“The Last Dragon and all those folks dying wasn’t the important part. They were just targets of opportunity when you figured out how tough the Nachtmar was. You wanted to expose Hunters to it. You knew it would think we were tasty. But even if you got your permission to do your project, you’d still have to deal with Franks, and he’d just kill you, because he just don’t care. Even if you aren’t scared of him, your collaborators are. This whole thing was to push Franks over the edge.”

That caused him to pause. “Interesting. Go on.”

“Sure, the deaths would help your agenda, especially since it was a bunch of professional Hunters. That ought to scare ’em. But you knew you’d get that permission anyway eventually. But then Franks would stop you. You need him gone, but he’s too important to just pop. You set this up. You made it impossible for him to do his job without breaking the rules…You knew what he’d do. Franks can’t not do his job. But now that he’s in trouble, you’ve got an excuse to get rid of him.”

Stricken was nodding along. “That dragon was way more tuned in than I expected.”

“Naw.” I waved my good hand dismissively. “I figured that out myself.”

“Remarkable,” Stricken agreed. He put the water cup on the table next to me. “You MHI types are just full of surprises. What else do you know?”

“You plan on killing me.”

“Well, that goes without saying. Anything else?”

“You’re not gonna kill me.”

This was amusing him. “Want to bet?”

“You can’t kill me because I’m the only one that can stop the real bad guy…He’s coming.” I sang that last part for some odd reason. It made sense at the time. “You know he’s real. You’ve seen his signs all over the place…Wanna know a secret?” I lifted my head and tried to lean in conspiratorially. I couldn’t even whisper right. “I’m the Chosen One.”

Stricken stepped away from the hospital bed, stroking his pointy chin thoughtfully. “I see…” like that messed with his schemes.

“Yep. I’m the Champion of everything. You kill me, you’re on your own. I don’t know what your fancy secret Nemesis thingy is, but it won’t work. You’re gonna need us. You’re gonna need me. Like, my family’s been prepping for this for like forever. Prophecies and stuff, generations of this kind of thing, people coming back from the dead. The works.” My words were really slurred. The stuff in the IV was potent. “He’s scared of me.”

Stricken didn’t seem convinced. “You really believe that, don’t you?”

“Yup. It’s my destiny.”