This short story (55 pages) is told almost entirely from the perspective of Liam Cuelebre, the son of Dragos and Pia, affectionately known to us as Peanut. Peanut is a Wyr, a dragon who can take human form, like his father. Peanut is only 6 months old, but he has been growing rapidly in both body and mind. He looks like a large 5 year old boy, and is already doing high school algebra with Hugh. His parents decide it would be beneficial for him to go to elementary school and socialize with other children. They feel he will be so powerful when he is grown up that there will be no one capable of providing checks and balances to him, so he must learn to think of others, and earn that lesson early, as he will have to police himself.

Liam goes off to his first day of school in first grade, which is quite momentous. He figures out how to deal with elementary schoolyard bullies, stands up to an adult bully, and gets a girlfriend.

"Hey, would you like to be my girlfriend for a couple of days?"

A startled wash of color stained her pale cheeks. She stared at him. "Only for a couple of days?"

He had forgotten- she didn't know who he really was, or anything about him. "Or maybe a week. It's kind of hard to explain," he told her. "I'm not going to be a kid for very long, so I can't make any long-term commitments."

Liam is learning how to control his temper and grow up emotionally, and it's heartwarming to see. I love how Thea shows us that he is still a child, showing how when he gets scared it makes his tummy feel funny. We are inside his head watching him process what to do when he interacts with others at school, and seeing how an Elder child works through issues. Dragos tells him, "If you were to talk to humans about this, they would probably say that things should be handled in a different way, and I respect that- but Liam, it's important to remember, we're not human, and neither are those boys. They're stronger than humans, more dangerous. They're predators, and they crossed a line. You know what happens when Wyr go bad, don't you? They can hurt a lot of people before they're brought down."

We also see a little of the behind-the-scenes of how Dragos is recovering from his memory loss from Pia Saves the Day (Elder Races 6.6). This little snippet is enough to quell my jitters for the next full length Elder Races novel, but I'm craving the next release, Night's Honor, with its expected publication date of September 2014.

Book Summary

Dragos Cuelebre is no longer the only dragon.

Dragos’s son Liam Cuelebre (a.k.a. Peanut) is springing into existence, reminiscent of the first of the Elder Races who were born at the beginning of the world. At just six months of age, he has already grown to the size of a large five-year-old boy. He can read, write in complete sentences, and his math skills are off the chart.

A white dragon in his Wyr form, Liam also holds more Power than almost anyone else. In an effort to give him a taste of normality, no matter how fleeting, his parents Pia and Dragos enroll him in first grade.

They hope school will help teach Liam how to relate to others, a vital skill that will help him control his growing Power. But school has a surprising number of pitfalls, and relating to others can be a tricky business.

When a classmate is threatened, Liam must quickly learn self-control, how to rein in his instincts, and govern his temper, because there’s no doubt about it—he is fast becoming one of the most dangerous creatures in all of the Elder Races.