ELDER MALIN POV
The phoenix burst through my window in a ball of flames, nearly setting my beard on fire.
"They're all here, Elder," the phoenix gasped, smoke curling from her wings. "Every single one you called. But we might be too late."
I grabbed my walking stick and hurried as fast as my old bones could carry me. Outside my cottage, the most impossible sight met me. Creatures I hadn't seen together in over a hundred years were standing in my yard.
Three vampires with bright red eyes. A pack of wild werewolves from the northern regions. Two witches whose power crackled around them like electricity. Even a dragon, though she had taken human form to fit in my small yard.
"You all came," I said, and for the first time in weeks, I felt hope.
"You said the world was ending," growled Marcus, the vampire boss. "We may not like each other, but we're not stupid."
"Where's the girl?" asked Luna, the witch with silver hair. "The one whose fate is tied to all of ours?"
