It let me pull myself from under its body, waiting until I’d moved myself away entirely before it stood, stretched, and yawned. Then it stood before me as though waiting to see what I might do next. Or maybe it was just waiting for another energy bar. I shook my head at it. “Didn’t you have enough of those last night?”
The dragon tilted its head slightly at my question.
Shaking my head, I turned away.
“Enough of what?”
The small voice sent a shiver up my spine. I turned back around quickly, my eyes meeting the dragon’s. “Did you just speak?”
It nodded. “Of course.”
“But you didn’t talk last night.”
“You didn’t ask me any questions.”
Was I really having a conversation with a snarky dragon barely taller than my knee? Impossible.
“My name is Calypso. Since you don’t have manners enough to introduce yourself. And your name is?”
I blinked. “Flora.”
“You don’t smell like Fae, but you make fire, so you must be Doitean?”
I shook my head. “As far as I know, I’m human.”
The dragon tilted its head again. “Human? Is that why you smell funny?”
I laughed. Then shook my head and looked back up toward the rock face of the cliff I needed to climb. “Any chance you know if the siren is still up there, or if this is even the best way to get to the top of the mountain?”
The dragon hissed. “Lotus lives at the top of the mountain, yes. I saw her fly there yesterday. She smelled like blood.”
I turned around and faced her. “I injured her. Her name is Lotus?”
“Yes, she sings the song that makes males forget their troubles and fall into a deep sleep.”
“Yes!” I jumped, pointing at the dragon. “That’s what she did!”
The dragon shrunk back, its wide eyes regarding me as though I was crazy.
“I’m sorry. It’s just so reassuring to know I’m not crazy.”
The dragon settled down and sat once more. “Quite all right. There is a better way to get up to the top instead of climbing.”
I pumped my fist, wanting to yell again but refrained… barely.
“You could fly.”
My heart sunk. I shook my head. “I can’t fly.”
The dragon tilted its head again and regarded me before saying. “I guess you don’t have any wings, hmmm? And you look as though you weigh a bit more than me. I can only carry my own weight up.”
I nodded. The dog-sized dragon only appeared to be about sixty or seventy pounds.
“Then I guess you’re stuck going through the cave. But it’s awfully dangerous.”
I frowned. It seemed I had no choice but to face one danger or the other, regardless of the way I went. “Show me the cave.”
Calypso led me to the cave not very far from where I’d camped for the night. But it was hidden by the brush and I had to get on my hands and knees to crawl through the entrance. It opened up to a cavernous area with light from a narrow hole at the top of the cave which acted like a chimney to let out the smoke from the smoldering fire pit at the center.
I walked close to the pit, and felt the coals. “They are still a bit warm. Someone was here, but left recently.”
Calypso sniffed the smoke from the smoldering ash. “Polyphemus is likely out tending his sheep.”
I frowned. “Is that the cyclops that Odysseus blinded?”
The dragon bounded toward a set of stone steps by the wall. “I don’t know what you mean, but yes, Polyphemus is blind.”
My heart raced as I followed Calypso up the steps that spiraled around the wall of the cave toward the chimney type whole at the center. This was all too real and too strange. From what I remembered from mythology, the cyclops was a meat-eater… or rather, man-eater. A shiver raced up my spine. When I was told I had to complete a quest, I had no idea I’d be in for an adventure straight out of the ancient history books. The dragon led me up.
When we were three-fourths up the steps, Calypso stopped, tilted her head, as though listening. I was thankful for the break, as my thighs and calves were killing me. Then I heard it too, a soft sigh followed by a whimper.
Calypso came closer to me and whispered, “Lotus is just outside the entrance of the cave. In order to break her spell, you need to gather as many of her feathers as you have friends asleep. Five, you said?”
I nodded.
“You’ll use the feathers to wake your friends by running it under their noses. The magic dissipates after the feathers are removed from her body. If you take the ones around the nest, they may work, or may not, depending on their age. Your best bet is to pluck feathers directly from the source.”
I nodded. It would require sneaking up on the siren and tugging feathers directly from her body. I could do this, after all, I was a pickpocket. I tiptoed up the last few steps, nodding again toward Calypso, who remained behind.
The opening above the cave still showed the pale blue, cloudless sky I’d seen when we were outside. Morning light showed the sun had not yet reached half its zenith. I peeked out of the cave and found the monster’s back turned toward me. The dagger I’d thrown at her sat in a pool of blood near the monster’s feet. The siren had her head tucked under a wing, like birds do when they sleep. I slowly snuck up to the creature, feeling a bit of pity for her. Soiled feathers covered the blood-caked wound on her chest. What I thought was a tunic before were actually white feathers on its body. I couldn’t tell if the wound was fatal or if the monster would be all right with sleep and time to heal. Arm’s length from the creature, I reached out
