“Before we run into another hit squad. I think it’s time you told me what’s really going on.”
Marci winced. “I’m super sorry about all that. I never thought Bixby would send a real force all the way up here.”
“You stole a priceless object,” he replied irritably. “Of course he’s going to come after it.”
“I didn’t steal it!” she said. “My dad stole it, and he only took it because Bixby was illegally withholding his money.”
“Fine,” Julius snapped. “But why did you keep it after he died? I would have thought one death would be enough to prove that thing isn’t worth messing around with.”
Marci shot him a hurt look, and Julius instantly felt like a jerk.
“Sorry,” he said, rubbing his hands over his face. “It’s just…stealing a magical relic from a vengeful mobster seems like a pretty stupid move for a smart girl like you.”
“I didn’t set out to take it,” she said, petting the Kosmolabe in her lap. “I didn’t even know what it was until Dad told me, and after everything went down, it seemed kind of pointless to try and give it back.”
Julius let out a long breath. “I just wish you’d told me everything back at the restaurant. If I’d known from the beginning you had something Bixby wanted, we might have been able to avoid all this. We could have used the Kosmolabe as a bargaining chip and negotiated—”
“Negotiated?” Marci shrieked. “Those people killed my father! They nearly killed us just now. The only negotiating they do is at gunpoint.” Her eyes narrowed. “And anyway, if there’s anyone in this car who should have come clean earlier, it’s you. You’re not even human!”
Julius didn’t try to deny it. He just sat still while Marci eyeballed him like he was a wild animal she’d discovered in her car.
“So what are you, anyway? Skinwalker? Vampire?”
“Vampire?” Julius repeated, glancing pointedly at the dappled sunlight falling across his legs.
She shrugged and kept going. “Wendigo?”
“Why are you only guessing the worst things? Maybe I’m a kind and benevolent spirit of nature?”
“No reason to hide being a spirit in Detroit,” Marci said, shaking her head. “Besides, I’ve felt spirit magic plenty of times before, and it’s nothing like—” She stopped, eyes lighting up in sudden recognition. “Oh my God, you’re a dragon! That’s it, isn’t it?” When he didn’t say no, she started bouncing up and down in her seat. “You are a dragon! This is amazing! I’ve never met one. Can you breathe fire?”
Julius’s spirits sank lower with every breathless word. “Ix-nay on the agon-dray,” he grumbled. “I’m not legal here, remember?”
“Oh,” Marci said, dropping her voice, though not her excitement. “So can you breathe fire?”
“Yes,” Julius said heavily. “But before you ask, I can’t right now. My dragon form is sealed at the moment.”
Marci snapped her fingers. “I knew you were under a curse. So how old are you? A hundred? A thousand?”
“I’m twenty-four,” Julius said before she tried to check his teeth.
She gaped at him. “Twenty-four what? Years?” He nodded, and Marci collapsed back in her seat. “I can’t believe it. I finally meet a dragon, and he’s a year younger than I am. I have the worst luck ever.” She heaved an enormous sigh and sat up again. “So how did your dragon form get sealed? Did you try to eat a great and powerful mage or—”
“Can we not talk about this?”
Marci flinched as though he’d struck her, and Julius immediately feel awful.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “I was sealed under complicated circumstances, and I’m not really up for an interrogation right now.”
“I understand,” Marci said, lowering her eyes. “I don’t mean to be pushy, but I’ve wanted to meet a dragon all my life. Though I guess I’ve actually met two now. Your brother’s a dragon, too, isn’t he?”
Julius nodded, and Marci’s face split right back into a grin. “That explains a lot. I knew nothing human could survive in that lamprey pool.”
He fought the urge to growl. Of course Justin’s actions would be explained. He was bold, arrogant, everything a dragon should be, whereas Marci hadn’t even been able to guess what Julius was.
“So why didn’t you tell me what you were earlier?” she asked, leaning toward him between the seats. “If I was a dragon, I’d tell everyone. Is it because we’re in the DFZ?” She gasped. “You weren’t afraid I’d turn you in for the bounty, were you? Because I’d never do that. I mean, who in their right mind would pick money over having their own dragon? You can’t buy that sort of access! So do you really make your own magic?”
By the time she finished, Julius’s stomach was clenched in a tight little knot. He’d been warned that humans took the dragon reveal badly, but he’d never expected this from Marci. She was leaned all the way over into his seat now, staring at him with gleaming eyes like he was her prize catch, and suddenly, Julius had to get away.
He couldn’t take this, not today. He couldn’t sit here and listen to the person who’d become the closest thing he had to an actual friend badger him for access. Especially since he couldn’t give it to her without getting her killed, which was what always happened to humans who learned too many dragon secrets. Marci wasn’t the sort who’d give up before she knew everything, and Julius didn’t have the strength to tell her no over and over again. But as he threw off his seatbelt and opened the door, Marci’s hand landed on his shoulder.
“Wait! I’m sorry.”
It was the tremor in her voice that stopped him more than her words or her touch, and Julius looked over his shoulder to see Marci staring at him with real fear in her eyes. That would have been appropriate for a human who’d just learned she was sharing a car with an immortal predator, except Marci’s hand was still latched onto his shoulder. Hard. Because she wasn’t afraid of him, she was afraid he would leave.
“I’m sorry,” she said again. “Don’t go, please. I messed that up. I get overly excited and talk before I think. I didn’t mean to insult you.”
The urge to run was still there, but Julius couldn’t go when she was looking at him like that. “It’s okay,” he said quietly.
Marci shook her head so fast her short hair flew. “It’s not okay. I was being stupid. I’m sure you had your reasons for not telling me, and it was rude of me to push. Especially since the only reason I found out at all was because you let me pull off you back there to save our lives.”
“The life-saving was all you,” Julius said, but Marci would have none of it.
“No way. I couldn’t have done a tenth of that on my own. I mean, I’ve pulled off strong sources before, but touching you was like…” Her voice trailed off as she searched for the words. “Plugging into the sun,” she said at last, her lips curling into a wondrous smile. “It was absolutely amazing. So much concentrated power, and it was right there, right at my fingertips. I’ve never felt that strong in my life, and I’m afraid I might have gone a little overboard.”