His nurse and guard sat at a table in the corner of the restaurant, which was relaxing for once, to be away from some scrutiny. Saffyranae sat next to him, digging into her chocolate and coconut concoction with as much gusto as he was. Minerva was sipping a soda and rolling her eyes.
She seemed to do that a lot.
“You did not want any of this delicious food?” Saffyranae asked.
Minerva rolled her eyes again, and Clay wondered if she’d strain her vision that way. “First, I’m good for right now. Second, if you’re going to get food out, everyone knows you go for actual ice cream. Fro-Yo is a sad substitute.”
“This is amazing. I haven’t had any since I was five, and I forgot how good it was,” Clay said.
“Then, your mind is going to blown by Rocky Road,” Minerva replied. She eyed Saffyranae. “Look, I feel awkward about all of this. I don’t know how far I trust you, even now. I get you were reacting on instinct, and you seem sorry about the dragons lost.”
Clay’s spoon splattered to the cup below. His appetite drained, he pushed the cup aside and focused on the conversation. “I am sorry. Topher only wanted to research the supernatural because of me. I initiated the safety protocol. I was terrified and not thinking clearly, and I still did it. I understand if you don’t trust me, Minerva.”
“But,” Minerva said. “You knew about me… You’re not wrong. I did something, and I’m not exactly complaining. It helped both of us in a tight situation. At the same time, I had no idea I could do it. Neither did Saff.”
Saff nodded. “I’m still training as a shaman, but I can recognize that something powerful has Touched you and affected all that you are.”
“Ruined me,” Clay said, as watched the yogurt melt in its cup. “What do you want from me now?”
“The Council would like to see you for two reasons,” Saffyranae said. “First, we do think there are things we can do to help you with your magic issues. It may not be dragon magic that afflicts you, but we can research it, and we can definitely help you learn to control it.”
“Topher thought that, too.”
“Senator Asshole,” Minerva muttered. “Senator Zippo Satan.”
“Minerva!” Saffyranae admonished. “Senator Jorgenson was our enemy, but we will not insult Clay in such a disgraceful manner.”
“He was an asshole in some ways… In big ways, sometimes,” Clay replied. “He screamed at me, tossed me aside when he had a chance. I saw him die, saw him talk about the money. I don’t even know if he ever cared about me.”
Saffyranae’s brows furrowed. “I cannot presume to speak for the dead, but I would think that everything he did was more complicated than we’d ever know.”
Clay sighed and picked at spot of melted chocolate on the table’s corner. “I don’t know anymore, but I know the last person who tried to fix me couldn’t help and died trying. I’ve hurt your people too much when all I wanted was to protect the dragon.”
“And you did, maybe too well,” Saffyranae said.
Her voice was smooth and reassuring, but at the same time, there was an undercurrent of worry to her voice. He looked up to her curiously to see her blue eyes uncertain and hopeful both.
“I don’t understand?” Clay asked.
“He hatched a few days ago,” Minerva said. “He’s asking for you already. Saff says he won’t eat a lot and doesn’t want to bond with his actual guardians.”
“I didn’t want that. I just wanted him not to die.” Clay looked between them. “You have to believe me. I had no idea he’d do that.”
Saffyranae put a hand on his shoulder. He wished she could be near him always, could touch him as she did, give him that hint of healing. It was so hard to flash between his long periods of darkness where nothing made sense and the refreshing clarity he felt now. “Clay, it was an unforeseen side effect of your sacrifice.”
He raked a hand through his hair, streaks of white would always be layered through, but the gesture felt different now, somehow. “So, do you want me to come back to help fix me, or is it because the little boy is sick?”
“Frankly,” Saffyranae said. “We would beg you to come to us and hope for your charity to protect the child. We’ve lost too many dragons—adult and child both—in this fight. He’s suffering, and he wants you. Will you come?”
“Of course,” he said. There was no doubt in his words. That little boy had called to him from the moment he’d first seen that egg, and he would do anything to protect him, to try and keep him safe. Clay didn’t understand the bond, himself, just knew it was there. “Do I go now?”
Minerva shook her head. “Saff has to come by and grab a few things from my place, and then you two,” there was scorn in her voice on that part. “Fly over the rainbow or whatever and slip through the veil to the dragon realm. You get your stuff in order today, and she’ll spring you from the gruesome twosome tomorrow. It’s like you won the lottery.”
Saffyranae put her hand over Minerva’s on the table, but the girl pulled hers away as if she’d been burned. “Nerv, we…”
“No, this is about Clay, about getting what helps that little boy. That matters. I just tagged along because I needed answers, too.” Minerva quirked her head at him. “Did you see what I could do?”
“I didn’t know what it was. I’m not sure exactly all that it is, actually, but I saw what happened when my brother died, that shield of light you made.”
“Yeah, I have no idea what the hell that is. Saff said she’s never seen anything like it. Even old and crusty Nehemaiah hadn’t, and he’s like five hundred. So that’s not reassuring. Is there anything else you can tell me?” Her tone was sarcastic, but there was a plaintiveness behind her voice that he recognized.
It was the same tone he’d had so often when he’d asked Toph for answers, begged him in the throes of the worst visions why he had to be like this.
