Of Cinder and Bone

by Kyoko M

  “For the most part, the nightmares have gone away, but I still get them here and there.”

  Her face softened slightly in sympathy. “What about the night terrors?”

  “No, those have stopped completely. Thank God. I was not a fan, let me tell you.”

  “Good. What about your anxiety attacks?”

  “None since the last time we met. No panic attacks either.”

  “Glad to hear it. Do you feel that the meditation has been helping?”

  “I guess that’s fair to say. I’d attribute more of it to Kamala. She’s got me doing yoga now.”

  The psychiatrist’s eyebrows lifted ever so slightly. Jack scowled. “Don’t even. One joke and I’m out the door.”

  “I would never mock one of my patients,” she sniffed. “I’m just surprised. You were rather resistant to the idea when I suggested it.”

  “Well, to be fair, Kamala put it in a more…” He cleared his throat. “…let’s say, persuasive manner.”

  “No judgment here. I’m glad it’s working out. How is your relationship coming so far?”

  “Better than I deserve. She’s… amazing. Even more amazing than I fantasized about. And I don’t mean that in a skeezy way. I mean that I’ve never experienced something like this before, where we don’t have any trust issues or petty arguments. It’s been a smooth transition, and I think it’s because we knew each other for so long. I was in a long-term relationship before and it wasn’t anything like it is between me and Kam. It feels like we complement each other. We’re both heading in the same direction and maybe that’s why we haven’t hit a roadblock yet.”

  “Yet?”

  “Well, all relationships are bound to run into something sooner or later.”

  “True, but is that something you’re worried about?”

  “Not exactly. I’m of the notion that we’ll go bungee-jumping off that bridge when we get to it. No need to fret over it until I have to.”

  She nodded. “That’s healthy. Keep that in mind as you continue forward and I think it’ll serve you well. How are things with your friend Faye?”

  He arched an eyebrow. “Why’d we jump right to her after Kamala?”

  Dr. Lawson stared at him.

  He squirmed. “I hate it when you do that.”

  “I do that because you’re being defensive,” she said wryly. “You know better. Don’t avoid the question. I’m not going to drop it.”

  He sighed. “Faye is fine. I see her when I’m over at Kam’s and we still work out at the gym once a week. Actually, we met up yesterday.”

  “I see. And how did that go?”

  “She body-slammed me.”

  The psychiatrist blinked slowly, just once.

  Jack leaned his head back on the couch and groaned. “You’re killing me, woman!”

  “I’m not doing anything.”

  “You’re mentally judging me. I can feel it. That’s the same look my actual doctor gets when I don’t have enough freaking iron in my diet.”

  “I’m only here to help, Jack. Do you care to elaborate on your thoughts about that particular relationship?”

  He lowered his head enough to glare at her. “You know full-well that I don’t.”

  She shrugged. “It’s your session. We can talk about whatever you like instead.”

  “Look, it’s not what it looks like, okay? Faye and I have established that we can tolerate each other as long as it’s on certain terms.”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “Oh, for the love of—alright, doc, out with it. You’ve been giving me that look ever since I mentioned her in our second session. What is it?”

  She met his gaze for a bit before she answered. “This is off-the-record.”

  He mimed zipping his lips shut. “May I live a thousand years and never say a word.”

  “You’re treading on a thin line. Mind you, I don’t think you’re wobbling or anything, but the way that you’ve described Faye makes me think that subconsciously, there is something you haven’t been addressing that may cause problems somewhere down the road.”

  He gave her a baffled look. “How?”

  “Jack,” she said patiently. “Tell me what happened the first time you went out with Faye and Kamala to a bar.”

  He flushed pink. “That… is totally inapplicable to this conversation.”

  “Okay, tell me about when you punched out her ex-boyfriend.”

  “Who wouldn’t have done that? The guy was a prick and had it coming.”

  “Then tell me about when you boarded the plane to Tokyo.”

  “You heard that completely out of context.”

  Dr. Lawson crossed her arms. “And when you called her in the middle of the night before you made a major decision in your investigation? Or when you called her to help you set up a date for your current significant other?”

  “I have an explanation for that.” He opened his mouth. Then closed it. “As soon as I think it up, I’ll let you know.”

  She shook her head. “Jack, there is no doubt in my mind that you’re in love with Kamala and you would never even think of cheating on her. However, I think you are having your cake and eating it too. It doesn’t mean that you’ve done something wrong. You haven’t. But I do think that you and Faye have entered into some kind of undefined space that might be dangerous. I’ll give you an example. Sometimes people who work together develop a rapport with each other that seems completely harmless. I’ve heard it called work flirt before. However, over time, the attention can start to take a turn towards something more serious if it continues, because you’re sharing something with them even if it’s just mutual amusement and attraction. You might find yourself holding back with your actual partner because the work flirt feels more exciting or sometimes even forbidden. That is what can cause you to slip up before you know it.”

