Page 10

“I can give you your necklace back,” I say, voice timid.

Graham hasn’t said two words to me since we got in the truck. He’s grunted a few times, but he looks like he’s fighting a case of lockjaw.

“I’m sorry, I thought it was a gift. I think I’ve been spoiled by living with rich people. I didn’t grow up that way. Sorry, you must think I’m really... I don’t know what. A mess. You, with your big house and everything.”

“I live in a one-bedroom in California in a town where the crime rate is so high, the rent is often low. Lived there. I’m not going back now,” he snarls, knuckles white on the wheel.

“Did something bad happen?” I gasp.

“Genovese knows I’m protecting you, and my boss is pissed. I’m fired.” The growl is deeper now, and the knuckles on the steering wheel turn light purples and a net-like pattern of lines pop out on his skin, traveling up his arms.

“Hives?” I squeak. Those are unlike any other hives I’ve ever seen.

“What? Oh, shit!” Graham jerks his hands off the wheel, and the truck jerks off the highway, fortunately into a grassy area along the two-lane road that leads from his brother’s house through town. “You can see that?”

“See what? Hives? Yes, I can see purple hives!” They’re already fading.

“It’s the amulet. Gotta be.”

“Amulet?”

“The necklace. It’s... It’s for protection. It’s been in my family for a long, long time. It’ll stop almost everything—except a direct hit from enemy aircraft. I’m so sorry, Hughie and Herbie.”

“Are you drunk?” I scootch farther away in my seat, my hand on the door handle.

“No, I’m a dragon,” he hisses.

The silence returns to the truck as Graham lets out a hard sigh through his nose and steers us back onto the highway.

Dragon?

Like that line about dragon families on that really confusing-looking parchment?

Like the dragons in the watercolor paintings in the guest room?

“Um. Dragon? Like a strong and powerful person who—oh my God!” I screech and push myself back in my seat as far as possible as we pull into the garden center, and I spot a—an alien, a furry black alien walking towards us.

“Oh, fine, now,” he grumbles. “It works on all things paranormal, does it?”

“What does? What is that?” I point frantically through the windshield.

“That’s a mothman. My brother mentioned White Pines hired one as a gardener. Glad to see we still get some of the estate’s money.”

“It’s the necklace? What’s in it?” I paw at the braided leather cord and tug on it, wanting to get it off my skin. “Does it have hallucinogens seeping into my skin or something?”

“Taking it off won’t help. Now that you’ve seen the supernatural, it’ll stick with you. We’re fucked. Ian’s going to kill me.” Graaham opens the door of his truck but doesn’t get out of it, letting his head come to rest on the steering wheel with a thump.

The giant black furry thing walks up with a cheery wave. “Oh, hey! You must be Graham! Ian told me his brother was coming in to cover for him. You guys need any help, just say the word. I’m Lennox, by the way, the gardener and floral designer at White Pines. It’s wedding season, but I can always help early on the weekdays.”

“Pleasure,” Graham mumbles, head still down.

Lennox looks at him for a second, and then his bright red eyes fix on me.

Please don’t bite me, I pray silently.

“Hi, there! I’m Lennox! You’re Angela, aren’t you? The girl who came to town for a fresh start?” Lennox sticks out his hand but drops it when I just stare.

I am? I mean, yes, I am, but how did he know that? “Huh?”

“Sorry, I was talking to Cindy—my wife, who works with Claire and Georgie. And then I saw Mr. Minegold’s text about the Night Watch being on extra alert.”

I repeat, “Huh?” This time, my voice is bordering on hysterical.

“Oh, don’t worry. My home burned down last year, and I came to Pine Ridge with a tarp and a duffle bag. A year later, I’m married to a beautiful woman, my brother is thinking of moving to town, and I have my dream job. Don’t be afraid to dive right in—the people here will catch you.” He smiles, and his antennae twiddle happily.

“She’s not used to seeing us as we truly are,” Graham moans from the depths of his clenched hands, now pulling his hair. “Angela’s probably about to scream. Or pass out.”

“I am not!” I lie. I reach across Graham’s hand and yank Lennox’s palm into my own, shaking it once before releasing it and trying not to shudder. It wasn’t icky. It was feathery soft. Velvety. Lavish.

But he’s like a cryptid, or something. A mothman! Graham says he’s a dragon , and I can see his scales, and it’s all because of this stupid, toxic necklace! I lift it off my chest, and halfway over my head—and it feels like the air vanishes from my lungs.

I can hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears. The lights fade, even though it’s a sunny May afternoon. Everything around me is dark and going out of focus.

Beside me, I feel Graham’s hands on mine, hear his voice speaking, but the words don’t make sense.

The heavy, comforting weight of the amulet sinks onto my sternum, and lights, air, and sound come rushing back.

“I don’t feel so good,” I say weakly. “When I tried to take that off—”

“It’s safer not to,” Graham says, lips thin.

“But I’m seeing things.”

“I doubt it’ll change. Once a person sees through the Mist that clouds most human eyes, they rarely go back to being their happy, oblivious selves.”

I whimper in confusion. “Mist? It’s sunny. I don’t—”

“Look, you can’t take that off for now,” Graham whispers. “I promise I’ll explain later. Soon.”

“I do feel better with it on,” I confess in a woozy voice, keeping my eyes on his face as it swims back into something solid.

“I was afraid of that. Don’t worry, I know there’s a way to get it off. Right now, you’re bound to me—as in, you're under my protection. When the threat is gone, it won’t hurt to take it off,” Graham reassures, nodding while his eyes slide past mine and struggle back.

