Dragonkin Are from Mars, Changelings Are from Venus

by Devin Harnois

  The area around Mr. Johnson’s eyes tightened. “We’re discussing several options. But unfortunately, an alliance with anyone from Faery was deemed too risky.”

  “Okay.” Aiden didn’t know what else to say. He could try to argue, but what good would that do? Mr. Johnson wasn’t the one he needed to convince.

  Maybe the council had a better plan. Maybe they knew what they were doing. But they’d been caught by surprise twice now, lost dozens of wardens and police. Cold fear spread through Aiden. What if there was no plan? What if they were just waiting for the next attack?

  “I know you were only trying to help. I appreciate it,” Mr. Johnson said. “You can tell Nuala about the council’s decision, but make it brief. And be careful.”

  “I will.” But Aiden was already thinking of what else he could do. He’d promised Mr. Johnson that he wouldn’t contact his birth mom until the council made a decision, and they had. Even if Mr. Johnson hadn’t given him permission, Aiden was now free from that promise.

  He thanked the warden absently and went to find Dylan.

  His friend was waiting next to the car and frowned when Aiden joined him. “Was it bad?”

  Aiden gestured for them to get inside. When the doors were closed, Aiden filled him in on the news.

  “Of course they said no.” Dylan snorted, breath fogging in the air. “So much for that.”

  “Um, well.” Aiden bit his lip. “I think we should do it anyway.” It was stupidly risky, and they’d be in huge trouble if anyone found out, but it was Shadow Valley’s best chance of defeating the extremists.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Bring Nuala over from Faery and any other people willing to help.” Aiden’s heart thudded in his ears. “If you help me make the potion, it’ll take half as long to make.” Dylan stared at him, and Aiden wondered if he’d made a mistake.

  “You want to defy the council and the wardens, go behind their backs?” Dylan laughed. “Oh, I’m so in.”

  Aiden’s shoulders sagged for a brief moment, then he straightened. “This isn’t about rebellion—”

  Dylan waved a hand. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Sticking it to the wardens and the council is just a side benefit.”

  Of course he’d see that as a good thing. “But you’re okay with it? Making the blood potion, letting someone in from Faery? After last time—”

  Dylan looked through the windshield, staring out at the street. “This whole mess is my fault, and maybe this is the way to fix it. We need all the help we can get.” He hadn’t started the car yet, but he reached for the steering wheel, hands gripping the leather. “I was useless against them.”

  Aiden reached for him. “So was I.” Thinking about it made anxiety claw at his chest.

  “Yeah but you’re—” Dylan cut himself off, casting a guilty glance at Aiden.

  “Supposed to be useless?” That stung, and it made his voice sharp. “Thanks a lot.”

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  The anger grew, like a balloon filling with air. “Yes it is. You’re the big tough guy, and I’m the little sissy, right?”

  “No. Dude.” Dylan held up his hands. “I just meant… you… don’t like fighting.”

  “Because I’m a wimp, right? I’m afraid of magic, afraid of my own magic. Afraid of… everything.” Aiden waved his hands around, but the car was too small. He was trapped in here, trapped in this town.

  Breathing fast, Aiden pushed open the door and stepped out.

  “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

  Aiden’s breath came out in white puffs, and despite the cold he was too hot inside his coat. Aiden leaned against the car, unsure of what he wanted to do. Take a moment to clear his head? Walk away?

  Dylan got out, leaning on the top of the car. “I’m sorry,” he repeated. “You’re a badass. Sometimes I think you’re stronger than me. Remember last year? You beat me all the time in gym.”

  This wasn’t some kind of contest. None of that mattered. The tightness in Aiden’s chest only got worse, his mind serving up images of every horrible thing that could happen. “Just… take me home.” All he wanted was to climb into bed, maybe stay there forever.

  Except home wasn’t safe. Aiden tried not to think about that as he slid heavily back into his seat.

