“I could use coffee,” she rubbed her eyes.
“You want to get up and we’ll go have breakfast?”
“What, you get up once and now you’re the early morning person?” She grumped at me. “Are you done in there, princess?”
“Maybe I’m turning over a new leaf,” I teased, snapping my wet towel in her direction.
“Keep your new leaves away from me,” she got up and went past me, shutting the door hard.
I smiled. She was right—I wasn’t a morning person. But I felt like it this morning, and if this is how people who liked getting up felt, I could see why.
I prowled around the room while Margrite got ready. I could hear everything. The couple next door were—well, it was better not to go into what they were doing. Apparently the waitress had become a non-issue.
There was someone smoking outside below us.
I could hear the humming of the housekeeping staff a couple of rooms down (I had to peek out the door to see where she was.)
My hearing, my sense of smell—both were heightened. It felt like my skin was crackling with energy. I felt alive and ready for anything.
Was this because I’d shifted on my own last night? I had to wonder.
Maybe Grandpa would be in the nice-guy mode, and I’d be able to get some answers from him.
Finally, Margrite came out of the bathroom looking a little more cheerful. Not much, but a little.
“I need to eat and get some coffee before I murder something,” she muttered.
“Okay,” I said, trying to keep the cheerful tone out of my voice.
We headed out, not speaking, and walked down the street to the little diner on the corner.
“I’d kill for an IHOP,” Margrite said. “I want some ridiculous pancakes with all the fruit and whip cream and stuff.”
“I bet they can add something to your pancakes,” I said.
“Shut up,” she walked in ahead of me, and went to a booth.
A waitress, pretty and almost as cheerful as I felt, came and put menus in front of us. She had a big smile for me.
Maybe this was the waitress who caused the argument between our neighbors at the motel? I could see why if so.
Margrite was scowling at her.
The girl’s smile faltered when she saw Margrite’s expression.
“Were you working last night?” I asked before I could stop myself.
She turned to me, and the wide smile came back. “I was! I closed, and I’m filling in for someone who’s sick,” she added.
“Probably sugar overdose,” Margrite muttered.
“I’m sorry?” The waitress whipped her head back toward Margrite.
A dangerous proposition, to be sure.
“Coffee, please,” Margrite said.
“Make it two,” I added.
I could tell Margrite made the girl nervous. She nodded and hurried away.
“How the hell are people so chipper this early?” Margrite met my eyes and rolled hers.
“I feel pretty good,” I said.
“Shut up. You’ve got… reptile issues.”
“What, that doesn’t count?”
“Nope.”
“Be nice. You could be a waitress.”
“No, I couldn’t,” she said immediately.
“Then be glad it’s her and not you and she can smile at your grumpy ass.”
Margrite looked at me for a moment. “You want to ask her out?”
I burst out laughing. “Why do you have to go there? No, I’m in a good mood, and I’m glad neither of us has to wait on grumpy asses like you.”
She glared and then smiled. “You and me both. I would be in jail.”
“Maybe not. You could have unlimited coffee,” I added.
“That would be the only good thing.”
We were both laughing when the waitress returned. “Here you go,” she set down cups with steam rising off them. “What are you having for breakfast?”
“You guys put fruit and whip cream on pancakes?” I asked.
She thought for a moment and then nodded. “I know the cook has some fruit in the back. What do you want?”
“Whatever you have. And top it with whip cream.”
“And for you?” She turned to Margrite.
“That was for me,” Margrite smiled, but it wasn’t her nice smile. I could tell the waitress grated on her nerves. That was another point for her being the topic of discussion with the neighbors. Even though most people got on Margrite’s nerves.
“I’ll have the American,” I said before Margrite could skewer her. I knew the signs.
The girl made a note on her pad and hurried away.
“Stop. You probably don’t mind scaring kids, either.”
“What, because you like them?” Margrite was stirring her coffee and not looking at me. “What’s up with you this morning?”
“I feel… different,” I leaned forward. “Ever since I got up this morning.”
“I thought dragons were supposed to be moody, and sarcastic, and all-around grumpy bastards.”
“Is that what you’d prefer?” I asked.
“Right now, yes,” she said.
I smiled.
“But what do you mean, you’re different?”
In a whisper, I told her the things I’d noticed this morning. I also shared my suspicions about our waitress.
That brought a genuine smile from Margrite. “She can’t help it, annoying as I find it.”
“That was my thought, too.”
“So you can hear everything?” She changed the topic back to the important one.
“I can.”
“What are they saying in the kitchen?”
I pretended to listen although I hadn’t really been focused on it before. It was like background noise.
“The cook is asking our waitress if she wants him to spit in your pancake mix.”
“What?” She slapped her hands on the table and shot out of her seat.
I grabbed her arm. “I’m kidding! Kidding! Sit down, crazy!”
She glared at me. “Jerk. Don’t do that.”
“I’m sorry.”
She didn’t change her expression.
“No, seriously, I mean it! Sit down, and I’ll listen for real.”
