Drock went on. “You’ll be safer here than anywhere else, at least for a while. The ghost dragons will take care of you if they remember you’re here—you must remind them if you need anything. But I know you are capable of caring for yourself once you’re up and on your feet. Though,” he continued, holding his face close to Dev, “there’s an injury I can’t heal inside your chest.”

“My cracked ribs,” said Dev.

Drock lifted his head and looked into Dev’s eyes with sympathy. “Perhaps that’s it.” He edged a few steps away. “I recommend you stay here. Don’t return to Grimere.”

Gingerly Dev pushed himself up to sitting and took shallow breaths. “You’re not under her spell.”

“No.”

“Why doesn’t she affect you?”

“She does. Just not as much as she affects the others.” Drock glanced over his shoulder again and sniffed the air, then settled down on his haunches as the two ghost dragons who’d been there earlier wandered by. “I am in control of my mind so far, though I’ve been pretending to heed her call for my own safety. And for Thisbe’s. And… now yours.”

“So, go back to that,” said Dev, his mind clearing a bit. “You saved me… intentionally? Me?”

Drock tilted his head and studied the boy. “Yes, Dev,” he said quietly. “I told you I had my eye on you. To save you if I could. With the others gone, I knew you’d take the brunt of the Revinir’s wrath. And she’s going to continue to be very angry once she finds out she’ll never legitimately rule this land. So I’m going to do what I can to help you.”

Perhaps it was the intense trauma he’d endured, or the rare bit of warmth in Drock’s voice that caused Dev’s chest to tighten and his face to convulse. A tear leaked from his eye, then a small stream of them. He coughed and choked and curled up in a failed attempt to hold everything in and keep the pain from killing him. After a moment he caught the emotion back up inside him and wiped his tears on his ragged, bloodstained sleeve. Then he whispered, “Why would you do that?”

Drock seemed taken aback by the question. He lowered his chin to the ground to align with Dev’s gaze, and the two faced each other on the rolling hill for a long moment. “Because you’re on your own, like me,” he said. “And because you deserve to be saved.”

Surprise Attack

Two by two, the teens and adults and statues who could fit into the jungle tube went inside, pressed a button, and disappeared. Even Sky went along, though she’d be stuck in the secret hallway, unable to go out with the others who were magical enough to see the exit to the balcony. But she could at least get the scoop for Florence and report back, since the Magical Warrior trainer was too large for the tube.