Jelo realized with a sharp pang of guilt that he had been so caught up in everything—the evolution, the system's voice, the revelations about dragons—that he had completely forgotten about Mira. She'd been waiting up there, alone, probably terrified about what was happening to him, probably wondering if he was going to be okay or if she'd have to run for her life. And here he was, standing in the bunker having a conversation with a voice in his head while she waited anxiously above.

He felt like a terrible friend.

"I'm fine now," he quickly called up to her, injecting as much reassurance into his voice as he could manage. "Come inside. It's safe."

Mira didn't need to be told twice. She climbed down the ladder carefully, her movements slower than usual, and Jelo noticed the way she winced slightly as she descended. His eyes immediately went to her chest, to the place where he'd struck her, concern flooding through him.

The moment her feet touched the bunker floor, Jelo moved toward her. "How's your chest?" he asked urgently, instinctively reaching out toward the area he'd hit. His hand was halfway there before his brain caught up with what he was doing.

He was about to touch a girl's chest.

Jelo froze mid-motion, his hand hovering awkwardly in the air between them. Heat rushed to his face as the realization hit him like a brick. He quickly retracted his hand, pulling it back so fast he almost hit himself in the process, and turned his head to the side, his cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"Sorry," he muttered, his voice tight. "I wasn't—I didn't mean—"

Mira's face had gone bright red as well, her own cheeks flushing deeply. She looked away, her hands fidgeting with the hem of her torn shirt. "I'm fine," she said quickly, her voice higher than usual. "Really. I didn't take any injuries."

Jelo turned back to look at her, his brow furrowing with concern despite his embarrassment. "Are you sure? I hit you pretty hard. You flew across the room and hit the wall. There's no way that didn't hurt."

"I'm fine," Mira insisted, more firmly this time. She met his eyes, her expression stubborn and determined. "I promise. It looked worse than it was."

Jelo wasn't convinced. He knew how hard he'd hit her. He'd felt the force of the blow, had seen her body crash into the wall. There was no way she walked away from that completely unscathed. "Mira, you don't have to—"

"I'm fine for real," Mira said, cutting him off mid-sentence. "I would show you if you weren't a guy."

Jelo felt his brain short-circuit for a moment. He coughed, the sound awkward and strangled, and quickly looked away again. "Right. Yes. Of course. That makes sense. Totally reasonable."

Internally, his thoughts were racing. How could she say something so scandalous so casually? Did she not realize how that sounded? Or maybe she did realize and just didn't care because she was trying to make a point? Either way, Jelo's face felt like it was on fire, and he couldn't look directly at her without feeling like he was going to spontaneously combust from sheer embarrassment.

"I'm fine," Mira repeated one more time, her tone softer now. "Really, Jelo. You don't need to worry about me."

Jelo nodded slowly, forcing himself to accept her words even though part of him still wanted to argue. If she said she was fine, then he'd have to trust her. He didn't have much choice in the matter anyway.

There was a brief, awkward silence between them. Then Mira shifted her weight and asked, her voice cautious, "Are you good now? Like, really good? You're not going to… you know… throw me across the room again?"

Jelo winced at the reminder. "Yeah," he said quietly. "I'm good now. I'm really sorry about that. I couldn't control myself. The evolution was… intense."

"Evolution?" Mira's eyes lit up with curiosity immediately, her embarrassment forgotten in the face of new information. "What evolution? What happened to you?"

Jelo sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. He'd expected this question. Of course he had. Mira was inquisitive by nature, always asking questions, always digging deeper, always wanting to understand everything around her. It was one of the things that made her such a good partner in dangerous situations, but it also meant she rarely let things go.

He wondered for a moment if he should lie to her. He could make something up, tell her it was just a side effect of overusing his abilities or some kind of temporary power surge. She might believe him. It would be easier than explaining the truth.

But then he realized it made no sense to lie. Not to Mira. She already knew more than one of his secrets. She knew about his system, had seen him use abilities that no normal student should have, had watched him devour Dabba hearts to gain strength. She'd been there through some of his darkest moments and hadn't run away or betrayed him. If anyone deserved the truth, it was her.

"My system just evolved," Jelo said finally, meeting her eyes. "I'm not a hatchling anymore. Now I'm a full-on dragon."

Mira frowned. "Weren't you a dragon already?"

"I… I was more of like a hatchling I guess" Jelo relied. "Now I'm all grown"

"What does that mean?" Mira asked immediately, taking a step closer, her curiosity overriding any lingering awkwardness between them. "Like, what can you do now? Are you stronger? Do you have new abilities? Can you breathe fire?"

"I don't know fully," Jelo said, shaking his head. "The system was explaining things to me, but there's a lot I still don't understand. I was asking questions when you opened the trapdoor and interrupted."

Mira's expression shifted immediately to one of guilt. "Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"It's fine," Jelo cut her off with a small smile. "I'm glad you're not hurt"

Mira smiled back, then gestured toward him with both hands. "Well, don't let me stop you. Find out what you can do. I'll wait."

Jelo hesitated, glancing toward the ladder that led up to the bunker exit. "Shouldn't we try to find the portal first? Get out of here before something else happens?"

Mira shook her head firmly. "We don't know where the portal is. For all we know, it could be miles away from here, and who knows what we might encounter on the way to find it. Dabba, more experiments, other scientists—anything could be out there. It's better if you know what you're capable of before we go searching. That way, if we run into trouble, you'll at least know what tools you have to work with."

Jelo considered her words for a moment. She had a point. They were in unknown territory, literally and figuratively. Understanding his new abilities before stepping out of the bunker would be the smart play. If he ran into something dangerous and tried to use a new power without knowing how it worked, he could end up getting both of them killed.

"Okay then," Jelo said with a nod. "Let's figure out what this dragon thing actually means."​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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