First Epilogue
One Month Later
HAZEL
“It may take several months, possibly even a year before you see anything like a physical shift.” Romeo Valfensys, an elder dragon shifter from the banished Diablo Falls clan sits across from us at my kitchen table, explaining what they’ve learned about what happened to Jamie and the events that led to his attack.
I hurry back to the table, not wanting to miss a thing. “Here you go.” I place a large glass of ice water in front of our guest.
“Thank you.” Romeo sniffs. “As an elder, I find it grows difficult to manage in this heat. Water… helps.”
“It’s no trouble,” I say, smiling.
Jamie leans forward in his chair and smiles. “I really appreciate you making the trip.”
The dragon shifter nods. “I can assure you that we will be seeing a great deal of one another from now on, judging by your scar.”
The attack Jamie suffered resulted in a scar that healed entirely with blue-green scales. To most people, it might look like a tattoo, but to dragon shifters, it serves as proof.
Romeo continues. “Remember, your first shifts are likely to tap into your psyche before they manifest in your physical form.”
Jamie nods. “Yes. That’s already happening; it’s why we called you. I’m having trouble managing all the mental chatter I’m hearing.”
“I see.” He looks down his nose through his monocle at the paperwork stack in front of him from our first contact with the dragons. They have quite a bureaucracy in place to manage their population and they track everything.
“Oh yes, I see where that was noted here. Forgive me.” He licks the point of his pencil and poises it over his notes.
“Can you describe what it is you’re hearing, because as an elder in the clan, I can assure you that I cannot sense you, and I have been attempting to communicate with you during my time here today. It appears you cannot yet sense me.”
Jamie shakes his head. “Yeah, I can’t hear you at all, sir. No. The voice that I’m hearing… it’s young. Like a child. It’s completely scattered. Nothing about the thoughts seem quiet or calm. It’s all energy and fire and eating and running.”
“You say the voice is… younger? You’re certain?”
“Yes, like a kid. Maybe like a five year old? They can talk, but nothing mature.”
The dragon elder removes his monocle and rubs his eye. “Then that’s all I need to hear.”
Jamie grabs my hand. “What do you mean?”
“If you’re hearing the child, then we have no choice but to enlist your help. You see, several months ago, someone crept into the dragon lair and stole one of our eggs.”
I gasp. “That’s terrible. Who would do such a thing?”
Romeo shakes his head and looks very sad.
“Dragons possess many ancient secrets that others would take from us. Be it alchemy or longevity, healing or casting spells in the ancient tongue… all this information is contained within the clan. We live very long lives and as you noted, we record everything.” He taps the stack of paperwork.
“Years ago, before your time, dragons were hunted mercilessly for this information and for our gifts. There was a time when dragons came close to extinction.”
I nod and touch Jamie’s arm. “We’ve been reading the histories, I am so very sorry for everything that your people have been through.”
“Thank you, young Hazel.” He smiles. “But that brings me to you, Jamie.”
Jamie sits up. “You said you need my help?”
Romeo nods. “It seems the egg that was stolen has produced a hatchling at the full moon last month. When a dragon hatchling is born, they don’t emerge from their shell like a weak creature, they burst forth with fire and fury and all the things that make a dragon burn.”
Jamie touches his side where the scar glitters under his shirt. “Ah, then I think I met your hatchling.”
“Quite so, I am afraid. You see, when a hatchling emerges, they imprint on the first creature they see. It takes only a second for the connection to take hold, but once it does, it is an unbreakable bond. It is why the hatchlings are secreted away. There is so much at risk if they imprint outside of our kind.”
“But this one got away and hatched.”
The old man sighs. “And it seems the reason we have lost telepathic contact with this baby dragon is because he or she has imprinted on you, my friend.”
Jamie looks stunned. “Imprinted? Like, it thinks I’m its mama?”
“Not in the human parental way you are thinking, but… yes. I believe it attacked you because it instinctively sensed that you were not like them. So they brought you into the fold through the tearing of the flesh. While most animal shifters must bite you to bring you over, a dragon need only drip its saliva into your dragon wound to turn you. And a baby dragon would do this without thinking.”
“Then what are you saying? What kind of help do you need from me?”
“Since you’re the only one who can communicate with the lost one, we’d like to train you to speak to it. Teach you the dragon tongue and hopefully bring the dear one back home.”
“Okay… And where is home, exactly?”
“Oh. Did I not make it clear? Home will have to be here. With you. You are to care for this child. There is no other way, I am afraid.”
Jamie turns to me and I watch his face go pale. He stares at the old man. “But we’re talking about a dragon?”
“For at least the first year, yes. Then he or she will begin learning their human form, which they will maintain as their primary form for most of their life.”
“So, once I am able to bring the child back, you want me to raise it, like a baby?”
“Precisely,” the elder dragon says.
Jamie just closes his eyes and rubs his face.
I run a hand over his shoulders and whisper, “It will be all right. We’ll handle it.”
Jamie’s cell phone rumbles on the table with an incoming call. I glance at the screen and see it’s Gertie. He touches my hand. “Can you talk to her? I can’t right now.”
“Sure.” I reach for the phone. “Romeo, excuse me.”
The elder dragon nods and waves a hand at me. “By all means.”
I tap the screen to accept the call. “Gertie, how are you?”
“Hazel! I swear, that grandson of mine is better than television. Tell me everything about everything. Do I really have a new grand-dragon-baby?”
I can’t help but smile. “As crazy as it sounds, it certainly seems that way, my friend.”