Chapter Twenty-Four

Levi

"D ad?"

The tiny, tentative voice had an oversized effect. My snout came up off the stone roof in a flash, snaking over my body in frantic search of the questing owner.

"I'm here, son," I said, slowing my movements, not wanting to scare Jakub now that I was awake and alert to his presence.

As my snout cleared the crest of my back, I froze. Jakub was standing at his mother's side. Her eyes were soft, perhaps even a little sad.

Apologetic.

"What is it?" I asked, trying not to let the memories of the night before interfere.

"I, um, wanna know, uh, the fire," Jakub said halting. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I told him, holding back a smile. Dragon teeth wouldn't win me any friends just then. "That's totally normal. It happens to everyone."

"Really?"

I nodded, focusing for a moment to force my body back into its human form. Jakub's eyes widened as he watched it happen.

"I wanna do that!" he shouted excitedly, looking up at Sarah. "Can I? Can I, Mom? Pretty please!"

"You'll have to ask your dad," she said, gesturing in my direction.

That stopped me in my tracks.

Ask your dad .

It was the first time she'd used that word to describe me. Not father. Not Mister Levi. No, none of those. She'd called me Jake's dad.

I was floored, struck speechless even as the little guy came hard charging across the roof to take my hand and jump up and down asking if he could change into his own giant dragon.

My eyes, however, were only for Sarah. I lifted my eyebrows slightly. Had she meant that? Done it on purpose, or was it just a common line?

Her face softened, and she nodded slowly. It had been a conscious choice. An olive branch after her reaction the night before.

Thank you , I mouthed, before taking Jake's hand and leading him away from the stairs. The space was necessary. Teaching young children their powers could get … messy.

"How do I be a dragon? I wanna fly!"

I chuckled. "Changing into a dragon takes a lot of practice, Jake. It doesn't just happen overnight. It takes years and years of focus and practice."

"Oh." His face fell, disappointment measurable.

"But," I added, "the first thing you do learn how to do is make fire."

His eyes went wide. "Really?"

"Really," I said with a laugh. "You're going to make fire appear in your palm today."

I hope .

He looked at his palm. "No fire."

"Not yet," I said, lifting my own. "But soon, you'll be able to do this ."

A flame coiled up from my palm, piling circle onto circle like ice cream as it rose up and up.

"How? How do I do it?"

"First, we sit down," I said, adopting a cross-legged position. "You face me."

He mirrored me, and I worked to control my emotions. He was my son, and I was going to show him the first step in embracing his dragon heritage. It was a moment I'd thought about in daydreams and deep sleeps.

Now, it was coming true.

"I want you to close your eyes and think back to last night. Were you asleep when it happened? Or awake?"

"Asleep."

"Good. Now try to remember what you were dreaming about. Were you happy? Or sad? Angry?"

"I was sad," Jake said. "Maybe angry. And happy."

Kids.

"Which one was strongest?" I pushed. "Keep your eyes closed. Think about it. You have to be able to focus to do this. Which feeling was the biggest in your mind?"

"Happy."

"Okay. I want you to focus on that happiness. On how it made you feel inside. Focus on it really hard."

Jakub screwed his face shut even tighter. I stifled a laugh. To him, it wasn't funny, he was just doing as I'd said.

"Put your hand out in front of you, palm upward. Yes, just like that. Now, keeping your eyes closed, I want you to take that happiness, that energy, and push it into your hand. Transform it into flames of happiness."

I sat back and waited, curious as to whether anything would happen. Predictably, it didn't. Jakub opened his eyes and stared at his palm with undisguised sadness.

Without being told, he closed his eyes again. I knew he was focusing extra hard because he began to shake.

"Focus only with your brain and mind. Not your body. You don't need to shake your muscles. Relax them."

"I … feel funny," Jakub said.

I sat upright. "What kind of funny?"

"Weird. It tingles, Dad."

"Good! Focus on that. Try to push it into your palm. Tell it with your mind what you want it to be. That you want it to be fire."

He was silent for nearly a minute. In child, that was an eternity, and I wondered if perhaps he'd fallen asleep. Then he shouted, "Fire! Fire! Fire!" Nothing happened. Jakub stared at his empty hand, then dropped it. "I can't do it."

"Yes, you can," I said, carefully not glancing at his mother, who watched from the stairwell. "You did it last night. That's proof you can do it. Now, you just need to learn how. You've only tried two times."

