The Stray Dragon : (A collage age urban fantasy with werewolves werewolf community center book 3)

by Abigail Smith

  I looked up from my book and found Silvia bringing me some coffee. “Oh, thanks, Silvia!” I said, taking it with both hands.

  I hadn’t realized how cold my hands and subsequently entire body was, till I touched it, and drank it, feeling the warmth radiate outwards from my stomach.

  “You’ve been hanging around with David a lot, huh?” she asked, sitting down opposite me with her own mug and the tray she presumably got everything else on.

  “Are you getting jealous?” I said jokingly.

  “A little, yeah,” she said.

  That part definitely wasn’t funny. “I, uh… Okay, I guess I could make some more time for you and other friends I’ve neglected.”

  “Like Melisa?” she asked.

  I peered towards the door, where Melisa was standing and looking into her crystal ball. “I was thinking Lorenz but if you think that’s important, I’ll try and make that happen.”

  “Oh, I mean, I guess Lorenz is okay,” Silvia said softly.

  “Okay, not that you guess I don’t spend enough time talking to him?”

  Silvia opened her mouth, only to close it again. She paused, opening her mouth just a little, and a small voice came through.

  “Seems like you really needed a vacation and not some bi… some annoying woman threatening to attack us.” I placed a hand on her back and rubbed it gently.

  She scooted closer to me and sipped her drink. I looked back down to the text to see what else I could learn.

  I eventually got tired of rubbing and pulled her in closer, and despite the caffeine, she fell asleep by my side. Whatever Gavin’s and Silvia’s last name was, they were apparently great with sleeping on others, and with others sleeping on them.

  “Shame that might be their only legacy though,” ran through my mind, and I tightened my grip around Silvia.

  7

  Chapter 7

  A loud banging sound woke everyone in the library around three to four am. Amelia came rushing in. “Elizabeth! There’s a crazy lady fighting Genki!” she shouted, before cowering underneath a table.

  “Ohhh balls,” I said, realizing what most likely happened.

  I ran up the stairs as fast as I could, followed by the gang. We got up just in time for the belt to scream, “Stage select!” and for the two, Genki and confirmed Miss Galvos, to fly outside.

  We rushed down the stairs, to find Genki, in his mighty Kitsune X armour, looking at the pool. Which presumably had Miss Galvos inside.

  “W-why she no float?” Genki said.

  I wasn’t sure if Amelia went over the word ‘Doesn’t’, and adding ‘ing’ to the end of a word, or if in his panic he could only get out simpler words, but it didn’t matter, as the Galvosian woman’s head emerged just past the net and gasped for air.

  “Ohhh, her armour must have the same weight, whether or not it looks like metal.”

  I remembered the suit Leonardo wore, and more importantly the utterly baffling action that was adjusting the tie.

  “Just what are you?!” she screamed, her hair now dripping wet and covering her face.

  “Masked Kishu Kitsuneeee!” Genki said, doing a pose.

  I’m sure that his tail is what made her do make the noise, so the jig was pretty much up at this point, but I facepalmed internally at him showing off those twin tails.

  “Genki,” I moaned.

  I felt the stink eye as the woman got to the steps and started to lift herself up them, with great effort.

  Genki looked back and forth between me and her. I ran up towards the pool, with all of the group following me, and I glared down at her.

  “He’s either your ally or a pain in your ass – your pick,” I said, offering a hand to help her out of the pool.

  “You expect me to just accept that thing as an ally?”

  “I expect you to be a Galvos, and whatever you think that means doesn’t matter to me right now because I have my own opinions. I’m hoping that you’ll be smart.” I re-thrust out my hand towards her.

  She got up without grabbing it and walked off. “Uhh,” Genki stammered.

  “We had a bit of a scuffle earlier today, and we’re not quite sure where we stand with her.”

  “That’s, uh, not quite what I was getting at,” Genki said. “Stage select has people moving back to where they started from…”

  “Ohhh, right.” I took a look at the dripping armour on her. “I’m sure it’s fine,” I said.

  Genki removed the items from his belt, and vanished, along with Valkyrie.

  “Huh, neat,” Fumnaya said. “Okay, assuming Miss Galvos doesn’t have a fit with the whole teleporting situation, I think it’s right about time we all head to bed. I definitely need some sleep after today.”

  “This vacation seems to be more work than normal!” David said, moaning.

  I walked back up the stairs, passing by the dripping Galvonian woman, before coming to the room, or that is to say the wall.

  Genki looked a bit guilty standing by it. “Oh, interesting move making the door invisible, guess you ran into trouble with someone knowing there must be a door there.”

  Genki nodded. “Well, you did a good job, thank you. And try to avoid that lady, unless she starts to act up, then go full kitsune.”

  “Full kitsune?” Genki asked.

  “Western expression, uh, how to explain it… you have electric guitars, right?”

  He nodded. “Well, on the amplifiers, there’s a little nob, usually goes one to ten. Going to ten would be full sound, as loud as it can go.”

  “Ohhh, kitsune, extreme!” he said, using show language, I’m sure.

