by E. J. Krause
"How was the mall? I take it Melissa didn't want to be seen in your bug." In addition to allowing Andi to graduate high school this time around, her parents also let her get her driver's license. With that, they bought her a new Volkswagen Beetle. She'd always loved the styles of the VW bugs, so her dark blue one was a perfect fit. It almost matched her scales, not that anyone but the family would know that. Ben's parents had bought him a new mid-sized pickup. They'd almost got it in the same color as Andi's but everyone decided to go with black instead. Andi and Ben already made enough people at school barf with their togetherness, so they didn't need to add anything else.
"She thinks my bug is cute and all, but…" She broke into her Melissa imitation, which Ben insisted was spot on. "C'mon, really? Hello? Convertible here."
"Actually, I'm going to have to side with her on that one. Too flashy for every day, but, hey, every once in awhile, why not?"
"Yeah." She paused, and Ben noticed. Before he had to ask, she said, "I saw something strange. While we were walking through the mall, there were these shadow figures. They looked sort of like apes because of their long arms, and they moved with impossible grace. I thought they were following me, but I couldn't be sure if there was a purpose to it, or if they were simply attracted to my power."
Ben nodded and looked thoughtful. "I saw them, too, on the last day of school before break. I couldn't tell why they were stalking me, either. I was about to bring it up when Princess High Drama" (his new nickname for Melissa, one that never failed to bring out a snort from Andi, this time being no exception) "came over with news of the frivolous."
"She's good at that."
As they walked up to the wreath-adorned front door, which, besides the string of colored lights running along the first story roof-line, was the only outside Christmas decoration, she wrapped an arm around his waist.
"So where are your parental units?"
"Over with yours. Probably decorating or shopping or something." He gave her a sly grin. "Why do you ask?"
"Hmm, well, then that means there'd be no one to walk in on a hot make-out session."
"I like where this is going."
As they started up the stairs, he playfully smacked her behind. "So what did you get me?"
"I don't believe I actually said I got you anything. How do you know I didn't buy something for myself?" He stopped and gave her a peck on the lips.
"Because I can read you like a book. Pretty much literally."
"Good point." She grabbed his hand and continued up the steps. "What did you get me?"
"Nothing."
His emotions sang out that he was lying, but she didn't call him on it.
"In that case, this better be an exceptional make-out session," she said, as they entered his room.
He chuckled, picked her up in a bear-hug, kicked the door closed, and set her gently down on the bed. When his lips met hers, she was in heaven.
Chapter 3
Ben sat on the floor, leaning back against the sofa with Andi snuggled against him. They'd finished Christmas Eve dinner and dessert, and were settling down for the gift exchange. Dad and Lee deep fried a turkey, while Mom and Cassie took care of all the trimmings. He'd never had a deep fried turkey before, and he hoped he wouldn't have to wait long to have it again. It was fantastic, both crispy and juicy, sending a multitude of flavors over his tongue with every bite. The mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, baked sweet potatoes with honey butter, buttered corn kernels, and fresh biscuits — not from scratch, but from one of those pop-open canisters, which was fine with him, as he liked those every bit as well — rounded out their feast. He and Andi both finished the meal with slices of pumpkin and apple pie, each piled high with whipped cream.
Tomorrow would bring two more celebrations: one for lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Phillips, along with the rest of Dad's side of the family, and another for dinner with Grammy and Pops Miller and Mom's side. Aunt Alexa, Dad's sister, was a gourmet chef, so lunch would be something special. And for dinner, Grammy Miller and Aunt Beth always busted out an over-the-top comfort food extravaganza. Just thinking about it made Ben wish he had the seemingly bottomless stomach of a dragon. That brought a glare from Andi. Even though she didn't know exactly what he was thinking, she always knew when he was poking fun at her. Instead of explaining, he kissed the tip of her nose, which caused her to roll her eyes, but then snuggle back into him.
