“Books are not, in the magical world, the mundane experience they are for non-magic users. As purveyors of knowledge, they can also easily become purveyors of magic. Many have been imbued with their own power over the ages. Like many magical artifacts, they choose their readers.”

~ Bek Trent, M.A.S.O

Mysteries upon mysteries. First the forged paperwork. Then the Zara. The Book of Lineage. The box within the ruins of Silver’s home. Blood on the driveway that must have been hers, though he had no proof of it yet, while the medics said she hardly had any external injuries at all. Then the fountain.

And now this.

Bek let Silver lead the way to breakfast, leaving him to stare thoughtfully at the back of her skull. An uncanny selection of books. Most of them random, maybe, but…at the very least, out of a library with several million books, she had somehow managed to find one of only a few texts on the five aspects. That was a book with particular ties to the vampires and the beasts of shadow. But Silver could not know that. Even the words describing it would be gibberish to her.

Cynthia had been perplexed as well, for different reasons. Magic related to the manipulation of time was particularly powerful, and particularly dangerous. The fountain at the heart of the cavern was host to a lethal spell circuit, an ancient and unpredictable time magic that had frozen the dragon eggs in their current state for a time period they had not yet determined. Cynthia was at work even now, attempting to date the spells on the golems, but spell-dating was finicky work at the best of times. It required a great deal of arcane knowledge about spell construction through the centuries, extremely sensitive machinery, and an understanding of the subject of the spell. Neither golems nor time were particularly well understood. Her report would be sparse.

So far, Cynthia had come to the conclusion he might have predicted; Silver had met the conditions laid down by the creators of the spell circuit. What those conditions might have been was anyone’s guess. Silver’s current psychological state, possibly. An affinity for light or time-related magics, which was possible - what looked like uncontrollable pyromancy could easily be something else. But those options did not make sense, in particular. Why hold dragon eggs in stasis with such vague conditions for the one who would finally retrieve them? More pressingly, why would a spell laid down by vampires open up to a normal human? Vampires were notorious for hoarding their treasures over the centuries.

Of course, there were questions not related to Silver as well. Why was the cavern here, in North America? Why had the vampires not come forward to claim it when the treaties of the early nineteenth century ceded all artifacts bearing the name of the vampires to them? Jorik likely knew more about it. If so, Bek’s grandfather would not share that information with anyone.

They ate swiftly and in silence. Silver looked about ready to fall asleep in her oatmeal – she was nearly as far from being suspicious as anyone could be. When he suggested they had one more stop before heading to the director’s office, she nodded in resignation.

“I promised to let you see the results of the project so far,” he reminded her as they disembarked the elevator on the fifth floor. Surprise showed in her expression when they were met just beyond the elevator doors by a man Bek met rarely, if ever. Lijen Jim, senior scientists for Project Biogenes. A Native American man with hawkish features, graying hair pulled tightly away from his expressive face, and rounded spectacles perched forward on the bridge of his nose, he tended to draw attention internationally for his eccentric personality and strong opinions. Perhaps that was why he had taken the nickname Smarthawk. He was a man of unmatched talent both as a scientist and a magic user, and Bek respected him despite the tremendous difference in their roles at the MASO.

“Dr. Smarthawk, this is Silver Alurian,” Bek introduced her, “Silver, Dr. Lijen Jim, or Dr. Smarthawk as many of us call him, is the senior scientist in charge of Project Biogenes.”

“A pleasure,” Lijen said, extending a hand to Silver. They shook, and Silver mumbled an agreement, suddenly shy. Lijen did not mind. “It would seem you’re to meet Je Koren. He’s a lovely specimen, Silver. Ah. Agent Alurian.”

“She’s not certified yet,” Bek observed. Lijen glanced at him, then turned to lead them down the hall.

“She may as well get used to it now. You will be certified soon enough, Silver. The MASO would not quickly pass over someone with your unique talents.”

Surprised once more, Bek matched his stride with Silver, glancing at her to see if she knew what Lijen referred to. By the expression on her face, she had no idea. In fact, she seemed to be too enthralled by the walls of the hallway to be paying much attention to what the doctor was saying.

“They have a spell-proof coat on them,” the doctor informed them both, clearly also noticing the object of Silver’s attentions. “This section was recently remodeled. Perhaps one day you will visit the oldest sections of the MASO. Then you can see its true character.”

“True character?” Silver asked. Her eyes were wide as she discreetly brushed her fingers across the walls.

“Hm, yes. An astounding place, this. Enough magic to submerge an entire continent. Absolutely amazing. Most likely you’ve visited the library already. It is an excellent example.” Silver smiled nervously in response. Bek ran a hand through his hair and sighed. They had arrived

“Je Koren is now nearly three years old. He is a male, roughly four US tons, standing twenty-three feet at the shoulder,” Lijen informed them as he led them through a pair of double steel doors that opened to the touch of his ID token and fingerprint. “Taxonomically speaking, the order Draco falls under the class of Aves. Despite the genetic separation between the birds you are familiar with and the beasts in our studies, you will notice a number of bird-like features and behaviors in all of our specimens. Do not be surprised, however, by Je Koren’s distinctly reptilian appearance. Unlike reptiles, he is entirely capable of regulating his own body temperature.”

