Page 44 of Midlife Demigod Unexpected

“Have faith, Helen,” my mom said.

From where I was sitting, faith was a hard thing to come by.

“Move to the side and give them room to land,” my mom said.

“They can have the whole mountain to land on if you can show me how to get out of here quickly,” I retorted.

“I need you here,” Mom insisted. “You need to do the negotiations. You’re a member of the blood coven. They’ll only take your concern for it.”

“You’re a member of Cougar Creek Coven,” I said.

“Yes, but this the blood bond through the ages matters. That’s why Styx has a spell on you and not on me,” my mother explained.

I turned back toward the dragons hurtling toward us in the air. As we moved to the side, I realized we were standing in front of a large cave that was clearly getting their attention.

As they came in for landing, the larger of the two turned its head toward me and shrieked with a high-pitched cry that made me cover my ears and lower my head. I squeezed my eyes shut. They were terrifying.

“Talk to him.” My mother elbowed me in the side.

“How do you even know it’s a him?” I asked.

“Because the female of the species is gray,” she said. “Didn’t you study anything in school?”

“I guess dragons were a little off-topic,” I said.

Shaking her head, my mother gave me a slight push out into the clearing.

I shot her an indignant look. “Haven’t I been sacrificed enough for the day?” I hissed.

She motioned me to turn around to the dragon, whose breath I could feel on the back of my neck.

“Mr. Dragon?” I asked, stepping from the shadows.

The beast opened his mouth, his snout rising indignantly in the air, and let out a loud roar that blew my hair back and left spittle hanging on my elbows and off my shoulders.

“Charming,” I muttered.

“Go on,” my mother encouraged me.

Easy for her to say from a safe distance. The minute this thing decided to eat me, I was a goner.

“Do you speak English?” I asked, chewing my lip and realizing I sounded like a complete idiot, but I didn’t know how else to get the conversation started. What was I supposed to say? Hey, can I get a feather there, man?

“Yes,” the dragon said. “I speak English. It’s a rudimentary language, but it’ll suffice if it’s how you speak.”

“Well, I don’t speak dragon,” I said. “At least I don’t think I do. You know, sometimes they wipe your memories and then…”

“Focus,” my mother reminded me.

I took a deep breath and looked up to the heavens. And then I focused my gaze strictly on the dragon in front of me. “We need a feather to save the lives of four of my friends.”

To my surprise, the dragon started laughing, a deep laugh that echoed up and down the mountain side. “I don’t give a damn about your friends,” he said. “I give a damn about what I give a damn about and your friends are not on that list.”

“How about the future of New Attica?” I asked. “Right now, Lady Styx is looking to make a blood sacrifice that will allow the River Styx to run through the Cougar Creek Coven portal. Zombies will disperse into the wider realms, all over the planet. In fact, in all they encounter.”

“I care nothing if the zombies destroy the humans,” the dragon said.

“They won’t destroy only the humans,” I said. “They will destroy everything, every living thing. There will be zombie animals, zombie humans, zombie supernaturals. Everything will be infected by the zombies. They only have one goal; the destruction of everything they touch.”

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