How to Lose Your Dragon (The Immortality Curse Book 1) by Peter Glenn (beach read TXT) 📕

I nodded.

“It’s in here, too, along with the full message that was on the back of it. That’s how I found the binding spell, actually. The first line of the binding spell is written on the back of that piece of cloth.”

“That’s amazing, Rick!” I said. I gave him a huge pat on the back. “I’m so proud of you. Does that mean you’ve found a way to stop it?”

Rick lowered his head a little and his feet shuffled back and forth. “Not exactly. But I’ll keep looking. I think there might be a way to redirect the energy of the spell, if not stop it entirely.”

“Redirect it?” I scrunched my nose. “How?”

“I’m not sure, exactly.” He turned the pages of the book and pointed to a passage with his finger. “But the spell is meant to bind two souls together in one body. However, if I change it around a little bit, I think I might be able to bind one soul into another object instead, trapping her soul there. But the object would have to be innately magical for it to work.”

“A magical artifact, huh?” The wheels in my head were turning as a new plan started to form. I was suddenly positive I could take down Boudicca if I played my cards right. It’d be tricky, but doable.

“Yeah,” Rick said, nodding. “Not sure where to get one of those, though.” His head jerked up from the page to stare at me. “And there could be unintended consequences of changing up a spell like that. It’s hard to tell for certain.”

“Unintended consequences?” I repeated. “Like what?”

Rick shrugged. “I really don’t know. I’m an ancient culture specialist, not a magician.”

Well, that wasn’t very reassuring. I shook my head, wondering what kind of trouble I’d unintentionally get myself into by going through with my current plan. But what choice did I have, really? If I didn’t stop Boudicca permanently, she’d come after Mei again. And I really didn’t want undead Celtic warriors to follow me everywhere.

But something else was bothering me, and it wasn’t the ancient magic or its consequences. It was Rick. He was acting strange again.

That’s when it hit me. The way Rick was talking, the things he was saying. They were pro magic. Pro belief in magic. Very unlike him. I decided to rub it in.

“Wait a second,” I said. “Am I hearing this all correctly, Rick old buddy? Did I just hear you say you’ve found a way to cast a spell involving a magical artifact? Whatever happened to all that not believing in magic nonsense?”

Rick blushed again, and he did his best to hide it. “About that.” He straightened up, standing as tall as he could. “I’m still not completely sold on it, but I do have to admit after the last twenty-four hours that there are definitely some things going on that I can’t explain with science.” He glanced over at Sheila as he talked.

I looked between them for just a moment, trying to figure out what he was talking about exactly, but came up blank. Her fire magic last night maybe? Or was there something more to it?

“Well, I’m just glad you’re starting to come around, Rick.” I patted him on the shoulder. “Magic needs faith. Especially complex rituals. If you’re going to help me stop it, I’m going to need you believing it’s possible.”

“Understood,” Rick said. He cleared his throat. “But I’m still going to need more time to know for sure if it’s even possible.”

“How much more time are we talking, here, Rick? We’re kinda on a time crunch, remember? The ritual is tonight.” And the dragon’s attack, if we failed, but no one else had to know that little tidbit just yet. No need for undue pressure.

“Another few hours, probably. Some of these passages are really hard to make out, and there are a few spots that are smudged, or the page is torn.”

“A few more hours?” My eyes practically bulged out of my head. I looked down at my phone. It was eleven o’clock now. Add three to four hours for Rick to do his research, and travel time, and we’d be cutting it really close to seven, unless their base of operations was only a few miles away from us.

“Is there any way to speed up the search?”

“Not really,” Rick said in a huff, “and standing here talking about it isn’t going to do us any good, either.”

“Well, go back to reading, then! Go on, get!” I made a shooing motion with my hands and Rick scurried off into a corner of the room and plopped the book open in his lap.

“You’re too hard on him,” Sheila told me. She smiled slightly at me. “He’s still so new to this world, eh?”

I let out a long sigh and nodded. Sheila was right. It’s just that Mei’s life kind of depended on him getting this part right.

“You’re right,” I told her. I grabbed another cookie off her plate and shoved it into my mouth. “You’re always right, Sheila. That’s why I love you so much.” I nudged her cheek with my fist.

Sheila looked straight at me and shook her head. “Men,” she said. “You’re all the same.”

“Is that why you go after women?” I asked her, winking.

There was a hint of a smirk in her eyes as she reached up and pinched my cheek. “I’m not a lesbian because you’re an asshole, Damian.”

I laughed a little at that. “Gosh, I hope not.”

“So,” Sheila said, “what are we going to do about your little prisoner? How are you going to get him to tell you where the ritual is being held?”

“Oh, that?” I grinned from ear to ear. “I’ve already taken care of that. Shouldn’t be much longer now.”

Sheila’s eyes narrowed and she put her free hand on her hip. “What did you do, exactly, Damian? And how much is it going to cost me?”

I shrugged and my eyes rolled up into my head as I tried