In Part 4 (Ch. 26-36), Emilie finally told everyone just what she was, and what that meant for the future of the town. More specifically, she let them know that there was a threat of extreme violence hanging over her head. To prepare, she’s been added to the high school’s combat training, while everyone else also gets ready for a fight.
Jess went with the first group to the stadium so no one could pester her about her present, leaving Alex, Shannon and I in my home alone. “Is there a part of your house you’re not supposed to go in?” Alex asks as soon as the car outside leaves.
“Not really, no,” I reply with a shrug. “I mean, I’m not allowed to enter Al’s bedroom while he’s sleeping, but that ends when we have to get ready for school.” Obviously, they used to keep me out of the kitchen, but I’ve seen the kids Mom teaches and it’s not hard to guess why they did that.
“Aww.”
I squint at her. “Were you trying to get me to do bad things?”
She throws up her hands. “The house is ours and you can see anyone coming from a mile away!” A quarter mile, but who’s counting? “What better time do you have?”
“Every day when I come home from school. Both of my parents work.”
“Oh.” She’s silent, but only for a moment. “But isn’t Al around then?”
I shake my head. “Sometimes he visits a friend for a while. Trust me, I know what’s in my home.”
Shannon cocks her head. “Then how’d they hide your presents?”
I shrug. “I don’t go in the den very often. Dad does his best, but it still smells like paint.” There aren’t many reasons to wish I was a green dragon, but that’s one of them. Some of their spells are better than the best air filter. Even outside of the Mymoir, people know that anywhere inside of a green dragon’s territory will have fantastic air quality. Sometimes those Dragons will even travel if a city’s air gets too bad and needs an intervention. (Word of the day!)
“What do you do when Al’s not around, then? Aside from exploring the house,” Alex asks.
“Mostly just homework. Extra free time is usually spent reading books, doing chores or reading the Mymoir, now. I can show you my room if you want.”
Alex nods excitedly. “Yes, please!” Shannon nods as well.
I bring along my presents, attempting to find a place for the charms and model when we arrive. The plush gets a seat on my pillow. Shannon takes a look around before sitting on the end of my bed. “Al wasn’t kidding about the dragon stuff.”
I blush a little. Dad’s painted a few dragons—not all of them true dragons—before and I’ve claimed many for my room. Then my bookshelf has a mini-library on dragons, and I have dragon-styled bookmarks, bookends, stickers and art of various kinds. And I do have a few dragon and lizarkin plushes as well. My desk is relatively plain, but I had to make it that way so I could concentrate on my homework. “The Mymoir says that this sort of thing might be an indicator of true dragons before we can use magic, so I might not be alone in this.”
“It’s still a lot, though,” Alex states.
“Yeah, it is,” I admit.
“What’s with the lizarkin?”
I think my initial thought on them was, “Dragons, but being indoors doesn’t bother them.” But as I said near Jess, it became a bit more than that. I don’t want to tell these two that, however. “I like them, too. Liking dragons doesn’t mean I can’t like other things. Don’t you have favorites?”
Shannon frowns. “What do you mean?”
I guess I was unclear. “Favorite activities, animals, monsters, whatever.”
“I guess I like to walk my dog? It’s how I met Alex. And it gets me away from my parents for a bit every morning.” I get the feeling that Shannon hasn’t really had any freedom at home.
Alex shrugs. “I like everything. I guess I like monsters a lot. I’ve thought about maybe being one when I grow up, but there’s no way I could decide. Jess’s transformations are better, but I get tired from using so much magic.”
“I guess that’s something that being a monster would fix,” Shannon notes.
“It would?” Alex questions. After Shannon’s nod, she continues. “Oh. I’d still have to pick, first.”
I do a brief check on the hot object moving at the edge of my range, then interrupt, “I think Mr. Chesbrough is nearly back.”
Just inside the main entrance to the field, Mrs. Chesbrough has set up a pop-up canopy. Under it sits the five who came before us, along with a few more folding chairs, one of which holds a small gift-wrapped box. It’s about twice as wide as a jewelry box, but not much different in other dimensions.
