The Dragon Tree (10 page)

             
“How, Grandfather?”

             
Hideo looked up at last. “When my father show me vial, I not yet become man like he hope. I not believe what he tell me. I not believe warnings.”

             
“What do you mean, Grandfather?”

             
“I defy my father,” said Hideo with a shudder in his voice. “I taste the blood.”

             
And then he told them his story.

              Hideo was a headstrong sixteen-year-old when his father first sat him down in the family’s stone garden and entrusted him with the truth about the glass vial.

             
“It is blood, Hideo,” his father had whispered as if worried that someone might be listening from beyond the walls of their home. “From the body of a mighty creature that once roamed this world in great numbers. Those creatures died out, but their bodies remained entombed in the earth in the very spot where they died. Their bones turned to roots, and the roots grew into trees. The blood ran through the branches of the trees and pushed out fruit. The juice of the fruit, Hideo. The juice is the blood of the creature.”

             
“Where are these trees, father?” Hideo asked.

             
“My grandfather’s grandfather, men from his age may have known. But now? No one alive remembers where the trees grow. Each one is hidden. They wait, in every corner of the world, to give new life to a dead monster’s bones.”

             
“What kind of creature?” Hideo asked with a childish sneer.

             
His stern-faced father turned slowly and pointed at a gray stone sculpture perched on the corner of the property wall. It was a
dragon
– the sigil of the family for centuries – and it snarled at any trespasser who might dare to climb the wall and enter the garden uninvited.

             
“One sip of blood from the dragon will transform the man who drinks it,” Hideo’s father said. “The dragon will be reborn… in
you
.”
              “Have you ever tried it?” Hideo asked. “To know what happens, I mean.”

             
His father shook his head impatiently. “This world has forgotten dragons, my son. They are no longer welcome among us. There is great power in the blood. Great suffering, as well.”

             
His father’s words didn’t sounded like truth to Hideo. They sounded like
nonsense
. He considered himself a modern boy who was far more interested in science and American music to be bothered with ancient folklore and crude superstition.

             
His father was furious when Hideo smelled the blood and proclaimed that it smelled like a rusty fender. He thrust the vial back into his father’s hand, nearly spilling a few precious drops. His father stormed back inside the house and declared that Hideo was a foolish boy who didn’t deserve the knowledge of their ancestors.

             
A week later, Hideo was listening to swing music on his mother’s record player while his parents were at temple. He danced his way into his father’s private room and spotted the cherry wood box that housed the vial.

             
He thought he heard the vial buzzing.

             
It’s just old wine. And it’s turned to vinegar, by now, if it’s as old as father says.

             
Hideo lifted the vial from the box and sniffed it for a second time. It still smelled like a rusty fender, but there was something vaguely alluring about the odor this time. He brought the vial closer to his nose. And then, almost accidentally, he tipped the vial sideways. He stuck out his tongue just in time to catch the single drop that slid from the vial and drew it back into his eager mouth.

              Hideo’s spotted hands were still folded in his lap as he recalled the story for Hiroki and his friends. Speaking the words out loud seemed to transport him back to his father’s private room and to bring the taste of the blood back to his tongue.

             
“I drink only one drop. The change no occur until following night. Father and mother have guests for tea. I feel sick and pain, cannot walk or stand. Like body turning inside-out. Like bones break and grow, same time. Skin stretch, turn hard. Terrible itch and color.”

             
Billy listened intently, amazed to find that the words coming out of this old man’s mouth in broken English so closely matched his experience from the previous night. “What color, sir?” he asked. “What color did your skin turn?”

             
“Green,” Hideo answered. “Mother put me to bed and hurry guests leave. Apologize for me. Worry for me. Father, he worry much more. He run to cherry wood box and look vial. See blood look less than before. Know right away.”

             
Hideo shook his head, the memory painful.

