Caden's Comet Page 9

  “Plain man?” My heart pounded. “Are you saying I’m not even a Sun Dragon anymore?”

  “Of course you’re not. Changing into a dragon is the greatest power of all. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  Before I could say anything, Merlin clapped.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I HAD to admit, Caden’s ship looked exactly like the one from the picture. As tall as a two-story house and just as wide, the hulking mass of glass and metal towered over the ground layer of discarded boxes and old glass bottles. Already inside, Caden, Blair, and Bernard waved at us from the upper deck.

  “Remember our secret,” Merlin whispered. Then he pressed the panel on the side of the door and went up into the ship.

  Even though I rarely used my powers, losing them made me feel naked and exposed. If we were attacked before leaving Earth, I would have been powerless to do anything but throw trash and yell until one of my assailants ended me with a spell. At least I was still a prince—no one could take that away from me. Well, no one except Shull, who planned to destroy my whole kingdom in one fell swoop.

  Eventually I followed Merlin into the ship and up through the winding path of glass hallways. In the control room, Bernard and Caden sat at the steering and radar controls, while Blair took the seat next to the captain’s seat. Merlin had his own chair farther back, out of the way of the hustle and bustle, where he could inject his powers into the spaceship through a strange glass orb that collected his magic.

  “No one wanted to take charge of this vessel?” I teased when I spotted the empty captain’s seat.

  “No one else could,” Caden said. “The seat is yours.”

  I could have cried from gratitude. Instead I solemnly walked up the five steps leading to my new post, where I sunk into the seat pieced together from old car interiors. A thrill ran up my back when it connected with the leather, and I began feeling more like my old self.

  “Well done,” Merlin said. “We might as well get this hunk of junk moving, since I can’t just magic the ship into Jupiter’s atmosphere. Grian, would you like to do the honors?”

  “Very well. Merlin, power up the ship.”

  Merlin put his hands on the orb and closed his eyes. Electric blue energy flooded the ball, then slid into the wires that moved the energy from his seat to the rest of the ship.

  “Caden, take us up.”

  Caden turned a dial to increase power, then pressed a lever that lifted the ship a few feet in the air.

  “Good. Now Merlin, increase energy, and Caden, full speed ahead.”

  Caden zoomed us over the dump and out into Earth’s atmosphere. The land below us grew distant and gray, then receded farther into points on a distant planet. The space around us, black and empty, took over our view.

  “Well done. Blair, chart a course for Jupiter. Caden, follow me—I have a few questions about the engine room that I think you can answer.”

  Everyone followed my orders without argument, though Merlin raised his eyebrows as Caden and I entered the elevator that led down to the engine room in the basement. When we exited on that floor, Caden launched into a technical description about the way the power system worked, most of which I still did not understand.

  “Caden, wait. I didn’t actually bring you down here to ask about the engine.”

  Caden stopped short in the middle of an explanation about Earth’s gravity. “You didn’t?”

  “No. I brought you down here to apologize.”

  “What for?”

  “Everything, really, starting from the moment I met you until the moment I walked onto this wonderful ship you built. I’ve been a royal idiot, and I’m sorry.”

  He seemed confused, but he perched on the engine room railing, which I took to mean he was ready to listen to what I had to say. Apologizing was not my strong point—in fact, until I arrived on Earth and accidentally hurt Blair, I had never apologized before. Princes didn’t apologize, and because their subjects both loved and feared them, they usually weren’t informed they had done something wrong in the first place. Perhaps if Sara Lee had been there during my young adult years, she would have reined me in like a wild horse tamed by its master, but she hadn’t been there—and in a way, neither had Nimue.

  “I don’t really have an excuse for the way I acted. Yeah, Sara Lee disappeared when I was young, but there was never a question in my mind that Nimue loved Sara Lee as deeply and truly as two people can love each other. Their relationship was complicated and full of obstacles, but those barriers just made my mothers love each other more. Yet when I met you, my soulmate, I expected our destined love to simply exist without effort or struggle. You were a present delivered to me by fate because of my position in the world, and I unwrapped you and put you in my closet of royal treasures. But that’s not how love works, and I should have known better.”

