Aiden climbed into bed, taking the leaf with him. This isn’t much weirder than the stuff you do every day at school. A little touch of magic, not even as crazy as the spells he did with Dylan. Still, he didn’t want to see the man who called himself Uncle. Whenever he thought about him, it filled him with uneasiness.
But he couldn’t forget what Uncle had offered. A chance to meet his parents, which was only possible if the connection was strengthened. So he needed to do this.
Aiden pressed the leaf to his chest, then thought better of it and slipped it under his pajama shirt so it lay against his skin. He tried to calm down and focus on being able to meet his parents, maybe even his brother. Closing his eyes, he whispered into the dark, “Uncle, Uncle, Uncle.”
Nervousness kept him awake a while longer, but in time he drifted to sleep.
Darkness, a few wisps of dreams that didn’t take full form, and then the high-def forest.
This time, Uncle stood there waiting in his human form. “You have it?” His expression was eager.
Aiden nodded. He reached under his shirt and found the oak leaf there, pressed against his skin. He held it out and Uncle snatched it from his hand.
“Wonderful.” He wrapped his fingers around the leaf, closed his eyes for a moment. “Yes, this is a strong magic, wrought by many hands.”
“Did you find my parents?”
Uncle opened his eyes. “Not as of yet. I have their trail, but it may take some time.”
“How long?”
“That I cannot say.” Uncle frowned, nostrils flaring. In a quick motion, he leaned close, drawing a deep breath through his nose.
With a cry of surprise, Aiden stumbled away.
“My humble apologies.” Uncle smiled. “I did not mean to startle you. What is this flavor you carry, of fire and stone?”
“I don’t know what you mean.” Aiden backed away a little more.
“The powerful magic of another.” He sniffed again, though thankfully he didn’t get any closer. “An old taste. A dragon taste.”
“Do you mean Dylan?” They’d been training that day, and Aiden might have somehow carried some bit of Dylan’s magic into his dream the way he’d carried the leaf. “He’s dragonkin.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Aiden regretted it. Giving Uncle that information… it felt wrong somehow.
Uncle’s eyes lit with eagerness. “Dragonkin? You fought a dragonkin and lived?”
“Uhh… we weren’t fighting. Dylan is my friend.”
Uncle tilted his head. “You are friends with a dragonkin? How strange.”
“Are you going to tell me to stay away from him too? Everyone keeps warning me he’s dangerous.”
“Dragonkin are very dangerous.” Uncle steepled his hands and drummed his fingers together. “But I will not warn you away from your friend. Friendship makes life sweeter.” Uncle paced. “I will continue to search for your parents, but I am afraid I need to ask another favor of you.”
“What?” Aiden didn’t want to do any more favors, didn’t want Uncle invading his dreams anymore. But this was the best chance to find his parents and his brother.
“Starting at the dark of the moon, take a vessel of water and put one drop of your blood in it. Do this each night—”
“My blood?” That didn’t sound right at all.
“Yes, only a drop. For three cycles of the moon—”
“Why do you need me to do this?”
Irritation flashed across Uncle’s features before his expression smoothed. “If you do all the things I tell you, you will be able to travel to Faery freely, to visit your parents and all your other kin, and they will be able to visit you.”
It was tempting, but it felt so wrong. “Give me time to think about this, okay?”
Another flash of irritation. “Very well. Two nights from now, I will visit your dreams again. I do not know what you learned in the human world, but magic is not a thing of evil. It is part of you, and you need not fear it.”
“I’m trying to see it that way. I’ll see you in two days then.” Aiden wanted the creepy fae gone as soon as possible.
“Two days.” Uncle inclined his head and vanished.
* * *
Dylan was absorbed in a video game, mowing down zombies with a machine gun. Someone knocked on his door. “What?” he snapped.
“I want to talk to you.”
Dad this time. His parents practically took turns giving him heart-to-heart talks.
With a sigh that was half growl, Dylan paused the game. “Fine.”
His dad came in, wearing a clean shirt and jeans. He must have changed out of his woodworking clothes. Dylan always found it ironic that his mom had married a man who liked to make furniture. Fire and wood. Practically opposites. “Your mom told me about the conversation you had.”
“Of course she did.” Dylan set the controller down.
His dad sighed. “Not everything has to be a fight, Dylan. We’re worried about you, and we worry because we care.”
“You worry because I might go nuts and burn down Shadow Valley.”
“To be honest, yes. You have that potential, and we don’t want that to happen. People could get hurt, or killed. But we’re also worried about you. You’re so angry all the time, and that isn’t healthy. We want you to be happy.”
“I’d be happy if I wasn’t trapped in this town.” Although Dylan didn’t really think it would be that simple.
“You can leave once you graduate and get certified. We can all move somewhere else.”
Dylan snorted. “Yeah, and then pretend I’m human and make sure I don’t use magic in front of them.”
“You’re part human. You need to stop ignoring that. You’re more human than you are dragon.” His dad walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.
“I know.” He hadn’t forgotten, but he always focused more on the dragon side. It was what made him different, what made him special. It had come from something terrible. When he thought about how he’d come to be, it disgusted him, but at the same time, he loved that he had this power.
“Look, I know this is hard for you. I remember what it’s like being a teenager, and I can’t imagine how much harder it is for you being dragonkin and having everyone in town worried that you’ll lose control. But you can try to see the good side of things, to not make everything into a fight. We love you, and we want you to be happy. It hurts us to see you so angry all the time.”
“I can’t help it. This is who I am.” He wanted Dad to go away so he could get back to his video game. At least in that fictional world, he could kill masses of the walking dead without any consequences.
“There’s more to you than anger and dragon magic. There’s a wonderful person in there, and I wish you could see it.”
Dylan looked at the screen, a dark band with the word Paused in bloody red script superimposed over a scene of a dozen snarling zombies coming at his character. “Are you done?”
Dad sighed and stood up. “I wish you’d come out of this dark place you’re in.”
This isn’t dark. You have no idea how dark things can get. He thought of his dreams, of the cities covered in flames. Of how much he wanted it.