             
“Father try carry me to stone garden. Too heavy. Bones turn to lead. He beg me crawl. I
do
crawl, cry so much pain. Outside, under moon, change
faster
. Terrible change too late to stop. My body… I still not grown man, but become something
greater
than man. I become the blood. I become the dragon.”

             
Eva drifted close to Hiroki and reached for his hand. He hardly felt her fingers laced with his.

             
“Pain from transform much smaller than shame. Father’s tears as watch me change. Mother’s fear as wings and tail and teeth. Did not fly. Only hid in stone garden. Sheets from all bed in house to cover me. Leather straps to hold fire in throat. Father pace garden until sun return. Until change
change back
.”

             
When Hideo went silent and lowered his head again, Hiroki and Eva lowered their heads as well in deference. Not Billy. He was so restless with energy he could hardly stand still.

             
“The next night, though. Tell me you went flying the
next
night,” Billy pleaded.

             
Hideo shook his head. “I never fly. I never change again.”

             
Hiroki nodded eagerly. “It only lasts one night, then. That’s good news. Eat the fruit once – the blood – and you only change one time.”

             
Hideo shook his head again. “Once blood inside you, blood never leave.”

             
“Then how did you never change again?” Eva asked, perplexed.

             
“Father had two vials,” Hideo answered. “Second vial… antidote. I take antidote every day, many years. My mother, my father pray at temple their son will die before antidote run out. I pray same. When antidote
does
run out, I grown man with wife and baby son. I fear dragon blood inside body change me again. I fear what horror I do to my family, my town, my world. But
no
. Enough time pass. Dragon blood too weak. I pray thanks. I pray much thanks.”

             
“What is the antidote, Grandfather?” Hiroki asked.

             
“
Blood
of tree, poison.
Leaves
of tree, antidote.” Hideo slipped off his swing and began the walk back to the Buick. His shoulders were slumped and his eyes on the ground, a deep melancholy coloring every step he took. He stopped halfway to the car and turned back, locking his eyes on Billy. “Car smell not from fruit. From
you
.”

             
Billy nodded, a hint of a smile on his face.

             
Hideo inhaled slowly, still staring at Billy. “Very dangerous, play with dragon blood. Very dangerous.”

              Hideo climbed slowly out of the Buick, once again looking his age. He was clearly downtrodden as he shuffled back inside Hiroki’s house without saying goodbye. The three teens remained in the Buick, eager to speak to each other after the silent drive back from Alpine High School.

             
“Tell me we’re going out to the cliffs
right now
,” said Billy giddily. “It’ll be dark in a couple of hours.”

             
For once, Hiroki agreed with Billy. “Exactly. We only have a couple of hours to collect leaves from the tree and for you to eat them.”

             
“What?!” Billy laughed. “You’re out of your mind, Hiro. I’m not eating any of those disgusting black leaves.”

             
“You had no problem eating that disgusting black fruit! And look what it did to you. Maybe you forgot how painful the change was, but I watched the whole thing. You looked like you were dying. You looked like you
wanted
to die just so it would be over.”

             
Billy laughed out loud and leaned into the front seat, uncomfortably close to Hiroki behind the wheel. “You’re just jealous,” he said. “You’re jealous, and you’re scared. If you had any balls, you’d eat the fruit too and see for yourself what it’s like up there.”

             
“Get out of my car,” said Hiroki. “You’re walking home.”

             
“No, Hiro, you coward.”

             
“I said
get out
, Billy!”

             
“And I said no. What are you gonna do about it?”

             
Eva had been ignoring the boy’s argument, too focused on Hideo’s story to care about their bickering. But she looked up and saw how close Billy had gotten to Hiroki and how furious Hiroki had become.

             
“Enough, you two! This is no time to be fighting! There are four people in this town who understand what’s happening to Billy – only four – and all four of us have to stick together!” She grabbed Billy around the stomach and pulled him into the back seat. When he landed heavily on her legs, she howled and pushed him off. “Billy, you’re an idiot if you think we’ll let you change again.”

