“I don’t know why we always come here, Dawn. We never find anything,” Liam objected.
“That doesn’t mean we never will,” she replied.
“It probably does,” he said sullenly.
“Don’t be so negative, Liam. You never know. Besides, you suggested it, and what do you have better to do?”
“Read?” he replied.
“Reading? Why would you read what other people think of life when you can get out and explore the world for yourself?”
“I like to read. You should give it a go yourself sometimes.”
“Nah, I’ll leave that to you. Why read when I can just absorb what you’ve already read?”
“Because you can only absorb things that people you are near have read. Surely there are things you are interested in that require you to pick up a book someone you know hasn’t already read?”
“I guess that’s a good point,” she conceded, knowing there was no use arguing it further.
There was no way for Liam to truly understand what it was like to be her. The amount of knowledge she possessed was far too much for anyone to have to deal with. Each time she was near someone, she absorbed everything they knew, in a sense. It wasn’t so much a physical act as it was a transfer of knowledge. She knew everything they had ever learned, whether from a book or life itself. She felt their pain and their joy, their fears.
“Have you met the new man in the village?” she asked suddenly, not wanting to get lost in the thoughts of others.
“No. Who is he?”
“I don’t know. He came from Vietnam. His name is Minh Phuong.”
“Oh. He is the one that has opened the martial arts studio.”
“Yes. Isn’t that hilarious? Why would dragons need to learn martial arts?”
“To defend themselves in human form, silly. It’s our biggest weakness.”
Dawn contemplated this for a few moments. Of course, he was right. They did have a serious weakness when it came to fighting in confined spaces. Unless their powerful dragon forms were enough to burst open a room at the seams to give themselves space or an opening to fly, they were at a loss. Perhaps Mr. Phuong was on to something.”
“You know he is not a pure dragon shifter, don’t you?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t asked.”
“I’m telling you that he is not. He is a half tiger and half dragon, but apparently that’s not all he can shift into. Isn’t that crazy?”
“Even you can’t do that,” Liam observed, absently turning over rocks in search of something more interesting than just the empty quarry.
“No. I wish I could. That would be so cool,” she gushed.
“Imagine that – something the great Dawn McCord can’t do,” Liam laughed.
“I can still do more than you, and I’m much faster, too!” she teased.
“And modest. Don’t forget modest,” he laughed, unruffled by her comments.
Dawn smiled at him, watching as he poked around the rocks. Liam never cared about what she said regarding his abilities. His life didn’t revolve around being a dragon like a lot of people in this village. He had other interests. He wanted to leave here and see the world. He wanted to write great things about faraway places. Had he been born in another time, he would have been an adventurer. In today’s world, he was destined to be just another tourist.
“What’s this?” he asked, leaning over and brushing something off with his hands.
“Looks like a bottle,” Dawn replied.
“It’s very old,” he said, turning it back and forth in his hands.
“Seems to be. What do you think is in there?”
“I don’t know. Some sort of liquid. Want to drink it and see?” he teased, holding it out toward her.
“I don’t think so. It’s cool though. I wonder how long it has been here.”
“I’ll take it with me, see if I can figure it out.”
“See? You did find something!”
“Whatever,” he said, rolling his eyes at her.
“You, Liam Donnelly, are a doubter.”
“And you, Dawn McCord, are a maniac of gigantic proportions.”
“I am. You adore that about me.”
“Aye. I suppose I do,” he agreed, tucking the bottle in his pocket and heading toward the edge of the quarry.
“Hey, where are you going?” she asked, padding along behind him to catch up.
“To the burger place on main street. I’m starving.”
“I swear, Liam. I don’t know where you put all the food you eat. Most people would be as big as their whole house.”
“I guess you don’t want a burger then.”
“What? Of course I do,” she laughed, catching up to him.
CHAPTER 4
School the following day brought about some very odd events. Dawn arrived to find everyone being gathered up and pushed into a nearby room by the instructors. At the other end of the hall, she could see some sort of commotion with the dragon guard gathered in what looked like riot gear. It was unusual, to say the least. They rarely needed to rely on modern contraptions to do their jobs. She headed down the corridor to see what was happening.
“Dawn, no. Get back here,” Penelope, one of the school’s headmasters, hissed in her direction.
Dawn ignored her, continuing on down the hallway until she arrived behind the dragon guards.
“Dawn, what are you doing down here? Get back to safety with the others!” her Uncle Connor barked at her. Dawn pretended she hadn’t heard, instead slipping between two guards and looking around for her father. She found him standing at the front of the semi-circle that had formed around a young shifter she knew from one of her classes. His name was Harlan Bonner, though everyone called him Dirt, a cruel nod to the bland, earthy color of his dragon.
Many of the other kids picked on Dirt because he was much smaller and weaker than other shifters his age. He always lost in contests, often not even trying. He rarely spoke to the other kids, and when he did, he tended to stammer. Dawn slipped to the front of the guards for a moment before being pushed back behind one of them in a protective gesture. She peered out from behind him to see what was happening.
“Harlan, let’s talk about this,” Dawn’s father was saying.