“You’re not like me,” Clay said. “The plague… None of this is because magic touched you. You were born this way. It’s right.”
“Yeah, because I was sensing dragon heartbeats and bending light before I met you people,” Minerva said. She crossed her arms over her chest. “That can’t be true.”
“I can only tell you what I know, not even how I know it. You, Minerva, are something else, but I don’t know anymore what you are than I know about what I’ve become.”
“But I won’t see like shadow creatures, right?” she asked.
Clay’s shoulders fell. “I don’t know that either, but you seem like you’re more lucid on a bad day than I have been for the better part of my life. Hope that makes you feel better.”
Saffyranae frowned. “She’s always been like this?”
“Yes? Probably. It feels that way, doesn’t it? Her magic… Maybe having to use magic to survive drew it out of her, but she’s not human, at least not fully,” he said. Clay eyed his guardians. The nurse was reading a book, blissfully unaware of anything about him, but the bodyguard was glaring at Saffyranae as if he could melt her from ten yards. “I think it’s best if I go home and prepare my things. I assume that when you come, Saffyranae, there won’t be trouble getting me out.”
“I can strongly suggest they cooperate. It won’t even come to fisticuffs,” she replied.
Minerva brightened for the first time that afternoon. “Oh, Dragon Lady, where’s the fun in that?”
48
Minerva
It was never truly cold in Southern California. Even if it were a sunny day outside, Minerva couldn’t help but shiver when she slipped into her rented room. Saff had slipped up from the table to make a phone call while she’d bought a second soda, and since then, her partner hadn’t said much at all. Maybe Saff wasn’t any bigger on goodbyes than Minerva was.
Hell, she assumed after everything had cleared from the battle and she hadn’t heard from Saff for almost a week that it was the big brush off.
Who knew you could be ghosted by a dragon?
Then she’d shown up at Minerva’
s door as if nothing had happened and requested Minerva come with her to speak with Clay. Frankly, Minerva would’ve told Saff to get her big dragon ass out of her apartment… if didn’t need more answers about what the fuck was happening to her, about the power lurking inside her she could only tap into under life and death situations. She’d tried after to call forth the light or that weird shield thing. She’d tried and concentrated and done everything she could think of for days and come up with nothing.
If she didn’t need help with that big ass mystery… but she did.
Minerva didn’t need to be called up only when it was convenient. And she knew what the equation added up to. She was human (mostly), and Saff was a dragon. They weren’t going to hang out, especially once Saff settled back in her home.
Saff stood at the doorway to Minerva’s room and coughed pointedly. She did not come in. “Should I wait here?”
“I think I have a few of your weapons and extra stuff laying under something,” Minerva said, tossing piles of clothes everywhere, not even sorry when a t-shirt hit Saff in her model perfect face.
Take that, cheekbones.
Saff pulled it away and let it fall to the floor. “I can tell you’re angry.”
“Great. Glad your empathy is still working. Saff, you didn’t talk to me for over a week. Why didn’t you see me after the battle?”
“We had close to fifty eggs to resettle. I was also on one of the shaman teams settling plague outbreaks from travelers to Europe and Asia. I’ve been trying to save lives, and I came back to you as soon as I could.”
Minerva’s jaw dropped, and the fury leaked out of her. It was harder to be pissed off when Saff had a good reason for being delayed. Still, she couldn’t even get a message through. Could you leave a voicemail beyond the veil? “I… I thought you weren’t coming back.”
“I did want to see you once more, and not even because of my weapons.” She sighed and stepped through into Minerva’s room. “I am frustrated by the rules of my people. I am certainly as angry as you are.”
“Oh, I’m the ‘pet’ here, so I’m sure I’m more frustrated.” Minerva picked up her monarch butterfly pillow and clutched it to her chest. “Are you going to listen to old crusty?”
“Maiah? He is on the Council, but he is only a general. The orders to return across the veil were Kiayana’s. I could not refuse them then.”
Minerva frowned, hearing her friend’s words. “Could not? As in past tense? Did something change?”
“Yes. I spoke with her today to explain what Clay saw.”
“Phone calls reach your realm?”
“No, but she is currently in D.C. helping with clean up there. In her human form, of course. There was so much magic seeping into the ground of the Georgetown estate that only a dragon of her power could cleanse it.”
“Oh.” Minerva held the monarch pillow so tightly in her grip part of her feared it would pop. “What are the new orders?”
Saffyranae hesitated, her lashes seeming to weigh heavily as her eyes fell half-lidded and she looked to the ground. “You may come with me, if it is your will. If you want to know more about your powers, whatever is affecting you, then you can come back with Clay and me.”
“Now that I’ve had an upgrade, that I’m a freak,” she snapped.
Saff edged closer and then surprised Minerva by stroking her hair. Minerva leaned into the gesture and wished it could be more, but there was far too much craziness between them currently, and she wasn’t even sure they were still friends.
“You saved my life. We could not have succeeded in this mission without… You secured the location from Clay, you cleared Topher’s research from records others could steal, and you saved me when he tried to kill me. You did all of these things, and, yes, what you can do now came in very handy when I needed it, but a lot of your smooth talking and great computer skills helped too. I need you, Nerv.”
