Chapter 21 21
Kaelen's POV:
Lucian had been on my ass for three days straight about meeting Annabeth, and honestly I was running out of excuses.
"She's your girlfriend, right? So why can't I meet her?" he'd asked for maybe the twentieth time that morning, following me from my room to the kitchen while I tried to make coffee.
"She's not my girlfriend," I'd said, which was technically true even if it felt like a lie.
"Whatever, your dragon soul mate thing, I don't care what you call it. I wanna meet her."
"It's not a soul mate thing."
"Kaelen, your eyes literally go gold when you talk about her. It's embarrassing."
"They do not."
"They do," Marlen said from the table, not looking up from her book. "It's actually pretty gross."
"See?" Lucian grabbed the milk from the fridge. "Even Mar agrees and she hates everything."
"I don't hate everything. I'm just selective."
"You're paranoid."
"And you're annoying."
I poured my coffee and tried to ignore both of them. But Lucian wasn't done. He planted himself in front of me, blocking my path back to my room.
"Look, I'm gonna meet her eventually. Either you organize something or I'm showing up at her house. Your choice."
"You wouldn't."
"Try me. I'll knock on her door and introduce myself. 'Hi, I'm Kaelen's little brother, he's too scared to let me meet you properly so here I am.'"
The kid was serious. I could see it in his face, that stubborn set to his jaw that he got when he'd made up his mind about something.
Marlen closed her book with a soft thud. "I'm curious too," she admitted. "If she's going to be around, we should know her. For safety reasons."
"Safety reasons," I repeated.
"Yes. We need to assess whether she's a liability."
"She's not a liability, she's a person."
"A person who's drawing attention to you. To us." But Marlen's voice was softer than usual, less accusatory. "I just want to meet her, Kael. See for myself."
So that's how I ended up texting Annabeth that afternoon: "My siblings are threatening mutiny if they don't meet you soon. Dinner at our place tomorrow?"
Her response came fast: "Oh god. Okay. What should I bring?"
"Just yourself."
"I can't show up empty handed that's so rude. What if I bring dessert?"
"You don't have to."
"Too late I'm bringing dessert."
The next evening I cleaned the kitchen twice and made Lucian promise to behave, which he agreed to with way too much enthusiasm. Marlen set the table without being asked, which was either a good sign or a sign she was planning to interrogate Annabeth properly and wanted everything formal.
I'd made pasta because it was hard to screw up and we had garlic bread from the store and a salad that Marlen insisted on because "we can't just serve carbs." The house smelled decent, at least. No weird dragon smell or anything that would be hard to explain.
Annabeth's car pulled up at six-thirty exactly. I watched from the window as she got out holding a aluminum tray covered in plastic wrap, her hair pulled back in that ponytail again and wearing jeans and a sweater that looked soft. She paused at the front door, took a breath, then knocked.
Lucian got there before I could, yanking the door open with a grin that was way too big. "You're Annabeth! Holy shit, you're real. Kael talks about you constantly but I was starting to think he made you up."
"I do not talk about her constantly," I said, coming up behind him.
"Yes you do. It's like Annabeth this and Annabeth that and did you know Annabeth—"
"Lucian, move."
He stepped aside and I finally got a good look at her. She looked nervous, her smile a little tight, the tray in her hands held like a shield.
"Hi," she said.
"Hi. Come in. Sorry about him."
"I'm not sorry," Lucian said. "I'm delightful." He peered at the tray. "What'd you bring?"
"Brownies. Store bought, I'm a terrible cook but I figured something was better than nothing."
"Store bought brownies are superior anyway. Homemade ones are always too dry or too gooey." He took the tray from her hands. "I'm Lucian, by the way. Fifteen, devastatingly charming, and Kaelen's favorite sibling."
"I don't have a favorite."
"Liar. Hi Annabeth, it's really cool to meet you."
She smiled and this time it looked real. "You too."
Marlen appeared from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She was smaller than Annabeth. She looked Annabeth up and down once, evaluating, then held out her hand.
"Marlen," she said. "Thirteen. Not devastatingly charming but significantly smarter."
Annabeth shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. Kaelen's told me about both of you."
"Good things I hope."
"Mostly."
Lucian laughed and headed to the kitchen with the brownies. I touched Annabeth's lower back, guiding her inside, and she leaned into the contact for just a second before straightening.
Dinner was chaos but the good kind. Lucian talked non-stop, asking Annabeth about her classes and her aunt and whether she'd tried any of her powers yet. "Like have you set anything on fire on purpose? Or is it all accidental still?"
"Uhm... Mostly accidental, I think," she said. "Fire is something still new to me, it just appeared after I knew about my true nature, maybe because I’m not fighting it anymore. I burned a hole in my favorite hoodie yesterday."
