How to Make Friends and Not Incinerate People

by Devin Harnois

  This was nuts.

  * * *

  “Is something bothering you, Aiden?” Phoebe asked.

  Aiden stared off into the distance, not really seeing the park. He wasn’t sure he should say anything, feeling like he would be admitting to doing something wrong. Thinking on that for a moment, he decided that meant he should tell her. If his interactions with Uncle made him feel guilty, then maybe there really was something wrong with it.

  “I’ve been having these weird dreams,” he said and told her about Uncle. The offer he’d made to find his parents, the things he’d asked him to do.

  As he talked, Phoebe’s eyes got wider. “Aiden, you need to bar him from your dreams, right away. The way you describe him, he sounds like dark fae, and I’m sure he’s up to something nasty.”

  “How do I do that?”

  “Take an iron dagger, or a knife, and just before bed, hold it out and say, ‘My dreams are my own; you are not welcome.’ Say that three times, then put the dagger under your pillow.”

  “And that will work?” The idea of not having Uncle in his dreams anymore was such a relief.

  She nodded. “It should. That’s the spell I know to cast out dream walkers.”

  “Dream walkers,” he repeated in a quiet voice. “There are so many weird things out there.”

  “Yes,” she said with a little smile. “And just when you think you know everything, something you’ve never heard of will show up.”

  “So… where do I get an iron dagger?” Aiden wanted to do the spell tonight.

  “The antique shop should have a few, but they’re closed now. You can borrow mine until you get your own. Give your parents a call and let them know I can drop you off today. We’ll stop by my house to get the dagger.”

  Aiden felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “Thank you.”

  * * *

  The dark fae whom Aiden knew as Uncle tried to step into the young changeling’s dream and found himself unable to enter. The words of a spell echoed in his ears as he felt the cold, hard touch of iron.

  “My dreams are my own, you are not welcome…”

  He snarled. Where had the changeling learned that spell? And how dare he use it against him! The dark fae had been sure that dangling the youngling’s parents as an incentive would work. His desire to find them was strong, echoing through his dreamscape.

  Perhaps he should have tried a gentler approach, waited longer to bring up the blood potion. He had almost forgotten how squeamish humans were about such things, and though the child was fae, he had been raised as a human.

  The dark fae tried to enter again, testing the strength of the spell. The touch of iron, though not physical, made him hiss with anger. The way was truly blocked unless he could gather more powerful magics.

  Even if he was able to break through, Aiden would not want to speak with him. The sharp taste of nervousness always surrounded the child when they met. He should not have asked such a thing of him so soon.

  Taste, yes. Aiden might be lost to him, but there was another he might be able to lure into his plans. The dragonkin. They had been rare before the Way closed and must be even rarer now. The luck of finding one tied to the changeling boy was something to thank Fate for. He would not waste this chance.

  He would be careful. He would observe until he knew the best way to approach the dragonkin.

  “And then we shall see,” the dark fae whispered, reaching out for that fire- and stone-flavored magic, building a pathway to the dragonkin’s dreams.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  This was something normal people did. Not that he was normal, but he was pretty sure even people in Shadow Valley did it. People had friends here. After Major Magical Control, Dylan changed quickly and then went over to the next row of lockers where Aiden was just finishing up.

  God, this was stupid. How could he be so nervous? Just because he hadn’t done this before didn’t mean it had to be a big deal.

  “So, uh, I was thinking, do you maybe want to eat dinner at my house?” There, it was out. Crap, what if he said no? Dylan wasn’t used to looking like an idiot.

  Aiden’s eyes went wide. “Really? Tonight?”

  “Uh, yeah.” His cheeks were heating up, and he prayed he wasn’t going to blush. He hadn’t been nervous at all when he asked Indira if she wanted to go out with him. Maybe because he’d been sure she’d say yes. Maybe because he didn’t care if she did or not.

  The surprise on Aiden’s face turned into a wide smile. “Sure. Oh, but I have to call my parents first and make sure it’s okay. I’m sure it’ll be fine though.”

