My wings sent up a dust storm as I touched down in Bobby's junkyard. The second my boots hit gravel, four pairs of eyes locked onto me—Bobby's wary, Sam's calculating, Dean's guarded, and Lena's... resigned.
She knew.
Before I could speak, Lena pressed a hand to her glowing sternum. "It's the stone, isn't it? That's his weakness."
I retracted my wings with a shink of scales sliding under skin. "Yeah. Crush it to dust, and Kharon becomes mortal enough to kill."
Silence.
Then—
"Bullshit," Dean snapped, chair screeching as he stood. "There's gotta be another way."
Sam's fingers flew across his laptop. "Regeneration spell—maybe we could—"
"Won't work." Bobby's voice cut through the tension like a rusty saw. "Ain't no spell that regrows a heart from nothing. Not without..." He trailed off, rubbing his beard.
"Without what?" Lena demanded.
"Without somethin' equally powerful to trade," Bobby finished grimly.
I leaned against the war table, feeling the weight of twenty tons of strength in my bones. "There's another option."
All eyes turned to me.
"Wood nymphs," I said. "They can regenerate organs. If I can find one, kill it, absorb its power..."
Lena's breath hitched. "You'd be able to grow me a new heart."
Dean threw his hands up. "Oh sure, let's just go nymph hunting! What's next, unicorn rides?"
I met Lena's gaze. "Your call."
She didn't hesitate. "Do it."
The map rustled as Bobby stabbed a finger at a patch of dense forest in northern Minnesota. "Boundary Waters. Last credible nymph sighting was '98. Local Ojibwe tribes still leave offerings there."
Sam frowned at the satellite images. "That's over 200,000 acres of wilderness."
I stretched my wings. "Good thing I can cover ground fast."
Dean tossed me a backpack stuffed with supplies. "Try not to get turned into a tree, Feathers."
Lena caught my arm as I turned to leave. Her stone pulsed hot under my fingers. "Marcus... if this doesn't work—"
"Then we'll find another way," I lied smoothly.
The truth? There was no other way. But I'd be damned if I let that kid die.
With a powerful downstroke, I launched into the sky.
Two hours of flight left my wings aching and my nose numb from the cold. The Boundary Waters sprawled beneath me—an endless sea of pine and birch, broken only by glacial lakes.
I landed hard on a moss-covered outcropping, my Enhanced Senses scanning for anything unnatural. The forest hummed with life—chickadees, black bears, the occasional wolf—but nothing magical.
Then I caught it.
A whisper of movement between the trees. Not around them—through them.
I flexed my claws. "Show yourself."
The air shimmered. A woman—no, the impression of a woman—materialized from the bark of a white pine. Her skin was dappled sunlight, her hair woven vines.
"Hunter." Her voice was the creak of branches in wind. "You reek of death."
I kept my hands visible. "I need your help."
Her emerald eyes tracked my every microexpression. "You seek the gift of renewal. But you would take it by force."
No point denying it. "If I have to."
The nymph's laughter sounded like falling acorns. "You cannot kill what is already eternal. But perhaps..." She extended a hand. "A trade."
I eyed her warily. "What do you want?"
"The parasite in your veins. The dragon's curse."
My wings twitched reflexively. "You want me to give up my powers?"
"Only the stolen ones that have Kharon signature in it. The rest... are yours by right."
I thought of Lena's stone heart. Of Kharon's smug face.
"Deal."
The nymph's smile split her face like a birch peeling. "Then let us begin."
Pain.
White-hot, soul-rending pain as the nymph's fingers plunged into my chest. My wings shattered into emerald light, the dragon strength evaporating like morning dew.
When I came to, I was sprawled on the forest floor, gasping. The nymph stood over me, her form flickering between tree and flesh.
"It is done." She pressed a hand to my sternum. "The gift is yours. Use it wisely."
I sat up slowly, testing my limbs. Still strong—just not dragon strong. And now strength back to usual strength 15 tons still telekinesis still in 600 kg strength only my dragons wings and dragon strength was loss but beneath my ribs, something new hummed: the power to mend, to regrow and heal.