When my group reaches the canopy (thankfully lit by a ball of light the size of a basketball rather than the stadium lights) Jess picks up the present and hands it to me. “Happy birthday, Emilie! Hopefully you still remember this even after you’ve had a few hundred more.”
I smile. “I’ll make sure I do.” This is going in my diary for sure. I unwrap the box, and… there’s no trash can. Mom holds out her hand. “Thanks,” I say, a little embarrassed. With that out of the way, I remove the lid.
Those are wands. The markings—a pattern of green circles in a band around the rods—indicate transformation. “This gift is for me, right?” I ask Jess.
“Yep!” She’s still smiling. “Look closer. I know you like puzzles.”
I don’t have any special magic sense when it comes to wands, and I don’t know if Jess knows that, but I feel like I probably could have solved this even before December. So I do what she said and pull the left one out of the box, turning it under the ethereal ball of light.
Not many wands have special markings on them, the makers instead adding stickers with spell names. I’ve noticed that wands not in shops often lose these stickers pretty quickly, so people probably have other ways of remembering each. However, I can tell that this wood was formed around the core by an artisan: it’s not a cheap wand by any measure. Near one end, there’s a small indentation. I take a closer look at it, turning the wand for different shadows. That’s a snake! With this revelation, I pick up the other wand to check it. The only thing I can think of for that shape is a lizard.
Then I remember that it’s Jess who’s giving me these, and that these are rods rather than bands. “You didn’t.”
“I did.” Her smile has turned into a mischievous grin.
“But I said—”
“You were lying.”
“I guess I was.”
Alex steps close. “Mind enlightening the rest of us?”
Jess steps away from Alex, only because the latter would get in the way of her prancing. “It’s Emilie’s most desperate wish to be a lizarkin!” she teases.
“Not that desperate!” I respond. I might sound angry, but I’m smiling.
“You have thought about it, though!” Jess adds, her tongue sticking out. “Anyway, I got targeting transformation wands for lizarkin and naga forms.”
“That can’t have been cheap,” I hear Shannon say before Alex talks over her.
“Lizarkin and naga!? Wow! Wait—what’s the naga for?”
I smile and look over at Al, who’s hiding his own blush behind his scarf. I know what he wrote his report on two years ago, and it seems Jess does, too. I suppose I did tell her.
My gaze returns to Jess, and I remember that she’s the one who reserved our current venue. “You want me to try it out right now?”
“I was hoping, yeah.”
“You know, we could’ve just done this in the garage.” It comes standard with the house, but with my family being Static, we just use it for storage, mostly. It’s pretty empty.
Jess looks away. She hadn’t thought of that. After a moment, she thinks up an excuse. “W-well, in your garage, you couldn’t show Al your big form. Being transformed first won’t be a problem, will it?”
I shake my head. “It’ll end the spell, but otherwise, no.”
“Alright!” She takes the lizarkin wand and aims it at me.
Then she just stands there. Right.
“I have to get ready first. I’ll let you know.” The jacket is outerwear but I’m not wearing shorts under the pants, so they should count as clothing. I’m not sure how discerning this spell is, though, so I give my jacket to Mom. Then I cast Akiko’s Resistance Canceler. “Ready.”
I’m used to shifting now, but since this is an external spell and Aspect magic, it still feels different. It’s faster, though, which is good, because my legs change to something similar to the hind legs of my big form and I have to grasp a corner pole of the pop-up to not fall over. Hanging on the pole, I take stock of the other changes. Overall, the statement of “dragon but smaller” holds; my neck is human-like, as are my arms and clawed hands, and I don’t have horns or wings, but I have a similar head and tail. And of course, my scales are blue.
At first I try to think at people before remembering this is an Aspect transformation and I can just talk normally regardless of my shape. “How do I look?” I ask the group. While my voice sounds normal, I can tell that’s not the sounds I was actually making. Talking must be really weird for monsters.
