Edwin had glowered even darker when Baba was finished, before pressing his blood-soaked cloth harder against his nose and leaving the room. A door slammed.
“Leave him,” Maddox said softly when Kaylee started to go after him. “Just give him some space.”
Baba dropped her hands. The man let out a faint groan but it didn’t sound as pained as before. “That’s all I can do for now.”
She stood and wiped her hands on a damp rag. “I’ve called members of the Convocation. They’ll patch him up the best they can and check for any lingering Slayers. We got lucky tonight.”
“You won’t…tell them what we did, will you?” Jade said.
Baba cocked an eyebrow. “S’far as I know you little idiots went off on a spontaneous twilight run. Once you leave my house what you do is none of my business. If you want to die, that’s between you and your Maker.”
Jade nodded slowly, and Kaylee got the distinct feeling she was thinking about what Kaylee had said in the forest. Not that Kaylee felt bad about it. She would get stronger. And if these Slayers were going to keep hanging around, then they’d better watch out.
A couple weeks limped by. Time Kaylee didn’t spend at her torturous lessons with Baba were eaten up by school, cramming in all the ridiculous loads of homework the teachers were giving them. There was Biology, advanced Algebra (the devil’s subject, in Kaylee’s opinion), Sociology, and more. It wouldn’t have been so bad if each teacher hadn’t conveniently forgotten that the students had homework from other classes besides theirs. On top of that, Baba had assigned her breathing exercises and extra shifting practice outside of their lessons, both of which she couldn’t exactly perform anywhere public like the library or in the lunch room during study hall. The breathing, because she didn’t feel like fielding awkward looks from her classmates, the shifting because she didn’t feel like ending up on display at a zoo.
By the time the final bell rang on Friday, Kaylee’s brain was mush. She gathered all her things and shuffled out with the rest of the students fleeing the school grounds, as if they could somehow outrun the work assigned to them.
“Kaylee!” A blond bob bounced above the mass of heads. Dani enthusiastically waved at her from the doors leading to the quad. “Tough day?” She said sympathetically as Kaylee joined her.
“Why? Do I look that bad?” Kaylee said, checking her hair.
“Not at all! Just…well, okay, you looked a little tired, but I’ve been swamped too. I’m sure I’m a mess.”
She wasn’t. She looked flawless as always, but somehow Kaylee couldn’t manage to hate her for it.
“Everything’s just been so crazy these last couple weeks,” Dani said.
“You’re telling me,” Kaylee grumbled.
“I heard you didn’t go back to cross country. A couple girls said you just kind of left after tryouts. I meant to ask you about it sooner but never got the chance.”
Dani’s face was pure and utter concern, her lashes fluttering as she waited for Kaylee’s answer. In middle school, Kaylee would have been suspicious that somebody so pretty could also be so nice, but with Dani, it just seemed right.
“I don’t think cross country was really for me. I had…other obligations.” Kaylee suddenly grinned. “And Coach Maxwell seemed a little too extreme for my taste.”
“I know,” Dani said. “He substitute-coached the girls’ soccer team once and it was a disaster! You’d think he was prepping us for the World Cup, not district playoffs—”
Her eyes drifted over Kaylee’s shoulder.
Jade was leaning against the opposite door, arms crossed. Dani gave a wave. “Hi, Jade!”
“Hey, Dani,” Jade said, giving a vague nod. “Ready to go, Kaylee?”
Kaylee bit down the sudden rush of resentment at seeing her there. It wasn’t that Kaylee didn’t want to walk home with her. It would still feel wrong not to, and they’d done it every day since forever. But now that Kaylee knew Jade had an ulterior motive, an obligation, to her…it almost made the whole thing worse.
Dani’s smile wilted just a bit. She glanced between them.
“You two okay?” Dani said in a low voice.
“Just great.”
“Sometime today, Kaylee?” Jade said.
“Ookay…” Dani said. “Well if you ever want to talk, just ask me.” She raised her head and said brightly, “Well, I have Calculus Club, soooo…I’ll just see you both later!”
She practically pranced off down the hall.
