“Ava? May I have a minute?” Miriam asked.
Ava hadn’t realized the group was dispersing—Myra to pack a bag, and Juliette and Shiloh to do whatever a black and red dragon couple did together. Miriam stood in her awkward way, wringing her hands together as Cale and Ava got up.
“We should get going soon,” Ava said, scratching her head. She hated that she hadn’t thought even a little about her mother. Hadn’t bothered to call. Had barely given her notice that she was leaving. Karma had been wise to suggest she come and visit her for at least a few hours. But then again, Karma was wise about a lot of things.
“I know…you have the world to save and dragons to ride.” Miriam rubbed her elbows. “I just wanted you to know. Child services has opened an investigation into your case. It looks like the adoption process has been stalled.”
Ava reeled a little. “Wait. What? How? Who?”
Miriam shrugged thin shoulders. “There have been claims that I’m unfit to be your mother. I don’t know who would say that, but—”
Cale growled. “Jim.”
“Jim? He would never be granted custody of Ava. Not with the video we have of him trying to hurt her.”
“Well, it’s got to be him.” Ava crossed her arms. She’d spent years letting her foster father manhandle her because she thought she was protecting Miriam. Because she knew if she stood up for herself, Jim would have her sent back into the foster system. And it would break Miriam’s heart. “He doesn’t want me, Miriam. He just wants to make sure you don’t get to have a daughter either.”
“That slimy bastard,” Miriam said.
Ava grinned at that. “Whoa. Since when do you talk like that?”
Miriam put a fluttery hand to her mouth. “Oh. I suppose Juliette is rubbing off on me. For someone so shy, she is very good at saying exactly what she means. Very crudely at times, I might add.”
Cale wasn’t as amused. He still wore his scowl. “I say we go back to Jim’s and remind him who we are. He can’t just mess with us whenever he feels like it.”
Ava shook her head. “Cale, we’re not going to murder him, if that’s what you mean. And beating him up would just give him more ammunition. The only thing that works is outsmarting him.”
Miriam put a finger in the air. “We can stall him!”
“Like…a booby trap? This isn’t Scooby Doo, Miriam.”
“No, I mean…you’ll be eighteen a few months from now. And then if he tries to ruin things by claiming I’m unfit, you can file with the courts for independence. Usually, you’d have to wait until you are twenty four, but in your case, they might make an exception.”
“How would we stall him, though? We can’t hide. Jim’s still a senator. He can use his power to find anyone. That’s how he had his police officer buddy come poke his nose into our business in the first place,” Ava said. “Where would we even go?”
Cale stepped forward. “Ireland.”
“Really? You think Emaline would let a human stay if she isn’t a rider?”
“What about those pesky grey dragons?” Miriam asked. “They would find Juliette there. It would be too obvious.”
Ava gasped. “Peru.”
Cale nodded. “Of course. Santiago will host Miriam and Juliette if we ask him to. And Rafael and Lena will love the extra company.”
Miriam sighed. “More strange dragons? Remember the days when I used to just go to the Starbucks with an old friend and chat about our couponing ventures?”
Ava frowned. “No. I don’t.”
“I suppose you wouldn’t.” Her shoulders slumped. “Well, Shiloh will be coming, I assume?”
Shiloh walked down the stairs without Juliette beside him, though Rane was perched on his shoulder. “I hope to trust Juliette’s well-being to you, Lady Human.”
“Oh me?” Miriam couldn’t help gawking at the rider. “I supposed…I figured she wouldn’t want to be away from you. When you’re here, she’s so much calmer. And she’s a lot less—”
“Insane,” Cale interjected.
Miriam gave him a stern look. “Agitated. She’s a lot less agitated when Shiloh is near her.”
Shiloh nodded, his eyes cast down. “I know. I believe it is very conflicting for her to bear a child that does not have a red dragon core. She fears the complications that may arise and she feels less threatened when I am with her. But,” his throat caught for a moment, “she understands that I have to go with the phoenix for now. Rane has seen that it is my place to help the two of you in every way I can. And by doing this, I help my…” he hesistated, his mouth barely forming the word, “my family.”
