The Dragon Tree

by Kavich, AC

  Eva sat near the back with her parents. She didn’t like sitting so far back, but her mother always insisted on going incognito in case Salvadore did something embarrassing. “You never know when he’ll start talking to the back of someone’s head,” Rosa said as she shifted her weight uncomfortably.

  Aidan spotted the Diaz family from the gazebo and broke of his conversation to join them. He was dressed smartly in a tailored black tuxedo that made him look several years older. He slid into the chair beside Eva and gave her a chaste kiss, then waved down the aisle to her parents.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, I’m so glad you could make it. Mom did a lovely job with the yard, didn’t she?” he asked, his teeth still a brilliant white despite the fading light.

  Rosa clasped her hands together and drew an exultant breath. “It’s just the most marvelous arrangement I’ve ever seen.”

  Aidan extended his hand for Salvadore to shake. Salvadore looked at the hand for a few moments as if he didn’t understand what it was, then reached for it hesitantly and allowed Aidan to do all the work. “I agree with my wife. It’s all very… nice?”

  “Your brother is such a lucky boy to have a mother who cares for him this much,” Rosa continued. “And a father and a brother. You’re all just wonderful! Your whole family, just wonderful! That young bride of your brother’s, what a lucky girl she is too! To wake up one day and find herself a part of this family! My goodness, it boggles the mind!”

  Aidan chuckled and brought Eva’s hand to his lips. “Someday Eva might be able to tell you exactly how that feels.”

  Rosa cooed all the louder and turned to Eva to feign surprise. “Did you hear that, Eva, honey? Sounds like this charming boyfriend of yours may have a few plans for you, doesn’t it? It’s just so wonderful I could absolutely burst!”

  Eva’s head was spinning. The strange flirtation between her mother and her boyfriend was bad enough, but the actual content of their conversation was utterly bizarre. She’d been dating Aidan for two months and already he was making poorly-veiled comments about marriage? She had two years of high school and four years of college ahead of her before she would even consider marriage.

  He doesn’t want to marry me. He wants to own me.

  What would he think of Eva if he knew she’d spent the afternoon listening to an old man explain dragon lore? What would he think of her if he knew she had befriended the boy he beat up at the track meet, a boy who had only recently taken up the hobby of turning into a fire-breathing beast when the sun went down?

  Douglas Humphries – Aidan’s imposing father – took the dais. He was dressed in a tuxedo that looked carved out of ebony. His silver hair was slicked back and his back straight as a board as he held up a glass of champagne and beamed at his guests.

  “I know the toasts are supposed to wait until after the ceremony, but I don’t believe in tradition. Especially in my own house.”

  The guests laughed, unsure if they should.

  “I’ve lived a charmed life, as most of you know. Thirty years after I bought my first fishing trawler for a song – and after thirty years hauling fish out of a mean and majestic Pacific ocean – I am a very wealthy man. That wealth affords me a great deal. I’ve seen the world and I’ve tasted every pleasure the world has to offer. But all of my material wealth pales in comparison to my greatest pleasure.”

  Humphries paused for effect, his silver hair gleaming.

  “I’ve been blessed with two sons – Aidan and Philip – and they’ve both grown into men I can respect. They’re strong and confident and they don’t take ‘no’ for an answer unless they’re in the mood.” Humphries took a sip of champagne and enjoyed it so much he downed the rest of the glass. “If it was up to me, Philip would get a few years of business under his belt before he gets married and starts a family. Hell, he could run one of my lesser businesses right here in Alpine. But like I said, he’s his own man and he loves Carla and that’s the end of it.”

  The crowd was silent now, getting more uncomfortable with every word.

  “Anyway, thanks everybody for coming and what not. Philip – I know you’re back there somewhere – don’t you dare chicken out before you say your vows. Your mother cashed in half my stock portfolio to pay for this shindig and if you flee for greener pastures I will send bounty hunters across the face of the earth to drag you back here and make an honest woman out of our dear Carla.” He chuckled at his own remarks, disappointed to find that his champagne glass was empty. “All right, enough babbling. Let’s get the show on the road.”

