38. The Perils of Empathy #3
“Is it? Oh dear…” Granny frowned. “I should go check in with Minerva.”
“Minerva?” Arthur snapped to attention. “She has some explaining to do. Is she back?”
“No!” Granny stammered. “No, no, no—pay no mind to this sleep soaked sprite! ’Twas only a nickname I gave to that pesky little house mouse we keep seeing here and there. Been cleaning up after her all day. No wonder I needed a nap!”
“You named a mouse after my great aunt?” Maida asked skeptically.
“Why not? Do you have any better names?” Granny Luna flashed an innocent smile and promptly changed the subject. “Anyway, where do you two suppose Rosie’s got off to? I suppose she could be halfway to Canada by now.” Granny shrugged, distracted by something she was reading on her watch.
“What do you mean by that?” Arthur asked.
He didn’t have to wait long for an answer.
His wrist had begun to buzz as well, flooded with incoming messages about Bardo Chan and his daughter running away together.
The list of places they had been spotted was long, and someone even snapped a picture of the “lovebirds” leaving town, hauling luggage and backpacks.
“This makes no sense.” Maida scrutinized the image and glanced back at the note. She bit her lip worriedly.
“Granny, go and help Ms. Fish. Arthur and I need to call Will. I think Rosie might actually be in a spot of trouble.”
“Nonsense. She has nothing to fear. A powerful dragon shifter like her?” Granny clucked. “I would think that’s one big perk of being her father, no? You don’t have to worry that your little girlie can’t take care of herself. She could probably take care of all of us in one fell swoop!”
“Granny!” Maida snapped. Her eyes were wide, pleading with the fairy.
“Dragon? What in the howling hollows are you going on about now?” Arthur was losing patience with the fairy, who was beginning to show signs of dementia.
He looked from Granny to Maida. Maida looked away. She wouldn’t meet his eye.
“I’m just saying…” Granny refused to let it go.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I’d think you must be quite proud.
It’s like Maida said. The girl is fierce!
The scales on her, Arthur. And the claws!
I can imagine an entire couture line being based on the glorious sheen of her toenails alone.
” Granny smiled wide enough to expose her tiny pointed fangs.
“Is this a joke, Granny?” Arthur asked. “Are you suggesting that my daughter, my Rosie, is a dragon shifter?”
He’d always wondered, of course, what his daughter might become.
Worried a bit too, if he was being honest. He’d never longed for her to embody a gnu, or worse, a goat.
But there was no shame in shifting into an adjacent species.
Plenty of kids did that. Particularly when they were the product of a mixed shifter marriage.
But a dragon? Of all the reasons he could think of for Rosie to keep her shifting attempts private, the thought that she might be a dragon had never crossed his mind. Why would it. It was simply too far-fetched.
He wasn’t even sure he believed in the old lore. When did the last official sighting of a live dragon occur? Not in his lifetime.
Quickly, before Maida could stop him, he snatched Rosie’s second note from the counter.
Bardo needs me to be a dragon for him. He’s finally doing the right thing. Sorry to leave the shop. It shouldn’t take long. Granny’s around here somewhere. Try not to worry. And don’t tell my dad.
Arthur read and reread the words, trying to make sense of them.
He could feel his reality shifting, and it made the world feel slightly off kilter. He shivered at the cold creeping realization that he’d crossed a threshold and there would be no turning back. Nothing would ever be the same. He swiveled to face Maida.
“My daughter is a dragon shifter?” He could hardly believe the words as he spoke them along. “She’s a dragon, and you knew?”
She didn’t answer.
“You knew, and you didn’t tell me?” He couldn’t keep the feeling of betrayal out of his voice or his heart.
“I wanted to, but it wasn’t my place, Arthur.” Maida shook her head. “I begged her to tell you.”
“And you knew about her and that Chan kid?” His realization of her betrayal caused his words to erupt out of him like hot acid, burning him first before damaging her.
“It’s not what you think.” Maida defended his daughter.
“How would you know what I thought? Unless you’re performing your mental magic on me now, too? Is that what’s been going on between us?” Arthur scowled.
Maida flinched.
“I trusted you.” Arthur spat out the phrase, knowing he had himself to blame as much as her. He’d known better than to give into the temptation for companionship, for comfort, for something more.
“I haven’t lied to you, Arthur. My intentions were good.”
He couldn’t look at her. He didn’t want to see her face, or face the witchcraft in her eyes.
“I want to believe you. But so help me if anything happens to my daughter…”
Arthur dropped the note and stormed out the door. Wherever Rosie and Bardo were, he was going to find them.