“It’s strange, isn’t it?” Ava asked. “Strange to have one all of a sudden.”
“Yes.” He frowned, gray creases forming on his bald head. “Strange and good.”
Ava nodded. “Strange and good.”
“Pendulus, whom I trust with my most precious person, will take Juliette and Miriam to Peru. He will remain in the home of your relations, to ensure that no harm comes to them.”
Cale grinned as he thought of the reaction the old dragon would have when his tiny Chimbote home was clustered with the crotchedy Meel, the unrefined Pendulus, the pregnant Juliette, and the very, very human Miriam. “Oh god. Santiago is going to love this.”
Ava chuckled. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
“The phoenix, her dragon, and the bedraggled blonde girl will come with Rane and me,” Shiloh finished.
Myra’s mouth fell open as she descended the staircase. “Bedraggled? Did you just call me bedraggled? I’m having a bad day!”
Shiloh shot defensive eyes toward her. “I promise I am not embellishing. You appear to be quite discombobulated, red dragon.”
“Myra.” She said her name slowly, like he was hard of understanding. “We have names.”
“I am aware of that. But I tend to call on dragons’ names when I am calling them to their deaths. Would a deathcall be preferable to you?”
Myra swallowed hard, her fear for the no-ir—though it had quelled for a second—resurging with a punch. “Nope. Forget I said anything.”
Shiloh gave a little smirk. “That will be easy, since everything you have said is quite forgettable.”
Ava snickered until Myra glared at her.
But Cale was full-on grinning. “Come on, Oh Disheveled One. Let’s go find my brother.”
Eleven
Bath
The ice water sloshed over the side of the porcelain tub. Ima let her arms lay listless in her lap, her crystal slippers submerged. Her silver gown was soaked through, clinging to her body and revealing her in desperate ways.
She didn’t have to close her eyes to imagine Papu’s face. He wore a ready, crooked grin, his eyebrows raised and a dimple peeking from one of his cheeks. In her mind, he pressed his forehead to hers, until they were nose to nose, and he laughed.
“What are you waiting for?” he asked her, his eyes glittering in the twilight of the sky garden.
“It isn’t time,” she answered, wishing she could share his smile, his love for life. For even if he was ravaged by revenge, created to spill it onto the earth from his window, he held other things in him. From his heart came joy and strength. He was many facets, many faces. And she loved them all.
“When will it be time, Ima? Ten more years? A hundred?” The breath of his words tickled her lips.
“If we begin too soon, we’ll grow tired of each other.”
“You’re not afraid of time, Ima. You’re afraid Sirce will find out.”
Ima pulled away, her lips thinning, her hands grinding into fists. It was a familiar feeling. Hate.
“He will not let me go, Papu. You know this. Of all people, you know this.” Ima took a shaky breath.
“I don’t care.” He reached out, his hands scarred from the mischief he’d tumbled into over the years, and cupped her face, bringing her closer to him again. “I’m not afraid of the Accuser.”
Ima wanted to shove his hands awa
y, to protect him. But she knew she never would. “You frighten me when you say that.”
“You should trust me.”
“You should trust me.”
Papu changed, his attitude shifting like a storm rolling in overhead. “He hurts you. You know that for that, I’ll hurt him back.”
She clutched his hands, pressing them into her cheeks, her eyelashes catching her tears. He couldn’t resist revenge. “Do not, Papu. Promise me.”
He smirked, disregarding her tears, unable to help himself. “Too late.”
“Papu, please—”
But he snuck a kiss on her lips. Then another. “Trust me, Ima,” he said again.
But in the bleak light of her present reality, the bathtub that held Ima’s stiff body was far removed from the garden rooftop, far from Papu and his lips and his promise to ruin her life on her behalf. In her bathroom—with its vaulted ceilings and flourished moudlings, with its ivory garnishes and its marble, with its dangling candle chandelier and its flickering white light—there was no warmth.
