Page 13

Jacy

Over and done with the mac and cheese scene, I made a mildly spicy chili for Declan’s and my supper. The fall weather had turned decidedly cold, though the news stations had yet to call for snow. As we ate, Wendy and Peter watched every bite enter our mouths.

“Can I give them some chili?” Declan asked.

“That’s not a good idea,” I answered, picking up our dishes to take to the sink.

“Why?”

“Cats have trouble with some foods we eat. They can get sick.”

“Oh.” The kittens jumped into his lap to investigate any possible leavings on the table. “I don’t want them sick. Can they come with us to pick up Dad?”

“Not this time, kiddo,” I said, rinsing plates and bowls before putting them in the dishwasher. “Cats don’t tolerate car rides well, and they need to get used to them. It’s a long drive. We’ll take them on shorter rides someday.”

“So you’re not leaving?”

I stopped. I stared out the kitchen window into the darkness and rising wind. Though I felt happier, contented, since Avery’s sincere apology, and Declan’s demeanor changed because of it, I hadn’t talked to him about whether I’d stay on or not. I’d received excellent feedback from a company in Bozeman to work for them, and seriously considered taking the job.

“I don’t know.”

“Please stay. I want you to.”

“I know you do, sweetie.”

Not finding any edibles save bread crumbs, Peter and Wendy took up yoga positions to wash their nether regions, a hind leg sticking straight up from each fuzzy body. Declan watched them avidly as I continued to clean the kitchen.

“We have to leave soon,” I said. “Where’s your warm jacket?”

“In the closet.”

I realized with a jolt that I had no winter coat, having arrived in summer while penniless. “Does your dad have an extra coat I can use?”

“Yeah.”

Declan dashed for the hallway, Max tagging along while the kittens paused their grooming in order to stare at the drama. I heard Declan talking to Max, telling him to babysit the kittens while he was gone. If Max answered him, I didn’t hear it.

In the icy garage, I buckled Declan into his safety seat. “I’ll warm the car up,” I commented.

“I’m not cold.”

“No?”

“Nuh, uh.”

“Well, I am. Brr.”

After rolling the garage door up, I backed the car from it, then hit the remote to run the door down again. Lights from neighboring houses illuminated the street, and despite the weather reports to the contrary, I fully expected snow to fall. The sky overhead was thick with gray clouds.

“Take a nap if you want,” I said, glancing at Declan in the rear. “It’s a long drive.”

“I’m not sleepy.”

“Okay.”

In order to reach the Interstate Highway, a driver must cross the town proper, then drive along a two-lane blacktop for several miles. Cars passed us going the other way while a few sets of headlights glowed in my mirrors. I paid them the scantest heed while pondering my immediate future. Do I stay or do I go?

I loved Declan as my own kid. Did I love Avery as much? I certainly enjoyed sharing his bed, the great sex, his warm kindness and good heart. More than easy on the eyes, Avery also had enough charisma to float an aircraft carrier. What’s not to love about Avery? His sincere apology resonated in my head. Okay, he screwed up. I’ve done worse, I guessed.

A set of bright headlights blasted into my mirrors, nearly blinding me. I swore under my breath, squinting, annoyed at some of these redneck drivers and their big ass pickup trucks. This one grew closer until it sat right on our bumper.

“Oh, shit.”

I knew what the truck’s driver would do a moment before it hit us.

It slammed into the car’s rear bumper hard enough to make it swerve into oncoming traffic.

I righted it mere seconds before a semi tractor trailer crushed us into itty bitty bits.

“Jacy!”

Scared, grim, Declan’s safety in my hands, I stamped on the car’s accelerator. I put some distance between us only to have the truck’s larger engine catch up to us within seconds. It hit us again. I fought to keep the car on the road, terrified we’d be forced onto the road’s edge. At this speed, hitting the trees and small boulders in the fields would certainly prove fatal for Declan and me.

Which was the truck driver’s obvious intent.

Declan began to scream, crying, his fear and panic melded with mine. I couldn’t think, had no plan, felt as helpless in the face of death as a prisoner facing a firing squad. The car’s speedometer topped ninety, and I wove around slower cars in a desperate play at keeping us both alive.

The truck hit us again.

I lost complete control of the car.

It hit the shallow ditch just beyond the shoulder, went airborne, struck a grove of pine saplings, then rolled onto its roof. All in the span of a second or two.

Hanging upside down, I panicked. “Declan!”

He didn’t reply.

Unable to see him, I twisted in my seat belt, frantic, desperate to get to him, to administer first aid and save his life.

The truck’s brilliant headlights glared into my eyes.

It stopped. He’ll kill us both.

I hit the seat belt’s release and fell onto the car’s ceiling. Lashing out with my feet, I kicked the door again and again, forcing it open. I had to get between that driver and Declan.

Whatever the cost to me.

I had no weapon. No gun. Not even a Taser, useless at this distance.