Dawn could see around him only enough to see something was wrong. Harlan was not shifted, but he seemed to not be alone. She slipped further to the side to see that he had his arm locked around the throat of another shifter, Tommy Barton. In his other hand was a long shard of glass that appeared to be from a mirror, though she could not see one broken anywhere in sight. She focused in on Harlan, wiggling a bit to get closer to him and away from the thoughts of others.
“He he he sta sta…” Dirt said, struggling to get something out.
“Okay. I get that. I do. He started it, but this is no way to end it. Don’t ruin your life over a misunderstanding.”
Dawn felt a sense of horror rising in her chest as she realized something was terribly wrong with him. Something far worse than just a rage at being picked on by the school bully. This was far worse. She looked around, finding Kergot on the other side of the semi-circle. Her mind spoke to his, making him understand what he couldn’t see just from reading Dirt’s horribly jumbled thoughts. His eyes widened and he nodded quietly before speaking.
“Tommy, I want you to listen to me. Do not move when I approach; do not call out. Just stay very still.”
“What? No,” Owen said sternly, looking in Kergot’s direction.
Kergot merely nodded at him, drawing his eyes away from the scene in front of him and toward the other side of the semi-circle. Owen noted Dawn was partially hidden behind one of the guards and pursed his lips angrily, but remained silent as he waited to see what she had seen. Unlike Kergot, Dawn was not able to project her thoughts to anyone other than Liam, but she could read Kergot’s thoughts, and because of his gift, he could read hers.
The crowd waited with bated breath as Kergot slowly moved towa
rd the two boys, approaching them from behind and reaching around Dirt to pull his hands quietly outward. The glass shard was still curled tightly in his hand, blood dripping from where it cut into his palm. Tommy didn’t move at first.
“Tommy, get out of there. Now,” Owen barked at him and Tommy quickly reacted, launching himself forward toward the surrounding guards.
They quickly moved him behind them while others held their gaze on Kergot, who was still holding the arms of the young man outward. He nodded toward Owen, who stepped forward and removed it from Dirt’s hand.
“Send everyone away quickly. Tell them to send a doctor,” Kergot said in a low voice.
“Everyone get out of here. Josh, keep everyone away from this area. Connor, get the doctor in here fast,” Owen said, not understanding but knowing that there was a reason Kergot was telling him this and that it probably had something to do with his own daughter.
The guards cleared out, leaving only Kergot and Owen. Dawn tried to get free of the guard that had a hold of her, but he held fast, determined to keep her away from whatever was going on behind him. She finally broke free, making a run for it toward her father.
“Owen!” the guard called out in warning to let him know she was coming back into what he perceived as the danger zone.
He turned away from the quiet conversation that had been taking place between him and Kergot to see Dawn making a beeline toward them. Rather than stopping her, he told the guard he could go, letting her join him and Kergot by Dirt’s side. The boy now lay on the ground where Kergot had placed him. His eyes were wide and full of fear as Kergot managed to wrap a towel someone had handed him before leaving around the bleeding hand.
“Can you help him?” Kergot whispered.
“I don’t know. It’s bad. It might be too late,” Dawn replied, drawing a curious look from her father.
“If it gets too hard, let go,” Kergot told her. “Don’t let it take hold of you.”
Dawn nodded and placed her hands on Dirt. If he could shift, he could heal himself, but that wasn’t an option right now. He was bleeding and not just from his hand. She placed her hands on his shoulders and held them fast, unaware of anything around her but the sound of his racing heart and the fear that lashed out at her wildly in an effort to find peace.
“It’s okay, Harlon,” she told him. “Just stay calm. The doctor is coming.”
Dawn felt sick. She had never touched someone so sick, not only physically, but mentally as well. The sadness he felt, the rage, it all came across – but there was something bigger, too. There was fear, a fear like nothing he had ever felt. Dawn saw all of the horrible things that had been done to him. Terrible things. Things she wished she didn’t know, but the bleeding was clouding it all, turning in to some sort of horrible nightmare that repeated in his head. At the center of it was Tommy, always Tommy. She began to gasp for breath, trying hard to focus, willing herself not to let go of him.
“Dawn, let go. Let go!” Kergot roared at her.
When she failed to listen to him, her father reached out and grabbed her hands, forcing them away. He scanned her face, one that had grown pale and frightened. The doctor came running in and began to tend to Harlan, examining him. Kergot spoke quietly so as to not be overheard.
“Tommy hit him pretty hard. He has a brain hemorrhage. It’s what caused him to snap and seize. Get him to the clinic before it’s too late,” Kergot told him.
Josh helped get him onto the stretcher they had brought with them, carrying him out as Dawn sat nearby, still trying to pull herself together. Kergot walked over and spoke to her in a low voice as Owen kneeled beside her, clearly uncertain what was happening right in front of him.
“Are you okay, Dawn? Do you need to go with Josh to the doctor’s office to get checked out?”
“No. I’m fine,” she said, her expression turning to one that was angry and determined. “Tommy did this. Tommy is the one who needs to be punished.”
“What are you talking about, Dawn?” Owen asked.
