Chapter Two: 2006
Don't tell me that I'm wrong / I've walked that road before / And left you on your own / And please believe them when they say / That it's left for yesterday / And the records that I've played / Please forgive me for all I've done… - Imagine Dragons, "I Bet My Life"
Jonathan Long, now thirty-eight years old and married with two kids, stared blearily down into his coffee without actually drinking. His wife Susan came over to him and put a gentle hand on his shoulder, knowing he was upset about something. He smiled at her as his mind flashed back to that unsettling dream, the source of his distress. It was the reason that, although he tried to hide it from her and their children, he'd been having a hard time sleeping for the last twenty years.
He would have been able to put the whole thing out of his mind if it hadn't been for the time traveler, the dream boy who'd claimed to come from the future and to be his and Susan's son. Of course, Jonathan knew the teenager who'd haunted his subconscious for two decades was only a figment of his imagination. But the similarities between the dream boy and his own, very real teenage son were chilling. They had the same black hair, which shouldn't have been so unusual because both boys were half-Chinese. But were the green highlights that hadn't been produced by any dye normal? Jonathan knew they weren't, regardless of what his wife tried to assure him. Or that they had the same name? What about the fact that both boys carried pictures of their younger sisters in their wallets, that they had the same voice? What about the way that he'd been so determined to protect the dream boy from any harm that he, at eighteen years old, would have sacrificed his own life?
What about the intense relief he felt when he woke and saw that his wife and son were still alive? What about the way he sometimes felt on the verge of regretful tears when he thought about the way his dream self always reacted to finding out Susan was a dragon? What about the constant lies that Jake had been telling, the secrets he'd been keeping for months now? The way he could sometimes swear he was hearing wingbeats?
And regardless of what secret his family had or had not been keeping from him, why hadn't they told him? Didn't they trust him? Didn't they know he wouldn't betray them?
Susan took his hand in her own smaller one and squeezed. "Jonathan, honey, you'd better eat breakfast before it gets cold. You have a long day at work."
Jonathan nodded weakly as he sipped his coffee and took a heap of scrambled eggs.
His kids came downstairs. Sweet eight-year-old Haley greeted him and Susan with hugs and kisses while fourteen-year-old Jake merely sat down, kissing his mother on the cheek but barely meeting Jonathan's eyes.
Jonathan tried to catch his son's gaze and almost failed. What he did notice was the sharp tapping of Jake's fingers on the wooden table – too strong and just a hint too loud to be human fingernails. Jonathan dared a look at the boy's hands and saw something that he…well, that he honestly half-expected by now. He wasn't as unobservant as his son believed.
"Hey, Jake, would you mind explaining why you have claws?" he said, trying to keep fear and a hint of shock out of his voice.
Oh, yeah, the dream was definitely real.
Jake finally looked at Jonathan, guilt-edged panic in his eyes and…was that fear?
Jake was just as scared as he was. The teenager quickly retracted his claws like a cat, shaking. The smoke detector beeped loudly and as Jonathan stood to turn it off, he watched his family's reaction to his question.
"Jonathan, I…I can explain!" Susan attempted. "It's, um…it's, well…Jake, you obviously need to trim your nails…" She looked at their son for help.
"Give it up, Mom," said Jake quietly, his expression dejected. "He knows."
"I'm not mad," he reassured them both quickly. "And, Susan, what happened at our high school graduation…I think it's real. And if it is, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. The way I treated you was unacceptable. I will never do that again." He sat back down, taking his trembling wife into his arms. She slowly stopped shaking, but he could still feel her anxious tension.
"I know," she said, looking up at him tentatively. "And I'm sorry I never told you."
"Does this mean Daddy's not leaving us?" asked Haley, looking up at her father in confusion over this reference to something she didn't even know about.
"Haley-hoo, where did you get an idea like that from?" Jonathan demanded, his heart breaking just a little over the fact that his daughter had ever assumed he'd abandon her. And for Jake, who had likely, thanks to whatever strange time travel powers dragons apparently had, seen Jonathan scream at Susan and say the most disgusting things about dragons – the same things the boy probably heard from dragon slayers – that fear would be even stronger.
No wonder his kids hadn't wanted to tell him, if this was the reaction he gave to anything that was even a little bit out of his comfort zone.
"From Jake," Haley replied.
Jonathan looked at the teenager, silently apologizing.
Jake dropped his gaze to the table for a few tense moments, but looked back up at him again soon enough. "Okay, so you're not leaving. Um…thanks? But, Dad, how are you taking this so calmly?"
"I think I'm in shock," Jonathan admitted. "I'll probably pass out soon." He looked at Susan. "That does not mean I'm leaving. It means that my entire world has just been turned inside out and I need some time to absorb that."