***

A NGELA SLIDES SEAMLESSLY into working at the garden center, her eyes lighting up when she sees the rows and rows of starter flats, long columns filled with baby tomato, squash, and green bean plants. I work beside her, checking the inventory that someone else has already provided for me.

I just want to be near her.

This is awful.

I watch her water plants and take beetles outside, scolding them not to return. Her stress and fear seem to melt near green and growing things—like mine used to.

You don’t want a human.

She doesn’t love you. She’s running away from an arranged marriage. It won’t matter to her who arranged it, a man, her parents, or some ancient amulet. She’ll hate the idea.

It’s all a mistake.

There’s got to be a way for her to safely reject the bond and not put herself in harm’s way. She’d surely reject me as a dragon—especially now that she can see paranormal creatures.

“This is so much fun.” Angela buries her face in blue hydrangeas and turns them so they get an even amount of sun. “Thank you for the job. This is pretty easy work, though. I’m sure there’s something I need to do. Something harder?”

“Just wait until Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon when this place will be packed with harassed parents and their children who want to play in the ornamental ponds.” I shrug. “You’ll earn your keep.”

“I can never earn enough to repay you for helping me. I’m sorry you lost your job over it. The one in California,” she says, her voice so soft and sweet.

It’s not cloying. It’s comforting. Without even thinking about it, I start speaking. “I don’t really mind,” I confess. “I thought I did, but I found out a lot of bad things about my boss today. A lot of bad things about myself. I’ll be glad to get away from them when I think about it.”

“You’re not a bad person!” Angela defends me, heat in her voice. “You’re wonderful.”

“Funny thing for a princess to tell a dragon,” I tease.

“Oh, I’m still not convinced I’m not on an acid trip, but,” she shrugs, “I’m not really convinced the last three and a half years of my life weren’t an acid trip, either. Within two months of my mom meeting my stepdad, we went from a crummy little apartment and thinking splurging was a movie at the theater with popcorn we didn’t smuggle in, to thinking limiting our shopping on Rodeo Drive to every other week was a hardship. Well. Not me, so much, but my mom. Okay, and me. I got dragged into the fashionista lifestyle because we left everything behind in Jersey. We didn’t have any friends but each other. I put off looking for a job because I wanted to help her get settled—and because a little tiny part of me thought it was too good to be true. I wanted to keep an eye on things so my mom didn’t get hurt again.”

“That’s a good reason to put your life on hold—to look out for others.” I put my life on hold to sulk and look out for myself . Left Ian on his own with a growing business and a new bride in a newish town because I didn’t find a wife waiting for me, because I was convinced my perfect dragoness was in some other supernatural hot spot.

“I guess. I feel kind of dumb. I had a scholarship to Rutgers, Mom killed herself to pay for fees and books, and I walked out with a degree in human resources that I’ve never used.”

“Oh?”

She gives me a sheepish look. “Everywhere I’ve tried to work has made me start at the bottom before getting into management. Guess what? I always quit before I make it to management because of how badly I get treated.”

“That seems like a vicious cycle.”

“It is, and I think a lot of companies keep it that way. I wanted to get a degree in human resources so I could be a good manager, a compassionate person who helped employees after seeing the crappy way my mother got treated at every job she ever had.”

I’m sorry. I...” I stare into space for a moment, wondering if I can dare to mention the thought I just had.

“Hey, I’m spilling my guts. It’s your turn.”

“My sister-in-law will want to be home with the baby.” I pause as I picture my brother with his family. There will be way more than one child if the looks Vanessa and Ian give each other are any indicator. “She’s the manager of the garden center and the floral department. He’s the manager of the landscaping and lawn care business. His place has expanded like mad, and he was talking about getting an assistant manager to fill in for Vanessa while she’s on maternity leave. It’s something to think about.”

“Think about staying here? In this town?”

“It’s not a bad place, especially if it has what you’re looking for.”

“Then why did you leave? What were you looking for?”

I have to smile. Her directness and honesty would make her worthy of a Kane dragon—well, another Kane dragon, one who isn’t a screw up like me. The way she rolls with the constant blows life is dealing her... “It didn’t have a mate. A dragoness.”

“Oh. Oh, you have to marry someone like you?”

Is it just me, or did Angela’s voice fall with sadness?

“I don’t have to. I wanted to. Thought I wanted to. Because dragons are dying out.”

“Makes sense. Deforestation?”

I shake my head. “Not like that. So many dragons have lost their ability to transform over time, and when they marry humans, there is a good chance the child can be fully human. Just... Just like genes being bred out, I suppose you could say.”

“Oh, so your sister-in-law’s baby... ?”

“Vanessa is having what we call dragonborn. That means my brother’s genetics win, I guess.” Or is it something in Pine Ridge, I suddenly find myself wondering. Are children conceived in magical places more likely to hold onto their magical traits?

“I’m asking too many questions, aren’t I? You’re easy to talk to. And I’ve never met a dragon before.”

“Oh, this isn’t what a dragon looks like, love. Not really. If you saw me in my more ‘protective form,’ you wouldn’t like it.”

“Why not?”

“Well... Because it’s scary. I’m a monster—a good one, but still. Well, good ish . But that wouldn’t matter. Most human women wouldn’t accept a monster as their mate, you know.”

“That sucks. I’m sorry people are so shallow. I promise if you show me your real form, I’ll try to be brave.” Angela pats my hand and rises to refill her watering can.

Suddenly, I can’t wait to show her. It’ll end things once and for all, and I’ll be able to stop obsessing about how easy she is to talk to and how very easy she is on the eyes.