“Let’s go, Master,” Kaylee said, brushing past Jade. She heard Jade sigh.
They crossed the now-nearly-empty parking lot and headed towards Kaylee’s house. Jade’s wasn’t much farther beyond hers, so Kaylee could almost make-believe they just happened to be walking the same direction; two friends heading home together because they wanted to, because that was what friends did.
Neither spoke. Not about school, how the day went, boys, or what they were doing this weekend. The silence unfurled before them, as long and lonely as the road they walked. They’d barely spoken the last couple weeks, despite spending so much time together, and when they had it was only what was necessary for training and basic communication.
They turned up the next street. Out of the corner of her eye, Kaylee saw Jade increase her pace. Her eyes swept the houses on either side, then back behind them before turning ahead again.
“I thought you said Scarsdale was safe for me,” Kaylee said, breaking the silence.
“It speaks,” Jade said automatically, as if nothing had changed between them. “And it is safe. But that doesn’t mean I can get lazy with my job.”
“Just put a leash on me. It’ll make your life easier.”
Jade snorted. “I was thinking more of a tracking beacon. Maybe a keychain that attaches to your backpack. How do you feel about Hello Kitty?”
“You know I hate Hello Kitty.”
“I know. Really I should be the one with it.” She shook her head. “Because, well…never mind.”
Kaylee paused at the crest of the hill. Below them was the school and most of Scarsdale laid out like a 3D map, glazed in an orange glow of the shortening days. “What is it?”
“Nothing.”
“You suck at lying. Tell me what’s wrong.”
Jade smirked at her. “You’re so tactful with words. My parents somehow found out about me and Maddox running into the woods. They…weren’t happy.”
“That makes three of us.”
“Seriously, Kaylee? I got chewed out enough from them. I don’t need it from you too. You should have heard them.” Jade raised her arms as though passing a proclamation, “‘Did you even think about your actions! Did you consider the consequences for a moment? How we would feel if we lost you?’ Blah, blah blah.”
“All true.”
“You’re impossible.” Jade kicked a rock and it skittered into the street. An ice cream truck rounded the nearest curve and moved past them. Jade eyed it as though it might suddenly screech to a halt and Slayers would leap out and assault them with the deadly power of Fudgesicles.
When it was gone Jade continued looking glumly at the ground, and Kaylee felt a pang of sympathy for her. Sure, Kaylee should have stayed put at Baba’s house, and Jade was doing her job, as much as Kaylee hated it.
“Jade—”
“I know I was wrong,” Jade said in one breath, like a ghost being exorcised from inside her. “What Maddox and I did was stupid.”
“Thank you!” Kaylee said, throwing her arms up. “You admit I was right—ouch!”
She rubbed the spot where Jade had jabbed her.
“Don’t forget you were stupid too. Not only did you come after me, but you’ve barely spoken to me the last couple weeks.”
“I’m not mad because you protected me, Jade. I’m mad because this whole Convocation thing forces you to protect me just because I’m a dragon-kin—”
“I don’t protect you because you’re a dragon-kin. I don’t protect you because I feel
I have to or it’ll win me points with the Convocation or anything. I don’t feel obligated. I don’t feel forced. I do it because you’re my best friend and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
“I—thanks, Jade.”
Jade nodded and briefly turned away, wiping her sleeve over her eyes. “Crappy allergies.”
“Jade, you’ve never had allergies.”
“Shut up.” She sniffed and walked ahead.
Kaylee couldn’t help smiling. She felt a sense of relief, as if, even with all that had been going on lately, a small injustice had been set right within their small world.
“But seriously, keep getting stronger and I won’t have to protect you,” Jade said. “Until then, I’m telling you, just stuff me in any of your date’s trunks. ‘Who’s the weird girl in the back of my car’ is an instant icebreaker. Plus, I can always distract him if the date goes sour.”
“You know what?” Kaylee said. “The way my dates have gone so far, that might not be a bad idea.”
Something was different when Kaylee stepped inside her house. She heard muted voices from the kitchen. Her parents were standing over the dinner table, faces tilted down towards something Kaylee couldn’t see.
