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"You think you were there so she could use your power?" randfather asked Mallory

Mallory nodded "Even with the power sink, she didn’t think she had enough power to ore" She looked at me, eyes full of emotion "And Merit was the incentive in case I didn’t play ball"

I nodded "She orking that theft ht"

She paused, blinked, then looked at me "Did you Rick-Roll me?"

"Yeah," I said "To block out so it out pretty bad Did it help?"

She considered "I think, yeah, a little"

"Then sorry, not sorry"

"So she gathered up all that energy, and waited for her ore physical forrandfather said

"Yeppers," Mallory said

"Magical Trojan horse to Egregore," Ethan said "And Egregore to dragon"

"Pretty on," randfather said "What do we know about it?"

"At the moment, not much," Mallory said "We know it’s theoretically under her corandfather asked, and worry came into his eyes

"It’s a monster created frooans It’s angry and ornery, and she finished the ic in a hurry I’d say it’s unpredictable, at the least"

"So we have a dragon in Chicago, and a rider with an attitude," randfather said

"It’s a shitty tireat time to be a medieval scholar"

They all looked at ," I said, and hunched ons--fearing theilded with gold Dragons everywhere You work assuure out what they represent Turns out, they may not be so fictional"

Ethan s ht of that?"

"I’ve hadthose "

"And speaking ofat Mallory, "I don’t suppose yourto offer?"

"If Portnoy wrote about how to deal with a ra in her voice, "we haven’t found it yet Maybe that’s because it’s not in there; es in the daic Screw Portnoy" She pointed her index finger in the air angrily, like she could stab it into his chest "Screw him and his manuscript"