Dragons in a Bag

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.

Jaxon tells Trouble that Ma sent him to safety and is now stranded in the Mesozoic era. Vikram and Kavita use their knowledge of dinosaurs to determine that she’s likely in the Triassic period and then head home, wishing Jaxon luck in his search. Trouble tells Jaxon that he’s his grandfather and that, although he has no formal training, he tries to help people with his magic. A massive rat sits down beside Trouble and asks him if he has any food. Trouble introduces the rat as Nate and explains that the rodent can smell magic. The rat detects a thief and hurries off in pursuit.

Ten years ago, Alicia told her father to stay out of her life. When she was a girl, he often experienced unemployment, but finding Ma and magic gave him a sense of purpose. He hoped to share the joy he found in magic with Alica, but when he brought her to another dimension, she was terrified and wanted nothing more to do with magic: “My baby girl didn’t see the beauty—just the strangeness” (105). Trouble’s wife was afraid of magic and left Alicia with Ma during the fallout of her separation from Trouble.