by Sariah Skye
He chuckled, and nodded. "That’s one thing I’m anal about, I wash them separately on the delicate cycle."
I burst out in uproarious laughter. "What do you wear? Silk g-strings?" I asked, immediately blushing at the incoming thought of him in his skivvies…although I couldn’t make the image of him in a g-string come to mind; my brain forced him into some manly boxers instead. My heart made a wild leap in my chest and I had to shake myself quickly to push the distracting image out of my mind.
He blushed; red like lava. "Haha, no. No g-strings. I just like it when they’re soft and comfortable, I hate re-buying new ones. They’re all stiff and stuff."
"Stiff?" I howled again, immaturely.
"Okay, okay," he said, holding up his hands in surrender. "Yes, okay. I’m a big, big dork." He shook his head, grinning bashfully.
By this point we were at the portal in the woods. I grabbed my own backpack, and Sona’s cat carrier—she was audibly upset at this point, she hated car rides to boot—while Gabriel started to shove his few Earthly belongings in a black rolled duffle bag he produced from the cab of the truck. I set the backpack and Sona in front of him. "Sorry…dragons don’t have great arms for this."
He shrugged. "It’s okay. I’ll manage."
I hesitated, glancing around the empty clearing. I pulled off my oversized sweatshirt and tossed it at him. He cocked an eyebrow. "I get a show?" he asked.
"No!" I insisted. "Just…put that away. And…the rest of the stuff. Once I’m done. Please?"
He nodded, with a smirk on his face.
"Now…turn around. Stand behind the truck or…something. Please. I’ve never done this in front of anyone before," I said nervous, but anxious to finally get the chance to shift and stretch out.
Gabriel reluctantly ducked behind the truck. I started to unbutton my jeans when I saw the top of his head through the window
"No peeking!" I growled.
"Sorry!"
I shook my head with a laugh. I stripped down to nothing and suddenly I was quite aware of the cute guy hunched behind the pickup truck a few feet away from me so I was a little apprehensive.
I closed my eyes and willed the shift. Now to an outsider, it could probably look pretty painful but it wasn’t really. It felt tingly, mostly from toe to head and happened rather fast—fingertips and toes and all the way inward.
When I’d fully shifted, I let out an uncontrollable growl, which was just the voice's way of readjusting to its larger form.
"What the—" Gabriel slowly re-emerged from his hiding spot, and his mouth fell open. "Leorah?"
"Yeah, what were you expecting? " I asked, with my same voice but only slightly lower.
He blinked, as if surprised. "Wow, it still sounds like you."
"You were expecting Morgan Freeman?" I moved my now larger head from side to side. It felt heavy for a second but as I got adjusted and stretched my limbs it felt good.
"Well?" I asked, shrugging my dragon shoulders.
Gabriel stared in awe, taking in my bright pink skin, four legs, long tail and flimsy little iridescent wings. I was about the size of a female horse, slightly taller on all fours. Most people assumed dragons were scaly, like lizards but in actuality it was mostly smooth and only slightly rough; like toughened human skin.
"Your…your eyes," he said, stammering. "They’re still green."
I blinked. "Yeah, I guess," I said with a nervous laugh.
Gabriel just remained there, open-mouthed.
"What?" I asked, feeling exposed, suddenly wishing I could hide behind a tree. Well, I could…but it’d be like an ostrich sticking his head in the sand; pretty pointless.
He slowly fell to the ground, on his knees. He took off his glasses and tossed them to the ground.
"What!?!" I demanded with irritation. "So, now you see the big freaky dragon. Was it everything you imagined?"
Gabriel shook his head. "You’re way more amazing then we ever could have pictured. Those wings they are…exquisite."
I squinted an eye at him and snorted. "These? My My Little Pony wings?" I looked back and opened and closed them slightly.
He nodded. "I never pictured wings would look like that. They’re like…stained glass, kind of. Like artwork."
I snorted. "Well that’s about all they’re good for, they don’t do anything," I said.
"They’re beautiful…I can't imagine they don't serve a purpose…"
I scoffed. "Well, they don’t."