"I can relate," Jake volunteered.
Jonathan stared at him.
"Until I was thirteen, I didn't know I was a dragon or that magic even existed. And when I found out, it was only because I'd started shifting involuntarily. And Trix and Spud both know about me. I'm still not sure how they found out. I wasn't even there and I've just never really asked."
"Yeah, about that…" Haley said. "I may have overheard something…"
"What?" Jonathan asked.
"Jake, did you ever tell Mom about that thing where Rotwood got a picture of you in dragon form without you knowing?" the little girl asked.
Susan's eyes blazed with protective, maternal outrage, jerking forward and out of his arms. "He did what?!"
"Mom, it's fine. I'm fine," Jake tried to soothe her. "Magic wasn't exposed, we're all alive and in one piece, nobody was experimented on, and there wasn't magical Armageddon. It's all good."
"No, Jake, what you are is lucky! You could have been killed!" Susan protested.
"What?!" Jonathan demanded, panicking. He knew virtually nothing about dragons, but he did know his son and he couldn't stand the thought of Jake being hurt.
"There's a lot of politics and history that goes into it, honey," Susan told him. "I'll explain later."
Jonathan nodded, a little surprised by the revelation that dragons even had politics or history.
"Let me finish the story," Haley whined. "Okay. So what happened was, Rotwood took this picture of Jake – which was really blurry and no one could actually tell what it was – and he was just so determined to have undeniable evidence that magic existed that he basically put a bounty on Jake's head."
Susan's eyes flashed and Jonathan got the definite impression that, had she been able to do so, she would have burnt Professor Rotwood to a crisp by now.
"He offered a six hundred dollar reward for…you know, proof," Jake explained, picking up where his sister had left off.
"I'm liking this teacher less and less," Jonathan growled.
"And of course this wasn't something I wanted to get involved in," Jake told them.
"And you didn't get involved, right?" Susan asked pointedly.
The kids exchanged glances.
"Jacob Luke Long…" she said in exasperation. "You know how risky that is!"
"I know, Mom, but just hear me out. Okay?"
Susan conceded reluctantly.
"I didn't have dragon training…" Jake continued before being interrupted by Jonathan.
"What's dragon training? Why would you need to be trained in how to be a dragon?"
"Because we're not, like, born knowing how to fly or breathe fire or anything like that," Jake explained. "And because dragons are basically the protectors of the magical world. And dragon slayers still exist. What do you think would happen if I was attacked by one of them without knowing how to fight back?"
Jonathan shuddered at the thought. "So for you, that's Grandpa? He's the one training you? Because this would explain why you work so much and never get paid."
"Yeah," Jake said. "And that – the fact that he's the one training me - is technically illegal…"
"Since when are there human laws governing issues pertaining specifically to dragons?" Jonathan asked. "Does the government know?"
"Honestly?" Haley said. "I assume they do and are trying to hide it from everyone."
"Those aren't human laws, sweetie," Susan told him. "Dragons have our own government with rules and laws and elected officers, just like humans. We just don't go around telling humans about it. There's a lot more of you than there are of us. Not to mention the fact that you have incredibly advanced war machines that dragons never bothered to develop – our bodies are our weapons. And there's sphinx hair, which I'll explain later. What you need to know about that is, if you ever see a brightly glowing greenish net, you don't let it get near my father or the kids under any circumstances."
He nodded. "So sphinx hair is to dragons as kryptonite is to Superman?"
"Yes," Susan confirmed. "But I – and all other latent dragons – am immune."
"Can we get back to the story?" complained Haley.
"Just one question," said Jonathan. "Jake, if it's illegal for your grandfather to teach you about being a dragon…how is he getting away with it?"
"The Dragon Council – yeah, I know, our government is called the Dragon Council – lets us work together, even though they almost never let family train family, because the number one threat to the magical world is this dude who calls himself the Dark Dragon. He wants to kill all humans, take over the world, and have other dragons be his gestapo. Which the rest of us were seriously not okay with. And until a few decades ago, no dragon had ever fought this guy and lived."
"Lao Shi was the first," Jonathan realized.
"Exactly," Susan replied. "Dad was allowed to train Jake because Dad and the Council both feared the Dark Dragon would target Jake out of revenge. Who better to train him than one of the greatest war heroes the magical world has ever known?"
"And Grandpa was right," Jake added. "But that's a whole 'nother story."
"I'm going to try not to have a heart attack right now," Jonathan muttered, massaging his temples. "So, back on track."
"Where was I?" Jake mused. "Oh, right. So the day Rotwood put this bounty on my head, I didn't have training. I just went over to Trixie's house and we just played some video games. At this point, I was totally human as far as she and Spud were concerned and I kind of didn't want it to stay that way…but magic is a secret for a reason. I got that.