  I took Caden’s hand and held it between mine.

  “Will you forgive me?”

  “Of course.” Caden put his other hand on top of mine. “To be honest, I did the same thing. I figured the universe had done all of the heavy lifting, and we didn’t need to make sure the whole soulmate thing was a done deal. Maybe we can just start over? Act like we never found out we were meant to save the world together and just get to know each other like two plain old humans would?”

  “I would like that very much.” I removed my hands from his and then stretched out just the right one. “Hi, my name is Grian.”

  “Caden.” He shook my hand and then held it again. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Tell me about yourself, Caden.”

  “Well… what’s to tell? I guess I’m an ex-con, if you count a prison on Jupiter run by the wickedest Earth Dragon that ever lived, but don’t let the bad-boy past fool you. Before my capture, I was a math geek. I didn’t know I had powers for a long time, but I did know that I wanted to understand how everything worked, from a grandfather clock to a microchip. Sometimes in my cell, I would just stare up at the cracked ceiling and go over the physics formulas in my head. You know, p=m/V, or I=mr² for a hollow cylinder….”

  Draman had no required school curriculum, so I had avoided both math and science whenever possible. Most kids learned their trades from their parents, such as baking or building a leak-proof roof. I’d felt no need to understand how the world worked, especially when someone was always there to explain it to me.

  “Grian? Am I boring you?” Caden frowned at me.

  Suddenly, something jostled the ship. Caden fell over the side of the railing, but luckily, I had his hand in mine and could pull him up. For a moment I struggled with the weight, my Sun Dragon strength gone and all my powers wiped away by Merlin’s associates, and I feared I might lose him. Finally, I hoisted him over the top bar, and he toppled onto the floor.

  “What was that?” Caden panted as I helped him up.

  “No clue. It felt like another ship locking onto ours, but we’re too far away from Jupiter’s atmosphere for Shull to know we’re here.”

  We ran to the deck, where Blair and Bernard were doing all they could to release the other ship’s hold. From the part of the assailant’s ship we could see, the decoration was nothing like Shull’s ships; pieced together from space garbage, this machine looked more like a conglomerate rock than a deadly weapon. Rust covered its side, as well as dents most likely from craters.

  “How are they holding us here?” I asked as I took my seat. “Magnet? Laser? Hook?”

  “That’s the weirdest part,” Bernard said as he rapidly pounded keys. “They’re using a fishing net.”

  As soon as I heard that, I knew instantly who the fisherman on the other side was. Or rather, who they were related to.

  “Should we fire?” Blair asked.

  “No. Absolutely not.”

  “But Grian—”

  “Open communications and prepare to send me across.”

  “You must be joking.” Caden stopped pressing buttons, but he didn’t look happy about it. “Have you even st
opped to consider the consequences of your actions?”

  “No, but I don’t have to. Anyone who has the bravery to attack a Shull ship lookalike is a friend of ours. And besides, I have a feeling the person sitting in the captain’s seat is a relative of someone very important to me. Merlin, can you magic me over there?”

  For once, even impulsive Merlin hesitated.

  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Grian? Anyone could be on that ship, including Shull’s associates.”

  “They could be. But they’re not. Trust me, Merlin. I know what I’m doing.”

  With his trademark clap, he sent me into the belly of the other ship. Or rather, he tried to.

  “That’s strange,” he mumbled. “My spell can’t penetrate the ship’s hull. Let me try something a bit more ancient.”

  He whispered a few words I couldn’t hear and then clapped again. This time, it worked.

