by T. S. Ryder
“You don’t understand. She’s just that special.”
Kiara shook her head. “Pathetic. Maybe if you grew a pair this girl would pay attention to you.”
“So you’ll do it?”
“Fine. If you want to be something you’re not for the sake of some girl, fine.” She stood up and unlocked the door. “Come on.”
She led him upstairs to her bedroom, sneaking along quietly. Her mom was already asleep, but she wanted to keep it that way. All she needed was for her mom to wake up and find her with a boy in her bedroom.
In her room she sat him on the bed and gathered the supplies she would need for a transforming spell.
“Wow,” he said, looking around. “Your room is awesome.”
“Thanks.” She didn’t think it was anything special. A few band posters on the wall, a drawing or two she’d done and black curtains to keep the sunlight, out or her spell light in when she did magic in her room.
“Close your eyes,” she said. “Now think of this girl really hard.”
“Okay.” He closed his eyes and grinned.
Kiara shook her head but cast the spell anyway. A red smoke circled around him. As she continued speaking the words, the smoke moved in closer to his chest. It was sucked into his heart for a moment, then soared back out and surrounded him in a cloud before dissipating.
“Okay,” she said. “It’s done.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“How long does it take to work?”
“Depends on how much has to change. A few days, a few weeks.”
Spencer threw his arms around her in a rough hug. “Thank you so much.”
“You owe me. You better not tell anyone.”
“Never.” He winked at her. “I wouldn’t have anyway.”
“So you manipulated me.”
He pulled his mouth into a half smile. “Maybe I’ve got more balls than you realized.”
She rolled her eyes. “Right. Goodnight, Romeo.”
***
It was two weeks until she saw Spencer again. He passed her in the hall at school, gave her a stiff nod and kept walking. She spun to watch him walk away.
“What happened to Spencer?” she asked Erica.
“What do you mean?”
“Look at him.”
Erica turned to look. “I guess he’s been working out.”
“Yeah, I guess so. He looks totally buff. And when did he start letting his hair and beard grow?”
She shrugged. “We haven’t been hanging out much.”
That day, Kiara walked home from school as she usually did, strolling down the sidewalk, enjoying being outside. Someone jumped out from behind a car and grabbed her. She kicked and screamed, fighting hard in her panic, and he put his hand over her mouth to quiet her, holding her in his strong arms.
“God, you’ve got a set of lungs.”
When she recognized his voice, she stopped struggling. “Spencer?”
She turned to face him.
“I just do Spence now.”
“That’s better, for sure.”
He gave her a “duh” look.
“So you’ve been working out?” She took this chance to really look him over. His hipster skinny jeans and form-fitting button-down shirt had been replaced by looser jeans, black boots and a t-shirt that showed off his chest muscles and had the logo of one of her favorite bands.
“I’ve been working on something much more interesting than my muscles. Want to see?”
“If you unzip your pants, I will kick you.”
He smirked. “We can do that later. No, this is even better.”
She put her hand on her hip. “Let’s see.”
He looked around, then leaned back casually on the car. He held out his palm, and an instant later a flame appeared. She watched as he made it change colors. Gold to green to purple and back to gold. Then he closed his fist around it and threw it. The ball of fire rolled down the pavement until it went out.
“You’re doing magic.” She didn’t know why she sounded so incredulous. Then it hit her. When she’d cast the spell for him to become everything his love wanted, was he talking about… her?
She pushed his shoulders, hard. He barely moved. Instead, he looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
“Was it me? Was I the one you changed for?”
“So what if you were?” He crossed his arms and made his gaze hard.
She marched up to him, gripped the front of his shirt and pulled herself to him until her mouth was pressed hard against his. He gripped her waist and pulled her closer, smashing her body to his. Their lips tangled, then their tongues. She dug her fingers into his hair, he put his hand at the back of her neck. Her entire body lit up with heat and she smelled burning hair.
In horror, she dropped her hand and pulled back from him. “Whoops. I guess you got me a little too hot.” She winked as her face grew warm with embarrassment.
He ran his hand over the back of his head, where her fingers had singed him.
“I can fix it.” With one simple spell, his hair was back just how it had been, loosely tousled and spiky with product.
“I guess we’ll need to be a little more careful.”
“Guess so.” She came back to him again and resumed kissing him, but with their passion turned down a notch.
When they stopped kissing, he held her close and said, “I guess the spell worked.”
“How does it feel? Being someone else?”
“Amazing. I’d say I feel like a whole new person, but that’s obvious. I feel like I’m finally the person I was always meant to be.”
“So long as you don’t have any regrets.”
“Are you kidding me? How could I ever regret being able to kiss you and have you close like this?” He kissed her again, then stopped to take a box from his pocket. “When I saw this, I thought of you.”
He handed her the box and she opened it to find a beautiful necklace. A silver chain, a long oval blood-red pendant covered in fine wire swirls. It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.
“I love it.” She handed the box back, then turned and held up her hair so he could put it on her. The pendant hung just above her cleavage. “It’s perfect.”
