Free For the Memory of Dragons by Julie Wetzel Page A

form. His dragon was so close to the
surface that it would take nothing to pop out scales. Just that
passing thought sent a ripple along his shoulders and down his
arms. It was probably a good thing that Terra had gotten him a
long-sleeved shirt. A half transformation like he was experiencing
usually signaled some form of mental break. Had anyone seen the
blue tint to his skin, they would have been on the phone to the
authorities, and he didn’t have time for that now. There were more
important things to do, like telling Terra what she needed to know.
Only then would his dragon back down again.
    “How familiar are you with dragons?” Alex
asked. He could almost see her thoughts swirling as she considered
how to answer him.
    “Not very.” She set her fork on the table,
waiting for him to continue.
    Two long sections on his back itched as his
dragon pushed against his skin. “Please eat, and I’ll explain.”
    Terra gave him a pointed look but picked up
her fork again.
    The itching along his back subsided. He
needed to get himself back under control before things got really
bad. And it started with telling her everything.
    “Dragons are complicated creatures. We are
blessed with rational minds, but we are also driven by instincts.
And that can give us issues from time to time.” He pulled his glass
of juice over and rolled it between his hands so his fingers would
have something to do while he talked. “Every dragon has three
forms; a grand form, a lesser form, and a human form. While we can
switch between them at will, it’s very rare for the forms to
overlap.”
    “But, your eyes?” She pointed towards him
with a forkful of eggs.
    Alex looked down at his glass and smiled. Of
course she would notice his eyes. He was just lucky no one else
had.
    “Yes.” He looked back up at her. “There are
times when the two sides merge. It’s called balance, and it’s
usually a bad thing. It’s a sign of mental instability.”
    Tension ran through Terra, making her sit
taller in her chair.
    “Relax,” he soothed her. “A dragon can also
enter into balance when there is a major split between their two
halves. Say, if the dragon wants something, but the human half
won’t give in. If the want or need is strong enough, the dragon
aspect will force its way to the surface, creating a balance—a
merging of the two forms.”
    Carefully, Alex pushed his sleeve up. The
tips of blue scales had already pushed their way through his
skin.
    Terra gasped as he slid his sleeve back into
place.
    “Don’t worry,” he tried to soothe her again.
“I am stable. I’m just at an impasse. My dragon wants something
that I can’t give it.”
    “You haven’t seemed very stable to me,”
Terra huffed as she picked up her juice and drained the short
glass.
    Alex snickered softly and pushed his
untouched juice towards her. “No. I haven’t been. But that ties
into my current troubles. See, a lot of things in a dragon’s life
are driven by instinct and hormones. As long as we listen to those
little cues, we’re fine, but there are times when our systems get
upset and we lose those pointers. It leads to wild mood swings and
brooding.”
    “Like when you fall from the sky and get
bashed in your head?”
    This pulled another soft laugh from Alex.
“No. A fall won’t mess with a dragon’s system. A growth spurt will.
And a female dragon at the peak of fertility will.” He paused and
considered Terra for a moment before going on. This was the main
thing his dragon was pushing him to do. “There is one other thing
that can push a dragon into a brooding. Being faced with a
potential mate.”
    All color drained from Terra’s face. “I take
it you aren’t having a growth spurt?”
    He chuckled and shook his head. “No.”
    “Wow.” She said the word so softly that he
almost didn’t hear it. Folding her hands into her lap, she stared
at her half-finished food for a moment. Lifting her eyes, she met
his gaze. “How come you can