  He sighed and ran his hands through his hair a couple times. “What do you want me to do? Stop interacting with her? She’s my girlfriend’s best friend.”

  “No. That’s not what I’m saying. I think maybe you need to be honest and ask yourself if you’ve completely closed the door on that potential relationship. You’ve made so much progress with Kamala that I’d hate to see it fall apart accidentally.”

  “Alright, I hear you. I’ll… put it on the To Do list.”

  After a moment, she touched his knee. “I’m not trying to stress you out. You charged me with helping you with your mental health. Sometimes that means touching on uncomfortable subjects.”

  “I know. I appreciate it, Lana.”

  She sat back in the chair and picked the pen back up. “How about your folks?”

  “They’re…” He pushed a stream of air between his lips. “I don’t know what the hell they are right now. Last thing I heard is that they’re in counseling. She didn’t move out, but she sleeps in the guest room instead of the master bedroom. Her side of the family is in a tizzy about the whole thing. I’m worried we’ll have a full-blown drama showdown at Thanksgiving. I don’t think my mom told them what happened, but they know it’s got something to do with me, so they’re all up in arms and want her to divorce him.”

  “I’m so sorry to hear that. How’s your Dad taking it?”

  “How he takes everything. Doesn’t say anything, drinks beer, takes his anger out with an ax and a tree on their property. I think having to face what happened sort of shook him. He doesn’t know what to think of himself now that Mom’s angry at him. When I was a kid, they would fight sometimes because they’re both high-strung, but never on this level.”

  “Have you been trying to help?”

  “As much as they’ll let me, yeah. Mom’s coming up to see the new dragons, but Dad had to stay to get some last-minute work done. I’ll try to get her talking about it if I can.”

  “Do you still feel responsible?”

  He sent her a flat look.


  She almost smiled. “I knew that was rhetorical when I asked it, but I wanted to hear you say it out loud so I could emphasize how ridiculous it is.”

  “I thought you didn’t mock your patients.”

  “As my patient, no, I’m not mocking you. As your friend, I am. You were just a kid, Jack. You hardly knew who you were, let alone what you should have done about something that traumatic. Blaming yourself won’t get them back together. If anything, they’d want you to finally be freed from this burden. You’ve been blaming yourself for what happened long enough. They’d want you to let it go. It would be one less weight to drag around with you. You have enough on your plate as it is.”

  “I don’t know how not to feel responsible. It was directly related to something I did, or rather, didn’t do. In case you missed it, I’m not great at letting things go.”

  “No one said you had to be. But I would like you to try to forgive yourself, the same way I’ve been coaxing you to forgive yourself for what happened in Tokyo. Don’t bottle it up. It builds pressure and stress, and those can contribute to your anxiety. Work on it each week. Think about the good that you’ve done. Think about the good you still can do in the future. Focus on the positive aspects of who you are and what you can do for others. You might find that it helps your day-to-day stress levels.”

  “Think happy thoughts, huh?” he asked with a smile.

  “Close enough. Let’s work on a couple exercises for you to practice at home.”

  ~*~

  “Ready?”

  “Ready.”

  Jack tapped the Record button on the laptop. “Starting the first physical exam for the draconus venenum, or the diamondback dragon. We have eight specimen here, and they hatched roughly ninety minutes ago. These guys are very lively, so we’re going to examine them one at a time and then once they’re all evaluated, we’ll send them out for X-rays.”

  He faced the wire cage and carefully eased the door open. One dragon immediately pushed its snout out and he caught it around the neck, holding a finger between each of its limbs to keep it from escaping. The dragon squeaked and wriggled, its tiny brown wings fluttering over his wrist as he carried it over to Kamala. She brushed off some of its embryonic fluid and lowered it to the scale. “The first hatchling weighs one pound and four ounces, and measures at eight point six inches from snout to tail. Wingspan is three inches by two and a half inches wide.”

  She flipped the dragon upside down and checked its pale belly scales. “No outward abrasions or injuries. Coloration is apparent even as a newborn, rather than developing later on in the maturation process, possibly to ward off predators.”

  Jack filled a small bowl of water and she carried it over to the exam table. She held the dragon just above it. The dragon flicked its pink tongue out a couple of times, but didn’t drink.

  “No interest in water yet, but that’s unsurprising since it’s a desert species. So far, it shows no interest in either of us.”

  “You’re breaking my heart, Junior,” Jack said, offering his finger for the dragon to sniff. It blinked its green eyes up and made no move towards him. Kamala hid a smile and lowered it to the table. It walked back and forth to all four corners of the counter, staying low, inspecting every inch until it was satisfied. It scratched the surface with pinprick claws a few times, then plopped down and curled in on itself to go to sleep.