  The room I appeared in was empty of human life but filled with half-completed mechanical experiments. Tools lined the floor, and on my first step, a wrench sent me rolling into a robotic dog in the early stages of invention. The place smelled like burned rubber and singed wire, and that scent plus the heat pressing against my cheeks led me to believe someone had recently been experimenting right where I stood.

  Slowly I ascended the stairs, which were draped in more wires and tools and looked like a metallic spiderweb, and found the deck. Four backs were turned to me, but even from behind, their trademark reddish-yellow hair and matching bandanas indicated that I had guessed right.

  “Excuse me, but is this the ship formerly belonging to Bando and Dawn?”

  No one moved.

  “Hello? Can anyone hear me?”

  I took a step closer and met the mouths of four weapons that had been guns once upon a time. Now they were composites of lasers, binoculars, and compasses as well as killing machines.

  “State your name, Shull scum,” the short older man closest to me growled. His mechanic’s uniform said his name was Sprout, which fit him because he was balding on the top with two tufts of hair on each side of his head.

  “Who cares about his name?” a much larger man named Diesel argued as he pushed Sprout aside with his hulking shoulders. “We’re going to kill him anyway, aren’t we?”

  “Course we are.” This came from a woman on my right who was apparently nicknamed Short Fuse. She had the same tufts of hair as Sprout, only much more of it. “Can I take the first stab this time?”

  “No one touches him until I say so.”

  Like trained soldiers, all three attackers took a step back. Between them came a young woman with a buzzed head and muscles like Diesel but on a much smaller frame. She moved like a wild cat, lazily stepping from foot to foot yet always ready to pounce. Her nametag said Captain, which answered my question as to who was in charge on this spaceship.

  Two inches from my face, Captain stopped and whispered in a voice that put emphasis on every word: “How did you get on my ship?”

  “Would you believe me if I said magic?”

  “Of course we’d believe you,” interrupted Short Fuse. “We’re not idiots just because we’re humans.” Captain gave her a furious look, so she stepped back another foot.

  “I’m not a member of Shull’s gang, by the way. In fact, we’re on our way to stop him.”

  “Stop him?” Captain looked me up and down. “You’re just a boy. How exactly do you plan on stopping the worst enemy the wizarding and dragon world has had since King Roland?”

  “I’m not just a boy. I’m the Prince of Draman, and the only Sun Dragon aside from Allanah’s to be born in many years.”

  Even Captain couldn’t hide her surprise.

  “Did you say Draman? As in the birthplace of—”

  “Nimue and Sara Lee? Yes, one and the same, but how do you know about that? I recognized your ship from Sara Lee’s and Skelly’s rescue story, but I thought when they saved the world it changed the course of history so no one besides Merlin and the wizards he told could remember what happened?”

  Captain scoffed. “Look around you. This place may look like a dump, but Bando and Dawn were scientific pioneers way ahead of their time. That antimagic technology Shull has? Most of it isn’t built by spells, it’s built by mechanics—mechanics our grandparents invented. I’m not sure what more advanced spell Merlin used to get you in here, but usually this ship is magic-proof, and it’s been that way since before Shull was even born. When our grandparents climbed into their spaceship during the robot attack, Merlin’s changes in time didn’t affect them. Bando and Dawn passed down their stories to our parents, and they passed them down to us.”

  “Wait a minute,” Short Fuse interrupted again. “If you’re really from Draman, how come you’re a Sun Dragon?”

  “I’ll fill you in on everything, I promise. But first, will you join us in trying to stop Shull? We could use the extra hands.”

  “Us? Who’s us?”

  “Oh, I didn’t mention that part yet? Well, there’s me of course, my friends Caden and Blair, a traitor called Bernard… and Merlin.”

  “Merlin? The great sorcerer and savior of all humanity?”

  “That’s the one.”

  Captain looked around at her three cousins, all of whom nodded their agreement.