"And you’re just…well not what we pictured, but so, so much better," he said. "We figured you’d be…scary looking and scaly. You’re like…"
"Like what?"
"Magical. Beautiful!" Gabriel said.
I rolled my eyes. "Great…well can you get up? Are you done worshiping me yet or can we get this over with?"
He shook himself. "Yeah, I’m sorry it's just…well until I saw your dragon-form, you were just this amazing, awesome girl who worked at the coffee shop I was becoming rather…enamored with. Now you’re the dragon that my family has been searching for—well, years. It’s real, everything we’ve been working for—it’s real! And for once instead of being a skeptic and cranky about the whole thing, I can see it. And accept it. And…I’m looking forward to the challenge of being a knight. Your knight."
If I wasn’t already pink well, my cheeks would have turned it after that one. For the first time ever, I was thankful for being pink.
"Leo this is like…you meeting the author of Harry Potter or Patrick Stewart or something like that. It’s pretty damn epic," he said.
I considered this. "Yeah, okay…but that would be so much cooler though than me, seriously."
He reached out slowly. "Can I? "
I lowered my head nearer to him, and he slowly reached his hand out and gingerly brushed his fingertips across my nose. Even in dragon-form, his touch was warm, soothing and almost…electric. It sent shivers down my dragon-spine which made Gabriel jump back a little.
"Sorry," I said. "Not used to being touched as a dragon, either."
He gave me a sad smile. "That’s really too bad." He reached out again, this time with more confidence. "Is it like, taboo for someone to touch dragons? Like another dragon even?"
"Not really. Just, my pink is like some kind of deformity or contagious disease. No one touches me.," I explained, thinking back dryly.
"I’m sorry," he said, placing his palm on the side of my face. "Wow! It’s not rough at all! Smooth. Cold like…like water almost." He rubbed my cheek a little, with a goofy smile on his face. He giggled giddily, almost like a young school girl.
"What?" I asked, with a deep chuckle.
"This is just…cool!" he said.
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah…okay can we get going now before I lose my nerve, here?"
Gabriel grinned. "Yeah, I’m sorry. It’s just—you’re a dragon!"
I gave him a stone-faced "D’uh!" look. "Get used to it, knight-boy!"
"I know, I know." He chuckled and turned back to the truck. He grabbed the backpacks and slung them over his shoulders, grabbed the wheeled duffel with one hand and Sona’s carrier with the other.
"Is she scared of you?" he asked.
I knelt down on all fours and looked into her carrier. "Sona, baby?"
She eyed me momentarily, and let out an uninterested mew before turning away to lick her behind. "She seems unaffected."
Gabriel snorted. "I see that. I thought cats didn’t like dragons?"
"Well, we’re animals inasmuch as they are in this form. Besides, she can smell it’s me," I said. "Shall we?" I waited for him to cumbersomely catch up to me before I crossed the clearing.
"So where is this portal?"
I motioned my head towards an unassuming shrub. "Behind here. There really isn’t much to see, it looks like kind of how on a hot day, you see those shimmers on the road in front of you? That’s all it is."
He nodded.
"Well…whatever you do, stick close. Hopefully it’s Maxxus on the othe
r side, he’s good dragon folk. The other guard is a bit of an ass. If we timed this right, Braeden or Grandfather should be waiting on the other side; you’ll need protection. Even with your fiery balls," I said with a snort.
I reached out my front leg to test the energy of the portal. It felt warm and buzzed of electricity, and it got more intense as the moment went on.
"Gabriel! Get back!" I yelled, my voice booming through the clearing. I could hear Sona yelp, and Gabriel tripped backwards on the luggage. I stepped back, putting a little bit of distance in between the portal and I so I could react to whoever was coming out.
"Maxxus?" I asked questionably, as a large, green dragon stepped through the portal.
"Leorah! Thank Goddesses I caught you!" he said. Maxxus’ dragon form was about twice the size of me—most dragons were larger than me, but Maxxus was huge. He was the color of emeralds with the same ocean blue eyes as in his human form. "You can’t come over, it’s too dangerous."
