by K W Quinn
“Perhaps,” Dez answered. Her voice cut through Reyah’s thoughts. “Perhaps someday.”
Reyah needed to get her head together. She was on a job, not a vacation. Tonight, she would practice some Spells to help her focus before she tried to make the collection. The target was too distracting like this. Reyah needed protection. Precaution. Procrastination.
“Do you think it could happen again?” the target asked. “How many Mistwalkers would it take?”
“With the right support from their people? Just one, the legend says. One strong enough to stop the rain and unite the Elements.”
“Sounds like a slow revolution,” Andy commented.
“It’s the only hope I have, so I keep hope alive. Or at least, I do my part,” Dez explained. “Now, I’m gonna go dance for my supper. You go rest, and we’ll try performing again tomorrow.”
“I want to come,” Reyah said quickly. Distance and distraction were good tools too.
“No, love. Rest. I can do this.” Dez looked down at her sandy clothes. “Sweet breezy, give me a hand?”
The target smiled and spun a gentle whisk of Air, gathering the sand from her and dropping it on the beach.
“I’m too tired for more.”
“Dez, you think we’re ready to head out on our own?” Andy asked. He picked at the skin around his thumbs, and the target squinted at him.
“You might be, but at this point, I’m not sure I want to let you go.” Dez’s laughter was sweet. “We made decent money last night. Better than I do alone, even with the two-way split.”
“Shouldn’t that be three ways?” the target piped up.
“If you were equal partners, yes, but I’m doing the bulk of the work. Be grateful I give you a whole half.” Dez grinned and waggled a finger at them. She might not be old enough to be their mother, but she sure acted like it.
“Yes, Dez,” Andy and the target answered in unison.
“Come back tomorrow, little dragon? I could teach you to breathe fire as well as dance. We’d have a real show then. Might go back to the circuit.” Dez raised her eyebrows expectantly, though Reyah suspected she already knew the answer to her own question.
“I’ve always wanted to breathe fire,” she said, and Dez smiled. Andy and the target did, too, which pleased Reyah more than it should. Tomorrow, she could finish her job. Tomorrow, she would end this.
Practices
“It’s ridiculous.” Marv flung his hands in the air. “I can’t believe it took this long, but it’s ridiculous. Fired from the family business. Like I’ve been fired from the family.”
Marv paced the living room, ranting at Juji.
“And my sisters sent me a bottle of vodka to celebrate. They’re over the moon. Not that I was a threat to their succession, but now that I’m officially an outcast, they can gloat.”
He leaned his hips against the back of the couch and paused to press the back of his wrist to his head. “Oh, poor Marv, fallen from favor,” he squeaked in falsetto. “Well, oak and sap on them because this is fine. I don’t need to know what’s going on inside to keep working toward my goals.”
“It’s good to have goals,” Juji replied. She watched him with wide eyes, trying to stay out of his way. She’d helped him through enough tough spots to understand he needed just the right amount of space. If he was just a little less angry, he would smile at how perfect and endearing she was.
Marv stomped to the bar and opened a cabinet before slamming it shut again. “I’ve spent all this time building my reputation so I could do my work on the side. I have plenty of other income, just none from the stupidly high-paying job at Evil Incorporated anymore. I can still donate and fund resistance organizations anonymously like always. This doesn’t change that.”
Marv went to the kitchen and banged a few more drawers for good measure. It didn’t help any, but at least he was making more noise.
“This isn’t the end of things. I’m going to find a way to dismantle the bloody bureaucracy that the Conglomerate has become. I’ll find that Mistwalker.” Marv began pacing the familiar path from the kitchen to the bedroom.
“Any leads on who Charly is?”
“No,” Marv sulked. Up and down the hall, he walked. “But I won’t give up. You should have seen it, Juji. A wall of water right out of the sky.”
“So you’ve said. Several times.” If her smile was any less charming, Marv would be offended. He settled for sticking his tongue out at her.
