Even through the dimensional distance, the Old One lifted a hand, and Damian straightened in his seat, whatever sedative they’d given him overwhelmed by the presence of Ketas. His eyes went wide, and he began to struggle against his bonds, an inhuman growl coming from his throat.

“What… what is this?” Agent Cole said, stepping backward, holding up her weapon, and lifting a phone to her mouth. “This is Cole, get in here! We’ve got a—”

Damian’s bindings ripped in half, and he leaped for her as his body began to morph, wings growing out of his back and his mouth filling with rows of razor-sharp teeth. He lifted Agent Cole with a now-massive hand and flung her against the wall, then roared so loudly the room shook.

THE LAST OF ITS KIND, Ketas told them. MADE FROM MAGIC AND ABLE TO ACCESS ITS EVERY POWER. AND HE IS OURS ONCE AGAIN!

Damian was the last dragon?! With everything happening at once, Fort almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing. But Ketas couldn’t have used Corporeal magic to change him… it was something inside himself. And that would explain why he wouldn’t talk about where he’d come from before the school, and why he could learn magic so quickly.

Damian in dragon form turned toward Sierra with a low growl and opened his mouth to unleash a fiery death sentence. NO! Fort tried to shout, but Ketas had him under his control, and there was nothing he could do but watch—

“MY CHILD!” came a roar from above, and a second dragon dove directly through Damian and Sierra to slam into Ketas. The image of the interrogation room faded instantly, and Fort felt his mind clear as the cavern returned, revealing the father of the dragons raking at his brother’s crystalline armor with his claws.

“Fort!” someone yelled, and he glanced up to find Rachel floating down on a platform of rocks, while a sea of dwarves rappelled the wall behind her, using lightning as ropes, controlling it with just their bare hands. “Go, get out of here while they’re distracted!”

SAVE ME! Ketas shrieked at his siblings, but it was Michael that moved first. He raised a hand toward the dragon, and the Old One roared as the elements making up his body all pulled apart at once, only to smash back together, crashing to the ground.

“CHILD, LOOK TO OUR FORMER BROTHER TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO DISOBEY,” Q’baos said to Michael. She raised her hand, and the dragon went still, then stood up, bowing toward its family.

“Heads up!” Rachel yelled, and Fort looked up just in time to catch a heavy silver staff that she threw. She nodded at the dragon. “Do it!”

Without a second thought, Fort leaped forward and slammed the staff against the dragon’s scales.