𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜

Happy The Dragon Creeps In

"IT'S SO DARK, MY ENERGY IS DRAINING," I said.

Leo frowned. "Here, I'm going to do something, but you have to promise not to freak out, okay?"

"Now I want to freak out, but go ahead," I muttered.

Leo shook his head a bit, then took a deep breath, and his hand caught fire.

I jumped at the sudden light, but the fear was quickly replaced by mezmoration. "Whoa, that's really pretty. How long have you been able to do this?" I'd heard stories about fire users before, but they're so rare I never thought I'd be able to meet one.

"My whole life," Leo said quietly. "I'd rather not talk about it, come on."

I reluctantly dropped the subject, and followed Leo through the forest.

We walked for a bit, until Leo suddenly stopped. I almost crashed into him, but managed to stop myself. "What is it?"

Leo pointed in front of us. At the bottom of a clearing, there was a trap. A hundred-foot wide crater ringed with boulders.

Leo edged closer. He put his foot on the nearest trigger strip. Nothing happened. Leo waved me over, and we walked into the crater. "What are you looking for?" I asked.

"A way to deactivate this thing."

"'Kay."

We began to search. The tub filled with oil and what I assumed was tabasco sauce was like freshly cut onions. "Goodness gracious, that stings," I muttered to myself, brushing my hair out of my face. "And I really should keep hair ties on me."

I pulled the string out of my hoodie and tied my hair back into a low ponytail, usually I'd put it in a slightly higher pony, or maybe even a bun, but I didn't have a hair tie. I looked up and found Leo looking at me.

"What?" I asked.

He looked away quickly, muttering a "nothing."

I shrugged and went back to what I was doing previously. About 30 seconds later, Leo spoke up again. "Hey, um. Kody? You have a dragon behind you."

I turned around, then jumped. "Holy fucking Hades, how does a sixty foot metal dragon sneak up on someone?"

Leo shrugged, walking towards the dragon. "You don't have wings," he said.

The dragon's snarl died. It tilted its head as if to say, Why aren't you running away in terror?

"Hey, no offense," Leo said. "You're amazing! Good god, who made you? Are you hydraulic or nuclear-powered or what? But if it was me, I would've put wings on you. What kind of dragon doesn't have wings? I guess maybe you're too heavy to fly? I should've thought of that."

The dragon snorted, more confused now. It was supposed to trample Leo and I. This conversation thing wasn't part of the plan.

It took a step forward, and Leo shouted, "No!"

The dragon snarled again.

"It's a trap, bronze brain," Leo said. "They're trying to catch you."

The dragon opened its mouth, preparing to blast us with fire. "Kody, get out of the way!" Leo yelled.

I guess it's a good thing having fast reflexes, because as soon as I was out of range, the dragon blasted fire.

When the flames died down, Leo was still standing there, completely unharmed.

The dragon stared at Leo. Its face didn't actually change, being made of metal and all, but I thought I could read its expression: Why no crispy critter? A spark flew out of its neck like it was about to short-circuit.