Chapter 18 Tash
Tash
Huey barked so hard his entire little body shook. He didn't go for Maeve. He was too well trained for that, but he planted himself as a living barricade between the twins and the mayhem, barking at her like maybe the sound alone could stop the chaos.
She just tsked at him, eyes never leaving Fifi.
"Everybody stop," I snapped. "This is enough! You're scaring my kids—"
My words shattered, because Fifi wasn't just hunched in pain anymore.
She folded double, arms clamped around her middle, but her skin had gone crazy.
It shimmered, not like a fever or hives but full-on molten, lit from inside like she'd swallowed a solar flare.
Bronzed and wild, every inch of her. Smoke curled up from her fingers, thin at first, then building in little wisps that stank of heat and panic.
"Fi!" I lunged for her, but Mere beat me to it. She yelped and jerked her hand back.
A second later, I discovered for myself that Fifi's skin was hot enough to burn. Mere and I hovered, and Huey flanked us, hackles up, but I could feel him trembling. He'd always been afraid of the vacuum. Now he was ready to take on anything, apparently.
Chance's eyes flashed silver, and he stood, every muscle in his body an exclamation point. "Stand back!" His voice went deep, not just a baritone but a command that hammered the room. "I need to help her."
Being ordered wasn't something I normally put up with, but he seemed to know what he was doing, and I was out of options. Also, not fully believing what I was seeing, either.
I yanked Mere in tighter and gave him a chance to do… something.
Chance's whole body vibrated, a low drone in the bones of the floor. His skin rippled, not with sweat or nerves, but with something not human. Black shone under his shirt collar.
Before I could process what was happening, his body exploded outward. Scales, actual, glossy obsidian scales, ate the light. There was an ear-cracking snap as every bone bent and reformed, and the next second, what stood in the middle of the living room was not a man. It wasn't even possible.
It was a dragon. A massive, obsidian, winged dragon.
The world tilted. The sofa skidded to the left three feet left, pushed back by the massive dragon's tail.
The coffee table did a power slide straight into the wall.
Above, the ceiling seemed to warp, and the chandelier just barely missed getting sheared in half by a midnight-black wing.
Furniture avalanched to the room's edge. I clung to Mere, too shocked to scream.
The white cat, whose name I hadn't caught, jumped off the couch and looked at the dragon as though the enormous freaking dragon moving the couch with the bulk of his body had just inconvenienced her to the core of her being.
Huey, on the other hand, piddled a little on the floor.
The dragon breathed. Deeply, slowly, like the whole house was an accordion and his lungs controlled the rhythm. Each inhale drew heat. Each exhale sent a shimmer of warmth rolling over us, thick as summer.
Maeve adjusted her bathrobe and said as if this were totally normal, "This is Caden, by the way. Chance's dragon."
Chance's. Dragon.
Caden could have eaten a Thanksgiving turkey in one bite. His eyes, huge and silver, fixed on Fifi. Not angry, just calm and old, or old-looking. Wise? Whatever, he was sure of himself.
I was decidedly not sure of myself.
That's when the shimmer under Fifi's skin turned liquid. Her arms shook. She tried to speak, but the only sound was a raw whimper. I looked for her eyes, but they'd turned molten gold. Actual light pulsed beneath her skin, her veins, her eyelids, even her teeth.
Caden lowered his massive head and tucked it near her, careful as a cat rounding up kittens. The room rocked, but he didn't touch her, he just hummed, a low frequency so rich I could taste it between my teeth. The walls might've blown apart if he hadn't been so measured.
Huey howled before flattening himself to the carpet, whining in terror.
Caden hummed again, and this time, every other piece of furniture in the room heaved outwards, as if gravity had stopped working properly.
The piano bench slammed into the far wall.
The armchair teetered, then toppled. Only Maeve stayed put, hands up, eyes closed, chanting something in a language I didn't understand.
She went on, a steady litany, never raising her voice. Through it, Caden's breath filled the room, a living bellows. Hot air wrapped around all of us.
Fifi arched backward. She screamed once, raw and wild, the kind of sound you hope you never hear from your own kid. Light exploded out of her, so bright I thought it would melt my retinas.
When it faded, Fifi was gone.
In her place, sprawled on the last empty patch of living room floor, was a dragon with shining copper scales.
. She wasn't as gigantic as Caden. She was easily half his size.
Maybe the size of a compact car, but she was bigger than any of the rest of us.
Her wings, delicate and veined with gold, splayed awkwardly behind her, half-tangled in a knit blanket. Her claws dug into the hardwood.
The last chair tumbled, the final casualty of the insanity.