             
“Hey, I’m not an id—”

             
“Yes you are! And Hiro, you’re an idiot if you think your personal issues with Billy are more important than the most incredible thing that’s ever happened to any of us. That tree and that fruit and everything else your grandfather told us…” She trailed off, a swirl of contradicting emotions getting the best of her. “Both of you just… just go back to the cliffs and collect the leaves. Billy will eat them tonight. Just tonight, so we have time to learn more and figure out what to do next.”

             
“I don’t want to eat ‘em,” said Billy with mild defiance.

             
“But you’re going to anyway, right?” Eva asked. “Promise me, Billy.”

             
Billy looked at Eva for a few quiet moments, impressed by the authority she was showing. She wouldn’t take any crap from him or from Hiroki, and Billy liked it. “Yeah, okay. I guess I promise.

             
“And you, Hiro. You promise to help him.”

             
Hiroki crossed his arms and grinded his teeth, still fuming. “Fine,” he muttered.

             
Eva nodded and eased open the car door.

             
“Where are you going?” asked Billy.

             
“Yeah,” Hiroki added. “You’re coming with us, aren’t you?”

             
Eva shook her head ‘no’. “I’ll meet up with you later if I can, but I’ve got a wedding to go to.”

             
“Aidan’s brother,” said Hiroki, remembering his promise to get Eva home on time to attend the ceremony.

             
“Tell that asshole I said ‘hi’,” said Billy, his middle finger sticking straight up.

CHAPTER TEN

             
She’d stayed out too long with Hiroki and Billy. Now she had to scramble to get ready in time for the wedding. She jumped into her dress – deep pink with a chiffon wraparound – and hustled into the bathroom barefoot.

             
Anita and Myra followed her into the bathroom and refused to leave, so Eva had to share her curling iron and her makeup with them. Their babysitter was on the way to watch them while Eva and her parents attended the wedding, but the twins didn’t see that as a valid reason to not get dressed up. They marched after her as she raced back into her bedroom.

             
“Where are my pink heels?” she asked as she dug through her closet. “Anita! Myra! Where are my pink heels?!” She looked down to see that each of the twins was wearing one of the heels that matched her dress and one blue shoe. They took off running, laughing hysterically as their thin ankles wobbled.

              Aidan’s house was up in the hills overlooking Alpine. With its extensive grounds and multiple standalone buildings – guesthouse, stables, ten-stall garage, etc. – it was more of an estate than a single family home. There were a few other houses halfway up their street, but at least half a mile of open land separated those “neighbors” from Aidan’s family.

             
The Humphries were Alpine royalty. They needed their privacy.

             
“So this is what a whole mess of seafood buys. Humphries Fresh Frozen Fish, yum yum!” cooed Rosa. She cooed the whole way up to the house, and cooed anew every time there was something new to see. When she saw the formidable gates at the base of the long winding driveway to the house proper, she gasped and clapped her hands. When she saw security guards minding the gates, she nearly passed out. “Oh my goodness, look at the side of that chimney! It must be eight feet across!”

             
Eva followed her mother’s eyes up to the roof of the main house where, sure enough, there was a stone chimney so wide and imposing it could have been a castle tower.

             
“Imagine how much wood it must take to heat this whole house,” Salvadore muttered, unimpressed. “I doubt they ever even use it.”

             
A valet took the key to Salvadore’s SUV and the three members of the Diaz family followed a trail of rose petals around the side of the house.

             
The back yard had been transformed to accommodate the day’s festivities. There were nearly two hundred white chairs arranged in two sections, all facing a dais built of redwood and draped in muslin. A full orchestra pit separated the stage and the guests who were taking their seats, the musicians tuning their instruments in anticipation of the ceremony’s imminent beginning.

             
Eva sat near the back with her parents. She didn’t like sitting so far back, but her mother always insisted on going incognito in case Salvadore did something embarrassing. “You never know when he’ll start talking to the back of someone’s head,” Rosa said as she shifted her weight uncomfortably.

