The next couple weeks slogged by in a sludge of school, training, then staring at the far wall of her room after she arrived home immediately after both. The air outside grew colder. The constant threat of impending winter storms was on the horizon every time she stepped out after class, and most mornings she awoke to the crackle of frost on her window. The weather, it seemed, was trying to match her mood.
Then there was the escorting.
Jade was always waiting to take her to the next place she was supposed to go, along with a man dressed in a suit that would barely acknowledge them, but followed just far enough behind to be annoying.
“Ignore him,” Jade said when Kaylee asked her if they’d picked up their own personal stalker. “He was sent by Alastair. He’s one of the Convocation’s older protectors.” She huffed. “Alastair acts so worried about us running off but he doesn’t even pay attention to what Edwin’s doing half the time. Just give this whole thing a little time. It’ll die down again.”
And indeed Jade was right. By the end of the first week of their punishment the suited man wasn’t outside the school every single day, apparently satisfied they weren’t going to bolt at any moment. For the first time in a little while the constant pressure of surveillance lifted from Kaylee’s shoulders.
Edwin seemingly didn’t have an issue with being babysat. He would often show up late to Baba’s lessons, and even then his head didn’t seem to be into whatever they were doing that day. He barely talked to Kaylee, keeping any answer he gave her to one word. He often had a distant look in his eyes, like he was thinking about a million other things rather than practicing not blowing up the latest spell he was conjuring. After one lesson where Edwin had let a particularly rampant spell eat away one of Baba’s pride and joy sea turtle lamps, she’d yelled at him for ten minutes before throwing up her hands in disgust and sulking off upstairs.
The second she was gone Edwin slipped to the locked door in the hallway. He pressed his hands against it. They glowed.
“What are you doing?” Kaylee hissed, eyeing where Baba had gone.
“Testing it,” Edwin said. His hands stopped glowing. He looked satisfied about something. “Pretty basic Alarm charm and Barring spell. Those I can break.”
“Edwin, no offense, but lately you haven’t really been doing that great with any spell.”
Edwin gave her an indignant look. “You know I was just pretending to mess up the last couple lessons, right? I wanted Baba to leave us alone so I could have more time to check this out. I’m not that bad at magic, you know.”
“Ah, of course. How stupid of me.”
When their lesson was over Jade and Kaylee took off towards her home while Edwin and Maddox went towards Edwin’s.
“How many days left of purgatory?” Jade groaned, her face up to the darkened sky. She’d complained the whole way home about how her Tamer trainer was running her and Maddox through even more drills than usual. She suspected it was to keep them too tired to think about doing anything else.
“Soon, I hope,” Kaylee answered. “I haven’t heard about any Slayers nearby so I’m guessing they’re gone now.”
“They’re not gone. Probably went incognito. But seriously, they need to stop punishing us. We never even technically left Scarsdale, and the Fall Festival is coming up. They have to let us go to that.”
“The Fall Festival?” Kaylee said.
Jade gave her a strange look. “You’ve never been? You know, the big festival they have in the middle of town at the end of November? Except this year it’ll be around the Dragon Moon.”
“My family usually goes to my relatives’ house for Thanksgiving,” Kaylee said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been here for it.”
“Well it’s awesome,” Jade said. “They set up a ton of booths and people sell food and art and all kinds of things.” She ticked off her fingers. “They also have hay rides, and a dunk tank—it’d suck to be in that—and henna tattoos…”
“Sounds like fun. If they let us go. If it’s around the Dragon Moon I wouldn’t be surprised if Alastair has us all locked in a dungeon for safekeeping.”
“Yeah…”
They parted at Kaylee’s driveway. Kaylee had just stepped inside the front door when she heard a familiar voice speaking to her parents in the kitchen. Both her parents were crowded around a laptop, their faces eagerly pressed towards the screen as if they could somehow push through and be where Kaylee’s older brother was.
“I know I haven’t been in touch lately,” Reese said. “But school’s been crazy. We just had mid-terms but finals are already coming up. I have to stay here for a job.”
