Page 12 of Memories Like Fangs
Maisie approached one of the dragons hanging on the wall across from the door. It was a dragon’s head, pelt, wings, and tail. Its antlers weren’t too different from a deer’s, with spikes going down what would have been their spine. This dragon had brilliant orange scales with silver highlights that caught in the light. They were smaller than Byrd’s mom, but my father had mounted this dragon with its mouth open and roaring to show off its row upon row of knife-sharp fangs.
What a sick fucking cabrón.
“Remember how I often say magic is about intent? Well, I can sense that intent to a point.” Maisie reached out and waved her hand over the dragon’s muzzle. Her eyes blazed into a brighter shade of purple for the briefest moment before darkening again. She continued. “It feels softer and more… timid, I guess is the word? It’s hard to describe. I know that it is a witch-fae, for sure, and it’s most likely a blood one. However, it’s not the same as the one that we faced. Regardless, this magic is some kind of strong as fuck binding spell. It’s keeping these dragons like this, in this form. It’s like it’s meant to keep creatures in a form of stasis on purpose.”
“So, that’s how my mom got like this.” Byrd thought out loud, toying with her necklace’s pendant absentmindedly. “I bet that’s also why I haven’t been able to shift since I got here.”
“What?!” Simone and Maisie cried out.
At the same time, I furrowed my eyebrows at her and said, “You haven’t been able to shift since you got here?!”
Byrd’s wide eyes turned to me. “I didn’t realize it until a few moments ago. Every time my scales have cascaded down my skin, it’s been my dragon trying to make me shift. She doesn’t like the energy of this space, or that my mom is hanging up like that.”
“Okay, Ineedan explanation now,” Simone said with her eyebrows scrunched down incredulously. Maisie’s eyebrows disappeared into her bangs in agreement. Byrd smiled apologetically before catching them up.
When she was done, her eyes were teary again from rehashing the story, but Simone wasbawling. Simone took Byrd up into another hug, squeezing her even tighter and harder than before. I could see Byrd fighting off tears with the fierceness of the compassion her friends had for her.
Maisie shook her head toward me, though. She said, “Here I thoughtmyfather was a prick for doing the fairy equivalent of going out to get milk and never coming back.”
“Marceline!” Simone and Byrd yelled at the same time. As surprised as they sounded, they were smiling.
“What? I doubt I offended Quinn.”
“I wish my dad had never come back after he left,” I snorted. “Instead, he returned without milk but with enough trauma to give any therapist of mine a run for their money.”
The girls laughed, and I felt the tension in the air ease, allowing all of us to breathe. It was a great noise to hear.
“So, Maisie? Can you help us get Byrd’s mom out of here?”
“Weeeell…”
“Oh, that tone is never good,” Simone said.
Byrd nodded in agreement. “What’s wrong, Maze?”
“My powers have been dulled since we got into this house. In this nightmare fuckery of an office, they are almost nonexistent. I couldn’t even teleport into this space because something was blocking me. Even if all I wanted to do was to pull your mom from the wall, I couldn’t do that.”
“I can’t speak as to why this office is blocking you, but I know the walls of this house have been magicked so you can’t use your powers fully here. It’s a protection measure we put in place in most of our houses,” I explained matter-of-factly.
Maisie’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why didn’t I feel it at your house before? During the house party?”
“That house is a little different. Mama built that one, so the spell in there deters magic with harmful intentions toward anyone in the family. Unfortunately, my father had this one built, which means it reeks of his paranoia and hatred of supes.”
“Ah, so your father is a super-bigot?”
I smirked without any humor at Simone’s remark. “My father is an equal opportunity hater. He’s racist toward everyone, human or supe.”
“So, if we can’t use Maisie’s magic, how are we getting Byrd’s mom down?”
I shrugged one shoulder like it was obvious, already pulling out my phone again. “We will just have to do it manually then, which means we get to put some stupid male muscle to use for once.”
Smoke Cloud
BYRD
Inever left Mom’s side the entire time.
I knew she wasn’t here anymore in the physical sense. I knew that she was gone. I knew there was no reason to linger so close, but I couldn’t bear to part from her side, even for a moment. The last time I parted from her, I lost her forever.