For several seconds, nobody moved. Not the dog, not Mere, not me.
The copper dragon twitched, then let out a noise so scared and lost it broke something inside me.
I hit the floor. Not a controlled move, not some tactical crouch.
My legs just vanished under me, and I collapsed, dragging Mere down with me.
The nearest pillow was on the floor, so I grabbed it.
Not to throw, but to shield myself. I stared through the cotton, shaking so hard my teeth banged together.
"This isn't real. This isn't real, this isn't real." It turned into babble, just a string of syllables. "You drugged me. You freaking drugged me, didn't you? LSD? PCP? What the hell is this?"
My palms were slick, my heart doing Olympic sprints in my chest. There was nothing else. Just dragons, magic, and the taste of terror, real, raw, no chaser.
I think I shrieked again. I couldn't stop staring at them.
Mere was glued to my side, both of us twisted together on the floor amid the wreckage.
Chairs askew, pillows everywhere, the reality of dragons staring us straight in the teeth.
My hands locked around Mere's arm, and she didn't even try to break free.
She was shaking, but her chin shot up, determined not to let anybody see.
Huey pressed against my shins, the whole length of him, warm and real. He didn't bark now, just planted himself between me and the monsters, his body vibrating but so brave.
The cat looked bored.
Caden or Chance or whatever I was supposed to call him, shifted across the wrecked space and curled his enormous frame until his head lay inches from the smaller dragon. The copper one.
My daughter.
The sight of her nearly undid me. Fifi was gone, not gone, but changed. Her scales caught every scrap of firelight, shifting in waves of bronze and gold. Her claws flexed, and her eyes burned liquid sunshine. She looked amazed and terrified, but mostly lost.
Caden, wings tucked to fit the room, kept his head low, making a humming noise. Warmth poured over us, like the world's best heated blanket. If I ignored the claws and the teeth and the general mind-melt, it was almost comforting.
Maeve dusted off her robe and stepped over a smashed side table like the whole thing was routine. She nudged a cushion out of the way and crouched beside us, her stare kind and laser-sharp all at once.
"Tash," she said, "you're not crazy. Nobody laced your cocoa. This is who your daughters are. They’re magical. Always have been, you just didn't know. You couldn't have known."
I pressed my palm into the throw pillow, desperate for something solid. "You expect me to believe this? You're telling me my kid's a dragon? That Chance is… Hell, that he's—" I couldn't even get the words to play nice with my mouth.
I glanced back at the Fifi dragon. Her breathing slowed. The golden eyes blinked. Just once, but it cut me straight through.
A sigh escaped me. "Please tell me this isn't real."
Nobody answered. Not even Maeve.
Behind me, Mere tensed. She let go of my arm and angled herself up, glaring at Maeve. "You're a witch, too?" she barked, jabbing a finger. "You did magic, just now. You're a real witch?"
That floored me. "What do you mean ‘too’?" The words came out screechy, shriller than I meant, but there it was.
Mere shrugged, her calm settled back over her like an old blanket. "I'm a witch, Mom. I just never knew how to say it. You always talked about science, and I tried to figure out how to explain, but it all sounded nuts in my head."
Her gaze flicked to the dragons. "But seeing this? It makes sense. I finally feel right. In a world that didn't seem to have room for me as I was."
She didn't sound scared. She sounded relieved. Like the world had thrown her a life raft instead of a brick.
I most surely felt like I'd been hit with a whole sack full of bricks.
I opened my mouth to reply, but a man's voice appeared in my head. Low, deep, certain.
Natasha, you belong to me.
There was no echo, no sound through my ears. It just showed up, neat and precise, inside my skull.
"What the fu—" I started to yell, but the big black dragon moved.
Carefully, not at all threatening, he flattened himself to the ground and inched forward until his massive head brushed the somehow-not-ruined rug in front of me.
Those silver eyes, a different color yet somehow still Chance's eyes, locked onto mine.
If a statue could bow, this was it. Total surrender, chin tucked, every line of his body radiating respect.
I couldn't look away. "Chance? Are you in there?"
His eyes burned with silver flame, and the answer slid into my mind all sideways.
Yes. He's here with me.
The room went silent. The copper dragon, my Fifi, watched, her head cocked, and I realized she was tracking every breath, every twitch.
The last speck of shock burned right out of me. All that was left was rage and maybe a wild streak of pride.
I let go of Mere, got my feet under me, and glared straight at the legendary beast in the middle of the room. "You do not get to be mad at me for keeping secrets! Ever! You want honesty? Lead by example next time!"
I folded my arms, pillow still clutched like a riot shield.
Huey, God love him, let out a huff and pressed his nose to my ankle.