by E. J. Krause
When she broke off, she gave a "hurumph" and turned away from him. "I bet she never kissed you like that."
Ben started to apologize, but stopped himself. Instead he chuckled and put his arms around her. When she didn't respond, he kissed her neck right above her shirt and ran his tongue up to her earlobe, which he gave a quick nibble. Her shiver proved she enjoyed that.
"No," he whispered in her ear. "She never kissed me like that." She giggled and turned to hug him back.
"Maybe I ought to get you jealous more often," he said with a laugh. She smacked his shoulder again, but this time while laughing herself.
After a minute of sitting there and cuddling, Ben asked, "How are you doing?" He meant her parents and figured she'd get that. She did.
"Okay, I guess. I'm scared, but they're still alive."
"You can sense them?"
She shrugged, and then put her head down on his shoulders. "I didn't think I could, and it doesn't work like it does with you, but I know they're still alive. And that they're not in this realm." He could hear the tears in her voice and feel the sudden rush of sadness on her. "At least I hope so. It may just be wishful thinking."
He squeezed her tighter. "It's not. They're fine. Keep up the hope, and we'll save them. I promise."
She didn't say anything, just nodded. He held her for a minute before another thought jumped into his mind.
"Do you need to call their work? Like I did for my parents?"
"No." Her voice sounded normal again. "They don't work, so no need."
"Really? What do you guys do for money?"
"My dad's a dragon. He's been collecting treasure his whole life. Just like his dad before him, and so on and so forth. And me, too, though treasure's not as easy to come by anymore." She winked at him. "Shiny pennies don't add up like gold coins."
Ben's mind flashed back to Orangeville Acers when she and her father were mesmerized by the jewelry store. "So that's what your mom meant when she said you guys were easily distracted by shiny objects."
"She said that?"
"Basically," Ben said, and then grinned. "Maybe not in those exact words."
She rolled her eyes. "You're already too good at being with a dragon."
He laughed and kissed her neck again, which brought out a purr from her. "So you guys live on treasure?"
"Now we live on interest. Remember, we've been alive a long time. My parents are excellent at investing our money, and I'm learning. Plus we don't live extravagantly, since that draws too much attention. But we're always comfortable."
"Nice," Ben said. Then his eyes went wide. "Wait. Does that mean we won't have to work, either?"
"Nope. I've already got us a nice nest egg that's going to grow. And you're lucky. Other than needing to occasionally buy jewelry and other sparkly stuff, I'm pretty low maintenance." She scoffed. "Unlike your other girlfriend. She sounds pretty high maintenance."
Ben was about to defend himself, say Melissa wasn't still his girlfriend, but instead got a better idea. "Way high maintenance. Jealous enough to kiss me like before?"
Instead of a kiss, he was rewarded with a third smack to his shoulder. It proved lucky, though, as Dad walked into the room.
"Hey, guys. Good, you're both up." If he didn't like how close they were sitting, he didn't mention it.
"Hi, Dad. How are you feeling?"
"Fine. Much better." He still looked pale and skinny, but nothing like this morning. Most people wouldn't notice anything wrong. "Anyway, we were all too tired earlier, but now would be a good time."
"For what?"
Dad gave him a look like, "Get a clue," but instead said, "To let your mother and I know what in the world is going on. What do you say you two join us downstairs?"
"Sure," they both said. Oh boy, this should be interesting.
*****
Like Dad, Mom didn't look perfect, but much better than before. She sat on the couch, and the two armchairs, usually spaced out in the corners of the living room, were now positioned right across from the couch, like this would be an interrogation rather than a friendly chat. That brought a few butterflies to his stomach, but those were eased a bit when Dad kissed the top of Mom's head and sat down right next to her. When was the last time he'd seen him, or her, do that?
"Sit down, kids," Dad said, motioning to the armchairs.
"Nothing to be nervous about," Mom said. "We just want to figure out what's going on."
"Yeah. We're lost."
Ben looked over at Andi. What was he allowed to say? Could they know anything?
