Winging It (7 page)

I had the urge to tell him he should have made concessions sooner, but I bit back that piece of advice. It should have been good enough for me that he was going after her.

Funny, but it wasn’t. I wanted him to show more emotion for once, to be visibly upset. Maybe to cry. Instead, it felt as if he was going to collect a forgotten umbrella from the Lost and Found.

‘Four minutes,’ he said, biting off the words.

I was halfway out of the kitchen when I remembered who I was talking to. My dad. The dragon who hid his emotions – and his vulnerabilities – better than any six poker faces put together.

I turned back to watch him rinse his coffee mug. His expression was grim and as I looked more closely, I saw an unfamiliar tension in him. He was trying to hide his reaction and unable to do so. That meant he was really upset. I wondered whether he’d slept at all. And he had nearly lost it the night before. I guessed that he blamed himself even more than I blamed him.

In a strange way, that made me feel better.

‘Do you think you can convince her?’ I asked quietly.

I didn’t miss his grimace, even though it was quickly gone. ‘I am not sure.’ It was maybe the first time I’d ever heard him speak without conviction. That made my stomach queasy. ‘But I guarantee you that I will do my best to persuade her.’

‘I think you can be pretty persuasive.’

He smiled then, a humorless expression that lasted less than a heartbeat. ‘And I think your mother is a woman who knows her own mind.’ He frowned and spoke softly. ‘I shall try, Zoë. It’s the only thing that I can promise.’

When he looked up, there was a shadow in his eyes, a doubt I never thought I’d glimpse in my dad. I’d always believed he was in charge of the whole universe, that he could do anything or achieve anything. He could do a lot, even more than most dads.

But he wasn’t sure he could convince my mom to stay with him.

And that was ripping his guts out, doing more damage than the most ferocious dragon attack.

I crossed the room and gave him an impulsive hug, shocked by how tightly he hugged me back. We stood there for a long moment, clutching each other and I heard his breath catch.

My invincible dad was scared crapless.

He really did care.

‘I’ll be ready in five,’ I said to him when I pulled back, realizing belatedly that I sounded a lot like my mom when she has a To Do list. ‘Could you pack me a couple of granola bars and an apple? I’ll eat on the way.’

My inclination to play as part of the team was cut short, but quick. My dad drummed his fingers on the counter as I was leaving the room. I had a fleeting sense that he was going to say something I wouldn’t like.

And he did.

‘You should also be aware that I have decided to modify the Covenant in your case, given the circumstances.’

I froze on the threshold of the kitchen to look back. ‘What?’

He gave me one of those glittering looks. ‘You are forbidden to shift to dragon form without prior approval from me.’

I looked away in a futile effort to control my temper. The very idea that anyone could know when they would need to shift, in advance, in time to ask permission, was so stupid that only a parent could have come up with it.

This was about his lack of confidence in my abilities.

Or some need for control.

And I chafed at the restriction. ‘I can’t shift without your permission?’ I asked, making him say it again.

‘No.’ He glared at me. ‘And I’m not giving it.’

It was pretty easy to guess that the other older
Pyr
would back the choice of my dad, who is their leader, after all. ‘But you’re leaving. What about self-defense?’

‘You’ll have no cause to defend yourself.’

I flung out my hands. ‘What about the Mages and their plan to eliminate shifters?’

‘We have a treaty with them. It’s resolved.’ He ground out the words, convinced of the power of diplomacy. His eyes narrowed. ‘Did you not shift yesterday, in front of Meagan?’

‘Well, yeah, but Suzanne had punched her—’

‘But you could not have dealt with this threat in human form?’

I was at a loss there. I could have, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as cool.

‘You have shown that your judgment is not sound. We will discuss this more upon my return. Until then, you will not shift.’

‘But—’

‘I do not want to exile my own daughter, but I will do it if you insist on my making an example of you.’

‘What if we’re attacked?’

‘You will not be. Two minutes.’

I didn’t share his confidence at all, but he was unshakable. His decision was completely unfair and unreasonable – but there is no
Pyr
court of appeals. I know I must have looked mutinous when I stared at him, but he stared right back.

Dragon-stared.

