"I can still use what I have left! Fire ice and lava,and I still have some magic left from my soul! I don't wanna stay behind." He said,shaking his head as the color came back to his face and his wings folded to his back again. " I want to fight as well,I may be 17 but I'm not like other teens. I don't wanna just sit around and avoid the problem,I want to help solve it!"

One corner of his mouth twitched, just a little. "As you wish, Jason," he said, and glanced at Puck, who was leering at them both. "Goodfellow, are you ready?"

Puck nodded and leaped onto the skylight. Puck pulled Jason up.

Virus directly below them, shouting and waving the scepter above her head, her attention riveted on the battle and Ironhorse.

Ash leaped onto the skylight, drawing his sword as he did. "Look after Jason," he said, as glamour began shimmering around both him and Puck. "I'll take care of Virus."

Puck suddenly swept Jason into his arms. "Hold on tight, dragon boy," he murmured, as a shimmer went through the air around them, and they dropped straight through the glass like it wasnt there. They plummeted toward the overhang. Ash dropped toward Virus like an avenging angel, his coat flapping in the wind, sword bared and gleaming as he raised it over his head.

Jason immediately held tight to around Pucks neck,trusting he'd be safe in his arms and that trust really was stretched as they dropped. He was tempted to open his wings automatically and hover but he didn't,trusting as long as he was in Puck's arms he was safe.

At the last moment, one of the Thornguards surrounding Virus glanced up, and his eyes got huge. Drawing his sword, he gave a shout of warning, and amazingly, Virus whirled and looked up. Ash's blade slashed down in a streak of blue and met the Scepter of the Seasons as Virus swept it up to block him.

There was a flash of blue and green light and a hideous screech that echoed through the room and caused every eye to turn to the pair on the overhang. Sparks flew between the ice blade and the scepter, bathing the combatants' faces in flickering lights. Virus looked rather shocked to be facing her former soldier; Ash's mouth was tight with concentration as he bore down on her with his sword.


Puck set Jason down and leaped between the Thornguards as they rushed up with drawn swords. Grinning, he threw himself at the guards, daggers flashing in the hellish light coming from Ash's blade and the scepter. Then Virus started to laugh.

Jason felt his heart almost stop as Puck rushed at the two and he lunged at one but he paled as Virus began to laugh. He leaped to the side and glanced over at the horrid lady.

She shoved Ash away, pushing him back in a flash of green. He recovered immediately, but before he could rush her again, Virus retreated, stepping off the mezzanine to float several feet in the air. Her poisonous green eyes found Jason and she smiled.

"Well." She sniffed and cast bemused glances at the chaos spread at her feet. Ironhorse, surrounded by Iron fey, still kicked and raged at them, though his struggles were growing weaker. More Thornguards came rushing up the steps, but these held crossbows with iron bolts, pointed right at them. Ash and Puck drew back so that they were standing between Jason and the guards, who had them surrounded in a bristly black ring.

"Jason Skytracer. You are full of surprises, arent you?" Virus smiled at him.

"I've no idea how you managed to free the Winter prince from my bug, but it doesnt matter now. The armies of the false king are ready to march on Summer and Winter. Once they have taken the Nevernever and killed off the oldblood rulers, it will be our turn. We will overrun their armies and kill the false king before he has a chance to savor his victory. Then, the Nevernever will belong to m--"

She didnt have a chance to finish. Ash drew back and hurled a flurry of ice daggers at her face, taking her by surprise. She flinched, holding up the scepter; there was a flash of green light and a surge of power. The icicles shattered, bursting apart before they reached her. With angry shouts, the crossbowmen released their quarrels even as Virus screamed at them to stop.

The deadly storm of iron bolts flew toward the trio.

Jason's eyes widened and,before he even knew what he was doing as the iron bolts flew,shifted quickly to his larger dragon for and,with a enraged roar,wrapped the two faey in his large fractured wings and let fire hurtle toward the shooters. He seemed to not even care that he was cracked and busted,open area's bloodied on him. He clearly shouldn't have shifted but he wasn't thinking. With huge talons he lashed quickly at the guards,deadly black claws sharper than Ash's sword or Puck's dagger blades.

Once he had shoved and stabbed away the main row of guards his deadly purple,glassy eyed gaze turned to Virus with pure rage.Not normal anger.No. The rage he had had against Shade. Hate. He let out a shrill screech,massive jaws wide and lava swelling.

"Impossible." Virus spun slowly to face Jason, her face draining of color. She shook her head, as if trying to convince herself. "You cannot be the one. A weakling dragon? Youre not even one of us. Its a mistake, it must be!"

Virus started to giggle, sticking a green-tinted nail in her mouth, her laughter growing louder and more hysterical until she stopped and glared at Jason with wide, crazy eyes. "No!" she screamed, making even the Thornguards flinch. "It isnt right! I was his second! His power should have been mine!"

Her mouth opened, gaping impossibly wide, and the Thornguards backed away. The air started to vibrate, a terrible buzzing filling the air, and Virus threw her head back. With the droning of a million bees, a huge swarm of metal bugs spiraled up from Virus's mouth, swirling around her in a frantic glittering cloud. Her smile was savage as she looked down at them, extending a hand from the center of the buzzing tornado. "Now, my dears," she said, barely audible over the droning of a thousand bugs, "we will end this little game once and for all. I should have done this when I first saw you, but I had no idea you were the one I was searching for all along."


Everything grew very still. Something buzzed beneath Jason's skin, and he could taste metal on the air. If he looked at the swarm he would see thousands of individual bugs, but also a single creature sharing one mind, one goal, one purpose. Control one, and you control them all.

He felt terror shutter through him,sick green and death white running through his underwings frills and freckles but he only glared and didn't dare show anything close to fear. He made sure to keep his body above Puck and Ash to keep them safe. He didn't understand what she meant. 'One she's been looking for? I'm nothing but a middle prince left of three.What....wait....is this something to do with my soul?' He thought,hissing fire alive to his jaws.

"Go," she screamed, sweeping her arm toward them. "Crawl down their throats and nostrils, into their eyes and ears and every open pore. Burrow into their brains and make them tear out their own hearts!"

The Swarm flew toward them, a furious, buzzing cloud. Ash and Puck pressed close; he could feel one of them shaking but couldnt tell who. A droning filled their ears as the Swarm approached, glowing bright with iron glamour, melded into a single massive entity. One mind. One creature.