The Wrath of Monsters by Dan Rice

Author:Dan Rice [Rice, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: YAF019020 YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2024-01-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Dad and Dr. Radcliffe exchange an adult look as if what I’m proposing is naïve or plain stupid. Not true. I know how to collapse the slipstream. I go inside, transform into a half-skaag, and discharge electricity—been there, done that. Just ask the expeditionary force Mark Cassidy invited to Earth. Oh, wait! They never made it to Earth, did they, because I collapsed the slipstream on them.

“What are we waiting for? We have to close it. The sooner, the better.” I glance between Dad and Radcliffe. “We can fly, right?” I’m not sure how far I can fly as a skaag without resting, but I know Mother has flown to Hawaii in skaag form.

“Conceptually, I agree with you.” Radcliffe steeples his hands under his chin. “But we must be cautious. Rushing in could prove dangerous, even fatally so.”

I throw up my hands. “Fatal for who exactly?” I start counting off the fingers on my left hand. “First, we have you, Dr. Radcliffe, a dragon and magician of immense power. Second, we have Mauve, another dragon and magician of—”

“Mauve will not be joining us,” Radcliffe says.

“What? Why?”

“Tanis’s condition is fragile since being freed from the phase disrupter. Mauve will not want to leave her mentor’s side, nor will I command that of her.”

That’s an odd attitude for a dragon who was willing to sacrifice me for the greater good, but I keep that point to myself. I don’t want Mauve commanded to do anything she wouldn’t do willingly. “Okay. Second—” I wave my fingers under Radcliffe’s nose. “—you have me. A half-skaag with the proven ability to collapse the slipstream.” I tick off a third finger. “We have the last remaining archmagus. Admittedly, I don’t know the full extent of my father’s powers, but I know he practiced magic right under your nose for decades without you knowing. That counts for something, right?” I lift a fourth finger. “You can call upon the Draconic Task Force. How many magicians is that? Dozens? Hundreds?”

“I admire your enthusiasm. I do. But we need to be careful,” Dad says. “The magic that was used…” He shakes his head. “It’s powerful, like nothing I’ve ever felt before.”

“What will we do if skaags or something worse come through the slipstream?” I place my hands on my hips and glare at both of them. “It took three dragons working together to take down Mark Cassidy. And he was only one skaag.” I point at Dr. Radcliffe. “You’re the one who said the skaags will use humans as food stock.”

Radcliffe nods. “We do need to move quickly. On that, we agree. We will fly to Hawaii by military transport. If the faeries spot a dragon or skaag over the ocean, undoubtedly, they will know we are coming.”

“What about the weird power outage? What if that happens again while we’re in the air? The plane will fall out of the sky.”

“We think the power disruption is a side effect of the magic the faeries used to open the slipstream,” Dad says, “not a weapon.

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