  As the last of the wedding guests arrived and took their seats, the orchestra began playing a magnificent piece of instrumental music to hush all conversations and draw all attention to the dais.

  An elderly minister took his position at the edge of the stage, his hands folded across a Bible and a grin plastered on his beet-red face. The crowd turned to watch Aidan’s brother Philip walk down the aisle, arm-in-arm with his mother. Philip was every bit as handsome as Aidan in his black tuxedo, and his mother Esther looked lovely in her gown.

  “I better go,” whispered Aidan. “Best man duties!”

  As Aidan slipped out of the aisle, Eva turned to the west. A sliver of the Pacific was visible beyond the treetops. The sun was slowly dipping toward that blue sliver, and would soon begin setting.

  Eva swallowed hard and tried to focus on the ceremony as it began in earnest. But her mind was ten miles away.

  ***

  Hiroki was still sitting behind the wheel of the Buick while Billy paced back and forth across the rocky plateau. The sun was dropping fast now, the sky turning brilliant colors Hiroki couldn’t name.

  The change would begin any minute now.

  Hiroki blared his horn and leaned out the window. “You promised her, Billy!”

  “She won’t bother skipping that lame wedding to be here, I won’t bother honoring the promise. It’s basic math, Hiro. You’re supposed to be the smart one.”

  “You don’t know her like I know her. She’s going to be so mad at you! So, so, so mad. Like, Latina mad. If you’ve never experienced that before—”

  “Yeah, what do you care?” Billy answered with a defiant smile. “Maybe she’ll be so mad at me that she actually pays attention to you again. Wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace?”

  Hiroki pounded the steering wheel with frustration and climbed out of the Buick. With his cheap digital camera dangling from his neck – there was no way he would risk the film camera again – he marched around to the trunk and popped it open. The trunk was still full of clothes donated by the good people of Hudson to a charity that didn’t exist. He selected a few of the larger items and carried them over to Billy.

  “You’re not taking photos,” Billy snapped.

  “Don’t you want to document this? Don’t you want to see what you look like as a dragon?”

  Billy considered the idea for a moment, but shook his head ‘no’.

  Hiroki shook his own head, incredulous. He held out the clothes from his trunk. “Either strip before the change so your clothes don’t rip, or let them rip and wear these when you get back,” Hiroki said as he dropped the clothing on the rocks.

  Billy toed the clothes disinterestedly, but he nodded. “That’s a good call. I kind of like these clothes, and my dad is going to catch on that something’s up if I keep coming home in somebody else’s threads. Next time, gotta bring a big sheet or something. Yeah, a sheet would be perfect.”

  Billy pulled off his shirt and Hiroki was surprised to see all the bruises on Billy’s torso. He had forgotten about them. As Billy unbuttoned his pants, Hiroki turned and walked toward the cliff edge.

  “Now you definitely can’t take pictures, you perv,” said Billy with a chuckle.

  “Listen man, I can’t do anything to stop you. And it’s not like I care if you crash and burn again or if you get harpooned by a whaler—”

  “People still harpoon whales?” asked Billy.

  “—but are you sur
e you won’t just eat the stupid leaves?” asked Hiroki. “My grandfather says that eating them one time isn’t permanent. You can still do the change another night. Any other night. Once we know a little more.”

  “That’s a very reasonable suggestion, Hiro,” said Billy. “But I’m already naked and freezing my ass off. So, what the hell? I’ll just go ahead and turn into a dragon.”

  Billy’s sarcasm was not lost on Hiroki as he whirled around.

  “Don’t let anyone see you. I’m serious, Billy. Stay as high as you can.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Billy—”

  “I don’t even know if I can fly, dude. If I can, obviously I’ll try to stay out of sight but I’m not sweating it if I can’t.”

  Hiroki scoffed. “You’re not sweating it? You can’t be so stupid that you still don’t realize the risk.”