  “Give us five minutes. We’ve got some power tools to pack.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  BY THE time the four cousins walked onto our ship, they had cleaned up nicely. They’d found new mechanics’ uniforms they had then traded for the grease-covered old ones; they’d brushed their hair, when possible, and showered the oil from their greasy locks. Their extra bandanas sat proudly atop their heads, which they bowed in deference when they stepped into the presence of the powerful Merlin.

  “Who do we have here?” Merlin asked me as he peered through his spectacles. “I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting before.”

  “You haven’t. These are the grandchildren of Bando and Dawn, the two space pirate mechanics who helped Skelly and Sara Lee find their way to the Cave of Secrets.”

  “Of course,” Merlin said, though I had the feeling that after so many years, a few of the details of that particular saving might have gone blurry. “What an honor.”

  “It’s an honor to meet you, sir.” Like an entirely different person, Captain seemed sweet and almost shy in the great sorcerer’s presence. “Besides our grandparents, you are our greatest hero.”

  “Why thank you, young lady. But there are many heroes who deserve a higher spot than me.”

  Merlin certainly enjoyed his fans. Caden pulled up a bench for them, and the four sat by his side as the wizard expounded on his adventures with Sara Lee and Nimue while halfheartedly powering the ship. If it weren’t for Bernard leading the way back, we might have ended up floating in space forever while Merlin described what outfit he wore on the day he met Lup.

  Lup. He had always been a side note from the day Nimue had to drag the sorcerer out of a cave under his house, where he had hidden after the passing of his love. Strange that a wizard who lived so long would only have one love per lifetime—strange and very lonely.

  “He was a beautiful boy,” Merlin said with a sigh as he gazed out into the empty space around us. “But he was so much more than that too. He was rash but brave and incredibly wise when he didn’t let his anger fuel his actions. Though everyone loved him, the wolf part of him never quite disappeared, even when Guinevere turned him back to his human self. Sometimes he would go on long walks on Balu that could last all day. Very special is the man who can make anyone love him, but can spend time alone and be just as happy. Very special, indeed.”

  “We’re so sorry for your loss,” Captain said as she put a hand on Merlin’s shoulder. Could this possibly be the same woman who had considered blowing my head off?

  “As am I. Being in love is the most amazing part of being alive, and most of us only get one chance at it.”

  Though Merlin did not t
urn toward us, I knew the last comment was directed at Caden and me.

  “I need to take a quick break,” I told Blair. “Can you cover the deck while I’m gone?”

  “Of course. Everything okay?”

  “It will be.”

  Caden looked at me questioningly as I stepped down from my seat, so I sent him a fake smile before moving into the elevator. On the next floor, I found my bedroom—the largest of many rooms and completely empty besides the bed and the window—and flopped down onto the bleach-white comforter. Without untying the laces, I kicked off my shoes.

  What was wrong with me? I should have been happy, especially now that Caden and I were making a fresh start and we were so close to Shull’s compound, but for some reason these facts just made me feel more upset. For the first time since I could remember, the world felt so big and I so small. Was this how all men who weren’t princes or dragons felt when looking out into space? Or was it simply my lack of confidence now that the only special thing about me was my name?

  “You called?”

  When I looked to my right, Skelly perched on the windowsill.

  “Skelly! What are you doing here?”

  “Prince Grian, you know as well as I do how this works. The godchild calls, and the godparent comes. End of story.”

  “But I thought you couldn’t come to Earth?”

  Skelly waved at the window. “Does this look like Earth to you?”

  I had never been so happy to see Skelly in my life. Seeing the familiar Bone Dragon wings, albeit small wings, felt like home, and I said so.

  “And by home you mean Draman?” Skelly asked.

  “Yes… no… I don’t know. I feel like, to the old Grian, the one resurrected after all of this time to save the world, Earth was home. But to Grian the Prince of Draman, nothing will replace our planet.”

  “And that’s okay. People are complicated, even when they only have one consciousness inside of them. Sometimes we want conflicting things, or have conflicting emotions.”