Cassie and Lee would join them at both celebrations, as each side of his family believed in "the more the merrier" when it came to parties. Tonight, though, they found it important to be together as the family they would be for the next several millennium. Andi, Cassie, and Lee had a traditional Christmas dinner each year, at least since Christmas became an event, while Ben and his parents always celebrated on their own on Christmas Eve. Though for many years, when Mom and Dad were fighting, it had been a quick, tense dinner and an even quicker round of gift exchange. Last year had been the first Christmas he'd really enjoyed since he was little, and this one was shaping up to be even better.
Cassie came in from the kitchen with a platter of chocolate chip cookies. When she tipped the plate down for him and Andi, Andi squealed, "Cookies!" and took four, two with each hand. Ben's overstuffed belly forced him to groan, but he still managed to pick one up. He'd never, after all, met a chocolate chip cookie he didn't like. Cassie placed the platter down on the coffee table, right in mocking distance. He did his best to ignore them by hugging Andi, who happily munched away on her cookies, and stared at the tree.
When they'd first met, the topic of Christmas had come up, and Andi said it was one of the only times her parents purposely drew attention to themselves. They decorated big time. Last year, and again this, Ben saw that was not an understatement. From the multitude of lights framing every edge of the house, to the old wooden painted figures, to the newer plastic characters and designs, both the outside and inside of the house were Christmas fairytales. The tree, a real twelve foot monstrosity which dwarfed the six foot plastic one at Ben's house, proved no exception. Every branch sturdy enough to hold an ornament was employed. Said ornaments were a mix between store-bought and homemade. Andi had given him the tour both last year and again this of what each one meant to the family. Festively colored candy-coated popcorn was strung alongside the strands of lights, which were set with a computer chip to blink in random patterns. A regal spun glass dragon, dark blue, of course, rested at the top of the tree.
"Are we ready for presents?" Mom said as she came out of the kitchen. Dad answered by plopping down next to the tree, grabbing one of his gifts, and shaking it at his ear.
Everyone laughed.
"Nice try, Trent. I think you volunteered to be the gift passer."
Dad raised his right hand as if taking an oath. "I promise I will fulfill my duty to the best of my abilities."
"Get on with it, you ham," Mom said. She stuffed a cookie into his mouth and kissed his forehead before settling herself into the armchair next to the tree.
Andi devoured the last of her cookies and gave him a quick chocolaty kiss that reminded him he still had one. As he took a bite, she watched, longing in her eyes.
"You had four," he said. "And there are more right there on the coffee table."
"Yeah, but I bet yours would taste way better if I stole it from you."
He took another bite and then handed her the remaining half. "Here. Hold this. But whatever you do, don't eat it. That one's mine."
She greedily gobbled it down, and he gave her a mock scornful look.
"I was right," she said. "That was the best tasting of the bunch."
"You think she can eat now," Cassie said as she took a spot up on the sofa next to them, "wait until she's pregnant."
Lee groaned and shared a pained look with Dad, while Mom giggled. Andi's cheeks reddened, like she wanted to climb under the couch, and he'd gladly join her. The best way to deal with Cassie's quips, though, was to play along.
"So you're saying
we'll need to move into a grocery store?"
Everyone busted up laughing, Lee, surprisingly, loudest of all. Andi elbowed him in the ribs, but he reveled in the gratitude rolling off her.
"With afternoon snack runs to the all-you-can-eat buffet," Cassie said as a capper.
Dad began passing out the gifts, careful to make sure each adult got one before he or Andi. While he did this casually, almost like he was picking the gifts at random, Ben saw him smirk each time. He wasn't sure what Dad was up to until he realized this game would have driven him nuts when he was little. Adults getting gifts instead of kids had been so boring! He'd missed a lot of great Christmas memories and traditions while his parents had fought tooth and nail, but now he realized Dad and Mom had, too.
"About time," Ben winked at him and murmured, when Dad finally relented and brought Andi a gift. He was rewarded with a chuckle.