  “I realize the risk, my man,” said Billy with a grin. “I just don’t give a crap.”

  That moment, the sun touched the far edge of the visible Pacific. The multi-colored sky shimmered as the sunset began in earnest, as if the atmosphere itself knew what was about to happen to Billy.

  “I just remembered,” said Billy as he looked down at his bare arms. The scale pattern was emerging much more quickly than it had the previous two nights. His skin was already turning gray-blue and his fingernails black and pointed.

  “Remembered what?” asked Hiroki, trying to hide his awe and his fear.

  “How much this hurts,” Billy winced.

  ***

  After the outdoor ceremony was over, most of the guests remained in the backyard under an elaborate array of exterior lights and heat lamps. Esther had spared no expense in ensuring that her guests would be comfortable after the sun went down. A catering crew in white dinner jackets removed all of the white chairs and set up several long tables where the guests could eat.

  Eva slipped away from her parents, both of whom were eyeing the half-dozen carts of exotic food the caterers were rolling out onto the back patio. She had no particular destination in mind, but when she caught sight of open doors leading to the Humphries’ empty drawing room, she headed inside the house.

  One broad side of the home’s enormous fireplace spanned the far wall. There were bookshelves running from floor to ceiling on each of the other walls. The books themselves were mostly leather-bound and surely expensive: first prints that had never been read by their rich owners and never would be. Eva gave the books very little attention, however. Her eyes were drawn to the decorations that hung on otherwise bare walls between the bookshelves.

  Hunting trophies.

  “Pretty badass, huh?” said Aidan as he entered the room on silent feet. He pulled the doors shut behind him and slid across the room to Eva. His arm was around her waist and pulling her close in a matter of seconds. “Dad took down every one of these animals on his own.”

  Aidan hung onto Eva’s waist as he walked her to the nearest object of taxidermy wonder: the head of a zebra. Its lips were flared to reveal its yellow teeth, as if the animal were whinnying and would whinny – perfectly preserved – forever.

  “White stripes or black stripes? Who gives a crap, right?” He spun Eva around and walked her along the wall, past other creatures suspended in time by sawdust and too many chemicals to count. There were half a dozen deer heads, each one with more points on its antlers than the last. There was an elk that looked more than a little surprised, as he must have been when a bullet struck him in the chest. There were two sharks Eva couldn’t identify, a sailfish and a swordfish. There were detached elephant tusks growing out of a piece of quartz.

  But the highlight of the collection – the intended highlight, at least – was a massive male lion.

  Unlike the other animals whose bodies had been discarded after death, the lion was intact and standing upright on its own four paws. The artisan who stuffed the carcass had done a remarkable job of posing it realistically. It appeared to be sauntering across the drawing room in search of a comfortable place to nap. Its eyes were drowsy, its mouth open just a crack. Its tail was suspended in a playful arc with the aid of a very thin wire that ran from its furry tip to a pinpoint hole in the floor.

  Aidan brushed Eva’s hair away from her ear and placed a soft kiss on her temple. “The lion is my favorite too.”

  “It’s not my… my favorite,” said Eva with a shudder.

  “No? Which one do you like better?”

  “None of them. They’re all disgusting.”

  She pushed Aidan’s hands away from her waist and took a few hurried steps away from him. Her finger crept up to her temple reflexively and wiped the spot where he kissed her.

  Aidan shook his head, grinning. “Okay, you’re obviously still mad at me. Want to talk about it?”

  “There’s nothing to talk about,” Eva said softly.

  “What? I can’t hear you.”

  “I said there’s nothing to talk about.”

  Aidan took a step toward Eva. When she flinched and hugged her body, he stopped short and raised his hands. “You heard my father. This is supposed to be a happy occasion, Eva. A celebration. You’re acting like you’re at a funeral.”

  “Why are you dating me?” she blurted.

  Aidan’s eyes went big at the question. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You want to talk? Let’s talk about us. Why are you dating me?

