I lay in the darkness beside Avery and wondered about my sibling.
Was he a dragon, too? Does he share my blood? Does he know he’s a dragon?
I had no answers to these questions. But they kept me awake at night.
***
Though I’d learned much about being a dragon that fateful night, Avery taught me far more. With Declan at home, watched over by a neighbor girl, Avery took me flying. He taught me how to dive with my wings folded, like a hawk on a mouse, how to soar on the wind with my wings wide, how to control my flames.
“There’s nothing on this earth hotter than dragon fire,” he said as we flew, wingtip to wingtip. “That dope head I burned – well, there’s nothing left of him. The human authorities couldn’t accuse me of murder as they have no body, and no evidence any crime may have been committed.”
“So the dude I burned, there’s nothing left of him, either?”
“Nope. The truck became a mound of slag, nothing tying the fire to a dragon.”
I banked a hard left, followed closely by Avery. “But won’t the authorities question why that truck fire was so hot?”
“Sure,” he replied. “They question. And have no answers.”
“How many humans know about us?” I asked.
“That’s hard to say. Some do. Obviously, they keep quiet about it. We don’t make waves, don’t make the news cycles. That way, it’s easier to ignore us.”
We flew back to the empty field to land, then shifted into our human forms. Hand in hand, we ambled through the icy darkness, talking of this and that. We reached home at nearly two in the morning to discover Declan asleep in his bed and the babysitter dozing on the couch. She woke and accepted Avery’s cash sleepily. He saw her out while I poured wine for us both.
Returning to the TV room, Avery plucked his cell from the table, then sat beside me.
“Isn’t it rather late for making a phone call?” I asked, then yawned.
“I’m expecting an e-mail from the Atlanta guys.” Avery bent to kiss me. “I’ll be with you in a second.”
Luxuriating in the memories of flying, I sipped my wine while daydreaming of more flights to come. His cell in his hand, gazing at it, Avery suddenly sucked in his breath. Sharply. In alarm.
“What?” I asked.
His brows furrowed, Avery met my eyes. “I’ve been summoned by the council. They’re going to try me for what I’ve done.”
***
Avery seized my hand. “Let’s run away.”
I glanced toward the TV room where Declan played with his toy dinosaurs while Peter and Wendy batted them with their paws. He’d obviously sensed the fresh tension since Avery’s e-mail two days earlier and had been subdued. Yet, at that moment his voice sounded happy, without care.
“Maybe we should just face them,” I said, my voice low. “Get it done and over with.”
“If they banish me,” he said, both his tone and expression strained, “I won’t have a chance to escape. They’ll have dragons ready to land on me, force me to Iceland.”
Since he’d received the e-mail, Avery had spoken very little, and only when spoken to. I, too, stressed over what might happen if or when Avery obeyed the summons. Neither of us had slept much since, and I’d grown tired and cranky.
I sat in his lap and slid my arms around his neck. “And we keep running? For the rest of our lives? What might that do to Declan?”
He grimaced. “We’ll fly to a remote place, an island maybe. They’ll never find us.”
I smiled sadly. “And how can we survive? On fish and coconuts? What about earning money to pay for supplies? You, or I, need the internet to work, make a living. Sure, we can find a place in another country, change our names. Then what if they find us again?”
Avery nodded slowly, rested his brow against mine. “I’m scared, Jacy.”
“I know, I’m scared, too.”