  Dylan watched as Aiden dug in his pocket for his phone. It was a cheap little flip phone. He probably couldn’t get any apps on that thing. Could that old-fashioned-looking phone even get the Internet? How did he browse with a screen that small?

  Aiden dialed and held the phone up. After a few rings, someone picked up. “Hi. Hey, Mom. … No, nothing’s wrong, don’t worry. I actually called to ask if I could go to Dylan’s house for dinner.”

  Dylan could just make out the voice on the other end. “That boy Mr. Johnson said was dangerous? The dragon something?”

  Aiden gave Dylan a guilty look. “He’s my friend, Mom. He’s not as bad as everyone says. He’s never been mean to me. Please? He’s the only real friend I have here.”

  It warmed Dylan’s heart, and he immediately told himself to stop being sappy.

  After a pause of silence, Aiden’s mom said, “Well, okay. But please be careful and don’t stay out too late.”

  “I’ll be careful, I promise, and I’ll come home right after. Love you.”

  “I love you too. Bye.”

  “Bye.” Aiden hung up and flipped the phone shut. “She said okay.”

  “I heard.”

  Aiden stuffed his phone in his pocket. “Oh yeah. I keep forgetting you have super hearing or whatever. So should I take the bus home with you?”

  “I don’t ride the bus. My mom drives me.” He couldn’t wait until he had a car of his own. But Shadow Valley had the same stupid license rules as the outside world. He could get a permit at fifteen, and he could get his own car at sixteen. Another year and a half till that magical car. Depending on his parents for rides sucked, but at least he didn’t have to ride the bus. And he had a bike, which was better than nothing, although much less fun than it had been when he was a little kid.

  “Oh.” Aiden looked a bit hesitant as he pulled on his jacket. “I guess I get to meet her right away then.” He slipped his backpack over his shoulders.

  Dylan didn’t have anything to take. He left his school stuff in his locker. He’d stopped bothering with homework last year. “Yeah. Come on.” What would his mom think? He’d never brought a friend home before. He’d never had an actual friend before. He hadn’t even mentioned Aiden to his parents. Well, they were in for a surprise.

  His mom’s dark blue BMW was waiting in the parking lot as usual along with the cars and SUVs of the other parents who picked up their kids. Dylan spared a glance for an older kid getting into his own car. Lucky.

  As Dylan reached the BMW, Aiden said, “This is your mom’s car? Wow.”

  “Yeah.” He pulled open the door and leaned in. “Hey, Mom. This is Aiden. I asked him to have dinner with us.” He hadn’t bothered to ask, and now he worried that his mom might say no.

  Her eyes went wide and she shifted to look past him at Aiden. “You’re bringing someone home for dinner? You… Well, we’ll be happy to have him. Come in, Aiden.” She gestured for him to get into the car.

  Aiden pulled open the door, looking nervous. “Thank you. It’s very nice to meet you, ma’am. Mrs. Galloway.”

  “Please, call me Bryn.”

  He smiled shyly. “Okay, Bryn.”

  They got in the car and his mom pulled away.

  “Dylan didn’t mention that he had a friend.” She gave Dylan a look out of the corner of her eye.

  “We haven’t known each other long,
” Dylan said, as if that was a defense. He knew this was a big deal, exactly the kind of thing his parents wished for him.

  “I started school a few weeks late. I… Well, I’m a changeling, and I didn’t know anything about all this until about two months ago.”

  Sitting in the front seat, Dylan couldn’t see his friend, but he could hear the nervousness in his voice.

  “Ah, you’re the Spencer boy. Your parents are in the support group with my husband. I hope all of you are settling in all right.”

  “We’re… adjusting. The shift in time is still difficult.”

  “Ah, yes. Going from a daytime schedule to a night one is quite a shift. I had to do it as well when we moved here. I remember it was a challenge at first.”

  They made small talk for the rest of the drive. Aiden went quiet for a while when they turned onto a wooded road. “Are we leaving Shadow Valley?”

