“Did anything else about this day seem familiar to you?” he asked, surprisingly not showing any signs that he thought I was crazy for what I was suggesting. “Or maybe did anything happen that should have surprised you, but didn’t?”
I paused to think about it. “Well, no,” I admitted. “I found out today that Kain can use healing magic – I was pretty surprised by that.”
“Really?” he asked, visibly shocked.
I nodded. “Yeah, he healed Kaylee completely just before the attack. And he also helped me out a little too.”
My dad’s brow was furrowed now as he considered that, nodding absentmindedly. He seemed like he had something on his mind, but wasn’t about to comment on it.
I decided to continue, grimacing as I considered what else I had to add. “Also, I was pretty surprised when Ms. Landerson slapped me–”
Unexpectedly, he bolted out of his chair, his eyes almost blazing with fury. “She did what?!” he snapped.
Jasmyn and I both cringed away from the sudden hostility radiating out of him, even though we knew it wasn’t directed at us. “One of the other teachers told her off,” I added. Though I wasn’t sure why I was bothering to defend her. If anything, I hoped she got what was coming to her, whatever that might be.
My dad sat back down, but he didn’t say anything. It was obvious he was pissed.
I tried changing the subject. “Why do you think the shapeshifter waited to attack me in the middle of town?”
The fury in his expression dissipated some as his brow furrowed more. “Probably because he didn’t know how to find you,” he considered. “He obviously had the worgron form available to him, but you probably smell a lot different in your human form, which means he couldn’t track your scent. If I had to guess, he probably found out where the sole survivor was of Jasmyn’s attack and then deduced that attacking Kaylee’s place might draw you out.” He shrugged. “Which would be risky, but after waiting a few days, he likely realized it was his only viable option to try to find you.”
“But what about Jasmyn?” I asked seriously. “She was there too when Ryker was eaten. Couldn’t he or the chimera have tracked her scent?”
My dad was pensive again as he considered that. “I don’t know,” he admitted. He then looked at me more intently. “You tell me,” he added. “What do you smell?”
My eyes widened slightly as I considered that. My nose definitely was more sensitive when I was transformed. I glanced at Jasmyn as I sampled the air with a sniff.
The wood of the table, the oil in the lamp, my dad’s scent, which was a mixture of salt and a sharp acrid smell from a long day of work. The leather in the shoes by the door, the musky scent underneath the sink, the ash and coals underneath the oven. Even the barely detectible scent of wildflowers around the house.
I cringed when I caught the faint whiff of cat piss outside. Apparently, we had an unwanted visitor who had stopped by. I had never noticed before now, but I really wasn’t much of a cat person, so it wasn’t a happy surprise for me.
But the longer I tested the air, the more I realized that I didn’t smell anything from Jasmyn – nothing at all. I finally focused on her, before abruptly leaning out of my seat and moving my face right up to her neck.
Her heart skipped a beat from my sudden movement, before she froze while waiting to see what I was doing.
Right up until I was about a finger’s length away, I didn’t smell anything. And then suddenly I did. Her scent was kind of musky but also sweet, like a cross between honeysuckle and moss. It wasn’t unpleasant at all – far from it actually. She smelled great.
“Huh,” I finally said, sitting back down. Jasmyn’s cheeks were rosy again as I continued. “I can’t really smell her unless I’m really close.”
“Do I smell bad?” Jasmyn wondered hesitantly.
“What? No, not at all. I really like the way you smell,” I replied cheerfully. I then pretended to gag. “Definitely a lot better than my dad does.”
He smirked at me, but didn’t comment on that, staying on topic. “Well, then it seems like there’s your answer. Jasmyn’s magic is really built for defense. Not only can she suppress another mage’s magic when she feels threatened, but it also seems that she’s continuously hiding her scent. And possibly the scents of those right up next to her as well.” He sighed. “A good thing too. I never would have considered that a shapeshifter around here would have the worgron form, since they live so far north, but maybe that man had been heading south all this time?”
“Speaking of that, dad. Why are you considering staying?”
He sighed heavily again, resting his cheek in his hand as he looked off to the side. “The main reason we should leave now is because everyone is going to know about you. You won’t be able to have a normal life anymore, not to mention I doubt they will let you go back to school.” He then met my gaze. “But if the townspeople will really tolerate you staying here without causing us problems, then maybe they will tolerate your mother living here too.”
I gasped.
“And I’m sure your mother would be happy to educate you herself, both in the typical stuff humans learn, as well as magic too. I know it might be wishful thinking, but I think it would be nice to be able to actually live as a normal family for once. Your mother could live with us permanently instead of only visiting once a month.”
Could that really work out? Could I really see her every day? I would love for my mom to be around all the time, and I was sure my dad would too. If there was even a slight possibility of making that happen, then it was worth it to me.
I nodded as I considered his words, my thoughts wandering to all the various problems we had been dealing with recently. “Well, I suppose we won’t need to worry about having problems with Ryker’s dad anymore either. Guess we got lucky with the shapeshifter killing him too.”
My dad unexpectedly grimaced. “No, I killed him earlier today,” he admitted.
