The Pocket Dragon: The Pocket Dragon: Book 1

by Tesha Geddes

  Then he smiled to himself as a plan began to form in his mind. He carefully packed a few Kaida’s magical books into his bag. Perhaps it was time to experiment with a new type of magical book… one that wasn’t just a receptacle for knowledge. He slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out the door –– there was someone he needed to talk to.

  ❀

  Rai Quill looked at Mathis dubiously. “Are you messing with me?” he asked. There was no way what Mathis was suggesting could work.

  “No,” Mathis said. “I truly believe this will work.”

  “It sounds too good to be true,” Rai replied. “If these books do what you think they will, they could change so many people’s lives for the better.”

  Mathis nodded. “That’s why I’m here. These books deserve more than to be put on a shelf for some crusty old historian to fill with knowledge no one is ever going to read again.”

  Rai raised his eyebrows in surprise. “I never thought I’d hear you talk about your books and knowledge like that.”

  “You and me both,” Mathis replied with a chuckle.

  Rai sat back and thought as he sipped his tea. Mathis seemed confident about what he was proposing. He wasn’t opposed to the idea, but there was one problem. “What’ll it cost me?” Rai asked –– magical books were not cheap.

  “Normally, a blank magical book made by an apprentice would go for two eagles,” Mathis said, naming Maiorwan’s highest-value coin. Rai let out a low whistle –– even blank magical books were expensive. Mathis ignored him and continued, “However, since we are testing a new use, I can sell them to you at the cost of materials. That would drop the cost to eight kestrels each.”

  Rai raised his eyebrows. Kestrels were the second lowest-value denomination. Ten sparrows equaled one kestrel, ten kestrels equaled one owl, and ten owls equaled one eagle. By dropping the price from two eagles to eight kestrels, Mathis was offering him an unparalleled deal. It was a deal Rai would be foolish to refuse, even if this experiment failed.

  “How many do you have?” Rai asked.

  Mathis smiled. “I have five with me right now.”

  “Deal,” Rai said. He immediately pulled out his phone to transfer the funds to Mathis, but old wolf shifter waved him off and said, “Settle up with Stacy. You’d have to transfer the funds into one of the school’s accounts, not mine, and I don’t have that information. I’ll tell Stacy to expect you.”

  Rai put his phone away as Mathis passed five magical books over to him. The power emanating from the books swept over him and he gasped. Mathis chuckled at his reaction. Rai eyed the books –– maybe this would work after all.

  Chapter 16

  Storm Thunderfeather eyed the members of his aerie gathered around him. The news that he had welcomed a dragon into the aerie had been met with shock, even outrage.

  “She saved my life,” Storm reminded the muttering dissenters.

  “She’s a dragon,” one juvenile, Teak, complained. “Dragons are powerful –– it’s not as if it was hard for her to kill a basilisk. Why should we welcome some prideful dragon into our home, just so she can look down on us?”

  Storm sighed internally, praying for patience. He’d hoped his aerie would have been able to read between the lines of his original explanation, but it seemed that only a few caught what he didn’t say. Mala Shimmerfeather wrapped a wing around her daughter, Rani, a young thunderbird born with a cleft beak, and eyed Storm questioningly. Storm nodded –– Mala knew.

  Storm looked at the rest of his aerie and said softly, “She escaped a culling.”

  The muttering ceased instantly as all heads swiveled towards him. It was an open secret that dragons culled their weak. Many people had tried to bring dragons to justice over this, but there was never enough evidence to make charges stick. Teak had the decency to look abashed.

  “She is blessed?” the juvenile asked.

  Storm smiled internally at the wording. Thunderbirds cherished their young and believed that raising their young was a sacred responsibility granted them by the Creator. Sometimes the Creator saw fit to give them a hatchling that was blessed, like Rani.

  Storm measured his words carefully and replied, “If she wishes to share her blessing with you, she will. However, I hope I do not need to impress upon you the importance of keeping her secret. You all know what will happen if other dragons learn of her.”

  He didn’t have permission to share Kaida’s secret, and besides, he relished imagining the looks of surprise on their faces when they saw the pint-sized dragoness.

  “She’s not a dragon,” Thor, one of their fiercest warriors declared. “She’s a featherless thunderbird.”

  A chorus of agreement rose from the other thunderbirds and Storm smiled in satisfaction. Kaida was one of them, whether she chose to make her home in the aerie or not.

  ❀

  “Where did my magical books go?” Kaida asked, looking around the workshop, worried that she’d misplaced them. “I’m missing five.”

  Mathis looked up at her. “I sold them,” he said. “They have some unique properties I want tested.”

  “Oh,” Kaida said, shifting uncomfortably –– unique wasn’t good. “What properties?”

  “You imbued them with healing magic,” Mathis said with a smile. “Healing is a rare and powerful talent. I sold the five books to a therapist by the name of Rai Quill. He’s going to give them to some of his patients to use. We’re hoping the books will help heal them in a way that medicine can’t.” He paused, then added, “Since we are testing out a new use for magical books, I only charged him the cost of the materials, so I can’t give you a commission on the sale of the books.”