  “No, the border is a few miles away. We decided to live farther away from the center of town to, well, to make everyone else a little more comfortable,” his mom said.

  The house appeared through the trees and Aiden said, “Wow.”

  “Uh, yeah,” Dylan said. “We have kind of a big house.” He tried to imagine how Aiden saw it, four times as large as the average house in Shadow Valley, built in the style of an English manor. Three stories tall with wings jutting out from each side and a wide central staircase leading to double doors, a lot of people would consider it a mansion.

  “You didn’t tell me you were rich,” Aiden said.

  Dylan resisted the urge to look back and see his expression. “I didn’t think it was important.”

  Dylan’s mom said, “I’ve been alive for a very long time and have managed to accrue a lot of money over the years.” She pulled up in front of the house.

  “It’s beautiful,” Aiden said.

  “Would you like a tour?” Dylan’s mom offered. “I’m not trying to show off, but I thought you might like to see the rest of the house.”

  “Yes, thank you.” Aiden got out of the car and Dylan followed. Aiden started up at the house. “You live in a freaking mansion.”

  Dylan shrugged. “It’s just a house to me. I’ve lived here my whole life.”

  “Come on.” His mom led the way, smiling.

  Dylan followed along as his mom gave Aiden a tour of the house. The entryway, the bedrooms and offices on the second floor, the attic on the third floor, filled with boxes and crates and furniture draped with dust cloths. Dylan thought of the time he’d spent here as a little kid, pretending he was in a tomb, discovering treasures. A little smile twitched the corner of his mouth.

  Then back downstairs to show the living room, the drawing room, the sitting room, the library. Outside along the short path to his dad’s work shed. It was as large as a four-car garage, the smells of freshly cut wood and furniture stain hitting him as soon as they opened the door. It was the scent his dad always carried with him, even right after a shower.

  “Joe!” His mom called.

  Classical music blared, Chopin this time. Sitting at the workbench along the wall, his dad turned. “Yeah?” Then he saw the extra person. “Oh, who’s this?”

  “This is Aiden, Dylan’s friend from school.”

  Dad’s eyebrows went up. “Oh.” He stood from the bench. “Nice to meet you, Aiden.” He offered his hand.

  Aiden shook it. “Thank you, sir.”

  Dylan’s father glanced at them, expression questioning. “Dylan didn’t mention he had a friend.”

  “It’s, um, a pretty recent development,” Aiden said. “You have a beautiful house.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Aiden is going to join us for dinner,” his mom said.

  “We’re very happy to have your company,” his dad said with a smile.

  While they made dinner, Dylan took Aiden up to his room.

  Aiden spent a moment staring around at all his stuff. “You have a wide-screen TV in your room?”

  “Yeah. And an Xbox, PS4, a Blu-ray player, and some other stuff.”

  Aiden went to the shelf where Dylan kept his games and movies. “Wow, you have a lot of games. I guess you can afford to get whatever you want.”

  Dylan couldn’t tell by his tone if he was judging him, or jealous, or just stating a fact. “Like my mom said, she has a lot of money.”

  “I can’t imagine what Christmas must be like for you.” Aiden turned to look at the posters and pictures on the walls. Bands, movies, a few hot girls.

  “Christmas isn’t much of a thing around here. But I get lots of stuff for my birthday.” Was he spoiled? He didn’t feel spoiled. Did Aiden think he was spoiled?

  “No Christmas? That’s sad. It’s one of my favorite times of the year. Presents and a big tree and all the lights when the rest of the world is dark.” Aiden sat in Dylan’s big, comfy leather gaming chair, positioned just so in front of the TV.

  “Some people put up lights and stuff. And big plastic Santas and snowmen. But it’s not like you see in the movies.”

  Aiden laughed. “Nothing is like what you see in the movies. But it’s good that at least some people do it. I suppose monst—I mean, supernatural creatures—wouldn’t have a good reason to celebrate Christmas. Even the not-so-religious parts of it.” He looked back at the shelf. “So I guess you play a lot of video games. Is that what you do when you get home instead of homework?”

