Southern Myths

by Amy Boyles

  Betty tapped the spoon against the iron. “I believe so. Need more training?”

  “I need about as much training as I can get. Or at least a manual. I have no idea how I’m supposed to raise a dragon. It’s not like there are YouTube videos on it.”

  Betty drummed her fingers on the chair. “I’ll talk to Barry, see if he can get you more time. That’s if you manage to stay alive long enough to keep hold of the dragon.”

  I gritted my teeth. “Will you knock off the whole ‘someone wants to murder you’ thing? It’s getting old.”

  Not to mention every time she mentioned it my gut clenched and I felt the urge to use the bathroom.

  “It’s the truth. I’m trying to keep you on your toes. Make sure you’re battle-ready.”

  “Oh, I’m battle-ready.”

  “If you mean a battle against ants, you might be right. But against people? Someone like Rufus? You’d be toast, kid.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  Cordelia and Amelia strolled into the room. “It’s starting to get late. The station’s quiet on Sundays,” Cordelia said.

  “Oh? Know firsthand?” Betty said.

  Cordelia ignored her.

  Amelia glanced in the pot. “What are you cooking?”

  Betty scooped out a ladle of inky liquid. “This is your makeup for tonight. It’ll keep folks from seeing you.”

  “It looks like tar,” I said. “Smells like it to. You sure that’s safe?”

  Betty smiled. “You’re about to find out. It’s go time.”

  FIFTEEN

  The four of us sneaked into the lot behind the police station. We had all piled into my old Camry, which I’d barely driven since I’d been in town as I didn’t have any use for it.

  The moon had shifted into its crescent form, spilling light onto several parked cars. I stared at the street lamps.

  “Those might be a problem. Mysterio’s van is parked directly beneath one.”

  “Which is his?” Amelia asked.

  I pointed to the van with the black hat teetering atop it. “That’s the one.”

  “Oh,” Amelia said in a way that made me think she’d realized that if it had been a snake, the van would’ve bitten her.

  “The lights won’t be any problem.” Betty clapped her hands. The lamps winked out.

  “How long will that last?” Cordelia said.

  “About twenty minutes. Plenty of time to find what we’re looking for.”

  “Even though we don’t know what that is,” I said.

  “Right. But when you find it, you’ll know it. I trust your instincts.”

  I glanced in the mirror. Smudges of black lined my cheeks and forehead. “I’m not sure what I trust at this point cause I’m betting this stuff is going to leave a mark so dark I won’t be able to leave the house for days.”

  Betty waved dismissively. “All it needs is soap and water.”

  “So she says,” Cordelia said, shoving open the door. “Come on. Time’s wasting. Amelia, you’re on guard, right?”

  Amelia saluted us. “Aye, aye, captain. I’m your watch.”

  “Let’s go,” Cordelia said.

  We slinked from the car, leaving Betty in the driver’s seat. It occurred to me that if we were caught, Betty could just drive away, leaving us stranded.

  “You don’t think she’ll desert us if the going gets tough, do you?” I said to Cordelia.

  “Anything’s possible.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel better.”

  Amelia wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “Betty loves us. She wouldn’t leave us high and dry.” She paused. “I don’t think.”

  “We’d better hurry,” I said.

  Amelia took a stance where she could see the rear of the police station as well as if anyone pulled into the lot. I slid the key into the door.

  “Alarm?” I said.

  Cordelia flattened her palms on the side. “I’m on it.”

  I turned the key until I heard the lock snick. I pulled the doors open.

  “Holy geez,” Cordelia said.

  “You can say that again.”

  We gave each other oh-crap looks. “Fifteen minutes. I want to be out way before those lights come on. Let’s go.”

  “Where?” she said. “Where do we even start?”

  “I’ll take the front. You take the back.”

  Mysterio’s van looked like a studio apartment crammed with everything ever created by mankind.

  I’m not kidding.

  There were statues and papers, bookshelves and dressers, a filing cabinet and a large chest. There was simply so much that fifteen minutes wouldn’t even put a dent in the amount of sheer stuff we’d have to shuffle through.