  “Okay.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Aiden saw Dylan looking at him with concern, but Aiden turned away to stare out the passenger window. He was angry and scared and trapped and lost, everything closing in on him until it felt like he was being crushed.

  Dylan started the car and pulled away from the curb. They didn’t speak to each other on the short ride home.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  The next evening Dylan drove up to Aiden’s house with a heavy weight in his stomach. Was Aiden still mad at him? Would he turn down a ride? Dylan had considered calling or texting earlier that day, but he didn’t know what to say. He’d already apologized.

  Aiden walked out the front door. He didn’t seem to be angry, but he did look apprehensive. “Hi,” he muttered as he got in the car.

  “You okay?” Are we okay?

  “I talked to Nuala last night. Are you still okay with… the plan?”

  “Yeah, totally.” Dylan would do practically anything for Aiden.

  His friend relaxed a little. “Good. Nuala says it should work if we each make a potion and combine it.” Aiden bit his lip. “I uh, already started mine.”

  From the way he said it, he didn’t mean the night before. “Really?”

  “Just… you know… just in case the council said yes. Then we could have had a head start. And if I decided not to do it, I could have dumped the potion out.”

  Dylan waved a hand. “You don’t need to justify it to me.” He was actually impressed.

  “If you start tonight, the potion will be ready in a month.” Aiden made a face.

  “Shit, that’s a long time.” Although Dylan had already started the blood potion that morning when he got home after warden training. Creepy shivers of déjà vu had run through him as he sat on the floor and pricked his finger over a jar of water. The first drop had curled and spread, creating patterns that Dylan stared at until they faded away.

  “I know. We’ll just have to pray the extremists don’t attack in the meantime.”

  Dylan wondered what would happen if Morgan and his pals returned before they could do the spell. Did the wardens and the council have a plan? And if they did, would it even work? The dark fae had broken into maximum security like it was nothing, easily batted aside all the magic thrown at them.

  Dylan tried to reassure himself that the truly powerful people in Shadow Valley hadn’t been there. Like his mom and Principal Nejem. Even Mr. Johnson.

  But the extremists had more allies now too. All the worst, most powerful criminals—at least the ones the wardens hadn’t outright killed instead of arresting.

  “We should go before we’re late.”

  Dylan realized they were still sitting outside Aiden’s house. “Oh, yeah.”

  While they drove, Dylan’s thoughts turned to their argument. He wondered if he should bring it up. Aiden wasn’t acting like he was still mad at him, so maybe he should just let it go.

  “I wish I would’ve come out sooner.”

  Well, that was random. “What?”

  “I wasted all that time worrying when I could have been open about myself. I could have been holding hands with Tiago, going on dates. We could’ve gone to prom.” Aiden frowned, and Dylan wondered if he was remembering that prom had ended up a disaster. “Maybe I could’ve started dating Tiago sooner. I might’ve had another year with him. Even another day… Why was I such a coward?”

  “Dude, no—”

  Aiden turned toward him, eyes wide and desperate. “We could die tonight, and I cheated myself out of all that time.”

  “We’re not gonna die. How much terrible shit have we faced? And we always come out of it, right?”

&nb
sp; “We’ve been lucky—”

  “It’s not just luck. We’re a couple of badasses. And we look out for each other.” Aiden meant more to him than Dylan could say, and he wasn’t going to let him wallow in despair. “You know I’ve got your back, and I won’t let you die.”

  That got a small, reluctant smile out of Aiden. “You’re going to keep me alive with sheer stubbornness?”

  “Damn straight.”

  Aiden was quiet for a while. Finally he said softly, “Thanks. It’s hard to stay positive with everything going on.” He took a deep breath. “But we’ve got a plan, right?”

  Dylan nodded. “We’re gonna even the odds, whether the council likes it or not.”

  * * *

  It was their only school night off from warden classes, and as much as Aiden wanted to go home and relax, he’d asked Dylan and Tiago for a study night. Tiago was doing well in most of his classes but still needed help. Dylan was struggling due to all the time and energy warden training took up. Aiden was struggling too.