             
Aidan spotted the Diaz family from the gazebo and broke of his conversation to join them. He was dressed smartly in a tailored black tuxedo that made him look several years older. He slid into the chair beside Eva and gave her a chaste kiss, then waved down the aisle to her parents.

             
“Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, I’m so glad you could make it. Mom did a lovely job with the yard, didn’t she?” he asked, his teeth still a brilliant white despite the fading light.

             
Rosa clasped her hands together and drew an exultant breath. “It’s just the most marvelous arrangement I’ve ever seen.”

             
Aidan extended his hand for Salvadore to shake. Salvadore looked at the hand for a few moments as if he didn’t understand what it was, then reached for it hesitantly and allowed Aidan to do all the work. “I agree with my wife. It’s all very… nice?”

             
“Your brother is such a lucky boy to have a mother who cares for him this much,” Rosa continued. “And a father and a brother. You’re all just wonderful! Your whole family, just wonderful! That young bride of your brother’s, what a lucky girl she is too! To wake up one day and find herself a part of this family! My goodness, it boggles the mind!”

             
Aidan chuckled and brought Eva’s hand to his lips. “Someday Eva might be able to tell you exactly how that feels.”

             
Rosa cooed all the louder and turned to Eva to feign surprise. “Did you hear that, Eva, honey? Sounds like this charming boyfriend of yours may have a few plans for you, doesn’t it? It’s just so wonderful I could absolutely burst!”

             
Eva’s head was spinning. The strange flirtation between her mother and her boyfriend was bad enough, but the actual content of their conversation was utterly bizarre. She’d been dating Aidan for two months and already he was making poorly-veiled comments about marriage? She had two years of high school and four years of college ahead of her before she would even consider marriage.

             
He doesn’t want to marry me. He wants to
own
me
.

             
What would he think of Eva if he knew she’d spent the afternoon listening to an old man explain dragon lore? What would he think of her if he knew she had befriended the boy he beat up at the track meet, a boy who had only recently taken up the hobby of turning into a fire-breathing beast when the sun went down?

             
Douglas Humphries – Aidan’s imposing father – took the dais. He was dressed in a tuxedo that looked carved out of ebony. His silver hair was slicked back and his back straight as a board as he held up a glass of champagne and beamed at his guests.

             
“I know the toasts are supposed to wait until after the ceremony, but I don’t believe in tradition. Especially in my own house.”

             
The guests laughed, unsure if they should.

             
“I’ve lived a charmed life, as most of you know. Thirty years after I bought my first fishing trawler for a song – and after thirty years hauling fish out of a mean and majestic Pacific ocean – I am a very wealthy man. That wealth affords me a great deal. I’ve seen the world and I’ve tasted every pleasure the world has to offer. But all of my material wealth pales in comparison to my greatest pleasure.”

             
Humphries paused for effect, his silver hair gleaming.

             
“I’ve been blessed with two sons – Aidan and Philip – and they’ve both grown into men I can
respect
. They’re strong and confident and they don’t take ‘no’ for an answer unless they’re in the mood.” Humphries took a sip of champagne and enjoyed it so much he downed the rest of the glass. “If it was up to me, Philip would get a few years of business under his belt before he gets married and starts a family. Hell, he could run one of my lesser businesses right here in Alpine. But like I said, he’s his own man and he loves Carla and that’s the end of it.”

             
The crowd was silent now, getting more uncomfortable with every word.

             
“Anyway, thanks everybody for coming and what not. Philip – I know you’re back there somewhere – don’t you dare chicken out before you say your vows. Your mother cashed in half my stock portfolio to pay for this shindig and if you flee for greener pastures I
will
send bounty hunters across the face of the earth to drag you back here and make an honest woman out of our dear Carla.” He chuckled at his own remarks, disappointed to find that his champagne glass was empty. “All right, enough babbling. Let’s get the show on the road.”

             
As the last of the wedding guests arrived and took their seats, the orchestra began playing a magnificent piece of instrumental music to hush all conversations and draw all attention to the dais.

