Page 81 of Cruel Daddy Dragon

Witches… that’s right! All three of us!

“Julie!” I shout, “Get in on this!”

A second passes, then Julie runs over and takes Lena’s wrist as well, gasping as soon as she touches Lena. The glowing orb Lena’s summoning swells twice as big.

“All right!” I order, “Ready to fire?!”

“Oh, I’mmore than ready!” Lena laughs.

“W—wait!” the dragon yells.

“Fire!”I shout.

Lena cries out. The magic crashes out in an incredible tidal wave of power. It cascades throughout the alleyway, filling the entire space. I see the dragon take flight, but he doesn’t escape before the magic finds him. Before long, it’s too bright to look at, and I clench my eyes shut to it.

Silence.

Lena gasps gently next to me. I open my eyes again. The alleyway is empty, but every inch of it, both the walls and the floor, is charred. The dragon is gone. I think he’s that pile of ash on the floor in front of us.

“Are… we safe?” Julie asks.

“Yeah,” I reply, “I think we’re good.”

I look at Lena. She’s gasping lightly, with one of my hands holding her wrist and Julie’s hand on the back of hers.

“Did we really do that?” Julie asks.

“Yeah,” Lena laughs breathlessly, “I knew I had electro-shock powers, butthat’snew!”

I look numbly among the ashen alleyway. My head is ringing. I feel like a large amount of energy has just been sapped out of me; I’m suddenly more exhausted than I was three seconds ago.

“Come on,” I say, “Let’s just get out of the public eye as quickly as possible.”

***

Deep inside the police station, we sit, waiting anxiously. All we can do now is wait to see if our dragons come back home. I’m happy for the new oddity—it’s a distraction.

“So, you had electro-shock powers, huh?” I ask Lena, “Since when?”

“Oh. Er, later than the visions,” she answers, “I didn’t tell you?”

I laugh exhaustedly.

“Oh, maybe you did,” I sigh, “but so much weird crap’s been happening lately that I might have glanced over that bit.”

“I’ll say!” Lena laughs, “It’s all a been a lot, hasn’t it?”

“I wonder…” Julie muses aloud, “Does that mean Sarah and I will be getting our own powers at some point? We all have visions.”

“Yeah,” I agree, “Unique visions as well, so I guess we’re all going to get our own unique powers at some point. I’d feel a bit ripped off if Lena’s the only one who gets the other superpowers.”

“It makes sense if you did,” Lena says, “Since we found out that our ancestors were all a gigantic coven of witches. Looks like we’re just keeping the tradition going. It makes sense that our powers are better together as well—that’s a big theme of witches. The power of many in a coven.”

I just laugh weakly again, raking my hands through my hair.

“Oh, this is soweird…” I sigh.

“I know…” Julie agrees, “But I’m glad that we’re going through this together. At least we’re not going through it alone.”

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