  Thinking about all the homework and reading he had to do made Aiden want to freak out. He wasn’t in danger of failing, but he didn’t want to screw up his grade point average and hurt his chances of getting into a good college. Thinking about college also made him want to freak out.

  Mr. Johnson had promised to work things out with Aiden’s applications when the time came, but he wouldn’t even explain when that was, let alone what he was going to do.

  Tiago had already gotten an acceptance from the University of Wisconsin. The campus was only a few hours away from Shadow Valley, which would make visiting easy. But then again, Aiden didn’t know if he would be staying in Shadow Valley. Mr. Johnson might send him and Dylan all over the country to check up on certified people or hunt down supernatural lawbreakers. It seemed more likely Aiden and Dylan would stay in town though. Would Mr. Johnson really send a pair of eighteen-year-olds with no experience out into the world?

  That was all assuming, of course, that Morgan and the extremists didn’t kill them all.

  That got Aiden thinking about his meeting with Nuala the night before. “Oh, hey,” he told Dylan. “I forgot to tell you earlier. Nuala says dragons are from Faery. Did you know that?”

  Dylan sat straighter, eyes wide. “No. My mom never mentioned anything about that. Seriously? We’re from Faery?”

  Aiden nodded. “And I guess they’re still around over there.”

  “They aren’t all dead? Holy shit.” Dylan looked pale.

  “Is that bad?” Tiago asked.

  “I don’t know.” Dylan stared off into space for a moment. “Are there dragonkin over there too? Or people that are part dragon and part fae?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t think to ask. She just mentioned that when I told her you were…” Aiden looked over at Tiago with a little stab of guilt. He hadn’t yet told his boyfriend about the plan and wasn’t sure if he should. Tiago knew about the council rejecting help from the light fae but not about Aiden’s decision to bring them over anyway. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Tiago, but he didn’t want him to be involved.

  “What?” Tiago frowned, gaze flicking between Aiden and Dylan.

  “The—” Dylan stopped, looking at Aiden. “Do you not want him to know?”

  Well, crap. That wasn’t suspicious at all. “Are you okay with telling him?”

  Dylan blinked. “Yeah. Cat Boy knows everything else already. I mean, if you want to tell him, I’ve got no problem.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Aiden took his boyfriend’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m going to do the ritual anyway, and Dylan is going to help me.”

  “The ritual to bring your birth mom over from Faery?”

  Aiden nodded.

  “Oh. Do you want me to help too?” Tiago had already offered his blood when they’d both talked to Nuala. Now he was doing it again, even though it went directly against the council.

  “No,” Aiden said too quickly.

  Tiago dropped his gaze. “Guess I’m not strong enough to matter, huh?” He didn’t let go of Aiden’s hand, but his fingers loosened.

  “That’s not what I meant. I just thought it would be safer if you weren’t involved. If something goes wrong… I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

  “But you asked Dylan for help. He’s been in more trouble than I have.” Tiago sighed. “It’s okay. You don’t have to try to make me feel better. I get it.”

  “You can help if you want to.” Crap. Now he’d made Tiago think he was worthless.

  Tiago shifted a few feet away. “It’s fine.”

  “Don’t get all pouty, Cat Boy. He just wanted to protect you.”

  “I don’t need protecting!” Tiago looked surprised at his outburst.

  Aiden reached for his hand again. “I was wrong, okay? I shouldn’t have made the decision for you.” If the situation were reversed, Aiden would have been hurt too.

  Tiago was quiet for a long moment. “So how do you do this ritual thing?”

  Aiden hoped that meant Tiago wasn’t mad at him anymore, but tight bands of fear squeezed his chest. If he and Dylan went down, now Tiago was going to be dragged with them.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  “You look troubled,” Nuala said.

