The Forest Witch's Home for Magical Creatures

Chapter 33: I Have a Book on That

She had put off talking to her brother long enough. After the blowout in the kitchen, Aurelius had been calling her nonstop. He was no longer placated with the "everything is fine" texts she had been sending.

She waited until everyone was out of the house. It had been several weeks and Wren understood why she told her brother, but it was still a sore spot for him. She didn't want to rub it in that another witch knew of his existence.

When Wren took the boys out for bonding time in the woods, Massie headed upstairs. She got herself comfortable on the bed and called her brother.

He picked up almost immediately.

"May! Thank God."

"Hi, Rue how are you?"

There was a heavy pause before her brother started ranting.

"Are you serious right now? How am I? I've spent the last few weeks imagining all the ways you could be dead or dismembered-"

"I told you I was okay." She cut in.

"Oh yes, you texted me that you were okay. Anyone could text from your phone, even your little pet dragon!"

"Rue. I'm fine. It was a big misunderstanding. "

She could hear her brother take a deep breath before lecturing her. She tuned most of it out. She was used to Aurelius. She knew that when he got worked up he needed to work it all out, verbally. She threw in a 'hmm' every few minutes so he felt heard.

When his energy started to wind down they could talk, instead of him talking at her.

"I told you dragons were dangerous May. I know you said you're okay but what if next time you're not? What if he hurts the boys?"

"I understand that you worry about me. I know it must have been scary for you to hear all that over the phone but it wasn't a random act of violence, he isn't a danger to us."

She paused and thought about what she wanted to say. She didn't want to freely give information to her brother which made Wren feel that his autonomy wasn't being respected.

"How many dragons do you think are still out there?"

Her brother made a thoughtful noise in his throat. "Hm, I'm not sure about the actual numbers. They are very reclusive. "

"Why is that?" She said, trying to lead her brother to a conclusion he could make on his own.

"Well, there have been several instances of dragon hunting in the last century. They've learned to hide themselves better. There isn't an actual count of how many survived the colonization of North America or how the dragon population has survived colonization in other countries"

And he was off, filtering through all the information stored in his head from every book he'd ever read and every interaction he'd ever had.

"Why were dragons hunted?"

"Well, it was a combination of things. The British have always held a hatred of the magical community. Europe is home to some of the largest witch covens and has a large population of magical creatures. Witch hunts and crusades were frequent over there. When the colonies started coming over, so did their fervor. The indigenous peoples were magically attuned. Witches and magical creatures roamed with little predation."

He took a deep breath before continuing. Massie smiled. She loved to hear her brother talk about things that interested him, even if the subject matter was dark. Her parents were always shutting him down. It was nice that he was in a place where he could speak freely.