by something real.”
My mom sighs. “Two things, Wren. One: if there’s nothing there, then you’re wasting your time and going for no reason. And two: if there is something there, if these creatures really did attack you, then they’re dangerous. Why would you purposely go where it’s dangerous?”
“So we’re just supposed to avoid the Caspian Sea forever, now? If I find out what’s down there, we’ll know. We’ll know for sure that it’s dangerous and why, so we can learn how to protect ourselves.”
Now my mom stands. She’s not so much angry as pleading. “Dragons are almost extinct, Wren. My goal, my only purpose in life ever since I learned who I was and fell in love with your father, has been to do my part to keep dragons from going extinct.”
“You had five kids, Mom. You’ve done your part.”
“Only if those five kids find mates and have children of their own.”
I stagger backwards a couple of steps. Didn’t we just have a conversation last evening, in which my mom more or less said she understood that I was never going to find a mate and have kids? Or was she only agreeing that we should let my sisters have first dibs on the Sheehy brothers? “Mom, what are you saying?”
“I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t understand why you think you need to go to the one spot on earth where you came closest to dying. I brought you into this world so you could live and have dragon babies of your own someday.”
I breathe out a long breath and try to overlook everything she just said about dragon babies. I could say a lot of things on that subject, but none of them is going to get me any closer to the Caspian Sea. Instead, I focus on my goal, which is to figure out what attacked me so I can make sure I’m never, ever caught off guard, attacked, and nearly killed, ever again.
“Mom, we’ll be careful. Ed saved me from the bull last night, remember? And Malcolm Sheehy said Ed’s very safe, the best person on earth to take a person to Loch Ness. I think he’s the best person on earth to keep me safe at the Caspian Sea, too. So unless we’re all planning to avoid the Caspian Sea for the rest of our lives, I think I’ll be safest if Ed finds out what’s out there. If there’s anything out there.” I add in that last part out of deference to her seaweed theory, not because I believe it for a second, but because I know if I don’t acknowledge it, she’ll drag it into the conversation again.
Mom makes a face. It’s one of her faces from right out of the mistakes-that-age-you articles, with her lips all pursed and pinchy, and her brow furrowed like one of those before-Botox pictures.
Just when I’m starting to think her face is going to freeze that way if she holds that expression any longer, she gives me one of those looks that says she’ll consider giving her permission, on one condition.
I brace myself for what that condition might be.
Mom sets down her book and turns toward the door with an air of finality. “I need to talk to Ed first.”
Chapter Eight
“Ed’s in the courtyard roasting a cow,” I inform my mother, then follow her there.
I can smell the roasting meat before we even step outside. As promised, Ed has an entire beef carcass roasting on the spit in the courtyard.
He turns and smiles as we enter. “Lunch’ll be ready in just a few minutes.”
“Ed?” My mom pronounces it correctly, with the long e sound. “I need to talk to you.”
“Alright.”
She glances back at me. “Alone.”
“What?” I look around the courtyard. It’s just me. What’s she going to say to Ed that I’m not supposed to hear? “I’m just here for lunch. Don’t mind me.”
But Ed takes my mom through the wooden door in the curtain wall, leaving me alone with the roasting beef.
I stand there for a few minutes, waiting, listening, but I can’t hear anything of what they’re saying, and I’m pretty sure the meat is ready to eat. “I’m just going to help myself to
My mom sighs. “Two things, Wren. One: if there’s nothing there, then you’re wasting your time and going for no reason. And two: if there is something there, if these creatures really did attack you, then they’re dangerous. Why would you purposely go where it’s dangerous?”
“So we’re just supposed to avoid the Caspian Sea forever, now? If I find out what’s down there, we’ll know. We’ll know for sure that it’s dangerous and why, so we can learn how to protect ourselves.”
Now my mom stands. She’s not so much angry as pleading. “Dragons are almost extinct, Wren. My goal, my only purpose in life ever since I learned who I was and fell in love with your father, has been to do my part to keep dragons from going extinct.”
“You had five kids, Mom. You’ve done your part.”
“Only if those five kids find mates and have children of their own.”
I stagger backwards a couple of steps. Didn’t we just have a conversation last evening, in which my mom more or less said she understood that I was never going to find a mate and have kids? Or was she only agreeing that we should let my sisters have first dibs on the Sheehy brothers? “Mom, what are you saying?”
“I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t understand why you think you need to go to the one spot on earth where you came closest to dying. I brought you into this world so you could live and have dragon babies of your own someday.”
I breathe out a long breath and try to overlook everything she just said about dragon babies. I could say a lot of things on that subject, but none of them is going to get me any closer to the Caspian Sea. Instead, I focus on my goal, which is to figure out what attacked me so I can make sure I’m never, ever caught off guard, attacked, and nearly killed, ever again.
“Mom, we’ll be careful. Ed saved me from the bull last night, remember? And Malcolm Sheehy said Ed’s very safe, the best person on earth to take a person to Loch Ness. I think he’s the best person on earth to keep me safe at the Caspian Sea, too. So unless we’re all planning to avoid the Caspian Sea for the rest of our lives, I think I’ll be safest if Ed finds out what’s out there. If there’s anything out there.” I add in that last part out of deference to her seaweed theory, not because I believe it for a second, but because I know if I don’t acknowledge it, she’ll drag it into the conversation again.
Mom makes a face. It’s one of her faces from right out of the mistakes-that-age-you articles, with her lips all pursed and pinchy, and her brow furrowed like one of those before-Botox pictures.
Just when I’m starting to think her face is going to freeze that way if she holds that expression any longer, she gives me one of those looks that says she’ll consider giving her permission, on one condition.
I brace myself for what that condition might be.
Mom sets down her book and turns toward the door with an air of finality. “I need to talk to Ed first.”
Chapter Eight
“Ed’s in the courtyard roasting a cow,” I inform my mother, then follow her there.
I can smell the roasting meat before we even step outside. As promised, Ed has an entire beef carcass roasting on the spit in the courtyard.
He turns and smiles as we enter. “Lunch’ll be ready in just a few minutes.”
“Ed?” My mom pronounces it correctly, with the long e sound. “I need to talk to you.”
“Alright.”
She glances back at me. “Alone.”
“What?” I look around the courtyard. It’s just me. What’s she going to say to Ed that I’m not supposed to hear? “I’m just here for lunch. Don’t mind me.”
But Ed takes my mom through the wooden door in the curtain wall, leaving me alone with the roasting beef.
I stand there for a few minutes, waiting, listening, but I can’t hear anything of what they’re saying, and I’m pretty sure the meat is ready to eat. “I’m just going to help myself to
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