Andi picked up on his question and shrugged. "The truth," she whispered. "They'll need to know sometime."
After everyone sat down, Mom got the ball rolling. "We've both talked it over. Like I said earlier, we know it wasn't a dream."
"You two rescued us," Dad said. "What do you know?"
"It was a demon realm," Ben said. Heck, they wanted the truth, so there was no need to sugar coat it.
Mom and Dad looked at each other. "That thing that shriveled us up was a demon?" Mom asked.
"Not exactly," Andi said. "He was a sorcerer who my parents banished to that place, but he ended up taking the demon's powers. Now he's a necromancer."
"A necromancer?"
"Yeah," Ben said. "He controls zombies and the undead and stuff."
Both his parents turned even more pale. Which wasn't good. They hadn't even gotten to the hard parts yet.
"Okay," Dad said. He drew the word out, but Ben couldn't tell if that was because he didn't believe them, or if he was having trouble wrapping his head around it all. "But if your parents banished him, Andi, how come nothing like that made the news? Sounds serious."
"It sort of happened before the evening news," she said.
"But they report things at all times of the day."
"No, Dad, she doesn't mean before as in time of day, but like years ago. Andi's older than she looks."
His parents both shifted their gaze to her. "I'm 758. But that's in human years. In this form, I'm 15, same as Ben."
Neither of his parents said anything, so Ben jumped in. "She's a dragon. So when it happened before the news, it was centuries before cable news."
Mom was the first to nod. "Alright. So you're a dragon. Does that mean your parents are dragons, too? And how does Ben fit into all of this?"
Dad, meanwhile, just sat back and listened. Ben couldn't believe the looks of acceptance on their faces. Everything they were saying was true, but how were they buying it? It didn't even sound plausible to him, and he'd lived through a bunch of it.
"My dad is a dragon," Andi said. "My mom is a Dragon Guard. Same as Ben is to me. Or will be, once we're fully bound."
"Wait," Dad waved his hand. "Dragon Guard, fully bound? Slow down, you're losing me."
They went into an explanation about what Ben could do, what Andi could do, and what they'd be able to do together once they were fully bound. They hit on what they'd already done, and how the rescue had gone down. Then, inevitably, talk turned to Andi's parents. Ben glanced at Andi to make sure she was okay.
"We left them fighting zombies," she said, "and presumably that's where they still are. I hope they're still fighting, anyway. Who knows what the necromancer will do when he catches them."
Ben clutched her hand and was pleased that although he felt the sadness, she held the sorrow that brought tears at bay. She squeezed his hand and gave him a smile.
"Wow, that certainly is an outrageous story," Mom said. Dad agreed.
"Did you buy it?" Ben asked.
Dad raised his eyebrows and said, "Should we not?"
"I doubt I would," he said, and everyone laughed.
"Besides your parents being in danger, Andi," Mom said, "what I don't like about this whole situation is the explanation of how you two are basically engaged. You're way too young. Even you, Andi. You may be seven-hundred-and-whatever, but if what you say about dragons is true, you're still just a 15 year old girl."
Ben groaned, but Andi barked out a laugh. "You sound like my parents. My dad is against us being bound until we're 18, and even though my mom wants us bound, she says they won't let us be married until we're 18. Even though we'll be considered mates in the dragon world. She's just saying it because of my dad, but still."
Dad nodded. "Sounds like your parents have good heads on their shoulders. I think we'll adopt that rule, too." He turned to Mom. "What do you think?"
"I agree. Bound is fine, but it'll be bound and dating until you're both 18."
"Yeah, in 150 years," Ben said with a groan. But secretly he was quite pleased. Mom and Dad were not only being nice towards each other, but they seemed to enjoy getting along.
Andi frowned at him. Confusion and annoyance fought to be her primary emotion. He guessed that was because he felt so happy after just being told they couldn't get married when they were bound as was supposed to happen. That, and the fact that his parents, like hers, were meddling in their personal life. He'd clear it up with her later.
"So what are we going to do about your parents, Andi?" Dad asked.