Jasmyn and I just stared at him in disbelief, especially because he had played off his surprise to that news so well when Mr. Burrows was here.
He quickly continued. “I confronted him, flat out telling him I knew he had tried getting my daughter killed. He blew up at me and even pulled out a gun.” He shrugged. “It was technically self-defense, but the result probably would have ended up the same even if he hadn’t become so belligerent.”
“I thought you said we shouldn’t kill people,” I finally managed after a moment.
He sighed heavily, burying his head in his hands. His voice was muffled as he responded. “It’s necessary sometimes.” He then abruptly looked up at me. “But that doesn’t mean you can just start killing anyone that bothers you,” he chastised. “The men who attacked you, and this situation with the Mayor are different. Someone needs to be threatening your life, and even then you should just run away if you can.”
All I could do was nod in acknowledgment, because the memory of my recent – and only – human kills still weighed heavily on my mind, even though they technically deserved it.
I glanced at Jasmyn, seeing that she was staring down at the table with a somber expression, probably thinking about her human kills as well. She noticed my shifting eyes and met my gaze. The tension in her shoulders loosened slightly as we stared at each other.
After a moment, a smile crept on my lips, drawing her attention to them. This discussion was too much for both of us right now. We needed a break.
“What?” she asked after a moment, her eyes popping back up to meet mine.
“I need a timeout,” I began tentatively. “Maybe you can show me how Nagas wrestle?”
Jasmyn’s eyes widened in shock, before her eyes focused on my small smirk. “Okay,” she said cheerfully.
My dad laughed, shaking his head while raising his hands in disbelief like he had just given up on an argument. “Well, you can’t go outside right now, so if you’re going to play in the house then just try not to break anything.”
I grinned
at him. “Jasmyn just needs to be mindful of where she puts her tail is all,” I teased.
She glared at me playfully from the corner of my eye, before crossing her arms with a humph. “I am well aware of what I do with my tail,” she retorted.
“Me too,” I agreed, having already discreetly made it grow again – it was a lot easier this time, not hurting at all. I poked her in the tummy with the end of it, prompting her to gasp before barreling into me and carrying me into the living room. She almost broke the chair in the process.
“I said be careful!” my dad called out to us.
“Okay!” we replied in unison, already struggling against each other on the floor.
Chapter 14: Meeting
Wrestling was a lot of fun, and a much needed outlet from all the stress. Now that the shapeshifter threat and the associated problem with Ryker’s dad were both dealt with, it was just a matter of whether or not we would have to leave town to start anew. My dad wasn’t worried about the mysterious mage who attacked from the forest being a problem, since that person likely only used their magic due to the perceived threat of the dragons. And since it appeared that no one had considered that my dad might be one of those dragons, he didn’t think we would have to worry about the mage attacking again.
Even I had to admit it seemed impossible for him to turn into something so large.
Struggling around on the floor with Jasmyn in the living room helped my mind focus on the present. It also helped me realize that it really wouldn’t be so bad if we had to move, because she would be going with us. She was the only true friend I had, and I was fairly confident that would remain the case now that everyone knew my secret. The only person who might continue to try to be my friend would be Kain, but that was assuming his parents didn’t forbid him from ever seeing me again, even if he told them he could use magic too.
Which honestly, I would be fine with – it was just the principle behind it that bothered me.
Although, that was one thing I didn’t exactly understand about him. The ability to use magic generally ran in the family, which meant one of Kain’s parents must be a mage. I wondered if his mage parent just didn’t realize they could use magic.
Either that or maybe Kain’s dad wasn’t really his father. There was no way to know if his older brother could use magic too, because even if they did have the same parents, the ability to use magic didn’t always get passed on.
The only exception to that rule was someone like my mother, who was considered to be a fons’radix – an original.
The name came from the legends of the first mages who were all extremely powerful. Usually human fons’radix didn’t have mage parents, yet exhibited an extremely high affinity for magic. Alternatively, my mother did have magical parents, as did virtually all demons.
However, her exceptional skill and overall prowess identified her as one of the very rare fons’radix that were only born about once every couple hundred years. Granted, since I had just recently found out that she was over a thousand years old, I assumed there must have been others born into the various races in the last millennium who were likewise identified as powerful originals as well.
I felt confident that Kain wasn’t a fons’radix though, because he would have been using his magic with ease at a very young age. Instead, he struggled with it just like most human mages would, making him completely normal in terms of skill.
After Jasmyn and I had wrestled for a while, I finally stopped struggling, finding my entire body wrapped up in her tail from the chest down. My arms were free though, resting on the floor stretched out away from my sides.
When I set my head down backwards against the floor, my entire body being over a foot above the ground due to Jasmyn’s tail curled around me, she slid part of her sky-blue tail underneath my head like a pillow.
“Everything alright?” she wondered with concern, her breathing a little heavy from the effort.