“Very cute,” Al responds first.
Alex is next. “I think you might be a little shorter.”
“Really?” I take a measurement with my heat sense. Hmm. She might be right. “I guess not every upright form has the same height range.”
“That makes sense,” Shannon confirms. “And I think it looks great. Kind of like a miniature version of your dragon form. How long does it last?”
“Last?” Al asks. “Jess just ends hers whenever she feels like it, right?” I nod; it’s the same for my big form, although that’s a true change, so it’s a little different. Transformed people normally revert when they sleep or die; monsters and Dragons don’t.
Jess shakes her head. “That sort of thing doesn’t work with targeted spells. Shannon’s right: it’s sort of a time limit. The target can influence it if they’re Dynamic, and the caster can put more or less magic into it to start. I think the default for this spell is 12 hours?” She looks to her mother, who nods.
Huh. Well, with that explanation, I end Akiko’s spell. No form change, so I guess that’s right. That’s nice.
“Then you’d better adjust it downwards so I’m not a naga in the morning,” Al concludes. “I like the idea plenty, but I don’t want to try going to school like that.”
“Sure thing.” Jess picks up the other wand from the box I thankfully deposited on a chair before my own change. “Ready?”
“No.” Al removes his own coat and joins me by the pole. I’ve learned how to stand now, but I think he’s more worried about the impending tail bowling people over. My tail only slightly reaches the ground, but as a naga he’ll be something like ten feet long without even including the upright portion. “Now I’m ready.”
I think the change started with his chest, but it was really too fast to process. It wasn’t over in a blink, but he certainly shrank (vertically) very quickly and I couldn’t tell you if his hands had scales before he grabbed my arm to steady himself. But one moment I had a human brother towering over me, and the next a golden-scaled naga was desperately gripping my arm while I steadied myself with the canopy pole. And Al is definitely shorter than me now.
Then I feel his grip loosen and realize it’s not because he’s steady yet. Surprising even myself with my speed, I rush to his front to prop him up. “Are you okay!?”
“Tired,” Al says sleepily.
“That’s because he’s a reptile with half his body buried in snow,” Mrs. Chesbrough explains. “I’ve cast a fire aura on him; give it a bit of time, and he should wake up. How are you doing, Emilie?”
“Just fine, thank you.” I’m glad I wasn’t relying on clothes to keep me warm. “Fred’s Thermal Regulator didn’t end just because I changed shape. It feels like a cool summer day.” Or should. The temperature is right, but now that she mentions it, the way I feel heat is different in this form.
“Who’s Fred?” Alex asks, because of course she noticed.
“Another blue dragon.” I’ll explain his significance later. “We name spells after whoever makes them.”
“Can’t really do that with Aspect, thanks to how Mages work,” Shannon comments.
“We could try with some, but you’re right,” Mr. Chesbrough admits. “There are far fewer Dragons than Wizards, however. I’m sure their task is easier.”
I note that the snow over Al’s tail is melting and he’s beginning to rouse himself. He’s a little heavy, but thankfully I’m just supporting a lean and not carrying him. He must weigh a few hundred pounds right now. Normally, he just weighs a little over a hundred and fifty. “Wake up, sleepyhead,” I prompt him.
Al’s eyes flutter open. “Emilie? Who’s the lizarkin?”
“Me, silly. Remember where you are yet?”
And now he’s fully alert. “Aaa! Sorry-sorry-sorry! How could I fall asleep at your party!?”
I can’t really smile, but I do open my mouth in a soundless laugh. “Well, your tail was buried in snow.”
“Tail!?” And now he’s taking in his form. “I-I really am a naga. For how long?”
Jess… shrugs. That’s not very reassuring. “I’ve never tried a spell with that kind of option before. I think it’s six hours but might be more or less.”
“You’re making me glad I have Star magic,” I note.
“How so?”
I learned a lot about this when making my spell. “If I want to heat a three-foot cube of air in a specific location to exactly 60 degrees for exactly five minutes, I can be certain it happens that way. There’s no guessing to it.”
