum.” The voice of the sphinx shook the sands under their feet with its deep octave.

“Wa Alaikum al-salam.” Zeva spoke first, “Abanoub, I am Zeva Dahl. We are here to understand what happened two days ago. Could we trouble you with our questions?”

“Dahl.” Abanoub whispered the name as if trying to remember where he’d heard it before. “You wish for me to retell the story of the worst day of my life?”

“Yes, Abanoub, attacks like the one you endured have been occurring too many times to just be coincidences. We believe something is connecting them, but your story hasn’t been told to us in full.”

“What does an elf want with the problems of shifters?”

Zeva turned to Rowan, clearly not expecting the question.

“Abanoub, as you know, the shifters are great in numbers, they along with the other mystic races and humans, have blended into society where there is nowhere that they’re excluded from.

This isn’t a problem only for shifters, this is a problem for all races.

We are already seeing the effects of the fear attacks like this have on our fragile societies.

The dragons have shut their doors to outsiders.

I have not faced wars of any sorts, but I listen to the stories of my elders and know that war kills not only people, but parts of their souls.

I refuse to stand back and watch souls shatter. ”

Abanoub looked around at the collection of people. “A succubus, an elf, a vampire and a kitsune. Is this your army to fight against this?”