  “Pretty much. That, or go out to the gravel pit to burn off some steam. Wanna play something until dinner is ready?”

  “Sure.”

  “Pick something that looks fun.” Dylan grabbed his computer chair from the other side of the room and rolled it over. For just a second he considered asking Aiden to get out of his chair, but Aiden was a guest, and you were supposed to be nice to guests. He’d never had one, so he should at least try to do it right.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  For the next half hour they played Halo. Dylan could tell Aiden had never played before because he was terrible at it. “Don’t you have any video games?”

  “I have a DS,” he said, “and a few computer games. I’ve never played this one though.”

  “Bet you never played Call of Duty either.”

  “No.” Aiden made a face as he got his guy stuck in a corner again.

  “We should play that next time.” Dylan was a little surprised he was already thinking of inviting Aiden over again.

  “Do you have a Pokémon game? I like those, and I think it’d be fun to play on such a big screen.” Aiden managed to get his guy unstuck and shoot at the enemy.

  Thank God they weren’t playing online on a team. The other players would be pissed. Dylan liked to win, so he was annoyed at Aiden’s constantly dying, but this was just for fun and didn’t mean anything. He was glad they hadn’t gone head-to-head. It would have been embarrassing.

  “I don’t think I do, but tell me which one you want and I can buy it.” Shadow Valley was hidden from the outside world, but they weren’t cut off. It took longer to get some things, especially new stuff, but there were ways to get practically anything.

  Dad came up to let them know dinner was ready.

  Aiden gave the dining room an impressed look, although he thankfully didn’t stare. What he did stare at was the food. “Do you eat like this all the time?”

  “No.” Dylan rolled his eyes. “You didn’t have to make a huge meal. He’s just one more person.”

  “It’s a big event. We wanted to make things more special,” Mom said.

  Dylan let out a sigh that was almost a growl. “He already thinks I’m a spoiled rich kid.”

  “No, I don’t,” Aiden protested. “I’m sorry if I sounded that way.”

  “Everyone, please sit down,” Dad said. “The meal is already made, so let’s just enjoy it.”

  “Did you really just make all this?” Aiden asked, taking a seat next to Dylan.

  “Well, I used magic to help me,” Mom said. Dylan thought she was showing off a little. �
�It’s surprising how far you can adapt dragon magic to suit a wide variety of purposes. Dylan should be able to learn the same techniques in a few decades if he doesn’t mind learning from his mother.”

  “I don’t care about cooking. I can use a microwave.” He took a big, juicy steak from the serving plate. Although, he considered, it might not be so bad to be able to make this for himself. A microwave dinner wouldn’t be anywhere near this good.

  “If I could cook all this in less than an hour, I sure would like to learn.” Aiden took a steak from the platter before passing it along.

  “Being a full-blooded fae, it should be much easier for you. You should be able to do amazing things, maybe even make broccoli taste like ice cream,” his mom said, passing the bowl of potatoes to Aiden.

  Aiden laughed. “I guess that would make me eat my vegetables.”

  He’d been worried Aiden would be afraid around his parents, especially his mom. Aiden knew she was dragonkin, even more dragon than Dylan was. But here he was, having a conversation and laughing like nothing was weird. He was more at ease around his parents than Dylan himself was. No argument, no sulking, no grunted, single-syllable answers.

  “So, you two met at school. How did that happen? Dylan isn’t exactly the talkative type,” Dad said.

  Aiden told the story of his first day at school, how Dylan had pointed him to the right side of the lunchroom and then they’d sat at the same table.

  “Why didn’t you tell us any of this?” his mom asked.

  For a change, Dylan considered his response. Getting into an argument with his parents in front of Aiden would just make his friend uncomfortable. “I didn’t really think it was that important.”

  Dad swallowed a bite of steak. “I’m sorry if this embarrasses you, Dylan, but… you’re the first friend he’s brought home,” he told Aiden “As far as we know, you’re the first real friend he’s had.”

  He was embarrassed and filled his mouth with food to avoid saying anything. The steak was as tender and flavorful as ever.