She smiled up at him and ran the small square package through her hands. It was his. He found it in an online fantasy — Ha, if the world only knew! — catalogue and knew she would love it.
Well, he had been confident of that fact until now. What if she thought it was silly? He was supposed to know her so well, and he got her this?
She kissed him on the jaw line and looked him in the eyes. Her smile told him he was silly to worry.
"Well, end the suspense," Cassie said. "Open it."
Wrapping things had never been his strong suit, but he had to admit he did a pretty good job on this one. The ribbon was a bit tight, but she managed to slip it off without too much trouble, and he used way too much tape, causing her to quip, "Are you sure you wanted me to get into this?" Finally, though, she got to the white cardboard box and opened it.
"Oh, Ben," she whispered as she reached inside. Tears formed, a much bigger, better reaction than he'd even hoped for. She pulled out the blue dragon pendant necklace and held it up for everyone to see.
"It's beautiful, Andi," her mom said.
"Bring it here, Alexandria," Lee said. She got up, anxious to show her father, but reluctant to leave Ben's embrace.
While Andi and Lee examined the necklace, both impressed with the details, Dad leaned over to whisper to him. "Nice going, champ."
When he retreated a bit, Cassie leaned down and whispered to him as well. "I tried to get your gift to be the lifting of the chastity spell, but Lee wouldn't budge. At this moment, I feel bad for you that I couldn't."
Ben blushed and didn't know what to say. A zinger back would work best, but all that ran through his mind was that he wished she'd won that argument. Oh well, at least he got to be with Andi all night; he kind of doubted that would be allowed without the spell in place, either by Lee or his parents. Probably even Cassie.
Andi came back, wearing the necklace. She lit up with it on and snuggled into him. She hid it well, and he alone knew how much self-control it took for her not to give him a long, passionate kiss. He, however, couldn't help but nibble on her neck. No one said anything, and he didn't press his luck by lingering too long.
"Trent, why don't you give Ben the gift from Andi," his mom said. "I know she's been dying to see his reaction."
Andi sat up to give him room and watch as he opened it. She'd transferred it from the plain white bag she brought it home in, to a festive one of similar size with red and green tissue paper inside. He opened it and pulled the tissue paper out. Nervous energy flowed from Andi, as it must have him while she opened her necklace. He smiled at her, willing her to chill out. He would love it. She smiled back, her eyes telling him she knew, but she couldn't help it.
He broke the tension by pulling out the contents. Once he saw what it was, he couldn't control the smile on his face. Way too cool! A hardcover journal with neat drawings of planets and stars. It was perfect for writing in.
"It's refillable," Andi said, "so you don't have to worry about wasting pages. And look in the bag. There's more."
More? He fished out a small rectangular green plastic box, and when he opened it, he gasped. He found a golden pen (gold-plated according to the sign on the inside cover of the box) with a rubber grip that looked quite comfortable. Perfect for marathon writing sessions.
"Wow, sweetie," Mom said, "I can't wait to see what neat stories you write with those."
This time tears filled his eyes, and Andi snuggled back into him. With everything new around him — his crazy powers, the magical adventures, his elongated lifespan, and everything else — writing had become a grounded, normal hobby.
At first, he'd reverted back to video games, this time making sure they didn't interfere with his studies. But once he found Andi didn't care one iota about his mad sniper skills in Desert Warfare, or any other first-person shooter, it took some of the fun out of it. He still occasionally played, but nowhere near as much as before.
A creative writing assignment in Language Arts introduced him to a love for writing. His teacher, Mrs. Keller, gave him an 'A' on an exercise to write a short story about how he would have liked to have spent his summer vacation, and he wrote three different versions because he was having too much fun to stop. That weekend, after he finished his homework, he penned more short stories and even tried his hand at poetry. Of course it didn't hurt that Andi loved his new hobby and supported both his clumsy prose and cheesy poetry. Best of all, a few months later, he could already see improvements, and Andi, both sets of parents, and Mrs. Keller agreed. That made the desire to keep writing grow, and hence the perfect gift from his beautiful Alexandria.
