"What in tarnation…?"
Mr. Aran covered himself not to be hit by the glass splinters shooting through the air. In their cages, his spiders hissed. Amy puffed herself up, spread out her wings, then took in a deep breath before throwing a ball of fire at him. Mr. Aran gaped, then jumped for his life while the fireball shot past him and hit the wall instead, leaving a massive black mark.
Amy roared again, then approached Melanie, reached out her short chubby hand and looked into her friend's eyes, trying her best to let her know who she was. Melanie whimpered, terrified, and covered her head with her arms at first, but as she looked into Amy's eyes, she recognized her.
Amy smiled but had no idea if Melanie could see it or not. Did dragons even smile?
Melanie grabbed her arm, and Amy slung her onto her back. She was about to turn when a huge pain shot through her side. She growled and turned her head to see a fire poker had been pierced through her side.
Amy roared again, this time in deep pain. Melanie screamed. Amy spotted Mr. Aran next to her, then stepped toward him, shaking the ground around him with every step she took. She could tell he was scared of her. She spat out another ball of fire toward him, but Mr. Aran was fast and crawled away, so the flames engulfed his dinner table instead and left nothing but charcoaled dust on the carpet. Amy could no longer see him and turned around, but only to find him sitting upside down under the ceiling. Amy snorted once again, then stepped outside, Melanie clinging onto her back.
She rushed across the street into Amy's backyard where she put Melanie down and grabbed the fire poker with her hand, then pulled it out with a loud roar. As it came out, her wings retracted, and she was suddenly human again, blood gushing from a wound in her side. She fell onto the grass.
"Help."
"Amy!" Melanie shrieked. She looked around her, then at the house where they could see Amy's parents sitting inside.
"Help!" Melanie yelled and ran to the window before Amy could stop her. She really didn't need her parents involved in this. Not now. But it was too late. Melanie knocked on the windows and caught Amy's parents’ attention. They rushed to the door and came out.
"Amy!"
The last thing Amy remembered was her mother's worried eyes looking into hers. After that, everything went black.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Melanie had no more strength and sat in the grass as Amy's parents stormed outside, her mother crying Amy's name, running to her, Amy lying in a pool of blood.
"Oh, my God, Jim, she's barely breathing. Her pulse is so low. She's…she's…look at all that blood!"
Amy’s father approached Melanie. "What happened? What have you done to our daughter?"
"F-fire poker," Melanie said, barely having the strength to say the words. "In her side."
"She has a huge wound here," her mother said, trying to stop the blood with her hand. "There is so much blood. I can't believe it. I…please…help…I need help."
Amy’s dad rushed to Amy and helped her mother stuff the wound by taking off his shirt and placing it on top of the wound. Melanie felt like throwing up. She was terrified. She would never be able to live with herself if Amy died just because she saved her. It would be unbearable. Melanie cried as she watched Amy’s parents frantically trying to stop the bleeding.
"Please, God. Please, don't let her die," Melanie mumbled under her breath. "Please."
"There’s too much blood, Jim," Amy's mother cried, helplessly. "There's too much. It's not stopping."
Their eyes met.
"You know what we have to do," her dad said. "I'll do it."
"No." Amy’s mother shook her head. "It's too much for you…you'll…"
"We'll deal with that later. It's worth it, Carol. This is our daughter we're talking about."
Her mother exhaled, then nodded. "Okay. But hurry. She doesn't have long. We're talking seconds before her heart stops."
Amy’s dad then rose to his feet and stormed inside, then came back with a knife in his hand. He looked at his wife, then cut himself on the arm. Her mother then grabbed it and let the blood drip onto Amy. Melanie watched with great confusion.
What the heck…? What good is that gonna do Amy?
"Hurry, Jim, over here too," her mother said. "Her pulse has stopped. Come on, Amy; come on, sweetie. Don't give up now. Please, baby. Please, fight, please come back to us."
