“Yes, yes,” Crimson replied, only to be elbowed by Taylor again. “Ow.”
“Did you sayhumans? Where?”
“We want to see them!”
The pair of voices could only belong to the twins. They manifested side-by-side like a pair of horror movie characters in a hallway, except they were eagerly looking around for any sign of humans.
“Don’t freak them out,” Crimson said. “Otherwise they’ll go back to their human world and tell everyone how terrifying dragons are.” He paused. “On second thought, go ahead and freak them out.”
“Crimson,” Taylor said in a fond warning.
“Fine, I’m behaving.”
Since the whole family was invited to the show, I looked around for the remaining two dragons.
“Where’s Cobalt and Viol?” I asked.
Aurum cocked his head towards the water. “Cobalt’s over there staring at the sea. He seemed excited about the show, so I think he just got distracted. Dunno if Viol will come, though.”
“Yeah, he heard humans were gonna be here, and noped out of it,” Saffron explained.
“Oh,” I said. It was a bit disappointing not to have the whole family present for the show, but if those were Viol’s limits, I’d respect them. I wondered if his turbulent history had something to do with humans.
Suddenly, Aurum and Saffron’s eyes went wide, as if noticing something behind me. A second later, I heard Vani’s raspy voice call out, “Yo, Q!”
I turned around just in time to see him and Keaux running towards me. Anxious joy swirled in my chest. I was happy to see them, but it had been so long since we met in person. Jade arranged their visit for tonight’s performance, and Vani and Keaux accepted.
It turned out I was nervous for nothing. My old friends slammed into me in a big group hug. Their embraces and familiar scents calmed my nerves.
“It’s so good to see you, dude,” Keaux said, wearing his usual lopsided grin.
“You guys, too,” I said, meaning it. “By the way, nice rings.”
They both blushed. The matching gold bands on their fingers shone bright, reflecting the stage lighting.
“Enough about us,” Vani said. “Where’s your man?”
“He’s on standby,” I said. “I want everything to be ready before we call him down.”
Keaux leaned in, speaking in a conspiratorial whisper. “Is hereallya dragon?”
“Yes,” I said in a matching stage whisper. Pointing my thumb over my shoulder, I added, “All those guys are dragons. Well, except Taylor. He’s a tiger.”
Vani and Keaux blinked.
“Weird,” Vani said. “You’d never know they weren’t normal—er, regular humans.”
“We can all hear you, you know,” Crimson pointed out dryly.
Vani ducked his head as if Crimson would transform and cook him in a blast of fire. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, are we getting this show on the road or what?”
Keaux twirled his drum sticks. “Yeah, I’m itching to get on stage.”
“Me, too,” I agreed. Turning around to face my family, I took a deep breath. “Okay. We’re ready. Would somebody go grab Thystle?”
Saffron shifted into dragon form before anyone else could offer. “I’ve got it!” he called from halfway into the sky. Meanwhile, Vani and Keaux looked like they’d just seen a UFO.
“I told you dragons were real,” I teased.
