There it is. I'm sick of everyone telling me I don't belong, that I'm unnatural. Faldon said it so often, I almost believed him. A burn of anger flashes in my gut. "And when I'm really angry, I do this." The flame races up my arm and engulfs my body in a blink.

Wyatt jumps back and a sudden douse of water hits me, licking at the flames and cooling my skin until the fire dissolves under the onslaught. Grandpa stands with the hose gripped tight, his phone forgotten on the floor and his lips pressed into a thin line. "What don't you understand about keeping this quiet, son?"

"Holy hot h.e.l.l, what was that?" Wyatt yells.

I swipe the water off my face and rake my wet hair out of my eyes. "My problem."

"You self-combust? That's not a problem, that's impossible!"

I throw my arms wide. "Apparently not."

Grandpa tosses the hose down and storms over. His chest nearly smashes into Wyatt and he grabs the younger man's shirtfront. "You value your life?"

"You threatening me, old man?"

"Do you have any doubts?" His fingers curve into a tight fist. "I can clear it up."

Wyatt looks from me to Grandpa. He's trying to make sense of what he saw. "He caught fire. Real fire. That's...it's...you weren't honest with us."

"I was as honest as I could be. Would you have believed me?"

Wyatt shakes his head. "I'm still not sure I saw what I saw."

"He's a good kid. He doesn't need any more trouble. All I want from you is your word you'll forget what you just saw."

A long moment pa.s.ses before Wyatt shakes his head. "I can't."

Grandpa pulls back his arm, his fist a solid hammer of meat. "Wrong answer."

Right Place, Wrong Time.

"It's a dragon, Kera." Leo cautiously moved to the left for a better view and licked his dry lips.

She tugged on the braided strip of ivy she'd rigged as a leash to keep Blaze's attention on her instead of Leo. Wound around his jaws and neck, it also kept Blaze from spitting fire whenever he chose.

"'Course," Leo dragged the word out nervously, "I've never seen one up close, or far away...well, not one this big. Faldon had a little one about as mean as a feral cat, but...yeah, from all the manga drawings and video games Jason and I have pored over, that's a real big dragon."

"Why are you so surprised? I told you I had a dragon."

"I don't know." Leo folded his arms across his chest and c.o.c.ked his head for a better look at Blaze. "I guess I was thinking along the lines of a tiny lizard you can buy at the pet store, not a fairy-tale creature that doesn't exist."

After all he'd seen, Leo still didn't believe in what the human world deemed impossible? She tugged on Blaze's leash when he stretched too close to poor Leo, who quickly jumped back. The dragon huffed, turned away, and stared over Kera's shoulder at a section of the barrier separating the two realms.

Unlike the official gateway heavily guarded on both sides by men and iron, some areas of the barrier had deteriorated almost completely. The incordium blade Lani had used to slice through the barrier and secretly enter the human realm had damaged those places so badly, Kera didn't even know how to begin to fix them. Left unguarded, those spots were perfect entry points for any creature to use. It's how the monster came through, and fearing more would follow, she and Blaze had patrolled the area for most of the morning.

"Well, he exists and he needs looking after."

"Are you suggesting you want me...oh c.r.a.p, you are." Leo's dark skin turned a sickly tan. "Is he...dangerous?"

Her fingers caressed his k.n.o.bby head and scratched under one of his loose scales until he purred. "I'd call him mischievous. He has a tiny temper, but if you keep him fed and play with him, he's perfect."

"How do you play with a dragon?"

"Hide-and-seek mostly."

"Yeah," Leo's voice dipped. "You would, wouldn't you?"

He was taking it all fairly well. Then again, she found it difficult to see past his comically stunned expression. "He needs more to eat."

Leo took a step back, his face mirroring his wariness. "I'm not dinner, am I? Look at me." He held out his arms and turned in a circle. "Scrawny. Chewing on me would be like chewing on the bones of last week's dried-up supper."

Kera ran her hand down Blaze's bony back and smiled. "Bones are his favorite chew toys. The fresher the better."

She tried not to smile, but Leo's horrified expression had her giggling.

"Not funny," he said, waggling a long finger in her face.

She finally caught her breath. "He's actually quite affectionate. Tame...mostly. He's growing fast and I can't keep up with his appet.i.te. I need to feed him properly."

Though Leo had relaxed, he still didn't move any closer to Blaze and leaned against a nearby tree thoughtfully. "Tanner butchered the cows your people fried when they came over to play the other day."

That Leo could equate the destruction of what Navar and his minions had done to the human realm as play took Kera aback. She still had a hard time understanding many of his odd phrases, but she understood this one. Navar loved killing. To him it had been fun.

"I'm thinking, since Tanner can't sell the meat-big shock none of his vendors trust him-I could get it cheap, but it's still going to cost." He pulled out a crisp twenty and handed it over. "This is all I have."