Sylphie, her little blue-skinned sprite, fluttered over, holding an earthen jar of boiling water. “I don’t mean to interrupt, Lady, but shall I heat the water for you?”
Ima didn’t answer, her pretty face hardened into a frown.
The sprite swallowed, unsure of how her mistress would react to her insistence. “You have been in here for quite some time. The cold must be biting you. It worries me so. Please, let me warm it for you.”
Ima didn’t bother looking at her servant. “No, sprite. Let me be. It hurts rather nicely.”
Sylphie knew she should have left the room. Her mistress had a temper when her wishes were disregarded. But she could see her lady slipping down an unwise path. “You…you have always warned against drowning in your own core, Lady Ima.” She hesitated. “Shall I add the warm water?”
Ima turned her head to the sprite, and when the little thing saw her face, she stopped fluttering and let her barefeet rest on the stone floor.
“Mistress….”
“Are you laughing at me?” Ima sniffled. The tears cut haggard paths down her cheeks and fell heavy from her pointed chin.
Sylphie shook her head, her blue eyes wide. “I would not laugh at your sorrow, Mistress. It’s only…I have never seen you weep before.”
Ima tighted her lips. “Perhaps Hiru is flooding his windows again.”
Sylphie went ahead and poured the water into the tub, wafting the steam away with her gossamer wings. “I think, maybe, there is something else besides Hiru’s sorrow, Lady, that wears on you.”
“Something that would make me cry?”
“Or perhaps…someone else?”
Ima sat up in the water, spilling even more of it out of the tub, and Sylphie took to flying again to keep her feet from getting wet. “He is such a fool, Sylphie. He’s going to get himself reprimanded. Maybe even….”
“You think that the Accuser will have Lord Papu locked away for defying him? For wanting to leave the court?”
Ima’s eyes filled with saltless tears again. “And I would not see him for a hundred years. Maybe longer.” She looked at her pruned hands, her palms red from the sting of the new warm water. “I cannot live without him for a hundred years.”
Sylphie thought for a moment. “Just think of the fear and sorrow as pain, Lady Ima. And then it may not be so bad. You may even enjoy it.”
Ima stood up, her tall frame dripping as she steppedout of the tub and took Sylphie’s tiny hand for support. “This is not that sort of pain. This is the kind from which I cannot recover.”
“Then, what will you do?”
Ima took the heated blanket Sylphie wrapped around her shoulders and gritted her teeth against the comfort. “What can be done?”
Sylphie batted her feathered eyelashes. “I will help you if I can, my Lady.”
“I know you will, Sylphie. But this is a matter for greys.” She wrung her hair out, the water falling like drops of crystal to the floor. “Speaking of a grey matters…did you lead the phoenix away from here?”
Sylphie nodded her head, an impish grin flitting across her teardrop face as she relished the compliment from her mistress. “I led them out, Lady, just as you asked.”
“And the other no-ir? Did they hinder your attempts?”
Sylphie shook her head, blue tendrils of hair fluttering about her ears. “They let me pass without a question. It seems they were not opposed to me releasing their leader.”
“I was correct then. They were loyal to the rider and dragon who were imprisoned. Even more loyal to him than they are to us.”
“That cannot be,” Sylphie said, her voice hushing. “The no-ir live for you, Lady.”
Ima put one of her earrings in, smooth pearls set in gleaming white gold. The other she let roll around in her palm. Then, she peeled her wet dress off her body. She paused to admire herself in the mirror. “It is the pearl, little sprite. Already, it is pulling the world apart. And the phoenix—if we do not keep her in check—will choose to align herself with it.”
“Should we not have left the phoenix with Sirce?”
Ima put her other earring in and angled her face in the mirror, staring at her noble chin and her hard, piercing silver eyes. “Neither Sirce, nor the pearl can have the phoenix. I will go to her. I will tell her how she can be free of all of them.”
“But why?” Sylphie asked, her voice a piping flute. “Why do you take an interest in any of them?”
