A shadow passed overhead as Kevin returned.
Immediately, Zero’s smile dropped off his face, and he slumped down when Kevin landed near us. “Everything’s lame,” Zero moaned. “It’s all so lame. None of you understand what it’s like to be me.”
I wasn’t fooled.
Kevin was, but I let it slide. “Little bro, you need to listen to me. You listening?”
Zero harrumphed but said nothing.
“Your big bro is gonna lay some advice down on you. You get me? Some real life-changing shit.”
“Great,” Zero muttered. “Just what I wanted.”
“If you ever want to get some dick, you gotta chill with that whole me-against-the-world thing.”
“Uh,” I said. “I don’t know if that’s the best advice.”
“Of course it is,” Kevin said. “It’s coming from me. That means it’s automatically the best advice ever.”
“See,” I said. “I don’t think that’s a thing. In fact, I would say the opposite is actually truer.”
“You’d be wrong. I get laid all the time.”
“So do I.”
Kevin rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but yours is married sex. That’s so boring. Me, I’m not tied down. I’ve spread my wings, and I’m going to fly straight into some butt.”
“We’re not married,” I said, wondering yet again how it got to this point. “Don’t even say that.”
“Why not?”
“Because,” I sputtered. “You could, like, I don’t know. Jinx it or something.”
“Right,” Kevin said, sounding gleeful. “And the only way it’d be jinxed was because you were thinking about it, right?”
The blood drained from my face. “You shut your whore mouth,” I said.
“You have been! Oh man, I can’t wait to tell—”
“You breathe a word about this and I swear to the gods, I’ll curse your dick off.”
“—absolutely no one because it’s not their business and I don’t even know what we’re talking about,” Kevin finished. “Zero, it’s been fun. It’s always good to meet another dragon for the first time in my life. Stay real, little bro.”
He scampered off toward the stone path.
“He’s… not right in the head, is he?” Zero asked.
I sighed. “That’s still up for debate. You gonna be okay?”
Zero rolled his eyes. “I’ve only been without you for fourteen hundred years. I think I can handle a few weeks until you’re ready.”
I reached out and pressed my palm on his snout. His eyes fluttered closed, and he hummed a little under his breath. I thought it was probably involuntary, but I couldn’t help but smile at the sound. “You need me, you come find me, you hear? If someone comes for you, you run. There is no shame in running, Zero. I’d rather have you safe and at my side than have you fighting alone.”
He opened his eyes. “I can handle myself.”
“I know,” I said. “But you’re not alone anymore, okay?”
“You’re not going to convince me to come with right now by being mushy.”
“Wouldn’t even dream about it.” I dropped my hand. “See you, Zero.”
I started to walk away.
I’d only made it a few steps when he called my name.
I looked back over my shoulder.
“You need to tell them,” he said. “Everything. Because secrets have a way of coming out when you least expect it. They deserve to know. He deserves to know. Stone crumbles, Sam. It always crumbles. Remember that.”
And then he slithered toward the dome, wings tucked at his sides.
Godsdamn him for getting the last word. I never got the last word.
That dick.
Kevin was waiting for me near the edge of the island. He eyed me carefully as I approached. I could see the others on the far side of the cavern, standing on a sand dune, waiting for us so we could head back to Mashallaha.
“Is he going to be okay?” Kevin asked.
“I think so.”
“He’s… not what I expected.”
“Is that good or bad?”
Kevin shrugged. “Neither, I think. It just… is. I always wondered what it would be like. Meeting another dragon. If I would feel any connection to them because of what we were. How few of us are left.”
“And did you feel a connection?”
He looked surprised. “Yeah. Just… protective, you know? He’s only a kid.”
“And yet he’s technically older than you.”
“It’s best not to focus on the logistics,” Kevin said wisely. “It’s easier to just roll with it.”
“I feel like that pretty much sums up our lives.”
“Eh. I have no complaints.”
Something Zero had said ran through my mind then. “Kevin? Where did you come from?”
He cocked his head at me. “The jungles,” he said. “You know that, Sam. Beast from the East and all that. If you’ve forgotten, I can give you my whole spiel again. I don’t mind.”
“No, no,” I said hastily. “That’s okay. And I’m not talking about… that. Who are your parents?”
He blinked at me before he started laughing. “My parents? Oh, Sam. Sam, Sam, Sam. You know nothing about dragons, do you? Wow. How the hell are we your destiny? You poor, poor sexy man-child. I feel bad for you. And slightly aroused. But mostly bad. And aroused.”
I scowled at him.
“Magic,” he said, wiping his eyes. “Sam, we’re born from magic. We don’t have parents. We are created when the world needs us most. There’s magic everywhere, in the smallest of things. Once there’s enough concentration of it, and once the world wills it so, a dragon is born.”
“But… but, that’s so stupid,” I exclaimed. “What the fuck is that esoteric bullshit?”
“Oh boy,” Kevin said. “Hey, champ. You okay? Your worldview expanding because your tiny little mind was just blown? Yeah. You’re okay.”
“But how do you know that if you’ve never met a dragon before?”
“How do turtles know to head for the sea once they hatch? Instinct, Sam. It’s ingrained into us.”
“I’ll never understand dragons,” I said grumpily as I crossed my arms over my chest. “They make no sense whatsoever.”
“That’s because we’re amazing.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Shh,” he said. “Shh. It’s okay. I heard what you didn’t say. I got you. Your mouth is saying no, but your body is saying yes.”
“God, that was so rapey.”
“I doubt that. The body wants what it wants.”
“You’re stupid.”
“Says the man who didn’t know where dragons came from. Hi, I’m Sam of Wilds. I have a destiny of dragons, but guess what? I don’t know a single thing about them!”
“I thought it was supposed to be a fairy tale! And I don’t sound that high-pitched and whiny!”
“He said, whining in a high-pitched voice, like the insignificant little speck of dust that he was.”
“You ass.”
“You love me.”
“Yeah, yeah. Ferry me across, Lord Dragon.”
He bowed low. “But of course, sweet cheeks.” He reached a hand to carefully pick me up and held me close to his chest. But before he could spread his wings, I said his name. “Hmm?”
“I felt him,” I said. “After. With his firefly lights.”