Melanie got up on her knees and stared at the parents who were dripping the father's blood all over Amy's wound. To Melanie, it reminded her of some sort of strange sect ritual. Had they completely lost their minds? Didn't they realize their daughter needed to go to the hospital? Why weren't they calling for an ambulance?
She was about to open her mouth and speak up when suddenly Amy moved her arm. Her mother gasped and held a hand to her mouth, when the huge wound in Amy's side slowly healed and, seconds later, was completely gone. Amy blinked and sat up.
"W-what…Mom...Dad? What happened?"
Chapter Thirty-Four
They took her inside. Her mom carried Amy into the living room and put her down on the couch.
"Melanie," she said as her mother let go of her. "Is she all right?"
Her mom nodded, then smiled. "We thought we had lost you there, kiddo. You had me scared."
"I thought I had lost you too," Melanie said and came up behind Amy's mother. Amy smiled happily to see that her friend was all right.
"Yeah…well, you ain't getting rid of me that easily," Amy said.
"How did this even happen?" Amy's mother said and looked accusatorily at Melanie.
"It wasn't her fault," Amy said.
Her mother sighed and removed hair from Amy's face. "If you say so."
"Can she stay here again? Please?" Amy asked.
"I’m not sure we can have this kind of trouble…here," she said.
"It's important. She's in danger."
Amy's mother sighed. "Well…okay…I guess we can give it a shot…"
Amy's dad came into the living room, holding onto the door, leaning on the wall, looking pale.
"Carol…I…"
"JIM!"
"DAD!"
Amy's dad let go of the wall and fell to the ground with a loud thud. Amy and her mother sprang for him. Melanie got up and followed them.
"We've got to get him up," Amy's mother said. She grabbed him and lifted him into the air like he weighed nothing. Amy backed up as she put him on the couch and sat by him.
"Is he all right?" Amy asked, heart throbbing.
Her mother sighed and smiled, strained. "He will be. Hopefully."
"It's because of what he did, isn't it?" Melanie asked. "The blood thing?"
"What blood thing?" Amy asked.
"He saved you," Melanie said. "I saw it. He cut himself and dripped blood on your wound to make it close up."
Amy could hardly breathe. "Is that true, Mom?"
She exhaled and nodded. "Yes."
"So…so…so that means," Amy said, looking at her mother's face. Their eyes met. "That means he's a dragon too?"
"What do you mean too?" her mother said.
"I’m one too. I…the other night when you were out of town on one of your trips, I accidentally dripped blood on Billie Jean, who was about to die from a bad wound; actually, I think she might have been dead because she wasn't breathing, but the blood totally healed her and then…then Robyn was ripped up by the wolf, and I used my blood on her, and she was totally healed, and Mom…this is so cool. I’m not the only one...I thought I was all alone and then I turned into that dragon tonight with wings and everything, and I ran away because I thought you would be scared of me and…I ran across the street when I saw lights on in Mr. Aran's house, and I looked in the window and saw Melanie. Mr. Aran was being totally mean to her and I…I jumped through the window and saved her, and Mr. Aran then poked this fire poker in my side and then…"
Her mother looked confused. "Let me get this straight. You…have… changed?"
"Well, yes."
/> "You got your wings?"
Amy swallowed. "Yes."
A wide smile spread across her mother's face. "That's wonderful, Amy, but…I hadn't expected…I mean, you're only sixteen. I hadn't expected this to happen till you were eighteen like I was when I changed the first time. You're early."
"That's why you haven't talked to me about it?" Amy asked, feeling relief so great it was hard not to burst into laughter.
"I didn't think I needed to yet, but apparently girls mature earlier now. I can't believe you went through this alone, getting your wings. You must have been in great pain, baby."
"I was. Like crazy. I thought I was going to die," Amy said.
"It does hurt when they grow out the first time. After that, it gets easier every time you change. Same with the changing. In the beginning, it just happens randomly, but later you find out how to control it, to will your dragon out when you need it."