  “Well, that was very infant-like. Why don’t you get its heart rate and body temperature and I’ll do a few glamor shots?”

  Afterward, they brought it a small plate with different kinds of sustenance on it: dead crickets, flies, earthworms, caterpillars, and even a tiny mouse. Eventually, it picked the worm and tore into it in small, precise bites after wrestling its corpse for a minute or two.

  “I guess spaghetti is the preferred option for these little guys. At least worms are easy to get. Only question is how much he can handle per feeding. It reacted similar to a snake once it had its prey sighted, so I’m guessing that its venom sacs might already be intact. We should be able to find out after the X-rays come back. Thank God, no molting yet, so odds are, he won’t have a freak gene that makes him the size of a horse in three days.”

  Jack rapped his knuckles against the side of the counter. “Knock on wood.”

  “Yes, we’re saving the next oversized dragon for sweeps week,” Kamala mused as she handed him a small bottle of Wite Out. He marked the tip of the dragon’s tail and then selected another one from the cage. They repeated the exam for each hatchling and gathered them together for the radiologists.

  “Well,” Kamala said, peering up at the X-rays. “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?”

  “Hit me with the bad news.”

  “The diamondback dragon is indeed born venomous. We’re going to have to invest in muzzles or some form of restraint while handling them. However, the good news is I was able to take a sample and it indicates less than the lethal dose of said venom at their current age. A bite victim would become sick and sluggish, but they wouldn’t die, unlike Pete’s bite.”

  “Huzzah. Let’s touch base with the dracologists and see if there’s an antidote to dragon’s venom.” He paused. “Now there’s a sentence you don’t hear every day.”

  “Truly. I’ll give them a call while you get them back into their cages.”

  He winked before heading out of the exam room. “As you wish.”

  Kamala stepped out into the hallway and called their department to start juggling their schedule enough for an appointment.

  “Any chance we can make it next week?”

  “Hmm,” the receptionist said, clicking away on her end. “I can squeeze in a consultation for the 28th if you’ve got the time.”

  “Yes, that should work just fine.” Kamala frowned. “Wait, what day did you say?”

  “The 28th, hon. Why? Did you find a conflict in your schedule?”

  She glanced at the calendar on her watch for so long that the receptionist chimed in again. “Are you still there, Dr. Anjali?”

  Kamala gave a start. “Oh, yes, my apologies. The 28th is fine. Thank you so much. Goodbye.”

  She hung up and started to pace up and down the hallway, tapping the watch and counting through the days of the past few weeks. Jack stuck his head out of the room a couple of minutes later. “Hey, they’re all set to go.”

  He started to enter the hallway as he noticed her lack of response. “You okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine,” she said. “Let’s get going or we’ll be late for the interview.”

  ~*~

  By the time they made it back to Jack’s apartment, it was well after seven o’clock. The day had been yet another onslaught of gathering data and sharing it with the wide-eyed world around them. Pete’s continued good health combined with the publicity surrounding her had allowed them to make good progress in the ecological community. They had established a live feed at her enclosure which went viral and took the world by storm. Those who made sizeable donations to the charities affiliated with Pete were allowed to visit her on site and take pictures, as long as one of the vets entrusted with her care was present. The money was of course split into different costs, but the bulk of it went towards various conservation efforts for endangered animals. Matt also set up a crowdfund campaign to pay for the land they would eventually use as a dragon sanctuary. They met their goal in only fourteen days.

  “Want some wine?” Jack called to Kamala as she headed for the bedroom.

  “No. I’ll be out in a few.” He heard the bathroom door shut and rummaged through the fridge until he found a beer. He drained half of it in one go and then heard his phone chime with a text message. He checked it, surprised to find that it had come from Fujioka, and was only one sentence long: Check the news.

  Frowning, he texted her back. Which channel?

  Any of them.

  Jack’s stomach dropped to the bottom of hi
s chest cavity as he strolled over and turned on the television. After about a minute of news footage, the beer bottle slipped out of his hand and he slumped down on the couch in disbelief.

  “Holy shit.”

  “If you’re just tuning in with us, I can’t believe what I’m about to say is real.We have confirmed footage that suggests that for the first time in the 21st century, the largest dragon ever recorded in history, nicknamed Baba Yaga, is allegedly alive and loose in the city of Tokyo.”

  The female reporter faded out and the screen switched to show a three-story building alight with fire. Every few seconds, something popped loudly and then a gout of flames burst from its rooftop, sending chunks of stone and plaster flying. The person holding the camera spoke rapidly in Japanese, but the voiceover spoke in English, saying that the building exploded and the firefighters were on their way.