“Is this real?” Jeremy turned over the pocket knife Randy had given him, his eyes lit with mischievous wonder. “I can keep it?”
“Only if you promise not to tell your parents,” Randy said with a wink. “Picked it up on my way back. Handle is made from Samarian shadow dancer bone. Promise me you’ll only ever use it to smite evil-doers?”
Jeremy flipped out the blade. His grinned widened. “Dude, I swear. This thing’s legit.”
“Hope you brought me some answers for Christmas,” Kaylee said when Randy had turned to her.
“Even better,” Randy said. He reached into his pocket, then pulled out his hand and patted her on the back. “For you, a hearty congratulations. Here’s to surviving a week without me.”
Kaylee’s glare of disgust could have melted steel, but it merely glanced off Randy as he moved onto someone else.
“I mean, he’s a little eccentric,” Edwin admitted as they now both sat together on the couch. Jade and Maddox had already headed home, as had Alastair and his wife. Randy was picking up his fifth donut now, and Kaylee and Jade’s parents were still in the family room, their voices at the more-than-two-glasses-of-wine-hush-level.
“He’s infuriating,” Kaylee said.
“Is he teaching you how to control your elemental magic?”
“I mean, yeah, I guess.”
Kaylee thought back to their last lesson. Her powers had gone haywire again, but Randy had managed to calm her down. She wasn’t sure if that counted as learning how to control her magic. However, she did seem to be getting better. Slowly. Very slowly.
“Every time I’m close to having a breakthrough he leaves without a word. I don’t even think Alastair completely trusts him yet. Then there’s the—”
Edwin glanced at her when she stopped. “The what?”
“Nothing.” She had almost blurted out about the pictures she’d found at Randy’s house. That seemed a little too personal, even to share with Edwin. At least before she got the truth directly from Randy.
Edwin was eyeing Randy, tapping his fingers on one of his crossed legs. “Think I should ask him what the Slayers are up to next? I’ve hit a dead end.”
“Why would he know?”
“If he’s out on Convocation business that could involve Slayers. My dad and the sub-elders would be idiots not to use him while he’s here. I mean, the stories I’ve heard…”
“Like what?” Kaylee asked, narrowing her eyes. She’d heard a lot of these supposed ‘stories’ mentioned and the more she heard, the less she believed they were true.
“Well, believe it or not he actually was a rogue dragon-kin for a little while,” Edwin said. He scooted so their legs were nearly touching and lowered his voice. “Then they say he may have even been a bounty hunter that took out high-ranking Slayers singlehandedly.”
Randy stuffed an entire donut in his mouth, downed it with a full glass of milk, then let out a satisfied belch.
“You’re positive about that?” Kaylee said doubtfully.
Edwin shrugged. “What I heard. You’ll have to ask him.”
The clock above the fireplace chimed. Edwin stood and stretched. “I’d better head home.”
“I’ll walk you out.”
Kaylee followed him until they entered the hallway. Here Edwin stopped so abruptly Kaylee nearly ran into him. Kaylee nudged his back.
“You okay?”
For a moment Edwin stood frozen in place, barely breathing. Kaylee was about to touch him again when he spun to face her.
“I…had a lot of fun tonight.”
“Oh. Yeah, me too. And thanks for the,” she pulled the charm up from around her neck, “you know.”
Edwin brushed his fingers over it. His eyes flickered upwards. Kaylee suddenly noticed the mistletoe hanging innocently above their heads. A knot of nervousness coiled in her stomach.
And then Edwin was leaning towards her and a trill of energy stronger than any magic she’d ever conjured shot from her toes to her head. She wasn’t ready for this.
She was so ready for this.
What if she—?
He was close now, the space between them almost gone.
“This is so cliché,” Edwin muttered.
But he didn’t stop, and Kaylee’s heart threatened to beat out of her chest.
The doorbell rang.
The sound was like ice cracking on a frozen lake they both stood upon. Kaylee’s eyes flickered open. Edwin stood upright so fast he nearly smacked into the doorframe behind him.
