When Sofia works the counter her parents expect her to be professional. This means wearing a uniform, smiling, and off course, no phone. So I already expect her to text at exactly one, when she has her lunch break.

SOFIA: Explain.

ME: I’m sorry

SOFIA: so you were there then

SOFIA: is izaaks mom ok? He texted me

I bite my lip.

ME: I don’t know.

SOFIA: EXPLAIN!

It’s hard to find the right words. Halley snores on my pillow, curled up and exhausted from her travels. I sit at my desk, texting Sofia for almost twenty minutes before she has a picture of what’s going on.

SOFIA: shit

SOFIA: what now?

ME: Contact Izaak. Phoebe said their dad was on the phone with his moms team the whole morning. If she’s in trouble we get her out of it.

SOFIA: good man

SOFIA: but i meant with Kiera

SOFIA: youre just going to let zhran take them?

I sigh. I can explain what happened, but there’s no way for Sofia to understand the difference between our strengths. The single zap it took Zhran to incapacitate me. Now, with Comet in the mix, I stand even less of a chance. Not that I could find them. Or know how to get Kiera back. Even Zhran, ten times more powerful than me, needed that weird ink.

On my bed Halley yawns. She stretches her front paws, then stands and leans forward to give her back legs a turn. “One of your human friends?” she asks, jumping on my desk to look at my screen.

I nod.

“You know, a lot of unicorns looked down on Kiera for sticking with you guys. They, Kiera I mean, loved humans. I never understood why, but many of the louts making fun of them croaked a long time ago. There’s a lesson there, somewhere.”

I’m not sure how to answer Sofia, so I set down my phone. “How did you pick Comet as your miracle?”

“Why, I saw this beautiful meteor shower and knew I needed to protect it. That was Comet, my personal starry sky. She was beautiful, but I forgot her radiance was the result of a violent fire.” Halley lowers her head. “I have made many mistakes guiding her. I ignored her anger until she ignored me. By then she’d fallen madly in love with Zhran, despite my many warnings. He coerced her to trap me, thinking it would extend her life.”

I reach out a hand, stroking the soft fur in between her wings. “I ignored Kiera a lot too.”

Her chest rumbles as I brush my fingers past her chin. “If I had to pick a human, you’d make a good choice. You’re young and foolish, but both are fixable traits. Kiera did well.”

“Why didn’t you? Pick me, I mean.” Halley said there were no good vessels in the museum besides the stuffed griffin, but I was right there.

She laughs. “Why, Then Kiera can’t return, can they?”

My hand halts in her pelt. She turns and smiles, cocking her head at my silence. “I came to warn you, but what you do with your magic is your choice. Spend it all on getting Kiera back, for all I care. I’m dead real soon, anyway.”

“Wait, what?”

She twirls the chubby cat body on my desk. “This doesn’t exactly count as flesh, let alone a dragon. No, I started leaking magic the moment Zhran kicked me out of Comet.”

“Make another dragon, then!”

She shakes her head sadly. “With my reserves, they’d be dead before adulthood, and I can’t do that to another creature. This’ll be my last stop.”

“But,” I start, closing my mouth halfway through the sentence. But, what, exactly? Halley made her choice. Instead I think of what she said before, about saving Kiera. “You think I make a chance?” I ask softly.

Halley stares at the posters on my wall. “Well, Zhran has experience, power and unyielding loyalty towards Comet, but he also has a unicorn stopping him from going overboard, while you could technically push through until you die. So it depends.”

“On what?”

“On how much you’re willing to sacrifice.” She looks into my eyes, some complicated emotion marring her face. “On the other hand, Kiera will hate both of us, you for risking yourself, and me for urging you to.”

I smile. “That would be what they deserve.”

My phone buzzes again, Sofia spamming me for an update. This time, I know just what to say.

SOFIA: Hallo???

ME: We’re saving them. Just need to get Izaak on board and make sure his mom’s ok.

SOFIA: WE?

ME: We, I promise.

SOFIA: GOOD. Lets go to izaaks

ME: He doesn’t want to see me yet.

SOFIA: No he wants you to kiss him

SOFIA: Don’t be a coward

SOFIA: Come

Me:

Me: Ok.