  Kaida stared at him in surprise. She’d always known she’d had healing magic, but she hadn’t realized it was so rare –– Maribeth had only ever seen it as another failing, because dragons were warriors, not healers. What good was a book imbued with healing magic? Mathis seemed to think they would do a lot of good. And what did he mean by a commission?

  Mathis must have seen her confusion because he explained, “Ordinarily, if they are of good enough quality, we sell the magical books apprentices make, and the apprentice earns a percentage of the profit, and the rest goes to the library –– it’s a way to incentivize the apprentice to do good work.”

  “I’m sorry I cost the library money,” Kaida said, feeling guilty that Mathis had to sell her books for so little.

  Mathis stared at her in disbelief. “You have done nothing wrong,” he said firmly. “At worst, you’ve made beautiful magical books that people will enjoy holding; at best, you’ve created a new class of magical artifacts that will heal people’s minds. Be proud of your work. It was my decision to test their use on something new –– hence the low price. Once we have a better idea what your books can do, we’ll adjust the price.”

  Kaida nodded mutely, not quite believing what Mathis was saying. At worst, she’d created a good magical book. If that was true, then why did she still feel like she’d failed? She was supposed to create a magical book like any of the others, but she’d created something different. All her life she’d been told that different was bad. Now, it seemed like Mathis was telling her that different was good.

  Her thoughts and feelings tangled up inside, so she did what always made the knot smaller… she worked. By this point, she no longer needed Mathis to instruct her on binding magical books. She also no longer dropped her magic during the process. She enjoyed the work and found it soothing. She enjoyed seeing the different pieces that made the book come together to form a whole. She liked experimenting with different cutouts for the covers –– so far, no two books were alike. Each book was a work of art, and Kaida was quietly proud of each one. But repairing ancient magical books is a far more delicate and exacting process, she thought as she glanced over to where Mathis was working. She sighed and reigned in her impatience –– Mathis said that she should be able to learn the art of repairing next week.

  By the time he
r shift was over, the tangle of thoughts and emotions had unraveled a bit and she could think more clearly. Mathis was offering her a painful possibility –– the hope that she was worth something as a person. That hope shouldn’t have been painful, but fear made it so. She was afraid that if she hoped that her differences were worthwhile, she’d be all the more crushed when she found out they weren’t.

  Her dragon growled in annoyance, telling her that these thoughts and feelings were better dealt with when there was wind under her wings. Kaida was caught between smiling and frowning. It was nice that her dragon was more active and present than she’d ever been in Drake City, but it was a school night, and there was certainly no wind in her dorm room. Her dragon agreed, and cheekily reminded her of a certain wolf that had promised to run with her whenever she needed to let her dragon out.

  She paused at her apartment door. When had she started trusting Sen enough to tell him her secret? Her dragon trusted no one. Her roommates had only found out because of carelessness on her part, but here she was, considering willingly trusting Sen with her secret. Could she do it? Could she take that step? Was she willing to risk it?

  She sat at her desk and pulled her textbooks towards her, deciding to ponder those heavy questions while she did her homework.

  ❀

  Sen’s phone rang and he answered it without looking. “This is Sen,” he said.

  “Uh, hi,” Kaida’s voice came over the phone. She took a deep breath and plowed ahead. “I was wondering if you wanted to go for a run in the forest tonight.”

  Sen was floored, but his wolf yipped happily. He’d made the offer but hadn’t expected her to take him up on it, and especially not so soon. Usually when he needed a run on a weeknight, he’d just shift and run through the city streets and various parks, but a trip out to a forest with a pretty dragon sounded good too. “I’d love to,” he said. “I just need to pick Celicia up from work, but I’m free afterwards.”

  ❀

  Kaida’s heart hammered in her chest as she climbed into Sen’s truck. Was she really going to do this?

  “Thanks for the call,” Sen said as she buckled her seatbelt. “I’ve been itching for a run.”

  “I should be thanking you,” Kaida said. “If not for you, I probably wouldn’t be able to go. The bus takes twice as long to get there, and it doesn’t run late enough tonight.”

  “Any time,” Sen said with a chuckle. “I’m just glad Ranger says there was only one basilisk in the forest.”

  Kaida nodded mutely –– with everything else that had happened, she’d completely forgotten about the basilisk.

  The rest of the ride to Jacobs Campground was filled with long stretches of awkward silence and periods of stilted conversation as Kaida agonized over her upcoming revelation and Sen tried to draw her out.

  They reached the campground and Kaida led Sen unerringly to the lightning-split tree she’d used just a few days ago.

  “Do you have a pack to carry your clothes in?” Sen asked as he dropped his own small pack he could wear while shifted.

  Kaida winced –– she was far too small to carry any pack that fit her clothes. She shook her head.