  I wiggled my way to the front, where Mysterio’s bed was bolted down. Costumes and clothes lined the head and foot, hanging from a rod suspended from the ceiling. I lifted the mattress but found nothing. I riffled through clothes and started on a desk beside the bed.

  The drawers were unlocked. I opened the first one and discovered a manila folder stuffed with purchase orders.

  And then I found it. Like, literally five seconds in I found a receipt for a dragon. But it wasn’t from my shop. It was some shop in Florida. It looked like Mysterio had purchased the dragon about a month or so earlier.

  “Look at this,” I said.

  Cordelia crawled over. “What?”

  “It looks like Mysterio purchased a dragon from a store in Florabama.”

  “Florabama? The beach?”

  “Yeah. But if he purchased a dragon from them, why would he have needed to purchase my dragon?”

  “Maybe he’s not very good with them. Some don’t last long in captivity, right?”

  I tapped the page. “That’s true, but I don’t know. It’s weird. Let’s see what else there is.”

  I kept digging and sure enough, I found more receipts from several different shops located all across the country. All for the purchase of dragons.

  “Who is this guy? Does he have some dragon fetish?”

  “I don’t know. The whole thing’s weird. And of course, there’s nothing here about my mother.”

  Cordelia gave me a sad smile. “I didn’t think there would be. Do you think that was Aunt Sassafras up there on stage? It looked like her, but I just don’t believe Mysterio. Sorry. I had to say it.”

  My hopes plummeted to my feet. “I don’t know.” I sighed so hard my shoulders slumped. “Maybe I want the whole thing to be more than what it really is.”

  “Pssst, y’all. Someone’s coming.”

  Amelia’s voice snapped me back to the present. I stuffed several of the invoices into my shirt because I had no place else to put them. I hopped out of the van right behind Cordelia and shut the doors quietly.

  Amelia came around the corner. “Whew. That was close. I saw that Garrick guy glance outside at the lights that are out. Then he ducked in. I didn’t know if he’d come out, but I figured we’d better be safe than sorry.”

  We crept to the car and slid inside. I glanced around but there was no sign of Garrick.

  “What’d you find?” Betty said.

  “It’s a conspiracy,” I said. “Mysterio killed JFK and then hired a crapload of dragons to run the stock market. That actually goes pretty well most of the time, but sometimes it crashes.”

  “You’re a bad granddaughter,” she said.

  I laughed. “Come on. Let’s get home and we’ll tell you all about it.”

  Once we were inside, Betty dropped her purse on the empty chair. “Okay, what’d you find out?”

  I pulled the papers out from under my shirt and smacked them on the coffee table. “Apparently Mysterio was going around buying up dragons.”

  Betty picked up the papers. “Well, well, well. My girls, the super sleuths,” she said proudly.

  “Thank you,” I said brightly. “So what was he doing with the dragons?”

  “Selling them,” Betty said. “Buying low and selling high—probably to f
olks on the black market.”

  “Whoa. You just jumped from A to Z again.”

  Amelia thumbed dirt out from under her fingernails. “She might not be wrong. I’ve read that selling magical creatures can be big business. But how do we discover his contacts? And why would someone kill Mysterio?”

  Betty scratched her chin. “Those are the answers we need if we’re going to save Pepper’s life.”

  “Not this again.” I raked my fingers under my eyes, getting globs of black gunk under the nails. I sighed. “I seriously doubt anyone’s going to kill me because I own the dragon. And I also don’t think the scorching in the park was planned and that I’m marked for death.”

  “That would be a great movie title,” Amelia said. “Marked for Death.”

  “It is a movie,” Cordelia said.

  Amelia rolled her eyes. “But what if our grandmother’s right? If Mysterio was murdered because of the dragon, then the killer may come after you, Pepper. There’s no way to be sure until we catch whoever that is. And right now we’re short on leads.”

