There’s Something About Dragons (How I Met My Monster)

Chapter 1

Cari

Fifteen years ago

“ Y ou better get rid of that critter. He’s going to be nothing but trouble.” I can’t see my dad, but I can hear his beer can crack open through the thin walls of our rental house in Apple Grove, Oregon. We move around so much that it doesn’t quite feel like home yet.

I hug Radar close to my chest, and his puppy legs paddle against my sunshine-yellow T-shirt. “He’s not trouble. I’ll take care of him.”

“I’m not paying for dog food,” Dad grumbles as the TV pops on and the sounds of Sunday night football begin to blare. Triumph wells in my chest. He isn’t putting his foot down. “And he can’t come in the house,” he hollers over the broadcast like an afterthought.

Whatever. I barely register his voice as I head outside. I’m keeping the puppy in my room even if I have to sneak him in through the window. At the end of this school year, I’ll graduate, and then Radar and I can move out and go to college together.

My heart gives a thump at the lie. No way I’ll be able to afford college on my own, and Dad sure isn’t paying. But Radar and I will figure it out. Even if I have to work a fast-food job and save up for years, I’m going to college and then to vet school.

I trace the polka-dot markings on the puppy’s back and tickle his floppy ears. I think he might be a dachshund mix. So cute. “Isn’t that right, buddy? We’re going to be a team.”

He gives a yip and wiggles his paws even more furiously, like he’s galloping through the air. Laughing, I set him down in the front yard so he can get his zoomies out. He does a few clumsy doughnuts in the grass before running head-first into the side of a terracotta planter.

It tips over and smashes onto the concrete path, spilling dirt and petunias everywhere.

“Caroline!”

I scoop up Radar and run around the side of the house where our property meets the forested area on the edge of town. I’ve been warned plenty of times to stay out of the woods, both by my dad and by the signs posted every ten feet along our fence.

MONSTER RESERVE – HUMANS KEEP OUT

There’s a reason our rent is so cheap. It isn’t safe to enter the stretch of land in the Cascade foothills where the monsters, restricted to their more humanoid forms inside city limits, are allowed to shift and hunt.

But right now, meeting a monster sounds preferable to facing my father, and there’s nowhere else to hide. Tucking a wriggling Radar under my arm, I squeeze through the barbed-wire fence.

I’ll only go into the woods a little way, just beyond the first layer of trees and shrubs so I’m not visible from the yard. Knowing my dad, he needs time to cool down. I’ll clean up the mess on the front walk while he’s passed out. Replace the planter out of my savings. It’ll be fine.

“ CAROLINE!” His roar is closer now. “You better be gone, girl! You don’t want me to find you or that mutt.”

Crouching down behind a fallen tree, I hold my breath and let Radar chew on my hand so he doesn’t bark, grimacing as his teeth dig into my skin. The screen door eventually bangs, signaling that Dad has given up and gone back to his game, and I can finally breathe again.

“Good boy,” I murmur, just as the puppy chomps his needle teeth into the soft meat between my thumb and forefinger. I let him go on instinct, and the second his feet find the ground, he takes off, heading deeper into the underbrush.

“Radar, no!” I hiss as loudly as I dare. “Come back!”

His tail waves like a white flag in the darkening forest. I do my best to follow him, blackberry vines snagging my ankles and branches slapping my face, but my glimpses of him get smaller and smaller.

It’s easier for him to move through the undergrowth because he’s so little, and somehow, despite the fact that his cloudy eyes can’t see a thing, he’s avoiding all the trees and other obstacles that seem to trip me every five feet.

And then he disappears into the settling dusk.

No little tail wagging. No joyful yips and yaps. No crunchy leaves under tiny paws. I’m alone in the woods.

The birds have stopped singing, too.

I should go back. That’s the smart thing to do. But I can’t leave a blind puppy out here at night. He could fall in a hole and get stuck…or worse, run into something with sharper teeth than he has.

I can’t think about that.

“Radar!” I call, louder this time. He probably doesn’t know his name yet. It hasn’t been twenty-four hours since I dragged him out from underneath the porch. “Here, boy! Come on out!”

I wish I knew which way he’s gone. I feel as lost as he is, and to be honest, even with 20/20 vision I can’t see much now that it’s getting darker. That doesn’t stop me from pushing further into the forest, calling for him.

My calls might reach a monster first, but they speak the same language I do. If one shows up, I’ll just explain that I lost my dog. Maybe they’ll even help me look for him.

There’s a wolfgirl in my AP Calc class, and she’s nice. She has to use a special grip to hold her pencil, but everything else about her is basically just like a human teenager. She plays softball and worries about finals and wears a hoodie with our school mascot, the Fighting Fox, on the back, the pointed ears on the hood fitting perfectly over her wolfy ones.

The thought that I’ve never seen her fully shifted nibbles at the back of my mind. Does she have the same personality in full monster form? Or is she something different… something deadlier?

Goosebumps raise on my arms, but I scrub them away and keep walking. It’s going to be fine.

Up ahead, I hear the murmur of voices and then…a high, delighted bark! That has to be Radar. Someone found him…or he found someone. Either way, I’m so relieved, tears well in my eyes.

“He’s pretty cute,” one voice rumbles. I can hear a smile in the deep, friendly tone.

The other one snorts. “Domesticated. Probably tastes like chicken.”

