Chapter 8

Turning into a dragon wasn’t as cool when it was happening to me. I didn’t want to think about my family anymore. I was afraid it would trigger another transformation.

But now, without a doubt, I knew I was a dragon.

Annie and Ethan stood in the living room next to the window. They were patiently waiting for Colin and I to get going. I followed Colin to the window and put my shoes on quietly. Alalai sat on the couch staring off into the distance, so completely uninterested that his mouth hung open.

“You’ll catch flies with your mouth open like that!” Annie’s scolding would have sounded serious if not for the grin she sported. I caught another site of Alalai’s fangs. Alalai shut his mouth quickly. Before this, I didn’t know trolls had fangs.

Colin hadn’t said a word since earlier. I wish he would just say something. I knew he had the right to be angry at me. I had accidentally crashed him against a wall when he wouldn’t let go of my neck. He was probably in a lot of pain right now. But when I tried to help him, Colin refused to show me the bruises.

“Master Wei ordered me to fly you to Whimsul Village to see the Council. Are you ready?” Ethan broke the awkward silence between us. Master Wei could order Ethan around?

“I thought he said you volunteered?” I specifically remember Master Wei saying that Ethan offered to take us to the council. Annie intervened before Ethan had a chance to say anything about it.

“I was the one who volunteered, but I won’t be coming with you this time.” Annie didn’t sound particularly happy about not being able to come with. Colin looked shocked to hear the news, and then angry.

“Flying without your rider? Are you insane?” Colin blanched unexpectedly. And so he talks!

“It’s not healthy for the baby to go on such long rides. Besides, Whimsul Village is near human territory, it isn’t safe for us.” That put it in a new light. I had no idea that Annie was pregnant. I couldn’t believe that the idea of a human population just being near the village would make it dangerous. Integration of the species had started before I was even born, so the violence had to of gone down by now.

“I see,” Colin didn’t look like he agreed that a dragon should fly without his rider, but kept his mouth shut. They were older than him, and knew what was best for themselves.

Ethan hurled himself out the window in a show of over dramatic flare. He transformed into the bright green dragon. I felt like he wasn’t happy to be going on this trip, but had no means of refusal. His wings pumped up and down to keep himself steady beside the window as he waited for us..

“Let’s go. We can’t be late.”

Colin hesitated at the window sill.

“Next time, don’t let anyone ride without you, Annie.” Colin definitely meant it. I knew, from a class in high school, that it was one of the most disrespectful things a person could do. Never ride a dragon without their rider.

“Don’t be like that Colin. There are times when you must be flexible.” Annie patted her stomach with a lighthearted smile. She did look happy to acknowledge the baby in her stomach, even though she wasn’t that far along. Ethan grunted to communicate that we should hurry up.

I was beginning to have second thoughts about jumped through a window onto a dragon. Why couldn’t I just use the stairs? My lifespan would be terribly longer if I could just use the stairs.

“How come we don’t just drive there? It’d be the same amount of time to get there, wouldn’t it?” I asked as Colin launched himself out the window. He landed on the dragon with no problems. His feet held him up so that he didn’t quite sit on Ethan, but hovered just above. Colin displayed that he had been training since childhood to ride dragons.

“It would take days to drive to California.”

“Yeah, well I like land-bound travel. I don’t feel eminent death in cars.” I retorted out the window. They were waiting for me to jump out of the window and onto Ethan’s back. What if I missed and Colin tried to catch me again? We would both be plummeting fifteen stories down then.

I stood on the window sill trying to judge the distance between me and the dragon. A hard shove flung me out the window. I landed horizontally behind Colin and my hands scraped at something to grab onto. Colin grasped my forearm and sat me up straight.

My hands wrapped around Colin and dug themselves securely into his midsection. I remember the bruises I had given him earlier. Smacking him up against a wall had to be taking a toll on his midsection. I loosened my grip and found that Colin was doing his best not to grunt from the pain.

I felt terrible for what I did to him, even though it was an accident. But he wouldn’t let go, and I was panicking. That was no excuse though. I threw him up against a wall like he was a fly. I may have broken his ribs. I wasn’t even sure. Colin refused to let me see if he was okay.

It wasn’t just a guilty rock in the pit of my stomach that nagged me. It was this horrible feeling of regret that overpowered the guilt. That regret felt like it was me who got smacked into a wall by a thirteen foot dragon.

Annie waved goodbye, and I couldn’t find it in me to wave back. I wasn’t willing to risk my life for a pleasantry.

Ethan flew upwards toward the ceiling of the Colony. The very top layer appeared to be a horizontal garage door. The door creaked as it retracted enough for Ethan to fit through. I squinted at the sudden bright light of the morning sun.

