“And you, Solus? Will you be compelled to give me up?”

“I don’t know yet, Mackenzie. We could use your blood.”

I must have looked faintly sickened by that because he hastily backtracked.

“Not your actual blood. We’re not vampires.” His lip curled in distaste. “I just meant that your powers would come in handy. Come with me to Tir-na-Nog. We’ll talk to the Queen. I can guarantee your safety.”

“I need to sort out Mrs Alcoon, Solus. I can’t just leave her in stasis.”

“She’s safe. We’ll work out something.”

“No. I need to talk to the Ministry to get them to lift the spell. It’s the only thing that will definitely work. You’re right. I’ve been hiding and I need to face the music. I have to still stay away from Corrigan and the shifters but if I can get to the mages before they kill me then I can save Mrs Alcoon.”

I eyeballed Solus. I’d known him for all of five minutes and had absolutely no reason to trust him. The only thing he’d promised me was that he’d keep Mrs Alcoon safe. Beyond that, what he decided to do was anyone’s guess. But he’d been right. I’d been hiding myself away instead of confronting the issue. I needed to sort this out, for Mrs Alcoon’s sake if nothing else.

“Will you help me get out of here, Solus, and get to the Ministry?”

He was silent. I prodded him. “Solus? Please?”

“You have to understand, my little dragonlette, that I can’t get you right to the Ministry. They are very…security conscious and they don’t like the Fae. There’s a considerable amount of iron and magic surrounding their headquarters that prevent someone of my kin getting close.”

“But..?” I forced the issue.

“But okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

“What about your High Queen?”

“I don’t know yet, I’ve not made up my mind.”

‘Well at least you’re being refreshingly honest, Solus.”

“Rather that than be eaten alive by an angry red-headed dragon.”

I scowled at him in annoyance and he grinned back. “Then let’s do this.”

Chapter Fifteen

“I don’t know much about the interior of the Ministry’ headquarters, you understand, just its whereabouts in London,” Solus stated solemnly.

“Yes, yes,” I dismissed him with a wave. My mojo was returning and having the absence of a workable floor plan was not going to get in my way.

“I can transport you from here to about half a mile away. That way we’ll definitely avoid triggering any of their sensors. The combined magical forces of the Ministry in protecting their own can be…formidable.”

“Ooooh, is the great Solus scared of a few pesky human wizards?”

“Shut it, human.”

“I’m not human, I’m a dragon.” I pulled back my shoulders and tried to look impressively wyrm and scary like.

Solus stared at me in baffled puzzlement. “What ARE you doing?”

I slumped ever so slightly. “Nothing. I’m just mentally preparing myself for battle.”

“Well, you’ve changed your tune, my little Konglong.”

“Konglong?”

“It means terrible dragon in Chinese. You know, they revere the dragon in Chinese culture and…”

“My name is Mackenzie,” I said primly. “You may call me Mack. Nothing else.”

“Whatever you say, gorgeous.”

I thumped him on the shoulder. “I’m going to need some weapons. All I have are my needles and silver ain’t going to do much against a mage.”

Solus stared at me. “You can shoot fire from your fingertips and you want some weapons?”

I shrugged. “I would feel more comfortable with some steel to work with. Can we make a pitstop somewhere along the way?”

He harrumphed. “Fine. I might know a guy.”

“Great.” I looked around the gloom. “There’s absolutely nothing on this plane at all, is there? We should leave.”

“I would beg to differ, Mack. This is a halfway house between your world and one of the underworlds. The portal was created to provide a link for the dying between what you call Earth and, well, hell.”

I was alarmed. “Hell?”

“One of many,” Solus stated airily. “Of course it’s been out of action for centuries. I don’t think anyone ever comes this way anymore. I was surprised in fact that you found your way here, although I have to admire your ingenuity.”

“Hell?”

“Yes,” he said impatiently. “Where you go when you die.”

“If I kept walking down that way I’d be in hell?”

“Really, Mackenzie. For someone who has lived her life amongst denizens of the Otherworld, your education is sorely lacking.”

“We lived quiet lives in Cornwall,” I protested feebly. “We didn’t go thinking about…hell. Where’s heaven?”

