“Crap!” Ears hot, he ground out the bit of burning deck, then crouched to stroke the scorch mark out of the wood. “The Courts have sorcerers,” he said slowly, remembering protections he’d heard his uncles complain about. “Maybe they’d teach me.”

“Could they teach you enough in six months?”

Jack figured Charlie thought she was asking a—what did they call it?—rhetorical question because hope hadn’t returned to her voice. “So put me in the car and drive me back two years,” he said as he straightened. “I’ll catch up.”

“Jack . . .”

He spread his hands, scaled and clawed. “Dragon Prince, remember? I’m essentially immortal. What’s two years? And, since I’m here, I’m obviously not there. Hang on . . .” He didn’t exactly understand how it worked, but he suspected Charlie had no idea either. “. . . if you can take me back two years, then you can take me back . . .”

“You’ve only been here for four years,” Charlie sighed. “Four from thirteen is nine. Even if twenty-one is a step up from seventeen, nine is still more than seven.”

“I know that.” The pale jacket he’d made from the pile of old newspapers left on the roof had no pockets, so he added some and shoved his hands in them. “Dragons ace math.” He’d thought that maybe . . . “How did you know that’s what I meant?”

She shrugged. “First thing I thought of. What does essentially immortal mean?”

“Dragons are killed, usually by other dragons, but they don’t die. However, as all my uncles have pointed out, singly and collectively, there’s never been a half-blood before, so there’s no way of knowing for sure.” Someone hit their horn, someone else yelled abuse. Jack leaned out over the edge of roof and saw a group of teenagers flipping off an SUV speeding away down 13th. He didn’t get humans his age. They weren’t children, they weren’t adults, and they expected to be treated like both. No reason to drop a giant rock on them, though.

He turned back to Charlie to find her folding the quilt. Over the welcome return of her scent, the heavy knit sweater she wore smelled of Graham, and Jack smoked a little, unable to stop his reaction.

“If I took you back two years . . .” His teeth snapped together as he closed his mouth at her gesture. “If. Would the Court teach you?”