The journey back to Maple Grove from the city was always just that little bit too short for Fliss' liking. Just when Lucas began to relax into having her cuddled that close, he'd begin his descent, and no amount of bribery could make him stay in the air and relaxed after that moment. Of course, she didn't really want to prolong it today. She had visions of the house on fire, and her mother and baby sister trapped inside, all because she'd somehow acquired a dragon egg a few weeks ago.
Thankfully, there were no billowing flames issuing from Willow Manor, or even wisps of smoke. Everything seemed to be exactly as it usually was, even down to the sound of the vacuum as they landed. Liv was vacuuming the living room, Bess balanced on her hip, taking advantage of the opportunity to clean without having at least two small people and a dog following her around and messing everything up again.
"Hey, Mom!" Fliss called to her as they entered the house, undoing her coat as she made for the stairs to take them two at a time. "Be in my room!"
Liv blinked, looking up a little too late to see her eldest whisking out of sight. Bess cooed, waving her pudgy hands toward the hallway. "Oh ....all right, love!"
Lucas followed at her heels, with a quick wave to Liv as he passed by. "Hello, Mrs. Storm!" he called, though he had been told multiple times to call her by her first name. It was something of a relief to find nothing on fire, but then he wasn't sure what baby dragons were capable of, exactly - if, indeed, the egg had hatched, as they suspected.
"Hello, Luc!" was called after him as he followed Fliss to her bedroom.
The teenagers stopped outside the door, with Fliss hesitating a moment before inching it open to peer inside. Nothing looked out of place, although yet again it seemed as though her mother had been in here and tidying again. "Huh." It was a succinct, if slightly disappointed, comment on the state of the room as she entered it, taking off her coat to throw it over the nearest chair. "I spy with my little eye ....no dragon." Something squelched beneath her foot as she came up beside her bed. She looked down, frowning to see water seeping from the saturated carpet around the tread of her boot. "What the ..."
Lucas pushed into the room behind her, once again finding everything as neat as a pin. As tidy as Fliss was, no one was that tidy. Someone had obviously been cleaning in there. And then, there was the question of the egg, hidden somewhere in plain sight, no doubt. "What's the matter?" he asked from the doorway, hearing the squish.
She was still frowning at the floor. "There's ....there's water soaked into my carpet," she told him, more curious than worried. "At least I hope it's water. Bella knows not to pee in the house." She glanced at him uncertainly. "I can clean it up, anyway," she shrugged, moving to kneel in the soggy carpet and reach under the bed for the egg. What her hand encountered, however, was not the smooth rounded surface she was expecting. "Uh ....Luc?" She turned her head to look up at her boyfriend worriedly. "Could you grab a flashlight and take a look under here for me" There's something wrapped around my hand."
"What?" Lucas said, blinking in confusion a moment. "Uh, yeah ....Where ..." He trailed off, unsure where to find a flashlight and wondering why she didn't just flicker a fire on her fingertips to see what was going on beneath her bed. He looked around for a flashlight, wondering where she might keep one.
"It's really wet down here," she mentioned, almost conversationally, but he knew her well enough to be able to spot that she was trying desperately not to freak out. Not until she knew exactly what was currently gnawing on her thumb with toothless gums, anyway. "Bedside table, top drawer," she directed Lucas toward her flashlight, trying her best to stay still.
He stepped into the room finally, closing the door quietly behind him to prevent any nosebags, otherwise known as Alex and Maria, from butting in and tattling to their mother. She was right about the water, as evidenced by the fact that his sneakers were squishing on the carpet as he tiptoed across the room to fetch her flashlight. He hesitated a moment, before getting down on his hands and knees to flash the beam of light beneath Fliss' bed. "What is it?"
Tilting her head to get a look, Fliss almost laughed at what she saw. Her arm and hand were resting in the most sodden part of the carpet, almost a pool of water, in which the shards of the egg were visible. But what was most striking was the fact that a very small dragon was clinging to her fingers, both forelimbs holding to her thumb as it chewed harmlessly on the digit in its grasp. "Ohh ....aren't you adorable?"
Lucas was quiet a moment, as he got a grasp of what was going on here. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked. Well, why wouldn't it be? What else would have hatched from a dragon's egg but a baby dragon' So, the Divining Shoreline had been cryptic in its answer, but right.
