Chapter Seven
Humans. They could be so emotional.
Take my male servant, for example. His expression couldn’t have been more twisted if he tried, and all because he had to remove pieces of my skin from the bed. Apparently, he didn’t understand what an honor I’d bestowed, allowing him to handle the aftermath of my first molt, and a quick one, at that. In only hours, I’d finally rid myself of my first layer. The rapid shredding occurred because I’d increased massively in size overnight. Good food would do that for a dragon.
While he grumbled and stripped the bed, I clambered onto the window ledge for a peek outside. The snowfall had ceased, and while sunshine couldn’t get past the clouds, daylight showed a world layered in white.
Snow. So much snow. But I didn’t feel the same sense of repugnance for it as before. Rather, I found it pretty. Tempting. I might just take a wander through it later, after I ate.
Sniffing something cooking, I headed downstairs to see the female standing at the stove, stirring a pot while the mini human once more stared at her strange, glowing, and portable window with animated creatures moving around on its surface, singing and talking. Even as I paid it little mind, I absorbed the words spoken. Absorbed everything, actually. I’d learned enough to know the child watched educational things called “videos,” some in a language called Italian, which the child spoke. Others were in English, which my first servant used for speech.
These so-called videos proved instructive, teaching me about the world I’d hatched into. Such as the name of the rumbling carriage that transported me before the storm: a car, also known as a machine with intricate moving parts. Quite clever, actually, and faster than a horse pulling a wagon. Although a horse would have made it up the hill in the snow—so long as a dragon didn’t eat it.
The woman called the child over in Italian. “Zaza, breakfast.”
Soon, I’d be educating her that when a dragon was present, it should be fed first. But I wasn’t ready to reveal myself quite yet. Being hungry, rather than demand my portion, I scurried close to the child’s seat and chirped. The woman glanced down at me and blinked. “How did you get so much bigger overnight?”
I rolled my eyes. By eating of course.
“Is it me or did you change color too?” She crouched and peered at my new scales.
Surely, she didn’t think I’d remain that hideous, mottled hue forever.
“Are you hungry?”
Why did humans ask pointless questions? I rubbed my belly in reply.
She laughed. “Such a clever lizard.”
What an insult. Comparing me to a lowly reptile. Dragons were in a class of their own. A good thing I’d decided to take her on as my cook, or she’d pay for her ill-chosen word.
She set a bowl down on the floor as if I were a dog. I would have minded more, but Zaza also sat on the tile with a bib around her neck. She grasped a spoon with chubby fingers and stabbed at the gruel sprinkled with sugar and fruit.
I looked at my own bowl, lacking a utensil. Previously, when ravenous, I ate like a savage animal, but now that I’d molted I could be more civilized. I left my bowl to tug at the woman’s leg. When she glanced down, I pointed to Zaza.
“What is it?” the female asked. “Do you not like the oatmeal?”
I wouldn’t know until I tried it, and, for that, I needed a spoon. I could have asked, but again, I wasn’t ready to let them know just how special I was. I indicated the drawer where she’d pulled the utensil from.
That led to her frowning. “You want a spoon?”
I nodded.
She grabbed the utensil but muttered. “This is insane. Lizards don’t use spoons. It probably wants something different to eat.”
I took the proffered silverware and sat down. Gripping the utensil carefully with my forward toes, I began to eat. I’d just reached the bottom of my portion when my first human appeared.
And of course, the female couldn’t help but exclaim over the simplest thing.
“Percy is eating with a spoon!”
“Er, what?” He glanced at me and arched a brow. “Well, damn. That’s not something you see every day.”
“I think you mean never. And how did Percy get so big overnight?”
The male grimaced. “Don’t know, but it probably had something to do with the skin it shed in my bed.”
“Oh dear.” The woman giggled.
