Sirens and Scales

by Kellie McAllen

When I’ve finally reached the rolling hills, knowing it will be nearly impossible to take my bike over them, I get off and lean it against a tree.

  I continue along the path I believe we took yesterday, nearly jogging as I hurry, slowing down just enough to watch for any indicators that I’m in the right place. And hoping that even if I’m off, I’ll still find Runa-whatchamacallit.

  I check my pocket for my phone, making sure I have it because if this takes longer than I plan, I’ll be left in the dark with no way of knowing which is left, right, west, east, up, or down. It doesn’t help that I’ve never had a good sense of direction. I’ll be lucky to find my way home even with light.

  The tension in my jaw from clenching it is causing a headache. It feels like if I bite down any further, my teeth will shatter from the pressure. Most of the pain is wound in a tight ball at the base of my skull and in my temples. I rub at them and continue forward.

  “It’s okay, Alita. You’re not alone. Yackros is here. He’s waiting just on the other side of the forest. If anything happens, he will help you, but nothing is going to happen. Nothing will hurt you. The path is clearly marked. You know how to get home. Relax.” Telling myself these things aloud usually helps, but it isn’t doing a thing for me right now.

  Fearing the worst—bear attack, heat exhaustion, getting lost, tripping and getting stuck, dying alone—I go slowly, tentatively, approaching every off-shooting path with caution.

  It’s not until I stumble upon the log in the pathway, the only thing I recognize from last night, that I believe there’s a chance of finding Yackros again. Fear turns to excitement. I step over the fallen trunk and continue forward just as I did nearly twenty hours ago.

  There’s a ripple in the air, a slight breeze, and then nothing. The pounding in my ears is replaced by the sweet sound of bird song, the swaying of leaves and bushes, and the sensation that I’ve been transported to a whole new world.

  I spin around, marveling in all the glorious life surrounding me. The way it feels so majestic and yet looks so normal. In Arizona, the air is dry and hot, but here, in this little section of paradise lost, there is magic rippling around me.

  “Little Wingless, you have returned.” A deep voice stops me mid-twirl.

  I face Yackros, and without hesitation, I throw my arms around his front leg because it’s the only part of him I can reach and embrace. “I’ve spent the entire day wondering if you were real. Stuck in my thoughts, worrying that once again, I’d imagined you.” It’s like I’ve been mostly fine all day, acting as though this couldn’t possibly have been anything but real, but arriving here and seeing it all over again undid the tension I didn’t know I was feeling.

  Tears spill over my cheeks, down onto his scales, though he doesn’t seem to notice, and then his claw is against my back in what I take to be a comforting gesture.

  “Trust me, my dear, I understand more than you could ever hope to believe.” He sounds so heartbroken, it takes me a moment to register what he’s saying.

  I step back and look up into his beautiful eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “Come.” He gestures with his head to the meadow we met in last night. “There is much you need to know, and little time to tell you. Sit and I will do my best to cover as much of the story as I can.” He walks behind me and settles into the grass while I get situated with my back against a tree trunk.

  “Well, if you can’t tell me everything tonight, I can come back tomorrow,” I say.

  He turns his head and neck toward me, sorrow in his eyes, his lips turned down. “If only it were that simple.” He chokes up, sniveling for a moment. “But the harsh reality is that you cannot return, Alita. I am afraid it would put both of our lives in danger, and run the risk of starting up a war no one can afford.”

  “How can there be a war when I’m the only one who knows about you?” I realize that may not be true, but I say it in hopes that he’ll confirm my suspicions.

  “I will attempt to keep this short and easy for your understanding, but let me tell you the story. And then you will know why you’re the only one and understand why it must remain so.”

  I nod. “Okay. Tell me.”

  “Nearly two hundred years ago …”

  My vision changes, and now I’m soaring above the clouds. Dizziness overwhelms me as my long, scaled body twists and turns in the sky. Fear overwhelms me as my mind morphs into the memories Yackros is sharing with me.