“Now everyone will know you’re mine.”
“Oh, am I?” She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side. “I don’t remember agreeing to that.”
He reached out to yank her close again. He tugged at her earlobe with his teeth, then kissed along her neck. “Tell me you don’t want to be mine, and I’ll let you go forever.”
“Fine.” She sighed dramatically like she was giving in to him. “But if I agree to be yours, you better be mine forever, too.”
“Deal.”
Chapter Five
Kiara hadn’t been spending as much time in dragon form now that she had Spence and they often practiced magic together. He had a lot to learn to catch up to her, but he learned very quickly. They spent nearly every afternoon after school in the woods doing magic and making out. And he was, as her spell had made him, everything she wanted. It had only been a matter of weeks, but she was already falling for him.
They walked together out of the woods one afternoon after a few hours of magic. “We have to tell her,” Kiara said. “It’s already been too long.”
“Let’s just kiss in the hall in front of her at school and stop hiding that we’re together.”
Kiara groaned. “I don’t want to hide, but she’s my best friend, and she liked you.”
“I know, and I’ve been working on the spell. I’ll go today, okay?”
“Swear it.”
“Swear.” He kissed her hand and touched it to his cheek.
She hadn’t thought it would take so long for him to get the spell that would make Erica not like him anymore right, but they always seemed to get distracted instead of working on it.
They parted, and he headed towards Erica’s while she went home. She ran
inside and up to her bedroom, shoved a few items into her bag and dashed back to the woods. He’d be busy casting the spell on Erica and talking to her about their relationship, so she could get in a little dragon time.
For hours she cast spells while in dragon form. She went for a long flight and visited the island to get some plants she’d need later. She thought about going to the treasure cave but heeded Sindri’s warning. She still had plenty of money from when she’d sold the first necklace. She wouldn’t be greedy. She didn’t want the island to shut itself off to her.
She came home worn out and dirty. She tended to get grimy when she went around in dragon form, her large body dragging against the ground in the dirt and leaves. In her bedroom, she flicked the light on and screamed a silent scream when she saw a figure standing there.
“It’s just me.” Spence released the silencing spell, the same one Kiara had cast on Erica when she’d snuck into her room.
She smacked his arm. “You scared the crap out of me.”
“I know. That’s why I silenced you. Why are you so dirty?”
“From earlier, I guess.”
He handed her a soda. “I stopped at the QuikShop on my way home.”
She opened the soda and drank several gulps. “Thanks. Needed that.”
He leaned against her desk, arms crossed, watching her. “Where were you?”
“In the woods. I went back to do a few more spells.”
“That’s funny. After I went to see Erica I came here and you weren’t here, so I went to the woods and you weren’t there, either.”
“Then I guess we just missed each other.” She held his gaze and glared back as she lied.
“You’re lying!” He pushed himself off the desk and came toward her. “You know, your eyes flicker the prettiest green when you lie.”
“What?” She looked down at the soda in her hand. Had the lid been sealed when she opened it? “Did you put a potion in my drink?”
He nodded once.
“What the hell! How could you do that?”
“How could you lie to me? I saw the necklace.”
He pointed to the necklace she had on. It was the one that he’d given her. She never took it off. She’d discovered early in her shifting that jewelry, unlike clothing, changed with the shifter. Something about it being metal, a dragon at the haven had told her when she asked. All metal came from the earth and contained natural powers, even if only the most minuscule. And since magic was connected with the earth, metal was connected to the caster.
Spence glared at her and set his jaw. “I’ll give you one more chance to tell the truth.”
She shook her head, tears coming to her eyes. “You don’t understand. I can’t. It’s not that I don’t want to. I’d tell you anything. But I can’t.” She absently touched the ring on her finger.
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing that I already know your secret.”
“What?” It came out as a horrified whisper. “No, no, please tell me you don’t. You couldn’t have seen.”
“I saw everything, and I don’t appreciate you lying to me about it.” He glared at her, then jumped from her window and ran away from the house using a speed spell. He was gone in a flash.
Kiara paced her room, thinking. Could he have really seen her in dragon form? She retraced her steps. She’d cast spells. Obviously he knew all about that. Then she shifted and cloaked and flown off. But she’d cast her detection spells. Unless he’d cast spells of hiding, which wouldn’t trigger the detection spell…
Her heart started to race. What had Sindri said? The curse was an illness. He wouldn’t just drop dead. She took out her phone and texted him.
“Please come back. I HAVE to talk to you.”
She waited fifteen minutes, but he didn’t respond. She called him, then called him again. Finally she gave up and went after him, running to his house.
She cast a cloaking and levitating spell, then jumped up to the roof by his room and tried to open his window. Locked. She knocked and when he didn’t answer, she cast an unlock spell. The lock flicked open, then instantly closed. She saw the curtain flutter. He was sitting right there, so close to her.
“I know you’re there,” she said, putting her mouth close to the window glass. “Please, let me explain. It’s not what you think, and in so many ways it’s much, much worse.”
