Broken Dragon (The Chronicles of Mara Lantern, Book 3) by D.W. Moneypenny Page B

two, while the weather is still clear. It’s going to get rainy and cloudy later.”
    From her phone, the man yelled, “Mara! I’m here in the park with Hannah! You’ve got to help me!”
    Mara heard a childish giggle come from the phone’s speaker, then another voice. “Let me feel, Daddy, see if it scratches.” Mara looked down and saw a little hand reach into view of the cell phone screen and rub the man’s cheek.
    “Hannah?” Mara said into the phone.
    Hannah pushed her head into view and waved. “Hi, Mar-ree! Look at Daddy. Isn’t he pretty?”
    Mara’s thumb slipped off the camera on her own phone. “Hannah? Where is your father?”
    “He’s right here!” She turned and kissed the man on the cheek.
    Diana walked up the stairs and stood beside Mara. “What’s going on?”
    Mara gaped at her mother and turned the phone toward her. “Hi, Nana!” Hannah said.
    Diana took the phone. “Hey, baby. Where’s your dad?”
    “He’s right here.” She pointed at the man, then poked him playfully in the nose. He looked miserable.
    Diana stared at the screen for a second, then her eyes widened. “Sam? Oh, my God! What happened?”
    “I was talking to Hannah about what her life was like and what kind of father I will be, and, the next thing you know, she puts her hands on my face and says ‘Imagine.’ She told me to pretend being older. Like an idiot, I thought it was some kind of game, so I closed my eyes and played along. When I opened my eyes, I looked like this.”
    Diana turned the screen toward Mara. “He turns out pretty good, doesn’t he?”
    Mara rolled her eyes. “Very handsome.”
    Diana handed the phone back to Mara, then pantomimed taking a picture, clicking a finger in front of her face, and pointed to the phone.
    Mara nodded and said, “Can you center yourself and Hannah in the frame? I’m having trouble seeing you on this end.”
    A look of frustration passed over Sam’s face, but he complied. Mara tapped her phone, and it made a barely audible shutter-clicking sound.
    “Are you taking pictures?” Sam asked, turning red. “This is not some kind of joke here. I’ve lost like twenty years of my life!”
    “Did you tell her to put you back the way you were?” Mara asked.
    “No, I was just so freaked-out, it didn’t occur to me.”
    “Well, you’re her father. Tell her to prompt you to be younger again.”
    Hannah rubbed his face again. “I like him better this way. He looks more like a daddy now.”
    “Yes, but now I don’t have a little brother, and I really need to have a little brother. Besides, if you don’t, I’m eating all your trick-or-treat candy before you get home,” Mara said. “Fix your dad, and no more prompting.” She tapped the End button.
    She noticed she had a text message from Ping. She opened it, and it said simply, “I’m okay.” She shook her head and rubbed a temple, feeling sort of slingshot from one problem to the next.
    Her mother noticed her frown and said, “What is it?”
    “Text from Ping. Apparently he’s all right now,” Mara said.
    “I was about to come up and tell you that his car is gone. He must have stopped by sometime late last night and picked it up. I wonder who gave him a ride out here?”
    Mara shook her head. “Mom, the last time I saw him, he was airborne. I think getting down to Oregon City was probably not a big deal.”
    A look of concern swept over Diana’s face. “I was under the impression that, when the dragon took over, he wasn’t actually Ping, that it is actually a different consciousness exerting control over his actions.”
    “I suppose that’s true. Why?”
    “Then how do you explain the dragon being able to come to our house, if it wasn’t Ping doing the flying?”
    “I’m not sure. They share some of each other’s awareness. Why are you being so paranoid about it?”
    Her mother shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess, since all those other lizards and creatures had a tendency to follow me home