"Dangerous?" I quipped skeptically.
Maxxus scanned our surroundings, his gaze landing on Gabriel and he lowered his head nearer to the ground and bared his teeth, letting out a low, guttural growl.
"This is the nice one?" Gabriel asked uncertainly, stepping backwards a bit, looking extremely intimidated. He set the luggage and Sona down slowly, and started rubbing his palms together, I could feel the energy between his palms start to swell.
"Who’s that?" Maxxus demanded. "You know him?"
"Settle down, everyone. Gabriel’s a friend," I told Maxxus.
Maxxus stared Gabriel down, but Gabriel puffed out his chest and I could hear some low chanting. "But he’s human."
"Not totally," Gabriel said, a plasma ball erupting in his hands.
Maxxus raised a brow—or where his brow would have been had we had them. "Nice parlor trick, human."
"Stop!" I demanded. I shot Gabriel a dirty look that said: put that fireball away. He scowled, and dispersed it in his hands. Then I shot Maxxus a dirty stare. "Gabriel is a friend, and a sorcerer. He’s coming with me over there, you can’t stop us."
"But I have to, you can’t go over there. They’re looking for you," he explained, finally pulling his glare away from Gabriel to give me a small frown.
"They? Who’s they?" I gulped, thinking of the worst.
"The Court. They’re summoning you back over; saying you’re over here illegally," Maxxus explained.
"Illegal? They knew I was heading over here! Hell they practically pushed me over!" I exclaimed, astonished.
Maxxus shook his head. "I know, I know, I don’t understand it myself. All I know is that I have orders to bring you directly to the King if you should come through."
I turned around and looked at Gabriel, alarmed. "Could it be— "
Gabriel shrugged. "I don’t know. Your grandfather said it would be safer so I can’t understand…" he trailed off, looking pensive. "I don’t know."
I let out a little whimper. "Why the Hell do they want me?" I asked Maxxus. "You have no idea?"
"No, I really don’t," he said, his eyes darting back and forth to the portal to me. "Look, Nicodemus is on the other side, but I managed to distract him with something for a few moments when I felt the portal starting to open but he’ll be coming back soon. You better get out of here, he isn’t a fan of yours like I am," he said. He gasped, seeing the portal shimmer. "Go! Now!"
I nodded and stormed off to the trees behind Gabriel’s truck. Gabriel followed suit, more slowly, dragging the luggage and Sona. He placed them in the cab of his truck and jumped in. "How fast can you shift?"
"Just—close your eyes!"
"Leo! This is no time to be modest, you need to hurry!" Maxxus called.
I leaped behind the truck and ducked down as low as I could, willing the shift back to human to come over me.
"What’s going on? Did you see her?" Nicodemus’ booming voice growled in Dragon, emerging through the portal in his human form.
"No. I thought it was becoming active. Turns out it’s just someone camping. He," Maxxus nodded towards Gabriel, who was just climbing into the cab of the truck, "was setting a fire near the portal, and I must have felt that."
Nicodemus didn’t appear convinced. "No one ever comes camping around here."
Even from behind the truck in my human form, I could hear Gabriel swallow nervously. "I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was bothering anyone. I just needed an empty spot for some experiments."
"Experiments?" Nicodemus asked, growling in poor English so Gabriel could understand him.
"Yes," Gabriel reached for the game console behind the seat and pulled it out. "Weather experiments. I’m a storm chaser. I need an empty spot where this stuff would remain undisturbed. After all that crazy weather we had, we decided we needed more monitoring."
I grinned to myself, kneeling down behind the tire and hugging my legs into my chest so that my ass didn’t fall into the dirt. He was an expert liar, apparently.
Hmm…perhaps that wasn’t the best thing, I thought to myself.
Nicodemus snorted. "Well, fine." He didn’t sound entirely convinced but after looking around, he didn’t appear to see anything. "Maxxus make sure you do something to alter his mind so he doesn’t remember this conversation. Knock him out, something. Kill him for all I care. Just make sure he doesn’t remember. You shouldn’t be in your dragon form over here anyways, what were you thinking?"