The nymph was already fading back into the pine.
"Wait!" I called hoarsely. "Why help me?"
Her voice echoed through the leaves:
"Because the enemy of my enemy... is my friend."
Then she was gone.
I stared at the spot where the wood nymph had vanished, the phantom ache of my missing wings still burning between my shoulder blades.
"Son of a fucking dryad," I growled, kicking a pinecone hard enough to send it ricocheting through the trees like a gunshot.
No wings. No dragonfire. Just this new, untested healing power humming under my ribs and a very long walk back to civilization.
Then it hit me.
Telekinesis.
If I could lift 600 kg with my mind, why not myself?
I focused, wrapping psychic energy around my body like an invisible harness—
—and lifted.
My boots left the ground.
"Holy shit," I muttered, hovering five feet up. "I'm a goddamn budget Iron Man."
The second I tried to move forward, I faceplanted into a birch tree.
Okay. Fine. Subtlety.
After ten minutes of trial and error (and several more tree-related incidents), I found the sweet spot—levitating at a steady 150 mph, using my arms for balance like some kind of psychic surfer. It wasn't elegant, but it beat hitchhiking.
As the Boundary Waters blurred beneath me, I couldn't help but laugh.
Trade wings for healing? Worth it.
Looking like an idiot pretending to Superman? Priceless.
Bobby's junkyard never looked so good. I touched down harder than intended, skidding through a pile of scrap metal before faceplanting into an old Chevy.
Dean's voice rang out from the porch: "Dude. You forget how to land?"
I flipped him off as I peeled myself off the bumper. "New flight system. Still calibrating."
Sam and Bobby appeared behind Dean, their expressions shifting from relief to concern as they took in my lack of wings.
Lena pushed past them, her stone heart pulsing wildly. "Did it work?"
I tapped my sternum. "Got the goods. Lost the draconic décor."
Bobby's eyes narrowed. "What'd it cost you?"
"Just the stolen powers," I said, flexing my hands. Still strong—just not dragon strong. "Nymph had a thing about 'natural order.'"
Lena's face did something complicated. "You... you traded your wings? For me?"
I shrugged. "Eh, they chafed anyway."
Dean snorted. "Bullshit. You loved those things."
"Okay, fine," I admitted, "but have you seen the price of wing wax? Highway robbery."
Sam, ever the voice of reason, cleared his throat. "So. Heart surgery?"
and then we head towards the panic room and behold
The panic room smelled like antiseptic and nerves as Lena lay on Bobby's reinforced worktable. Her fingers dug into the edges, knuckles white.
"You're sure this will work?" she asked for the tenth time.
I rolled up my sleeves. "Nope. But it's the best shot we've got."
Bobby handed me a silver scalpel. "Remember—slow and steady. That stone's connected to her arteries."
Dean leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "No pressure or anything."
I ignored him, focusing on the glowing stone embedded in Lena's chest. My new healing power hummed in response, like tuning forks resonating.
Here goes nothing.
The first incision made Lena gasp. Crimson welled around the stone's edges, but my hands moved with unnatural precision—guided by the nymph's gift.
"Talk to me," I muttered as I worked. "Keep you distracted."
Lena's breath came in short bursts. "About what?"
"Anything. First crush. Worst date. Secret zombie apocalypse plans."
She choked out a laugh. "I... I wanted to be a pediatrician. Before Hess."
The stone pulsed as I pried it loose, tendrils of magic resisting like roots.
"Good career choice," I said, gritting my teeth. "Stable hours. Good benefits."
"Y-you're terrible at this," she gasped.
The stone came free with a wet pop.
Now.
I crushed it in my palm—
The explosion of red light threw us all backward.
Somewhere beyond the veil, a god howled.
The obsidian statue in the cave shattered, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface. Black ooze seeped from the fractures as Kharon's form flickered between stone and flesh.
"M̴A̸R̷C̸U̸S̶ ̵H̷A̵L̵E̷!"
The scream shook the foundations of reality.
For the first time in millennia...
Kharon felt fear.