Chapter Eleven
They ran toward his house, cloaked and speed running with the blanket draped over Spence, and levitated into his room. There they paced together, stepping over his piles of dirty clothes, thinking.
“Maybe there’s a way to cast a spell to keep her from talking about it, and maybe if we did the dragon would uncurse her,” Spence said.
“After the whole wolf-dragon thing, I don’t think he’s going to help us.”
“What about another dragon?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know any personally. I’ve met a few at the haven, but none that I know the names of to summon or anything. I don’t think any of them would help us.”
“A memory charm?”
She pulled her mouth to the side. “That could work to erase the secret, but it won’t stop the curse now that it’s been activated.”
“Are we sure it has been? I mean, if I’m a more powerful shifter and there’s all the wolf stuff, maybe that’s different too?”
“That seems too good to be true. But I guess we won’t know until she starts getting sick.”
There was a knock on his door. “Spencer?”
His mom. He opened the door.
“Oh, Kiara, you’re here. Can you both come downstairs for a minute?”
Kiara and Spence exchanged looks. They didn’t have time for whatever parental thing Spence’s parents wanted to happen. They trudged downstairs and found his father in the living room.
“Have a seat,” he said.
Mr. and Mrs. James, Spence’s parents, sat side by side on the couch. Oh no, was this ‘the talk’? Were they going to be told not to be alone together and to use protection and all of that? They so did not have time for this tonight.
“We received a very strange call tonight,” Mr. James said. “Your friend Erica claims that you were in the woods, Spencer, and that you carried her out when she fell and broke her ankle, but then—” He stopped to shake his head. “Then she said you changed into a dragon.”
Oh no. Oh no, no, no. What had Erica done? She’d been out of the woods for what, an hour, and had already told someone? Hadn’t she been afraid they would think she was crazy for saying what she saw? Who just goes and blurts that out? Kiara and Spence exchanged a wide-eyed glance. Neither of them had thought she’d tell someone so soon. Kiara squeezed his hand, hard, and it was clammy with sweat, just like hers.
“Now we know that you’re both good friends with Erica,” Mrs. James said, “and that you’d never want to get her in trouble, but this isn’t the time to keep secrets. We need you to be honest.” She gave them each a grave look. “Is she taking drugs?”
Kiara breathed out a long sigh of relief. They didn’t believe her. Would that mean the curse wouldn’t work on them? “I don’t know, actually.” She looked at Spence, then gave them a sheepish look. “Spence and I have been spending so much time together that I haven’t seen her much. I guess that doesn’t make me a very good friend.”
“Oh, well, that happens,” Mrs. James said.
“The reason we were called,” Mr. James said, “is because she claims this dragon that she saw was the animal responsible for doing the recent damage in the woods. Her father called me about it.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll figure out the real problem eventually,” Spence said.
Mr. James shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.
There was a knock at the door and Spence’s father got up to answer it. They heard him discussing something with a man who Kiara was ninety percent sure was Erica’s father.
“No, she’s at the hospital now,” they heard Mr. Graham say from the front door. “But you have to see this. She got a photo.”
Spence clutched Kiara’s hand again and they looked at each other with a wild expression.
“What’s going on?” Mrs. James asked. “Why do you two look so afraid and guilty?”
The men came into the room then, and Spence’s father looked angry. “Explain this.” He held Erica’s phone to show Spence the photo of himself in wolf-dragon form. His gold chain, the one with the small gold cross that he was given as a child and always wore, hung around the dragon’s neck. She remembered how Spence had seen the necklace he’d given her and thought that was enough proof that she was a dragon shifter. How could they convince his parents that wasn’t Spence in the photo?
Mr. James’ hand started to shake. “Now, I’ve ignored the rumors. You think we don’t know what you two are up to? Out in the woods all the time, spending every second together. People say you’re doing magic, the both of you.”
Spence shook his head. “That’s crazy.”
Kiara gulped. Had Erica told someone about that, too?
“Is it?” Mr. James continued. “There have been reports of witches and wizards in this area for decades. Strange occurrences, weird things in the forest. That’s why we’ve been so desperate to catch whatever was out there. We had a feeling it was something unnatural. And now I find out it might be my son doing all this? Running around the woods destroying nature, doing magic, and terrorizing his friends.”
“Dad.” Spence held his hands up. “You sound insane. Listen to yourself.”
Mr. James shook his head. “You kids think you’re so smart.” He paced in front of them. “You’re playing with things you shouldn’t be touching.”
“What are you talking about?” Spence threw his hands in the air. “Magic? Wizards? Dragons? Dad, this is real life, not the freaking fantasy channel!”
Mr. James turned and held out his hand, then a shot of yellow light soared from his palm to Spence’s mouth.