“I saw it, Dad. Tommy cornered him in the boy’s room. He shoved him against one of the urinals and hit the back of his head on the porcelain. That is what caused the bleeding in his head. At first, he just felt rage – uncontrollable rage – and he picked up a piece of the glass that had broken off the mirror beside him, grabbing Tommy and pulling him out here. He wanted to kill him in front of everyone. He didn’t want anyone to pick on him anymore, but then the bleeding got worse. He was frozen. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t respond.”
“Jesus,” Owen said, hanging his head.
“What they do to him, Dad. It’s terrible. The things they have done to him. I know who they are. I know who they all are. They need to pay for this!”
“Calm down, Dawn. Let’s just get you home. Let’s get you home, and we will talk about this when you feel a little better.”
Dawn said nothing, at least not aloud and not to her father. Instead, she turned her mind toward Kergot, sharing the things that she had seen in Dirt’s head with the headmaster of the school. She knew that he would take care of the problem. Her father couldn’t understand, because he was not aware of her gift like Kergot was. Even Liam only grasped a portion of her abilities. Owen McCord, on the other hand, knew she knew what people were thinking without them saying it, but even he was unaware of the extent to which her gift went. Only Kergot knew that, because he was the only one that could even begin to understand it.
“I’ll take care of it,” Kergot assured her silently.
Dawn stood and followed her father from the school, going home for the day rather than attend classes. She let Liam know she was leaving as she stepped out the doors and tried to push what she had seen from her thoughts.
CHAPTER 5
“Go home, Liam,” Owen told him as he opened the front door to find him standing there.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. It’s that way,” Owen replied, pointing in the direction from which he had arrived.
“Please, Mr. McCord. She keeps begging me to come over.”
“No. She doesn’t. I took her phone.”
“You know she doesn’t need a phone, Mr. McCord.”
Owen groaned. He almost felt sorry for Liam at times, always at the mercy of Dawn’s thoughts. There was no shutting her out if she wanted to talk to you. She’d just barrel her way into your brain and force you to give her an audience. Of course, Liam was the only one who didn’t really seem to mind.
“Fine. You can come in for a little while, but then you have to go.”
“Thank you,” Liam told him politely.
Dawn lay in her bed, listening to the exchange. Ordinarily, the little power struggle her father attempted to have with Liam amused her, but today she needed him with her and didn’t have the patience for her father’s attempts to cling to his little girl.
“Took you long enough,” she said as he knocked on her bedroom door.
“You’re welcome, Dawn. I know how much you appreciate my rushing right over to keep you company.”
“Rushed right over? It took me hours to get you over here. What were you doing?”
“My homework! I had loads of it!”
“I needed you here, Liam. I had an awful day.”
“What happened? I heard that there was some sort of commotion with Dirt.”
“His name is not Dirt. His name is Harlan.”
“No one calls him that anymore.”
“Well, they should. It is unkind to call him Dirt.”
“Fine. What happened with Harlan?” Liam said, his tone resigned.
Dawn told him the horrible things she saw. She could see his anger. It was one of the things that she and Liam shared. Neither of them could stand by and let cruelty happen. Liam was just as outraged by the things Tommy and his little group of bullies had done to Harlan as she was.
“Are Kergot and Penelope going to take care of them?” he asked.
“Kergot said he would. I suppose he will
tell her to.”
“Good. They will not tolerate that sort of thing in their school. Why did Kergot not already know, though? Isn’t he able to read minds?”
“Yes, but only what someone is currently thinking and only if they are not all jumbled up. My ability to feel them and see past events helps me understand better when what they are thinking doesn’t make sense.”
“I am glad I don’t have your gift,” he told her, reaching for her hands. “It’s a burden more than some grand prize in life.”
“Sometimes,” she replied, laying her head against his shoulder.
They sat on the edge of the bed, quiet. She could feel his breath as his chest rose and fell against the side of her head. It was here that she felt calm. This was the only place. She sometimes felt as though they were pieces in some enormous puzzle that she didn’t yet understand, but it took both of them to complete the picture.
“Dawn, it’s time for Liam to go,” Owen called from the bottom of the stairs.
“He’s such a pain,” she groaned.
“He is just trying to protect you the only way he knows how. Your father is one of the most powerful and revered dragons in the village. He deserves your respect, Dawn.”
“Right. Just like you respect your father.”
“I do respect my father. He just frustrates me. That’s all.”
The sound of Owen walking up the steps could be heard, and Dawn smiled at him playfully.
“I’ll give you twenty euro to get undressed before he gets up here.”
“Trying to get me killed just to amuse yourself?”
“He wouldn’t kill you.”
“As far as you know,” Liam laughed, standing up and opening the door just as Owen arrived at it. “Goodnight, Mr. McCord.”
“Goodnight, Liam,” Owen said with a frown.
“Goodnight, Liam,” Dawn said mockingly.
“Goodnight, turd,” Liam replied on his way down the steps.
“Why would you hang out with a boy that calls you turd all the time?” her father asked.
“Because he loves me and is going to marry me. We are going to have baby turds together one day.”
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