  Sen shrugged and said, “Well, we’re both wearing light clothing, so it should all fit in my pack just fine. You can shift first, if you’d like.”

  He turned around to give Kaida privacy. She hurriedly stripped and folded her clothing, stuffing it in the pack with shaking fingers. And then she shifted.

  “I’m done,” she said. Like most shifters, she could only use her telepathy in her shifted form. She scampered around the lightning-struck tree to give Sen his privacy.

  A few moments later, she heard Sen’s voice in her head. “Where did you go?” he asked.

  She peered around the tree trunk to see a large silver-gray wolf wearing a small pack, and looking around in confusion, clearly wondering how a large dragon could disappear without a trace.

  “Behind the tree,” Kaida replied, a mixture of amusement and worry leaking into her mind-voice.

  Sen padded around the tree, but he was looking the wrong direction and nearly stepped on her.

  “Down here!” Kaida exclaimed, scurrying backwards to avoid being squashed.

  Sen looked down and froze. He stared at her for a long moment before finally moving. He lowered his snout and nuzzled her gently. She shivered involuntarily –– his head was bigger than her whole body. He could eat her for breakfast and still be hungry. He licked her head, and she squawked in alarm, visions of becoming breakfast still at the forefront of her mind. Sen whined apologetically and she calmed down, realizing that muzzle-licking was one way wolf-shifters showed affection. It wasn’t Sen’s fault she was bite-sized. Her tongue flicked out and licked his muzzle. The wolf in front of her panted happily.

  “Let’s run,” Sen said with barely-contained enthusiasm.

  “You run. I fly,” Kaida replied, taking off gracefully.

  Sen howled happily and took off between the trees. He ran around trees, over boulders, and even squirmed under a fallen log, all while Kaida easily kept pace with him in the air. She could fly a lot faster than he could run, but it was fun to dart around him, zoom ahead, and then dart back –– sometimes she even flew under him. The first time she did that, he’d leapt straight up like a startled cat –– Kaida had to land because she’d been laughing too hard to stay in the air.

  “Imp,” he’d said, nuzzling her affectionately. Her only response had been to blow a cloud of purification mist at his face.

  They spent a few hours running around the forest in that manner, and Kaida was surprised to find that Sen’s presence wasn’t the least bit draining. She usually needed a break after spending a few hours with someone, even if they were doing things she enjoyed. But not with Sen. She mourned the fading light because it marked the end of their time together.

  “We can come back later this week,” Sen promised as they approached the lightning-struck tree.

  Kaida hummed happily. “Mathis says you know the best places on pack lands for a dragon.”

  “For big dragons, and pocket-sized ones as well,” Sen said, nuzzling Kaida gently.

  Kaida grinned –– wolf-Sen was very affectionate, and she found she didn’t mind one bit.

  “Mathis invited me up for the break,” Kaida said, watching Sen’s reaction closely. “Maybe you could show me then.”

  She was rewarded with a slobbery tongue descending on her head.

  ❀

  Sen lay in his bed, mulling over the day. A lot of good work had been done, and he wasn’t talking about his job, or even school. Kaida had trusted him with a big secret, and she hadn’t shied away from his touch… except that first time he licked her. More than that, she’d played with him. He had a hard time reconciling the lighthearted and free Kaida of today with the quaking leaf he’d met first. She’d grown so much in the past few weeks, and he looked forward to watching her continue to grow.

  Chapter 17

  Joan stared at the report in disbelief. She rubbed her eyes and read it again… no change. She held it up to the light, scrutinizing it for any sign of tampering, but came up empty. If the report could be believed, the Sunstar flowers she had sent in had unusually strong healing ability. They scored high in all areas tested, but especially high in eradication of impurities –– this had led researchers to be “cautiously optimistic” in their ability to cure cancer. She snorted in disbelief –– there was no way the flowers from her puny, unremarkable shop could be that great. Also, she had nothing to do with the properties of those Sunstar flowers. That was an honor that belonged to Kaida. Joan reached the end of the report and found a list of companies interested in buying the flowers from her, and then she saw what they were offering. If her eyes got any wider, they’d fall right out of her head. She needed to sit down. Then she had a phone call to make.

  ❀

  Kaida’s phone buzzed, and she glanced at it with a frown. It was a text from Celicia –– Joan wanted t
o meet with her. She wouldn’t be able to make it today, but maybe after classes tomorrow. Why did Joan want to meet with her? Celicia’s text made it sound urgent. Did this have something to do with the Sunstar flowers? She quickly typed out a response and sent it to Celicia.

  “So,” Sophie said, pulling Kaida from her thoughts, “are we gonna talk about your date last night?”

  The four roommates sat at a corner table in the cafeteria eating dinner. Their class and work schedules were so different that dinner was the only time they were all able to get together, and Kaida had skipped out yesterday to go play in the forest.

  “Date?” Kaida asked, confused. “I didn’t go on a date.”