“I feel like that pretty much sums up our lives.”
“Eh. I have no complaints.”
Something Zero had said ran through my mind then. “Kevin? Where did you come from?”
He cocked his head at me. “The jungles,” he said. “You know that, Sam. Beast from the East and all that. If you’ve forgotten, I can give you my whole spiel again. I don’t mind.”
“No, no,” I said hastily. “That’s okay. And I’m not talking about… that. Who are your parents?”
He blinked at me before he started laughing. “My parents? Oh, Sam. Sam, Sam, Sam. You know nothing about dragons, do you? Wow. How the hell are we your destiny? You poor, poor sexy man-child. I feel bad for you. And slightly aroused. But mostly bad. And aroused.”
I scowled at him.
“Magic,” he said, wiping his eyes. “Sam, we’re born from magic. We don’t have parents. We are created when the world needs us most. There’s magic everywhere, in the smallest of things. Once there’s enough concentration of it, and once the world wills it so, a dragon is born.”
“But… but, that’s so stupid,” I exclaimed. “What the fuck is that esoteric bullshit?”
“Oh boy,” Kevin said. “Hey, champ. You okay? Your worldview expanding because your tiny little mind was just blown? Yeah. You’re okay.”
“But how do you know that if you’ve never met a dragon before?”
“How do turtles know to head for the sea once they hatch? Instinct, Sam. It’s ingrained into us.”
“I’ll never understand dragons,” I said grumpily as I crossed my arms over my chest. “They make no sense whatsoever.”
“That’s because we’re amazing.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“Shh,” he said. “Shh. It’s okay. I heard what you didn’t say. I got you. Your mouth is saying no, but your body is saying yes.”
“God, that was so rapey.”
“I doubt that. The body wants what it wants.”
“You’re stupid.”
“Says the man who didn’t know where dragons came from. Hi, I’m Sam of Wilds. I have a destiny of dragons, but guess what? I don’t know a single thing about them!”
“I thought it was supposed to be a fairy tale! And I don’t sound that high-pitched and whiny!”
“He said, whining in a high-pitched voice, like the insignificant little speck of dust that he was.”
“You ass.”
“You love me.”
“Yeah, yeah. Ferry me across, Lord Dragon.”
He bowed low. “But of course, sweet cheeks.” He reached a hand to carefully pick me up and held me close to his chest. But before he could spread his wings, I said his name. “Hmm?”
“I felt him,” I said. “After. With his firefly lights.”
“So you said.”
“It’s not the same, you know? Like it is with you. He’s a part of us, but not like you are.”
“Are you hitting on me? I’m flattered, but I don’t know if now’s a good time. Oh, who am I kidding, it’s always a good time. Take off your pants.”