“Kaylee! Jade!” Maddox said. He gave them an infectious grin, and Kaylee felt herself smiling stupidly back, a warmth spreading through her chest, though she couldn’t place why. Maddox gestured behind him. “Welcome to the Baba Stadium of death!”
“Forget him,” Jade said. “She’s not that bad.”
“Who isn’t?”
“Baba Menorah. Your Mentor. She can be a little…eccentric, but she’s harmless.”
“Except when she’s pushing on you to get stronger. Which is all the time.” Maddox began twirling his arms in a windmill motion. “I’m gonna start warmups, Jade. We should be able to get in a couple circuits before they’re done.”
Kaylee’s stomach dropped. “Wait, you’re training with us, right?”
Maddox looked horrorstruck at the idea, then quickly masked it. “Ah, no. I’m bona fide, one hundred percent, completely normal, so I don’t need any special dragon-kin training.”
He must have caught Jade’s murderous look, because he held his hands up like he was futilely fending off a charging bull. “I’m not saying you’re not normal, Kaylee. It’s just Baba only deals with those who can do magic and dragon-kin. No magic or scales,” he pointed to himself and Jade, “no reason to be tort—I mean train with her.”
“Great, so now I’m special and a freak.”
“I didn’t say that! Jade, did I say that?”
“I’m going to go talk to Edwin,” Kaylee said, feeling her cheeks flush. She hurried off before Maddox could remind her anymore of how she was different. As she walked away she caught Jade punching a flabbergasted Maddox in the arm, hissing, “Are you serious right now?”
Edwin didn’t look up when Kaylee approached. His face was buried behind the covers of a thick book he was reading sideways. He turned it in a complete circle, flipped the page, and kept reading.
“You know, if you look at it that close long enough it’ll stick to your face,” Kaylee said.
“Maybe then I’ll actually remember what’s in it,” Edwin said, letting the book flop into his lap. He squinted up at her against the sunlight.
“You’re blushing,” he said. “Is something wrong?”
Kaylee quickly turned away, hoping he would think it was a sunburn or something. The last thing she wanted was an astute observation from Captain Clueless, but the question sprang from her mouth before she could stop it, “Do you…do you think this—me—being a dragon-kin, is…is it weird? Do you think I’m weird?”
Edwin didn’t respond, and for a second Kaylee thought he had gone back to his book. When she turned around though he was staring at her intently, his vibrant green eyes slightly magnified behind his glasses.
“I think whatever you are is whatever you’re supposed to be,” Edwin said finally. “Dragon-kin, Merlin, Tamer. It’s not something you choose and it’s not something you can change, so you might as well accept it.”
He groaned as he stood, stretching out his lanky limbs. “But for the record, no, I think you’re totally normal. Even if you do randomly get mad at me for no reason and blow my room apart.”
“You were ignoring me!” Kaylee protested. “Just up and drifted off into Edwin-land. What was I supposed to think?”
Edwin didn’t answer. Kaylee spun to find him reading his book again. She punched him in the arm. Apparently that was what worked best with him because he yelped and actually looked at her.
“What the heck is your problem?” He complained, rubbing his shoulder.
“You and your lack of attention when I’m talking.”
“You talked so much I didn’t know when you’d be done!”
Kaylee made to hit him again but he held up his book protectively. Kaylee got a look at the title. “The Rise and Fall of the Slayers? Is that the great idea you were so enamored with last time?”
Edwin turned the cover over. “That? Kind of, I guess? I had a hunch about them, but it’s not something I can really put my finger on yet.”
He gazed across the fields and Kaylee followed. In the afternoon light the grass glowed almost golden, dancing in the breeze. Insects buzzed between clumps of blackberry bushes. A smattering of raised cattails indicated a pond just over on the far side of some bushes. As Kaylee stared, a sense of calm trickled into her. She had never realized something so peaceful existed so close to her.
Kaylee vaguely heard Edwin say, “…before I forget.”
There was the warm sensation of his arms coming over her head, brushing around her neck. She froze. Edwin’s hair tickled as he leaned closer and fastened something around her neck.