Amy was breathing heavily, looking from her mother to Melanie to her father. "Will he be all right?" she asked.
Her mother sighed. "I hope so. He used his blood to save you. When a dragon uses his or her blood, they get sick. It gets worse every time. The thing is, you have to guard your blood, Amy. You only have a certain amount of it, and every time you use it, you get weaker. In the end, that's what kills you. When you run out of blood."
"That's why I got sick after healing Robyn and Billie Jean," Amy said. "I thought I just had the flu."
"You shouldn't use your blood lightly. It's very precious. People chase us to get their hands on it and to use its healing properties. Every drop is extremely valuable. No one must ever know what you're capable of or what you can do. Now, the blood you just lost out on the grass was restored to you by your father when he healed you. A dragon parent can do that to their child. We can give you our blood, but it makes us even sicker than when saving a human."
"Oh, wow. I didn't know."
"There is so much I need to tell you. But first, you must tell me about Mr. Aran. You said you saved Melanie from his house tonight? Did he see you?"
Amy nodded. "He saw my dragon. And he poked me in the side."
"But he didn't see you; he doesn't know it’s you, Amy the girl, right?" she asked.
Amy shook her head. "I…I don't think so."
"He knows I’m a wolf," Melanie said. "He kept me inside a sticky web, asking me questions about each and every person in the neighborhood, wanting me to tell what I knew and especially who turned me into the wolf."
"He is closer than I expected," Amy's mother said.
"Who is he, Mom, and why is he after us?" Amy asked.
Her mother shook her head. "Don't worry about him. Just stay away from him and be careful that he doesn’t find out what you are."
Amy's dad whimpered and turned on the couch, droplets of sweat springing out on his forehead. Amy's mother felt his head.
"He's burning up," she said, sounding concerned. "The next twenty-four hours will show if he survives this."
"If he survives it?" Amy shrieked. "You mean he risks dying?"
Her mother nodded with an exhale. "Using your blood always comes with great risk. You need to remember that."
Chapter Thirty-Five
A shooting star flew across the dark sky, and Jayden spotted it.
"There was another one."
"I saw it."
Ruelle and Jayden were lying on the lawn, watching the meteor shower. It had been a magical night so far. Jayden couldn't believe how easy she was to hang with and the rest of her family too. Everything about them just mixed well with his family. It was just so relaxing and…nice.
"There was another one over there," she said and pointed.
Jayden spotted it.
"So, what did you wish for?" she asked and rolled around to face him. "When you saw the shooting star?"
He sighed. "I can't tell you; you know that. It won't come true. Those are the rules."
She scoffed and looked away. "So, what's her name?"
He looked at her, then sat up. "What do you mean?"
"There's a girl, isn't there?"
He bit his lip. He didn't want to hurt Ruelle. It was the last thing he wanted to do. But he had to be honest with her too.
He nodded.
"I had a feeling there was," she said.
"I'm sorry?" he said, feeling awful.
She chuckled. "It's okay. We hardly know each other."
"But…but the thing is…I really like you," he said. "It's just…I’ve known Robyn all my life and…"
"Please. You don't need to explain anything," she said with a light exhale. "It is what it is, right?"
"I guess."
He picked some grass with his fingers, then threw it. "But maybe we should get to know each other a little more," he said. "I would like to get to know you a little better."
She nodded. "I'd like that. Just as long as you don't do it because you feel sorry for me. There is nothing worse than a mercy date. I'll only say yes because I enjoy hanging out with you."
"Same here."
He was, in fact, doing it because he had made a promise to his mother and it was expected of him, but he was also doing it because he liked her. Because she was nice and great to be with. Was it betraying Robyn when she was out with Duncan all the time?
"I won't," he said.
"Okay. Then ask me, properly," she said.
"So…I was wondering…" he began, "do you want to go on a date with me one day?"