  “I just keep thinking about how easily Morgan destroyed my barrier.” Aiden rubbed at his arms. “I talked to Phoebe—she’s the tutor I told you about—but she doesn’t know how to fight dark fae.” He sighed. “I know she’s doing her best, but she’s only part fae, and she doesn’t really know what to do with me anymore.”

  “Oh. I could certainly train you,” Nuala said.

  “When you get here?” In three weeks the potion would be ready and he could bring her over from Faery.

  “We could start now.”

  Aiden blinked. “Would that… work? I mean, we’re not really here. This is a dream.”

  “Held together by a dream walker. It will not be quite the same, but it will be very close. If you practice in the waking world, you will be able to adjust for any slight differences.”

  Hope lit in his chest. “You can teach me to block Morgan?”

  “You are the son of a king, Aiden. You are very powerful. With the proper technique and training, you could hold back an army.”

  Aiden laughed nervously. “I might need to.” Morgan had brought almost a dozen dark fae with him, plus the extremists who hadn’t been captured and now all the people they’d broken out.

  “Make a barrier.”

  He took a breath, trying to clear his mind. Things were a little off—a fuzzy sensation in the back of his mind, and the plants and earth around him didn’t feel quite the same as they did in the real world. But Nuala was right. It was close. His magic answered and tingled through the air, forming a shield of magic all the way around him.

  “Put as much strength into it as you can.” Nuala walked toward him.

  She was going to try to break it. Of course. He put more energy into it, the kind of spell that would hold against Dylan’s attacks in Major Magical Control.

  Nuala lifted her hand, set it against the faint green-gold barrier, and pushed. It held for one breath, two, and then it burst. Sparkling bits of magic fell through the air between them.

  “I suck.” Failure made his stomach sink. He couldn’t protect himself. He couldn’t protect anybody.

  “Do not despair. That was merely your first attempt.” Nuala smiled. “Now I will create a barrier and you will take the spell from me so you can feel the energy of it for yourself.”

  “I can do that?”

  “It may take a few trials, but yes.” With a light flick of her fingers, a shield sprang up around her.

  She had Aiden press his hands to it and try to pull it away from her. He didn’t even have a body here, but after a few moments he was sweating. Taking a short break, he mopped at his forehead, breathing hard. “I’m not getting it.” He made a frustrated noise. Magic had been easier fo
r him the past year or so, and he’d forgotten what a struggle it used to be. “How am I supposed to take it from you?”

  “It’s not a forceful act. I am offering it to you as if it were a gift. You simply receive it.”

  Aiden put his hands against the barrier again. “Okay.” It struck him that he was actually being trained by his birth mom. All the years that they’d missed out on together, but now they were finally spending time with each other.

  She would understand better than anyone else how his magic worked. They had the same kind of magic. The energy of it tingled against his hands, then it shifted. Suddenly it was obvious, and he lifted the spell away from her, wrapping it around himself instead.

  “Excellent!” Nuala grinned.

  The barrier was so powerful. His own spell seemed like a plastic toy shield in comparison. This was like a brick wall. Fear skittered through Aiden, and he reminded himself this was a protective spell, not anything directed at him. “You think I can make one like this?”

  “I know you can.”

  Her absolute confidence rubbed off on him, and Aiden smiled. “Okay, I’ll give it a try.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  “Turn your manuals to page two forty-six,” Nichols said, flipping open her own book.

  Aiden heard Dylan’s barely repressed sigh. School and the wardens, the two things Dylan hated most, combined for maximum dislike. Even with Warden Bradley gone, Dylan would never enjoy this.

  “Today we’ll be covering some of the regulations around search and seizure of property. Regulations within Shadow Valley are stricter than they are outside the city, and we’ll be discussing both.”

  Aiden truly wanted to learn all this although it was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it was important for him to understand the laws and regulations that supernaturals needed to obey, especially now that he’d be enforcing them. On the other, it lent a lot of weight to Dylan’s complaints that the wardens had too much power.