  We stared at each other. Tension filled the room like fog. Betty pointed toward the sky. “I always think better when I’m cooking. Who wants some cobbler?”

  “Me,” Amelia said.

  “I’ll pass,” Cordelia said.

  “I’m on the edge,” I said. “I think I’ve gained weight since I arrived.”

  “You can’t tell,” Amelia said.

  “Thanks.”

  Betty smacked her lips. “I’ll cook. That’ll help.”

  Fire crackled in the hearth. Betty whipped up a skillet filled with blackberries and topped it with batter.

  “I’m going to wash my face,” I said.

  I excused myself to the bathroom, where I scrubbed off the thick black sludge. I had been right. Dark streaks marred my skin. I shook my head and hoped Betty would get them off before work tomorrow morning.

  When I jogged downstairs, I found Betty with one shoulder pressed against the wall. She pulled the corncob pipe from her pocket and lit it. Thick smoke drifted to the ceiling.

  “Is that your thinking stance?” I said.

  She nodded. “It helps.”

  “Okay, so if we figure Mysterio was selling, who was he selling to?”

  Betty frowned. “That’s what we have to discover.”

  “A dragon would certainly stand out,” I said. “Unless they weren’t selling the dragons. Some cultures sell dragon bones for medicinal purposes. Do you think that’s the case?”

  Amelia chirped from her spot on the couch. “That’s a good possibility.”

  “Hmm.” I nibbled the inside of my lip. When I glanced up, I caught Cordelia studying me. “What is it? Oh, I know this hideous black stuff is stuck on my face.”

  She shook his head. “No. I was just wondering if it would come off my face, too.”

  “Here’s to hoping,” I croaked, sounding more like a frog about to be frog-gigged in the middle of the night than a woman with black crap slashed across her skin.

  We stared at each other in silence until it hit me.

  I snapped my fingers. “There’s one man in town who knows about dragons, and who has quite a few of them himself. He may know the answers.”

  Betty’s eyes flared. “Barry.”

  I smiled. “Right. Have you set up a meeting for tomorrow?”

  She smiled. “I’ll do it right now.”

  I grinned. “All right. We need to put a list of questions together for me to grill him on. Let’s get moving. It’s already getting late.”

  SIXTEEN

  It only took a few minutes for Betty to get ahold of Barry and set up a meeting for the next morning. She worked her magic in about five minutes.

  Luckily that magic didn’t include her snorting sparkles from her nose.

  Anyway, we came up with a strategy for approaching Barry and then all of us headed off to bed. I went upstairs, rubbed Mattie’s head and gave Hugo a good stroke before snuggling under the comforter and setting off into dreamland.

  I awoke the next morning ready to tackle my class with Barry. We had set up the meeting for eight am. I showered, dressed and grabbed a light bite to eat before pulling Hugo from the cage and heading off to the same park where Barry and I had worked before.

  When I saw him, he was dressed in his lederhosen and doing squats.

  “Good morning,” I said.

  “Morning,” Barry said. “How’re things going with Hugo?”

  I smiled. “You remember his name.”

  “I always remember a dragon’s name. It’s important.” Barry gave the dragon a good scratch on the head. Hugo’s tongue lolled and his eyes closed in pleasure.

  “Why is it so important?”

  Barry’s brown eyes flecked with interest. “Dragons are highly intelligent. They know when you like them and when you don’t. Bonding with them, even if the creature isn’t your familiar is still important—you have to earn a dragon’s respect.”

  He gave Hugo one last pat and glanced at me. “So. How’s it been going?”

  “Not great,” I admitted. “Yesterday he dive-bombed some cats and dogs who were fighting. Sent out a spray of fire, too.”

  Barry grimaced. “Oh my goodness. That is truly terrible. Truly a horrible thing. Tell me, what could have set off this majestic creature to want to destroy a little puffball of a cat?”

  “I don’t know. I was hoping maybe you’d have some answers, because I certainly don’t.”

  “I was not there, so I can’t contribute any help for that particular situation.” He paused. “Did Hugo believe you to be in any trouble?”