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll let you explain. Tomorrow. I’m tired and I’m pissed off and I really don’t want to see you right now. You’d better have some amazing explanation, though, because let me tell you, I’m so ready to never speak to you again.”
“Okay.” She put her hand to the glass, wishing he would at least look at her. The truth herb was in her pocket. She had to give it to him, find out what he saw and go from there. But if he’d seen, he would die. She didn’t know how fast the illness took effect. She might never see him or talk to him again. “Spence?” Her voice wavered and cracked. “I love you.”
He opened the curtains an inch to look at her. She saw just one shining eye. Now that he was looking, she repeated it so he could see there was no green glimmer of deceit in her words. She jumped down and ran back to her house.
Chapter Six
Kiara didn’t sleep much that night. She paced, practiced simple spells and waited for the day to break. She’d decided she would go to him first thing in the morning to check on him. And this time she wouldn’t leave until he talked to her.
She peeked out her window for the hundredth time and checked her phone. At 7 a.m. she climbed out of her window and ran to his house. She knocked softly, then slid the window open. It was unlocked now.
He was sleeping, but even in the dim light of the early morning she could see he didn’t look good. His skin had a greenish cast. She put her hand on his shoulder and whispered his name. She had to shake him a bit and speak louder than a whisper to finally rouse him. He groaned and turned on his side, then peeled his eyes open slowly.
“Kiki?” He’d only called her that once, and she kind of liked the nickname. But now it sounded more like he just couldn’t get anything else out.
“What’s wrong with you? What hurts?”
“Everything.” He moaned again and rolled onto his back. “Achey, throat hurts, head hurts. I might puke.”
Kiara found his trash can and moved it closer to him. She took out the bottle of juice she’d brought. It had the truth herbs mixed into it. “Drink this. You’ll feel better.”
He sat up and drank it. “What is it? Do you know how to make some kind of healing potion?”
“No, that’s very advanced magic. Some day. You just drank a truth herb.”
“Why?”
“I need to know what you saw last night in the woods.”
“Oh.” He sat up and leaned against the wall. “I saw you. As a dragon. Recognized the necklace. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Kiara’s stomach plunged. He had seen. This illness would kill him. And it was all her fault. Tears rushed to her eyes. “Spence, you don’t understand. I’m sworn to secrecy. And this illness, the reason you’re sick right now is because of me. Because you saw me. There’s a powerful dragon magic curse at work. It kills anyone who discovers its secret, whether I tell them or they find out by accident.”
His eyes widened. “You’re saying I’m going to die?”
She shook her head. “I’ll figure something out. I’ll find a way to save you.”
“Kiara,” he whispered. “I don’t want to die a virgin.”
Good ole’ truth herb. She almost laughed, but nothing about this was funny. “I know.” She kissed his cheek. “Me neither, but there’s no time. Right now I have to go. I have to find someone and see if he can help me.”
She leaned forward and kissed him, but he pulled away.
“I don’t want you to get sick, too.”
She put a hand to his cheek. “You’re not actually sick, you’re cursed, and that’s not contagious. But whatever you do, do not tell anyone. Anyone you tell w
ill be cursed too, and will die.” They resumed their kiss, passionate but restrained by his pain. If she couldn’t save him, she would make sure that neither of them died virgins. Definitely.
“I will come back as soon as I know something. You hang in there and don’t die too soon, okay?” Her voice cracked and tears filled her eyes again. “Give me some time to figure out how to save you.”
“I’ll try.” He had tears in his eyes, too, when he kissed her again. “I love you. I’m so glad you told me that last night. I almost chased after you, but I started to feel really sick.”
“It’s okay. You will live. Or I’ll die trying to save you.” She kissed him one more time, then jumped out of his window and dashed into the forest at lightning speed.
She changed quickly and leaped into the air, then flew immediately to the dragon haven. She landed hard and called out, “Sindri!”
His response came almost like a whisper in her mind. “I am coming.”
She watched the sky and saw him fly into view moments later, large and shining green. He landed in front of her and tucked his enormous wings behind his back.
“Hello, Kiara.”
“Sindri, hi. I need your help.”
He nodded slowly. “Yes, I felt the magic activate. You have told someone our secret?”
“No, he found out by accident. He’s a wizard too and he bypassed my detection spell. I would never ever tell him, and now he’s really sick, and he’s going to die, and I don’t know what to do.” Tears ran down her cheeks. “I can’t lose him. I love him. Please, is there a way to save him? Anything?”
“Yes, you can save him.”
Kiara felt all four of her knees weaken in relief. “How?”
“Simply take off your ring in his presence. The secret will be wiped from his mind and you will die in his place.”
“No, Sindri, please. There has to be another way.”
“I did not create this magic. It is as old as dragons.”
“No, I know. But he’s not just human, he’s a wizard. Can’t you give him the power to shift as well? He has strong magic.”
“The power could be granted if he has magic—”
