At the sight of my mangled throat, the captain’s eyes widen in shock, then narrow.
“So, you can’t speak? Fine. You’ll write your answers. I’ll be back.” Veritas zips his coat and pushes into the frigid day.
Dread scrapes my insides with the clanging shut door.
The moment he disappears, the young man turns back to me with urgency. “You’re running, yes? You need to get away from here?”
Over the past twenty years, I’ve only allowed myself to trust one other. Everything in me rebels against allowing this stranger to know the truth.
“Please, I want to help. But we need to act fast.”
That’s when I see the onyx glow of his eyes. The same color as Hotaru.
“Watanabe.”
Despite the shock in his expression, he doesn’t freeze. “My grandmother.”
If I can put my faith in anyone, let it be one of her line. I nod, staring into his eyes.
“You’ll need to knock me out, then run southeast until you spot a rock formation that resembles a turtle. Under the largest stone is a cave. Shelter there, and I’ll find you. We’ll have to smuggle you onto the ship when the scheduled dragons come. If he finds out the secret my grandmother taught you, he will take you back. Or worse. Do you understand?”
Another nod. Of course, the trials continue.
“We’ll make a plan as we wait for the others to arrive. For now, you need to run. Hit me and go.”
When I hesitate, tired of bloodshed, the young man shoves my chest. “Now!”
I do. His eyes roll back in his head as he falls to the floor. I snatch a coat and run and hide.
For three weeks, I live beneath a rock, venturing out to catch fish in icy waters, sometimes cooking them with the heat of my hands and sometimes devouring them raw. Antarctic sushi.
Yuito, Hotaru’s grandson, comes when he can, bringing supplies that won’t be missed and teaching me the many ways the world has changed in my absence.
“Do you have someplace to go?” he asks one night.
Not in the way he means. There’s no shelter waiting for me in the world. But I have a destination.
I simply nod. After another week of pushing and a blood oath not to share my location, I relent and tell him.
“Folk Haven? I’ve never been, but I’ve heard of it. A town in Georgia. A safe place for mythical creatures looking to coexist.”
I grunt in confirmation. Good to know it hasn’t disappeared. Would have made the job of finding Esme that much harder.
What if she left?
I push the thought away. If she has, I’ll search until I find her.
“I know a dragon who planned to move there. Xavier. Nice guy. Think he’s a firefighter. If you need help, you might want to find him,” Yuito offers.
With a nod of thanks, I store the information away. Hold on to his name when I hide in the hull of the ship as it sails to the southern point of South America. Silently chant the name when Yuito presses a wad of cash into my hand and wishes me luck before I blend in with the city crowd. Whisper his name after Esme’s each night when I fall asleep in a grimy alley or a hidey-hole on another boat, the one that brings me to the States.
During the long, painful journey is the only time I miss my dragon form. The body with powerful wings that could carry me across a great distance, straight to her. But I will never again risk getting stuck in that form, even knowing the secret of early transformation.
After weeks of scraping my way through the modern world, I find myself in Georgia, hitchhiking north.
A trucker lets me off in Toccoa with a granola bar and a gruff, “Good luck.”
I walk the rest of the way, sleeping in the woods when I’m too exhausted to take another step.
