it back again. “Sorry. I bet I’m not supposed to touch.”
“Nah.” A shrug. “It’s cool. I’m not really a guy for rules.”
A ginger touch. A laugh. “It’s cold. I expected the scales to be warm, somehow.”
A quick grin. “I’ve got some bowls. They’d get warm if you put some soup in them.”
Micah squeezes through a different hole in the crowd and joins us. “Nice dragon.”
Indigo scowls at him. “Mine. I saw it first.”
The teenager holding the glimmering clay sculpture shoots me a wide-eyed look.
Indigo strokes the ridges on the dragon’s head and looks at the artist. “Or maybe it’s not for sale. It’s really special. Maybe I could take a look at your bowls instead.”
He swallows and utterly fails to form words.
The memories of the first time I sold a major piece nearly swamp me. It was a painting of a fancy house that had seen better days, along with its resident ghosts. The woman who bought it held it the same way that Indigo is touching the clay dragon.
Rodney materializes out of nowhere. “Elayo here has a rare touch with glazes, doesn’t he? This one is almost like a mirror. Shines all nice and pretty even in dim light. It would give a room ambience, I bet.” He flashes Indigo a grin. “I heard one of the ladies who’s talking to Jewel use that word.”
“It’s a good word.” Indigo studies the dragon. Then she looks at Elayo. At Rodney. A quick glance at me.
I take a careful, shallow breath. She’s not trying to buy a dragon, although I’m pretty sure that’s about to happen too.
She’s trying to see.
INDIGO
I need Violet. There’s so much swirling here that I need to understand, and I don’t know anyone’s rising sign or which planets are in their sixth house or what squares with their Jupiter.
I just know that I have one hand on a wondrous dragon and the other wrapped around Drew’s fingers and neither of them wants to let go.
I start with the easier hand. Tech millionaires I can handle. I shoot the one who thinks he can loot my treasure a dirty look.
Micah grins cheerfully. “I know when I’m beat.” He raises an eyebrow in Elayo’s direction. “I’m also smart enough to ask if I can see your next dragon before you carry it out of an alleyway and I can’t get through the crowd fast enough.”
Elayo’s eyes jumble with a bunch of emotions, most of them not happy ones.
Micah hesitates, unsure what he just stepped in.
Drew clears his throat. “A major piece like this takes a lot of clay. A lot of raw materials. And there are risks in drying it, firing it.”
Elayo’s hands push deeper into his pockets.
My heart squeezes in painful recognition. Drew’s hands do that.
Now I know what it means.
Micah shrugs. “Sure. That’s why companies like mine offer grants for artists. So there’s enough money for time and space and failures, just like when we’re coding a new app.”
Two sets of eyes light up with interest.
Rodney’s dim first. “You have those grants all the time, or just when you want something?”
Micah nods. “That’s a smart, fair question. We’ve been offering them for two years, but I do want something. Something more commercial from you, and from the guy over there with the graffiti canvases, if you can wrangle me an intro. We want a young, urban feel for a couple of our apps, and I’d like to sit the two of you down with our design team.” He offers Elayo a lopsided smile. “From this guy, I just want a dragon for my bedroom. In blue, if it’s okay to request a color.”
Elayo shrugs. “I like blue.”
Micah’s hands slide into his pockets, too. “It looks so real. Like a world we could get to if we just stopped getting in our own way.”
Elayo sucks in a breath. Blows it back out again, saying nothing.
Drew’s fingers twitch in mine.
DREW
I thought tonight might help her understand the language that I speak most fluently.
Idiot artist. This is a language we’re all born speaking.
I smile at Elayo, who’s about ten seconds from passing out where he stands because he didn’t believe there were people in the world who would actually buy exquisite clay dragons. “A tip from someone who’s been there?” I nod my head at Rodney. “Get your agent here to negotiate the sale. You won’t charge enough.”
Rodney beams at me. Then his eyes flare with panic.
Crap. They’re younger than I was. They probably have no idea what strangers on