Dad reached under the tree to get the gift exchange rolling again when the doorbell rang. No one was expecting company, so all six of them filed to the door to see who it was. It turned out to be Max, the record keeper of the Dragon Council, and his mate, Nix. Both held plates of delicious-looking baked goods.
"Merry Christmas!" Max and Nix shouted as soon as the door opened. In the past year and a half, they'd seen them a few times. They agreed that Max and Nix had been ordered to keep an eye on Ben and Andi, but since they were good company, despite the things Lee said about Max afterwards, none of them minded. Ben's parents especially got a kick out of Nix's bawdy sense of humor and her skills as a storyteller. Cassie and Lee guessed the Dragon Council would always keep tabs, so it might as well be someone they got along with. Anytime either Ben or Andi asked why the Council would need to watch them, Cassie and Lee would clam up. They all knew it was the prophecy, but none of them would come out and say it.
"We figured you'd be home," Nix said, "so we thought we'd drop off some goodies."
"Nix got into a real baking groove this year," Max said, patting his belly. "I told her we needed to give some of the treats away or I'd be as big as my dragon self in this form."
Looking at the trays of cookies, candies, and other baked goods, Ben didn't doubt it. If he wasn't stuffed to the gills, he'd dive in and sample each piece. Andi eyed it all greedily, too.
"How have you two been?" Cassie asked.
"Same ol', same ol'," Max said. "For the most part, anyway. Nix convinced me to scan the important documents into the computer so everything would be easier to access. Haven't come close to getting even a quarter of 'em done yet, but we're slowly moving forward."
"Yeah," Nix said. "Soon we'll move ahead into the late 90's." Everyone laughed.
From what Ben had heard, Max and Nix's home was filled with bookshelf after bookshelf of rare and one-of-a-kind documents from the Dragon Council, as well as other important tomes, maps, and whatnot. It was the biggest library of dragon-kind outside of the one at the home of the Dragon Council itself. When Ben asked why it wasn't all kept safe with the Council, both Andi and Lee said that Max was the Record Keeper, as if that answered everything. Cassie had to explain that the Record Keeper always had a separate library in case, for whatever reason, the main library was unavailable. Their house, of course, had plenty of magical protections on it.
"That's what we said," Andi said with exasperation in her voice, to which Ben and Cassie had rolled their eyes.
Dragons.
"How are you two?" Max said, turning to Ben and Andi. "Anything extraordinary happen lately?"
"Besides creating a sword and shield out of thin air when you visited Rico, that is," Nix added, a little smirk on her face. Was Rico on the payroll or something? Or could the Dragon Council really see everything?
"You did what?" Lee bellowed at the same time Cassie exclaimed, "When was this?"
"He threatened me," Ben said, hoping he could keep it at that. It was true enough, to a point. Of course, Andi couldn't leave it be.
"To be fair, you attacked him first."
"What?" both sets of parents shouted.
He glared at his mate. She shook her head and gave him that look.
"It seems our boy here got a little upset about a certain spell and blamed Rico," Max said.
Mom rounded on him. "Benjamin Aaron Phillips! You need to learn to control your temper!"
"You're better than that, Ben," Dad added.
"You need to be," Nix said. "The Council cannot stand for the prophecy to go the way of evil."
"They're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt for now," Max said, "but you better believe they'll keep a watchful eye on you two. We, of course, are rooting for you to make the right decision." Ben could tell Max meant it, but he didn't like the glint in Nix's eyes. The nervous flash off of Andi proved she noticed, too. When Andi had gone to the pier to get information from Max and Nix when her parents had been captured, she reported then, too, Nix might not necessarily be a friend.
"But we also learned the prophecy may never come to pass," Andi said.
"Rico told you that?" Max asked.
"No, I found it out myself, but he did explain the two paths to the prophecy. We'd pretty much still been in the dark about that." She turned and frowned at her parents.
"And how much of a debt did you build for that?" Lee asked.