“I got it!” Randy said. He gave them both a questioning look, then opened the front door. His body went rigid.
“Who is it?” Edwin said.
Randy continued standing there, and Kaylee peered around him to see—
“Reese!”
Her older brother stood grinning on the front porch, his face chapped red with cold. “Merry Christmas, Katy-did.”
Kaylee tackled him and Reese laughed, nearly tripping off the porch into the snow.
“You didn’t tell me you were coming home!”
“I thought I’d make it a surprise. Clearly it worked.”
But as the rest of the family came to see who the visitor was, Kaylee couldn’t help but notice the deadly expression that flickered across Randy’s face, before he stormed back inside.
Chapter Nine
Kaylee ducked and rolled, barely avoiding the bolt of electricity that snapped at her heels. She whirled, drawing her magic to herself in the smooth motion Randy had helped her perfect. Randy’s bolt of electricity reared, then struck, but Kaylee thrust her hand forward and pushed her own magic to intercept it. Her lightning split the attack in two, dissipating it to either side of her. But no sooner had she done that then Randy was there, one quivering claw hovering inches from her face.
“You lose.”
“I didn’t know you were going to fight me.”
Randy dropped his claw. The gentle hum of power filling the forest around them ceased. “I was attacking you with magic. What part of that meant I wasn’t going to fight you?”
“I mean, not you physically…”
“You were being lazy. Lazier than normal.”
Kaylee bit her tongue as Randy picked up a towel hanging from a snow-covered branch and wiped his face. There was no point arguing with him. He’d been in a bad mood for the last week and a half. Ever since Reese had come home.
“I tried,” Kaylee said. “At least I did better than last time.”
“I don’t want excuses.”
“School’s started again, and I was up late talking to Reese—”
Randy threw her a water bottle. It came so hard Kaylee barely caught it before it nailed her in the gut.
“When’s he leaving?” Randy said.
“Not until fall.”
Randy nearly choked as he sipped his own water.
“That long?” he demanded. “What happened to college? I thought he was getting a degree!”
Kaylee shrugged. “He’s taking a semester off. Wanted time to figure things out.”
“Stupid millennials,” Randy muttered. “They just need to pick a direction and charge blindly ahead without thinking about it. Worked for me.”
Kaylee’s parents hadn’t been too happy either when Reese had told them his plans for a break. She could still hear their voices carrying up to her from downstairs; confused, upset, but tinged with a hint of curiosity, as Reese explained he needed some time to think about what to do next.
“He’s amazing,” Kaylee said as Randy took up his position again. “You should talk to him. I think he’d be really interested to hear about the Convocation—”
“Don’t.”
Kaylee blinked and suddenly Randy was in front of her, a wavering finger nearly touching her nose.
“Do not tell him about the Convocation. Or that you’re a dragon-kin. Don’t tell him about any of it.”
Kaylee shoved Randy’s hand out of her face. “Why not? He’s my family.”
“Kaylee, he cannot know about the Convocation. It’s bad enough you told Jeremy.”
“Jeremy would have found out eventually. We live in the same house. He’s not that oblivious. And Alastair said having our family in on it will help normalize our lives.”
“Alastair is wrong. The more of your family who knows, the more danger they’re all in.”
You’re just a puppet to the Convocation. Doing whatever they say.
“Look,” Randy said in a gentler tone. “I know you’re excited he’s back, but…just wait a bit before you tell him. Can you promise me that?”
Kaylee had never seen Randy so serious about anything before. It scared her a little.
“Yeah…Yeah, I can wait. If it’s that important.”
“It is, and thank you.”
“But he’ll find out eventually, even if I don’t tell him.”
“Just as long as it’s not yet.”
Randy pointed behind her. Through the dips and low-hanging branches of the tangle of trees was another clearing.
“Your Convocation insertion team has been compromised. The Slayers are on your tail and ahead is a safe zone magically cordoned off by Merlins. You have to reach it before they get you.”
