The Cure for Boredom - A Taron Sunwake

Chapter 16: In Which Taron Wakes Up

It wasn't until the next morning that Taron regained consciousness. He opened his eyes slowly, squinting as his eyes adjusted to being open again. He saw his father sitting to one side, asleep in a large chair. He looked about as good as Taron felt, which wasn't very good at the moment. He felt like he'd rolled down a steep mountain covered in sharp rocks. He couldn't describe the way his mind felt. But when he he looked to his other side he could have leaped out of the bed he felt so good. There, wrapped in a thick blanket, was Kamenwati.

"Kam.." He rasped, his voice only as loud as a rough whisper. "Kam, you.. awake?"

"I am now." He said as he jerked out of his sleep. "How you feeling?"

"Horrible. How long have I been out?"

"Days. Whatever you did took a toll on you. I'd tell you how stupid that was, but I did something stupid too."

"What?" Taron asked, almost afraid to know.

"I got your Uncle to get as many students together as he could and then outed myself as a cambion. I told them to do something rather bad too, once I had."

"You couldn't have waited until I was awake!" Taron whispered harshly.

"If I'd known you were going to wake the day after, then yes, I could have. Your grandmother came by yesterday too, said she already knew about us and helped me get enough courage to be an idiot. Ryo also knows I'm a cambion, and I think your brother and sister do too, but I think Ryo told them not to say anything. I did have the sense to ask him to keep what I am a secret until you could be awake for it. I expect he'll tell them all now if he hasn't already."

"You could beat him to the punch and tell my dad. He's right there." Taron replied as he turns his head to look at the sleeping Tamrin. "I'll pretend to be asleep so I can 'wake up' and distract him if he tries anything." He closed his eyes. "Go on, wake him up and tell him."

"But.." Kamenwati said faintly, trying to come up with a reason he shouldn't and failing. He stood and wrapped the blanket around himself tighter, using it hold his wings down as he walked over to Tamrin and nudged him until he woke up.

"Huh? What is it Kamenwati?" He mumbled as he looked at Taron to see if he'd woken up.

"There's something you should know about me." He let the blanket fall and stretched his wings. "I'm a cambion and I've been using this armband to make myself look human. My mother came to get me so she could turn me into an insane tool for Pazuzu, and Taron did what he did because he knew all of this and was protecting me." He took a step back as he waited for Tamrin to respond.

"You.. he.." Tamrin said, confused for a few moments by the sudden rush of information. Then he stood up and loaded a spell capsule into his Caster before pressing the spell-gun's barrel against Kamenwati's chest. "You're a demon. Give me one reason not to shoot you."

"Because I'll rip your arm off if you even try it." Taron said as opened his eyes and lifted his head. "And because I have my Manifester pointed at you if I don't think I can take your arm in time." It was true, the amethyst gun that shaped itself around his hand was pointed directly at his father. It felt strange to have it formed again after so long...

"He's a demon-"

"I'm a dragon, Tamrin Sunwake, and you are a human turned elven. You've seen what I can do when my mind is in good shape, do you want to find out what I can do when it's not?" Taron smiled lopsidedly at his father's expression. "Just leave him alone long enough for us to explain, okay?" He suddenly glared at the door. "Kam, get behind me. It seems Uncle Ryo has told the rest of my family what you are, and my Grandmother is rather angry. I said move."

Kamenwati took the advice none to soon, because the door flew open and one of the hinges actually broke as Ryleh stormed in, eyes blazing with fury.

"Grandma, back off before my threat against dad applies to you too. I'm not in the mood to fight everyone off right now, and I'm certainly not in any condition to do so."

"But he's a-" Ryleh started to say before Taron cut her off.

"Why does everyone fixate on that? I;m a dragon, you're a dragon, and we both hide what we really are because of the way people will react! For the same reasons, Kam did the same thing. The only difference between us is that you are one of the people reacting! You're acting just like the Hunters you told us about and can't even see it!"

"How dare you.." Ryleh snarled.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Taron yelled. That wasn't the best idea, and the pain in his head told him as much. "You know what he is, more than the rest of the family, and still you can't see past the surface! It's no wonder our kind ran away and made this underground prison. If you can't see past the surface from one direction, the other doesn't count, does it?"

Taron.. She thought to him desperately.

No. You said it was a split-second thing, that I'd know immediately. Get over yourself and apologize or get out and don't come near us ever again.

Looking between her grandson and Kamenwati, Ryleh was torn. She couldn't let a demon into the family.. could she?

"I.. I'm sorry Kamenwati." She said slowly.

"Great Io, it's not like I'm asking you to hug him or anything." Taron muttered. "Now, why haven't any of you asked how I feel?"

He surrendered himself to his family, who were more than overjoyed at his recovery. As nice as it was, the talking and bad jokes and hospital-like food started to take their toll on the still weak Taron, and it wasn't long before he had Kam shoo them away.

"So, should we tell them while their still upset about the whole 'Hi my name is Kamenwati and I am a cambion' thing?"

"Let's wait until I can eat without needing to rest, okay? We're going to need to move for what I have planned."

"Why can't we just tell them now, without whatever plan your tired, just-woke-up-from-what-was-most-likely-a-coma mind came up with?"

"Because it's more fun if we do it my way. You wouldn't want me to go about this the same boring way as everyone else, would you?"

Kam spent the next hour trying to figure why he had ever thought it was a good idea to use Taron's boredom against him...