  “I don’t think so. I believe he wanted to stop the fight, but it caused a bigger problem. Now this baby is being seen as a menace to society. I was warned to keep him on a tight leash or else.”

  “Or else what?”

  “The cops will have to take him from me.”

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk. The majesty of such a creature cannot be contained. It is impossible to even suggest such a thing.”

  I licked my lips and stepped forward. “But you, Barry. You have dragons and you keep them safe and from hurting people. At least, I assume so.”

  “Yes, yes. I have many dragons though I’ve worked with them for years to make them as tame as possible. But dragons are very smart. They do not attack without a reason.”

  “How have you done that?”

  Barry crossed his arms and splayed his legs. “The dragon must want to protect you, but also understand what is a real threat and what isn’t. That’s part of the bond. You simply don’t have the concrete bond yet.”

  “But isn’t there any other training?” I bit on my fingers, trying to look worried and scared. “I’m afraid that if something else happens and Hugo freaks out, the witches will want his head. Literally.”

  Barry grimaced. “Such an awful image.” He shrugged. “All we can do is strengthen the bond. Tighten it to the point where the two of you are one mind.”

  I shifted my weight. “That’s all we can do? You don’t think Hugo might be better served in a different community? A different place?”

  Barry shook his head. “Perhaps that will happen in time. But you must give it all you’ve got first. Control the beast, don’t let the beast control you.” He inhaled a deep shot of air. “Now. Are you ready?”

  “Sure. I’m ready.”

  “Now, throw Hugo up in the air and catch him.”

  “Say what?”

  “It will create the bond.”

  So I threw my dragon in the air until my arms shook with fatigue. This little guy already weighed a good ten pounds. I would toss him high and then Hugo fluttered his wings, sailing down until he landed softly in my arms. I’d heave him up again and he’d float back.

  By the tenth time or so, I started to feel the string again, the connection between us.

  Barry must’ve noticed it too. “Now tell him to fly into the trees and back. Tell him with your thoughts.”

&nbs
p; I frowned. I always spoke to animals with my mouth, not my head. But I did it.

  To the trees.

  Hugo took off like an arrow. “Holy cow,” I said. The dragon shot off. Branches splintered and cracked as he dove in.

  “Tell him to return,” Barry said. Then he threw me a dead mouse.

  “Yuck.”

  “You must reward him.”

  To me, I thought.

  Branches twisted and snapped as Hugo returned. He dove toward me. Freaked out, I threw the mouse into the air. Hugo snatched it in his beak and swallowed it whole. The dragon then came to rest on my arm.

  I stared at the creature and glanced at Barry, who smiled widely. “That is the first step. You’re creating the bond and once the bond is sealed, it won’t be broken and your dragon will be tame to the point where he won’t even breathe unless you say it’s okay.”

  “That seems a little extreme.”

  Barry laughed. “Meet me tomorrow morning and we’ll keep working.”

  We started to leave. “Barry.”

  He quirked a brow. “Yes?”

  “What if Hugo staying here in Magnolia Cove puts him in more danger than it’s worth?”

  Barry’s expression darkened. “Then we will discuss it when that happens. But not now. I know people who will take him and they will pay plenty. But only if it’s your last option.”

  “Thanks. That’s all I needed to know.”

  We went our separate ways, and I wondered exactly what Barry could do in a few days to help me raise a dragon. Because I wasn’t sure what could be done to keep this little guy under my thumb.

  Was that even possible? I mean we’re talking about a dragon.

  But anyway, we left the park and I took Hugo with me to Familiar Place. I snapped on the light. The cats yawned, the puppies yipped and the birds chirped as they woke. I put Hugo on the floor, where he sniffed as he explored the territory.

  Betty entered as soon as the clock struck ten. “Well? What’d you find out?”

  I took a foam cup of coffee that she extended from her hand. “Not much. I tried prodding Barry to see if he knew anyone who would take Hugo if I had to give him up, but he wasn’t that helpful. He didn’t offer any names.”