The wind was already stirring as Kaylee drew it to her. Electricity crackled around Randy’s feet. He raised a claw.
“Go.”
It was by far the hardest lesson Kaylee had experienced with Randy. If Baba had been verbally abusive, then Randy was every bit as bad when it came to pushing her to her physical limits.
Just when she felt her reserves were drained he would force her to do another drill. His power seemed bottomless and he controlled even the strongest of attacks with casual ease that simultaneously made Kaylee respectful and envious. Well, if he could do it, then she would learn too. She could still remember his face the night he’d come to announce he was training her: he didn’t think she could handle what he threw at her. That she couldn’t take his intensity.
She’d show him. Eventually.
Everything hurt as the two of them crossed the snow-covered field back to Randy’s house. Kaylee winced every other step, her feet seizing from how many times Randy had shocked them when she’d stayed in one spot too long. Randy caught her arm as she stumbled. He dipped his chin.
“You’ll have to learn how to shift those soon. Most dragon-kin’s talons are resistant to magic.”
“Then why aren’t you teaching me to do that?” It was true Kaylee had gotten a lot better at controlling her magic. Not quite up to totally-controlling-a-storm levels, but her shifting had improved and her control over secondary elements like ice and wind was better than it’d ever been. But Randy always stopped at that. For all his intensity, it seemed there were in fact lines he wouldn’t cross yet.
Randy threw their training gear on the outside of the shed. “We’ll move on when you’re ready.”
Kaylee threw up her hands. “Why would I not be ready?”
“You’re ready when you stop seeing that boy you killed.”
So he’d noticed. Of course he had. Every time Kaylee assumed he was blind and oblivious Randy proved her otherwise. The visions hadn’t been bad today. Certainly no worse than the last two weeks, but still enough to catch Randy’s eye, it seemed. He must have noticed the second’s hesitation in her counterattacks; the brief pause just before she first drew on her magic.
“You will kill others,” Randy said. “Not because you want to but because you have to, in order to protect those close to you. Isn’t that more important?”
“Don’t you dare try to justify it!” Kaylee snarled. “How do you know what’s important? What others mean to you? You, who runs off for years and who’s probably never—”
“Don’t,” Randy said in a dangerously low voice. “Don’t say things you don’t know about me.”
Kaylee almost blurted that she knew about the girl. Only fifty yards away in his house was his big, bad secret, and she knew.
But it wasn’t right. Not now. She wanted to ask when she wasn’t so angry, and she actually had a chance of him answering instead of closing off like he always did when she tried to learn anything about his past. For now she’d deal with the fact that he was just another mentor who didn’t think she could handle her own power, or the truth. But she was ready. She’d struggled, and would keep struggling, with her magic, but she was ready. The visions were hers and she’d own that. She could handle seeing—
“Kaylee?”
Brendan.
She turned and there he stood in front of her; his face, scared and flecked with blood; his eyes, pleading and shocked as they had been seconds before death.
Kaylee’s rational mind screamed that it wasn’t possible. This was too real. She must have been tired and now—
Kaylee closed off her magic before it could rush to her aid. She blinked furiously and Brendan turned into Reese, concern written on his face.
“Katy-bear?”
“Reese!” Of course it was Reese. His short blond hair looked nothing like Brendan’s long brown. His face was more angular too, his eyes kind. “What are you—how’d you know I was out here?”
Reese took a good look around. “Mom mentioned you usually came here after school.” His eyes narrowed on the house with distaste. “No offense, but what are you doing—?”
“She’s helping me.”
Reese tensed. Randy put one massive hand on Kaylee’s shoulder. “I pay her to do odd jobs around the place. Isn’t as easy when you get to be my age.”
“Uh-huh,” Reese said.
“We’re done for today. Go get your things, Kaylee.”
“Okay…sure.”
Kaylee snagged her backpack from the front porch. Reese and Randy hadn’t moved from their spots. Reese was glaring holes at him. Randy was picking at his teeth.