"It must be," Fliss breathed, very slowly beginning to ease her arm out from underneath the bed to get a good look at the tiny little creature. It really was remarkably small, although she wasn't sure why she had been expecting it to be bigger. As it was, the little dragon was no more than seven inches from nose to tail, its scales still a little wet from the egg and glistening. It clung to her hand tightly as she drew it into the light, big opalescent eyes blinking as it looked back and forth from Fliss to Lucas. "It's blue," she said wonderingly. "I would have expected it to be red."
"There are all different kinds of dragons, Fliss," Lucas pointed out, though he was no expert by any means. He'd have thought the dragon would have matched the egg, but there was no real logic to that either. "He's cute," he said, turning the flashlight off and holding out a finger to gently caress the tiny head and scaled back. He wasn't actually sure if the little thing was male or female and had no way of knowing how to tell. "You're gonna have to tell your parents," he said with a frown, unsure what they'd say about having a baby dragon for a pet. A baby dragon that would logically grow into an adult someday.
The approach of a different finger was not viewed with any particular fear. If anything, the little dragon seemed quite interested. It removed its mouth from around Fliss' thumb, raising its head to push into the offered caress. Utterly charming, but nonetheless there were things to be considered here.
"Okay, so Dad's gonna kill me," Fliss said softly. "But nothing's on fire and everything's wet. Does that mean it's a water dragon?" As she spoke, the tiny dragon started dribbling in pleasure, trickling pure water from its muzzle that ran down inside the sleeve of her top. She snorted with laughter. "I think that answers that question."
"Oh, great," Lucas said with a chuckle as the tiny dragon wet Fliss' sleeve. "Well, at least, you don't have to worry about it burning the house down!" he said, in hopes of pointing out the bright side. The possibility of drowning them all was a different matter, though, and they both knew how fond her father was of water. "Maybe we should take him back," Lucas suggested further, though the thought of returning him to the Imps wouldn't have been his first choice of actions.
Fliss sat back on her heels, a little at a loss. "Uh ..." The thought of taking the little creature back to the Imps was not even worth considering in her mind. "Are you serious" They don't even know we had an egg, for a start," she pointed out. "No, I'm not gonna take him back to them. And he's not a fire breather, obviously, so it's not a dangerous thing here really. We should find something to keep him in and find out what he eats."
Thankfully, there were no billowing flames issuing from Willow Manor, or even wisps of smoke. Everything seemed to be exactly as it usually was, even down to the sound of the vacuum as they landed. Liv was vacuuming the living room, Bess balanced on her hip, taking advantage of the opportunity to clean without having at least two small people and a dog following her around and messing everything up again.
"Hey, Mom!" Fliss called to her as they entered the house, undoing her coat as she made for the stairs to take them two at a time. "Be in my room!"
Liv blinked, looking up a little too late to see her eldest whisking out of sight. Bess cooed, waving her pudgy hands toward the hallway. "Oh ....all right, love!"
Lucas followed at her heels, with a quick wave to Liv as he passed by. "Hello, Mrs. Storm!" he called, though he had been told multiple times to call her by her first name. It was something of a relief to find nothing on fire, but then he wasn't sure what baby dragons were capable of, exactly - if, indeed, the egg had hatched, as they suspected.
"Hello, Luc!" was called after him as he followed Fliss to her bedroom.
The teenagers stopped outside the door, with Fliss hesitating a moment before inching it open to peer inside. Nothing looked out of place, although yet again it seemed as though her mother had been in here and tidying again. "Huh." It was a succinct, if slightly disappointed, comment on the state of the room as she entered it, taking off her coat to throw it over the nearest chair. "I spy with my little eye ....no dragon." Something squelched beneath her foot as she came up beside her bed. She looked down, frowning to see water seeping from the saturated carpet around the tread of her boot. "What the ..."
Lucas pushed into the room behind her, once again finding everything as neat as a pin. As tidy as Fliss was, no one was that tidy. Someone had obviously been cleaning in there. And then, there was the question of the egg, hidden somewhere in plain sight, no doubt. "What's the matter?" he asked from the doorway, hearing the squish.
