Read Online Liquid Fire by Anthony Francis - Free Book Online

his gun—so I stepped over Jewel, drew my arms together and said “ Essence of flame, melt their bullets! ”
    The wings of the Dragon curled down around us like a bubble of fire, and the firespinners all ran off—except for the gun wielder, who stood there, his eyes full of wonder. He grinned, shot at the barrier and watched his bullet sizzle, then laughed and ran away, whooping.
    “ Not the reaction I expected,” I said, letting the wings of the Dragon spread. Its head twitched back and forth, creating dizzy double images in my eyes . I rubbed my eyes, then opened them again. The street is clear. “Not what I expected at all.”
    “Oh my God,” Jewel said, dazed, eyes following Daniel and his cronies as they melted off into the distance. Then she looked down at her right hand and seized it with her left. She began shaking. I knew that feeling. Trembling, she said, “Dakota, you—you saved me.”
    I started to point out that she’d defended my child —but then Cinnamon spoke up.
    “Yeah, Mom does that,” Cinnamon whispered, and I looked over at her with alarm. She was really rattled, ears back, tail flicking all over the place. She stepped past us, reached down, picked at a gleaming pebble, then dropped it, cursing; then looked back at me, eyes wide.
    “Like I thought. They had silver. Oh, God, Mom, I could have been—”
    I opened my arms and she stepped into them, terrified. “It’s OK, baby, I got you,” I said, squeezing Cinnamon tight, as the wings of the Dragon flapped slowly around us. “It’s OK.”
    Jewel got to her feet and turned toward us—then her jaw dropped.
    “Oh my God , ” she said, staring at the Dragon, then at me, in unadulterated wonder. Her delicate hands flickered to her mouth, then covered her cheeks. “I didn’t imagine—that was real . I traveled the world trying to do it, but you did it, you really did it —you summoned a dragon —”
    “ No, ” I said, a little more flatly than I intended. I had already gotten a bad read on my skeptometer from Jewel, and I felt the need to step on unnecessary woo-hooery before it got started. “No,” I repeated, more gently. “It’s just tattoo magic. My tattoo, inked by my hand—”
    “Oh,” she said, deflating a little. “Oh, boo. I even saw it, on the plane.”
    “Yes. She is very pretty, but she’s not real. I can show you the design.”
    “Still,” she said, hand hovering at her lips, then reaching out. “Can I—can I touch it?”
    “No,” I said, withdrawing the Dragon’s claws, letting them merge into my skin. It hurt, surprisingly; I hadn’t realized how much mana I’d generated, or absorbed, in that performance. “It’s not a good idea for one tattoo to touch two people, especially not this one.”
    “Oh,” Jewel said, crestfallen. Her hands still hovered, and I raised an eyebrow; then she pulled them back. “Sorry. It’s hard to resist. I, uh, really like dragons.”
    “Why not, Mom?” Cinnamon asked, sniffling, then holding up her hand. There was a butterfly on the back of her hand—one that once lived on mine. “You let me have this one.”
    “One small design, transferred from me to you with just the right amount of mana,” I said, flapping the Dragon’s wings to fan off the excess magic. I want to fly free . The wind made my tattered clothes flap, and I drew calming breaths. “This one’s overloaded with mana, and firmly attached to me. Best case, Jewel would get a sharp sting and curdled ink burning her skin. Worst case, we could both get a nasty magical infection or psychic whiplash. Sorry.”
    A siren became audible, and Jewel flinched. “Oh, shit, we better scram—”
    “Be not afraid,” I said gently. “It’s just the police. And I get on well with cops.”
    “Since when?” Cinnamon said.
    “Since I spent the last eight months working with them,” I replied.
    “But we just did magic,” Jewel said desperately. “In public!”
    ———
    “It’s not illegal,” I