They had made a new tunnel, a diagonal one that went from the wall of her cage out into the cavern, veering past the bars that had kept her stuck in this form for weeks now.
There was a tunnel, and she could fit through it.
For a second, all she could do was stare. Crafting that fire had left her exhausted, but this sight sent a bewildering spike of adrenaline through her, and the combination almost made her feel like she was high.
It took Logan’s voice to make her move.
> The words were full of wonderment.
> Iz corrected. >
She inched towards the new tunnel. There was something weirdly scary about all this, like it was a dream and if she moved too quickly, she would wake up.
Holding her breath the whole time, she wriggled into the tunnel and then—
—and then out into the wider cavern.
She wasout.
She could feel Logan’s pride in her, burning as hot as the flames had, and she could hear the animals chittering and lowing and hooting their strange calls of victory and excitement. They might not have known exactlywhathad happened, but they knew thatsomethinghad happened, and they could tell that Logan and Iz both thought it was good news.
If Sebastian hadn’t deliberately made this cave to keep anyone from hearing any screams, he would hear this cacophony and work out that something big was going on down here. Iz took a vicious pleasure in him finally screwinghimselfover for once.
She looked at Logan, speechless, only to remember that she was still looking at him through bars. They were the bars of his cage door, not the bars between their cells, but it wasn’t like that made much of a difference.
She was out, but he was still in.
Unacceptable, her dragon growled.
Absolutely, Iz agreed.
She scrambled to think of some plan of action. Okay. Change back to her human form. Unlock the cage doors. Sebastian kept the ornate master key in plain sight, because there was no reason for himnotto; if it hadn’t been for the hidden truth in a hellhound legend, none of them would have ever been able to reach it. And keeping it down here had let him taunt them with how it was so close and yet so, so far away.
Played yourself again, Iz thought with the same violent satisfaction.
She reached for her human form. She didn’t know if it was because she was so wiped out right now that she could hardly think straight or because she’d been in her cage for so long, but it was almost like her other shape wasn’tthereanymore. What if the magic in Sebastian’s cages had trapped them in their shift formsforever?
No. Cooper had spent months in prison, stuck as a human, and he hadn’t lost his griffin, even though someone had tried to convince him that it was gone for good. You might give part of yourself up, but you didn’t have to let it be taken away from you.
I’m not just a dragon. I’m a U.S. Marshal, even if I’m not a good one. I’m my mother’s daughter, and I can plan a dinner party for twelve at short notice and choose the most elegant dress in any store. I’m Isabelle and Theo’s Cousin Izzie and Iz. And I have Logan, and I need to get him out.
I’m human.
Slowly, she felt herself melt back. Scales changed into skin. Her hair grew out again.
She hadclothes. They were still clean, fragrant with the scent of fabric softener. She’d never stayed in her dragon form for so long, so she’d never really realized how time stilled inside the pocket dimension where mythic shifters’ clothes went.
When she tried to speak, though, her voice was shot. Her human throat still felt the damage her dragon throat had taken, and too much fire would do that to you, at least for a while.
She touched her throat and shook her head, looking at Logan to make sure he understood what was going on.
The telepathic connection was still there, but her human mind wasn’t used to it yet. It felt damper than usual, like the volume had been turned down. She couldn’t hear him, and all she could barely feel him.
But even with her poor, human-level night vision, she couldseehim: the familiar, powerful, comforting shape of this enormous hellhound, with fur as black as shadows and as soft as smoke. That much hadn’t changed, and it made this mental quiet a little better, even if it was still incredibly lonely.
The mind-link would return once she settled back into her own head, she was sure of that much. It was just strange to be without it, even temporarily. She hadn’t realized how much Logan felt like part of her soul.
The key.