"Anyway, at some point we accidentally broke this really expensive vase in her living room. Her dad gave it to her mom for their first anniversary and it cost hundreds of dollars so of course she freaked out. We thought it was one of a kind until Spud pointed out that actually, no, it was one in an identical set of one hundred pieces. And we decided to try buying another one. The problem was, we were three broke thirteen-year-olds."
"And that's how you got involved with the reward," Susan concluded. "You needed the money for a friend."
"Yeah, pretty much," Jake admitted. "I didn't want to at first. So we tried to raise the money in other ways and only ended up with, like, ten dollars."
"So then you decided to resort to drastic measures," Jonathan concluded. He was a little touched by his son's loyalty to this girl, but at the same time exasperated because the boy had put himself in danger to help her.
"Yeah," Jake admitted. "Just little stuff, not really anything that could put my life in danger if that's what you're worried about. Selling a few loose scales, some nail clippings…"
"But Jake, that did put your life in danger!" scolded Susan. "You sold your DNA to a man who intended to use it to expose the existence of our species, possibly causing World War Three or worse."
Jonathan flinched guiltily, remembering the dream that he now knew was real. He'd put Susan in just as much danger, once upon a time.
"What happened?" Jonathan pressed. "Did you get the reward?"
"No. But I did end up giving Rotwood some...uh...pretty undeniable proof that dragons exist."
"Wait a second," Susan interrupted. "Last year...there was gossip that a human scientist had captured a dragon. I always assumed it was a hoax or a cruel joke, but who would joke about that?"
"I'm getting to that," Jake said hastily, exchanging a quick, conspiratorial glance with Haley.
"WHAT?!" Susan and Jonathan screamed in unison.
"So after I showed Rotwood the scales and claws, he was just like -" Jake paused and assumed an exaggerated German accent. "'Mr. Long, zeese are clearly fake, dragon claws glow in ze dark and 'ave ze faintest odor of lavender' and it's pretty obvious that that's inaccurate. Just like everything else I've ever heard Rotwood say about magical creatures. Like, human mythology gets a fair amount of stuff wrong, but this..." He shook his head in disgust. "So then I argued with this guy about whether the tissue that I'd literally taken from my own body was real. Eventually I gave up, went back home, explained the situation to Haley..."
"And I happen to like Trixie, so I agreed to help," Haley said. "We went up to the roof with a camera..."
Poor Susan looked as terrified as Jonathan felt.
"I shifted to dragon form, Haley photographed me, and I went to Rotwood..."
"Jake, sweetie, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Susan said, pressing her fingers to her forehead.
"Sorry Mom. Anyway, I argued with Rotwood again..."
"Seriously?!" Haley said.
"I know! He said the photos were clearly faked, that no human could get that close to a dragon and live - pretty insulting stuff, right? And I just gave up, walked out. On the way home, I heard someone scream for help. Mom, you know Fin?"
"Finley O'Dwyer, Fu's leprechaun friend? This was around the time of the gang war about leprechaun gold, correct?"
"Yeah. So it turned out Fin was being attacked by..." Jake paused, thinking. Not remembering, more like if he'd just realized there was something he didn't want his parents knowing. "By Huntsgirl. And I couldn't just leave a friend like that, could I? Because let's face it, the dude didn't stand a chance on his own. So I flew Fin to safety - at which point, she set her sights on me."
Susan's eye twitched, her body tensed, and her hands twitched as if claws were trying to extend from her nail beds. Suddenly Jonathan knew exactly what a mother lion looked like when she was preparing to defend her cub. "That bitch. If I ever see her murderous little face again -"
"Mom!" Jake said, almost nervously. Normally, Jonathan and Susan were careful not to swear in front of their children. But it was more than that. Jake almost seemed to be hiding something. "Let me finish. So the last thing I remember is being pretty much thrown into the side of a building. Next thing I know after that, Rotwood's throwing ice water on me to wake me up and I'm laying down - still in dragon form - in the back of this armed car he keeps in his garage-lab thingy."
Susan looked like she very much wanted to kill someone, and Jonathan felt the same way. No one hurt their kids and got away with it.
"I figured out what was going on pretty fast and panicked. Started spitting out fire everywhere, not like I was aiming for him..."
"You should have," Jonathan growled.
"No. I don't like Rotwood. Never have. But that's just cruel."
"So is kidnapping a child in order to sell him to the government and reveal his biggest secret to the world in order to make money off him and earn back your scientific street cred, putting his life - and those of his entire species - in danger in the process," countered Haley.
"If anything like this happens ever again, Jake, I want you to promise me that you will aim your fire at whomever is hurting you," Susan told him firmly. "I don't care if it's fair. I care that you're safe."