I break into a jog. “Hey! Please don’t eat him. That’s my dog!” I call.

The voices abruptly cut off, replaced by footsteps and grunts and rustling and a muffled curse that’s very nearby.

“I’m serious. Give me my dog.” Where did they go? I stop, heart pounding, to listen. The sounds are coming from behind a large boulder to my left. “He’s just a puppy. Please, don’t hurt him.”

“I wouldn’t.” The deep, rumbly voice sounds irritated and…a little embarrassed? “Gabe was joking. We don’t eat dogs. I just…need a minute. Then I’ll bring the little guy to you.”

“Okay.” My heart’s racing, but what can I do? I wait.

Long minutes later, a huge, shadowy figure with glowing yellow eyes and red skin steps from behind the boulder. He must be seven feet tall. Horns sprout from his head and a thick tail with a pointed tip snaps behind him. It’s a dragon . And this is his less -scary form.

Instinctively, I take a step back and trip over something. I would have landed ungracefully on my ass, but someone catches my arm, stopping my fall. The dragon looms over me, Radar cradled in one arm.

“Sorry,” he says, like he’s the one who pushed me down. “I’m still slow at shifting. Took me a sec to change form and get dressed while I was holding onto the dog.” He motions to his outfit. He’s wearing a very human jeans and a T-shirt that must have been hard to put on with one hand. In the dim light, I can barely make out the logo. It’s an axe, the mascot from another high school, South Lincoln. The all-monster school.

Something in me settles. He’s a student, just like me. He extends his free arm, offering to help me up.

I take his clawed, scaly hand. It completely dwarfs mine. His skin is much warmer, too, almost hot. He pulls me upright, his bicep stretching his sleeve with the effort. He squeezes my fingers slightly before he drops them, like he’s reassuring me everything’s going to be fine. For some reason, I believe it.

I clear the catch in my throat. “Thanks for finding him. Radar ran off like a rocket, and I couldn’t keep up.”

“Radar, huh?” he asks, looking down at my puppy, who’s draped over his muscular forearm with his tongue hanging out. Is mine hanging out, too? Feels like it. Forearms are my weakness.

I nod, and he passes the dog to me. Exhausted from his adventures, Radar immediately snuggles into the crook of my elbow. “I call him that because he can’t see. He has to navigate using his other senses. So…Radar.”

“Cute name. I’m Zed, by the way.”

“Caroline. Well, Cari,” I correct, stroking Radar’s soft fur. It feels so good to have him back in my arms, I can’t stay mad at him. “I live on the edge of the woods. We moved in last month.”

Something comes over Zed’s face, but it’s hard to read exactly because even in his humanoid form, his features are so inhuman. “Oh. You’re that Caroline.”

My heart sinks. He must have heard my dad yelling at me before. I paste on a big, brave smile. “Guess I’m famous around here.”

“Just to me and Gabe because we hunt in this quadrant so often. He’s hiding because he’s shy meeting new people. Sasquatch thing,” Zed explains awkwardly.

“Hi Gabe,” I say to the seemingly empty woods. “Nice to ‘meet’ you, too.”

Zed grins when I use one of the puppy’s paws to wave into the trees, but his smile quickly slips away. “We’ve been worried about you. Probably sounds strange since we haven’t met, but more than once I’ve thought about tracking you down. Saying something. Is that your husband?”

I laugh. “I’m only eighteen. Not married. You probably heard my dad. He’s got a little bit of a temper.”

Zed growls softly. “He shouldn’t treat you like that.”

I shake my head and hug Radar to my chest. Dad blows up, but he’s never hit me or anything. “I’m fine.”

“Let me walk you home, at least.” He raises one brow, his half-smile exposing a row of pointed teeth that glint in the dusk. They’d be intimidating except one of his fangs is slightly crooked, giving him an endearing snaggletooth. His pupils flicker almost like they have flames burning inside them. Maybe they do, now that I think about it.

“Can you breathe fire?” I blurt out as we head back toward my yard. I hope it’s not too personal of a question.

He chuckles under his breath. “Yeah, but I can’t show you.”

“Why not?”

“Fire danger.” He scuffs some of the dry pine needles and leaves that litter the forest floor. “Not allowed when it’s this high.”

So they can’t breathe fire when they want. Can’t shift around humans. Can’t hunt except in designated areas. I don’t like that he can’t be himself and do what comes naturally to him. “You have a lot of rules to follow.”

Another charming, crooked grin. “Safety first!”

I frown at his flippant response. “But the rules are for our safety, not yours. That’s not very fair. It’s more like a punishment when you haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Better than the alternative, isn’t it?” he says lightly, holding a branch to one side for me. “We monsters can’t go around setting the world on fire.”

“You wouldn’t.” Funny thing is, it feels like he already has. My palm’s still warm from when he held my hand. Tingles zip through me, making my heart pound and my cheeks heat up. He’s not like anyone I’ve ever met.

We reach the fence, and he pulls apart the wire for me to step through. It’s truly dark now, the only light coming from the rising moon, the windows of the house behind me, and Zed’s mesmerizing, flame-lit eyes.

I pause on the other side of the fence, sharp wire cutting between us. I don’t want to go inside yet. I want to make sure I see him again. “When it rains, will you show me?”

“Yeah,” he says roughly. “Any time you want.”