             
An elderly minister took his position at the edge of the stage, his hands folded across a Bible and a grin plastered on his beet-red face. The crowd turned to watch Aidan’s brother Philip walk down the aisle, arm-in-arm with his mother. Philip was every bit as handsome as Aidan in his black tuxedo, and his mother Esther looked lovely in her gown.

             
“I better go,” whispered Aidan. “Best man duties!”

             
As Aidan slipped out of the aisle, Eva turned to the west. A sliver of the Pacific was visible beyond the treetops. The sun was slowly dipping toward that blue sliver, and would soon begin setting.

             
Eva swallowed hard and tried to focus on the ceremony as it began in earnest. But her mind was ten miles away.

***

              Hiroki was still sitting behind the wheel of the Buick while Billy paced back and forth across the rocky plateau. The sun was dropping fast now, the sky turning brilliant colors Hiroki couldn’t name.

             
The change would begin any minute now.

             
Hiroki blared his horn and leaned out the window. “You promised her, Billy!”

             
“She won’t bother skipping that lame wedding to be here, I won’t bother honoring the promise. It’s basic math, Hiro. You’re supposed to be the smart one.”

             
“You don’t know her like I know her. She’s going to be so mad at you! So, so, so mad. Like, Latina mad. If you’ve never experienced that before—”

             
“Yeah, what do you care?” Billy answered with a defiant smile. “Maybe she’ll be so mad at me that she actually pays attention to you again. Wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace?”

             
Hiroki pounded the steering wheel with frustration and climbed out of the Buick. With his cheap digital camera dangling from his neck – there was no way he would risk the film camera again – he marched around to the trunk and popped it open. The trunk was still full of clothes donated by the good people of Hudson to a charity that didn’t exist. He selected a few of the larger items and carried them over to Billy.

             
“You’re not taking photos,” Billy snapped.

             
“Don’t you want to document this? Don’t you want to see what you look like as a
dragon
?”

             
Billy considered the idea for a moment, but shook his head ‘no’.

             
Hiroki shook his own head, incredulous. He held out the clothes from his trunk. “Either strip before the change so your clothes don’t rip, or let them rip and wear these when you get back,” Hiroki said as he dropped the clothing on the rocks.

             
Billy toed the clothes disinterestedly, but he nodded. “That’s a good call. I kind of like these clothes, and my dad is going to catch on that something’s up if I keep coming home in somebody else’s threads. Next time, gotta bring a big sheet or something. Yeah, a sheet would be perfect.”

             
Billy pulled off his shirt and Hiroki was surprised to see all the bruises on Billy’s torso. He had forgotten about them. As Billy unbuttoned his pants, Hiroki turned and walked toward the cliff edge.

             
“Now you definitely can’t take pictures, you perv,” said Billy with a chuckle.

             
“Listen man, I can’t do anything to stop you. And it’s not like I care if you crash and burn
again
or if you get harpooned by a whaler—”

             
“People still harpoon whales?” asked Billy.

             
“—but are you
sure
you won’t just eat the stupid leaves?” asked Hiroki. “My grandfather says that eating them one time isn’t permanent. You can still do the change another night.
Any
other night. Once we know a little more.”

             
“That’s a very reasonable suggestion, Hiro,” said Billy. “But I’m already naked and freezing my ass off. So, what the hell? I’ll just go ahead and turn into a dragon.”

             
Billy’s sarcasm was not lost on Hiroki as he whirled around.

             
“Don’t let anyone see you. I’m serious, Billy. Stay as high as you can.”

             
“Yes sir.”

             
“Billy—”

             
“I don’t even know if I can fly, dude. If I
can
, obviously I’ll try to stay out of sight but I’m not sweating it if I can’t.”
              Hiroki scoffed. “You’re not sweating it? You can’t be so stupid that you still don’t realize the risk.”

             
“I realize the risk, my man,” said Billy with a grin. “I just don’t give a crap.”