"I can try to replicate it-"

"And bring down the FBI on our heads? No, thank you! They go ballistic about that kind of stuff here. I don't want to end up rotting in some secret jail cell for the rest of my life." He s.n.a.t.c.hed the money back. "Too bad you're not a jewelry junkie. We could sell the gold."

"Gold?"

"Yeah, it's pretty easy to off-load at this p.a.w.n shop I know. The guy doesn't ask too many questions when something shiny is placed on the table."

She rubbed her thumb across her bottom lip, concerned with the consequences of what had popped into her mind. "Come," she told Leo, and tugged on the leash for Blaze to follow.

Leo's long-legged walk quickly brought him beside her. "Where are we going?"

She needed to concentrate and held her finger to her lips for silence. Sending out her magic, she probed the earth for gold flakes, and found traces of gold in a stream up ahead. As if they were magnetized, the flakes pressed together, slowly building into a bigger nugget.

When they came to the stream, she waded into the middle and plunged her hands into the cold water. Minutes ticked by, but she stood still. Waiting.

The click and clatter of rock hitting rock grew louder and then suddenly stopped. When she drew her hands out of the water, she held a yellow, bony rock. She retreated from the water, using magic to instantly dry her clothes as she went. It was hard for her not to stop and marvel at the accomplishment. The more she flexed her magic, the stronger she seemed to become. The feeling was addicting. Her confidence soared like never before. Kera stopped in front of Leo and presented the rock. "Here."

The rock glittered in her hand, but Leo didn't move to take it. "Gold jewelry, yes. A huge there's-gold-in-them-there-hills rock? Are you out of your mind? I can't sell that in town. People would ask questions. Overrun this place." He stepped closer, the flesh around his lips pinched. "People have been known to kill for half of what you're holding."

Her confidence wavered. There was so much she still didn't understand about the human realm, but she wouldn't give up because of one slight miscalculation. She knew all sorts of tricks, theoretically, and had done a few using the magic she'd borrowed from her father, but that magic was never consistent. Until now, she'd never had her own powers. It would be interesting to see how far they extended.

She closed her fist and when she opened it, a bright gold necklace sat in a shining heap within the middle of her palm. The world tipped for a brief second, giving her a woozy feeling, but it didn't stop the grin that split her lips. It had worked better than she thought. She dangled the necklace over his hand, and let it drop. "Better?"

He examined the necklace. "Yeah." Excitement glimmered from his eyes. "Hey, do you do that all the time, 'cause chicks dig stuff like this, and it'd be totally sweet if you could-"

"No." He didn't understand the cost of magic. It drained the body, and if done too much, could kill, and she was still very much a novice.

"Oh." Disappointment clouded his face. "It was just a thought."

"Using magic for selfish reasons is frowned upon in my world, but you and I have no choice. We can't let Blaze suffer for lack of funds."

"Right, 'cause there's no personal agenda when it comes to saving your metabolically challenged dragon here." Leo whipped his hair out of his eyes. "Actually, is it wise to do anything? They were hunted into extinction for a reason."

Kera gasped.

"You're right, that was bad of me. Sorry, bro...I mean, Kera. Forget I said anything. It'll take me, I don't know, a couple of hours to p.a.w.n the necklace and get the meat. I'll meet you back here," he said in his low, smooth voice, then paused. "You will be here, right? I'm not into death by dragon meltdown."

"Blaze knows you now. He'll behave, especially if you have food for him."

Leo eyed the dragon like a farmer does an unruly pig. "Does he need to sniff me or something?"

People from the human realm were so strange. "Not unless you want him to."

"I'm totally into the no-dragon-sniffing option." Leo shook his head and laughed. "Seriously, I never imagined myself saying that. Ever." He pocketed the necklace and backed away. "See you soon."

He left, his long legs eating up the ground.

Kera sat on a boulder. Blaze heated his scales and rubbed them into a dull shine against the nearby tree trunks. He was a problem she hadn't expected, and one she couldn't ignore. If he continued to grow bigger as the days progressed, soon she wouldn't be able to hide him. She had to get him back to her world, but try as she might, he had refused to cross through the barrier. He'd found someone he trusted and wasn't about to leave.

Blaze gave the leash a sharp tug, drawing Kera's attention to him. "Not now, Blaze."

Smoke swirled from the dragon's flared nostrils. His ears radared behind his nubby horns. He held himself stiff. Alert. Kera sat straighter and peered into the forest. "What's wrong?"

Blaze lifted his nose in the air and snuffed smoke as black as pitch. He tugged and tugged, yanking Kera off her perch until she had no choice but to follow. They didn't go far when she heard the click and thrash of broken wings.

Her skin flashed cold. Sweat dotted her temples. It couldn't be.

She didn't hesitate. She unleashed Blaze and drew her incordium dagger. The dragon crouched, his hot eyes focused within the trees, ready to spring at the threat coming their way.

