The sparkle in her eyes told me she wanted to argue, but could tell I meant business. I must have leaned too close, because my scent made her nose wrinkle. Trying to ignore her reaction, I straightened her head and got back to work.
It wasn’t Tali’s fault that being the spawn of a dark magic-wielding witch had twisted that part of me into an evil creature that had to be contained. Sereana’s spells kept my beast locked away, but even she couldn’t fully hide the scent. According to Tali, I smelled “wrong,” whatever that meant.
“Did you get the artifact?” she asked, snapping my attention back into the present.
“Of course I did.”
“You did? Seriously?”
Her genuine surprise kind of stung. Kids can be a little too honest sometimes, but she should know me better than that. Last night, I’d been terrified out of my skull, but failure had never been an option.
“Have you no faith in me, pup?”
“I… do.”
“Really convincing.” Still, I couldn’t blame her because I got it. She wasn’t the only packmate who saw my inability to shift as a weakness. No matter how many times I’d proven myself capable.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Well, I snuck into a castle, stole the magical rock from a hoard, tricked a dragon into releasing me, and narrowly escaped his gargoyle sentries with my life. Just another day on the job.”
Her head and eyes rolled in unison. “Yeah, right.”
This kid.I fought back a laugh. “You don’t believe me?
“You gotta admit, it sounds a bit out there, Zee. You’re fast, but not fast enough to outrun a dragon.”
“I got the drop on him while he was in his human form.”
I suppressed a shudder as memories of the dragon’s scaly form shattered my peace. No. Not memories. That was a nightmare,drawn from fears rather than reality. His dragon form could be the size of a lizard for all I knew. In fact, that was how I needed to think of him from now on. Then I could step on him the next time my mind went there.
Evicting the scaled menace from my thoughts, I tied off her hair and started on my own. We took turns in the bathroom. Then I stopped by my room and grabbed my backpack, shooing Tali toward the front door. Rust might be taking the day off, but I wasn’t.
I couldn’t.
And I sure as hell wasn’t going back to bed, no matter how much I wanted to. Four hours of sleep would have to suffice, because right now, I needed to put a little space between me and my thoughts before I crawled out of my skin.
As I ushered Tali toward the front door, she paused to pull faces in front of the cracked mirror behind the bar. Mackiel and I lived in an old tourist trap—a basement Wild West saloon. The old dance floor was now our bedroom, the bathroom had a shower, and the small dining area was our living room.
It had taken a lot of work, but from the cracked red brick walls to the exposed pipes that groaned every time the heat kicked on to the scuffed hardwood floors, I loved it all. It had an embossed tin-tiled ceiling, for chrissake. The place was rad. The old chestnut bar with its giant cracked mirror was icing on the cake. Mackiel had wanted to hunt down a replacement mirror, but I’d objected. The kaleidoscope this one offered was perfect, even with thousands of reflections of Tali’s tongue.
“Goofball,” I said, nudging her out the door.
Outside was quiet, a benefit of the old saloon’s location. We were on the outskirts of the pack, deep in the tunnels. Where absolutely no dragons could get to me.
As we strode toward the familiar sounds of the pack, fragmented daylight filtered through small glass squares embedded in the regraded sidewalks above. The string of lights that illuminated our way was unnecessary since we could all see down here justfine, but they were one more thing I loved about my home. They made the narrow tunnels that used to be sidewalks feel almost magical.
“How’s school going?” I asked as we took the side tunnel that led to the mess hall. “You keeping up?”
She rolled her eyes at me. Again. “I’m not stupid, Zee.”
“It’s not your brains I worry about. It’s your eye-rolling. And your problem with authority.”
“A friend once told me that only the weak are intimidated by strength.”
I bit back a growl. “That’s horrible advice. I take it back.”
“You can’t. It’s probably the smartest thing you’ve ever said.”
