"Gideon," he whispered.

His hunch proved to be correct. At the bottom of the stairs, the huge three-headed dragon had curled up its body, two of its heads sleeping with a deep, rolling snore. It was the sound Kevin had heard on the stairs. The other head lifted and stared at them with hostile eyes.

Everyone froze as the other two heads awakened and lifted to survey the group.

"No one move," Kevin said in a low voice. He 111 *

patted James's arm to get him to scoot over so he could get by.

"No. What if it eats you?"

"He's not going to eat me." He hoped his voice conveyed more confidence than he felt with his skittish nerves. Nothing in his life had prepared him for this moment. Besides, if the dragon attacked, being eaten would be a mercy over what else the creature could do. For the first time, he understood Jay's statement of picking a different avatar. A three-headed dragon challenged even someone of Jay's abilities. He knew of no one else who could handle this type of beast, certainly not him.

Slowly the werewolf scooted to the side so Kevin could walk past. "If you get hurt, I'll never forgive you."

"Good to know." He didn't mention if Gideon wanted to hurt him there wasn't going to be anything left to forgive. The dragon breathed fire and acid; neither were skin-friendly substances.

Swallowing back his fear, Kevin approached the giant beast. "You remember me, don't you, Gideon? I'm Jaynell's friend."

"Help."

The soft voice was barely above a whisper, but Kevin heard it in the darkness. "Who's there?"

"The dragon's gone crazy."

112.

Calling up another ball of light, Kevin sent it off into the direction of the voice, hoping Gideon didn't take the opportunity to attack. So far the beast appeared more watchful than menacing, but taking his eyes off it probably wasn't the best plan.

Kevin gasped in shock when his light revealed the headmaster surrounded by six men in robes. From the looks of it, the headmaster was the only one still alive. Charred skin, bite marks and acid burns covered the exposed skin of the brown-robed people.

"Father!" Edward rushed down the stairs, heedlessly pushing Kevin aside as he rushed to the side of one of the fallen brown-cloaked members. "Father." He choked on his tears. "Please don't be dead, please don't be dead." Sobbing filled the chamber.

"Knock him out or something," Thomas growled.

"My pleasure." Before Kevin could say a word, Edward fell sideways and lay silent. Dean shrugged.

"Sorry, I couldn't take it anymore."

"Understandable," Kevin agreed. He didn't think he could take it either. He wondered at Edward's grief and loyalty. After all, if his father was dressed in a brown robe in this basement, he probably wasn't one of the good guys.

It took him a minute to realize what this all meant.

"You! You were the one taking wizards," he said to 113 *

Headmaster Vreel. As amazingly difficult as he found accepting the idea, all of the facts pointed towards the headmaster.

"I needed to practice. To know how much magic could be taken before a wizard died. If you leave just a little, they will rebuild power and you can take again. Lisa was a mistake. They'd already taken too much magic before I arrived. She couldn't be saved. Jay was really the one I wanted. I could be unstoppable with his magic, and I can harvest him again and again. They weren't supposed to snatch him so soon but they got greedy and thought they could steal his magic without me."

Kevin's stomach swirled with nausea. They'd snuffed out Lisa's life and had the gall to call it practice.

"I've planned for years to get Jaynell's power. Who do you think convinced his fool father to transfer his magic? Idiot would do anything for his son. Gideon did me a favor by dispatching my comrades. They've served their purpose and helped me fine-tune my technique. When I have Jay's power, I will be young again, and you all can be my new helpers. We will create a Senate of our own and rule all of wizard kind."

"You will never have Jay's power." Fury he'd never felt before built up. The man they'd trusted with their safety and futures cared only for power. Taking innocent lives in 114 *

order to supplement his own life was an unforgivable sin.

"Where's Jay?" Kevin demanded.

The headmaster gave a rough laugh. "Right behind the damned dragon. How he even got in here I don't know."

Damn, he sort of hoped he didn't have to get past Gideon.

"Jay," he shouted.

"He's not going to hear you," the headmaster taunted. "We drugged him very well, couldn't have him fighting when we drained his magic."

Kevin didn't think it necessary to mention they'd failed in that regard. Even drugged and unconscious, the man was able to call his avatar while Kevin could barely call him while conscious and with the help of three other people.

Dan said, "Kev, you can do this. Get Gideon to let us past."

Kevin turned his attention back to the three-headed dragon that surprisingly sat there patiently waiting while they chatted. Counting on Gideon's memory of him to protect him from harm, Kevin walked down a few more steps. The dragon's middle head, the one he thought of as the dominant one, lowered until Kevin was almost level with the enormous eyes.

"I'm going to see if I can wake up Jaynell. I'm going 115 *

to take him back home to his mate." A thought occurred to him. "Thomas, come down here. He'll let you get to Jay, I bet." The dragon knew Jaynell belonged with Thomas. The odds were greater the beast would let the wolf shifter close to his wizard than Kevin.