  “Extreme extreme!” I said, winking, as I felt around for the doorknob.

  Genki lowered my hand about a foot, and I got it and walked inside the room.

  It’d been several hours since I checked on the egg. Having it hatch right now would be bad. Worse would be if it had hatched and the dragon was gone. I opened the drawer and found it still resting among all the sweaters.

  I put my hand on it and it was warm to the touch, as much as it was when I’d first put it into its nest.

  “It’s okay, little guy, Mama’s here. She was really busy, but she’s here now!” I said, rubbing its bumpy surface gently.

  I closed it back up and got into the old bed, underneath all the blankets; they felt so soft, and warm. It really felt nice from all the coldness that’d built sleeping in the library, and heading outside to confront that crazy woman.

  8

  Chapter 8

  I got up and stretched, yawning loudly, as I looked for any device that could tell the time. Finding no clocks in the room, which was aggravating, to say the least, I dove into my suitcase to find my phone.

  It was nearly eleven, and I had no doubt the barbecue wing had already started for lunch. I once again leaned over to my dresser, to check on the egg. The thing was still radiating heat, but as I looked at it, it started to rock back and forth, gently, then stopped.

  “Oh, that’s gotta be a good sign,” I said, looking down at it. “I should probably spend most of the day with the little guy. Do dragons start with teeth or should I see if I can’t find a blender?” I remembered the book, and how little I got through it.

  Curse my inability to study.

  I made sure to take out a doggy treat and place it beside the egg in the nest, in case the little guy hatched while I wasn’t inside the room, and went downstairs for my own breakfast.

  Coming down, there was a clear silence that spread across the area. If I had to guess, I’d say it was the werewolves of Miss Galvos’s community center. Mine was completely fine with my presence, and the others didn’t know who I was. I could tell that something was wrong.

  Miss Galvos herself was glaring at me, in a different formal suit from last time.

  I gave her a winning smile and walked over to the grill to get myself a burger.

  I felt Brittney’s gaze on me the most and felt a little betrayed at that one, but I’m assuming s
he was holding her group up more than little Silvia.

  I walked back inside, hoping the rest of the group would wake up soon.

  I passed David in the hall. “I know the meat smells good, but you might wanna use the kitchen area,” I said, looking back to the group.

  “Oh god, what now?” he said, leaning back and moaning.

  “I think that the group related to Miss Galvos has been informed that they should hate us because their leader is an asshole.”

  “Dang it, I liked Brittney,” David said.

  “Like her, or…?”

  “Is this the time for that?” David asked, tilting his head towards me.

  “I guess not…”

  David searched the area. With so many people the sents would be too numerous to pick out anything new. “How’s Eggbert?” he asked.

  “Okay, no, just no, you’ve lost your naming privileges!” I said, glaring.

  “How is it?” David asked.

  “It shook a bit, so I think it might be close to hatching, but you know, I haven’t really gotten that far in the book.”

  “Right, your inability to study, curse that. I’ll check and see if they have anything on it. Out of curiosity, what were you going to name it?”

  “If dragons are as smart as I remember from D and D, then it should be able to pick a name for itself.”

  “That’s lame, I was hoping it’d be something like D-gon.”

  I glared, longer and harder than I’ve glared at anyone else.

  His smile faded, then grew a bit, and smouldered and rose. The more he looked at me, the more he seemed to be unable to control his laughter.

  “Eat up, you might need to be well-fed,” I said, walking up the stairs.

  Amelia stumbled out of the library, apparently having fallen asleep during her cowering. “Oh good, you’re still alive, and looking just as good as ever,” she said, offering a little lighthearted joke.

  “There’s going to be more fighting, and I doubt that you really want to be anywhere near here if that’s the case. Do you have any cash or bus tickets?”

  “I… I can’t just leave you guys! Especially Genki, I told him we’d be together on this!”

  “Look, I don’t want to just ship you off either, but with what’s going on, you’re pretty much a target and with you unable to fight…”

  “Awww.” Amelia started to tear up.

  “W-what’s going on?” I asked, confused at her expression as she started to smile.

  “Look at how much better a roommate you’ve become!” She hugged me.

  “Oi,” I moaned and used one hand to give back the hug. “Now I gotta go… look after Genki,” I said.

  I got back to my room and set down the burger on the nightstand, before realizing there was something placed on my bed.

  That same plastic lollipop with a handle, a green edge and black around the part that wasn’t clear. The words: ‘Masked Kishu Chronicle’ were written out on it in a silly font.

  “Ohhh…” My inflection started going down, then moved upwards.

  This clearly meant that Genki was prepared for the worst, but also I got the time stoppy powers. Time stoppy powers that didn’t involve putting on a bulky belt and having its belt part squeeze my middle.

  I picked it up and gave it a spin, and it made a satisfying sound. “I’ll try to be worthy of this, Genki,” I said, placing it into a pocket.

  I grabbed the plate and burger and started to munch on it. About halfway through the munching, I heard a rattling.

  I leaned over, and the dresser, where I had hidden the dragon egg, was rattling back and forth. The drawer in question was rattling the most, so most likely the cause.