Bek eyed the room where they found themselves. Silver was staring openly, and he knew why; a massive spell circuit underlay the subterranean space, its sole purpose to give them the sense that they had been transported to the arid forests of India, specifically in the region of Rajasthan. Underfoot, the soil was fine and dry, the earth packed hard. The bitter scent of desert greenery hung heavily in the air. Overhead, the air was clear and the sky stunningly blue, replete with an artificial sun.

“Agent Alurian, are you aware that birds consistently appear near the top of animal IQ scales?” Lijen paused, but not quite enough for an answer. “Generally-speaking, those scales apply only to the non-magical beasts, but there is a generalized trend even among the so-called mythical beasts.”

“I actually thought dragons were the only magical beasts,” Silver found the voice to say after a moment. Bek, meanwhile, was watching the two guardians of the room unfold slowly, shifting nearer the three of them in case Je Koren proved less than friendly. The doctor ignored them, and Silver glanced at them several times, seeming not to understand what she was seeing. Arjikella, a unique species of lizard nearly the length of a man. They were known for their remarkable camouflage, and if he had not known to look for their unique, ice-blue eyes amidst the leaves of the surrounding desert brush, Bek would not have recognized them either. Despite the many assertions of their trainers that they were friendly, he made a point to never let them out of his sight.

“Not at all!” Lijen observed, “There aren’t as many as there were once, but the mythical beasts are still quite numerous. Their magic can make them uniquely powerful, or quite astute. Many of them live as long as we do, some longer. Their experience makes them clever – most avoid conflict with mankind, but some are violent. Bek should have some excellent stories for you, over lunch some time, perhaps.”

Silver glanced back at Bek, and he nodded slowly. He had stories, without a doubt. Not the kind he wanted to share, particularly. Most of them were bloody. The mythical beasts were as dangerous as any man, and they fought with a primitive brutality that had lost the MASO more than one agent. If Silver was ever moved to the same department as him, she would have plenty of time to learn the dangers she faced, but with her skills, it was unlikely. If Ryan’s assessments of her were correct, she would be shuffled through the investigative departments until one suited her skillset.

His expression darkened.

“Here he is,” Lijen warned then, drawing both of their attentions deeper into the room. Bek saw Silver stiffen out of the corner of his eye, and with good reason. Scraggly trees were not enough to obscure the bulk of the creature that approached them over the sands, sometimes ambling on all fours, sometimes rising up on two legs to watch them as it drew near.

“Observe his markings, a unique pattern of black and mottled orange that makes him nearly invisible from above. Those are unique to the species we used as our surrogate, so unfortunately not a good indication of what we would expect in dragons. The length of his skull is also disproportionate, a result of the desert climate. But there,” Lijen had bent slightly to point, “vestigial wings. The size and shape of his talons is also unique to dragons, and the shape of the scales along the upper lip a clear indicator of his mixed heritage.”

As the beast continued to approach, Silver glanced back at him, as if hoping to leave. Underfoot, the dry earth trembled.

“A dinosaur…” she said, looking between him and Lijen, and then back at the monstrous creature.

“I think Jorik would say something like, ‘if we could get from dinosaurs to birds, then there were many somethings in between. Why not dragons?’ But this is closer to a dragon than a dinosaur. Believe me,” Bek stated flatly. From her look, Silver clearly sensed something was amiss, but not what.

Je Koren drew to a halt in front of them, nose raised like an oversized dog, testing their scents.

“He can come no farther with the barrier raised,” Lijen informed them both, moving a bit nearer what Bek knew was the invisible edge of a barrier a hundred times stronger than steel. Je Koren watched him move, amber eyes predatory. There were other things this specimen lacked other than the magic of a dragon. Intelligence, by every account, was not one of them.

Compassion was.

Dragons had been described, in every text and manuscript Bek had ever read, as intelligent, manipulative, dangerous creatures, and yet they had also time and again displayed some form of morality that roughly aligned with mankind. Accounts of them saving villages, raising orphaned children, even making deals with humans, were easily as abundant as those of them decimating cities and slaying entire species of beasts.

But Je Koren, from day one, had never displayed any compassion at all for humanity. The beast was, like his desert relatives, merely a predator, and Bek knew Lijen held no delusions that Je Koren was not hunting every one of them, every second of the day. Even Cynthia, unflappable in the face of the most diabolical human criminals, had taken one look at Je Koren and accused the research team of creating a monster.

In a moment of grudging respect, he realized Silver, however terrified, was following the doctor closer to the beast. It watched her now, shifting to follow her with scathing eyes no matter where she went. Silver noticed. She must have known why. And yet he watched her find the barrier with the tips of her fingers, following it till the two of them, girl and raptor, were face-to-face. If he had not known the barrier was there, Bek would have thought she was about to be eaten. And if he had not started towards her then, to tell her they had seen what they came to see, he might not have heard her whisper, “the time will come.”

The words were a promise. He felt them in his bones, with the weight of a power she should not have had. Lijen, he realized, was watching them both, the knowing in his eyes as well. Je Koren blinked slowly, understanding clear in the beast’s expression.

Silver could speak with the beasts.

No one had used that power in over two hundred years, at least no one documented. It was a magic believed lost, a magic some people believed had never existed. Slowly, the beast stepped away from the barrier, rumbling low in its throat. Its gaze never left Silver, until finally it turned and made its way back through the desert.

Bek met Lijen’s gaze, and the doctor nodded slightly. Jorik must not know. Neither of them would be the one to share this secret.