“Because, if I do not find a way to satiate Papu, he will get himself hurt, sprite. I will always take care of my brother. Do you doubt that I would put family first?” Her voice clipped, her tone accusatory as her mood shifted.
Sylphie wrung tiny hands together, chewing on her lips. “I would never doubt that, Lady Ima. Never. You are very good to your brothers and sisters. Very kind.”
Ima’s face didn’t soften, but she turned her eyes back to her reflection. She was so young. So startlingly young. She knew that on her birthday, just like all the other greys, she would force herself to sit before that mirror and look at her true form. A thousand years of channeling pain, and she would not look so fair. She would become hideous, her sagging skin and drooping bones revolting. It was nearly unbearable to watch. And so, she never let herself go back that far. Never looked the truth in the face.
“I am very kind,” she told herself. “Good and kind.”
“Yes, good. So good and kind.”
Ima closed her eyes and inhaled. The frigid air stung her lungs, and she smiled at it. “Sprite. Go to the phoenix. Give her a message for me.”
Sylphie’s eyes widened. “Me?”
Ima’s own silver eyes flashed diamond. “Yes, you.”
“But…Lady, I am not supposed to leave the court.”
“You are not supposed to disobey your mistress.”
Sylphi trembled at the words. “What—what shall I tell her?”
“You will tell her how to be free, Sylphie.”
Twelve
Tea
The most confident mosquito Ava had ever faced buzzed right into her eyeball. Myra, who was too close behind, bumped into her and cursed as she dropped her things.
“Back off me, Myra, for god’s sake,” Ava snapped, readjusting her t-shirt and rubbing her assaulted eye.
Myra retrieved her bag and hugged it to herself, a black hoodie pulled over her head, blonde bangs uncombed. “But you’re going so slow, Ava.”
“I am not slow. I’m just not going to sprint. We’ll be there in like five minutes.”
“We’d be there in two if you’d hurry.”
Myra stepped on Ava’s heels as they squeezed through the trees on the way to the camp Shiloh and Juliette had set up for themselves in the woods, near an actual cave, so that Juliette didn’t have to hide in a mattress. They’d spent the night there, preferring the silence of the forest to the comfort of the O’Hara house.
When Ava, Cale, Miriam, and Myra made it to the clearing, stil
l hidden behind the trees, Ava stopped and motioned for them all to get down.
“What are we waiting for?” Myra hissed.
Ava put a finger to her lips. “Shut up.”
There they were. Rane was his full size, his eyes closed as Shiloh rubbed his hide. They were speaking—Shiloh in hushed black dragon vowels and Rane in a voice only Shiloh could hear. They were as close as any two beings could be, the same core shared in the center of each of them.
Ava felt Cale kneel beside her, his elbow brushing hers as he looked on. Her will buzzed inside her, battling the prickling urge to move away from him. If Shiloh can be with Juliette, I can be with Cale.
And they watched as Juliette came out of her cave, her belly already twice as big as it had been when she first came to Florida just days before. Shiloh hurried to her, put a hand on her back to steady her as she walked over to Rane.
Juliette seemed much more at peace, her skin almost glowing as she reached up and touched Rane’s nose. The way Shiloh watched her, careful not to let her go. It was as if she was fragile—about to splinter any second. She didn’t seem to mind him thinking of her like that. In fact, Ava had the feeling Juliette enjoyed being cared for. Maybe even needed it.
That I can’t do, she thought.
“What are we waiting for?” Myra hissed, louder.
But Cale was the one who turned back. “Shut it, Myra, we’re watching.”
“Watching what?”
“Watching them. Shut it.”
She peeked over their shoulders, using them as leverage so she could get a better look. “When we’re in Ireland, and I actually see Cameron and know he’s okay for sure, I’ll shut up.”
Cale growled at her and stood up. “Come on, Ava, before she has an aneurism.”
He leaned into his rider as they walked through the clearing so he could whisper. “Did you see that?”
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