Wood Sprites

“What he asked was for the blood guard to sacrifice themselves. The oni had Providence in a magical trap. The blood guard would need to fight to his side. There would be no time to free him, only time enough to strike a killing blow before they would be overwhelmed. They were a thousand against an army. It was a slaughter on both sides. The Chosen One and all of the blood guard that fought that day died. But our people succeeded at what Providence had asked; we killed him, freeing his soul.”

“A thousand lives for one?” Jillian cried. “That was a win?”

“If the oni had kept control of his soul, the damage would have been worse. They had caught other dragons and shattered them and experimented. They wanted Providence to craft what would be basically a global living spell. It could reach for thousands of miles, affect millions of people, guided by his soul. It would be like an intelligent nuclear bomb, programmed to seek and destroy, and having no will of its own to resist its orders. As it was, they gathered my people together and experimented with just his body. They locked the survivors within one massive cage and cast one spell. Everyone was transformed; merged with crows that — that. .” He trailed off, his eyes widening slightly, and then he blushed and looked down. “You don’t need to hear all the gross parts. One spell and we were forever changed as a race. Providence shielded us from the worst that could have happened. Because of him, we still function as humans. Mostly. We have bird feet and we lay eggs. But we couldn’t fly. We didn’t have wings at first. Providence provided the spell for our wings.”

Dufae’s chest had contained twelve “loaded” nactka. The twins exchanged glances and shivered. Dufae had opened the box and instantly known that he had to flee with it to Earth where it was harmless, lest it fall into the wrong hands. According to Yves, Ming had it now on Elfhome.

“The dragons had tried to isolate Onihida. Keep the evil that had taken root from spreading. But they missed one pathway. The oni guessed of its existence, but they couldn’t find it. Somehow they tricked the elves into finding it. As the oni started to flood their people through it to China, we got out the newborn Chosen One and all of the blood-guard children that survived our enslavement. We fled to Japan and took refuge in a mountainous temple with a sect of warrior monks known as the yamabushi.”

That explained his Japanese name. Louise wondered what kind of magical powers he had. She also wondered what exactly Joy could do. If Providence could give out magical powers, what did it mean for the baby dragon?

Crow Boy lifted his head and gave Louise a desperate look. “We thought Jin Wong had sacrificed himself on the chance of finding us a new home, one where we could live free. We’ve been waiting for the mark of Providence to appear on a new Chosen. So many of the bloodline have been killed, and now the oni has the baby in their control, and because of that, Riki let himself fall into their power. At the hospital, though, you said that Jin’s returning. Does that mean he’s not dead?”

He wanted it to be true. Considering all that he’d been through — and what could lay ahead — it seemed cruel to tell him that she had no idea what she had babbled out.

“I–I-I don’t know. .” She couldn’t crush his hope. “I don’t know how he’ll return. Or when.”

“Please, can you try to do another prophecy?”

The word shocked Louise. Prophecy? Her?

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” Louise said. “I don’t even remember what I said. It sounded like nonsense to me. Jillian covered my eyes.” Louise unfolded one of the napkins that had come with the takeout and pressed it to her face to illustrate. “And it just happened.”

“We could get an Ouija board,” Jillian grumbled. “Would make as much sense.”

Louise blushed and started to drop her hands, but Crow Boy caught her wrist.

“Please. Just try.” His voice sounded husky, like he was about to cry.

She took a deep breath. Just try? Try what? If she did have a magical power, so far she had only done the equivalent of randomly changing channels on a television. What she needed was meaningful search terms to pull up what she wanted. Captain Jin Wong. The Tainlong Hao. Providence’s Chosen One. What had she been thinking of at the hospital? They were trying to feed the police information on Alexander being in danger. .

“Brilliance strikes into the darkness!” It was like plugging into an electrical outlet: power came sure and strong. “The attack is true, and the dark pathway is torn asunder! All that were trapped are free! Providence Child spreads his wings as he falls. He falls!”

Louise found herself on her feet, pointing toward the window.

Something streaked past, a fiery comet in the dark night.

“What the hell?” Jillian ran across the room to lean against the glass. “What is that?”

“It’s Esme!” Louise cried. “She’s trying to save Providence’s Child.”

42: Plan B