Declan charged out from under the strange dragon’s – it had to be Jacy – legs, galloping toward me. He cannoned into me, laughing, smoke trickling from his nostrils, then reared up against my leg.
“Jacy saved me, Dad,” he exclaimed, still excited. “A man tried to kill us, ran us off the road. Jacy got him when she turned into a dragon. Isn’t she great, Dad? She’s one of us –”
I looked up from Declan’s happy laughter to Jacy. “Thank you for protecting my son.”
The relief I’d felt upon finding them both alive and unharmed still steeped within me. In a near panic, I’d flown from the city, certain they’d both been killed. Instead, I discovered police cruisers, fire trucks, ambulances, and a crowd of onlookers as the flames of some burned vehicle died in the dark. When I saw my own car, wrecked beyond belief, I knew they were dead.
“How’d you find us, Dad?”
Jacy ambled toward me, her green eyes wide with horror, fear. “Avery.”
I craved to smile, to laugh with joy, to entwine my neck with hers, to fly with her, wing to wing. The expression in her eyes, the tension in her neck and shoulders warned me to be careful. She hadn’t yet accepted what she was – a dragon shifter. If I fumbled, I might scare her into never shifting again.
“Jacy,” I said, keeping my tone soft. “Can you tell me what happened?”
She sat, clearly nervous, her tail coiled around her feet. “I’m not sure what to say. The dude ran us off the road, he had a gun. I – I had to protect Declan. The next thing, I’m big and I – you know. I’m sure you saw the truck.”
“I did. Let me see if I can explain a few things.” I sat down, also curling my tail around my feet. Declan happily rolled in the tall dry grass, his wings flapping against the ground. “You’re in danger. Your dragon instincts took over. The dragon within you, the dragon you’ve been since your conception, rose to protect you. She shifted from your human form to this one.”
She dipped her muzzle in agreement. “That makes sense.”
“I won’t make light of your predicament,” I went on. “I know, I can obviously see, that your dragon side scares you.”
“That’s one way of seeing it.”
“Don’t.” I smiled. “Your dragon half is still you. You haven’t left your humanity behind.”
“Haven’t I?” Jacy’s voice shook. “I don’t know how to get back. I can’t get back, the way it was, I was –” She gulped, her body shaking.
“Calm down, Jacy,” I said softly. “You just haven’t learned how to shift yet. Declan, why don’t you show her.”
“Okay.”
Declan rolled onto his feet, then shifted back into his little boy. “See, Jacy? It’s easy.”
Jacy blinked, but her trembling hadn’t ceased. “I still don’t – I don’t see how.”
“Just think of your human half,” I said, my tone soothing. “Imagine your human body as it was before you changed. Then, simply will it to happen.”
“Will? Will it how?”
“Yeah. Think of your human body, your beautiful, lovely body, and make it happen.”
“You can do it, Jacy,” Declan cried.
She closed her eyes. Her breathing slowed. An instant later, she stood on her human two legs, her hair flowing around her shoulders. I noticed she wore one of my jackets.
“Yay,” Declan shouted and ran to her. “See? You can do it.”
Laughing shakily, Jacy bent to hug him. “I did, huh. I did it.”
“Now think of your dragon self,” I said. “Think of her, then will yourself into that form.”
With a bit more confidence, Jacy shut her eyes again, concentrating. Instantly, her huge dragon body dwarfed Declan, who, in his excitement, hugged her leg.
“I did it,” she yelled, all but crowing in triumph. “I did it.”
I laughed, too. “With practice, you can shift with simply a thought. I’ve been teaching Declan since he was old enough to understand. Dragon parents are supposed to teach their children when they’re young. Teach them that what we are must be kept from humans.”