“You’re a Water. You should respect the legends.”
“I respect the legends. I respect your efforts to be better than your family. I respect your anger and frustration at being let go.”
“But?”
“But you should sit down before you wear a hole in the carpet,” Juji said, sipping on some disturbingly red smoothie concoction.
“I need to keep moving. If I sit, I’m going to get angry.”
“Wouldn’t want that.” Juji slurped loudly.
“It’s pure luck those Enforcers believed the rain was just an autumn storm. I’m as charming as the flowering trees, but even that was a stretch of my charisma. Cass’s mom. I can’t let anyone hurt her. I already failed Andy’s mom.”
“I agree you aren’t doing great in the maternal expectations department.” Juji stirred her smoothie with her straw. “Maybe you should try a different tactic?”
“I have got to get through to my sisters. I have to make them see that they have succumbed to the brainwashing propaganda of the Conglomerate.”
Juji grunted. It might have been agreement. It might have been disagreement. It might have been her way of telling Marv to shut it and get on with their lives. But Marv wasn’t going to give up on his sisters. He wasn’t going to give up at all.
“It’s not too late, though. They don’t have to be little Boulders. They can come back to the true cause. They can be righteous again.”
“I’m sure they will respond well to that.”
Marv leveled Juji with a stern look. “You know how important this is. You know what it’s like for people who aren’t lucky. Life shouldn’t be ruled by luck. Hard work should count for something.”
“No argument from me.” She waved her glass in the air. “I just don’t want you to stress yourself into an early grave before you have a chance to enact this revolution you’re hoping for.”
Marv crumpled to the couch. “What’s in that?” he asked, tipping his chin toward Juji’s drink.
“Organic strawberry, pomegranate, and beet juices with wheatgrass and whey protein.” She grinned, nearly blinding him with her perfect smile. “Want some?”
“I’d rather lick dirt, but thank you.”
“Try it. You can’t taste the beet juice.” Juji wiggled the cup under Marv’s nose.
“You said that about the zucchini in the blueberry cobbler and the cauliflower you tried to pass off as mashed potatoes. I can always taste it. I have very sensitive taste buds, and they do not take kindly to sneaky nutrition.”
Juji elbowed Marv lightly. “If you would put some nutrition in your main line of sight, I might not have to try to sneak some health into you. You’re of no use to the revolution that hasn’t started yet if you’re sick or dead.”
“Fine.” Marv pouted. “I’ll eat vegetables, but I’m going to smother them in butter the way Bacchus intended.”
“Fine by me. Butter has vitamins A and D, so go to town.” She took another sip. “And when you’re done, you can call the little Boulders and tell them in a nice way that they are being brainwashed so they’ll agree to join your revolt.”
“With or without them, I am revolting,” Marv said.
“I’ve always thought so,” Juji replied with a smirk.
Cass rolled over, shoving Andy’s foot out of his face, and climbed into the driver’s seat of the van. Sleeping next to each other had been comforting the first few nights. It was less lonely, and Andy admitted it made him feel safe. Now it was just a tangle of sweaty feet and pointy elbow
s. They weren’t kids anymore and didn’t fit the same way.
Cass scrubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. Through the windshield, he could see a new stretch of beach, somewhere Dez said was safe.
Kaida was out there, moving through some sort of morning exercise routine. Balancing on one foot, then the other, she glided and danced. Her braid was tucked up in a bun or something, and she’d pushed her long sleeves up to her elbows. Her scales shimmered in the light.
He climbed out of the van, tugging on the zipper of his hoodie. Everything smelled like seaweed and salt. He wrinkled his nose, then smoothed his face. No sense letting Kaida see him looking weird. He used a pull of Air to fluff his hair.
Cass sighed. No sense trying to impress her, either. A few more nights, then he and Andy would go out on their own, armed with knowledge and skills from Dez. The excitement of that adventure was in every gust of wind that stirred the waves.
