Burn(80)

“Which is what attacked the town you read about in your newspaper.”

The Other Malcolm scoffed. “Yeah, right. Tattoos don’t prove anything. There are tattooed men in the circus—”

Malcolm grabbed a fistful of the Other Malcolm’s shirt, pulled him suddenly close, and kissed him on the lips. The Other Malcolm, clearly surprised, resisted only for a second, before making a grunt of further shock as Malcolm let the kiss end. The Other Malcolm put a hand up to his lips. “You . . . My God, you taste exactly like me. How do I even know that?”

“I am you. And you are me. From different worlds a sliver apart.”

The Other Malcolm kept his fingers on his lips. “You’re the first man I’ve ever kissed.” He frowned. “That’s kinky.”

“Do you want to love? Answer me that. Because I didn’t know until I met Nelson.”

The Other Malcolm lowered his hand. “I’ve always wanted to love.” He looked down. “I never thought I was allowed.”

“Then at least let me tell you you are. That you can. That you will.”

The Other Malcolm looked around, not seemingly because he was checking for anything but just to keep his gaze away from the intensity of Malcolm’s. He even turned a full circle, and when he came back round, Malcolm saw that his eyes were wet.

“My name is Hugh,” he said.

“It’s nice to meet you, Hugh.”

“You can’t imagine how lonely I’ve been.”

“Yes. I actually can.”

Hugh blinked a few times, until his eyes cleared. “Where did you say this Nelson was?”

“She is right,” Kazimir said. “There was not magic in this world—hence my appearance—but there is now. I can feel it. And it is growing.”

“She’ll create more dragons?” Agent Dernovich.

“She will lay eggs, yes. She will have young.”

“How?” Sarah said.

“She is a Creator. It is what they do.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Darlene said. “You’re saying she’s been a human for thousands of years, but she only found a way to get revenge now?”

“That is where the myth gets tricky,” Kazimir answered. “They trapped her in the body of a human, and then the myth says, they made her forget who she was.”

“But gods leak,” Agent Dernovich said. “You said you could never convince a Goddess. You could probably never truly take one’s memory either.”

“No,” Kazimir said. “Nor can you properly kill one. Her human form dies and the loose magic is born in another, again and again. This is what our theologians believe. Blue theologians, for we seem to be the only ones who care.”

“You’re a theologian?” Agent Dernovich asked.

“When you are made of magic, Agent, it is not a surprising choice.”

“So what happened to the dragon-woman?” Darlene asked.

Kazimir looked sheepish.

“You lost her,” Agent Dernovich said. “You lost track of her.”

“Decades passed. Millennia did. We found our peace with humans. No Goddess came to destroy us. We forgot she ever existed. And then the Believers came.”

“The Believers?”

“A religion.”

“A cult,” Sarah said.

“Nomenclature,” Kazimir said, “but who do you think founded it? A woman. Two hundred years ago. Their leaders are always women, a strong one, followed by a weaker one, followed by a stronger one.”

“Your Goddess,” Darlene guessed. “She’d lead them till she died, then take over again when she got old enough.”

“Yes. She did not fully remember who she was, as that was part of the prison, but the Goddess was, as you say, leaking. She was driven to dragon worship with such intensity an entire belief rose up around her. Then something must have broken through for her, if not complete self-awareness, then a vision, a plan, one she may have pursued without knowing entirely why. Because fifty-five years ago, we discovered that the Believers—two Mitera Theas ago and beyond all possibility, knew about a prophecy, one we had kept deeply secret, stating that an end was coming, fomented by the Goddess herself, but stopped . . .” he looked at Sarah “. . . by a human girl.”

“Fifty-five years ago,” Sarah said.

“Yes,” Kazimir said.

“What’s so special about fifty-five years ago?” Agent Dernovich asked.

“That’s when dragons stopped talking to people,” Sarah said.

“She will want to talk to us,” Kazimir said. “She could be back any time. It will be worse once she realizes.”

“Realizes what?”

Kazimir grew frustrated. “Realizes who she is. When she knows her full power, believe me, we will all know.” He held up the Spur. “When especially she knows what is lacking to access that full power.”

Another silence. Agent Dernovich looked worried for the briefest of moments, then smiled at his daughter. “Well, this is exciting, isn’t it?” he said to her.

“Way more exciting than Grandma’s,” the little girl said.

“Yesiree, it is that,” her father said. Then he turned back to face Sarah and Kazimir, and said, “Would it help if I got you an army?”