Dragon Guard
Chapter 3
Part 2
"A couple of walking
corpses paid us a visit, and Ben was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Poor
kid thought they were after him for a minute. Your father pulled him into the
house, and I sent him in here while we dispatched them in the hallway."
Andi wrinkled her nose. "I
knew I smelled something gross in there."
"Yeah, I'm sure you and
your father will gag over it for a few days. It's times like these that I'm
glad I don't have your sense of smell."
Andi picked up her bacon slice
and continued nibbling. "There doesn't seem to be any disturbance out
there, so the neighbors must not have noticed."
"We're guessing whoever
sent them put a spell on the neighborhood, imploring everyone to stay inside
for a few minutes."
"Who did it?" She
finished the first piece of bacon and pulled off a second.
"Don't know. We've stayed
out of the supernatural spotlight since you were born, so neither of us can
figure it out. Might have been a random attack. Someone lost control of their
zombies and they were drawn to our magic. We'll have to wait and see if
anything comes of it."
"Why didn't Ben mention any
of this when we talked?" Andi asked. "It would have made a pretty big
impression on my day, and I know this stuff exists."
"Maybe he convinced himself
it didn't happen. Though I don't know how he can believe it was a hallucination
after I drove him to school."
"You what? You drove him to
school? Jeez, Mother, you really are trying to set me up."
"I swear I'm not. I didn't
want him to be late on top of everything else." She paused and gave Andi a
piercing stare. "Though I did feel something special about him."
"I did, too." Andi
squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "No, no, no. I can't feel
anything for him. I've purposely avoided this every time I'm at a new school
because it can only end in heartbreak."
"Not necessarily," her
mom said, almost too low to hear.
"What do you mean? He's
going to grow up, and I'm going to look exactly the same."
Her mother stood and returned to
the dishwasher. "Eat your snack and think about it. Do you have any idea
what I am?"
She started to say, "Of
course," but didn't have anything to add after that. She took a sip of
soda and concentrated on the bubbles running down her throat. Mom wasn't a
dragon, not like her and Dad. But other than that, she never really gave it
much thought. Mom aged at the same rate, roughly one dragon year for every
fifty human years, but besides her almost superhuman dexterity, she seemed
normal.
"Well?"
"I don't know. You're my
mom. Other than having a dragon age, you're human."
"I am human," Mom said
as she put a few more plates into their new home. "Or at least I was. Now
I'm a Dragon Guard, your father's bound mate."
"What does that mean?"
"It means I'm your father's
one and only. We share a bond stronger than any other. Only dragons and their
guards have it. I always know where he is and what he's feeling. And when he's
in his true form, we can communicate without speaking, though you already know
that. Plus so much more."
"Wait, what are you saying?
You think Ben is this to me?" She jumped out of her chair. "No, he
can't be my one true love or any of that sappy Disney princess stuff. I just
met him."
"Like I said, I felt
something about him this morning, but I mostly ignored it. We never told you
any of this because fate waits until the dragon and her guard are in their late
teens or early 20s, dragon-year-wise, before introducing them. That way both
are physically and mentally able to handle it all. They never meet earlier
unless…" Mom's eyes went wide, and this time she did drop a plate, though
it was a cheap plastic one that didn't break.
"Unless what?"
Mom took a deep breath and
headed out of the kitchen. "Finish up, Andi, and then hit the books. I
need to talk to your father."