  I approach the mountains with increasing speed, aware that I must slow down to land, but it feels as though time itself has stopped. Life as we know it has ended. There’s a hole inside of me, a piece of my very soul missing. Though it is small, I can feel the space there like a gaping wound.

  My talons brush over the trees, knocking one over. I’ve never been so careless, and guilt eats away at me. It doesn’t matter, though. Or at least, it shouldn’t. Not after what King Fyazum just told me.

  My wings push against the air, keeping me in the sky, though only barely. Emotions I’ve never experienced before are now the only thing I can feel. Below are the small specks of humans walking alongside their dragons, living in peace, friends, bound to one another, their souls truly one.

  Dragons and their riders. Their closest friends. Fyazum thought this mission would be simple for me because I do not have a human. Not yet. Not now. Not ever.

  I circle around, doing anything I can to stall, even knowing this is time sensitive. What I’m about to do will hurt my family. The others didn’t understand why I was reluctant to take on this task because I couldn’t possibly understand the anguish every dragon is about to feel. But from the large gap in my own soul, the missing space where my human should fit in, I understand the pain of her not being there.

  I spot Guthrie and dive down, landing beside him with a thud.

  “Yackros, dear youngling, what in all the high skies and even grounds are you doing, coming to your feet like that?” The large arctic-blue-scaled dragon laughs, the thunderous sound echoing through the valley below.

  “Guthrie.” I take a gulp of air and look around, checking to make sure his human is nowhere near. “King Fyazum has ordered every dragon into hiding.”

  All sense of humor disappears from the dragon’s large stature. “What are you talking about? Tell me at once,” he commands.

  I ignore the fire in my stomach, the ache eating away at me as I fulfill my duty. “The humans have started war. Dragons broke their bonds. W—”

  “Ready the others. We will meet them in battle and win.” Guthrie begins flapping his wings.

  “No!” I roar, demanding his attention. “We are to hide. We are to disappear. King Fyazum does not want this bloodshed on our wings. We will not kill them, hurt them, or break our bonds. As per the king’s orders.” It physically hurts my heart to say it, and even more so to follow through on it.

  “What are we to do?” Guthrie asks, barely intelligible through the emotion he chokes back.

  “Hide. Disappear from the world of man. There are at least two great sorcerers among us. We are to task them with creating a barrier of sorts. A piece of forest in the mountains here, where we can live comfortably and remain unseen to anyone from the outside.” I stand taller, resolving to remain strong in this hard time.

  “We hide? What is Fyazum thinking?”

  “He is coming. He will find us, and we can figure out a plan for the future at that time. But now is the time for action. We must do this. If even one human here turns against their dragon, we could all be doomed to a fate worse than death.”

  “Who or what started this war?” Guthrie demands fiercely.

  I shake my head. “I do not know. Now please, help me do as we’ve been told. Or are you willing to break the bonds with your human?”

  Before Guthrie answers, the images disappear and I’m Alita again, no longer living through Yackros’ memories. I look up at him and see tears in his eyes.

  “Did you ever find out how the war began?” I stand up, brushing dirt f
rom my pants and wrapping my arms around his neck.

  “Thank you, Alita.” He sighs. Something stirs within me, like a need to remain close to him, and what he said about souls makes a lot of sense. I never felt un-whole, but next to him, I feel stronger, wiser, and perhaps more capable of taking on anything.

  “To answer your question, I do not have a definite answer, though I do have my suspicions. Which is another reason you cannot visit. You cannot be here. It shouldn’t even be possible for you to break through the magic put over Runavelius.”

  “Yet I can. Perhaps it’s a sign that things have changed enough that you could once again be a part of our world. Come out of hiding.” I hate the pleading in my voice, but I don’t want to be turned away when I was just barely let in.