“I guess it’s good to see you again, Uncle Randy,” Reese said. “It’s only been, oh, what? Thirteen years?”
“Around that long, I guess. Can’t remember, exactly. Was that back when you hid in your room and refused to see me?”
“A relative who was basically homeless, traveling around doing questionable things, yeah. Wonder why I thought you were someone to avoid.”
Randy chuckled. He turned and started walking back to the shed, waving over his shoulder. “I’ll see you next time, Kaylee.”
Reese caught Kaylee’s arm as she tried to walk to his car. His grip was like iron. “If he’s hurting you, or doing anything—”
Kaylee almost laughed, until she realized he was being serious. “No! No, he’s not, Reese. Seriously, he’s been nothing but nice since he got here.”
Not exactly true, but Randy needed all the praise he could get. And if it got Reese to pull his glare away from Randy’s back then she’d heap it on him.
Reese eventually let her arm go. When he looked at her he relaxed, a bright smile lighting up his face again.
“Say, rumor has it my little sis has her license.” He tossed her the keys. “Why don’t you show me how much you’ve learned?”
They fell back into easy conversation on the short ride home. Kaylee filled Reese in on the non-Convocation parts of her life and he told her a little about his first year and a half at college. By the time they’d pulled into the driveway, however, Reese had lapsed into thoughtful silence, picking at a circle of beads on his wrist. He went to help with dinner while Kaylee headed to her room to start homework. Her phone buzzed on her way up. It was Edwin, asking if she had free time to talk about something. Kaylee answered yes, butterflies taking flight in her stomach.
They had seen each other a few times since the Christmas party, but Edwin had acted about the same, which both annoyed and relieved her. Maybe she had imagined the whole thing that had almost happened in the hallway. Maybe she was reading too much into how close he sat to her on the couch, how he gently touched her arm when he cracked a joke. Maybe she—
Kaylee nearly dropped her backpack when she opened her room and
saw Edwin waving at her from outside her window.
“What are you doing?” she hissed as she threw it open.
Edwin looked bewildered. He made a short gesture, and the wooden plank he was levitating up to her window rose a little higher. “Uh, you said you could talk?”
“I didn’t mean right this second! And stop doing that before Reese sees you!”
“Your brother? You haven’t told hi—?”
But Kaylee yanked him inside so fast Edwin’s shins barked on the windowsill and he collapsed with a pained groan on the other side of her bed.
“Oh, stop whining before my parents hear you,” Kaylee said.
“But it hurts…”
Kaylee quickly closed her door. When she turned, Edwin had pulled himself up onto her bed. She nearly choked, suddenly realizing what she’d done. Edwin was in her room—on her bed.
Kaylee forced herself calm, hoping she wasn’t blushing. She was making a big deal about nothing, and they had to stay quiet. If her parents came in now…no, she wouldn’t think about that.
She took a seat in the chair at her desk, facing Edwin. “What…did you want to talk to me about?”
Edwin held her gaze for a moment, as if he knew everything that had just gone through her head, then pulled out a leather-bound book from beneath his jacket. “This.”
“That?”
“Yeah, this.”
“Nothing else? Nothing else at all.”
“Uh, no. Why?”
Kaylee sighed, waving a hand for him to go on. To be honest, she was relieved. Between Reese’s return, Randy acting weird and…whatever was going on between her and Edwin, the last thing she needed was another confusing boy in her life.
“I think I found something that might point us to the Slayers’ next move,” Edwin said. “Here, take a look.”
He made a space for her on the bed. Kaylee sat next to him and scooted closer as he flipped through the pages.
“It looks like a log book,” Kaylee said.
“That’s exactly what it is. It was in the Convocation Records Room. Before the records all went digital they used to mark down any magic items that passed through Convocation hands before being dispersed to their rightful parties or stored for safe-keeping. Things like this.”
Dragon's Curse (Heir of Dragons: Book 2) Page 9
