Dragon Witch ✔️

4 - Blood Magic

Shivering, I squeezed my eyes shut and held myself as close to Kyton as I could. We needed to be more than invisible. We needed to be silent, impossible to smell, even impossible to touch. I willed my magic to do all that. It sluggishly flowed around us.

Ugh, this would be so much easier if fairy magic wasn't gusting in my face. This close to Kyton, every breath was intoxicating. It felt more important than anything else. Embarrassment and fear melted away. Magic was the only thing that mattered. I saw that clearly now.

Grandma told me once that skilled witches could use Otherworlder magic to increase their own powers. It was similar to how familiars helped witches, only Otherworlders were a thousand times more powerful. With enough magic, witches could do incredible things. Maybe I could use it to trick a dragon. At least, I could in theory. Getting the magic out of an Otherworlder wasn't that simple.

Usually, witches put Otherworlder blood in a potion to help with the awful taste and its potentially fatal toxins. That worried me, but its toxicity was slow-acting, definitely slower than being eaten by a dragon.

If Kyton was right--and I was sure he was--the dragon would see through my illusion soon enough. I needed more magic right away. That meant putting up with the taste of Otherworlder blood and hoping it didn't kill me before I got the antidote at home.

Where are you, little fairy? The dragon's frustration was a blunt ax pounding against my skull. I have a taste for fairy wings tonight, and human legs will make a nice appetizer. Don't waste your time hiding. Nothing will keep me from my feast.

How was I supposed to get Kyton's blood? It wasn't like I had a sterile syringe and a potion flask.

Heavy footsteps splashed in the stream. I smell you, fairy. I hear your racing heart. Your enchantment fades before my powers.

If I'd had a syringe, a potion lab, and a lot more time, I would've done this differently. But I didn't have any of those things. All I had were abnormally sharp canines. Screwing up my nose, I bit Kyton's shoulder as hard as I could.

He yelped, and I heard the dragon coming closer. The monster was too late. I could already feel sweet blood on my tongue and cool magic flowing through me. It was less gross than I'd expected. Actually, it felt pretty good. Magic buzzed in my limbs, lighting every nerve on fire and activating a sixth sense I hadn't known I'd possessed.

I could feel my camouflage illusion as it hovered around us, a thin blanket of darkness fluttering in the wind. It lost more of its power with every passing second. Drawing on Kyton's magic, I reinforced our camouflage until it was an impenetrable dome. Nothing inside the dome went out. Not sound, light, smell, substance--nothing.

It wasn't enough. The dragon had heard where we were before I strengthened the camouflage. Even if the illusion made it so he couldn't feel us, he might stumble over us and claw us to pieces without knowing. I imagined our scents, heartbeats, and footsteps appearing several yards away. In my mind, they raced through the trees.

The dragon's footsteps padded nearby as he sped after our imaginary trail. Pushing my mental reach, I kept the false trail ahead of him. Soon he was too far away, and I had to let the false trail disappear. If we were lucky, the dragon would keep going the way he thought we'd been heading. If he doubled around to pick up the trail again, we were dead meat.

I unclamped my jaws from Kyton's shoulder. He grabbed my arms and threw me off him. Jumping to his feet, he backed away with his hands raised.

"Whatever you are, I don't want any trouble. You've had your fill. Just let me go in peace."

"What are you-"

He sprinted away alongside the stream.

What was his problem? He knew me. Well, he knew of me. Either way, he knew I was a witch, not some type of monster. Shaking my head, I grabbed my trunk and took off after him. We'd gotten so turned around that I wasn't sure where home was. It was either upstream or downstream, but choosing a random direction was bound to get me lost. At least if I followed Kyton, I had a higher chance of finding the house.

He was running faster than any human, but I bet he would've been faster if his wings weren't hurt. Why wasn't he flying? Wait, the dragon had said something about his wings being torn. That would also explain why he wasn't hiding himself with glamour anymore. Without wings, fairies couldn't control their magic.

Kyton obviously still had inherent gifts, though--super speed, heightened strength, and a simple visual glamour that made him look inconspicuous (aka human). Either way, I managed to keep up with him. It must've been because of his magic running through my veins.

Trees flew past on my left. Rushing water on my right barely kept up with me. Even running at top speed, every step was completely sure. Wiggling stones didn't affect my balance. Thorn bushes were only a mild nuisance. Maybe I still had a chance to get home before Leo caught me.

As we ran, Kyton glanced over his shoulder several times, looking more and more afraid. It was kind of hilarious and freaky at the same time. I mean, he was an Otherworlder. If he'd had his wings, he could've obliterated me with a few waves of his hand. Was he really that afraid of me?

We ran so fast that the estate barrier came into view sooner than I'd expected. Kyton zipped right through it. The barrier could obviously tell the difference between monsters and Otherworlders, which I guessed was a good thing.

With an audible sigh, Kyton stopped and bent over to catch his breath. Fairies were weird. He'd sprinted all the way here, acting like I was the monster even after I saved his life, and now he was completely relaxed in my yard. It kind of ticked me off.

I sprinted through the barrier. "What's up with you?"

Yelping, he took off toward the house, shouting my grandparents' names.

"Silvestre! Ambrose!"

Knowing someone's name could give an Otherworlder power over them. But I shouldn't worry. Kyton had been here all summer, working, and he'd never used his powers to hurt anyone. But what if Mom was right, just this once? What if Kyton was acting so weird because he was really working on some terrible plan--working slowly, because he was like a million years old--and now I'd ruined his plan somehow, so he was going to speed them up?

"Get back here," I shouted at the top of my lungs. Magic burned in my legs as I chased him up the hill. I lunged. His magic gave an impressive spring to my step, and I flew right over him. As I hit the ground, he cried out. Dropping my trunk, I tackled him to the ground.

Grandma came out of the stable holding Jack, her jackalope (antlered rabbit) familiar. He didn't seem to be bothered at all by what was going on, and neither did Grandma. Maybe they didn't know Kyton was a fairy. It was possible; Grandma didn't always wear her glamour glass.

"He's a fairy," I shouted.

Kyton took advantage of my momentary distraction to flip me off his back. We wrestled furiously. One moment he was on top, pinning my shoulders. Then I kneed him in the stomach, and the next thing I knew, I was crouching on his back, pressing his face into the grass.

I twisted his arms behind him before he could push himself up. He kicked and bucked, but I kept him down.

He grunted. "Silvestre, a little hand with whatever this thing on my back is?"

"'Thing?' In case you've forgotten, I just saved your life." I leaned in close enough so he would be able to feel my breath on his neck. "You asking for another bite, fairy boy?"

Grandma tsked. "What have we said about biting people, Lilly?"

She couldn't seriously be telling me off. "He's an Otherworlder, can't you see?"

"I can see perfectly well." She pulled a glamour glass on a chain from the neck of her shirt. An enchanted chain like that would let her constantly see through illusions without having to physically hold the monocle to her eye. She could see Kyton's true form.

He could still be plotting something. It was ingenious, actually. If my grandparents knew he was an Otherworlder, he would never have to worry about hiding from glamour glasses. They wouldn't suspect a thing. I was the only one who could stop his plan before it was too late.