Aeron spun around to look at him as the dragon closed his jaws, consuming him completely with one bite.
It was frightening to watch.
Ishmael shot straight up into the air with Aeron in his mouth.
“I hope I’m right,” I whispered.
I watched Ishmael rise higher and higher.
“‘Fat with gain’?” I said to myself. “Who talks like that?”
Ishmael became a winged dot in the distance and then, suddenly, he began to drop down. I could see his wings fold in as he fell, back first, to the ground. I held my hand up to my eyes, watching him plummet toward earth. He began to break up, bits of him trailing behind him like a comet in the moonlight.
Just as I was about to run for cover, Ishmael burst apart, every bit of him shooting off into a thousand directions like a snowy firework.
Ishmael was gone.
Milo was gone.
The curse was broken.
A single stone dropped from the sky and pounded the ground two feet in front of me.
I felt like swearing. Instead, I picked up the rock and looked closely at it. It was heavy, but not as heavy as the ones I had planted. It looked like a normal, round rock. When I touched it, the center glowed slightly, but when I set it down, nothing happened. I picked it back up and scaled the ivy out of the conservatory. The climb out wasn’t nearly as long, seeing as how the conservatory was two-thirds filled with junk.
I dropped outside the wall and ran through the woods, my heart and throat competing over which could hurt worse. I slowed, weaving between trees and undergrowth until I reached the rock pasture. I stared at the millions and millions of rocks as I held the single stone in my hand.
I tightened my fingers around the rock.
“No Pillage has ever had the courage to give up the stones,” Aeron said, stepping out from behind the trees. His breath was labored and his face gray.
“I read that,” I said quietly, not entirely surprised to see him.
“Not even me,” Aeron admitted. “I couldn’t simply get rid of them. So I had to remove myself.”
“How’d you find me?” I asked.
“I saw you climb from the conservatory,” he explained. “I released Thomas and Millie and Wane from the stables. I must say they were pretty surprised to see me. I was coming for Milo when I saw you on the ivy.”
“Milo’s dead,” I said. “He impersonated the wrong person. I guess the dragon recognized the Pillage features.”
Aeron smiled, putting his hand on my shoulder. “Brilliant.”
“Unless I was wrong,” I said, suddenly concerned. “How do you feel about all of that treasure the dragons brought back?”
“That useless junk?” he questioned with a smile.
I sighed with relief.
Aeron looked at the rock in my hand.
“The final dragon left this,” I said, holding it up.
Aeron reached out, but then pulled his hands back, looking guilty.
I stared out over the stone field. It was almost dark.
I didn’t want to be like Edward or Bruno. I had read their mistakes in The Grim Knot, and I wanted no part of it. Sure there was a bit of me that wished I could fly around on a dragon’s back, scooping up gold and silver, but that bit was buried by a desire to be more like my other ancestor Hermitage, or my father, Aeron. The chain had to be broken.
“Turn around,” I whispered, standing with my back to the rock field.
“What?” my father asked.
“Turn around.”
Aeron looked proud. He slowly turned around next to me.
I threw the rock over my shoulder as far as I could. I could hear the rock crack and bounce against other stones as it landed.
Neither one of us glanced back.
The sound of sirens could faintly be heard coming from the direction of the mansion.
“I had one of my friends bring the police,” I informed Aeron. “I wasn’t sure if we’d need the help.”
“I guess you underestimated yourself,” he smiled.
The sirens were growing louder.
“They can help us bust out Kate and Scott,” I suggested. “You know, we’re going to have some major explaining to do to the people of Kingsplot.”
“The truth might be hard to swallow at times, but there is satisfaction in the digestion.”
I stared at Aeron.
“I mean the truth will prevail,” he clarified.
I shook my head, embarrassed for adults everywhere.
Aeron smiled as we walked through the dark forest toward the sound of sirens.
“So is this the end?” I asked.
“I suppose,” Aeron said. “Although it feels a bit like a beginning.”
I completely agreed.
Chapter 24
Having Everything Now
There was so much food. Millie felt awful about me ever believing that she could have been cruel—so awful she was now trying to kill me with biscuits and gravy. My stomach complained as I stood in the kitchen eating a plate full of buttery cakes and warm roast, leaning against the counter. Thomas and Wane were in the kitchen also. Millie kept looking up from what she was doing and winking at me with her one straight eye.