“Go ask them,” Jeremy whispered from behind her. He peeked his head around her and nudged her forward. “Then come tell me.”
“Ask them what?” Kaylee said.
“Whatever it is they’re talking about. Dad was waiting for me after practice and mom’s home early. I asked them what’s up and they told me to go to my room. It was harsh.”
“Maybe it’s because you’re annoying?” Kaylee suggested. Jeremy glared at her. He nudged her again.
Kaylee dropped her backpack at the foot of the stairs and walked inside the kitchen.
“Mom? Dad?”
Both of them glanced up sharply. Her mom slipped her cellphone into her pocket. “Kaylee! We didn’t hear you come in.”
“What are you doing home from work so early?”
Her dad wrapped an arm around her mom’s shoulders. “Things have been so crazy lately we were thinking of taking you out for a little treat. Does Spinelli’s sound good?”
Their smiles were too wide, too forced. Kaylee decided to play along.
“Okay…any special occasion?”
Her dad chuckled. “Do we need a reason to treat our own daughter?”
“Not unless you have an ulterior motive.”
“No fair!” Jeremy burst into the kitchen. “You’re taking her to dinner without me?”
“Jeremy—” her mom started.
“Is this about that dragon thing she’s part of?” Jeremy demanded. “Just because she’s a dragon doesn’t mean she gets to go to Spinelli’s without me!”
“You both told him?” Kaylee said, horrified. “How much does he know?”
“Kaylee, he’s living under the same roof as a dragon-kin, and one who can apparently summon weather systems,” her mom said. “It was only a matter of time before he found out. And Alastair said it’s better the immediate family knows so they can offer as much support as possible.”
“We’ve had a couple very informative talks with Alastair,” her dad added, though his wistful expression said he may have enjoyed the sampling of drinks more than the subject matter.
“He’ll blab to the first person who asks!” Kaylee said. “You know how he likes to brag!”
“I do not!”
“Oh, please. You told Cindy Spiegel that we own a yacht just to get her to like you—”
“Both of you, quiet!” her dad bellowed. The kitchen fell silent. “Kaylee, we trust Jeremy to do the right thing for this family, just as we trust you to be responsible with your powers.”
Jeremy crossed his arms and smirked at her.
“We also,” her mom said, leveling a look at Jeremy, “trust him enough to let him stay at home alone while we go out.”
Jeremy’s eyes widened so much Kaylee was sure they risked bursting from his head. “Are you serious—Can I use the TV, too?”
“Well…” her dad said.
“It’s fine, hon. We’ll only be gone an hour or so,” her mother said. “He can’t possibly cause too much destruction in that time.”
“Don’t bet on it,” Kaylee said.
Jeremy stuck his tongue out at her. “By the way, you can shift your body into parts of a dragon, right? Can you shift your face? It’s ugly enough as it is.”
“What did you say, brat?” Tingles of magic rocketed up Kaylee’s arm. The lights in the kitchen flickered and dimmed.
“Kaylee!” her mom barked while Jeremy cackled. “No summoning storms in the house, young lady! You want to use magic, you take it outside. I won’t have you ending up—”
She froze, like she had almost said something she could never take back.
“Forget it. Kaylee, magic away, now. I won’t tell you again. And get your coat. We’re leaving.”
She walked out. Her dad gave her a leveled look and followed.
Grumbling, Kaylee dropped her arms. The lights returned to their normal glow. Jeremy smirked again.
“Have fun at dinner, dragon girl.”
“I’ll kill you later,” Kaylee promised.
Spinelli’s was packed, but they managed to find a quieter table near the back where they could actually hear each other speak. Kaylee didn’t need a menu to know what she wanted, and when the breadsticks came out she tore into them before they’d hit the table. It was only after the third one that she noticed her mother casually wiping away some of her mascara that had begun to run out of the corner of her eye. Kaylee’s appetite shriveled. She had never seen her mom cry about…anything, really. Usually her dad was the one shamelessly sobbing in public and embarrassing them all. He’d bawled in the theater during the Old Yeller remake when she’d gone with friends, while her mom had been the one who’d stoically preached the virtues of vaccinating pets. To see her cry now was to see an impenetrable fortress breached.
