“You’re making a mistake! My dad’s not going to pay you anything. He’ll just kill you all.” I shout through the wooden door, my voice echoing in the spacious and unadorned apartment. “Let me out now, and no harm will come to you.”
One guard laughed. I understood why. During the day, I was trapped in the tiny weak body of a fifteen-year-old girl. It wouldn’t have been intimidating in an action-flick. After all, what was any human going to do against a locked door and thugs with guns? I gave the door one last ineffective kick. Come nightfall, I’d be able to tear it apart.
“Hello Dannie.” His voice came through the door.
“Dad?” What in the Tiamat?
“We need to talk.”
“No!” I stepped away from the door, backing up into the next room, into the balcony door. Despite hauling on handle, the glass wouldn't move an inch. When it's nightfall I'll find somewhere to hide. This is my town.
“I understand why you ran away.”
“If you did, I wouldn’t be stuck here! It’s bad enough you suppressed my ability to shift during daylight and took my magic now you’ve kidnapped me!” I wanted to fly so badly. To feel nothing but wind and freedom.
“I’m coming in, please don’t hit me. It’s been a long day.” He came through the door looking exhausted. Messy hair, dark circles under his eyes, shoulders slumped like he was carrying a lead backpack, and his shoes didn’t match. He normally looked like he belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine for middle-aged men.
“My day started with advanced calculus and ended with a kidnapping.” I scowled. “Why can’t you just let me live my life?”
“Because you need to be with your-” He held out a hand. I didn’t take it. Didn’t move closer.
“I am with my own. Or did you forget Mom had a family before she ran off with you? And they’re pretty cool.”
“They’re humans. They don’t-“
“They don’t know anything about dragons?” I cut him off with an angry arm swish. “No, they don’t, but they know about being human, and I’m half-human Dad. And while I never got to meet her like this.” I gestured at my human body. “I still remember her caring for me when I was nothing more than a giant lizard. I remember her voice, her smell, even what she looked like. I know even though it must have been utterly bonkers for her to know that her child was a giant lizard, she loved me.” I couldn’t stand over him, but by the gods I was trying. “And I know you loved her too. That she wasn’t some casual fling. I remember you coming into the nursery and telling me she was gone, and I remember you crying. For weeks.”
He sighed heavily as he collapsed into a beanbag chair that hadn’t been there a moment before. “You still need to be around dragons my dear. There is so much of your power you need to learn, or you’ll never be able to shift again, you’ll become purely human.”
“I. Am. Not. Coming. Home.” I crossed my arms as if that would slow my raging heartbeat. “It’s midterms, Jandra’s birthday is in a week, and Casey invited me to a girl’s weekend after exams, which involves a spa day and binge-watching Jason Moma movies.”
He waved his hand, and a second beanbag appeared. “And if you had answered any of my calls, letters, voicemails, or texts, you would know I’ve come with a plan so you can do all that and not lose you’re dragon side.”
Reluctantly, I sat down on the beanbag chair. It smelled faintly of home, a mix of mountain air and cinnamon. “Last time we talked, you cast a spell that made it so I couldn’t access magic and could only transform during the night. It didn’t leave a good impression.”
“I am sorry for that.” His head hung, unkept hair falling around his face in a blonde curtain.
“So you’re not forcing me to come home?” I fought off the smile. I liked my human life, I loved my mom’s family and I was not giving it up. I had two families. But I’m not letting one keep me hostage from the other. I don’t want to stop being a dragon either.
“Not forcing no. I had hoped that this human life would bore you but, I came here with an offer, so you could stay.” He materialized a calendar and handed it to me. “I’ve rented this apartment for me, or us. I’ll stay in this town so I can train you and teach you our ways.”
I wanted one of his squeezes you so hard that something almost breaks hugs. Instead, I flipped through the calendar. Why couldn’t we have started here? “Why are you okay with this now?”
“When I forbade you from going to your mother’s family, it was my fear. Being among humans as one of our kind, even with your human lineage, you’ll outlive everyone you meet in that school by centuries. I didn’t want that pain for you.” He swallowed hard. “But your aunt talked sense into me.”
“I miss mom too,” I spoke softly. “I missed you, and the mountains but I am in both of these worlds. And we gotta train on Sunday, not Saturdays. The Geek Squad and I play Dungeons and Dragons on Saturdays.”
“You fight dragons?” He raised an eyebrow as if I would do such a thing.
“It's a game, pretend with rules. I play Esmeralda, a half-elf who is trying to balance the two sides of their heritage.”
“Sundays will work.” He chuckled and stood up. “Come on, lets go flying.
He offered me a hand. Reaching out to take it lead to my ribs nearly being crushed by one of his hugs. I relaxed more than I had in months, every iota of worry leaving me. "Lets go flying."
The balcony door opened with a rattle, and we both ran for it, jumping the railing with wings sprouting. Scales replaced skin, claws replaced feet and hands, elation replaced worry. We were dragons.
Thank you for reading!