“We need to test the ice before it melts.” Jillian pointed her new camera at the glass filled with ice.
“I’m hurrying.” Louise spoke the keyword to unseal the
The dome of the device cracked at the lines and unfolded like a flower, as if the cream-colored shell was on hinges. They both yelped in surprise as a creature popped up out of the trap and hissed angrily. Before Louise could get a clear look at it, the creature sprang to the edge of the desk, then to her footboard, and then bounced off the glass of the window.
“What is it?” Jillian backed way, trying to film the animal as it bounced around the room like a rubber ball.
“Umm.” Louise got the impression of a small snaky body and a mouth full of teeth. No snake she’d ever seen moved with leaps and bounds. It landed back on the desk beside the
She sat on her bed, giving the creature an opportunity to investigate the food.
“I don’t think snakes eat crackers.” Jillian worked the zoom controls on her camera.
The creature sniffed loudly and then darted forward to snatch up the goldfish. It opened wide and shoved the cracker into its surprisingly large mouth.
“I don’t think it’s a snake.” Louise slid another goldfish onto the edge of the desk after the creature retreated back to the generator. She snapped her fingers together softly. “Cracker? Snakes don’t have legs.”
“Gecko?” Jillian guessed.
The goldfish was snatched up, crammed into the mouth full of teeth, and chomped loudly. Crumbs rained down on the desktop to be picked up with delicate claw-tipped fingers.
“I–I don’t think geckos have hands.”
Jillian attempted to keep filming and turn on her tablet. “Logically, it’s most likely an Elfhome species of lizard, meaning that it’s dependent on magic to exist, which is why it’s staying near the generator.”
“I think it looks—” Louise squeaked as the thing suddenly leapt onto her shoulder.
They eyed each other nearly nose to nose. It was only about six inches long, covered in scales of a delicate rose color. It clung to her with tiny little pinpricks as claws poked through her shirt. There were five claws on each foot. It had a mane of long slender filaments that seemed too thick to be hair.
It snapped its tiny fingers, opened its wide mouth full of teeth, and said in a tiny, childlike voice, “Cracker!”
Louise blinked in surprise and then fumbled out a small handful of goldfish and held them up to the creature, forgetting to give the training prompt.
It used both front paws to grab up the crackers and shove them all into its mouth, one by one, at express speed. When Louise’s palm was empty, the creature snapped its fingers again and commanded, “Cracker!”
“It can talk!” Jillian whispered.
“She has thumbs.” Louise fed it another cracker while carefully shifting closer to the generator.
“She?”
“She feels like a girl to me.” Louise wondered if the crackers were actually good for the little thing.
The creature snapped her fingers and commanded, “Cracker!”
“Where are the strawberries?” Louise asked.
“Here!” Jillian found the clear plastic container with the chocolate-dipped strawberries.
Chocolate could be fatal to dogs, so Louise picked it off.
“Cracker!” There was impatient snapping of tiny fingers. “Cracker!”
Louise offered the bare strawberry. A giant of its type, the fruit dwarfed the head of the little creature that eyed it dubiously. It looked from Louise to the massive strawberry to Louise and then back to the fruit.
“Strawberry.” Louise took a bite to show that it was edible. “Strawberry?”
The creature plucked the fruit out of her hand, turned it around and around in puzzled study, and then sniffed it. It took one cautious nibble and then, eyes going wide, crammed the entire fruit into its mouth.
“Oh, she’s so cute.” Jillian zoomed in with her camera. “Nom, nom, nom, nom. But what is she?”
“You know, she looks like one of those dragons on Chinese menus.”
The dragon looked up. “Nom, nom, nom, nom.” It snapped its fingers. “Strawberry!”
They took turns feeding her the strawberries and looking up information on Elfhome dragons.
“There’s almost nothing here,” Jillian complained.
“While apparently dragons vary in size, they are reported to be very large, fire-breathing, and dangerous,” Louise read what she found aloud. “Approach with caution. Maybe she’s a baby dragon.”
“Do you think she can breathe fire?” Jillian asked.
They stared at the baby dragon who was munching on the last strawberry.
“Nom, nom, nom.” She licked her fingers and then snapped them. “Cracker!”
“She eats a lot,” Jillian said.