The clicks and grunts grew louder, but with it the sound of prey running for its life. Twigs snapped. Thick undergrowth rustled. The heavy breathing of panic grew louder, and an instant later, a man plunged toward Kera through the trees, his eyes wide with fear.

"Go!" he shouted, waving his arm. He suddenly winced. His chest thrust forward and he staggered, then fell face-first onto the ground. Two millispits, their pulsing, venomous tails and serrated fingers sunk deep, clung to his back. They were imperfectly created from magic to do one thing-kill anything that moved and then die.

Kera peered behind him. The hated creatures surged within the shadows of the forest, the ground rolling as if alive. There were hundreds of them.

A throaty growl erupted from Blaze and he sprang forward, spitting b.a.l.l.s of fire at the oncoming millispits. Kera pulled the now-dead creatures from the man's back. Bending over him, she slipped her arm around his rib cage. With an insistent tug, she yelled, "Get up."

He struggled to his feet, using her shoulders as leverage, but as soon as he was upright, he drooped over her. She hugged his waist tight and commanded a mound of dirt to rise beneath their feet. Dirt riding was the fastest way she could get the human to safety. She didn't worry about Blaze. The smell of burnt millispits and the sound of their tails and sharp fingers pinging off the dragon's impenetrable scales as they swarmed over him followed her deeper into the woods.

The forest thickened and the ground grew uneven. Kera struggled to keep the man close. An especially deep dip and rise caused him to groan. His knees buckled and Kera couldn't hold on to him. He crashed to the ground, pulling her with him. Her elbows dug into the earth, her palms sc.r.a.ping against all manner of forest debris. She pushed off him and swiped a hand across his too-pale face and down to the vein at his neck. It flickered shallow. Too weak. "Stay alive," she said, though it was most likely a useless command.

She couldn't allow this man to die, not when it was her fault for not being able to stop the millispits from invading the human realm. What she was about to do would either see him better or kill him.

She rolled him onto his stomach, raked his shirt up, and held her hands over the b.l.o.o.d.y spots on his back where the millispits had landed. Calling on her new powers, her hands lit up. He bucked under the magic as she drew out as much of the poison as she could. It seeped out, burning the man's skin and blackening the soil beneath him.

He'd live, but not without a fair bit of care. She estimated the distance back to Dylan's home. Too far. Plus they'd have to go through the millispits to get there. He couldn't survive another sting. The barrier and help without needless questions was close. Her choice was clear. She rolled him onto his back and stared into his face. Icy blue eyes filled with pain stared back at her. He didn't appear as pale as before. Color now flushed his cheeks. "We must move. Now. Can you do it?"

"What you just did...who are you?"

"A friend. Please, ask me no more questions. Do as I say and we may both live."

He used her to gain his feet, and when she a.s.sessed his condition for travel, his pinched lips parted. "Do you know Lani? Are you from her world?"

Kera stilled. How did he know about Teag? How did anyone but Dylan know? It was her turn to throw him a bewildered look. "Who are you?"

"Reece. Take me to her. Please."

Fired Up.

It's as if time slows for a brief second as I watch Grandpa's arm tick back, his fist tighten, ready to pummel, and then time snaps into hyperdrive. Wyatt grabs Grandpa's left shoulder with his right hand, ducks under Grandpa's arm and pushes away to a safe distance. "That's called a near-side duck under. Normally I'd throw you down, but I don't want to hurt you, old man."

Grandpa spins around, the hard lines of his face turning to stone. His hands flash up, ready for a fight. "The day you can hurt me will be the day I retire."

Wyatt faces him. "Careful. You always told me you don't make promises you're not willing to keep." He bats away Grandpa's punches like a cat batting at a cornered mouse. "You know you can't beat me."

"All a man needs is one shot. Pay attention, Dylan," Grandpa barks over his shoulder at me.

I'm not sure what to do. I feel like an idiot just standing here, watching, but it's not my fight. Not yet. If it comes down to winning, I'd be more than happy to knock a rock against Wyatt's head, but I'm not sure it would do any good.

Grandpa slips away from Wyatt's jabs and comes back with a hard left hook to the younger man's ribs and a solid right cross to his face. "That's called stepping onto your opponent's over-inflated ego and smacking it down."

Wyatt shakes off the hits and smiles. "It's what I call a fluke, you old b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

Grandpa's deep bark of laughter shakes the rafters as he follows his opponent across the floor. "It's training, son. Pure, hard-core, no-nonsense training."

"My training tells me the kid's dangerous. People need to know. They need to be able to protect themselves."

"He's a good boy," Grandpa throws a combination punch that only grazes Wyatt's torso. "You're making it sound like he's a menace to society."

Wyatt spins away, pivots, squats low, and jabs his body forward. His shoulder slams into Grandpa's midsection as he sweeps the older man's legs out from under him, causing him to hit the ground with a grunt.