“Edwin, wh-what are you doing?”
“Almost…got it…there!”
He stepped back and Kaylee could suddenly breath again. She took a moment to collect herself then held up what he’d placed around her neck. It was a small, circular piece of wood. Inlaid in the center was a rune symbol.
“I made it last night,” Edwin said. “It’s pretty ancient magic, but easy to do. You seemed really nervous when you came over to my house so I thought you might want it. It helps with anxiety and concentration.”
Kaylee was about to say that Edwin had been part of the reason for her anxiety that night, but the way he was beaming at her, clearly hoping she’d like it, made her bite back any sharp retort.
“It’s…thank you. This means a lot.”
“The charm only lasts a day, but I hope it works for you.”
Kaylee realized that the second he’d put it on she had felt a little better. All the fears and nerves she hadn’t realized were running wild through her head had quieted to a dull roar. She could keep her thoughts firmly in the present, the worries of the future fading to the background.
“Edwin!” Maddox called. He finished flipping a tire. Jade had grabbed the sledgehammer and looked about ready to start swinging at him if he didn’t move faster. “You two gonna go inside or what?”
“Why aren’t we inside?” Kaylee asked, looking at the house. Up close it was still a dump, but a much less scary dump. Edwin had suddenly gone very still.
“You really don’t want to go in unless she invites you,” he said. “Besides, it’s so nice outside we should enjoy it.”
“Well we’ve enjoyed it. Now let’s go see if she’s ready.”
“NO!” Edwin exclaimed. He coughed, awkwardly patting Kaylee’s shoulder. “I mean, no. Let’s just wait a bit longer—”
“EDWIN!”
Edwin flinched. A squat lady dressed in a ratty bathrobe was tottering down the back steps towards them. Her hair looked as if it had been dried in a pasta strainer, her skin wrinkly and a used dishwater brown. The front of her robe was opened just a bit, revealing a sagging bright pink t-shirt that had You Can’t Handle This stitched on the front. She spit into the dirt as she approached them.
“Just roll with it,” Edwin said out of the corner of his mouth, before facing the woman. “Baba!” He said brightly. “Good to see you!”
Baba spit again. “Can’t say the same. You been practicin’?”
“As much as I possibly can.”
Baba snorted loudly and spit again. “No point. Still gonna be useless.” She turned on Kaylee. “And then there’s you.”
Faster than Kaylee thought a woman her age was capable of moving, Baba snapped out with a gold-ring covered hand and gripped Kaylee’s chin, turning it first one way, then the other. She pried open her jaws and looked inside, then walked in a circle around her, kicking her shins and feet as if she was checking a used car’s tires.
“You’ll do,” she announced when she was done. She teetered back towards the house, waving them on. “Hurry up!”
“Does she usually do that?” Kaylee said, rubbing her jaw.
“Usually she’s worse,” Edwin said. “When I first met her she insisted on trying to light me on fire to see if I was really a Merlin.”
“Are Merlins flame repellant?”
“No. No they’re not.”
Over Edwin’s shoulder, Kaylee could see Maddox
and Jade doubled over laughing. Kaylee swore she’d get back at them later. Then she walked up the steps and went inside.
Chapter Nine
If it was possible, the interior of Baba’s house was even stranger than the outside. At the very least, Kaylee had figured out where Edwin drew inspiration for the state of his own room.
The hallways were narrow, crooked, and long. The ceilings hung low until the entryway opened up to a foyer decked in wood tones and peeling plaster. A staircase led up from here, a rickety bannister ringing it as it rose three floors.
“Back room’s this way,” Baba grunted, moving through another hallway. Kaylee followed, tucking her arms to her sides to avoid the pointy tips of crystals that were displayed on either side.
And there were a lot of crystals.
Big crystals and small crystals. Some rounded and others sharp-edged. Hung on the walls or dangling from the ceiling. Placed in corners and stacked in elaborate patterns in the middle of rooms they passed. Candles had been lit beside some, creating elaborate refractions on the walls and ceiling.