“They won’t even let you off for a day?” Kaylee’s mother said.
“We’ll just have to catch up over Christmas break,” Kaylee’s dad said.
“Actually…” Reese said. “That’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you guys about. I found this great club. Does a lot of outreach in impoverished areas and they’re doing a trip to Arizona over the break. I was thinking of going with them.”
“Over Christmas?” Her mom practically screeched.
“Uh…” Reese saw Kaylee standing behind her parents. His eyes lit up. “K-bear! How’s my favorite sis?”
Kaylee couldn’t help smiling. Something about seeing her older brother always cheered her up. “What up, Reese? How’s the big bad college life?”
He shrugged, flipping back some of his unruly brown hair that had grown longer since the last time Kaylee had seen him. It was hard to tell from the computer screen, but he almost seemed taller. He’d always had muscle, but now he’d filled out more. His skin nearly glowed. “It’s great, Katydid. Classes here are awesome, people here are friendly. I’ve even—”
“Christmas, Reese,” her dad. “What were you saying about Christmas?”
“Kaylee, go up and start your homework,” Her mom said. “You’re still not off the hook.”
Reese leaned closer to the screen. “What’s this? Is Kaylee…” he gave a fake gasp, “…in trouble?”
“No,” Kaylee said.
“Yes,” her parents said.
Reese laughed, clapping his hands together. “And it begins! My sweet lil’ sis is hitting her rebellious phase.”
“Lord save us from that,” her dad muttered.
“I’m not in trouble,” Kaylee said. “It was just a misunderstanding.”
“Right…so what’d you do? Catch someone’s car on fire? TP the mayor’s house?”
“It’s not important,” Kaylee’s mom said. She turned to Kaylee. “Room. Now.”
“Mom, seriously, I think I’ve been punished enough—”
“Room. Now. We’ll talk later.”
Grumbling, Kaylee stomped upstairs, Reese’s humored voice trailing after, “Remember when I started high school and my friends and I pulled that stunt with Officer Ross…”
“How could we forget?” Kaylee’s dad groaned.
Homework wasn’t happening.
Kaylee paced her floor, too hyped up to settle down for more than five seconds. Baba’s training that day hadn’t been too bad, but it was the same as it had been for the last while. She’d gotten better at shifting different parts of her body into dragon form, but she still couldn’t get the tail or the wings.
“Takes time to get to that point,” Baba had said, taking a sip of her whiskey. “You’re not even close to there yet. And stop glowering at me like that. I’ve seen ladybugs scarier than you.”
“But I’m ready for—”
“You’re not, and the more you fight me like a child the more I know you’re not. Maybe that’s why you can’t control that storm of yours, ever think of that? Can’t control a storm if you can’t control yourself.”
It was true, though. For every part of her powers Kaylee felt like she’d mastered, it just opened up more that still needed training. It was a never-ending hamster wheel.
And for what?
That was the question that had plagued Kaylee almost since the d
ay she’d found out about these powers, and it had only grown worse since. Short of being hunted by psychopaths, what did dragon-kin do? Did they just spend their entire lives in hiding, pretending they weren’t any different than anyone else? Alastair seemed to be in the know about everything the Convocation did. She knew he helped people like her. That was what she wanted to do.
But until she figured out how to make that happen, she was stuck waiting.
Kaylee had tried to bring up the possibility of early release to her parents at dinner. She had been good, after all. But they had both mumbled something along the lines of ‘…we’ll think about it’, before sending her trudging back upstairs. Now it was dark, but her mind was still wired. The moon cast shadowed cutouts in the yard, big and luminous as a fireflies’ butt. That only made Kaylee more anxious. The Dragon Moon was approaching and they were still no closer to figuring out what the Slayers wanted. Sure, their attacks had slowed, but that didn’t mean they weren’t planning something.
Kaylee rested her forehead against the cool window.
A face appeared there.
Kaylee stifled a scream and leapt back, claws out.