"That's so cool though. Red dragons are supposed to be like, crazy powerful. The strongest fire, the most destructive. You could probably burn down a building if you wanted."
"Lucian," I said. "Maybe don't encourage arson."
"I'm not encouraging it, I'm just saying she could. Theoretically."
Annabeth laughed. "I'll keep that in mind if I ever need to commit insurance fraud."
The pasta was decent, the garlic bread was good, and Marlen actually contributed to the conversation instead of just watching. She asked Annabeth about her major, about why marine biology, about what she wanted to do after college. Normal questions, the kind any person would ask, but I knew Marlen well enough to know she was still evaluating. Still deciding whether Annabeth was safe.
After we ate, Marlen and Annabeth ended up in the kitchen together serving the brownies while Lucian and I cleared the table. I could hear them talking, their voices low, and I strained to listen without being obvious about it.
"What are you reading right now?" Annabeth asked.
"Uh, it's called The Name of the Wind. Have you heard of it?"
"Oh my god yes. Kvothe is insufferable but I love him."
"Right? Everyone says he's a Mary Sue but that's kind of the point, he's an unreliable narrator."
"Exactly! And the magic system is so well thought out, the way sympathy works with conservation of energy..."
They kept talking and I looked at Lucian, who was grinning at me. "They're bonding," he whispered. "Over nerd shit."
"It's not nerd shit, it's—" I stopped because he was right and also I didn't care.
I went to the kitchen doorway and just watched them for a second. Annabeth was cutting brownies while Marlen leaned against the counter, both of them talking with their hands, and then Annabeth said something that made Marlen actually laugh. Not her polite fake laugh but a real one, the kind she used to do before our parents disappeared and everything got scary.
Something in my chest expanded, got warm and tight and too big for my ribs. This was what I'd wanted without knowing I wanted it: the people I cared about most in the same room, getting along, being normal for five goddamn minutes.
We ate brownies in the living room, Lucian talking about his latest video game and Annabeth asking genuine questions even though she clearly knew nothing about gaming. Marlen sat in the armchair with her legs tucked under her, quieter now but watching with something softer in her expression.
Around nine Annabeth said she should probably head home. We walked her to the door and Lucian gave her a hug that she looked surprised by but returned. Marlen just said "It was nice meeting you" but she meant it, I could tell.
"Come back soon," Lucian said. "I have like a million more questions."
"I will. Thanks for having me."
I followed her outside to the back porch instead of the front, the cold air hitting us both. She wrapped her arms around herself even though I knew she didn't actually feel the temperature.
"That went okay, right?" she asked.
"Better than okay. Lucian loves you and Marlen doesn't hate you, which is basically the same as approval from her."
"She's intense."
"She's been through a lot. We all have. But she warmed up to you, I saw it."
Annabeth smiled and leaned against the porch railing, looking out at the dark yard. "Your family is nice. Different than I expected but nice."
"Different how?"
"I don't know. More normal? I built them up in my head as these intimidating dragon people but they're just... kids. Your brother talks about video games and your sister likes fantasy novels and you all bicker like any other family."
"We are any other family. Mostly." I moved closer, standing beside her. "Just with more scales and fire."
She laughed quietly and then her head dropped to my shoulder, easy and natural like she'd done it a hundred times before. I froze for a second, then wrapped my arm around her and pulled her closer. She fit against me perfectly, her body warm even through both our jackets.
We didn't say anything. Just stood there breathing in sync, the night quiet around us except for some distant car alarm. This felt more intimate than kissing had, this casual closeness that didn't need anything else. Just her and me and the dark and the cold we couldn't feel.
When she finally pulled away to leave for real, she squeezed my hand once. "Thank you for tonight."
"Thank you for coming. For trying with them."
"They're important to you. Of course I was gonna try."
I didn’t try to kiss her although I was dying to do it because I knew my siblings would be watching us from the house. She probably knew too, so she didn’t mention it either.
I just walked her to her car and watched until she drove away, then went back inside. Lucian was already in their room but Marlen was still in the living room, standing by the window with her arms crossed.
She looked at me and I waited for the warning, the reminder to be careful, the lecture about safety.
Instead she said: "She's good for you."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I still think this is dangerous and probably a bad idea. But... she's good for you. Just be careful, okay?"
"Always am."
"Liar." But she was almost smiling. "Goodnight, Kael."
"Goodnight, Mar."
I went to my room and lay on my bed staring at the ceiling, replaying the whole evening in my head. The way Annabeth had laughed with Marlen, the way she'd leaned into me on the porch, the way Marlen had said she's good for you like maybe this wasn't completely insane.
For the first time in days, I let myself believe that maybe, just maybe, this could work.