Chapter 14

Chapter 14

      Just as we landed outside the cabin, Coal’s wings were shrinking. We parted there, me going into the cabin, while he slunk to the shadows to finish the transformation. I slid my socks across the wooden panels of the floor so that my feet wouldn’t make a sound.

      Creeping past Wolfe, I slid into the bathroom for a shower. I heard the woman stir, mumbling in her sleep. I figured that I didn’t have to be quiet anymore, so I closed the door normally.

      Emerging from the steamed room, I had borrowed some of the clothes that Miss Betty had altered for me. I thought it kind of her, giving me her own clothes and making them special for me. I let a grin slide across my face. I then exited the bathroom and walked into the living room, waking Wolfe as I did so.

      “Well you look happy this morning,” she stated, looking suspicious with a smirk on her face.

      “It’s a beautiful day outside.” I replied.

      “Let’s try to move out today?” Wolfe asked, “If you’re okay with that of course,” she added.

      “Sure, yeah, that’s fine with me, I’ve been itching to get out of here,” I tried to recover some more from the flight I had taken.

      “Great, let’s have breakfast and go,” Wolfe said. I could tell that she wanted to get off the couch that she had been living on. We walked over to the table, and a hearty breakfast awaited.

      The aroma of eggs and bacon wafted up from the table, coming to my nose in waves. A large platter of pancakes was in the middle, threatening to fall over. This was an amazing meal that Miss Betty had introduced to me. I sat, my mouth watering as I looked at the breakfast.  A thought nagged at the back of my mind that someone was missing.

      “Good morning ladies,” she said, emerging from the kitchen.

      “Breakfast looks delicious, thank you Miss Betty,” I said.

      “It was just something simple.” She said blushing.

      “Simple!” I exclaimed. “The best breakfast that I’ve had before this is a couple handfuls of jerky!” Miss Betty blushed even deeper, going into the kitchen to get some drinks.

      “Girls, you eat up, I’d better get ready.” she said when she came back.

      “No, you sit down with us and eat. Being around all this food all the time must make you very hungry. You deserve to eat as much as we do. Besides, Elsa and I could never finish this all on our own.” Wolfe countered. I was thinking about how to politely eat the entire thing in five bites. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a roar clashed with metal screeching against itself. The dreadful sound rolled across the valley and penetrated every small space in the glade where the cabin was, effectively scaring all of us so much I knew that one of us could have wet our pants. Instead we all cringed. I wanted to crawl under the table and hide for the rest of my life. Miss Betty paled as thoroughly as she had blushed when we complimented her food.  She turned a ghostly white, and I was very concerned for her.

      “No,” she whispered, “not now.”

      “What is it?” I demanded in a whisper, scared of what she might say was out there making that terrible sound.

      “The dragon, he can smell the winged prey he seeks, you. I don’t understand though, you should be masked by our scent, inside with us as you have been. Maybe he smells your trail, Elsa, you were outside recently right? But not for several hours, the trail should be pretty stale, what is it that he smells out there?” Miss Betty said

      “Coal,” Wolfe and I whispered. I looked at her and saw that she had gone as pale as Miss Betty. I was guessing that I looked the same from how cold I suddenly got.

      “What about him?” Miss Betty squeaked, trying to stay as quiet as possible. Again, the dragon roared, screeching out that it was closer than before.

      “There is something that you should know about him.” I looked at Wolfe for confirmation and she gave me a brisk nod. It was time to let his parents know about his special abilities. “Coal…has some special…abilities. He can absorb the abilities of an animal. In this case, that is me.” I stopped to let her grasp the new information about her son.

      “H…how?” she stuttered. She sounded weak and defeated.

      “At the touch, he grew wings that were identical to mine, even his hair grew a bit longer and his eyes slightly changed color. I think that each time it happens, it lasts a little longer, if it happens enough, I think that he could permanently transform into what he touches. Lately it has only been lasting a couple of hours, thin wears off.  I guess he still hasn’t lost the wings, or slightly smells like me still. We went for a flight this morning to go watch the sunrise at a lake to the north.” Again, the dragon roared, sounding angry and frustrated. “Well sitting around here won’t help him at all.” I said. I was blaming myself big time for letting this happen to him. “I’ll go help,” I said, scooping up my weapons. I slung my quiver of arrows over my shoulder, and slid on my arm and finger guards, I found those in a pouch on the inside of my quiver when I first found it. My bow felt comfortable and familiar in my hand, even though I hadn’t used it much that I remember.

      “Elsa,” called Wolfe as I turned my back to leave the room, “Fight smart, dragons are very intelligent, try to talk to it first, then fight smart,”

      “I will,” I called, then turned and launched myself into the air to help my friend.