The Dragon's Daughter

Chapter 6

Saturday 10:10 a.m.

I wandered the parking lot until I found Jess and Sy. I found Jess first, just as she finished up on her call home. Her stepmom was not too happy with her disappearing act, but what could she do? It wasn't as if Jess went away on purpose. We walked together and located Sy grumpily perched on the back of an ambulance, holding an ice pack on one arm. Of all the places on him that seemed to need icing, I would have not chosen his arm, but I didn't question it. He scowled at us as we approached. I opened my mouth to ask what we had done to deserve such a welcome, but Jess beat me to it.

"Why you muggin'?"

"You two. Just left me to these... people." He gestured to some paramedics close by. One paramedic snorted at him, then went back to talking to another guy.

It was my turn to make a face. "Sy, it's their job to help you."

"Apparently, it's their job to detain me and violate my civil rights," he accused.

I glanced around. None of them even turned to us except for one cop nearby who I hadn't noticed before but who just gave Sy a little smile and tilt of the chin.

My eyes flew wide. "Are you arrested?"

Jess started laughing. Sy cut his eyes at her. "No. No. I am NOT." He glared at the officer, who had gone back to looking at his phone. "But apparently, I am," Sy sighed and did air quotes, "too injured to leave." He massaged his temples, "at least without a parent or guardian to pick me up."

Jess sniggered again.

"Oh, shut up," he told her, "at least I didn't leave home in my grandma's house shoes."

Jess's head snapped up, "My grandma's what? Boy! These are not my granny's slippers, but I can sure snatch one off and use it to beat your narrow ass."

"For the record, I do not regret pulling out your weave in seventh grade." He reached up to tug on a lock of Jess's hair, but she jerked away just in time. Clutching her lovely natural locks possessively, she hissed at him.

It was Sy who laughed this time.

I stepped between them before Jess decided she was going to mess up his face any more than it already was. Plus, there was an officer nearby. I wouldn't blame her for assaulting him with a slipper, but I wasn't sure how an outside observer might have seen it.

"Could you two just chill out for a minute?" I mumbled with a sharp hiss. "It's been a bad enough day without one of you being hauled off to jail."

"It would almost be worth catching a case," Jess muttered before turning her back on us both.

Sy huffed, "Sorry." Then after looking between my flustered face and Jess's back, his shoulders sagged, "I'm an ass. I'm always an ass."

"You are," I confirmed.

"Well, just go ahead and drive Jess home. Don't either of you wait around for me. I'll be alright. I called home, my Dad can't come, but somebody from his office is coming in to pick me up."

"Sy..." I trailed off.

"No, really. I'm alright, thanks to your help in there. Those two psychos would have pummeled me otherwise."

"What were they talking about, Sy? The big one said you stole their magic." I chuckled a little at that, but it fell flat.

Sy took a deep breath and let it out in another big sigh. "I really have no clue. They were obviously a special brand of crazy, and I shouldn't have done what I did. The big one was using what looked like magic. He was blasting everything in sight. The other one was throwing stuff for him to hit. It was when they started throwing and zapping Jonny Cash that I decided to act." Here he shrugged.