Slowly, Margrite sank back down. I took a breath, and let my focus move outward,
The waitress was talking to the cook, but she was talking about what fruit he could use.
The surrounding people were talking quietly, just as we were. Nothing major, just conversations about whatever.
Nothing that would create a danger for us, which was my chief concern.
I shook my head as I met Margrite’s eyes.
“I don’t hear anything of importance. Just people talking about whatever. The waitress is talking to the cook, but she seems more worried that you won’t like the fruit.”
Margrite raised a brow.
“I mean it,” I said.
She sighed. “You haven’t noticed this before?”
“Nope. I thought something was wrong when I woke up this morning. Particularly after…” my voice trailed off.
The waitress had returned with breakfast.
She set a stack of pancakes that had peaches and strawberries and whip cream in front of Margrite, and then my eggs and bacon American plate in front of me.
Margrite smiled. I could tell she was making an effort, but it scared the waitress.
“Um… do you need anything else?”
“More coffee, please,” Margrite said sweetly.
The waitress ran.
“You’re just making it so I have to leave her a big-ass tip,” I hissed over the food. “Stop it.”
“You’re in a great mood with the world,” Margrite said as she cut into her pancakes. “Don’t be cheap.”
I rolled my eyes. The waitress came back and filled our cups and hurried away again. I hid a grin behind my food. If I didn’t know her, Margrite being friendly could be intimidat
ing.
We ate in silence. I was still ridiculously cheerful, in spite of all the crap I had to sort through. And the fact that I was the best eavesdropper on the planet at the moment. Eavesdropping had its uses.
I stopped with the fork halfway to my mouth.
“What?” Margrite noticed.
“What if we—I—could get close to Caleb, or some of the punks who work for him? I could eavesdrop, see if it’s them who are after us and plan on burning the building.”
“They can’t be that stupid to talk about it all out in the open like that,” she said. “Besides, why do we care at this point? Aren’t we leaving?
I didn’t say anything, only raised an eyebrow.
“No.”
“Yes,” I said. “They really are that stupid. How do you think Luke found out about where the box went? It wasn’t through keen detective work. One of the punks blabbed. And I’d like to think we’re leaving, but things keep stopping us. We might need the building.”
“How has that guy not gotten killed?” She ignored my comments about our former home.
“I think his boss protects him,” I said.
Maybe I could get a read on his boss, too. See who it was. The thought of all the things I could discover hit me with the force of a sledgehammer. I sat back in the booth.
“Don’t tell anyone about my hearing,” I said slowly.
“Whatever. Who would I tell?”
“Nala,” I said. I didn’t think Margrite had friends closer than me, but she was closer to Nala than I realized, and she’d told me she kept secrets from me—so I felt like I needed to say it.
“I talk with her, but I don’t tell her a lot.”
I gave her the stink eye. I’d seen the two of them together. They were close.
“Okay, I tell her more than I tell most people, but she’d never hurt me.”
“That does nothing for me, Margrite. If people knew… I could get killed.”
“You could get killed now,” she pointed out. “But I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
“Thank you.” Why did this have to be so hard? “Until I—we—know more about this, don’t say anything!”
She held up her hands. “Relax. I won’t say anything. I never do. Why are you so worried about this now?”
“I didn’t know you talked at length to Nala.”
She looked at me while chewing on her pancakes and then swallowed. Laughter bubbled out of her. “At length? What is going on with you? I talk to her, a little.”
“And you keep secrets,” I added.
“Now we’re getting to it. You’re upset that you think I don’t tell you everything. Do you tell me everything, Aodan?”
I opened my mouth and then closed it. “Pretty much.”
Margrite leaned forward, pointing her fork at me. “Pretty much? That’s not everything. So there are some things you keep to yourself?”
Reluctantly I nodded.
“So do I. It doesn’t mean anything. It means that you and I are the same as we ever were, but now we both know that we don’t say every single thing that comes into our heads. That’s it. You need to get over this, A.”
She went back to her food, studiously ignoring me.
Damn it. She was right. I didn’t want to admit it. Maybe because my life had exploded into something I had no control over was why this was getting to me.
I decided that I didn’t want to keep on with this topic and finished my breakfast. I wouldn’t get anywhere anyway.
The waitress dropped the check at the speed of light, and I left her a big tip. She’d earned it. We went back to the motel, and I went through with Margrite what I wanted her to do.
I wasn’t going to let her expose herself to Grandpa, or anyone else. While we were a team, this was something I needed to keep focused on me.
“Can you shift again?” Margrite asked.
“In here?” I looked around. “I don’t think there’s enough room.”
She got up and moved the beds, pushing them away from each other so there was a fair amount of space between them.
“I still don’t think that’s enough,” I said.
“Try.”
“If something breaks, you’re the one who has to come up with an excuse to the manager,” I warned.
“Yeah, yeah. Try it. You need to be able to do this on your own more than once.”
I wanted to argue, but she was right. I didn’t trust Gramps, and I didn’t want to be at the mercy of anyone else. I also wasn’t thrilled about having to get naked.
