Chapter 4

"How could you possibly—"

"Six months ago," Xaihuang continued smoothly. "Right around the time you started your dragon series. Right around the time of the Shimmer Incident at the tech conference downtown." His smile widened. "The same incident that revealed certain... vulnerabilities in our concealment magic when exposed to advanced digital frequencies."

Marcus stepped closer to Casey, his posture protective. "Enough, Xaihuang. She doesn't need to know about the Incident."

"Doesn't she? When her very existence might be connected to it?" Xaihuang's fingers drummed against his cane handle. "The timing is too convenient, Marcus. A dormant bloodline awakening just as our magical infrastructure starts failing? Just as someone launches a cryptocurrency that shares our most sacred symbols?"

Casey's head was spinning. "Dormant bloodline? What are you talking about?"

Marcus shot Xaihuang a warning look before turning to her. "Your family name—Ember-Brooks. It's not just hyphenated. It's a translation."

"Translation of what?"

"The original draconic lineage names. Ember for the fire-touched bloodline, Brooks for those who controlled flowing water." Marcus gestured toward the fountain. "Your ancestors were bridge-builders between the elemental houses. Very rare. Very powerful."

"That's impossible," Casey breathed. "My parents died in a car accident when I was five. I was raised by my grandmother, and she never said anything about—"

"About dragons?" Xaihuang interjected. "Of course not. The trauma of losing one's parents can sometimes trigger protective dormancy in young dragons. The magic goes to sleep to protect the child from overwhelming power during grief."

Casey sank onto the fountain's edge, her legs suddenly unsteady. "This is insane. You're both insane."

"Am I?" Marcus pulled out his phone, showing her the DragonCoin app. "Look at the trading patterns. Every major spike corresponds to increased magical activity in dragon communities worldwide. Someone is using our digital presence to destabilize the old magic."

The app's interface was mesmerizing—swirling patterns that seemed to move independently of the digital image in 3D logically that was impossible yet here it was doing just that. Than there was the new weird burger packaging from management, and the weird old lady that had acted like she had won the lotto regarding getting tickets to something next year than danced around the store with two cans of drink in her hands as she waited for her food. The past two weeks at that burger joint had been quite interesting.

"And what does that have to do with me?" Casey asked, trying to keep her voice steady despite the rising panic. The fountain's dual streams seemed to pulse in time with her heartbeat, the hot and cold waters reaching toward each other without ever quite touching.

"Everything," Marcus said softly. "Your bloodline carries the ability to harmonize opposing elements. It's why your dreams feature coins—they're conduits for dragon magic, physical anchors that help us channel and control our abilities."

Casey pressed her fingers to her temples. "So you're saying I'm what—part dragon? That's why I've been writing about them? Some kind of genetic memory?"

"More than part," Xaihuang corrected, his eyes flashing from amber to bronze. "The human form is merely convenience, a disguise we've perfected over centuries. Your dormant state has simply lasted longer than most."

"If this is true," Casey said, her writer's mind already cataloging the impossibilities unfolding before her, "then why tell me now? Why not let me keep thinking I'm just... ordinary?"

Marcus and Xaihuang exchanged a look that carried centuries of tension.

"Because," Marcus said carefully, "someone is using DragonCoin to disrupt the magical frequencies that maintain our concealment. Every transaction weakens the barrier between worlds."

"And your awakening bloodline," Xaihuang added, tapping his cane meaningfully, "coincides too perfectly with these events to be coincidence."

A group of teenagers walked by, laughing about something on their phones. Casey caught a glimpse of their screens—all displaying the swirling DragonCoin logo.

"The Twilight Balance Coin," Marcus said, following her gaze. "That's what they're mimicking with their logo. A legendary artifact from your ancestral houses—commissioned to unite fire and water dragons. It's been missing for decades."

"Until now," Xaihuang murmured, studying Casey with new intensity. "Tell me, in your dreams, do the coins ever... speak to you?"

Casey swallowed hard. She'd never told anyone about the whispers, the strange language that seemed to echo from the spinning coins—words she somehow understood despite never having heard them before.

"They do," she whispered. "They call me by a different name."

Marcus stepped closer. "What name?"

"Kasai-Mizumi," she said, the syllables feeling right on her tongue despite their foreignness. "It means—"

"Fire-Lake," both men said in unison, their expressions shifting to something between awe and alarm.

"That settles it," Xaihuang declared. "She's the Convergence."

Marcus shook his head. "We don't know that for certain—"

"Look at her, Marcus! The timing, the dreams, the name—even her writing. She's describing rituals and magic systems she couldn't possibly know."

Casey stood abruptly. "Stop talking like I’m not even here, besides Casey isn’t really my first name its just what people call me its really just my middle name.”

Both men turned to her, surprise evident on their faces.

"What is your first name?" Marcus asked, his voice suddenly hushed.

Casey hesitated, then sighed. "Sage. My grandmother insisted on it, said it was a family name. I never liked it—too formal. Everyone's called me Casey since kindergarten."

"Sage," Xaihuang repeated, his bronze eyes widening. "The herb of wisdom and purification. Used in ancient dragon rituals to cleanse magical pathways." He laughed, a sound like coins clinking together. "Your grandmother knew exactly what she was doing."

Marcus's posture shifted subtly, becoming more alert. "Sage Casey Ember-Brooks. The name alone carries power—wisdom, fire, and water in perfect balance."

The fountain behind them surged suddenly, the hot and cold streams rising higher than usual before settling back into their rhythmic dance. Several shoppers paused to stare, then continued on their way.