"I..." Jake sighed. "Okay, Mom. So Rotwood freaked and pushed some button that closed the window I'd been hurling fire spitballs out of. I couldn't melt it, couldn't break it, couldn't even scratch it. I was completely trapped, getting claustrophobic, scared out of my mind, convinced it was the end of the world and we were all gonna die. Then Rotwood started driving to the Hoboken Scientific Institute in Jersey, to...you know. Gramps and Fu followed us in their car..."
"Just to be clear, Fu can talk. Right?" Jonathan asked, wanting to get caught up.
"Among other things, yes," Susan replied. "Jake, your grandfather knew about this?"
"Yeah, and I'm not sure how," Jake said, running a hand through that naturally green-and-black hair. "Like ten minutes later, we arrived at the Hoboken and Rotwood was talking all big to the press. I was still in the back of the car, still freaking out, still in dragon form. Trix and Spud showed up for some reason and just walked up to me, completely chill. So at first I was like, 'Spud! Trixie! What are you doing here?' Then I decided it probably wasn't a good idea for me to let them know who I was. So I went all 'rawr' and Trixie just looked at me and rolled her eyes and said not to bother because she already knew it was me. And Spud was just standing there, all chill but lowkey trying not to stare at me. Which I, y'know, appreciate. Then they helped me escape without exposing us all and Gramps and Fu showed up and gave us a ride home."
"That still doesn't explain how they found out," Jonathan couldn't help but observe.
"I'll tell that part," Haley volunteered. "Spud and Trixie showed up here, wanting to talk to Jake about something. They wouldn't tell me what and I honestly didn't care. But I figured Jake would be back soon - this was maybe half an hour after we took the pictures - so I said sure they could come in, and they went up to Jake's room and waited. I wasn't trying to listen - what did I care? - but with our hearing..."
"What did they want to talk about?" Jake asked.
Haley shrugged. "Something about money. Trixie seemed happy about it, looking back, so I'm going to assume she paid for the vase."
"Not possible," Jake said dismissively. "She could have gotten more money. But not enough to afford that vase."
"So she never bought a new one?"
"No - I bought it for her. Fin gave me some gold as a thank you for saving him and I bartered that."
"Whatever. Then Trixie gasped a little and there were a few awkward silent moments. Then they were both talking about how they didn't believe it. They started saying something about a dragon and you and that was probably when they found out. I think you still had those pictures downloaded on your computer. They probably found the file and figured it out."
"Makes sense. What I still don't get is how I ended up in Rotwood's lab. I'm guessing Ro - I mean Huntsgirl, though."
"Jake, Huntsgirl didn't..." Haley bit her lip. "There's something I'm leaving out, something I overheard. I'm sorry. I just didn't want you to get hurt."
"What?"
"At some point, Spud asked what it meant and how his mom's lasagna fit into all this. That part, I feel like I misheard somehow..."
"You didn't," Jake told her, not clarifying what he meant by that.
Haley raised an eyebrow. "Oooookay. So Trixie responded, and she had this really guilty and sad inflection in her voice. She said, and I quote, 'I'll tell you what it means. It means we just sold our best friend to Rotwood for cash.'"
Jake, Susan, and Jonathan all sat back, stunned.
"Well, I...uh...I don't really know what to say to that," Jake said, trying to process this new information. "I mean, it's obvious they had no idea who I was. And the only information about dragons that they had was what Rotwood told them, which wasn't accurate at all. It didn't talk about us as people, with families and friends and a whole government and culture and history and everything. So, with no other information, that's probably how my friends saw me, as subhuman. When they...when they sold me, I mean. How were they supposed to know any better?"
Susan sighed. "Okay. Fair enough, Jake. But be suspicious. I don't want to see you hurt."
Jonathan suddenly couldn't look his family in the eye. He'd hurt Susan just as badly as Trixie and Spud had hurt Jake, if not worse. He'd been the one to instill in her this mistrust toward humans, the selfish bastard who'd broken her heart and her ability to trust. And his entire family almost paid the price with their lives for his prejudice and a seemingly small mistake he'd made. Susan, her father, and their extended family could have been killed. Jake and Haley never would have been born.
It was his fault.
It didn't matter whether the two kids had known any better. It didn't matter whether Jonathan had known any better. Not when lives were at stake.
"I trust them, Mom," Jake insisted. "They saved my life. They've helped me out with dragon stuff. When they found out I was a dragon, they were completely fine with that. They've always kept my secret and never freaked out, no matter what weird magical stuff happened around us. Not all of us have that."
Susan pursed her lips, stiffening visibly. Their son's words had struck a nerve in her.
"I'm going to ask them for their side of the story," Jake continued.