“Turn around for a minute,” I said.
Margrite rolled her eyes, but obligingly turned.
I shucked my clothes fast. I didn’t care for this part of the operation at all.
Closing my eyes, I pictured myself as the dragon. Nothing happened at first. Then, I could feel the tingling, the awareness, that I’d felt before.
When I opened my eyes, I was the dragon.
Margrite was in the corner of the room.
“It’s all right,” I said in dragon-voice.
“Wow. It’s hard to believe it’s you,” she said.
“You can come closer,” I was annoyed. “I’m not going to eat you.”
Her eyebrow went up, but the scared look left her face, which is what I wanted to see. “You sure? You look like you could.”
“I’m still stuffed from breakfast.”
I took a breath and tried not to gag. Everything smelled so much stronger. I could smell the food on my clothes from the diner.
“You okay?” Margrite peered at me.
“The sense of smell is so much stronger that it takes some getting used to.”
She didn’t respond and then understanding flooded her face. “Oh, shit. Does everything smell? Do I smell?”
“Everything smells. You don’t stand out,” I said.
Her face relaxed. She did stand out for me, but it wasn’t a bad thing. So I wasn’t going to tell her that. But I could pick out her scent. It was one of shampoo and soap and right now, maple syrup.
She smelled like my friend. Since I wasn’t being completely honest, I guessed I couldn’t get on her anymore for the “I don’t tell you everything” comment.
“How are you feeling?”
“It takes a minute to get used to this,” I said.
“Yeah, and that voice.”
“I know. It’s weird to hear it.”
“Can you change back?”
“This second? I don’t know.”
“You need to try. What if you need to be Aodan—human,” she corrected herself, “Quickly?”
“One step at a time, for Pete’s sake,” I said.
“Try,” she insisted.
I closed my eyes, and focused on becoming me, the me I was used to, again. It felt weird, like a coat that doesn’t fit right.
The change wasn’t finished when I opened my eyes. Like magic—I guess it was magic?—my hands were forming from the large claws. It was like watching a movie. It didn’t feel like this was happening to me.
Margrite crossed her arms. “You did it.”
“Let me put my clothes on,” I said.
She turned away, and I hurriedly got into pants. “Okay, I’m halfway decent,” I said.
Margrite laughed and said, “Only halfway. How do you feel?”
“Completely off balance. I don’t like changing like that.”
A smile remained on her face. “It’s hard to believe we’re having this conversation, but we are. You’ll get used to it.”
“That’s easy for you to sit there and spout.” I pulled on a tee shirt. “You know, since you’re not the one who is dealing with it.”
“No, I just get to haul your dead weight around when you fall over.”
“Not the same thing.”
“Thank god you haven’t been a dragon when that happened. I would have had to leave you.”
“Well thank god for small favors,” I snapped.
“Simmer down. It’s going to be fine.
You know it. I know it. Whatever is going to happen will happen. You’re just stressing over the loss of control. No Aodan boss in this.”
I glared. “Whatever.”
“Go take a nap, grumpy. I’ll get you up in time for us to get there and scope shit out.”
How did my good mood just disappear like that? I curled up in bed, my good mood gone like a penny in my ‘hood. Maybe this was my bitching about my loss of control. Of all the things that could very wrong.
There didn’t seem to be much that I had control over lately. Which sucked.
I knew that Margrite would crawl all over the warehouse. It was part of why she was the planner. I closed my eyes and tried to allow myself to relax.
When I woke, my eyes flew open, and I could feel my heart beat in my chest. What had I missed? Something was going on.
The room was darker. I sat up carefully, listening.
“You’re finally awake.”
Margrite was sitting in the ratty chair by the window.
“What time is it?”
“We’re not late. It’s after four.”
I’d slept for nearly six hours.
“What did you find?” I asked, trying to reorient myself. But reorient to what? The feeling that I’d woken and missed something wouldn’t leave.
“Although I don’t have your sense of smell, it stinks in that place. You must hate it. But it’s a good spot. There’s no one around, no neighbors. So if something goes to hell, or your weirdo family gets feisty, puts on a magic show, I think we’re fine.”
“I don’t think there’s going to be a magic show,” I said, swinging my legs out of bed.
I could hear her shrug, the rasp of material loud in my ears. “No one would have expected you to have a tail either, so let’s try to keep an open mind, okay?”
“What are you going to do? And do you have a bag I can use?”
“I found a place that I can hide out and still see everything. If something goes wrong, I’m going to run to you and try to drag you out of there. It may not be a pretty sight if you’re in dragon form, but,” she shrugged again. “We’ll do what we need to. What do you need the bag for?”
“Not very inspiring. I need the bag to store my clothes.”
“When is it ever? It’s a stacked deck most of the time, A. You know that. A tail doesn’t change things.”
“Why are you obsessed with the tail?” I asked, my temper close to spilling over.
Dragon Lost (Dragon Thief Book 1) Page 12