"I guess we'll have to retrace our steps. We need the spell from Rico, but we can't go straight there because I don't know the incantation to get to him. So we'll have to go ask that Max guy at the Newport pier. I'm guessing he'll know it."
"Do you think he'll help?" Ben asked.
"I'm not worried about Max," she said. "He wasn't happy about all of this, but he seemed nice enough. It's the demon, Rico, who might not cooperate."
"Yeah. He didn't seem to like us very much."
Dad threw his hands up and waved them around. "Wait, wait, wait. A guy at the Newport pier? A demon? What's going on now?"
"Yeah," Mom said. "Why are you going to ask for help from a demon? Especially if he doesn't like you. Aren't all demons evil?"
Andi shook her head. "Rico isn't evil. He's not good, either, but he helped us rescue you two. He will want a favor, though."
"A favor?"
"We don't know what, but Andi's parents didn't think there was any problem paying it."
"Besides, what choice do we have? Let's hope he'll even consider it."
Both Ben's parents started to say something, but they swallowed their words. Instead, Dad said, "What do you need from us?"
"A ride to the Newport pier tomorrow morning. Sounds like Max fishes there everyday. And then to Orangeville Acres."
"The amusement park?" Mom asked.
Ben chuckled. This sounded so insane, didn't it? "Yeah, we have to ride Reach for the Sky to get to the demon."
"That super-fast one that loops and shoots into the air?" Dad asked. "I've always wanted to go on that."
Mom patted his knee. "Some other time, Trent."
"You can go on it while we visit the demon. My parents will pay you guys back for all the tickets."
Mom waved her hand. "No need for that. It's the least we can do. But I do have a problem with your timetable."
"What do you mean?" Andi asked with a frown.
"Well, we can't go in the morning. Tomorrow is a school day. You've both missed too many days already."
"Aw, come on, Mom. This is important."
"So is school. Orangeville Acers stays open until eight during the week, and the beach doesn't close, so we can do it after school."
Andi shook her head. "We need to get to Max early. I have no idea how long he fishes for. Besides, I'm only going to school for show. I've been in high school for almost a century now."
"Wow," Dad said. "That long? Really?"
"I could teach each subject if I wanted."
"Okay," Mom said. "Can you talk to this Max guy without Ben?"
"I'd rather not, but yeah. He'll have to be there for Rico, the demon, though."
"Fine. So we'll go to Newport while Ben is in school, and then we'll hit Orangeville Acres after school. Sound good?"
Andi nodded, but Ben couldn't be left out. "No, Mom. I'm Andi's Dragon Guard. I can't stay behind."
"It's okay, Ben," Andi said.
At the same time, Mom said, "You need school, young man."
"Come on, Dad. Tell her I need to go. Please?"
"Now, Heidi, maybe he …" Dad stopped and shook his head. "No, Ben, your mother is right. You need to go to school. Three days off in a row is too much for you." Mom smiled at Dad and clutched his hand, but Ben didn't care about the health of their marriage at the moment. How was he even supposed to concentrate at school, especially since Melissa was going to make life miserable? It was all so unfair.
He got up and stomped to his room. No one stopped him. Andi wanted to follow, but he was glad she didn't. He needed to be alone.
*****
As soon as all the lights were out, Andi snuck down to Ben's room. She didn't know if his parents were sound sleepers or not, but she knew they'd check on them during the night. They hadn't liked how close she and Ben were already, and though they hadn't made a big deal about it, they would be monitoring them. Without wards like at her house (yet), they'd have to do so the old fashioned way. It was better to see him now before the check-ins started.
She stepped into Ben's room, and though she couldn't see clearly in the dark, she could feel his eyes on her. She smiled at the fact that he was glad to see her despite the lingering anger bleeding off of him. He hadn't said a word to her or his parents at dinner. When he'd stormed back to his room, his mom apologized for him. She and his father had fostered an atmosphere of resentment these last few years. It was easier for Ben to sulk and avoid confrontations than for him to get involved with the fights. It would be a hard habit for him to break.
