‘Are we ready?’ Daniel asked. Magog nodded and Gog took her hand.

We all headed out to Anyan’s massive backyard, which was now dwarfed by the presence of a massive military helicopter. Gog, Magog, and Daniel, all bent low to the ground, raced over to the open doors of the helicopter and climbed inside.

It had all happened so fast, I hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to myself, or my labrys, before they were both high in the air and flying away.

Chapter Fourteen

I’d sort of hoped I’d be able to lean and loaf and invite my ease for the next twenty-four hours, but no such luck. While Magog traversed the globe, we kept a tight shield on Anyan’s cabin. I also kept a lid on the labrys’s power. For although it was so many miles away, I still had control, and we didn’t want the Red or the White to know our exact whereabouts until we were ready to engage. That said, I knew at least one of them was close – it felt like a prickle at the back of my neck. I prayed it was the White, and that the Red had gone after the bigger (seeming) fish.

My dad, Grizzie, and Tracy had gone out with Amy and Daoud to run errands. We’d given them lots of errands, so that we could make battle plans without them around. They were actually turning out to be really helpful, but I knew they also worried. They’d had enough stress, especially with Tracy pregnant.

Nell and Trill were patrolling Nell’s borders, to ensure the White didn’t sneak up on us or send in any minions.

That left Ryu, Iris, Caleb, and me to figure out what to do with the White once we had him. So we sat down once again with Caleb’s journal.

‘You have to be kidding me,’ I said as I started to read the section he’d highlighted.

Caleb shook his head, his expression grim. I read it again, growing more horrified with every line. Finally, I resorted to reading it out loud, thinking maybe it wouldn’t sound so bad. Trying to keep my voice measured, I read:

‘This dragon seize and slay with skillful art

Within the sea, and wield with speed thy knife

With double edges hot and moist, and then,

His carcass having cleft in twain, lift out

The gall and bear away its blackened form

All heavy with the weight of earthy bile.’

I tried to keep control of my temper as I looked up at Caleb. ‘What the hell is this? Are you kidding me?’

The satyr only shrugged. ‘It’s what it says.’

‘We can’t cleave Anyan in two! That’s absurd.’

‘But he’s not “just” Anyan anymore, Jane. He’s also the White. So it makes sense that he would need to be divided…’

‘But not physically, Caleb. I can’t hack Anyan into pieces, like the Sunday roast.’ My voice was more than a little hysterical.

‘It’s not all that bad,’ he said. ‘Keep reading.’

So I did:

‘Great clouds of steaming mist ascend therefrom

And these become on rising dense enough

To bear away the dragon from the sea

And lift him upward to a station warm,

The moisture of the air his lightened shape

And form sustaining; be most careful then

All burning of his substance to avoid

And change its nature to a stream divine.’

Caleb visibly flinched when I glared at him again. ‘How is this better? It still says we have to chop him in half.’

‘Well, we don’t have to burn anything this time, like we did the bones,’ Iris said, trying to be helpful. I shot her a look that made her eyes widen. I turned back to the poem.

‘With quenching draughts; then pour the mercury

Into a gaping urn and when its stream

Of sacred fluid stops to flow, then wash

Away with care the blackened dross of earth.’

I groaned. ‘Great, so we need mercury, too? Isn’t mercury poison?’

Caleb shook his head. ‘It’s a metaphor. Our good man, C.A. Browne, writes of these passages, “The union of copper and silver is referred to by Theophrastus as taking place within the sea, the latter being a common term for the liquid metal mercury.”’

‘Oh. So more water, then,’ I said, only slightly mollified. I was nowhere near ‘over’ the idea we’d have to hack up Anyan.

Although now it was starting to make sense why the champion’s weapon was a labrys, of all things…

I refused to entertain such thoughts, at least not yet, and instead kept reading:

‘Thus having brightened what the darkness hid

Within the dragon’s entrails thou wilt bring

A mystery unspeakable to light;

For it will shine exceeding bright and clear,

And, being tinged a perfect white throughout,

Will be revealed with wondrous brilliancy,

Its blackness having all been changed to white;

For when the cloud-sent water flows thereon

It cleanses every dark and earthy stain.’

