Page 55 of Her Dragon Daddy Disaster
“It’s okay,” I told him, holding back a smile. Dragon teeth wouldn’t win me any friends just then. “That’s totally normal. It happens to everyone.”
“Really?”
I nodded, focusing for a moment to force my body back into its human form. Jakub’s eyes widened as he watched it happen.
“I wanna do that!” he shouted excitedly, looking up at Sarah. “Can I? Can I, Mom? Pretty please!”
“You’ll have to ask your dad,” she said, gesturing in my direction.
Thatstopped me in my tracks.
Ask yourdad.
It was the first time she’d used that word to describe me. Not father. Not Mister Levi. No, none of those. She’d called me Jake’s dad.
I was floored, struck speechless even as the little guy came hard charging across the roof to take my hand and jump up and down asking if he could change into his own giant dragon.
My eyes, however, were only for Sarah. I lifted my eyebrows slightly. Had she meant that? Done it on purpose, or was it just a common line?
Her face softened, and she nodded slowly. It had been a conscious choice. An olive branch after her reaction the night before.
Thank you, I mouthed, before taking Jake’s hand and leading him away from the stairs. The space was necessary. Teaching young children their powers could get … messy.
“How do I be a dragon? I wanna fly!”
I chuckled. “Changing into a dragon takes alotof practice, Jake. It doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes years and years of focus and practice.”
“Oh.” His face fell, disappointment measurable.
“But,” I added, “the first thing youdolearn how to do is make fire.”
His eyes went wide. “Really?”
“Really,” I said with a laugh. “You’re going to make fire appear in your palm today.”
I hope.
He looked at his palm. “No fire.”
“Not yet,” I said, lifting my own. “But soon, you’ll be able to dothis.”
A flame coiled up from my palm, piling circle onto circle like ice cream as it rose up and up.
“How? How do I do it?”
“First, we sit down,” I said, adopting a cross-legged position. “You face me.”
He mirrored me, and I worked to control my emotions. He was my son, and I was going to show him the first step in embracing his dragon heritage. It was a moment I’d thought about in daydreams and deep sleeps.
Now, it was coming true.
“I want you to close your eyes and think back to last night. Were you asleep when it happened? Or awake?”
“Asleep.”
“Good. Now try to remember what you were dreaming about. Were you happy? Or sad? Angry?”
“I was sad,” Jake said. “Maybe angry. And happy.”
