Page 173 of Scars Like Wings

“Talli. I know you didn’t do any of this with malicious intent. You did what you thought was best to keep me alive. I would be dead if it wasn’t for you.” My eyes flicked to Everett. “Both of you.”

His eyes were watery, making my heart squeeze. “That doesn’t make what we did something that doesn’t weigh on us. Hell, if you had heard your Auntie Max the entire time, she was begging for anyone to think of another way. She worried that you would feel so unfulfilled without your dragon. I…” Uncle Everett shook his head. “I hope she was at least a little wrong about that.”

“Everett… I was happy. Iamhappy. You made sure of that. Of course, I dreamed of being a dragon, but without her, I still had everything I could ever want. She just makes my life a little better, but I already had such a good life before. It’s like having an old phone. I was still able to do everything I needed to and wanted to, just slower and I have to charge it more. But now, I got an upgrade.”

“I just… We did the best we could, kiddo, but we make mistakes. We don’t have all the answers.”

“I know. I love you, Eevee-chu.”

Uncle Everett rolled his eyes. “Leave it to you to ruin a perfectly good moment.”

Suddenly, I felt my wings and tail heat up with the tingle of magic.

“Okay, Byrdie-Bee, the spell is done. You are going to feel a little warmth for a second or two longer.”

I took a breath. My wings lifted and settled on my back. My tail curled around my right leg a few times before ending on top of my foot. It was a strange feeling. I could feel my wings and tail still while not feeling them at the same time. My back and the lower right side of my body was hot and tender like I had gotten a new tattoo. All four of my fangs shrunk up to just be sharp human canines. My nails shortened, too, back to their regular stiletto. The crystal horns on top of my head disappeared in a cloud of sparkles and dust. My ears also lost their points. The patches of scales faded into old ink on my skin. I was human in appearance again, but it still felt different.

“Okay! Now, I want you to shift into your partial form. It should feel similar to shifting into your full form. This is just to make sure you can still access your powers.”

I nodded and called on my dragon. Feeling her stir and surface within me reminded me of all the times I felt something within me listening to Quinn or when I heard my dragon’s voice. My dragon was a part of me, an extension of my soul. Connecting with her was easy, just like shifting from my full form had been. It felt easier somehow with the ghost of my tail and wings heating my skin. My dragon awoke and rose up. I felt my wings curl from my back and my tail lift from my leg, and come to life. I stretched my tail and fluttered my wings behind me. My horns, talons, scales, and fangs all materialized once more. It was painless, smooth, and easy, just like getting back on the ice.

“That is so fucking amazing,” Maisie marveled.

“Beautiful job, Bee,” Talli complimented. “The spell worked!”

Talli wiped her hand on a towel and started to pack up her materials. I shifted back into my human form with ease, my dragon curling up to sleep again. Around my neck, the obsidian stone was warm, insanely so. So hot that the cold I had been feeling for months melted away.

Everett appeared with a silk robe from my room, and I sat up to put it on. As I tied it, I noticed my new leg tattoo. Talli was right. It was a background for my floral print tattoo. The stark black atop the vibrant holographic pastels wasstunningand poetic. The scales were still holographic when I moved my leg, and the whole thing was hot to the touch. I was obsessed. I clutched my necklace, allowing the heat from my new ink and my necklace to make me feel cozy.

Talli must have noticed because she said. “You are still wearing Doe’s necklace, huh?”

“I haven’t taken it off once since she died.”

Talli nodded. “I will never forget when I made that. Doe had just lost her mom and left her enchantment. She always dreamed of leaving and making it on her own, but she never learned how to conceal her partial form. I had done some work for the enchantment before, so the Sire—what they call the ruler of an enchantment—sent her to me. You and her are so much alike, Byrd. So sweet, so lovely, and full of so much light it’s contagious. I knew I had to help her. Since she had never learned to contain her power, I had to create something that could hold her magic and allow her to release it when she wanted. So, I used that necklace.”

Realization dawned for me. “That’s why she never took it off.”

“She only took it off that day so she had full access to her power without restraint. With it on, she was able to manifest her dragon for short periods of time and access her powers in short bursts. You want to know something special about it? That obsidian? She created it from her own power, her lava abilities. It made it easy to use with the spell.”

“Is that why it’s always so warm now? I finally don’t feel cold like I have been for months.”

Talli sat on the couch beside me and took my hand in hers. “Just like any shifter, you have traits of your other form as a human. You are a reptile at the end of the day, so you are naturally cold-blooded, you shed your skin every once in a while—” Seeing my eyes widen, she hastily added. “It isn’t as bad as it sounds, I promise. The necklace is imbued with your mom’s power, so it is warm and responds to you and your magic. Now that your dragon has manifested, the necklace should help to stave off that cold you were feeling.”

I covered my mouth as I yawned. “That makes sense.”

“Our little gay gator through and through,” Maisie remarked. I flipped her off.

As Maisie and Teddy asked Talli more questions, the events of the day landed heavy on me all at once. Just like before, I had to fight harder and harder to keep my eyes open. I lay back down on the couch. Warmth encircled me in pure comfort. I just… I just needed to rest my eyes for a second, the sound of my friends—my family—talking was the best lullaby. I slowed my breathing. I bobbed in and out of darkness. Then one last memory:

You’ll be fine, baby Byrd. I know it. You are strong. You will show us. One day.

Pops was right, after all.

PART FIVE

Malachite

STONE OF TRANSFORMATION

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