  The dragon egg inside was shaking violently, like whatever was inside was struggling to get out. I was a bit worried it’d destroy everything but the egg at this point.

  I wondered if it’d need some help getting out of it. Eggs only had a limited air supply as it was. How long could a dragon go without air? Was the first rattling already its death throes to escape?

  “Dang it, where’s David when you need him? Would he have his phone on him?” I picked up my flip phone and texted him.

  A simple: “Get in here now, invisible door, if Genki interferes tell him I sent you.” I crossed my fingers that he had his phone.

  He arrived before I thought the text had even sent. “Good thing I took out the phone. What’s the situation?”

  “Egg rattling, how long till we need a hammer?” I asked.

  He, having worked with chickens before, must have known what I meant. “Uh…” He flipped through the book, most likely doing a lot more damage than anyone wanted.

  “There’s no section on that, only that it seemed these things could only be crushed by heavy animals stepping on them with intent.”

  “Did they test that, or did it happen by accident?!” I asked, horrified.

  “Doesn’t say. Uh, if it’s rattling this hard and stops, perhaps we could grab a saw and try to saw a little air hole in?” David asked.

  “You think this manor home has a saw handy?” I said, slipping a bit into hysterics.

  From inside a set of claws stabbed through the thick eggshell. They twisted using all of the strength available to them, cracking it little by little. A sharp breath was sucked along with the claws. A rumbling roar of frustration was let out as two sets of claws stabbed through the material.

  The sound of bones breaking permeated the room as the egg started to split and crack. Out of panic, I slid the drawer back in, hoping the sudden jerk didn’t do anything.

  David shot me a confused look. I didn’t want to speak so I just threw up a violent shrug and leaned in to listen. The tiny dragon was sniffing around, examining his new surroundings with caution, and then went over to the dog treat. A crunch signified that yes, it had teeth and was able to bite through the treat.

  I smiled, relieved that it’d been born and wasn’t stuck in the egg. David’s face scrunched up as the crunching sound repeated over and over. The dragon seemed to enjoy his little treat, which David didn’t know about.

  “What is it eating?” David whispered.

  “Huh?” The drawer moved slightly, as most likely the dragon was reacting to the noise it just heard from David.

  Its voice had a nasally quality and was surprisingly deep for what I assumed to be a snake with legs and wings.

  “I left a treat inside there, so they could have something to eat once they were born.” I didn’t want to misgender the dragon, mainly because it was a dragon, but you know.

  “Who goes there! Show yourselves!” the dragon bellowed, its voice carrying really well for the massive amounts of muffling that must have been going on inside the drawer.

  “Okay, but you gotta promise not to breathe fire, or whatever you can breathe,” I said.

  “Other than air, because we don’t expect you to hold your breath,” David offered.

  “Show yourselves!” it repeated.

  I slowly opened the drawer, and there, half in the egg, and half out, with the treat half-consumed, was a red-scaled dragon, with an orange streak down its middle, and up one of its wings.

  I couldn’t help but coo at how cute the miniature killing machine was. David, understanding basic tactics, made sure to look at the dragon, but at such an angle that the fire breath couldn’t get both of us.

  “Hey! Uh, my name’s E-lis, this is David, you were just born, but if you have an idea for a name we’d love to hear it,” I said, trying to be friendly.

  “Dragons don’t have names,” it said confidently.

  “Dang, that’s unfortunate,” I said, shrugging.

  The dragon focused its eyes on me and munched the treat a little more. It seemed to not know what to think of me and David. I stood up and went to sit on the bed.

  “Give him some space to eat, David,” I said, not realizing his positioning was important.

  He looked around and found a better space across the room from me.
r />   “So, how much do you know, as a newly born dragon. I mean, you already know English…”

  “English?” The creature moved so both eyes were focused on me. It was really weird, having something that small and reptilian having such intelligence behind those eyes.

  “The name of the language you’re speaking. Originating from England?”

  “I think not,” the creature said as it crunched the last of the treat.

  I looked at David with a shrug. “Are you still hungry?” I asked, opening up the bag of treats.

  “You have more bones?” he asked, in an accusatory tone.

  “Those aren’t bones,” David said.

  “They are the shape of bones. Who would put so much effort into faking… have you attempted to poison me?”

  “David… Yes, I have more; no, we’re not trying to poison you. They are shaped like bones because of their target market,” I said, waving my hand in that explanatory way.

  “Target market? I do not understand.” The little dragon clearly wanted to seem prideful, and regal, but he was just born, and this wasn’t exactly the world he was supposed to be in.

  “It’s a term to denote who you want to sell products to. Eh, it only makes sense in a world where the markets have so many buyers that selling to a niche becomes frugal,” David said, holding up his hand at the first part and rubbing his chin afterwards.

  “How many people does it take?” the dragon asked as if this amount of people would somehow inconvenience him.

  “Let’s put it this way, we have the concept of mass production, where teams of people, machines or automatons produce complicated goods really quickly to satisfy the demand – and there are multiple such areas all over the world to accommodate the demand,” I explained.