Page 46 of To Hunt a Ruby Remedy

My eyes narrowed. He still hadn’t read the contract. Before I could say anything, Scarlette stepped forward, holding out the pen, inkpot, and a book to write on.

Gideon lunged.

The world slowed. I saw the ink tumbling toward the ground, paper, pen, and book with it. Scarlette’s hand reached for her pocket. Gideon reached for his knife.

I reached for the power of the node.

I pulled, the power coming in a rush since I stood so close to the source. I threw the magic outward. I could have paralyzed Gideon, the same use of healing magic as I had put into the stick. I could have stopped his heart. Instead, the power took the most familiar shape for me after days of practicing my shifting.

Learning to shed scales had given me a better understanding of what I did instinctually every time I transformed into a dragon. I knew how supple skin became hard scales; I recognized how organs shifted and altered. I didn’t hesitate; the fear of making a mistake was nothing now.

I inverted the transformation, shrinking Gideon down until he became a lizard the size of a squirrel. Chain mail collapsed to the ground, and for a split second, a tiny dragon floated above the pile of clothes. Then he fell, his wings snapping out awkwardly as he tried to use an appendage that hadn’t existed on his human body.

I ignored his struggles and rushed over to Scarlette. “Are you hurt?”

She gaped at me.

“Scarlette! Did he hurt you?”

She slowly closed her mouth and shook her head. Then pointed to where Gideon had stood moments before, her finger following the path of the lizard as it disappeared into the underbrush. “You transformed him. I thought you couldn’t do that?”

“Some fears are greater than others. I couldn’t let him grab you. The power responded to my desperation.”

“You made a tiny dragon.”

I nodded. “There’s a legend that claims the first dragons were the creations of body-changers millennia ago. Though I don’t plan on repeating the transformation, so I guess this new species will not survive.”

“He’s gone,” Scarlette pointed out.

I shrugged. “What’s he going to do?”

“I don’t know, but shouldn’t we . . .” She trailed off, clearly at a loss for what we should do.

“It’s too late now. I changed him by instinct. I’m not sure I could transform him back into a human even if we caught him.”

“But Rosalia or Grandmother—”

“No. Shifting another person is much harder. Not to mention, they have never shifted with a major size change, or between reptile and mammal before. They’d have just as much difficulty.”

After a moment, Scarlette shook her head and bent to pick up the fallen contract supplies, grumbling about the spilled ink. “What are we going to do with his chain mail?”

“Store it in the attic and tell our grandchildren wild stories about why we have armor rusting away up there?”

Scarlette glanced up at me, her expression incredulous. “The truth isn’t wild enough for you?”

“We wouldn’t want to give them ideas. Look what happened to me thanks to reading a few old journals.”

She left everything on the ground and walked over to wrap her arms around me. “I don’t know. I rather like how that story turned out.”

I held her close. “It does look like it will have a happily ever after.”

She tilted her head back, her smile luminous. “One with grandchildren.”

“Eventually. I think we have plenty to be happy about for a while.”

“I think you are right.”

Twenty

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