  How can I lose him just as quickly as I got him? It’s like being five all over again, only this time I know it’s real. And now it doesn’t matter if everyone thinks I’m crazy. Because I know the truth.

  “I’m sorry, Alita, but it cannot be. And alas, your time here has run out. Go home, my little wingless. Know that I will never forget you, and promise me that tomorrow, you’ll know this was all real. Remember me, please, but know you cannot return,” he says with despair and anguish.

  I let my emotions run their course, tears and snot running down my face, body trembling. Head shaking as I refuse to give up so easily. “No. It can’t end this way. Tell me what it means to be bonded to a human. How does it happen? Please, tell me there is any chance that things can be different. People have been telling me my entire life that dragons don’t exist and it’s not possible. But what’s really impossible here is me walking away from you. I won’t. I can’t.”

  The very thought of leaving Runavelius never to return causes a blinding agony that fills every part of me.

  “Alita,” Yackros says, his voice now tender and low, quiet and calming. I look up at him. “A dragon and a human do not choose to bond. It’s a kind of magic no one controls. That gaping hole you experienced through my memory is where the soul of my human would fit, if I had the chance to find one. Being bound means that you feel each other’s emotions. Suffering, joy, and everything in between. It means humans fly, and dragons walk. It means everything. It changes both lives in every way, and yet they remain the same.”

  I nod. “Can they still find romantic love with one of their kind?” I think of Max, though now I’m grateful he didn’t come with me for this. Somehow he doesn’t fit in this part of my world, or at least, I can’t imagine him here.

  “Yes. What’s between a dragon and human is not romantic, though it is love. It is a friendship that is nearly unbreakable, and yet, once severed, both parties suffer in unhealable ways. But I digress, dear Alita. Now you must return home.”

  Despite the numerous times he’s said that I am not to return, I can’t just walk away. “Please promise me I can come back?” I can’t leave until I have an answer.

  “I cannot grant you that permission, Alita, just as I cannot forbid you, for even if I had such powers, and they were stronger than the magic placed on the barrier, I do not have the will to do so. But you must understand that if you return, and with every time you visit, the risk of another dragon seeing you increases, the magic in place to keep your kind out will fade, and though I will try, I cannot promise that I will be able to protect you.”

  “Why are you my friend if any other dragon would dispose of me on first sight?” I know what I want the answer to be, but I don’t dare have such hope.

  “You broke through the barrier at just five human years old. Only one with great magic could do that.” He looks away.

  I don’t know if he’s lying, simply not telling me the whole truth, or is perhaps more uncomfortable with my presence than I thought. Which means I don’t know what to do. Does he want me here? Is he trying to get rid of me for my safety, or his?

  “What kind of magic could I possibly have? How do I make it work?” I could ask a million more questions, but quite frankly, I’m not expecting any answers for those two.

  Yackros chuckles. “If I promise to answer your questions on your next visit, will you return home now before you lose the light?”

  “I thought you didn’t want me to return?” I pose it as a question, confused by his conflicting messages.

  “Oh, my dear, I know it doesn’t matter what I want. You will return. You can’t help it. My wish for you to stay far away is for your safety, not because I don’t want you here.”

  “If you know I’m going to return, why even tell me not to come back?” I stand up, stretching my legs.

  “No more answers tonight, little wingless. Return home. Know that I will be all right should you decide never to return.” He ushers me to the edge of Runavelius.

  “You know I’m going to come back. No need to pretend I won’t.” I walk along, trying to talk to him though he’s behind me.

  When I reach the edge, the rippling in the air as my indicator, I turn around. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Yackros. Or Sparkles.” I smile, though I can’t help the empty feeling that takes hold.

  “Goodbye.” He bows his head.

  I take one step back, still facing him, and watch as he disappears. Where he stands, all I see is the Arizona desert.

  6

  I rub at my eyes, trying to wipe away the sleepy feeling and clear out some tiredness. It doesn’t work, but it does help the itch in my eye. I pull my backpack to my chest and hold it in my arms as I lean against the bus window and wait for our bumpy ride to end.

