Page 32 of Unhaunt Me

“He was Zayton’s dealer.”

“Zayton?”

“The one who smashed the eggs. He was so out of his gord. That’s Ren’s story to tell. He had a key to her place for when he needed to crash. We all thought he was clean. We really did and we loved him so much. He wasn’t and he showed up while Ren was home alone with the eggs. We think he was trying to get into the nest with her because he was afraid, but everything went wrong. He owed Skater money. Castor and I knew what we had to do as soon as we wrapped our heads around what happened. We just argued about where but we’re here.”

“Then she?” I asked.

“Yeah. She did. I think she’s still enraged to this day. Living in the wild and all that.”

The truck pulled to a stop in front of a mechanic’s shop. From what I knew about Earthside vehicles the job made sense for both Casimir and Castor.

“This is where the Medwin 1 was built. It didn’t work all that great. In fact, I guess it failed not long before this one. We had better funding for the Medwin 2.”

We followed the trio into the garage. I expected the memory to skip again but Casimir’s memory was lucid. He remembered how they brought each of his scales out and how they scaled and dismembered him while he was still alive. Bit by bit they took from him all the things he’d taken from other people when he made and dealt his drugs. Castor kept the head. Later, Casimir would tell me he took it with him in a shoebox while he had tea with Medwin.

“There was this whole thing. See, Clarence had been told about Skater by so many people. They kept saying the guards had no evidence, but all the addicts were proof. All the proof anyone should’ve needed. They needed help but most of all they needed people like Skater to stop enabling it all. They weren’t shy about telling people where they got it from. I used to think Clarence benefited from Skater’s drug trade. I don’t think so anymore. I think he was trying to be fair, but life isn’t fair, and neither are those who only care about lining their own pockets at the expense of everyone else,” Casimir said. “Castor and I were fair.”

My eyes grew huge. He hadn’t wanted me to see the accident scene at the nest but that wasn’t why he said I didn’t deserve to be stuck with him.

“You think I’ll rethink what was decided long ago because you don’t feel bad about it,” I whispered as Past Castor and Casimir left to go have an unplanned tea with Medwin.

“I don’t feel bad about it. He not only killed Zayton and others like him – by proxy – but murder nonetheless, he killed Ren’s eggs. He made Ren lose her Frost-damned mind. She’s living in the wild now. Barely comes back to see her mate. I’m not even sure she knows who I am anymore!”

“It hasn’t changed---” I started and stopped. “That’s a lie. It has changed how I feel. I don’t know how you get up and go about the day without breaking heads open, Casimir.”

“I’m not a violent dragon,” he shrugged. “The proof doesn’t show that but I’m not. We made sure Clarence took care of the old woman. That was Skater’s grandma. She had no clue what he did. Poor woman. Her door showed up a few years back.”

“I didn’t say you were violent. Mate, minds and hearts are not made to see what you did. They’re not made to lose what you did.”

“I did most of the work,” he nodded at the phantom mess still left on the floor. “I made sure to because --- Castor is Castor. He did the hard part, though. He went inside and had tea with Medwin Moonscale and gave him a Frost-damned head. He debated with him in circles and came out with the head inside a damned tea cozy and told me we had funding. Not only did he talk Medwin into taking a tougher stance on those abusing Moonscale dragons through drugs, got us and Ren cleared of anything, he somehow walked away with something that kept me busy enough not to lose my mind.”

“I’m glad you didn’t lose your mind,” I said, taking his hand. “I’m happy you’re here.”

“This is so fucked up, Tritus,” he said, taking my other hand in his too and stepping closer. “This whole fucking life is sofucked up. I didn’t want to drag you into it. Didn’t want you to know that this happened and I can’t feel bad about it.”

“Casimir,” I whispered his name. “I’m sorry you had to do this. I’m sorry you lost them all to such a fucked up thing that bureaucracy made it impossible to solve. I’m sorry Ren lost herself after she lost her babies. I’m sorry Zayton couldn’t get clean and I’m sorry this all fell on you and Castor. I’m so fucking sorry but I don’t see any reason you should be guilt riddled about ending it all. He had hurt people before. Guys like him always do. I don’t even need to know him to be sure of that. He would’ve hurt people again and he’d have done it from a ‘safe distance’ so that they couldn’t take him down for it.”

“I’ll protect you too,” he said.

“I never doubted that. Ren never doubted that either. I’m sure she didn’t. She trusted you and Zayton and whether by choice or by sickness, he did let her down, but you didn’t. You couldn’t have sat there every minute of every day. She wouldn’t have expected that. I bet if she could, she’d tell you that too.”

I kissed his chin and then the tip of his nose. I wanted to touch him – for comfort and affection. Needed to let him know that it was all okay as it would ever be. He did what he had to do to protect his flight. His family was already torn asunder.

Chapter Seventeen

Casimir

I came to laying in the grass.

The grass?

Where inside the mountain was grass growing?

Sun rays beat down on my eyelids.

We weren’t inside the Star Room or any part of its mountain any longer.

“Casimir?” It was Castor’s voice that reached my ears first.

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