Jim Gem's Arc

Chapter 11 of 23

The black scale sat on Jim's chest all the way back. He pressed it with two fingers. Skin should have closed over it long ago. Instead the scale held, cool and hard, its purple glow steady in the dark. He walked fast, ahead of Lena, saying nothing. Inside the tavern loft, he stripped off his wet jacket and stood before the small mirror. He dug a thumbnail under the scale's edge and pulled. It did not lift. It hurt, the way tearing at his own body hurt. "Stop that," Lena said from the doorway. "It won't come off." His voice cracked. "The rest melted. Why not this? What if it spreads? What if next time more stays, and more, until there's no man left to come back?" Lena crossed the room. She caught his wrist before he could scratch again. "Hey, my big scary dragon. Look at me." "Lena, I'm serious." "So am I." She held his wrist tight. Her thumb pressed his racing pulse. "You're doing the thing. The heart thing." He felt it then. His pulse hammered under her thumb. His arms itched. Faint black crept up from his elbows, scales pushing through the skin. The dragon smelled his fear and answered it. Lena did not step back. She never did. She pushed him down to sit on the bed and got on his lap. She put both hands flat on his bare chest, one over the stubborn scale, and held them there. "Breathe with me," she said. Her voice went quiet. He watched her hands. The black on his arms stopped climbing. Under her palms his heart slowed. The scales along his forearms softened and sank back into skin. In seconds he was only a man again, shaking, damp, staring at the girl on his lap. "See," she whispered. "You came back. You always come back." "But that one didn't." He looked down at the scale under her hand. Lena lifted her palm. The black scale was still there. Still glowing. She traced its edge with one finger, careful now, not tearing. "It's not spreading," she said. "You panicked and it grew. I touched you and it stopped. Everything but this. That means this one isn't the dragon eating you, Jim. It's just staying." He let that settle. She was right. When his heart raced, new scales came. When she calmed him, they left. Every one but this. The scale did not move with his fear. It simply belonged to him now. "A piece of the dragon that stays," he said slowly. "Yours to keep." She said against his lips and he kissed her. Jim touched the scale one last time. It no longer scared him. It was part of him, and it was not taking the rest. He would learn to wear it while loving Lena.