“Okay, spill,” Kaylee said.
“Where?” Her dad said, grabbing his napkin and looking at her full water glass.
“No, I mean tell me what’s up. First you act all weird at home, then you left Jeremy alone with the house and just assume it’s going to still be standing when we get back. And now mom’s crying. Something happened.”
“Well a lot’s happened the last few weeks, honey—”
“You know what I mean.”
They exchanged looks, and Kaylee almost started yelling that she wasn’t a kid anymore, and they shouldn’t be hiding stuff from her because, really, getting assaulted kind of wrecked any perfect worldview of sunshine and rainbows she’d had. But that was exactly what a kid would do, so instead she scrunched her napkin and waited.
“Should I…” her dad started.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll tell her.” Her mom lay a hand on the table to steady it. “Kaylee, Uncle Randy contacted me today.”
Kaylee wrinkled her nose. “Uncle Randy? Why? He hasn’t spoken to you in, like, years.”
“Many, many years,” her mom agreed. “Not since that first, and only, visit. He hasn’t even seen Jeremy since he was born.”
“So why’d he get in touch now? Is he in trouble or something?”
“Not exactly. He found out through some contacts in a Convocation he was living near that you were a dragon-kin. Naturally, he’s angry at me for not telling him right away.”
“As if he has any right,” her dad muttered.
“He wanted to know because he’s a dragon-kin,” Kaylee guessed.
“Yes. And that’s all I know about that side of him,” her mom added quickly, holding up her hand as Kaylee prepared to fire off a round of questions. “I think maybe I had guessed…I didn’t…I didn’t know what Uncle Randy was, I didn’t believe what he was, until the night Alastair told us you were one too.”
Their server arrived and placed steaming plates of food down in front of them. Nobody touched it.
“Is t
hat all he wanted?” Kaylee said. “To confirm I was a dragon-kin?”
“And to see you,” her mom said. “Not now, and not any time soon, but at some point he’d like to visit.”
“Absolutely not,” her dad said, slamming his hand on the table. “I said it once, Brianna, and I’ll say it again: he can’t come around here. Not being what he is.” He stabbed his plate and stuffed a bite in his mouth, as though that finished the argument.
“You mean what I am, dad?” Kaylee said.
Her dad nearly choked on his spaghetti. Her mom hit him on the back as he coughed.
“Kaylee, darling, you know that’s not what I meant. This whole thing…it’s taking some getting used to. For all of us.”
“What happened with Uncle Randy?” Kaylee said to her mom. “I mean what really happened. Why’d you two stop talking?”
For a second Kaylee wasn’t sure her mom was going to answer. Then she opened her hand and let the remaining shreds of her napkin tumble out.
“Around the same age you are now Randy became…different. He was always a little odd. He liked different music, wore strange clothes, hung out with people I thought were shady—”
“Thomas Nugen was shady, dear,” her dad said. “Remember when he—”
“Later, Tim. Anyway, I thought it was just Randy being Randy. He was acting out a bit. But when he turned fifteen things started happening. I see now it was the same thing you’re going through. He started shifting. I’d find scales at the bottom of the shower. We’d have random blackouts that only hit our house. He stopped hanging out with his friends and spending more time alone.”
She released a heavy breath. Kaylee’s dad put his hand on hers and clasped it tightly. “I should have asked him what was wrong but I was stupid and self-centered so I didn’t.”
“You were young,” Her dad said. “You can’t blame yourself for that.”
“For any of it, Tim? I was his older sister. I wasn’t blind.”
“What happened to him?” Kaylee pressed, not entirely sure she wanted to know.
Her mother took another steadying breath. “I guess where we lived there was no dragon Convocations or organizations to help him control his powers. His shifting and magic became more erratic. He started lashing out. The smallest things would set him off. He dropped out of school and barely came home at night. Then one day…he left. I came back from my friend’s house and he’d packed up a few of his things and taken off without leaving so much as a note behind. He was sixteen and I didn’t hear from him for twenty years.”
Dragon's Awakening (Heir of Dragons: Book 1) Page 9