Something else was stirring in his gut too. Cass plopped down on the sand and rested his elbows on his knees. He hoped it was all right to watch Kaida. He didn’t want to interrupt or distract her by asking, but if she was doing this in public, it was probably allowed.
She didn’t look at him or acknowledge him for a while, but he wasn’t surprised when she said, “Don’t just sit there. Get on your feet. This will help your balance.”
He figured she might have extra types of perception. Or maybe all the martial arts she talked about made her able to hear and see things most people wouldn’t.
Cass pushed himself to his feet, dusting off the lingering sand, and came to stand next to her. He mimicked her pose, though he felt goofy doing it. She moved slower this time but still silently. Some of the motions she repeated several times. Cass made tiny adjustments until she was satisfied. It didn’t look like much, but by the end, he was sweating, and his arms were sore.
Kaida nodded and sat down on the sand, so Cass joined her, collapsing as elegantly as he could manage.
“You’re a fast learner,” she commented.
“Compared to you and Andy, I’m a sloth.” Cass mimed his best three-toed sloth impression but stopped with a grimace. “Ow. I might never lift my arms again.”
Kaida snorted. “I felt the same way when I was learning. If you do it every day, it gets easier. Even so, I still sweat my way through it.”
“Is it because you have a naturally higher body temperature?” Cass asked. Kaida looked at him sideways. “Or is that totally insensitive? It’s something I heard. Because you have fire inside you, which sounds stupid when I say it out loud, but—”
“Relax. That’s far from the dumbest question I’ve been asked.”
“Really?” Cass was relieved. “What’s the dumbest one?”
Kaida scrunched her nose up and smiled. “Probably asking where my wings or tail are. Like I keep them in a pocket or something? Breathing fire is high on the list of misconceptions.”
“Hoarding gold?”
“Nope, though I do collect hippo figurines.”
“Important information.” Cass licked his lips. “Um, what about living forever?”
“Not even close. Most of us barely make it to three hundred years.”
Cass’s mouth fell open. “Three hundred?”
Kaida nodded. “That’s old, though. I think the average is around two hundred and fifty.”
Cass shook his head. “I can’t imagine how much I could discover in that amount of time.”
“Probably a lot, but in exchange, you would have to spend twenty years in puberty.”
Cass laughed and bit at his bottom lip, but Kaida’s face remained blank and calm. “Are you serious?”
She nodded again. “Dragon acne is no joke, either.”
“So, how old are you?” Cass blurted.
“A lady never tells,” Kaida said slyly.
“But you’re not a lady. You’re a dragonkin.”
“And are dragonkin known for being particularly forthcoming with information?” she asked, crossing her arms.
With her sleeves pushed back, Cass could see the faint outline of scales across her forearms, almost like freckles. He wanted to trace them with his fingertips. Or his nose. Was that too weird? He shook his head and responded, “Legend says no. What do you say?”
She smiled wide and laughed behind her teeth. “I turned eighty-seven a few weeks before the equinox.”
Cass hoped he kept his shock contained better this time. “Hmm. I turn twenty-seven a week after the solstice, so you know, we’re practically twins.”
Kaida smiled and nodded slowly. “I guess I can see that.”
“Andy’s birthday is in two weeks. Little less than that, now, I think. I can’t keep track of the days.”
“You planning a big party?”
“Oh yeah. A DJ, exotic dancers popping out of a cake, free drinks, streamers, and party hats. The works.” Cass waved his arms to describe his elaborate vision.
“Exotic dancers, huh? More than one? How many cakes will there be?”
“Just the one cake. It’ll be big.”
“I’m impressed.”
“My party-planning skills are fairly well respected.”
“I meant that you know more than one exotic dancer.” She snorted.
“Yeah, about that,” Cass said slowly. “How do you feel about popping out of a cake with Dez in about two weeks?”
