“Okay, so what just happened?” I asked before turning toward the Cat. “And how didn’t you know that he was going to show up?”

“Sometimes the book doesn’t give details.” The Cat’s tail flickered in the air a few times. “Usually, it’s more useful than that, but dragonlings are strange creatures, an offshoot of dragons. From what I know, they’re hard to track when they are on a quest. They might have magic that prevents it.”

“From even the Fates?”

The Cat didn’t respond. Instead, he sat down on the counter.

I held up the bracelet, which wasn’t glowing anymore. “How did I do that?”

‘Magic!’

I chuckled at Indigo's bright response, trying to settle the panic in me. The bookstore had magic that I used, but it wasn’t mine; I didn’t have magic. “I’m not magical, Indigo…”

“That wave pushing him back would state otherwise,” interrupted the Cat. His green eyes flickered toward me and then Indigo. “The dragon stone wouldn’t have worked if you didn’t have some sort of magic. The same went for seeing the job application, though both only need the tiniest seed.”

I sat down on the stool. “So, you're saying you knew I had magic this whole time?”

“Everyone usually has some sort of magic, just ask Indigo.”

‘Lady Twilight said so.’ Indigo scrambled next to my hands, which rested on the counter. ‘Every living thing has some magic from the tree. We all come from there.’ Her purple scales glittered in the sunlight coming from above. ‘Not all can use it, and most are not very strong, but all have it.’ She danced a little. ‘But you can use it! Which means you can freely visit the clan lands someday!’

I reached up and rubbed my forehead. More questions were racing through my head as Indigo danced around the counter before her excitement was too much and took off into the air.

‘I knew you were magic! You smell like a dragon. Baby dragon, smaller than me, but a dragon!’

“She doesn’t smell like a dragon,” said the Cat.

‘Does too!’

The Cat only glared at her in response before turning toward me. “Maybe dragons do become like teenagers from your world.” His tail jerked to one side before he turned away from the little dragon.

‘Teenagers?’

“Back to my magic. I have magic and can use it to blast people?” I held up the bracelet. “This let me use it?”

“Just like the leaf and feather on your necklace let you call for the dragons, or use the magic of the archangel, items can unlock certain abilities,” explained the Cat.

Indigo flew circles around the Cat but he completely ignored her. Total teenager behavior.

Shaking my head, I tried to wrap my mind around all of this and explain what was going on inside my head. “Those are powerful magical items, from very magical people. This came from my brother…” I snorted. “He’s the least magical person there is.” While Cerulean worked one of the most adventurous jobs I knew, that didn’t mean he was magic. The bracelet probably came from some artist he found in a small village. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. He bought it and thought it would make a good gift for me.

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“Indigo how about fewer circles? You might make yourself dizzy,” I said.

‘What is dizzy?’

I closed my eyes for a second before opening them, trying to figure out how to explain it to the dragon.

The Cat’s head snapped toward the door. “That will be food.”

Two seconds later someone knocked on the wooden frame. This time when I stepped in that direction I was free to move. It didn’t take long to get to the door and open it. This time it was the delivery guy with our food. The smell of the Chinese food filled the shop as I headed toward the kitchen.

“Food, and then we can continue this conversation, because I need carbs.”

Thankfully, Indigo took off flying toward the kitchen. The Cat remained on the counter watching me. “How long do the teenage years last for humans?”

I chuckled, carrying the bags of food. “According to my mother, until we’re 30, but realistically only about ten years. Some get over it sooner than others…” My voice trailed off as I thought about the other time humans threw tantrums. “Toddlers are a lot like teenagers, though, and that’s only a few years.”

The Cat jumped off the counter and walked beside me down the hall. He hopped up on the island as we approached. The big bowl I used for Indigo’s dumpling soup, along with the normal plates for the Cat and I, were already sitting in the center. Indigo waited, shifting from side to side next to her bowl.

I unpacked the food and poured her soup into the bowl. Surprisingly, she didn’t try to swim it in. Instead, she dunked her head in it and drank some broth.

“Don’t want to swim in your food?” I asked with a small smile.

‘Lady Twilight said it isn’t proper…’

“Well, we do have the hot tub on the roof when we want to relax in some hot water.” That sounded like the perfect afternoon. I plated up the spicy chicken for the Cat and some noodles for me. “Alright,” I said, setting the plate in front of the Cat. “How do I learn to use this magic that I have?”

The Cat blinked before taking a bite of the food.

I dug into my noodles, hoping this wasn’t going to devolve into a staring match.

“Practice, just like anything else.”

‘Lady Twilight says magic is easy,’ chirped Indigo, with a bite of dumpling in her mouth. Pieces tumbled back out into her soup. ‘You need to picture it to make it happen.’

“You need to finish swallowing your food before you speak.”

“She isn’t wrong,” said the Cat. “Magic is all about intention. Earlier, how did you feel when you used the bracelet?”

I paused with my fork in the air, noodles dangling from the end, then set it back down on my plate. “Panicked. All I saw for a second was that demon. I just wanted him away.”

“So, he was pushed away,” explained the Cat. He went back to his food as I thought about it some more.

It seemed too easy as I ate more of my noodles. Just think about what I want, and it happens? Inside the shop, Betty responded to my thoughts and requests. Usually before I could voice them, but that was because the shop knew my preferences, like the plates and bowls we always used for Chinese being on the table.

‘Tell her about energy…’ squeaked Indigo.

I blinked at the little dragon as she moved away from her bowl. Somehow in the little time that had passed she had finished the entire bowl.

The dragon walked over to the bag of egg rolls, and using one claw she carefully opened the top before pulling one out with her mouth.

“Energy?”

The Cat let out a sigh before pulling away from his chicken. “Magic costs energy. That gold wave you saw was that energy. For Indigo, she has shadow magic, like Lady Twilight. For you, it’s gold. You only contain so much of it, and when you do magic, you use it.”

“Mana, you’re talking about mana…” I’d played enough video games to know the general idea of what the Cat was trying to explain.

“See, she knows,” he added, speaking to Indigo, then went back to his food.

I didn’t know any specifics. Those were games, and this was real life. “What else can I do with my magic?” I asked, grabbing an egg roll for myself, and still not entirely sure I wanted to know the answer, even if I needed to know.