“Declan said something like that,” Jacy replied, bending her neck to touch Declan’s head with her muzzle. “But if I had at least one dragon parent, why wasn’t I taught this? Why didn’t my parents tell me?”
“We may never know, honey,” I replied. “I’m sorry you had to learn in such a desperate fashion.”
I paced close to her and settled my neck over hers. “But I’m also so very glad. If you weren’t a dragon, you and Declan would be dead right now.”
Jacy lifted her muzzle to rub against mine. “I’m glad I’m not alone.”
“You’ll never be alone,” Declan declared.
“Are you afraid to fly?”
“Afraid to fly? Why –” Jacy suddenly gulped and glanced at her folded wings. “Oh. Um. I don’t know.”
“We should get home,” I said quietly. “Now, I can carry both you and Declan. Or you can have a crash course on draconic aviation right now.”
Jacy pondered her options for a time, then said, “I’ll fly. Just tell me how.”
“Spread your wings.”
Jacy obeyed me.
I set Declan on my shoulders. “Hang tight, little man.”
I felt his small hands clutch my neck ridge in a death grip. He’d flown with me before, yet hadn’t quite gotten over his nervousness. “Ready?”
“Yeah, Dad.”
To Jacy, I said, “Crouch low. Gather your haunches under you. Leap into the air and let your dragon instincts take over.”
I crouched to show her how, then jumped for the cloudy sky above. The wind had little effect on my flight as I circled low over the clearing. A swift glance toward the county highway showed all the emergency vehicles and those of the looky loos gone. “Now, Jacy.”
She leaped as I had, her wings spread – then she abruptly fell face first into the grass. “Dammit.”
“Try again. Once you feel the wind under your wings, beat them up and down. They’ll know what to do.”
Crouching, Jacy jumped again, her wings spread, and this time caught the wind beneath them. And headed straight into the copse of trees. I held my breath, fearing she’d crash and lose all potential confidence in flying. Jacy yelled out, then dippedher right wing and swung right. Beating hard, she flew up and over the forest below.
Both Declan and I screamed our joy.
As graceful as a hawk, Jacy banked toward us, her wings floating up and down, her jaws wide in the sheer joy of flying. She’d caught the bug. The dragon bug. The addiction to flying that ran through all dragons’ veins. Never again would she be content with being grounded.
I circled higher and higher, laughing, as Jacy soared upward, her instincts to let the warm thermals assist her guiding her flight. Banking around, she flew past us, dancing the dragon dance of wind and sky and flight. I couldn’t join her in that dance, yet vowed I would at the first opportunity.
“Come on, love,” I called to her. “Let’s go home.”
***
“Thanks for letting me know what happened to my car.”
The uniformed cop nodded. We had beaten him to the house by mere minutes, as he’d been sent to inquire why my car was involved in a wreck on the state highway. Naturally, I expressed my shock that my car had been stolen and I never knew it. And involved in a car chase resulting in a fire.
“Call your insurance company,” he said. “It’s a total loss, I’m sure.”
“Sounds like it. But you didn’t find who’d taken it?”
“No, sir. The culprits were gone before anyone arrived.”
“Hope you catch them.”
