Page 36 of The Teacup Dragon Sanctuary

‘That old thing?’ Iris shook her head. ‘My love, he never got that to work. I would have told you if you asked.’

‘But it will work. I know how to do it. He was almost there. It’s closer to my work than I could have imagined. But it’s not just the flowers and the elixir. There was a map. I found it in the book. Our father drew it. Under the castle, in the caves, there’s a cavern and there’s a well of primal threads of magic. They were damaged and I – I sang and I—’ That was when they were all looking at her like she was completely deranged and she paused. ‘What? What happened?’

It was August who answered, his voice all quiet authority. ‘Noah found you unconscious in the back of the cave. There are no caverns or anything down there. You know that. We used to play there. It’s barely bigger than your bathroom.’

No, that wasn’t right. The cavern beyond the outer cave was huge. ‘But there was.’

A wave of exhaustion swept over her, and she winced as the pain in her head turned itself up a notch. This wasn’t fair. Why wouldn’t they believe her?

‘You hit your head, love,’ Iris told her. ‘Knocked yourself out. Maybe… maybe you had a dream. Nothing more than that. I know every inch of this island and August is right. There are only a few shallow caves down there. Now, I’m going to get you something to eat and a calming tea. And you’re going to rest. You’ve been working yourself too hard.’

‘No, I’m fine. I have work to do.’ She ran her hand along the length of Jade’s body and the dragon wriggled closer to her, purring ferociously, as if trying to heal her with her song. Portia hesitated. There was a tune buried in the noises Jade was making. She was sure of it. One that was far too familiar. ‘I have to make the elixir. The moonflowers…’

Where were they? She had gathered them, hadn’t she?

‘These?’ asked Seb. He had picked up her coat and pulled the sample case from the pocket.

Portia took it from him gratefully. At least it hadn’t all been in vain. She didn’t know what she would have done if Noah had left them behind.

‘Where’s the map?’ she said. ‘I had it in my inside pocket. Show them, Seb.’

He searched the other pockets. ‘There’s nothing else here.’

‘It has to be. Unless… where’s Noah?’

Noah had seen the map. Even if he was lying about seeing anything else.

‘With the dragons in the snuggery,’ said Ophelia. ‘I think he was worried he’d been away too long. I told him they were fine. Just resting. He’s keeping watch on them while we’re here.’

Was he? He’d better be. Why didn’t they believe her? Did they think she’d run into a wall and knocked herself out? She knew what had happened. Suddenly she wondered what Noah had told them.

Portia got up in spite of her family’s protests and stormed up the steps to the snuggery. Her head was still pounding but she didn’t care. Anger was a driving force that had always worked for her. How dare he lie about what had happened down there? How dare he take the map? What did he even want it for?

‘Noah!’ she shouted as she opened the doorway. ‘I want a word with you! What do you think⁠—?’

Noah knelt in the middle of the snuggery, just as she had seen him do so many times when interacting with the teacup dragons, when they would fly around him in delight. But this time the snuggery was silent and still. He was soaked to the skin and shivering, still in his wet clothes. In each of the snugs, she realised, the teacup dragons lay limp and unresponsive. He turned his distraught face to her, his eyes burning. He was holding Ripple in his hands.

‘Portia, they’re dying. We have to do something. Now.’

14

With Seb back in the snuggery, spinning as much of his chaotic magic everywhere like he was raising some kind of storm, and August and Iris taking the most gravely ill of the teacup dragons into their gentle care, Portia rushed back to her study. Jade clung to her, little coos and murmurs escaping her as she was jostled back and forth by Portia’s haste.

Noah stayed behind. She’d have it all out with him later but there wasn’t time for it now. Not with everything so precarious. She didn’t know why he might have lied about what happened in the caves, what he was hiding, or why he had taken the map but as long as he was here, it was enough. She would deal with him later.

Her head was still pounding, the headache awful, and her stomach was twisted in on itself, anxiety and nausea doing their worst, but that had never stopped her before. Too much magic did that sometimes. Everyone knew that. Of course, so did a concussion from running heedless into the wall of a cave for example.

No, she knew what she had seen, what had happened. Magic never worked the same way as the mundane world. It was metaphysical and sometimes that made weird things happen. And she would explain it all to them later on. She’d drag each of them down there and show them if she had to.

But right now, she had other priorities. They all did. Winning a stupid argument about magic would be utterly pointless if they lost the entire flight of teacup dragons.

She flung open Art’s book and turned all her will upon it. The pages fluttered wildly, obeying her at once until it settled open on the page with the moonflower painting in its centre. Portia read through the ingredients and instructions again, ready to set to work at once.

She paused, remembering her promise to have Noah look over it in case there was anything she was missing. She needed someone to do it because if Art had hidden some kind of invisible instruction here again she could do more harm than good.

‘Portia?’ Ophelia murmured. ‘Are you sure you should be⁠—’

‘Come here and help me,’ she snapped. If Fi told her she ought to be in bed right now she really would bite her head off. This was as pleasant as she could be for the moment. There was far too much at stake.