‘One minute,’ he reminded me curtly.

One more time I retreated and slammed the door of my room.

I hurled clothes into a backpack, mad enough that there must have been steam coming out of my ears. This wasn’t about me, or even about the Covenant. This was all about my dad keeping up appearances for his
Pyr
buddies. Maybe it was about my brother turning
Slayer
. Either way, it had nothing to do with me being safe.

That was when I knew what I would do. I wouldn’t shift. I’d follow my dad’s stupid rule to show that I was trustworthy.

But I would also prove him wrong, about one thing at least.

And Isabelle would help me.

Meagan’s mom met us at school and stored my bag in their car. She tried to offer a bit of sensitive encouragement to my dad, but he was brusque with her. I took this as a sign of his own doubts and felt kind of bad for him.

‘
You can do it, Dad
,’ I murmured in old-speak after he turned away, and saw him jerk in response. Then he shot me a vivid glance, got in the car and was gone.

I shoved my hands into my pockets and found the ring. I felt superstitious about putting it on without knowing everything it could do, and trusted my instinct. I wasn’t going to leave it anywhere, either, though. I would just keep it close, and touch it sometimes.

‘I’m sorry about your mom.’ Meagan bumped her shoulder against mine, the way we used to. ‘It’s good he’s going after her.’

‘Yeah.’ I sighed. ‘I’m glad about that.’

‘Fingers crossed,’ Meagan said and flashed me a smile. Her smile really did flash – she had a mouthful of metal. ‘Hey, you know, we could try one of my mom’s visioning sessions after school and see if we can help your dad. We could get my mom to help—’

‘I have to go somewhere after school,’ I said, thinking about the weight of the ring in my pocket. I’d have to persuade Mrs Jameson to let me meet Isabelle somehow.

‘That’s okay. We’ll go take care of that first, then do the visioning session. After dinner, if we have to.’ Meagan was trying to accommodate me, which said a lot either about how nice she is or about how long we’ve been pals. ‘Where do you have to go?’

She obviously thought I had a dentist’s appointment or something. I felt my gut knot, because there was no avoiding what I had to say. I couldn’t exactly ask Isabelle about the ring with Meagan present. It was pure dragon biz. ‘Um … I have to visit someone. Alone.’

I just wanted to stop her before she planned everything, but I handled it badly. She tensed and I knew I’d hurt her feelings.

Again.

‘I see.’ Her tone said it all. ‘And I suppose that if you’re still staying with us on Halloween, you’ll go to Trevor’s party alone, too?’

‘I told you I’m not going to his party—’

‘Don’t lie to me, Zoë!’ Meagan snapped. ‘It’s bad enough that you won’t tell me things.’

‘But I swear I
can’t
tell you …’

‘No, you
won’t
tell me.’ She grabbed the door and hauled it open. ‘I suppose it’s better to find out who your real friends are.’

It would have been great if I’d thought of the perfect reply, but instead I just stood there with my mouth hanging open.

And you know what happened next.

‘Meagan!’ Jessica called and waved from down the hall. ‘Did you solve the bonus questions from math?’

Meagan grinned. ‘Even better! I have the coolest thing to tell you. You’ll never guess what I saw yesterday.’

And they were gone, speculating on the identity of the dragon kid in our school, leaving me behind – me, who could have told them the real story,
if
it hadn’t been for the stupid Covenant. Even if there was a marginal chance of my not getting exiled, it depended upon my playing by my dad’s rules in the short term. Just the scorch of that dragonsmoke had been enough to convince me that he was serious about reinforcing the rules.

Even on me.

Derek appeared in my peripheral vision when I was opening my locker.

‘Fight?’ he asked. I didn’t have to ask what he meant. I knew he must have been watching our exchange.

‘Kind of.’ I shrugged, as if it would blow over. ‘How was the game?’

‘Central won.’ He didn’t sound surprised.

I wasn’t either.

We ran out of conversation at that point. I got my books for the morning classes, sure that he’d leave.

He didn’t.

He cleared his throat. For the first time I’d ever noticed, Derek looked uncomfortable. He almost shuffled his feet. That made me curious as to what he wanted to say. ‘So, they say you draw.’