Surprisingly, unlike her, I wasn’t even slightly winded from the struggle. That appeared to be one of my two advantages – I didn’t tire as easily in my demon form. The other advantage was that I could be stronger than her if I wanted to be. When wrestling, it appeared that I had a baseline strength in my demon form that was somewhat similar to the strength of her tail, making it an even fight. However, I was able to overpower her whenever I wanted by using a little bit more of my magic, making it more fun and interesting.
She always seemed surprised when I unexpectedly overpowered her right when she thought she was winning.
Due to the fact that I had still been able to increase my strength even while having my magic sealed by the chimera, I suspected that my strength enhancing ability must be something purely internal. Alternatively, the suppression power had prevented me from pushing my magic outside of my body to influence the world around me. Granted, clearly my fortifying magic was limited since I still had almost been overcome by the strength of the chimera.
I sighed heavily, nodding in response to her question as I shifted my focus from the ceiling to her golden slitted eyes. “Yeah, I just think I’m done for now,” I admitted.
She inclined her chin. “Do you want me to get off?” she asked hesitantly.
I shook my head, before glancing around the room. “You’re fine. It just sucks to have to leave my home.” I could hear my dad in his room, sounding like he was packing up his things, despite being willing to stay to see what would happen.
Jasmyn cocked her head to the side slightly. “But I thought that man was going to try to convince everyone to let you stay?”
I shrugged, turning my head to hold her gaze again. “I’m not getting my hopes up,” I admitted. “It just seems too good to be true. Not to mention, I probably won’t be able to go into town anymore…”
Unexpectedly, Jasmyn leaned closer until her nose was barely an inch away from mine. I was surprised by the sudden proximity, but it didn’t bother me like when Kain had his face this close.
Jasmyn’s voice was quiet as she spoke, her warm scentless breath caressing my face. “Maybe this is selfish of me,” she whispered. “But I like the idea of getting to see you most of the day.” She then grimaced, and pulled away a little. “Not that I’m ungrateful for being able to live here with you, but when you’re at school all day, I wish I could go with you. I kind of miss you,” she admitted.
I nodded slowly. “Me too,” I agreed. “I think about you a lot when I’m in class.” Jasmyn’s cheeks turned rosy, prompting me to smile.
I then took a deep breath, being able to do so easily despite her tail firmly wrapped around me, and I looked towards the wall again. From the light in the kitchen, I knew that the sun was getting fairly close to the horizon. It would be dark in the next hour.
“I guess maybe you’re right,” I continued. “Even if I can’t go into town anymore, it wouldn’t be so bad. And it’ll be nice if my mom can live with us too. She can teach us both how to control our magic better.”
“Do you think she’ll like me?” Jasmyn asked shyly.
I focused on her eyes again, considering the question, rather than just giving a reassuring answer. “I don’t see why she wouldn’t,” I finally replied. “I mean, my dad is a shapeshifting dragon, so she obviously seems to be fine with other races.”
“Yeah,” she countered, “but they are both from the magical races. I’m not.”
My brow furrowed as I thought about that. “Well, I’m not really either,” I realized. “I mean, I am half-human after all. Even if my dad started off as a dragon, he’s a magicless human right now.”
She nodded, but didn’t seem entirely convinced.
My dad popped his head out of his room, prompting Jasmyn to loosen her tail on me. I just remained where I was lying on it though. I didn’t feel motivated to sit up at the moment.
“I’m going to get dinner started,” he announced, seeing my reserved expression. “But first, I was going to run outside and see if the guards Nolan left here wanted anything to eat.”
>
“Are you going to invite them inside?” I didn’t really want to meet them.
He shook his head. “No, they can eat on the porch, but I figured I’d at least offer.”
I nodded, staring up at the ceiling again. “Do you really think Mr. Burrows will be able to convince everyone?”
He sighed and leaned against the wall. “I don’t know, sweetie. But we will be staying together no matter what happens.”
I took a deep breath. “I know. It’s just hard not knowing what we are going to do. I’d almost prefer to just be packing to leave, rather than be uncertain if it’s going to happen or not.” I then returned my gaze to his. “Obviously, I’d rather stay. It’s just the uncertainty is hard to deal with.”
He nodded in understanding, his tone sympathetic. “I know, sweetie,” he said simply.
After a moment, he continued on to the kitchen, before heading outside to see if the two men wanted food too. I supposed it wasn’t such a bad idea to make sure we were in their good graces when they were ensuring no one bothered us during this mess.
Jasmyn slid her upper body to my side, her elbow on the floor propping herself up as she examined my face. I remained partially wrapped up in her tail, continuing to stare at the ceiling while listening to the noises outside.
I was doing my best to keep my thoughts from wandering, so I focused on the sounds of the birds chirping to each other in the trees around the house.
However, I was too focused apparently, because I didn’t immediately notice the clomping of a horse and the squeaking of wheels, as a wagon approached our house. I sat up when I realized the wagon really was heading in this direction. Unfortunately, there was no way to determine who the driver was based on the sounds. Jasmyn sat her torso up too, looking at me intently.
“Someone’s coming with a horse-drawn cart,” I answered in response to her questioning gaze.
“Is that bad?” she wondered.
Magicbound to a Snake Girl Page 18
