“And why is that?”
“I didn’t want you to take them away from me. I couldn’t risk it.”
Crack. Pop. Pop.
“Hmm. And now…” he trailed off.
Fiella spoke up. “And now, it appears to be hatching.”
“Hatching,” Mayor Tommins repeated, dumbfounded. “It’s hatching. A dragon egg.”
Fiella nervously shifted her weight, adjusting her quaking fingers to find a firm grip on the cracking shell. “It would appear so.”
“Old Gods almighty,” Tommins breathed. “A dragon. Here. In Moonvale.”
I stepped forward, presenting my wrists to Mayor Tommins so he could shackle them and take me away. “Well, the secret’s out. You can lock me up now. I know I’m in trouble.”
Tommins glanced at my face before his eyes drifted back to the egg in Fiella’s grasp. “Why would you say that?”
I halted. “You—you mean I’m not getting thrown in the dungeon?”
“Of course not. If I didn’t throw you in the dungeon for importing toxic plants and outlawed potion ingredients, what makes you think I would for this?”
That stopped me short. He had a point. “I’m not in trouble?”
Tandor let out a heavy sigh of relief behind me, tucking an arm around my waist to tug me back into him.
Tommins tilted his head. “No. Of course not. As a matter of fact, I think I’m offended at the assumption.” He glanced around the room. “Did you all think that? Is that why you’re all confessing—you thought I’d throw you all in the dungeon?”
Nobody spoke. Fiella coughed awkwardly, while Ginger stared at the floor, and Redd exhaled heavily through his nose.
Tommins stepped toward Redd. “Even you? I thought you knew me better than that,” he said, sounding vaguely hurt.
Redd glanced up to meet his gaze. “No. Well, you are the mayor, you’re in charge of this town. And dragons are… nobody knew how you would take it.”
Tommins straightened, running a hand over the fur trim of his collar. “Oh. Well. No, you’re not in trouble. As long as the town stays intact. But seeing as you all thought… I’ll just go ahead and leave. Stop screaming. You’re causing a commotion.”
And with that, he turned and yanked the door open, stepping hastily outside.
As a cold burst of air flooded through the door, three things happened simultaneously.
Hex tensed, and then lunged for the egg, but they weren’t fast enough.
Fiella tossed the egg away and then covered her face while Redd reached an arm out to catch her.
And the egg burst open, sending chunks of shell scattering to every corner of the room.
This time, everyone screamed, including Mayor Tommins.
Faster than seemed possible, a tiny creature materialized from nothingness, took flight, and bolted out the open door.
And just like that, the baby dragon hatched, and was gone.
When the screams died down, Tommins turned, fixing me with a hard stare. “And that’s your responsibility,” he declared. He glanced around the room. “All of you. If that dragon destroys my town, or ruins Merry Day… As you all said, I do have a dungeon below my office, and it’s been vacant for quite some time.”
How ominous.
He left without another word, leaving the door open behind him.
