“But we are beautiful. We are a delightful shimmering bronze color with stunning and unusual blue eyes.”Her dragon fluttered her eyelashes and preened.
Sasha huffed.“Our appearance won’t help us escape Bruceous.”
“Unfortunately not. We will do as you suggest.”
An instant later, Sasha used human hands to unfasten her bag and pull out clothes. Much to the despair of her mother, Sasha had commandeered her older siblings’ discarded apparel. She pulled on black trews, a tight undergarment to support her breasts, and a blue shirt. Last, she shoved her feet in sandals.
“Right,” she murmured. “Let’s do this.”
The sobs had them striding up the beach and into the dunes.
“The hour grows late here,”her dragon commented.“We weren’t in the air for that long, yet darkness will fall soon.”
“Ah, there,” Sasha whispered. “It is a human child.”
“His face looks strange. Too big. Wide and flat.”
“Yes, but he’s so sad. We have to help him.”Sasha crouched, not too close to the child in case she scared him. “Hello there,” she said and smiled. “What is making you so sad?”
He knuckled the tears from his almond-shaped eyes and stared at her like an intent owl. “Lost.”
“What’s your name, sweetie?”
“Noel.”
Sasha held out her hand in the way she’d noticed humans did when they met someone new. Noel frowned at her hand before touching it with his fingertips. Confusion filled Sasha. She’d watched humans grip another’s hand and pump it up and down for two or three beats. Was this a nuance she’d missed?
“Hello, Noel,” she said. “My name is Sasha.”
“Shasha?”
His mouth didn’t form her name correctly, but she didn’t mind. “Would you like me to help you go home?”
He nodded, his gaze strangely penetrating while the tip of his tongue poked between his lips.
“We need to pick up his trail. If we can’t find Noel’s scent, we might follow his footprints back to his family,”her dragon said.
“He’s too young to stay out in the dark alone,” Sasha murmured. “Noel, if you hold my hand, I’ll take you home.”
He rubbed his face and hesitated a beat longer before standing and lifting his hand. Sasha curled her fingers around his and inhaled the air. Although confident she had Noel’s scent, she still scanned the ground for his footprints.
“His stride is off,”her dragon announced.
“Yes.”She walked two steps before she felt the drag on her arm.“He has a slight limp.”
“He’s a funny little fellow. So serious. Not a chatterbox.”
Sasha slowed her pace to match Noel’s.“A chatterbox would drive us both crazy.”
“What should we do after we find Noel’s home?”
“Where are we is the better question? None of the isles have dunes.”
Her dragon paused.“I cannot sense other dragons. We do when we’re on Perfume Isle. There are always other dragons around, or at least their scent fills the air. I cannot smell a single one here.”
“We should maintain our human form until we learn our location. Can you sense other humans?”
“No, just Noel.”