"Good thinking," James said. Kevin basked in his lover's approval.

"Let's see if it works first."

Thomas crept down the stairs right past him. Kevin held his breath. If this didn't work, he had just endangered Jaynell's mate for nothing.

"Forget Jay. He's fine. Get me out of here." The headmaster's petulant tone had the dragon's head snapping around.

"I'd shut the hell up if I were you!" James shouted.

"I'm flunking all of you."

"I don't think you're going to be in any position to flunk anyone after we turn you over to the Senate."

"You think the Senate will do anything? It's your word against mine."

For a moment, Kevin's confidence faltered. What if the Senate didn't believe them?

"Thomas, don't move. James, give me your phone."

Without a word, both wolves obeyed his orders.

Kevin flipped open his lover's phone. No bars.

116.

Clutching the phone tight, he slowly trickled in more power, boosting the signal until all the bars glowed and he probably could've sent a call to Mars.

"Great trick," one of the triplets said behind him.

"Thanks." He didn't mention it was a spell his mother had taught him when he was young and she worried about his safety.

"James, do you still have that Senator's card?"

"Back pocket."

Pulling the card from his lover's pocket, he dialed Senator Adalberto. "We found Jay, and the headmaster is the guilty one. I want the Senate to come witness. You need to see this place, to see what the headmaster has done." He felt queasy demanding the powerful Senate do anything, but he wasn't going to back down.

"And if we don't?" The man on the other side of the phone wasn't amused by his demands.

"Then he will die of a horrible dragon mauling and you won't ever get the answers you want."

"We'll be there."

Seconds later a vortex appeared in the middle of the stone chamber, dumping out the Senate members.

Gideon's head snapped towards to the sound.

"Duck," Kevin shouted.

Instinctively the Senate members erected a shield as 117 *

flames poured over them.

"No Gideon, bad dragon," Kevin yelled.

To his surprise, the dragon laid all three of its heads down in shame, flashing the wizard a pitiful look like a sad puppy.

With the dragon lying down, he could see Jay slumped against the far wall.

"Go get him," he whispered to Thomas as the Senate members lowered their shield.

Senator Adalberto glared at Kevin.

"I wasn't kidding about the dragon mauling."

"Thank goodness you're here. These students are trying to take over the school. I've been trying to stop them," Vreel declared from the corner.

"You fucker!" Dean leapt off the staircase and lunged at the headmaster. "It's your fault Lisa is dead!"

His brothers jumped to join him. The headmaster threw up his hand, flinging Dean across the room. "You're so weak it's pathetic. How you even got into my school is a mystery. You couldn't even keep your own girlfriend safe."

The Senator walked towards them. "Headmaster, that's enough."

"And you," the headmaster continued. "You think you can control me? You couldn't even police your own.

You're a bunch of sniveling old men who think you rule the 118 *

world while really you're too scared to even use your powers."

Kevin could tell the Senator was trying to draw out the headmaster so he could trap the man.

Vreel broke off his speech and glared at the Senator.

"You really think your pitiful trap spells are going to work on me? I have drained two others of their power. I am greater than all of you." With a wave of his hand, a powerful blast of magic shot from his fingers exploding out like a sonic boom, toppling the senators and the triplets to the ground. James quickly blocked Kevin with his body, protecting him from the magic with his solid form.

Gideon didn't move. The dragon lay there calmly as if nothing were wrong.

The senators rose to their feet ready to battle while the triplets helped each other off the floor.

"Enough!"

A freezing wind went through the chamber, dispersing the unnatural darkness.

Like a hero in an action movie, Jaynell walked past the enormous dragon as if the beast were a piece of furniture, absently petting its head on the way. He got a soft snort and a nuzzle from his beloved avatar.

Jay's eyes glowed with power as he looked at the headmaster. "I thought you were someone to look up to.

119.

Instead you were as power hungry as Dragonspawn."

"Dragonspawn was supposed to bring you to me. I'd paid him enough over the years to build up your power, but he became infatuated and planned to keep you for himself.

I was glad when he died, leaving all your power for me."

"My power has brought me nothing but pain; however, it is mine. My parents died to help me in this life, and I won't let their sacrifices be in vain."

"They were idiots to give one person so much." The headmaster broke through Jay's spell, raising his arms. "But what you have in power, you lack in experience."

He flung a green ball of power at Jay, who banished it with a slow movement of his hand. "You forgot the most basic tenet of magic. Power freely given is greater than power stolen."

"We'll take it from here." Adalberto's voice rang through the room like a bell, power echoing through the chamber.

Spells flew until the headmaster fell beneath the onslaught. He tumbled to the ground wrapped in magical rope with a white cloth binding his mouth against spells.