Sera darted toward the encroaching waves, out of the line of fire. The two factions clashed behind her in a fury of magic and steel. She blasted an icy path across the water toward the pirate ship sailing past. She rode the wave of ice to its end. Then, as she shot up into the air, she summoned a gust of wind to carry her the rest of the way to the ship.

“Nice flying,” Naomi said as she touched down on the deck.

“Thanks.” Sera looked around at the children. “Are they all here?”

“Yes. And thanks to that wind you summoned, we’ll reach Fairy Island in no time.” Naomi’s eyes turned as black as midnight. “And then I’m going to deal with Cloud Silverstride.”

CHAPTER NINE

Two Dragons

AS SOON AS they docked at Fairy Island, Naomi hurried off the ship. She asked the two mages standing there to keep an eye on the children until she returned, then ran off. Sera followed her friend down the mulch path. They ducked into a small grove of orange trees.

They returned a few minutes later, Naomi’s sword to Cloud’s throat. While he still smelled strongly of Fairy Lily, the carefree grin on his face had been completely wiped away. Fear clung to him, saturating his magic. He knew he’d been busted. But there was something else too, simmering beneath the surface. Calculation, cold and defiant. Sera showed him her sword, just in case he decided to put his plans into motion. Cloud’s eyes flicked from Naomi to her, then he slouched in defeat.

Naomi dragged him into the great hall, throwing him to the floor at her mother’s feet. She didn’t bother to be gentle about it either. Celeste’s gaze panned from Cloud up to Naomi.

“What…” Her puzzlement faded to joy when she saw Ruby and Ivy. She extended her hands out to her youngest daughters, and they ran into her arms. “Thank you,” she mouthed to Naomi and Sera as she hugged the girls tightly. When all the hugging was done, she stepped back and gave the girls a hard look. “To your rooms. You’re grounded for a month.”

“But—”

“You didn’t just hide a few bottles of nectar this time. You could have gotten yourselves killed.” She pointed at the hallway that led to the bedrooms. “Go now. Before I ground you for a year instead.”

The girls slogged off down the hallway, their heads low. Once they were out of sight, Celeste folded her arms across her chest and looked at Naomi expectantly.

“The pirates were collecting hybrid children for Darksire.”

“Darksire?” Celeste bit down on her lip. “He’s returned?”

“Apparently so. Maybe if we’d had more time, I could have found and interrogated the pirates’ captain to learn more. But there wasn’t time. We barely got the children off the island.”

Celeste grew very still. She looked at Cora, then back at Naomi. “You freed all the children?”

“Yes. They’re here. We took the pirates’ ship. We’re going to sail it back to Mayhem and find the kids’ families.”

“And why have you dragged Cloud here?” Celeste asked.

“He was the pirates’ inside man. He helped them locate hybrid children in the city. And he was slowly disabling Fairy Island’s magical defenses from the inside so the pirates could attack and snatch the children. They promised him Fairy Island in exchange for his help.”

Anger flared in Celeste’s eyes, and a gust of wind cut through the hall, cold and harsh. The aftertaste of elemental magic lingered in the air. “Get him out of my sight,” she growled. “I don’t want to see his face on my island ever again.”

Naomi nodded, then grabbed Cloud roughly by the arm, pulling him toward the exit.

“Naomi,” her mother called out as they reached the door.

They looked back at her.

Celeste’s face had softened. “Thank you.”

“I just did what had to be done.”

A soft laugh—or was that a grunt?—buzzed on Celeste’s lips. “I hope you’ll come and visit us again soon.”

“You know I will,” Naomi said, then dragged Cloud toward the door.

Sera followed her. They took the path back toward the ship. They’d only made it a third of the way there when Cloud pulled free of Naomi and made a run for it. Sera smacked him in the back with a ball of wind, knocking him flat on his face. Then, before he could push up from the ground, Naomi blasted him with Fairy Dust.

Naomi stared down at his limp body. “Great. Now we have to carry his sorry ass back to the ship.”

“I’ll do it,” Sera said, lifting him up and over her shoulder.

Naomi watched, her tired eyes buzzing with amusement. “You are freakishly strong, Sera.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “It must be the dragon in you.”

“Na, she’s harmless.”

“She?”

“The dragon in me.”

“Oh.” Naomi’s eyes grew wide. “It was just a figure of speech. You actually have a dragon in you?”

“Well, kind of. She’s the other half of me. We’re still trying to figure out what that means.”

“So you’re half dragon,” Naomi said, her lip twitching. “No wonder you like Kai.”

“Technically, he’s not a dragon, at least not like I am. He uses magic to shift into one. I just am dragon. Or half dragon. I’m not quite sure actually. I haven’t found any books on the subject.”

“The Council has probably hidden them.”