There was none.
“Um, you guys can clap now. That’s why I paused.”
“His ideas are awful,” the King said, smiling fondly at me.
“Yes, Sam,” Mama said dryly. “It’s exactly like that story I told you one time. If our resources are spread as thin as you all say, then we don’t stand a chance of beating the Darks. The Resistance will be destroyed even before it steps foot outside Camp HaveHeart. But if we take on Myrin, if we defeat him, then the Darks won’t have anyone to lead them. And they’ll scatter like cockroaches in the light. Hopefully.”
“I know, right? I’m so glad I thought of it. Okay! So the plan is to defeat Myrin—wait. Wasn’t that the plan this whole time?”
“You should have taken him with you,” Randall said, staring up at the ceiling. I wondered who he was talking to.
“That’s where you come in,” Mama said, lips twitching. “You’re the one with the—”
“No, don’t you dare say it. Not you too!”
“—Destiny of Dragons, after all.”
“Ugh.”
“And you’ll have our support,” Letnia said. “Because what else do we have to lose?”
Well, our lives, for one, but no one liked a Negative Ned, so I kept that to myself. “There’s the optimism I’m looking for. Hurray. We’re saved.”
“We should have some assistance shortly,” Randall said. “But before our guests arrive, I will again suggest to Sam what I’ve already told him. You already have in your possession the key to everything.”
Everyone looked at me again, surprise on their faces.
I rolled my eyes. “He’s not talking about me, per se. He means the stupid Grimoires.”
Justin’s eyes widened. “You have Myrin’s Grimoire?”
“And Morgan’s,” Randall said. “And soon he’ll have mine.”
That… was unexpected. “You’re going to give me your Grimoire? But—”
“It would have been yours when I crossed the veil,” Randall said. “Might as well give it to you now. I don’t think it’ll hurt. Much.”
I was stunned. Randall’s Grimoire was legendary. A record of centuries of magic. The last time I’d asked to see it, he’d magicked me out a window and into a briar patch. It wasn’t my favorite memory of him. “Dude,” I said breathlessly. “Just… dude.”
“Did you break him?” Ryan asked, jostling me a little.
“Give him a few moments,” Randall said. “He’s processing.”
“Morgan told me once that wizards’ Grimoires were their legacy,” the King said to Randall. “That it was their magical past, present, and future.”
“Yes,” Randall said.
“Then is it wise to give all this power to one person?”
“Maybe not. But then there has never been a wizard quite like Sam before. And we have no other choice. Time is running out, Anthony. Myrin won’t allow Camp HaveHeart to exist much longer. We’ve defied him for too long. And now that Sam has returned and we’re all in one place, he’ll—Sam is his antithesis. His counterpoint. He doesn’t see it in terms of good and evil. The gods will have given him the same tools they’ve given Sam. We forget, I think, that Myrin also has a destiny. It remains to be seen whose will come to fruition.”
“Why does this sound a little too close to a suicide mission?” Mama asked, and for the first time since I’d known her, she actually sounded scared.
I grinned rakishly at her. “Dude. No worries. I’m Sam of Dragons. What’s the worst that could happen?”
RYAN DIDN’T speak as he pulled me from the barn, his jaw tense, his grip firm. I stumbled a little but caught myself before I fell to the ground. “Hey, man, where’s the fire? Slow down. I shouldn’t have said that. I mean, yeah, I know what the worst thing that could possibly happen is, what with being consumed and all and Verania being completely taken over by a madman, but still—okay, yeah, shutting up. Gods, that glare was impressive. Have I ever told you congratulations on your face? Because congratulations on your face.”
We were up