“Is it okay?” she asked for the third time.
“Sublime,” I said, using another of my newly learned words.
“He might need more juice,” Thomas said, reaching for the half-full glass in front of me.
“I’ll get him some,” Wane insisted.
“Seriously,” I smiled. “I’m fine.”
All three smiled back.
Kingsplot and Callowbrow were far from put back together. There were still entire buildings that needed to be rebuilt or repaired and large holes remained everywhere. At Callowbrow, we were holding most of our classes in portables that the school had brought in and set up in the parking lot. Most of the damage in Kingsplot had been in the center of town. And even though eighty-seven people were injured, nobody had been killed. A woman who had been picked up and dropped off in the conservatory was planning to write a book about her experiences.
It had taken a lot of explaining to get the cops to understand what had happened. If they had not seen for themselves the dragons tearing apart the town, they would have never believed us. Videos of the dragons had been showing up on TV and the Internet. In fact, our small, sleepy town had been inundated with thousands and thousands of curious tourists.
A blowtorch had been necessary to get Kate and Scott out of the cage. Kate had seen Milo with a key, but Milo was no longer around. Aeron speculated it was the key Taft had sent with his son, Morgan, to his wife, Esmeralda in Europe. Milo must have followed Morgan and discovered the truth about where the Pillage family had gone.
Aeron also wondered if Milo had even been following me, trying to influence Francine. I figured he had taken the form of one of the two passengers who had ridden the train into town with me. He had been a masterful magician who could work trick candles and impersonations, but he couldn’t boss around the foliage or hatch a dragon egg like a Pillage. For that, he had needed Aeron or me. Luckily for all of us, Milo was finally gone.
Aeron was slowly adjusting to being slightly normal. So much of the insanity that Thomas and Millie and Wane had seen in him in the last few years had actually been Milo’s doing. We figured Milo had taken on our shapes and had multiple conversations with each of us at different points in time, trying to get us to do what he wanted.
Aeron decided to sell off some of our land to cover the costs of helping to repair Kingsplot. With any luck, we would be able to keep the manor. I didn’t really care. Even if my father had to sell the manor, at least we would be together. I missed Francine, but I knew she would always be with me. It was interesting how much sense her journal now made with the new knowledge I had of the family we both came from.
Aeron was trying hard to adjust to life below the seventh floor. He still slept in the dome, but was making his way down more often
. He was also trying to figure out how to be a dad. It was sort of nice that we both had to figure things out together.
Scott came through the kitchen door.
“Look what I found outside,” he said.
Kate walked in behind him. She waved at everyone and stepped up next to me.
“Things are looking nice around here,” she said, commenting on all the cleanup and removal that was happening. “It almost looks like the way it was.”
“Almost,” Millie smiled. “But we didn’t have such pretty visitors before.”
Scott was about to say, “Thank you,” but stopped. “Oh, you mean the girl.”
It was the first joke I had ever seen him attempt. It wasn’t too bad, considering how awful adult senses of humor can be.
“Wyatt gave me this,” Kate said, handing me a note. “He tried to find you at school.”
I read the note out loud, “Tomorrow. After school. In the park.”
“Everything okay?” Kate asked.
“Yeah, we’re playing basketball tomorrow,” I answered. “You in?”
“Of course.” Kate smiled, turning to make sure I would see it.
“You’ll need some snacks,” Millie said anxiously. “I’d better get started. Maybe some cookies, or pretzels.”
Before I could protest, a new shadow darkened the door—Aeron. He looked more nervous than when he had been fighting dragons. He cleared his throat.
“I just thought I’d come down and see what’s going on,” he said awkwardly. It was obvious he had tried to comb his hair that morning. He was also wearing semi-normal clothes and had trimmed his beard.
We all looked at each other, still not completely sure how to handle him just popping in.
“We were about to make cookies,” I said happily. “You’re welcome to help. Millie’s recipe is easy.”
He looked at everyone’s faces, then shook his head in disbelief. “Aeron and Beck Phillips making cookies,” he laughed.
“Beck Pillage,” I corrected.
My dad liked that.
Kate squeezed my hand. Then she opened the cupboard, looking for sugar as I reached for the mixing bowls.
Obert Skye, Pillage
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