August 31, Monday
Dorian is getting creepier every day. He's always following me around and giving me dirty looks. Kyton says it's because I keep running around down by the stream--inside the barrier, I promise--and tracking mud into the house. He might have a point.
Today, I'd rather kiss Dorian than leave the house. The moment I step outside, I'll be doomed for Rothworth's. I might as well get it over with. Mom's been exceptionally happy these past few weeks, and I think she'll keep her end of the compromise. I think she'll let me practice magic.
***
No go, no go, no go! Eva screeched, inside my head and out, as I dragged her around my room.
I wasn't dragging her on purpose. She'd attached herself to the end of my pant leg, and she refused to let go until I promised I wouldn't go to Rothworth's.
"Quiet down, you're going to get me in trouble."
She screeched louder. No go!
Plopping down on the floor, I pulled Eva into my lap. She stopped screeching long enough for me to stroke her back. I sighed.
"Eva, I'll just be gone until this afternoon. Then I'll come back, okay?"
Don't wanna be alone, Lizzy.
I frowned. "Look, if I just go to Rothworth's for one week, then I can go to a magic school. You'll be able to come with me there. But if you make a lot of noise and someone finds you, they'll take you away. I'll get in trouble, and I won't be able to see you for a long time. Do you want that?"
No no no no. She shook her tail feathers and fluffed up her wings.
"Right, so you have to keep quiet. And until I come find you, you can't leave the closet. There's food and water, a litter box, some toys, a book to chew on. You'll be okay until I get back."
Chirping, she hopped out of my lap. I good. I stay in closet. She waddled into the closet.
I stood and closed the door behind her. No one should be snooping around in my things, but even if they did, I'd hidden all of Eva's things inside a few cardboard boxes with little doorways in the back. She could always hide in one of those if anyone came in.
***
Kyton was waiting for me by the car in the driveway. "Piper called me and said she wanted to talk to you about something."
"About what?" I patted my pockets, looking for my phone. It wasn't there, and when I checked my backpack, it wasn't there either.
"I don't know." He shrugged. "She just said she wanted to talk."
"I must've left my phone inside. I'll go get it." I took two steps before realizing something and spinning around. "You and Piper have been texting?"
He rubbed the back of his neck. "She gave me her number so she could give me news about my dad's status. But I think she has a crush on me."
"Oh. Okay." I turned back around, heading up the driveway to the house. Apparently, the Twister fiasco hadn't ruined everything between them. This was a good thing. They would be good together. Piper was just a normal witch. She didn't want to drink Kyton's blood or anything. She just wanted to kiss him like a normal person. It was perfectly reasonable for them to like each other.
If it was so reasonable, why did it bug me so much? I felt like a territorial dog. Kyton was my walking blood fountain, and I didn't want to share him with anyone else, no matter how normal they were. What was wrong with me?
I couldn't remember the last time I had a normal crush or a normal kiss. My last boyfriend broke up with me when he found out I was a witch. If Kyton found out what I was, things would be much, much worse. No one liked changelings--not humans, not witches, not Otherworlders. Heck, dragon mothers handed their changeling babies off to complete strangers the moment they were even born. Not even they liked changelings.
Even if I had a normal crush on Kyton, nothing real could ever happen unless he knew the truth. And he could never know the truth.
***
Upstairs, I quickly found my phone sitting on my bedside table. I shoved it in my pocket, my mind still buzzing with thoughts about Piper and Kyton. Speaking of Piper--I took out my phone again; she'd texted me several times and called me once. I called her back.
"What's up?" I asked.
"So, about this Rothworth's you're going to, I did some research." She launched into explanation mode, speed-talking like there was no tomorrow. "There's a huge iron grill under the whole school, lines of the stuff stretching in both directions. Any Otherworlder who goes in there for long would get super sick. I don't think you should go."
"I don't have much of a choice. It's just a week, and I don't fledge 'til Friday anyway, right?"
"Technically, it's not called fledging until you turn into a full dragon, but yeah, the full moon's on Friday. You'll be human-ish until then." A long pause. "But... I don't know if you'll be human enough. Large concentrations of iron can even bother witches, and this is concentrated stuff we're talking about. Iron doesn't usually kill unless you're touching it, but it can still do a lot of damage if you're surrounded by it."
I sighed and started pacing. This compromise was the only way I could think to keep my family together. Even if they weren't my blood relatives, I didn't want to lose them.
"How bad will it be? Like wouldn't a healing potion just fix me right up?"
"It's not that simple. Iron blocks magic, and healing potions use magic. There are some herbs to treat the symptoms, but they're a secret Otherworlder recipe. Kyton might have some."
"Then I'll have to get some from-"
Something rustled in the closet and nearly scared me half to death. Clutching a hand over my heart, I shook my head and opened the closet door. Eva had been pretty quiet before now.
"You scared me-"
Dorian was standing in the middle of my closet, running his hands over my clothes.
"What the prip are you doing in my closet?" I grabbed his arm and yanked him out. "Get out, go, go clean something else." I shoved him toward the door. "Stay out of my things. I can clean my own stuff. Out!"
Raising his hands in surrender, Dorian flicked his forked tongue out. "Okay, I'm going. But there's something you should know, little Lilly. Rothworth's has a way of crushing the magic out of someone. Be careful to show no weakness."
What a creep. "Fine, whatever, just get out!"
He left, finally. A tinny voice shouted from my phone's speakers.
Shaking, I brought the phone back to my ear.
Piper sounded terrified. "What happened? Who were you shouting at? Are you okay?"
Despite how much I was freaking out, it was nice to hear genuine concern from someone who knew my secret. Piper might've been a bit of a know-it-all, but she was a decent friend, too.
"I'm fine. The housekeeper was eavesdropping from my closet."
"Did he hear anything you said? What if he knows you're a-"
"I never said it out loud." At least, I was pretty sure I never said what I was out loud. "He shouldn't be able to guess, it's so crazy no one would guess in a million years." Unless he secretly knew a lot about changelings. "He won't guess, right?"
"Of course he won't." She didn't sound so sure.
"Really?"
"Well, you are still wearing long sleeves and everything when your scales show up, aren't you?"
"Yeah." I was a bit of a klutz sometimes, which ended up with scales speckled over my arms and legs. That meant long sleeves and pants in August, which everyone in the house had pointed out was weird at one time or another.
"Then you should be fine. I wouldn't have guessed what you were if I didn't see your scales. You look perfectly human. As long as they don't have any magic-detectors at Rothworth's, you should be fine."