barrier and secretly enter the human realm had damaged those places so badly, Kera didn’t even know how to begin to fix them. Left unguarded, those spots were perfect entry points for any creature to use. It’s how the monster came through, and fearing more would follow, she and Blaze had patrolled the area for most of the morning.
“Well, he exists and he needs looking after.”
“Are you suggesting you want me…oh crap, you are.” Leo’s dark skin turned a sickly tan. “Is he… dangerous?”
Her fingers caressed his knobby head and scratched under one of his loose scales until he purred. “I’d call him mischievous. He has a tiny temper, but if you keep him fed and play with him, he’s perfect.”
“How do you play with a dragon?”
“Hide-and-seek mostly.”
“Yeah,” Leo’s voice dipped. “You would, wouldn’t you?”
He was taking it all fairly well. Then again, she found it difficult to see past his comically stunned expression. “He needs more to eat.”
Leo took a step back, his face mirroring his wariness. “I’m not dinner, am I? Look at me.” He held out his arms and turned in a circle. “Scrawny. Chewing on me would be like chewing on the bones of last week’s dried-up supper.”
Kera ran her hand down Blaze’s bony back and smiled. “Bones are his favorite chew toys. The fresher the better.”
She tried not to smile, but Leo’s horrified expression had her giggling.
“Not funny,” he said, waggling a long finger in her face.
She finally caught her breath. “He’s actually quite affectionate. Tame…mostly. He’s growing fast and I can’t keep up with his appetite. I need to feed him properly.”
Though Leo had relaxed, he still didn’t move any closer to Blaze and leaned against a nearby tree thoughtfully. “Tanner butchered the cows your people fried when they came over to play the other day.”
That Leo could equate the destruction of what Navar and his minions had done to the human realm as play took Kera aback. She still had a hard time understanding many of his odd phrases, but she understood this one. Navar loved killing. To him it had been fun.
“I’m thinking, since Tanner can’t sell the meat—big shock none of his vendors trust him—I could get it cheap, but it’s still going to cost.” He pulled out a crisp twenty and handed it over. “This is all I have.”
“I can try to replicate it—”
“And bring down the FBI on our heads? No, thank you! They go ballistic about that kind of stuff here. I don’t want to end up rotting in some secret jail cell for the rest of my life.” He snatched the money back. “Too bad you’re not a jewelry junkie. We could sell the gold.”
“Gold?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty easy to off-load at this pawn shop I know. The guy doesn’t ask too many questions when something shiny is placed on the table.”
She rubbed her thumb across her bottom lip, concerned with the consequences of what had popped into her mind. “Come,” she told Leo, and tugged on the leash for Blaze to follow.
Leo’s long-legged walk quickly brought him beside her. “Where are we going?”
She needed to concentrate and held her finger to her lips for silence. Sending out her magic, she probed the earth for gold flakes, and found traces of gold in a stream up ahead. As if they were magnetized, the flakes pressed together, slowly building into a bigger nugget.
When they came to the stream, she waded into the middle and plunged her hands into the cold water. Minutes ticked by, but she stood still. Waiting.
The click and clatter of rock hitting rock grew louder and then suddenly stopped. When she drew her hands out of the water, she held a yellow, bony rock. She retreated from the water, using magic to instantly dry her clothes as she went. It was hard for her not to stop and marvel at the accomplishment. The more she flexed her magic, the stronger she seemed to become. The feeling was addicting. Her confidence soared like never before. Kera stopped in front of Leo and presented the rock. “Here.”
The rock glittered in her hand, but Leo didn’t move to take it. “Gold jewelry, yes. A huge there’s-gold-in- them-there-hills rock? Are you out of your mind? I can’t sell that in town. People would ask questions. Overrun this place.” He stepped closer, the flesh around his lips pinched. “People have been known to kill for half of what you’re holding.”
Her confidence wavered. There was so much she still didn’t understand about the human realm, but she wouldn’t give up because of one slight miscalculation. She knew all sorts of tricks, theoretically, and had done a few using the magic she’d borrowed from her father, but that magic was never consistent. Until now, she’d never had her own powers. It would be interesting to see how far they extended.
She closed her fist and when she opened it, a bright gold necklace sat in a shining heap within the middle of her palm. The world tipped for a brief second, giving her a woozy feeling, but it didn’t stop the grin that split her lips. It had worked better than she thought. She dangled the necklace over his hand, and let it drop. “Better?”
He examined the necklace. “Yeah.” Excitement glimmered from his eyes. “Hey, do you do that all the time, ’cause chicks dig stuff like this, and it’d be totally sweet if you could—”
“No.” He didn’t understand the cost of magic. It drained the body, and if done too much, could kill, and she was still very much a novice.
“Oh.” Disappointment clouded his face. “It was just a thought.”
“Using magic for selfish reasons is frowned upon in my world, but you and I have no choice. We can’t let Blaze suffer for lack of funds.”
“Right, ’cause there’s no personal agenda when it comes to saving your metabolically challenged dragon here.” Leo whipped his hair out of his eyes. “Actually, is it wise to do anything? They were hunted into extinction for a reason.”
Kera gasped.
“You’re right, that was bad of me. Sorry, bro…I mean, Kera. Forget I said anything. It’ll take me, I don’t know, a couple of hours to pawn the necklace and get the meat. I’ll meet you back here,” he said in his low, smooth voice, then paused. “You will be here, right? I’m not into death by dragon meltdown.”
“Blaze knows you now. He’ll behave, especially if you have food for him.”
Leo eyed the dragon like a farmer does an unruly pig. “Does he need to sniff me or something?”
People from the human realm were so strange. “Not unless you want him to.”
“I’m totally into the no-dragon-sniffing option.” Leo shook his head and laughed. “Seriously, I never imagined myself saying that. Ever.” He pocketed the necklace and backed away. “See you soon.”
He left, his long legs eating up the ground.
Kera sat on a boulder. Blaze heated his scales and rubbed them into a dull shine against the nearby tree trunks. He was a problem she hadn’t expected, and one she couldn’t ignore. If he continued to grow bigger as the days progressed, soon she wouldn’t be able to hide him. She had to get him back to her world, but try as she might, he had refused to cross through the barrier. He’d found someone he trusted and wasn’t about to leave.
Blaze gave the leash a sharp tug, drawing Kera’s attention to him. “Not now, Blaze.”
Smoke swirled from the dragon’s flared nostrils. His ears radared behind his nubby horns. He held himself stiff. Alert. Kera sat straighter and peered into the forest. “What’s wrong?”
Blaze lifted his nose in the air and snuffed smoke as black as pitch. He tugged and tugged, yanking Kera off her perch until she had no choice but to follow. They didn’t go far when she heard the
Her skin flashed cold. Sweat dotted her temples. It couldn’t be.
She didn’t hesitate. She unleashed Blaze and drew her
The clicks and grunts grew louder, but with it the sound of prey running for its life. Twigs snapped. Thick undergrowth rustled. The heavy breathing of panic grew louder, and an instant later, a man plunged toward Kera through the trees, his eyes wide with fear.
“Go!” he shouted, waving his arm. He suddenly winced. His chest thrust forward and he staggered, then fell