Mrs. Phillips also apologized about sending Ben to school tomorrow. She knew Andi would want to get to her parents as soon as possible, but the school had called that morning. Turned out each of Ben's teachers was concerned about all of the time he was missing. He already was struggling in each class, and the teachers and administrators were afraid that he'd fall so far behind he wouldn't be able to catch up.
"He's a bright kid," his mom said, "as I'm sure you've discovered, but he spends way too much time with those video games. Neither Trent nor I bothered to put a stop to that these past few years." She paused, and tears formed in her eyes. "The principal didn't say it, but it was implied that the school thinks Trent and I are being bad parents. Even if I'm reading too much into it, it doesn't matter. We were horrible, horrible parents to Ben, and I need to start fixing that problem."
Andi gave her a hug, and Mrs. Phillips cried in her arms for a few minutes. When the tears stopped, Andi said, "It's okay. If I thought a few hours would ruin anything, I would have insisted we go right away. But you saw first-hand that time works differently in that realm, so it's good that he's going to school." She gave Mrs. Phillips a grin. "I even promise to make sure he does all his homework from now on. How about that?"
That brought out more tears from her, but this time while she laughed. "It's a deal. I'm glad you're a part of his life, Andi. I'm glad you get to be a part of our lives."
"Me, too," she said.
Ben's mom took her back to her house to get her and Ben's things, and then the rest of the evening was spent comparing life stories. It mostly consisted of Andi telling hers. It was the first time she'd ever shared so much about her past, and though Mr. and Mrs. Phillips were enthralled with such a long lifespan, she never realized what a sheltered, boring life she'd led. Through most of it, Mom and Dad had placed them far from any civilization, interacting with others only when necessary. It wasn't until this past century, when most wild frontiers vanished in America, their home since the times of the first settlers from Europe, that they joined society. For a few years at a time, anyway. She knew more about most historical events because of history books, not through personal experience. That was sort of depressing.
As she reached the edge of Ben's bed, he smiled up at her. Though she'd told herself she was just going to kneel next to the bed in case one of his parents came in, she climbed under
the covers. She was painfully aware her nightshirt slid up as she did, but luckily when he embraced her, his arms looped around her middle back. Though as she melted into him, she wanted his hands lower.
"Still mad at me?" she whispered into his ear. Did he hear how husky her voice sounded? She hoped not and vowed to control herself.
He nuzzled her neck before moving up to whisper in her ear. "No. Not at you. At me. Sorry I was such a jerk. I want to help. I should be there with you."
"It's just Max at the beach. It'll take two seconds. He'll give me the incantation as quick as possible to get me out of his hair. You saw how he wanted nothing to do with this."
"Yeah. It's just …"
"What?" Anger, resentment, and remorse all fought to be the dominant emotion in him. "Tell me."
He let out a sigh and buried his head into her neck. His tongue gently traced circular patterns, and his hand moved a little lower, still over her nightshirt, but brushing the top of her behind. She swooned, going lightheaded. What was wrong with her? His touch, his kisses, shouldn't affect her like this. Not until they were fully bound. Especially after he'd been such a butthead all night.
Ben relented on her neck and came up to her ear, where he whispered, "You didn't want me to go with you. That hurt."
That's what this was all about? And it wasn't even true. "But I did. I said that. Remember?"
"You threw me to the school wolves quick enough." The bitterness from earlier crept back into his voice.
She grabbed his face between her hands and forced him to look into her eyes. "There was no winning that battle. Sorry. Your mom was sending you to school, no matter what we wanted. This way we can see Rico tomorrow afternoon. Okay?" She didn't bother to tell him about the call from school. It wasn't her place; not yet.
He nodded, and tears sprang into his eyes. Seconds later he buried his head back into her neck and sobbed as quietly as he could. The pain and guilt pouring out of him brought tears to her own eyes, but she bit back any crying fits she might have. She ran her hands though his hair and whispered for him to let it all out, though she wasn't quite sure what brought this on. She wished she could take all his pain away so she never had to see him hurt like this. She loved him too much.
