Chapter 16 #2
“I’m safe. You don’t need to do the whole guarding thing. No one is going to get in here without me knowing about it.”
“Really?” he says, raising an eyebrow and folding his muscly forearms across his chest. “You know that for a fact, do you?”
I groan and rub my face. “No,” I mumble underneath my hand.
“Well, you let me know when you know everything about your magic in this world. Then I will leave you alone.”
I blink.
The hellhound grunts.
Ahh, we are at a stalemate.
Gah, the hard-headed hellhound. Nothing I say will convince him. “Fine. I just think an elite hellhound’s time could be better spent than babysitting me.” He grunts. I huff and spin on my toes. Now stomping my feet, I continue walking. I am sure he needs a break. I know I do.
I open the door to my snazzy room and wander inside.
The whole place is about three times the size of my flat back home.
It has three extra bedrooms. I rub my face and groan for what feels like the millionth time today.
That’s another thing I need to do—cancel my flat’s lease.
Every minute I stay here, it looks less likely I am ever going to go home.
I bet my landlord will be thrilled to see the back of me, what with the Power Ranger mercenaries smashing apart his expensive building ward.
“Daisy?” I say in a cutesy voice. I search the entire apartment and when I have to look a second time, panic bubbles inside of me. She isn’t here. Why isn’t she here? “Daisy Duco? Oh, no, oh my goodness, did the magic take my dragonette?” If this bloody pocket realm hurt my Daisy…
Owen opens a door and I want to shout at him that Daisy couldn’t possibly be in there, behind a closed door. She hasn’t got thumbs. But his rumbling voice stops me. “Tuesday, you need to see this. I think she’s here, and she’s… got friends?”
The friends. I rush to him and take in the world beyond the door. I thought I’d seen everything but this—this is nuts.
“Dragonette utopia,” I mutter in shock.
Did I wish for Daisy to have friends? I think I did this morning at some point when I was leaving. Oh heck. But I also remember her eating a cucumber snack, so she might have done this herself.
The room isn’t a room, but a lava field.
The rocky area has lava pools interspaced with volcanic hot springs.
The eggy odour of sulphur fills the air.
There is a tree in the centre that must be fifty feet tall.
A deep-looking hole within the root of the tree hints at a cave underneath.
When Larry said the magic could bend physics, he wasn’t kidding.
But what has my mouth flapping open is all the dragonettes.
It’s dragonville.
A bright blue dragonette takes a big bite of volcanic rock and noisily crunches it.
“Oh no, what has she eaten? She must have gorged herself silly. Daisy is going to have a tummy ache.” I rub my abdomen in sympathy.
“I’m normally so careful with what I feed her.
” Daisy is only young, and we’ve focused on a special dragonette mix diet, with the perfect number of rocks to help her digestion.
We stand and stare at all the dragonettes running, flying, and playing. My heart breaks a little, to think Daisy has been lonely. It makes me feel like I’ve been selfish. Keeping her all to myself.
Daisy scrambles around the tree and dashes towards me. I drop, ignoring the bite of uneven ground on my knees and can’t help but smile as she charges into my arms. “Are you having fun? I hope there aren’t any boys.”
As I stroke her golden scales, her excited heart flutters underneath my fingers.
Instinctively, I let a sliver of my magic trickle its way through her.
I don’t know what the heck I’m doing, but for my sanity, I need to check that she’s physically okay.
After only a few seconds, my magic dissipates happily.
I sigh with relief. Daisy is perfectly healthy.
Her tummy is fine, she’s just exhausted from playing and overdue a nap.
“They don’t smell real,” Owen says in a low voice. “They smell like Larry.” Oh. I nod. That makes sense. Fake dragonettes are safe dragonettes.
Done with my fussing and using my knee as a springboard, the little gold dragon springs away from me. With her wings flapping, to add an extra oomph to her run, she scampers off towards a hot pool. It will be a few more years until the bones in her wings are strong enough for her to fly.
I stand, wiping dirt and stones off my jogging bottoms.
“Hey.” Owen nudges me. “You okay?” I swallow a few times and twist my hands together. I don’t think I can answer as my emotions are all over the place, so I nod and then shake my head almost at the same time.
I’m not okay.
His heavy arm settles around my shoulders, and he pulls me against his side.
I melt against him. After ten silent minutes of watching the dragonettes play, his big hand cups my chin and his grey eyes find me.
I expect him to say something poignant. “Best pocket dimension ever.” He grins.
His smile involves his eyes, and he practically lights up.
Wow. My heart misses a beat.
“Do you want to go for a walk?” I rasp out. Staying inside is making me anxious. I need to get out of the hotel and get some fresh air. Not that I know if the air is fresh. I know nothing about this strange realm. It’s scary.
Owen grunts a confirmation, and I shuffle along beside him as we head down to the ground floor.
I’m sad. It’s that feeling that you get when your best friend has a group of new pals, and you don’t fit in.
I know it’s daft. Most people would say Daisy is only a dragonette.
But for the few months that I have had her in my life, she’s become important to me. I love her.
Now it appears I’ve been cruel, selfishly keeping her to myself. I rapidly blink so I don’t cry. I’ve never seen her so happy.
It’s a good thing and I shouldn’t be feeling sad. What an ass I am. I should be happy for my little dragon.