  “You’re the most beautiful girl I know,” said Aidan, his easy charm returning. “Don’t I tell you that enough? If I don’t, I’m sorry. It’s my job to make sure you never doubt it. I’ll tell you every day from now on.”

  “That’s all you got, huh?” asked Eva with a bitter laugh.

  Aidan’s face contorted in a heavy frown. “Oh right. You think you’re smart and funny and charming, too. I’m supposed to like everything about you. Well okay, Eva Diaz. I’m dating you for all of the above. Satisfied?”

  Eva charged across the room, precarious on her pink heels. She leaned back and swung with everything she had, her palm connecting flush with Aidan’s face. He was so surprised, he didn’t have time to stop smiling until it was over.

  “Aggh!” Aidan bellowed.

  “You don’t have to struggle for a reason to date me anymore, Aidan.” She rubbed her stinging palm and headed for the study doors.

  “That’s right, Eva! Run off to your dorky little sycophant, Hiro. He’ll tell you how sensitive and special you are! That little turd will kiss your feet and tell you what a delicate flower you are!”

  Eva was halfway out the door, but she turned back with a mischievous grin and batted her eyes at Aidan. “Or maybe I’ll just go to Hudson, instead. You know Hudson, that quaint little town next to Alpine that your horrible father doesn’t own. I know a cross-country fan in Hudson you might remember.”

  Aidan’s eyes were bloodshot. His skin was flush from his forehead to the tight collar squeezing his throat. “Him?”

  “Him,” she said, and waved goodbye. “He’s a better kisser than you.”

  ***

  Billy had to ignore the fear that tightened his hulking blue chest or he never would have stepped off the cliff. His black talons were curving out over the precipice and his mottled, outstretched wings were slicing the ocean wind that buffeted the rocks. He swiveled his heavy skull to look at each wing. How could that elastic skin and those thin bones just visible inside keep this heavy body of his in the air?

  You did it last night, dumb ass. You can do it again.

  But he knew it wasn’t true. He had used the wings to slow his fall as he spun toward the water with Eva in his paw. But flapping the wings hadn’t worked well at all. If anything, it made the fall more spastic and uncontrolled.

  But you caught her, didn’t you?

  He had controlled his descent enough – if only for a few seconds – that he piloted his enormous frame directly toward Eva. It was only after he caught her and started thinking about flight that his flight turned so ugly. There was only one
answer: the key to flying was to do it without thinking. Surely birds and bats and insects leapt out into space without first studying aerodynamics or checking their wings obsessively. They were meant to fly.

  He was meant to fly, too. It was just that simple.

  Hiroki was behind him, eyes pinned open with sheer amazement. Billy swished his tail at Hiroki to move him out of the way. Then he backed up a few steps, kicking up gravel with his talons, crouched low to the rocks then closed his eyes and scrabbled forward. He pumped his wings against the air and felt a strain where they met his shoulders. He opened his mighty jaws and tasted the salt on the air and then…

  There was nowhere left to run. He was in the air.

  He was falling through the air.

  He opened his eyes wide and screeched as he tumbled downward toward the icy surf below. He whipped his tail left and right, trying to steer. That frantic effort only sent him into a violent spin like the previous night’s disaster.

  Not your tail! Your wings!

  Just as he was about to plunge into the bay, he extended his wings and locked them in place. They filled with cold air like parachutes and arrested his fall almost entirely. He was still drifting down slowly, and his tail dipped into the water, but his wings were holding him aloft.

  Flap them, idiot!

  And so he did.

  He caught an amazed expression on Hiroki’s face as he flapped his way back up to the plateau. Then he screeched with exhilaration and used his tail to spin himself the opposite direction. He dropped his head low and held his body horizontally, then pounded the air with his wings to thrust himself forward.

  So this is what clouds taste like.

  Billy had climbed awkwardly from the height of the cliff to the bottom of the clouds in a matter of seconds. He wasn’t as swift or sure as an airplane surging for cruising altitude, but he felt like the fastest object the sky had ever seen.