With the dragon inside of me being trapped within the dark magic inside my soul, I closed my eyes and sat down, concentrating until I managed to come back to my body. When I woke up I was covered in some kind of gross slime, still sitting in my grandma's lap.

“What the… Grama, what is this?”

She laughed, rubbing her hand down my arm and shaking some of it off. “Dragons can produce mucus on any part of their body, it helps regulate heat, among other things. Depending on the dragon, it might also be flammable.”

“Gross…” I groaned. ‘And… A little scary…’

“So, was I right? Did it hurt?”

I sighed, thinking about it for a moment before letting out another sigh, this time with a smile. “So much pain.”

“Oh?” She furrowed her brow, slightly concerned and slightly confused.

“Yes, it hurts… Emotionally… So you owe me ice cream.”

She slowly smiled as she picked me up and set me down on my feet. “Maybe after a bath though… The mucus coming out of you has a certain uh… Smell… And I’m sure you don’t want the boys to see you like this.”

I thought back to all the awkwardness I had just gone through, not just with Agis, but even before that with Zu and Finlo. “I think I’d rather just stay away from boys altogether for a while…”

She laughed again. “Come on now, how am I supposed to have great-grandkids with an attitude like that?”

I tried to read her face, but I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. Although, I was leaning towards the not for sure.

My mom had already more or less desensitized me to bathing with other people, so it wasn’t so bad to have her help me like she said, although to be fair she didn’t make me nearly as insecure or embarrassed as my mom did… She didn’t talk about my body at all, not even my scars. It made me feel… Normal…

“There you go. All that slime is gone and your skin is all sparkly now, another side effect of the dragon mucus I bet. You’re practically glowing.”

“Not worth it…” I groaned, sinking down into the hot water.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“So, did you win?”

“Oh, the dragon? Yeah, I beat it up and broke its wings, trapping it in the corner till I figured out what to do with it. He torched most of my soul though, so I gotta figure out how to fix that.” ‘I take it back… Nothing about this is normal…’

She grabbed a large bottle of alcohol and took a swig. “Not bad, not bad. As time goes on its soul will take a more solid shape, and eventually, you will be able to speak and reason with it. When the time comes for that I’ll help you again.”

“Right… What did you do though?”

She took another swig, enjoying herself maybe a bit too much. “So basically I have a partial animal soul, and the soul of animals interacts with that of dragons, that allowed me to bridge you two together so that you could meet on the same plane. Or… I don’t know, I think it’s something like that.”

“Wait… So in this situation… Grama IS the big bad wolf?” I mutter out loud.

She just laughed again, rubbing my head. “Not a bad name, I think I’ll use it for a while.” She said cheerfully, taking yet another deep drink. “Ahh… Here, you earned some too. Just one drink though.”

I timidly accepted the bottle. It smelled sweet and creamy. ‘When was the last time I actually had a drink? Not in this life for sure… It should be fine right?’ I tipped it back… But it was empty, only a sliver of the sweet and fiery liquor dripping onto my tongue and leaving me admittedly a little disappointed. “It’s empty…”

“What? Already… I just started that one?”

“Yup… And finished it too…”

…

After we got out I put on my pajamas while she helped me wash my dress and when all was said and done she got out more alcohol and we sat outside watching the fountain at the front of the house cycle water. She ended up changing her mind about giving me a drink though… So I ended up getting milk… I was a bit annoyed, but she thought it was hilarious…

Three bottles in and she finally stopped, holding the bottle half empty in one hand as she leaned forward onto one of her knees. “So… You’re mom… Is she… Doing ok?”

‘Mom?’ “What do you mean?”

“When you think of her… Does she have a smile on her face? Does she still laugh?” She set the bottle down between us and nodded toward it, gesturing for me to have a drink.

It felt a bit awkward since I had to hold it with both hands, but I still went for it. It tasted as sweet as it smelled, and the fiery kick made me all tingly, wiping away all the pent-up tension from how embarrassed I kept feeling.

She leaned in close. “Don’t tell your grandfather I let you do this.” She whispered.

“Deal,” I smirked, taking another sip before putting it back down. ‘That’s probably enough… I don’t actually know how much this body can take.’ “So Mara huh…” I paused. For a long time. She was cold and harsh, trying her best not to show any emotion, much less happiness. The past few months though completely changed that, and it was hard to even reconcile the two. “Honestly… When I think of her…”

My grama leaned in closer.

“She’s like a bubbly little girl… It’s kinda… Weird…”

Once again confusion crossed her face, this time mixed with an awkward smile as she waited for me to explain.

“She’s always teasing me about things, and she’s way too clingy. The last time we slept in the same bed she practically squished me. She knows I don’t like bathing with other people… But she always barges in just because she thinks I look cute when I’m embarrassed and wants to tease me more…”

Her smile grew bigger until she leaned back and let her body fully relax, sinking into her chair. “That so… I guess I don’t have to worry about her anymore then.”

I looked down at my hands and compared them to hers, reminding myself how small I was. ‘It’s crazy to think that my birth caused her trouble too…’ I stopped myself before I went down the rabbit hole and leaned my head back to stare up at the sky. My back started to tingle again and for a while, it was like I was longing to fly. I was never all that fond of heights so… It was safe to say it wasn’t my desire I was feeling. But the memory of feeling the wind under my wings still faintly lingered and when I closed my eyes I could fully imagine it. ‘I can’t help but wonder what it’s really like.’