She smiled, her white teeth shining in the darkness. "Yes, Jayden. I would like that."
"Then it's settled. I'll take you out next weekend," he said.
They got up as Jayden's mom called for him to come; it was time to go home. He said goodbye to Ruelle, then rushed toward his mother, smiling.
"I take it you asked her out?" she said.
He nodded, feeling the guilt nagging deep inside of him. How was he going to explain this to Robyn?
She's seeing Duncan too. She can't say anything.
"That's my boy," his mother said and patted him on the shoulder. "That's my boy."
Chapter Thirty-Six
I was running as fast as I could and, for once, I wasn't completely crushed when I ran up my street toward the cul-de-sac. My mom was already at our house, naturally, waiting for me, as usual. I knew she wasn't going to be very impressed with my performance, but I thought I had done pretty well for once. I was getting stronger; all this running was actually getting me into better shape, and I found that I was liking it. I still wasn't very fond of the idea of running that half-marathon with my mother, but I didn't mind how much stronger all this training made me. And it was a plus that I actually got to get outside during the school day, even if I had to run.
As I reached Amy's house, I was starting to pant heavily, but I wanted to run the last part, sprint it if I could, to impress my mom. There was a light inside Amy's house, and her truck was still in the driveway. I spotted her mom in the window and realized her parents had to be home. Why wasn't Amy in school? Had her parents let her stay home?
Jayden's house was empty since they were all out. My heart dropped as I thought about him. He had been a little distant the night before when I had been over. I had asked him about the visit at Ruelle's house, and he hadn't told me much, except that it was very messy, and I had shuddered because I absolutely hated messy places. He didn't want to talk more about the visit, and I wondered why. I guessed it was kind of like I didn't like to talk much about my visits—or dates—with Duncan. I didn't want to hurt him by letting him know that I enjoyed it. But did that mean he enjoyed being with her? I didn't like the thought.
"Come on, Robyn!"
My mom was yelling from our driveway. She was doing her stretches while trying to cheer me on, or whatever it was she was doing.
"Quit slacking! Come on; you're not even working, go faster! Come on, Robyn!"
I bit my lip and tried to speed up, but my legs were hurting like crazy, and I had to slow down instead
to be able to finish.
"You look like Donald Trump when asked about gun control." She laughed at her own joke.
I shook my head and blocked her out. Instead, I focused on finishing and, panting and gasping for air, I ran into our driveway and threw myself on the grass.
I closed my eyes and, when I opened them again, my mom was standing bent over me, looking at me above the edge of her sunglasses. She kept staring at me. I wanted her to stop when I realized the look in her eyes had changed. She looked down at my knee.
"Did you fall?" she asked.
I nodded. I fell on the asphalt when we passed the diner downtown. It had been a little embarrassing, and I could only hope that no one I knew had seen me while drinking milkshakes and eating burgers.
My mother licked her teeth as she stared at the bloody wound on my knee, and that was when I realized something was going on with her. I pulled my leg up and sat up straight. My mother's eyes grew wide and wild. Her fangs poked out, and I could hear a sizzle that soon turned into a hiss emerging from her throat.
I pulled away with a slight whimper, my mother reaching down a finger and touching the wound.
"Ouch, Mom."
She stared at the blood on her finger, her nostrils flaring. My heart was throbbing in my chest as my mom fought to keep her inner vampire back, but not doing a very good job. I suddenly remembered how she always felt very sick when I came home hurt as a child and needed a Band-Aid. Both she and my dad would excuse themselves by saying they were “squeamish around blood.” It was usually my older brother who would take care of me.
"Mom? Why are you looking at me like that? Mom?"
I crabbed away across the grass, while my mother stared at her finger and the blood on it, my blood. She was about to taste it, sticking out her long tongue, when a voice coming from behind immediately pulled her back to her human shape.
"Mrs. Jones?"
Chapter Thirty-Seven