Kaida laughed with her whole body, a squeaky kind of guffaw that was ridiculous and endearing.
Lingering
Reyah dressed slowly. Her uniform was stuffed in a bag in the back seat, so slipping into jeans and a sweatshirt wasn’t a time-consuming endeavor. Without her uniform, all clothes felt like a costume, and she needed to be sure she had her role down. So she lingered.
That was the prevailing word of her days.
She lingered with Dez, learning to dance and breathe fire. She lingered with Andy, trading tumbling for teaching. She lingered with the target.
She had a list of reasons why this was the only reasonable choice for her to make, but all of them were flimsy.
She still needed more information. About these people and the potential ongoing threat they might pose to the Conglomerate and, consequently, to the Dragons. Dez was a revolutionary. Andy had exploited a dangerous loophole in Earth procedure. The target had set in motion a series of events that could be catastrophic.
Without the Conglomerate, the Sharks and Dragons would have no more jobs. Reyah needed to gather information to assess the threat. And to reconcile her own conflicted loyalties.
The merciless rule of the Conglomerate wasn’t perfect, but she’d been raised to extract justice. Right and wrong weren’t absolutes, but crimes still needed to be punished.
She’d questioned her job before but not like this. She’d seen the death and destruction caused by desperate people. She’d also never been sent to collect such a pure soul before.
The Conglomerate wasn’t right, but they were in charge, and someone had to keep the chaos at bay. Could this idealistic bunch of performers that Dez was a part of keep control of the dangerous elements in the world? With people like Reyah, they might.
Lacing up her shoes, she pulled tightly. As if she could keep herself contained within her new costume. She had slipped on the persona of a questioning dragonkin, and now the truth of it was overwhelming her.
“So, you wrap your arm around her ribs. As you bend forward, grab her inner thigh,” Andy said, reaching for Dez to demonstrate. They said it was a simple lift, but Cass’s brain couldn’t put the pieces together.
“You want me to put my hand where?” he asked, trying to keep the squeak out of his voice. Touching Kaida was fine. Touching her thigh was something else. Touching her inner thigh was not something he was prepared to do.
“Here,” Kaida said, moving to stand in front of him. With her back to him, she grabbed his hands and placed them at her waist. “I’m going to jump, and you just guide me to your shoulder.”
“Just
guide you to my shoulder,” Cass muttered. Kaida did most of the work with her natural strength and agility, but he couldn’t stop himself from breaking out in a sweat whenever he had to hold her so closely.
True to her word, she jumped, and he nudged her where she needed to go until her back rested on his shoulder. She arched her neck, letting her braid dangle behind him, and he wrapped his arms up over her ribs like Andy said.
He tried not to think about what parts of him were touching what parts of her. He slid his hand down her thigh and grabbed above her knee. He leaned forward, tensing so he wouldn’t drop her. She swung gracefully and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, one leg curled between his legs to rest against his thigh.
He held her in that squat. She balanced, and he knew the next step was to straighten up and set her on her feet. He knew it, but his arms wouldn’t cooperate.
His legs were frozen. He dropped her and tried to roll to protect her from his bony knees and elbows, but he lacked the grace of the other dancers.
He collapsed mostly on top of her, hands braced on either side of her face. Now all of him was touching all of her. Except for their faces. But they were close.
She should have been angry or at least hurt, but she was smiling so wide he could count every one of her perfect teeth.
“Sorry,” he breathed. He knew he was grinning like an idiot, but he couldn’t stop.
“That was actually decent,” she said.
“Now to just, you know, not drop you.”
“Yeah. That.”
Cass was fascinated by her eyes, the strange vertical pupils stretched wide in his shadow. “Are you hurt at all?”
She shook her head. There was a scar on her cheekbone, no longer than his fingernail. How did she get it?
“Excuse me, do you two want to get up off the ground and try again, or should we leave and let you continue whatever this is?” Dez said with an echo of Andy’s giggles.