Kaylee dropped back to match pace with Edwin as Baba took them into a back room that was mercifully bigger than anything they’d been in so far. “Okay, what’s with all the—”
She’d been about to say crystals, then promptly thought, turtles. Because in this new room turtles were everywhere.
They were displayed in picture frames or as plush toys stacked in the corners. Some were drawn on greeting cards and cutesy motivational posters. There was even a sea turtle clock, the flippers working as the minute and hour hands.
“Sit,” Baba snapped, indicating to a pair of cushy lounge chairs. Kaylee was forced to displace a stuffed turtle that was nearly as large as she was before taking a seat.
Baba stared at them for a long moment. Then she moved to a cabinet, opened it, and poured herself a half glass of brown liquid.
“Alastair tells me you’re a storm dragon.”
“I…think so?” Kaylee said.
“You are or you aren’t. It isn’t a guess. Did you summon a storm?”
“Yes.”
“Then you are. Now wasn’t that simple?” Baba took a large sip from the glass and faced them, the corners of her eyes watering. She held out a bottle.
“Scotch?”
“No, Baba,” Edwin said tiredly, as though they were repeating a game he’d played before. “My dad would kill me.”
Baba shrugged. “Your loss. So yeah, storm dragon. And you’re already using elemental magic. Dangerous stuff to be messin’ around with.”
“I don’t know what elemental magic is,” Kaylee said. “And I know it’s dangerous. I thought that’s why I’m training with you.”
Baba swirled the drink in her hand and sat on the arm of her own chair. She picked at the turtle print faux leather. “Girl, you can train with me all you want. I don’t care. It’s whether you can learn from me or not that’s the question. This dunderhead,” she pointed a gnarled finger at Edwin, “has been with me three months and ain’t learned a lick.”
“He’s not a dunderhead,” Kaylee said.
“What’s that?” Baba said, her eyes narrowing.
“Nothing,” Edwin said sharply, subtly waving Kaylee down before she could retort. “Do you think you can help her?”
“Alastair wouldn’t have sent her to me if he thought I couldn’t.” Baba drew herself up and approached Kaylee, who found herself sitting straighter. “You know how many dragon-kin I’ve trained?”
“I’m hoping a lot more than just me.”
“Darn right. Many more. All with infinitely more potential than I see in you. All who started much younger than you. I can teach you how to control your shifting. To sprout wings and fly or shift a tail to wield during a fight. I can help you use the Ear of a Dragon to hear things a normal human could only wish to, or use your talons and rip your enemies to shreds. I can teach you to summon magic against your foes, and smite them in a rain of pain and destruction.”
“I was…kind of hoping you could just teach me to not summon a storm every time I get mad,” Kaylee said.
Baba grunted. “I can do that too. But only if you’re willing to learn. To put time in and actually try. Nothing good ever came of taking shortcuts. Free advice right there, use it how you will.” She tapped one ear. “When you’re with me you listen, and you learn.”
Kaylee was trying to, but she had noticed the tiny sea turtle earrings dangling from Baba’s stretched earlobes.
“What are you lookin’ at, girl?” Baba snapped.
“Uh…”
“Oh, the turtles. Yeah, I have a few of ‘em around here. Love turtles. Such…what’s the word? Majestic? Yeah, majestic creatures, all flapping their flippers and such. Cute as can be.” She looked off into the middle distance, as if composing a profound thought. “Within the folds of their ancient minds lie the vast mysteries of our universe. More free advice right there.”
“She’s being serious,” Edwin whispered.
“Anyway, the turtles and crystals both help concentrate your magic during training so deal with ‘em.” She took one last swig from her glass and tossed it into a pile of sea turtle couch pillows. She clasped her hands together.
“Now, let’s see how much pain we can put you through.”
The answer was a lot.
Baba spent the first hour running Kaylee through a variety of physical exercises designed, she claimed, to prepare her for the difficulty of shifting into a dragon.
“Your flexibility stinks,” Baba said. She paced in a slow circle around Kaylee as she went through another round of squats, her legs shaking, her arms burning. Baba gripped her hands and pulled them out in front of her, forcing them straight. The shaking increased.