Maxxus looked sheepish. "Apologies; I just didn’t want her to get away. I’ll take care of it."
"See that you do, or I will," Nicodemus stepped back through the portal not before glaring at Gabriel and snorting. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
"Wow, that was close," Gabriel said.
I started to stand and remembered I was naked in human form. "Umm…some help here?"
Gabriel chuckled and tossed me the sweatshirt he was wearing. I pulled it over my head and stood up. "Thanks, Maxxus."
He nodded. "I better get back before he realizes something is up. Whatever you do, don’t come over here. I don’t know what’s up, but it doesn’t sound good. Okay?"
"Okay. Just…if you see my brother or grandfather— "
"—after my shift I’ll go to them and let them know what’s going on, okay?" Maxxus said. He snorted towards Gabriel’s direction. "You better keep quiet about what you saw here. Don’t go blabbing about us. I don’t know what’s going on here, but if Leo chooses to keep company with you, you must be okay. So…be careful. Got it?"
Gabriel nodded. "Okay."
Maxxus ducked through the portal and disappeared, the portal shimmering and fading as he did.
"What the hell was that?" I asked just as he said, "Oh, this is not good."
No, it wasn’t indeed.
Chapter 11
We entered my apartment again that evening feeling defeated. I set Sona’s carrier down in the entryway as she was meowing and clawing to get out and unlatched the door. She scurried out and down the small hallway into my room where her cat bed was, hissing the entire way.
"Told you she hates this thing," I said, opening up a small coat closet and shoving it in there.
Gabriel dumped the luggage in the middle of the floor and slumped back into the recliner. He scrubbed his palms over his face and let out a frustrated noise.
"Well. This sucks." I said. "I’m going to find some new pants…" I trailed off as I walked to my own bedroom. My jeans had inadvertently gotten tossed into some mud, so I wasn’t able to put them back on (thankfully, my underwear remained untouched!). All I was wearing was Gabriel’s oversized hoodie and my underwear. I spent most of the entire ride home trying to pull the end of the sweatshirt over my knees to prevent him from seeing anything (I was just relieved I had remembered to shave…not that it lasted too long but, better than nothing) too private.
I shut the door and paused behind it, with a heavy sigh. All of a sudden, there was mysterious evil coming at me from all sides. Why on Earth would the Court want
me back? Why now, all of a sudden? I’ve been on Earth now for…almost three years. Something had to happen to alert them. Were they somehow watching me? Did they know I was able to use magic now?
Maybe it wasn’t bad…maybe they just want me to help?
I scoffed at the idea. There was no way that was possible.
But, there had to be some kind of connection between everything. The storms around here; the void last night and me almost dying…Kiarra’s suspicious presence…now court wanting me to come back.
It all started when Gabriel arrived, when we started messing with magic. Did I somehow trigger some alarms on some mystical system somewhere? No one wants the crazy, pink dragon to do magic…
I wondered if this is what Cyril—the last known pink dragon—had to deal with: paranoia. Perhaps that’s what drove him crazy.
I heard a chime from my computer. I guess in all the chaos I forgot to turn it off. I rummaged through my dresser quick for some pants—a pair of black leggings—and pulled them on before sitting down at the computer.
An instant message on Facebook (from someone named Draco Silverface with a profile picture of a pixelated gray dragon) was staring at me, from—
"—Grandfather?" I asked, clicking the box and reading the message.
"Leorah? Are you there? Are you okay? "
"I’m okay. What’s going on? I can’t go back!"
"I know, Leo. Just hang tight, Brae and I are trying to figure it out."
"Hang tight!?! How am I supposed to do that? There’s something evil after me, and now the Court is after me! Could the two be related somehow?"
"I don’t know. Perhaps someone caught wind that one of the Knights caught up with you, and they’re worried you’re going to go nuts like Cyril did or take over the kingdom or something equally as ridiculous."