I grasped either side of his furry head. “Poppy Faolan, did you just tell a lie?”
Poppy whimpered like I’d stepped on his paw. He looked ready to faint. I suddenly felt bad, so I backed off.
“Sorry, Pops,” I said. “I’m not trying to agitate you. I just want you to tell the truth.”
The next words out of Poppy’s mouth sounded like they’d been boiling for days. “Then so should you,” he muttered.
“What?”
Poppy anxiously peeked over his shoulder at the camera crew. “I don’t want to say it in front of everyone,” he murmured. “But... you know. Your situation.”
It finally dawned on me.That’swhy Poppy was so worried. That was why he kept pushing me to do well and assisting me during challenges at his own expense.
Because if I lost the Dragonfate Games this time, I had nothing to go back to. No home. No job.
No mate.
A wave of emotion hit me. I wrapped my arms around Poppy’s fluffy neck in a big hug.
“Oh, Pops,” I murmured into his fur. “You’re the sweetest friend a guy could ask for, y’know that?”
A soft whine escaped him. “I just want you to be safe...”
“Iamsafe.”
His voice quivered. “I don’t mean right now. I mean after the Games. When we go back to reality. I’m not supposed to have people over in my apartment, but if we’re careful, you can stay with me. But my place is so small, and my job barely covers my bills. I don’t know if I can feed both of us...”
“Whoa, whoa, slow down,” I said. I stroked the top of his head, hoping to calm him down. “Don’t worry about all that now. We’re supposed to be on vacation.”
Tears formed in Poppy’s big, brown eyes. “How can I not worry? I can’t relax when you’re—” His voice broke. “Homeless...”
“Everything’s gonna be okay,” I promised with a smile. I didn’t know how or why, but I believed it to my very core. What I told Poppy was the truth.
He gave me a curious look with his doe eyes. “Cobalt likes you, right?”
“Sure does.” I grinned. “In ways I haven’t even told you about yet.”
Poppy lifted his head, his ears perking forward. “Really?”
“Uh huh. So, don’t sweat it.” I nodded at the stream. “Let’s catch something, okay?”
He sniffled. “Okay.”
I crouched by the stream and scanned the water. Fish darted past, but none of them caught my eye. I heard Poppy splashing upstream. He must’ve been trying to catch as many as possible.
Glancing past the fish, I searched the stream bed. Silt and rocks dotted the calm, motionless floor. It looked so peaceful down there.
Slowly, I reached my hand inside. I ignored the panicked fish giving me a wide berth. Closing my eyes, I trailed my fingers along the bottom. I experienced a flash of feeling, of being spiritually close to Cobalt.
My fingers hit something solid. I paused. It was about the size of my fist with a hard surface, like a rock.
When I opened my eyes, I felt an unexpected powerful flash of nostalgia.
It wasn’t a rock—it was a shell. The beautifully spiralled shell of a snail. The modest gray and brown stripes blending into the stream bed in the perfect camouflage.
I stared at it in fuzzy recognition. Where had I seen this snail before?
As the memory suddenly unfurled in my mind, I sucked in a soft breath. That fateful day in the ocean, way back when...
