Page 37 of Red Dragon’s Flame

Devon spread her hands. “I don’t know.”

“Who were you associating with?”

“No one,” she said. “I mean, quick trips to different grocery stores, sometimes. Deliveries to different mail handling storefronts. UPS stores, things like that. Otherwise, I didn’t talk to anyone, except online through fake identities.”

Emon was still watching her intently. She felt like he could probe straight into her mind. “What about money? Were you accessing any accounts from your parents or guardian, that could be traced to your location?”

She shook her head.

“Should I ask what you were doing for money?”

Devon bit her lip. “Um… probably not?”

“She’s a hacker,” Mikah said, clearly by way of answering the question.

Emon gave a resigned sigh. “So, crime.”

“Crime is untraceable, if you do it right,” Devon pointed out. “And also, crime is fun.”

Zak grinned. “I like her,” he said to Mikah.

She supposed that was good, although she was pretty sure from the dynamics in the room that Zak’s opinion didn’t actually count.

Brock said, “What about that magical tattoo on your back? Was that one of Auntie May’s ‘protections’?”

Emon turned a questioning look on Devon. She looked at Mikah.

“You’re going to have to show him,” he said.

“What, like take my shirt off in front of all these people? No.”

Mikah smiled at her. “I’ll fix it.”

She felt a little tingle of magic from the arm around her back, and… something… happened to her shirt. It was suddenly a halter top, leaving her back bare. She could feel the fuzzy lining of her jacket.

Sheeyit. “That magic is going to take some getting used to,” she whispered.

“Turn around and take the jacket off so he can see. It’s okay.”

Devon had never, ever shown anyone the tattoo before. It was impossible to explain to regular humans.

Slowly, she slid the jacket off her shoulders and turned sideways in her chair, tucking one leg up. She swiveled around so everyone could see her back.

Emon got up and walked over, running his hand through the air inches from the tattoo. Just having him that close to her was scary. She felt totally exposed.

The tattoo flared up, and he spoke a few stern words in a language she didn’t recognize. To her shock, the heat and flames subsided.

“It’s definitely magical,” the king said in a thoughtful tone. “But not any kind of magic I recognize.”

A strange raspy voice added silently,

The voice she recognized as Mikah’s dragon gave a growl inside her head, and said,

Ignoring the silently bickering dragons, Emon asked, “Is it purely defensive? And are you able to control it? Does it do anything else?”

Devon said, “Um. I don’t know, it didn’t used to burn things indiscriminately, and it keeps me breathing.”

“I said, besides defensive power.”