  I should have slept last night. Instead, I did as much research on Dragoon, dragons, and magic as I could. But with so much out there, there’s really no way to know what’s myth, what’s myth based on truth, and what’s simply truth.

  At least now I have a list of questions to ask Yackros, and I won’t be completely dumbfounded. I have a starting guide to send me in the right direction for more information.

  But carrying such documents with me means keeping close track of my bag. The last thing I want is for anyone to see it and start up the jokes from all those years ago over again, and in high school.

  I can’t even trust Max, who sits beside me, bouncing his leg—again—and completely ignoring me, which is unusual. But not wanting to talk myself, I don’t say anything, though he’s making me a little uncomfortable. I thought being his girlfriend would be a bit more breathtaking. Instead, it’s like nothing has changed. Wanting to test this, I reach out and grab his hand. He turns to me and offers a dimpled smile, which makes my heart melt a little. “Hey,” he says with ease.

  “Hey. You okay?” So much for not talking.

  “Yeah, just tired. We stayed up late hanging out with Dillon. He didn’t have a problem with it because he’s at home sleeping in. But the rest of us still had to get up and go to school as usual.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” My lips purse as I try to figure out what else to say. “Is he going back to school today?”

  “No. He’s staying the rest of the week. Which means I’m going to be this tired and then some, but it should be okay. Maybe I could come over to your house after school and hang out for a while before going back to the rambunctious jungle that is my house.” He quirks his eyebrow, though he didn’t really ask a question.

  “Of course you can come over. But it sounds like you’ll just be taking a nap.” I laugh, though it’s more like a nervous bubble of energy leaving me. I didn’t clean up all of the papers I printed out from my research last night—or this morning, I should say—and I really don’t need Max asking questions I can’t answer.

  Just thinking about it, I instinctively put my arm back around my bag. I have an inherent need to protect what I know at all costs. I can’t let anyone find and hurt Yackros. What he told me, or showed me, last night plays through my mind over and over.

  Getting to experience the emotions, the turmoil, the pain he suffered makes it that much more important to me. His kind has been through enough.

  How any human coul
d wish to hurt the dragons blows me away. Why would they want to rule them when they could instead bond with them? They wished for power that could have easily been gained by befriending the very beings they set out to destroy. What was the point? A better question would be, how did they plan on ruling them?

  One dragon could eat the betrayer. How did it go so far as the dragons having to disappear from existence?

  That leads to another thought. They didn’t. Dragons are still everywhere. Stories of myth and legend. I add that to my mental checklist of things to look into. I can do that today at the school library and add it to my personal collection of information.

  I shake my head. Why are humans so horrible? They wanted to rule over creatures more than four times their size, and yet the dragons couldn’t bear the idea of hurting said humans to the point that they created magical forests that would hide them. What is wrong with our world?

  “Alita?” Someone shakes my shoulder.

  I look up. Max is standing over me, seeming rather concerned, his face pinched up. “We’re here.” He nods to the window I was just leaning on. I glance up, noting the school looking as gloomy as ever.

  “Sorry. Yep, coming.” I get up quickly, too fast, and my head spins. I take a moment to orient myself, checking the seat to make sure I have everything before following Max off the bus.

  My wish for an empty library is granted.

  The only other person there is the librarian and she has her nose stuck in a book, which makes perfect sense. I smile and nod as I pass her and set up at the end computer again. I pull my notebook out and place it beside me, opening it to my last entry and laying my pen on the page.

  There’s a pit in my stomach. I’m shaking with nervousness. This is something I’m not used to, sneaking around, hiding things. Doing research and not telling Max every detail. I take another quick look around to make sure I’m truly alone, then pull up my email where I saved the link to the last website I was on last night.

  Dragon Myths

  I scan through each story looking at their origins. I begin making a list of famous stories from every country.