"Yeah, but it didn't work ," he said plaintively.

I frowned thoughtfully. "You've seen babies before, right?"

"Yeah," he said suspiciously.

"Can they walk?"

"No."

"Can you?"

"Yeah."

"So, it took you time, right? But now you can walk and run."

"I'm fast!"

I laughed. "Exactly! Because you worked on it. Can you count to ten?"

"I'm four and a half !" It was all the answer I got, but I supposed it meant yes. I decided not to test him on it. Now was the time for encouragement, just in case. Besides, I had no idea if that was good, bad, or average for his age.

I had lots to learn about being a dad.

"So, let's practice again. You've done it two times. What comes after two?"

"Three."

"Right. Let's go number three!"

Jakub settled down and once again focused.

"Find that funny feeling," I urged. "Grab it with your mind. Make it do what you want. Tell it you want fire in your hand."

" I want fire in my hand ," he said quietly to himself, over and over.

"Wow!" Jakub yelped as fire exploded out from his hand like a firework.

I reached out with my mind to the flames, grabbing them and bringing them under control before they could hit me or him.

"Good!" I said. "Good job!"

From off to the side, Sarah clapped excitedly. "Jakie! Good job, baby! Good job! Mommy is so proud of you! You did it!"

"I did it, Mom!" he called back. "I did it! Fire! I fired!"

"Yes, you did! You did it so well!" she called back.

"Did you see, Mom? The fire wasn't there. Then I said it, and then it was in my hand! I did it!"

"I saw, baby! I saw. Way to go. Can you do it again?"

Jake put on his fiercest frown and settled in to try again.

That time, flames bubbled over like an overflowing pot. I smiled as they dribbled onto the roof between us, hissing and sizzling as they faded into nothing.

"Good job," I said, putting my hand out for a high five. "You'll be an expert at it in no time. Soon, you'll be able to do this."

I clapped my hands together, and as I pulled them apart, fire dripped from between them like glue. It fell, swirling around itself until it hit the ground, moving faster and faster until a flame-tornado spun off across the roof and into nothingness.

"My turn!" Jakub cried.

Gesturing for him to give it a try, I leaned in to give him some more pointers on creating fire and what could be done with it after that. We worked for nearly twenty minutes before Jakub declared he was tired and got up to go do something else.

Following him over to Sarah, I smiled at her, trying not to be tight. Judging by her look, I failed.

"Go on inside, I'll be there in a minute to help you with some food," Sarah said, giving Jakub a little push to get moving.

She didn't follow, instead staying put and blocking me from going down the stairs.

"Can I go inside?" I asked, pointing past her.

"No."

I arched an eyebrow. We both knew I could just move her if I wanted. But she had a reason, so I gestured for her to get it out.

"Last night was rude of me. I'm sorry," she said. "I won't lie to either of us and pretend it was something it wasn't. It was exactly what it was."

"Okay. This isn't the best apology ever, but …"

"You have to understand it from my side, Levi. For most of the last year, dragons have been the enemy. The bogeyman in the dark. We've come to fear your people and for good reason, I think."

I licked my lips, not sure what to say to that.

"I didn't think I felt that strongly about it," she said softly. "But apparently, I did. And I'm going to work on that. Because I know you better than that. Logically. But emotions power many of our responses in moments of high tension. I don't want to tell you it will never happen again because it might. I am going to work to try not to. I hope it won't. But these things take time to undo. I can't just snap my fingers."

"Okay." I stroked my jaw. "Thank you for your apology and honesty, Sarah. I appreciate it. It's refreshing to hear things laid out as they are, no pretending."

She nodded. "You deserve that much."

"Thank you."

Another nod. "I'm going to hug you now, Levi."

I laughed. It felt good, a lightening of my inner mood. "That would be nice."

Her body was immediately pressed against me, all soft curves and firm muscle, a solid eight inches shorter. My chin rested on the top of her head, drinking in the smell of her shampoo with its faint coconut odor. I liked it.

"Levi."

"Yes?"

"I think we have company."

I pulled away to follow her gaze. Two dragons were arrowing in on my condo. They were still far away, but their path seemed to lead straight to us.

"Go inside," I said. "Without rushing. But whatever you don't, don't let Jakub come out. Keep him inside. Keep him quiet. Am I understood?"