Book 5: Chapter 42 (1/2)

“And that should be the last of them,” Grimmy said and dusted off his front paws.

Emile stared up at Grimmy with a complicated expression on his face. Just how much did the cursed dragon hate phoenixes? Everything inside this place was designed with defeating phoenixes in mind! Frozen phoenix bones that would explode once thawed, the weird praying mantis that hunting creatures that released flames, a room full of delicious berries which were only poisonous to phoenixes, and much more.

“Stop looking,” Susan whispered to her brother. “If you give him a reason, he’ll definitely eat you.”

Emile nodded. He hopped over to Tafel’s shoulder from Vur’s as quietly as he could. “Hey,” he whispered into the demon’s ear, “why are we still here? Shouldn’t you take us home? What if something happens to us?”

“Nothing will happen if you keep your mouth shut,” Tafel said and patted Emile’s head. She was about to open a portal to retrieve a snack for the bird, but she remembered her coordinates were screwed up. “Grimmy, is there a way to get around your anti-portal magic?”

Grimmy glanced at Tafel, causing the phoenix on her shoulder to dive into her robes. “If I told you, you’d know how to create portals here, and then I’d have to create another method of blocking portals.” He shrugged. “You can figure it out yourself, but when you do, I’m going to change it.”

Tafel sighed. It wasn’t worth it. There weren’t many regions which messed with her portal coordinates. Even if she was close with Vur, she didn’t think it was worth getting on Grimmy’s bad side just to learn something like that. She could delve into it on her own time and test in places not related to the cursed dragon. “So, you said this place is where your parents are sleeping?”

“Yup.” Grimmy gestured towards the space in front of him. There was a gaping hole in the wall ahead; it was too dark to see anything beyond it, but there was a clear river of drool flowing out of it. “They’re right ahead.”

“Why are we going?” Emile asked, only his beak and peaking out of Tafel’s collar. “We’re not related to Grimmy’s parents at all. And when you really think about it, Vur isn’t that related to Grimmy either, right? There’s nothing to stop the evilest dragon in the world’s hopefully not evil parents from eating us.”

Tafel frowned. Emile did bring up a good point. She leaned towards Vur. “Is it okay for us to be here?”

“Why not?” Vur asked and tilted his head. “We’re just going to see my granduncle and grandaunt.”

“No, that’s not right,” Tafel said. “A granduncle is the brother of your grandpa. Grimmy’s isn’t Nova’s or Sharda’s brother.” Her head tilted, and her brow furrowed. “Unless he’s the brother of one of your dad’s parents. Is he?”

Vur shrugged. “Does it matter? Family is family.” He grabbed Tafel’s arm and pulled her along. “They’re going. C’mon.”

Tafel frowned but let herself be dragged along by Vur. “Alright,” she said. “We might be vaguely related to Grimmy’s parents”—she pointed at the Recordkeeper—”but why is she coming too?”

Vur blinked and turned his head towards the winged woman. “Why are you following us?”

The Recordkeeper stopped walking. “Is that something you should say to someone you kidnapped and forced to follow you?” she asked. She cleared her throat. “But before you tell me to leave, I’d just like to remind you that I have no way to return home, and it’d be very rude of you to leave me stranded in the middle of nowhere.”

“Can’t you fly?” Tafel asked.

“Yes, let me just retrieve my wing from that praying mantis’ stomach and reattach it to myself,” the Recordkeeper said.