Now I was the one watching him intently. ‘Some. Yeah.’

Those eyes were icy blue, his gaze fixed on me. ‘Dragons.’

I swallowed, feeling like I was under a microscope. ‘Usually.’ I felt myself blushing. ‘Call it a weakness.’

‘I don’t.’ I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but he was digging in his bag. He offered a new notebook to me, as if he thought I’d refuse to take it. ‘Draw me one?’

Kids asked me to do this all the time, to embellish one of their notebooks with a dragon. For some reason, Derek’s request felt different, maybe just because he was different.

Intense. That was the word for him.

Like the weight of the world was hanging on my decision.

Or maybe I was making too much of it.

I tried to shake off my sense of foreboding. ‘Sure,’ I said, as if it was no big deal.

It wasn’t.

At least it shouldn’t have been.

‘Gotta get in line early,’ he said, to my surprise. ‘Haven’t you heard?’ He was studying me again. ‘Everyone’s talking about the dragon who spooked Suzanne.’ He jerked his head toward the bathroom, scene of the crime, which was closed off.

‘Oh, I did hear something,’ I said, trying to sound disinterested.

‘I thought you’d be all over that story, since it stars a dragon.’

I blushed. Again. ‘I like them better in fiction.’

‘Really?’ He couldn’t have sounded more skeptical.

I changed the subject. ‘So, any preferences? Flying? Perching?’

‘Kicking butt.’ He spoke with resolve. ‘I want to see a dragon kicking some bully’s ass.’

My mouth went dry. I had those prickles on the back of my neck again.

There couldn’t be any way that Derek knew my secret.

Could there?

He looked one more time into my eyes, hard, as if he was trying to tell me something. I couldn’t think what it might be. I couldn’t think of a thing to say.

Not one thing.

Derek smiled a little, that secret smile he seemed to keep especially for me, then turned and walked away. I stared after him, wondering.

Was Derek intense because he
liked
me? It was an astonishing possibility. I’d never had a guy like me at school before. In fact, I had so far shown a talent for liking guys who didn’t like me back. Or ran hot and cold about liking me back.

But Derek seemed to be interested. And he kept coming to talk to me. I didn’t think it was just about a dragon drawing. He also didn’t run hot and cold. He was consistent. I got my books out for class, pondering the possibilities. Just because it was strange and unusual for a guy to like me didn’t mean it was impossible.

Right?

* * *

Derek was right about one thing – the school was buzzing with the story and speculation was running wild. Some people thought the whole thing was a hoax, a story made up by Suzanne and spread by her friends to make her look special. But many people shared Meagan’s conviction that one of the guys at school must be a dragon shifter. Who was the dragon hidden among us? People really wanted to know – and in the absence of any real information, they were prepared to make something up that sounded plausible.

It would have been funny if I hadn’t been so terrified of being found out.

Suzanne was absent. I’d been right – Meagan had told the principal that she didn’t see anything, just Suzanne freaking out. Apparently, Suzanne had talked a lot about dragons attacking her and the principal had concluded that she was tripping on something. Her parents had refused to let her have a blood test or to have her seen by a doctor, so she’d been suspended for the day.

Her groupies seemed a bit shaken by their idol’s tumble from grace, and I overheard Trish defending Suzanne a couple of times. She even talked about identifying the dragon kid and ‘taking him down,’ which was pretty funny.

I wanted to see her try.

I just kept my head down – even if I found Derek watching me at every turn. You’d think I could have gotten control of my crazy blushing, but no luck. I spent the day as red as a lobster, hugging my secret close and avoiding conversation.

In other words, like usual, but more red.

On the upside, Meagan was Ms Popularity, everyone wanting to hear the story from her side. That she deviated from her official version, telling Jessica and others about the dragon, just made her a bigger hit. Trish and Anna were watching Meagan from a distance – like circling piranhas – but apparently didn’t dare get close to her.

Or maybe they were waiting for the Queen Bee to make a plan.

In math class, Trish was busy on her messenger, probably researching the
Pyr
for Suzanne. Everyone around me had dragon fever, and everyone was on the dragon’s side. And that was when I realized three things: