When I woke up, I saw my parents sitting in the living room next to me, waiting for me to get up. I shifted a little on the couch, enough to let my parents know that I was awake.
"Oh, thank God you're okay!" my mom said, relieved.
"What the hell happened to me?" I asked, more to my dad than my mom.
"You passed out," my dad answered. "Your body is reacting to the dragon DNA being introduced into your system by trying to incorporate it into your DNA pattern."
"Ummm… English, please?" I said sarcastically.
"Your body is trying to change to make the dragon DNA part of your system," he replied. "I don't know what is going to happen to you, and I won't know unless we let the DNA become part of you."
"So, what you're saying is that I am going to start transforming into a dragon, and you aren't going to do anything about it?"
"Well, not necessarily. We're going to keep you at home for a few days, just to see whether your body will transform or not."
"You're going to keep me at home? What are you going to tell the school?"
"We'll probably tell them that you got sick or something like that. We just need to keep you here so that you don't reveal this to anyone."
"Oh, so now it's not because of me that I'm staying home? It's just because of your reputation?" I said.
"No, Jason. That's not what I meant. If this were to get out, I could be thrown in jail, or worse." He sounded like I was testing his patience.
"Why can't I just go to school and be with my friends?"
"Because you are changing into a creature that kills humans! If you get pushed too far, you could endanger the lives of everyone at your school!"
"Dad, relax. I won't snap. Everyone pretty much ignores me at school, anyway."
I realized then that my arm that had been gashed open at the convention was feeling stiff. I pulled it out from under my blanket, just to see if anything had happened.
"Oh, my…" my mom said.
"Well, that's interesting," my dad said calmly. It looked like my gash had healed over, but then I realized that there was something inhuman about how it had healed.
"Is this the kind of thing you were talking about, Dad?"
"Yes, Jason. This is exactly what I was talking about."
My arm had grown bright red dragon scales.
Shit.