“It’s not THE hell. It’s just A hell. There are many. And really heaven or hell are just words. You end up in the same place.”

“But…”

“Do you want to leave this place or not?”

“Okay, okay, I want to leave.” A shudder ran through me. “Now would be good in fact.”

“Then let’s do it.”

Solus gripped my shoulder and the air around us started to shimmer. The nausea began rising in my stomach again until I was biting back the urge to vomit. I screwed my eyes shut tight and held my breath.

A few moments later, Solus’ hand squeezed my shoulder painfully and then he removed it. “Okay, we’re here now.”

I opened one eye and then the other. It was daytime and, after the darkness of the limbo plane, it was painfully bright.

“Do you know, I think I must be getting better at this. I don’t think I’m going to be sick this time,” I said confidently, just before my stomach rocked greasily and I started retching.

“Yes, you’re a real dimension tripper,” Solus stated without a trace of humour.

I stood up, wiping the back of my mouth with my sleeve. “Oh God. I’m going to need food and a toothbrush before we do anything.”

“And here was me thinking that you were a big bad scary dragon who needed nothing more than a sword to batter down the Ministry of Mages.”

“Well, I could bowl them over with my breath, I suppose, but I’d rather do it on a full stomach.” I eyed him seriously.

“Fine,” he said, and starting pulling me across the road. Oblivious to the rules of good road safety, Solus ignored the car careering round the corner and slamming on its brakes to avoid hitting us. The owner honked its horn loudly and painfully. I gestured an apology to the driver, who gestured something far ruder back.

“How terribly ill-mannered,” I murmured.

“What?” snapped Solus.

I didn’t bother to give him an answer. Spotting a small café on the corner of the street, I began heading in that direction. Solus looked at me, annoyed. I gestured towards the café.

“Food.”

“Please.” Solus rolled his eyes. “I am not eating there.”

“Why not?” I protested. A huge fry up would be just the thing to settle my stomach. I bet with myself that they did vast urns of coffee as well. If I was going to take on the entire Ministry of Mages, there was no way I was going to do it uncaffeinated.

“Alcazon is round the corner. We shall eat there.”

“Alcazon?”

“Yes, it’s very cultured. You’ll like it.”

I’d heard of Alcazon. The girls back at the Cornish pack had often mentioned it in conversation. It was Otherworld friendly – and particularly over-priced and frequented by the elite at the same time.

“Solus, don’t you think we should be flying under the radar rather than going somewhere where people go to be seen?”

“I like the pickled quails’ eggs with celery salt,” he said simply.

“What? That’s not food! I want bacon and eggs and beans and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.”

He stopped for a moment and looked at me. “Do you have any money?”

“Ummm…,” I paused. I was pretty sure I’d given everything I had away to Yellow Anorak for the use of his phone.

“Well then. I’m paying, so I get to choose.”

“Solus, I’m wearing clothes that reek of bonfires. I’ve not showered for two days. I’ve not cleaned my teeth for two days. I’m carrying a backpack with all of my worldly possessions in it and look as if I’ve slept on the streets for a week. I don’t think Alcazon is the kind of place that will like having me as a patron.”

“You’re with me, you’ll be fine.”

I took that moment to glance him over. He was wearing some kind of tailored suit with a perfectly crisp white starched shirt. How did he manage that when we’d just been planted for hours in a halfway house to hell? I supposed I should be thankful that his shirt wasn’t gigolo transparent this time. But really, whilst my appearance was the least of my worries, being clean would surely be some kind of vague prerequisite to gaining admittance to one of the swankiest restaurants in town.

“My face has been plastered all over the Pack website for months. If someone spots me…”

“Mackenzie, people at Alcazon don’t care about that. They care about their own celebrity too much to be paying attention to a grubby little girl, whereas I care too much about what I put into my mouth to want to eat anywhere else that’s within a fifty mile radius.”

“Solus…”

“Shut up.”

I bristled, but kept my mouth closed. I’d save my battles for when it was really important. It would be all Solus’ fault though if some Pack hero spotted me and tried to take me down. He’d be sorry if I ended up as some minced up dragon meat on the floor of the swanky restaurant, so he would. I stuck my tongue out at him behind his back. He turned and glared at me and held out his arm. I looked down at it and then back at him.