“It’s me!” Edwin mouthed, waving a hand at her while gripping the windowsill with the other. He gently rapped on the window. “Open up!”
“What the heck do you think you’re doing?” Kaylee whispered when she slid it open. “How’d you even get up here?”
Edwin gestured down. He was standing on a piece of wood he’d levitated to her room’s level.
“I’ve been practicing.”
“Clearly.”
“This is about the limit of what I can do without it blowing up, so I have to talk fast,” Edwin said (Kaylee noticed his face was growing an interesting shade of strained red). “I need your help.”
“Oh?” Kaylee folded her arms across the sill, leaning forward. “You need my help? And why would that be?”
“I needed someone to talk to about some of my ideas about what the Slayers are up to, and I know you have some good ideas….”
“Me? I have some good ideas?” Kaylee said, drawing out each word.
“Kaylee! Yes, you!”
“Are you sure…?”
Edwin’s face was beginning to purple. He gripped the siding of her house closer like a lifeline. “Yes! So can we talk?”
“Right now? In my room?”
Edwin temporarily stopped breathing. “N-no, outside. Out here. Can you just…meet me outside.”
“You’ve barely talked to me for the last few weeks and now you show up at my room and want help?”
“I’m sorry! Look, I was being an idiot—” His grip slipped. The wood beneath his feet dropped a foot. “I’ll apologize in a bit. Will you just come outside? Ple—Gah!”
Whatever magic he’d been drawing from failed, and Edwin plummeted into the bushes below.
Kaylee listened over her shoulder for her parents, but they had gone to bed an hour ago. Grinning, she stuck her head out. Edwin was trying to untangle himself from the grasping branches. “I’ll be right out,” Kaylee whispered cheerfully.
Edwin gave a wavering thumbs-up.
“So about this being an ignoring idiot thing,” Kaylee said, keeping pace with Edwin as they walked side by side. Edwin took a right, cutting them down an opposite street. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. His arms were covered in small scratches from his tussle with the bushes. Kaylee felt bad. But only a little.
“Yeah…Look, I was…wrong, I guess. I was being a stupid and you didn’t deserve to be treated like that. At the Slag Heap or these last few weeks.”
“You acted like a jerk.”
“I know. And thanks for the confirmation.”
“But for the record, I thought that was really brave what you said to Alastair,” Kaylee added. She immediately regretted it. Edwin’s face closed up, his expression darkening. “Have you talked with him?” She said before Edwin could shut down and stop talking to her again.
“A little,” Edwin grudgingly admitted. “When he’s home. But he kind of forgot to punish me after a few days or so.” He waved a hand, as though gesturing to their current freedom. “Clearly.”
“I still think it was brave,” Kaylee said.
She caught Edwin blushing in the moonlight.
The streets were a good kind of deserted. The kind where everyone else was nestled in their warm homes, snuggled beneath covers, while outside the rest of the world went still, as if pausing for a breath before the next day. Their footsteps locked in rhythm as they made their way down another road, and then turned left down a narrow gravel lane. Kaylee paused.
“A graveyard?” She said, eyeing the wrought-iron gate Edwin was pushing open. “You want to talk in a graveyard?”
“Technically it’s a cemetery, and yes,” Edwin said. He motioned for her to join him on the other side. “And trust me, no one will bother us here.”
“I believe you,” Kaylee said, striding through.
The cemetery wasn’t as dreary as Kaylee had thought at first glance. The headstones were in neat rows and the paths between them maintained. Trees stood sentry every few yards, creating even darker pools of shadows and overhangs. An owl hooted in the distance as they approached one of the mausoleums.
“Boy, you sure know how to show a girl a good time,” Kaylee said, taking a seat on the cold marble floor inside. She could have sworn Edwin turned a shade so pale he could have passed off as a zombie.
“I j-just thought—no one will bother us here—we can go somewhere else if you like?”
“No! No,” Kaylee held up her hands. “I was just joking, really. It was stupid. Forget about it.”
