house, set her back on her feet—Blaze clinging to my shoulder—and went to pack the rest of Rasha’s oxygen, just in case, and said, “If you have anything special to sleep in or if you have a stuffed animal or something like that, why don’t you go get them?”
“Am I spending the night?”
“Maybe. Let’s get it in case you do. And grab some extra clothes.”
She nodded and walked up the stairs to collect her things. I finished packing the oxygen, then grabbed a bag from the closet and ran up to Hiro’s room to pack him some clothes as well. Everything was pretty much rolled into a ball, but it didn’t matter. I could fix that with my magic.
Rasha came out of her room, so I took her pillow and stuffed duck, then tugged her outside as Ailin pulled up to the curb. He must’ve sped like crazy to get here so fast.
As I stuffed the bags in the trunk, Ailin got out and met me at the back door, saying, “Hey, Rasha, I’m Ailin.”
“Hi.” She sounded shy. As soon as he’d healed her in the hospital, he’d left, so she never met him.
Ailin grinned at her and said, “It’s nice to meet you.” Ailin turned to me, squeezed the back of my neck, and pulled me close enough to kiss my temple, muttering, “Are you okay?”
I nodded, scooped Rasha up, and set her on the back seat, but before buckling her in, I asked, “I can sit in the back with you if you want?”
She nodded at me, so I pushed her over into the middle and slid in beside her. Ailin shot me a tiny grin as he shut my door and walked back to the driver’s seat. As he started driving, he asked Rasha, “Have you ever seen a little dragon?”
She blinked up at him and shook her head, but he saw her in the rearview mirror.
“I brought Zammerra with me.” He gestured to the passenger seat, but I couldn’t see her from here. “She might want to sit on your lap on the drive.”
Her eyes widened, so I said, “She doesn’t have to sit with you if you don’t want her to.”
“Can I see her?”
“Of course.” I slid forward and peeked over the seat. Sure enough, a purple and black dragon was curled up on the seat, staring at me with bright purple eyes. She never shifted into any other animal like my Blaze did, but she could change size, and now that she was an adult, her full size was even bigger than Blaze—Blaze hated it. I asked the dragon, “Do you want to meet Rasha?”
Zammerra stood and stretched, then casually walked onto the console. Beside me, Rasha gasped out, “Woah.”
With a grin, I held my arms out to Zamm, and she obligingly climbed into them and settled on my lap, facing Rasha.
As the little eight-year-old stared with wide eyes, I said, “You can pet her. Her scales are soft on top of her body, but the spikes are kinda hard. Pet her down, like this.” I showed her what direction to pet Zamm that made it more comfortable for the little dragon. “Want to try?” I held out my hand, and she placed hers in mine, so I gently brushed her fingers over Zamm’s head. The little dragon let out a tiny twittering sound like she was happy, and Rasha smiled widely. As she became more confident, I released her fingers, and she continued petting the little dragon.
Blaze watched on from my shoulder for a few minutes before stuffing his face in my collar. He was unhappy that Rasha was so infatuated with the other dragon, but I was grateful that Ailin had brought her. When I caught his gaze in the rearview mirror and he smiled, I knew he’d brought Zamm on purpose to help distract Hiro’s little girl from her worry.
My brother-dad-kinda-guy was great like that. Not that I really ever told him that. Maybe I should, though.
I smiled back at him and nodded my thanks.
Rasha was pretty quiet on the drive there, but she was smiling and petting Zamm the entire time. Zamm even climbed into her lap to cuddle with her, which made Rasha so happy and excited. If I wasn’t so worried about my viramore, this could’ve been one of my happiest moments with her. But my worry and fear for him was too strong.
I had the sense that I wasn’t hiding my worry very well, which made me