She was still frowning at the floor. "There's ....there's water soaked into my carpet," she told him, more curious than worried. "At least I hope it's water. Bella knows not to pee in the house." She glanced at him uncertainly. "I can clean it up, anyway," she shrugged, moving to kneel in the soggy carpet and reach under the bed for the egg. What her hand encountered, however, was not the smooth rounded surface she was expecting. "Uh ....Luc?" She turned her head to look up at her boyfriend worriedly. "Could you grab a flashlight and take a look under here for me" There's something wrapped around my hand."
"What?" Lucas said, blinking in confusion a moment. "Uh, yeah ....Where ..." He trailed off, unsure where to find a flashlight and wondering why she didn't just flicker a fire on her fingertips to see what was going on beneath her bed. He looked around for a flashlight, wondering where she might keep one.
"It's really wet down here," she mentioned, almost conversationally, but he knew her well enough to be able to spot that she was trying desperately not to freak out. Not until she knew exactly what was currently gnawing on her thumb with toothless gums, anyway. "Bedside table, top drawer," she directed Lucas toward her flashlight, trying her best to stay still.
He stepped into the room finally, closing the door quietly behind him to prevent any nosebags, otherwise known as Alex and Maria, from butting in and tattling to their mother. She was right about the water, as evidenced by the fact that his sneakers were squishing on the carpet as he tiptoed across the room to fetch her flashlight. He hesitated a moment, before getting down on his hands and knees to flash the beam of light beneath Fliss' bed. "What is it?"
Tilting her head to get a look, Fliss almost laughed at what she saw. Her arm and hand were resting in the most sodden part of the carpet, almost a pool of water, in which the shards of the egg were visible. But what was most striking was the fact that a very small dragon was clinging to her fingers, both forelimbs holding to her thumb as it chewed harmlessly on the digit in its grasp. "Ohh ....aren't you adorable?"
Lucas was quiet a moment, as he got a grasp of what was going on here. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked. Well, why wouldn't it be? What else would have hatched from a dragon's egg but a baby dragon' So, the Divining Shoreline had been cryptic in its answer, but right.
"It must be," Fliss breathed, very slowly beginning to ease her arm out from underneath the bed to get a good look at the tiny little creature. It really was remarkably small, although she wasn't sure why she had been expecting it to be bigger. As it was, the little dragon was no more than seven inches from nose to tail, its scales still a little wet from the egg and glistening. It clung to her hand tightly as she drew it into the light, big opalescent eyes blinking as it looked back and forth from Fliss to Lucas. "It's blue," she said wonderingly. "I would have expected it to be red."
"There are all different kinds of dragons, Fliss," Lucas pointed out, though he was no expert by any means. He'd have thought the dragon would have matched the egg, but there was no real logic to that either. "He's cute," he said, turning the flashlight off and holding out a finger to gently caress the tiny head and scaled back. He wasn't actually sure if the little thing was male or female and had no way of knowing how to tell. "You're gonna have to tell your parents," he said with a frown, unsure what they'd say about having a baby dragon for a pet. A baby dragon that would logically grow into an adult someday.
The approach of a different finger was not viewed with any particular fear. If anything, the little dragon seemed quite interested. It removed its mouth from around Fliss' thumb, raising its head to push into the offered caress. Utterly charming, but nonetheless there were things to be considered here.
"Okay, so Dad's gonna kill me," Fliss said softly. "But nothing's on fire and everything's wet. Does that mean it's a water dragon?" As she spoke, the tiny dragon started dribbling in pleasure, trickling pure water from its muzzle that ran down inside the sleeve of her top. She snorted with laughter. "I think that answers that question."
"Oh, great," Lucas said with a chuckle as the tiny dragon wet Fliss' sleeve. "Well, at least, you don't have to worry about it burning the house down!" he said, in hopes of pointing out the bright side. The possibility of drowning them all was a different matter, though, and they both knew how fond her father was of water. "Maybe we should take him back," Lucas suggested further, though the thought of returning him to the Imps wouldn't have been his first choice of actions.
Fliss sat back on her heels, a little at a loss. "Uh ..." The thought of taking the little creature back to the Imps was not even worth considering in her mind. "Are you serious" They don't even know we had an egg, for a start," she pointed out. "No, I'm not gonna take him back to them. And he's not a fire breather, obviously, so it's not a dangerous thing here really. We should find something to keep him in and find out what he eats."