There was nothing else to grab on to as we ascended almost vertically. Colin was leaning forward with his face near Ethan’s back. I knew now, without a doubt, that Colin trained his entire life on how to properly ride a dragon. I, on the other hand, was learning by every scary experience. When I didn’t lean forward with Colin, I felt like I was going to be ripped off by gravity alone.

“Use your legs. You shouldn’t need to hang onto me.” Colin was insane if he thought I would just let go and ‘use my legs’. We were nearing the clouds and would soon be above them.

The compound was surrounded by dense dark green pine trees. I noticed the horizons with their familiar mountain ranges and below us was the colony. It seemed a tiny speck shrouded in deep woods.

“I’m going to move you in front of me. I can’t handle you squeezing the life out of me for two hours.” I had to no time to object Colin’s suggestion. He quickly lifted his right foot onto Ethan’s wing as it rose upwards, and slid behind me. I fell onto my stomach and clung desperately to Ethan’s back. I didn’t feel any security now.

“Come on, sit up. I’ll hold onto you so you can’t fall.” Colin tried to sound as nice as possible. I wasn’t falling for it. He grabbed me by the waist without my permission and peeled me off Ethan's back. The wind hit my face full force, and made my eyes water.

He rested his head on my shoulder, and snuggled into the crook of my neck.

“See? This is much better .”

I didn’t really agree. There was nothing sturdy to hold on to. Colin was uncomfortably close but his head on my shoulder didn’t feel so bad. My back was pressed up against his chest and I couldn’t help but feel awkward.

I started thinking about that thing Ms. Agnes said when we first met, and then what Alalai said at the restaurant last night. Mates. When I had asked about what a mate was, Colin told me to ask him about it later. Later was now, I suppose.

“Uh, Colin, what’s a mate?” I felt his jaw clench on my shoulder like I had asked something that annoyed him. I had an idea of what a mate was in a werewolf sense, but dragons? Next to nothing was recorded about dragons.

“Us. We are mates.”

“So a dragon and a rider?” I clarified. Why call them mates? Dragons and riders seemed like good enough names to me.

“Right. A dragon and a rider are mates, and mates are destined to love.” Colin was nonchalant about the whole thing. Love? Did he just say love?

My heart might as well take a plummet off the dragon at this point. The nervousness wasn’t from the heights, it was from him. I thought about all the things leading up to right now. Sleeping in the same bed, holding hands, hugging, a kiss on the cheek…

“L-love?” I stuttered. This guy thinks he loves me? He doesn’t know the first thing about love!

“Yes love, idiot. That’s what mates do. Annie and Ethan are mates, my grandfathers are mates, there are lots of mates. Their whole point in life is to find each other just so we can be happy together.” Colin made it seem like this was common knowledge. It wasn’t common unless you were born a dragon. I shrugged his chin off my shoulder. I felt uncomfortable about it now.

“Look, I’m- I’m not gay,”

“My grandfather's aren’t gay either. In the world of magic, that stuff doesn’t matter. You’re just destined to love that one special person. There’s no helping it.”

I couldn’t see Colin as anyone other than someone who annoyed me to death. A guy with an irritating comment to say every time I did something wrong. I couldn’t see him in that light. I wasn’t even sure I found him attractive.

“Might as well get used to the thought. I’m not going anywhere.” He rested his chin on my shoulder again. Shoving his chin off wasn’t going to work again unless I just threw him off the dragon. I wasn’t even sure I could do that.

“And what if I just up and left?” My hands clenched into fists. I didn’t like the idea that I had to be mated to him, and above that, why couldn’t I chose who I loved? It seemed so barbaric. Colin was telling me more than just what mates were. It was making me realize that I was here forever. There was no shirking the duties of a Zodiac, and the duties of a Zodiac didn’t include much human time. I wouldn’t be able to see my friends again; or my family.

“I’d get really sick for a while.” His voice was sad, and weak. “And then I would die.” I lowered my head. What do I do? He’d die without me around? I mean, I’m definitely not gay. I’ve never really been attracted to anyone before. I wasn’t sure what I felt about Colin, but it was certainly wasn’t love.

My hands found his tightly wrapped around my waist. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I knew I didn’t like him being sad. I could feel when he was sad. It was a weight hanging from my heart and it got heavier when Colin was upset. His feelings rushed over me in waves. Colin was sad that I didn’t understand. He was sad that I couldn’t understand what a mate was. But most of all, he was sad that I rejected the idea of being with him.

We flew in silence for a long time after that. Colin was nearly snoring on my shoulder when Ethan started to descend. The mountains had slowly sunk into the East as we neared our destination, California.

Ethan landing reminded me of how an airplane would touch down. He touched the ground a few times and slowed down until he was able to run down the grassy field. His pace slowed to a jog and then stopped. The landing startled Colin into the land of the conscious at last.

I couldn’t help but think he was a little cute sleeping on my shoulder like that.