I saw him take a long rifle from his truck’s cab, his big body silhouetted just behind the bright headlights. I heard him rack a bullet into the chamber, saw him lift the stock to his shoulder. He aimed the business end of the rifle at me, standing like a victim in the full glare of the lights.

He didn’t have a hope of missing his target.

I’m going to die.

In the split second before he fired, I changed.

The bullet ricocheted off my chest and whined into the night.

I blinked. What the hell?

I saw clearly in the darkness, as though I’d suddenly gained a terrific night vision. The truck’s driver stared upward, his mouth open, and I suddenly realized I stared down . My face had to be not just several feet above his, but several yards .

The killer lifted his gun upward, swiftly aimed, and fired again.

I barely felt the bullet’s ping.

My instinctive defenses kicked in. I didn’t know what I’d do until it happened.

I opened my jaws and blew a long gust of fire down at him and his truck.

He screamed for a full second.

Him, his truck, his rifle, all caught fire in an inferno so hot I paced backward.

And stumbled.

I whipped my head around on my very long neck to view an extremely long tail tipped in a spade. My wings filled the sky above and behind me. What the ever-loving fuck was I?

“Jacy!”

Declan’s scream brought me back to my senses. I spun toward the upside down car and lowered my face to peer inside.

His skin pale, still strapped in his seat, he stared at me with his blue eyes huge, bulging.

Great. I just scared him into a seizure. “Declan?”

I didn’t know I could speak until I did. “Are you okay, kiddo?”

“Jacy, help me.”

He struggled to unfasten the belts not meant for a child to unfasten. In my current state of being something else, I had no idea how to help him. Flexing my right hand, which ended in long savage claws, I gripped the car itself. Taking it from the broken saplings, I set it on its wheels by the side of the road.

His window had shattered in the crash.

Delicately, scared to death of just not what I now was, but of hurting him, I sliced through the belts trapping him. Declan scrambled from his seat just as I used a claw to yank the door open. Fully expecting him to run from me, I felt doubly shocked when he ran to me and wrapped his small arms around my left front leg.

Yeah, I had four. Four legs, a long neck, a huge tail and massive wings. Oh, and I just killed a man by breathing fire.

“You’re a dragon,” Declan exclaimed. “I knew it. You’re one of us.”

“I’m a what?”

I happened to glance at the road and the still burning truck. People had stopped their vehicles, asking questions, calling the police, the fire department. I didn’t know if any of them saw me, but my gut told me I couldn’t let them witness what I’d become. I seized Declan in my talons, and silently backed into the forest behind me.

“Stay quiet,” I hissed.

Without thinking, I set him on my wide and broad shoulders, then turned to duck under the woods. Hoping I wouldn’t brush him off, I worked my way further from the road and growing collection of cars and bystanders. When I could no longer see or hear them, I stopped in a wide clearing. The wail of sirens drifted over the heavy wind blowing through the trees.

I gently set Declan on the ground. “We’re what now?”

He beamed up at me happily, as though we hadn’t been in danger for our lives a few minutes ago. “We’re dragons, Jacy.”

“Dragons don’t exist.”

“Yeah, we do.” He set his small hands on his hips. “Dad is a dragon. My mom wasn’t, though.”

“How can this be?”

“I’ll show you.”

In a blink, Declan was no longer Declan. Where he’d stood, now stood a creature from legend – albeit a small legend.

“See?”

He stretched his wings wide and flapped them, rising only an inch or two off the ground. His hide, or what could only be called hide, was a light sandy brown, his eyes as blue as ever. A trickle of flame burst from his jaws and set a patch of dry grass on fire. I stamped it out, growing more frightened by the minute.

“How can this be?”

I looked around at myself again. My hide was the same color as my hair. Thus, I guessed my eyes were green. I slowly fluttered my wings up and down experimentally, swept my tail across the grass. “I’m a dragon.”

Declan pranced, his wings wide, laughing. “Isn’t it great?”

“You can fly?”

His grin faded. “No.” I swear I saw a young dragon pout on his expressive muzzle. “I can’t, I’m too young. When I get older, Dad will teach me.”

“How is it people don’t know about dragons?”

“We’re not s’pose to tell. We get into trouble if people see us.”

“And in the dark, they can’t see as well as we can.” I couldn’t stop looking at my tremendous body, my wings that when spread blocked the sky, and most of all, my tail. I have a damn tail. A tail!

“How many of us dragons are there?” I asked.

“Dunno. Lots.”

Sitting back on my hind legs, I used my talons to inspect my long muzzle, the rows and rows of sharp, backward curving teeth. “We could rule the planet,” I mused.

“We’re not s’pose to. That’s what Dad says.”

“With the power we have, it’s probably best that we don’t, eh?”

A shadow floated over our heads.

Panic struck me as I looked up, trying to find the source. I stepped over Declan to shield him with my body, ready yet again to fight and die to protect him. I saw nothing. The wind lashed at the trees, yet I felt none of the cold it brought. Could it be –

A dragon, its wings creating a hurricane, dropped from the sky.