“How’d you melt the car, then?” Shannon asks.
“The spell didn’t specify air as the target.” At Mr. Manning’s direction, I’ve taken a closer look at spells I might want to use. If I need to, I could probably add limits in private copies of them, to make them safer.
“That was you!?” Mrs. Chesbrough exclaims.
“I didn’t know that car was there!” And I already told Mr. Manning, so it’s not like the DF didn’t know.
Jess’s mom sighs. “Please be more careful.”
“I’m doing my best.”
Al’s ready to move on and makes that clear. “Well, hopefully I don’t have to figure out how to ride a bus like this.”
“There’s a spot for monsters at the back,” Shannon reassures him. “Blacksburg put temporary seating there because we don’t have many monsters, but you can still use it. They even have a lift built in to get you up there.” He’s staring at her. “I’m not from this town, remember?”
“Oh, right.”
“The better question is if you’ll have to use it tonight with the town bus.”
“Whoops,” Jess says. A naga won’t fit in her dad’s car.
“I can see if I could lift and fly him home,” I volunteer. “Sorry, Jess. I’ll spend more time in this form another day.”
“It’s fine!” Jess replies. “I hadn’t thought about getting home.”
I briefly check that probably no one is watching, then walk through the snow to the middle of—well, not the middle of the stadium, but reasonably far to not hit something by shifting. And then I rush back to Mom because she has my feather. “I forgot something! Mom, can I see my jacket for a moment?”
She looks at my claws. “What do you need?”
“There’s a feather in one of the pockets.”
Mom digs around and pulls it out. “How is this not damaged?” I did have to roll it up to fit it.
“Magic. It’s a special feather.” I take it and return to my spot in the snow, then shift.
Dad looks like he can’t believe his eyes. Mom either, but I think she’s expressing a different emotion. Al has his hands in the air. “Amazing!” he shouts. “You look incredible, Sis!”
«Thank you!»
“And adorable, too.”
I don’t blush in this shape, but if I did, I would. «You had to say that, didn’t you?»
“Of course. But it doesn’t make it any less true.”
And now Jess is in her bear form. “Here. I’ll help you up.”
“Up?” Al asks.
“Did you think she’d pick you up like a hawk carrying a fish?” She moves closer to me. “You get to be a necklace today. Come on.”
As it turns out, I can still carry Al while flying, although he was a lot heavier than the rest of my friends combined. Also, Jess didn’t mess up by enough that Al was still a naga at the start of school, but he did have more than nine hours for it to wear off. He was human by the time I woke up, at any rate, although he had to sleep in the den because nagas don’t navigate stairs very easily. I suppose that helps to explain the ramps to the top of the wall in Rich Creek, as well as its complete lack of multi-story buildings.
Since Jess finally had a convenient opportunity, she got her scale from me that night. It didn’t hurt or bleed much and she barely even had to wipe it off. I suppose Dragons do tend to shed scales during fights, so it shouldn’t be that hard to pull out a scale if you get the right one. Some daring people will harvest scales off of battlefields and sell them for a bunch of cash because they can store lots of magic like metal and gemstones, but the scales are still organic and can decay over time. I guess not having to mine for them might make them a little better.
Despite that night being the first time I ever flew over Blacksburg, or really anywhere not over the forest, I don’t think anyone panicked. I suppose Mrs. Chesbrough was there and probably warned the Defense Force. That wouldn’t stop everyone from panicking, but it would mean the town guard could help calm folks down. But others didn’t even talk about it at school, and I didn’t get the impression that I scared anyone. It was… nice. I’ll still probably start most of my flights from outside of town, but I do like the feeling that I’m at least somewhat normal.
Nine days later, however, Mr. Manning brought a letter to the combat training class. “The Defense Force received a letter this week,” he announced. “The red dragon from the northwest states has begun traveling east, and is bringing along a small army of monsters.”
(I remembered that I set up a Ko-fi account and never linked it here. Whoops! This’ll be at the bottom of posts, going forward.)