“Pathetic. And this is the easy stuff.”
“If I—had wanted—to kill myself—I would have let the Slayers do it,” Kaylee panted.
Baba snorted. “They can still kill you. Probably will with terrible technique like that. But if you’re with me I’ll make sure they earn their kill first.”
After that torture came a round of breathing exercises that would get Kaylee ‘in touch with her inner dragon’. Baba forced her to sit on the floor in the center of the room, close her eyes, and focus on nothing but her breath and the ‘inner fire inside’. Whatever that meant.
But despite Edwin’s focusing charm and the abundance of crystals and turtles surrounding her, Kaylee’s mind kept shooting off in every random direction except where it was supposed to go. Her body hurt. Edwin’s muttering as he went through the more advanced spells Baba had assigned him grated on her brain. Sweat stung as it trickled down her forehead and into her eyes.
“You’re not concentratin’,” Baba said. She’d poured herself another round of scotch and was swilling it up to the light, probably to make sure the glass was filthy enough to drink from.
“You’re not even looking,” Kaylee said through gritted teeth. “How would you know I’m not concentrating?”
“Because you’re still able to answer me. Now breathe! The magic you’re trying to wield is already inside you. It’s in every dragon-kin and the only thing you have to do is open yourself up to channeling it.”
Kaylee bit back a frustrated groan and sucked in a deep breath. Again. And again. Something within her chest stirred. She latched onto the feeling and concentrated. It was a wild, unkempt energy, as crazy as the storm she’d summoned the other day. It pushed out, desperate to be free.
“A little at a time,” Baba said. “Shift your arms first.”
Kaylee breathed out and focused on her hands, letting just a bit of the magic seep out. Her skin grew heavy and coarse. The chill in the room ceased to bother her. She cracked one eye open and saw her arms had indeed changed.
“No peeking!” Baba snapped. “Change them back.” Kaylee did. “Now the ears.”
“Why can’t I do both?” Kaylee said.
“Concentrate! Don’t question!” Kaylee heard Baba ta
ke another slurping sip. “Dragon-kin are not full dragons, girl. They cannot shift into full dragon form, and if they ever were to do so by dark magic or other means, the change would destroy any human part of them. At most, a dragon-kin can only shift two, maybe three, parts of their body at the same time. Any more than that’s impossible, and if you were to try it, it might have bad consequences. So shut up, listen to me, and don’t do it.”
Kaylee channeled the magic up to her ears. Come on, she urged it, just a little more you stupid—
Baba took another loud sip. Kaylee’s concentration snapped. The magic fled back deep inside her and Baba let out an exasperated sigh.
“You lose focus too easily! Even the most basic of hatchlings can shift on command. This is your body. Get it to obey you instead of doing what it wants.”
“I’m trying!” Kaylee said, sitting back in disgust. “Can’t you give me a break? I’m still new to this.”
“You weren’t new to this when you were summoning storms powerful enough to fry people with lightning,” Baba said.
She crouched in front of Kaylee. “Let’s get one thing straight: You’re dangerous, girl. All that power given to someone who barely knows what she is.” She leaned in closer. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I know the consequences of uncontrolled magic, and I can assure you, no student of mine will ever lose control of their magic and hurt someone, or I will go straight to Alastair and have the issue taken care of. Clear? Again!”
Kaylee caught Edwin staring at them, wide eyed, before hurriedly burying his face in his book once more.
“I said again,” Baba said.
“I’m getting some water,” Kaylee said, standing up on wobbly legs. “Unless that’s going to ‘quench my inner fire’.”
“O-ho, we’ve got a clever one.” Baba waved a dismissive hand. “Two minutes.”
The kitchen was down the hall and just as filthy as the rest of the house. Kaylee rested one of her poor, exhausted arms on the sink as she drank, watching it shake. This was ridiculous. No wonder Edwin had dreaded coming here. Baba was insane and expected the impossible. Okay sure, Kaylee felt like she had a little more control of her powers than she’d had before, and yeah, she could already shift a single part of her body on command. But what was the point if she was getting chewed out all the time?
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