“But seriously, we can—”
“Edwin…” Kaylee patted the spot next to her. “Plant it there.”
After a moment, Edwin did just that, looking relieved.
Neither of them talked for a few minutes, content with the silence and one another’s company.
Finally, Edwin shifted a little. “I’m glad you came with me. I wasn’t sure who else would really get it, you know? I’ve talked about some of this with Maddox but he’s so focused on the lacrosse season, and he doesn’t really care all that much about this magic stuff.”
“Isn’t he supposed to be your Protector?” Kaylee said. “Doesn’t that mean he has to care about the magic stuff?”
“Not really. He cares enough, but really his biggest worry is whether or not he can punch whatever’s threatening me.”
Kaylee snorted. Edwin grinned, his shoulders relaxing just a bit.
“Anyway, I did a little more digging the last few weeks about what the Slayers might be up to. I’m not sure how much closer I am.”
He pulled out a small leather notebook and proceeded to flip through it. Kaylee saw sketches scribbled within, much like the diagrams up in his room. Some were of dragon-kin scales and claws. A few looked suspiciously like how Kaylee’s arms appeared when she shifted. He flipped another page, this time to a list of ingredients for a spell, half the names crossed out.
Edwin let out a frustrated sigh. “So far I’ve only come up with one thing: Damian said the Slayers have put out a call for ingredients that all point to a spell barring a dragon-kin’s connection to their elemental power.”
“You mean like stopping me from shifting and summoning storms?”
“Exactly.”
“With the Dragon Moon they must be trying to draw out how long we don’t have our power,” Kaylee said. “But that can’t be everything.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well…” Kaylee said, thinking. “I’ve only met a couple other dragon-kin around Scarsdale. Alastair is one, and Josh. I’m guessing there’s more.”
“Yes,” Edwin said. “But not too many. I can’t remember the exact amount, but it’s definitely not more than ten, tops.”
“Right, but still not many. Definitely not enough to be a major threat to them. So then why are the Slayers so worried about taking away the d
ragon-kin’s magic? I mean, sure, we’re powerful and all that, but there are still Merlins and Protectors and Tamers to deal with.”
“Without the dragon-kin there would be no reason for Tamers,” Edwin said. “And without the safety and security that the more powerful dragon-kin like my dad provide, the Merlins wouldn’t be able to safely congregate. I guarantee once the dragon-kin go, the Merlins will be next.”
“But why?” Kaylee said, trying to keep her voice level. “Why do they hate us so much?”
Edwin sighed and leaned back, craning his neck to look up into the top crest of the mausoleum’s interior. “People fear what they don’t understand. I know that’s a lame answer, but people have always had this natural fear of dragons. Doesn’t matter if those same dragons are gone and the ones nowadays are more human than anything else. To the Slayers, dragon-kin should have never been born.”
Kaylee drew her knees up to her chest. “It must be a pretty sick and twisted person to join a group like that.”
“Not really,” Edwin said softly. “Not everyone who’s with the Slayers is a monster, Kaylee. Remember that. I’ve met a Slayer before. I was ten. This was back when my family lived in New Mexico. The guy couldn’t have been more than sixteen, but he hated us more than you would believe.”
“Did you ask him why?”
“I did. A dragon-kin who hadn’t learned how to control their power yet tried using powerful magic and it backfired. Killed the Slayers’ family. It happens more often than you’d think, unfortunately. The Slayers prey on grief like his and turn it into revenge. They recruited him right after.”
“Oh,” Kaylee said in a small voice.
“It was a freak accident, but I can understand why he hates the Convocation and those who are part of it. Some have reasons like that for why they joined the Slayers. Some do it because they’re scared. Scared of what the dragon-kin and Merlins could do if given the chance.”
“I guess…that makes sense,” Kaylee said reluctantly, almost wishing there was a better reason than that to keep hating them. “But that still doesn’t mean I’m okay with them trying to kill me.”
“Definitely not,” Edwin said.
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