I wasn't buying it. "If they're so useful, then why don't you have one?"
"Oh, well, I'm at a level where I can sense dark magic on my own. That, and - if you'll forgive my language - callistanas are a real pain in the ass. They make the most irritating noise when they're hungry. Cats are more than adequate for my needs."
"Yeah," I said. "I kind of noticed the noise part. I fed it some pie and turned it back into a rock."
"There, you see?" She sounded happier than I'd heard her in days. "Look at the progress you've made already. No matter what comes of this mess we've found ourselves in, I'm more convinced than ever that I made the right choice in guiding you on the magical path."
I had too much going on to really appreciate the compliment. "So what do I do now?"
"It'll disappear on its own after a year and a day. Until then, you can call it when you need it. You can try to train it. And of course, you'll have to feed it. Whatever you choose to do, it will be loyal to you. It bonds with the first person it sees and will need to spend time with you . . . Sydney? Are you there?"
I'd gone silent again. "The first person it sees?" I finally managed to ask. "Not the caster?"
"Well, usually they're one and the same."
I glanced over at Adrian, who was eating a piece of blackberry pie while listening avidly to my side of the conversation. "What happens if there were two people there when it opened its eyes? Adrian was with me when I summoned it."
Now she paused. "Oh? Hmm, well, I probably should've said something before you cast the spell."
That had to be the understatement of the century. "You should've told me a lot of things before I cast it! What does it mean that the dragon - demon, whatever - saw both of us? Did it bond with both of us?"
"Look at it this way," Ms. Terwilliger said, after several moments of thought. "The callistana thinks of you two as its parents."
Chapter Eighteen
I CERTAINLY HADN'T EXPECTED to walk away from today's trip with joint custody of a miniature dragon. (I refused to call it a demon). And, as it turned out, Adrian was already proving not to be the most dedicated of "fathers."
"You can take him for now," he told me when we got back to Amberwood. "I'll handle weekend visitations."
"You don't have anything going on. Besides, we're only a few days from the weekend," I protested. "And you don't know that it's a 'he.'"
"Well, I don't think he'll mind, and besides, I'm not going to investigate to find out the truth." Adrian put the quartz in the basket and closed the lid before handing it over to me. "You don't have to summon him back, you know."
I took the basket and opened the car door. "I know. But I feel kind of bad leaving him as a rock." Ms. Terwilliger had told me it'd be healthier for him if I let him out once in a while.
"See? Motherly instinct already. You're a natural, Sage." Adrian grinned and handed me a bag of pie slices. He'd kept some for himself. "Look at you. You don't even need to break the tattoo. You think you would've been mothering a baby dragon a month ago?"
"I don't know." But he had a point. It seemed likely I would've run screaming from it back in the desert. Or maybe tried to exorcise it. "I'll take him for now, but you've got to pull your weight at some point. Ms. Terwilliger says the callistana needs to spend time with both of us. Hmm."
"Hmm, what?"
I shook my head. "Just getting ahead of myself. Wondering what I'd do with him if I did go to Mexico."
Adrian gave me a puzzled look. "What about Mexico?"
It had never come up, I realized. All Adrian had known about was Marcus's mission and the initial tattoo breaking, not the sealing. I hadn't been keeping the rest a secret, but suddenly, I felt uncomfortable telling Adrian about it.
"Oh. Well, Marcus says that after I perform this rebellious act, we can break the elements and free me from the tattoo's control. But to truly bind the spell and make sure the tattoo is never repaired, I need to tattoo over it - like he did. He calls it sealing. But it takes some special compound that's hard to find. He got his done in Mexico and is going to take some of his Merry Men there so they can do it."
"I see." Adrian's smile had vanished. "So. Are you joining them?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. Marcus wants me to."
"I'm sure he does."
I ignored the tone. "I've thought about it . . . but it's a big step. Not just for the tattoo, either. If I did that, there'd be no going back. I'd be turning my back on the Alchemists."
"And us," he said. "Unless you really are only helping Jill because of your orders."
"You know it's not about that anymore." Again, I didn't like his tone. "You know I care about her and . . . and the rest of you."
His face was hard. "And yet you'd run off with some guy you just met."
"It's not like that! We wouldn't be 'running off together. I'd be coming back! And we'd be going for a specific reason."
"Beaches and margaritas?"
I was speechless for a few moments. It was so close to what Marcus had joked about. Was that all anyone associated with Mexico?
"I see how it is," I snapped. "You were all in favor of me breaking the tattoo and thinking on my own - but that's only okay if it's convenient for you, huh? Just like your loving from afar' only works if you don't have an opportunity to get your hands all over me. And your lips. And . . . stuff."
Adrian rarely got mad, and I wouldn't quite say he was now. But he was definitely exasperated. "Are you seriously in this much self-denial, Sydney? Like do you actually believe yourself when you say you don't feel anything? Especially after what's been happening between us?"
"Nothing's happening between us," I said automatically. "Physical attraction isn't the same as love. You of all people should know that."
"Ouch," he said. His expression hadn't changed, but I saw hurt in his eyes. I'd wounded him. "Is that what bothers you? My past? That maybe I'm an expert in an area you aren't?"
"One I'm sure you'd just love to educate me in. One more girl to add to your list of conquests."
He was speechless for a few moments and then held up one finger. "First, I don't have a list." Another finger. "Second, if I did have a list, I could find someone a hell of lot less frustrating to add to it." For the third finger, he leaned toward me. "And finally, I know that you know you're no conquest, so don't act like you seriously think that. You and I have been through too much together. We're too close, too connected. I wasn't that crazy on spirit when I said you're my flame in the dark. We chase away the shadows around each other. Our backgrounds don't matter. What we have is bigger than that. I love you, and beneath all that logic, calculation, and superstition, I know you love me too. Running away to Mexico and fleeing all your problems isn't going to change that. You're just going to end up scared and confused."