I stopped reading and looked up at Caleb for help.

‘That sounds positive?’ Iris said. ‘Except for the entrails. But the rest sounds good. We want cleansing, right?’

Ryu had been suspiciously quiet throughout this whole exchange, but at Iris’s words, he cracked a smile. I didn’t think it was very amusing, especially the use of the word ‘entrails’.

Seeing the stormy look on my face, Ryu suppressed his amusement before speaking. ‘I think this is where the stone is going to come in. There’s something revealed here that is white, and cleansed of the stain. I think that’s what the stone is going to do…’

‘Clean the stain?’ I asked, trying to keep my voice from sounding snarky. It wasn’t Caleb’s fault that ancient prophecies sucked in terms of clarity but excelled in being exceptionally scary.

‘Read the last bit,’ Caleb said, his sonorous voice almost soothing but not, considering the circumstances. But I did as he said.

‘Thus he doth easily release himself

By drinking nectar, though completely dead;

He poureth out to mortals all his wealth

And by his help the Earth-born are sustained

Abundantly in life, when they have found

The wondrous mystery, which, being fixed

Will turn to silver, dazzling bright in kind,

A metal having naught of earthy taint,

So brilliant, clear and wonderfully white.’

We all sat, contemplating the last lines, before I spoke. My voice was crackling with emotion when I did – strained and high-pitched one minute, husky and low the next. I didn’t know whether to laugh, scream, or cry at this point.

‘Caleb, no offense, but this makes no sense. This has to be wrong, or something. It tells us nothing.’

Finally, Ryu spoke. Looking at me with compassion in his eyes, but a hard expression on his face, he laid it all out.

‘No, Jane. It’s quite clear. We’ve got to capture the White, surround him with water to weaken him, and then you need to cut him in half. Then we have to sluice him with more water, and hope for the best. That’s what the poem says, in quite clear English. Well, ancient Greek, translated into English.’

Ryu stopped talking, and I continued to stare at him, looking like a fish gasping for air.

‘You’re crazy,’ I insisted, not wanting to acknowledge he was right. ‘I can’t cut him in half.’

‘You’re going to have to. To kill the White, you’re going to have to cut the dragon in half.’

‘But what about Anyan? I can’t…’ My voice trailed off. I couldn’t kill Anyan. I couldn’t.

‘Will you give us a minute?’ Ryu asked. The others obeyed, Iris shooting a concerned glance at me as she filed out of the cabin with Caleb. When we were alone, Ryu leaned over the table, placing his hands palms down to rest his weight on them.

‘Jane, you have to do this,’ he said.

‘We don’t even know if the poem is real!’ I shouted, belatedly turning down the volume of my voice. ‘We don’t even know if we can trust it.’

‘No, we don’t. But you saw that monk glow, and Grizzie. You heard the universe speak through them. We have nothing else to go on. And time is running out.’

‘What do you mean, “time is running out”?’ I babbled. ‘That’s ridiculous. How is time running out? We have plenty of—’

‘No, Jane. Pretty soon the Red and the White are going to start coming after people. Our people. The only reason they haven’t already is probably because the White’s not at full strength and we’ve been a worry to them with our activities. But that won’t be an issue for long,’ Ryu said grimly.

‘Anyan will keep the White busy. While we find another—’

‘Jane,’ Ryu interrupted. ‘You said yourself that Anyan’s fading.’

‘But he’s not faded,’ I said, almost whimpering.

‘Do you think he wants to live like this? And what happens when the White does take control? When they start killing innocents, with Anyan trapped inside that thing?’

I looked down at my own hands, which clenched into fists in my lap.

‘Think it through, Jane. I know you love Anyan. He knows you love him. The gods know none of us wants to lose him. Even I don’t want to lose him. But this isn’t just about us anymore.’