The Revinir’s roar brought Drock to the shore of Artimé looking for support. He came on land as Thisbe was sitting up. Luckily her episode had scared off the dissenters for now.

“She knows we’re out here,” said Drock, more agitated than Thisbe had ever seen him since they’d been back. “She’s after you, Thisbe. And me. I knew this would happen.” Drock swung his head around, his eyes wild.

“What makes you say that?” asked Aaron with alarm. He knew dragons had special senses, and he wasn’t about to discount Drock’s words and actions as hysterics.

“I can feel it,” said Drock, beginning to pace the shore. His tail curled and unfurled. “I told you before—it’s the dragon curse. It’s like a great foreboding weight in my bones. It’s our flaw. Our weakness. She found it, and we can’t resist.”

Thisbe rubbed her aching head. “What are you talking about?” she asked weakly. “You’re not making sense.”

“She’s exploiting it. It’s finally coming together,” said Drock. He couldn’t stop his neck from fidgeting or his head from bobbing and constantly turning to look to the west. “We dragons are not all-powerful. Not like anyone thought.”

“I’m not sure I follow you, Drock,” said Aaron. “We know that you were captured—that you could be kept against your will. So we already knew you weren’t all-powerful.”

“But at least we had hold of our minds back then!” Drock roared, causing the mansion’s new windows to rattle. “This is different! The Revinir has discovered the dragon curse! She’s rendered us useless except to do her bidding. Where she failed before, allowing my siblings and me to escape, she has now rectified—she stole our minds, Aaron.

“Worst of all,” Drock went on, “she knows she doesn’t have us all. She’s going to keep at it until you and I go to her, Thisbe—she won’t stop until we succumb to her call. I believe we’re the only ones left. The only . . . ones.” He cringed and squeezed his eyes shut, as if the pounding in his ears was growing worse. His words began to slur. “If we don’t go there, she’ll come after us. Yes, I’m certain she will.”

Thisbe and Aaron exchanged an alarmed glance. This wasn’t news to Thisbe, but it seemed like nobody in Artimé had taken it seriously whenever she’d tried to explain it to them. “But why does she want us so badly when she has all the other dragons?” Thisbe asked.

Drock opened his eyes and gave her a pained look. “Because we can help her . . . but we can also still beat her. You, Thisbe. She knows you can beat her.”