2. Magic or No magic?

“You can’t stop me I’m Beyoncé!” I sing, getting into my house only to let out a screech to rival a harpy’s.

“Jesus Mama! You scared the shit out of me, quite literally I might add.”

“Gross Mahi,” Mama replies, folding her arms in a posture that I’ve grown to know means I’m getting an epic lecture.

“What is it?” I ask with a sigh which earns me a pointed glare.

“You went to Ryder’s again after work, didn’t you?”

“I…”

“And you left my sweet grandbaby alone, I had to drag myself all the way here to stay with him.”

“Sheesh Mama we live in the same estate, quit being dramatic, and Blue wasn’t alone, I’ve just met Cherry peeling out of here like demons were on her ass, what did you say to her?”

“Nothing.”

Yeah right.

Cherry was my babysitter and for some reason, Mama loathed her from day one.

“Mama!” my baby boy calls flapping his tiny blue-black wings towards me.

“Oh, look at you, you get better every day.” I gloat like any mother would.

“Nana’s been teaching me.”

“Mama, I hope you broke nothing else with those damn wings of yours.”

Yeah, I know what you are probably thinking.

See, I’m adopted… kind of. My Mama is like a succubus, yes, the sex demon, but she’s not a demon, she’ll probably smite my ass for the description but it’s the best I can come up with buzzed, sue me. Also, she’s the best person in the world. To the people she likes that is, my dad is a dragon alpha who moonlights as an executive in an entertainment company, which he also owns.

Before they came along, life was pretty hard; sleeping in parks, meals at the mercy of restaurant and café owners or their workers and some were pretty mean.

As a girl, I was used to having my food snatched from me. But one time they weren’t just satisfied with the food. All I remember before I blacked out was gleaming eyes crowding me in and a distinct smell of sea and forests.

When I woke up, the next day, I felt fine, tired but fine. It wasn’t until a month later that I realized that a lot more had happened than I had previously thought.

Fast forward eight months later, Knox ‘Blue’ Dracon was born. That was the single most terrifying moment of my existence, but the moment I laid eyes on the snivelling blue-haired boy I fell in love, everyone did.

Papa had some tests run once it was clear Blue was no normal baby, I mean the thing came out with blue hair. One distinct thing that came back was that he had nautical DNA somewhere, which would explain the colouring.

They talked me into therapy for the trauma but the funny thing is, my issues didn’t stem from that incident since I couldn’t remember anything.

Long story short, I knew what those mages were talking about, the only issue was…I wasn’t the magical one, Blue was. Maybe Blue had left some traces in me.

“I don’t like that girl;” Mama’s voice jolts me back to the present.

I know that.

“What did she do now? Do you know how hard it is to find a good babysitter these days?”

“I found Knox hiding because she wanted to take a picture of him, and she called him a freak.”

She will die.

“But you glamoured him.”

“Yes, but the little hellion snatched something off the shelf with his tail, so she noticed.”

“Am I a freak mama?” Blue asks with a sad face, which just breaks my heart.

Boy do you even know what a freak is?

“No baby, you are perfect and beautiful and loved.”

“And handsome?”

“Very handsome.”

“Like Jin?”

“Yeah, baby!” I yell clapping my hands, “You are worldwide handsome.”

“Oh fates,” my mama mutters, letting herself out.

“Nana, my blessings and kisses.”

“Come here, boy,” he waddles over and she picks him up, planting kisses all over his face as she draws the family insignia around him with magic as a blessing.

The image lights up my world, two of my favourite people smiling and laughing, despite all we’d been through.

She hands him over with one last peck and leaves.

I turn to my boy, “OK baby, what’s for supper?”

“Fish!”

“Again? I swear, sometimes you prove our speculations about you being part nautical. I’m tired of eating your brethren,” I mutter, hiking him up, he was getting heavy.

Blue, at almost three years old, despite being a tiny thing, had the intellect and understanding of a six or seven-year-old human child in all the other ways so he could eat pretty much everything and hold terrifyingly intelligent conversations.

They were entertaining sometimes, and I didn’t have a lot of dietary restrictions due to his age; Thank the fates for small blessings.

“How about I make some pasta, beef, and veggies for the growing boy?”

“Nana says you have to eat veggies, too.”

I scrunch my face “But I’m grown.”

“She said to tell you not really,” he answers with a serious face.

“OK fine, let me grab a shower quick, hmm?” I ask already lowering him onto the sofa.

He nods and I’m off before he changes his mind and decides to join me.

The boy loved getting wet.