“And not like a pet?”
Saff snorted and reached into her jacket pocket. She pulled out a small wrapped box. At first, Minerva swore it had to be a jewelry box, but that was doubly nuts.
“Never, Nerv. I would never think of you as lesser than I. Just vulnerable. That scares me, the thought of losing you or your getting killed because of me. It is a pain I could not bear.”
“I don’t plan to do it.”
“You’ve come so close, but I can learn to deal with that, to try and brace for that pain and do everything in my power to make sure my friend survives to a nice, old age.” Saff frowned. “Well, for a human.”
Minerva laughed. “Trust me, I’m motivated not to get killed, promise.” She took the package from Saff and frowned. “Seriously, what is this?”
“Just open it.”
She pulled off the bright violet paper and yanked off the top. Inside were two barrettes made like monarch butterflies. “They’re beautiful.”
“I thought once in a while, you might want to wear something besides a lock pick in your hair.”
“Then where would I keep my lock pick?”
“I’m sure you’d find some place… creative.”
Minerva chuckled and placed each one at her temples. “Thank you, Saff. That really means a lot.”
“I remember the story you told me, about your grandmother and her people. She would be so proud of you. I am.”
Minerva blinked her eyes. God, her allergies were acting up. “Thanks, Saff, and I think even if you’re apparently not a very experienced shaman yet, you did a kickass job of it.”
Minerva stood and bypassed her friend’s proffered hand, instead opting to pull her into a hug.
“So,” Minerva asked, “admit it. You’re glad you didn’t freeze me on that beach, right?”
Saff pulled away and smirked. “What is it the humans say, Nerv? The jury is still out on that one.”
49
Saffyranae
Minerva had been so angry during their flight back through the veil. While she suffered as always, Clay had seemed unfazed by the speed and the turns.
Saff had to admit that it wasn’t fair. However, his lengthy suffering had been far from fair either, so Saff had sent a quick message to Minerva that it was nice for Clay to be able to enjoy something for once.
Once they’d landed, the look in Clay’s hopeful green eyes had been beyond price. At first, Saff had assumed he was simply taken aback by the sight of dragons zipping and dipping, crossing by and lumbering around. She herself had found the Aislinn Isle an awe-inspiring sight when her fathers had first brought her here.
Then, he spoke, his voice boyish and a little lost: “There are no shadows here…”
“Makes sense,” Minerva said with a shrug. “I think you’ll find the architecture pretty cool, too.”
Clay managed a half-hearted laugh as he swallowed and tried to take everything in. His legs gave out on him, and Saff slipped into her human form just in time to grab his arm and help him along. There was a new color to his cheek, though, that made her think he might yet be okay.
Together, the three of them walked into the center of the island, where a number of interconnected houses sprouted up like enormous, multicolored mushrooms. Circling around the houses were patches of individual crops that the parents who lived here would trade among each other and the families that lived further away from the forests.
“Where are we?” Clay asked. He was walking independently now, gazing up at each new structure with a sedate interest.
“There are a number of families who, upon enabling their child to hatch, prefer to be in the company of other new parents,” Saff explained. “In this small settlement, the new parents have the help of shamans, warriors, artisans, everyone to assist them during their first few months as a family.”
She looked at the group of hatchlings rolling around and hopping over one another in stretch of flowers. “There are more families here now than there normally are. I think because some of the hatchlings have been struggling.”
“Will they be okay?
” Clay froze, crossing his arms over himself uncomfortably. “They don’t seem hurt…” He lifted his chin and looked over to a little green hatchling who sat by himself in a field of corn, rubbing his hands into the earth. “Well, he doesn’t seem so well.”
“Hey!” Minerva rushed toward the little dragon.
Saff recognized him immediately. The hatchling that had been born in the world of humans. She followed and stood behind the two of them.
“Hey, little guy. Do you and your parents live here?” Minerva knelt by him.
He looked up at her. Hello! Yeah. We live in the space over there with the blue and pink roof.
Minerva looked. “Don’t you want to play with the others?”
I was. But I wanted to talk to the ground for a while.
Minerva smiled. “Is it saying anything interesting?”
It says the light came here today, and we are blessed.
Saff raised a brow. She turned to Clay. “Normally, hatchlings will imprint on their parents and the shamans who help them to hatch. This one met Nerv shortly after he was born.”
She motioned for him to follow her. Minerva nodded as she sat in the dirt. She would follow soon.
“There was no one there when he hatched to attach to, so I am not surprised that he prefers solitude. He will struggle to socialize, but we will find a place for him. Shamans often find themselves in remote locations.”
“I still think that experience probably traumatized a whole generation of children,” Clay said.
“We will help them as best we can,” Saff assured him. She wasn’t entirely certain herself what the longer lasting repercussions of this upset would be. For now, she could only be grateful that they were alive at all.
“I am too,” Clay muttered.
Saff stared for a moment. Clay blinked back at her.
“Oh, sorry.”
“I forget at times that you can read thoughts not sent to you. I’d imagine that in itself makes your mind a cluttered place.”
Sirens and Scales Page 138
