YOU CAN TRUST HER!
SHE ALREADY KNOWS ABOUT PRECIOUS!
SHE’S READ YOUR NOTE!
[insistent orange]
And then all the monsters began to chant and hiss and growl and screech and snarl and scream and color-flash the same thing.
TELL HER!
TELL HER!
TELL HER!
TELL HER!
TELL HER!
“All right!” Carter said aloud. He dropped his hands down from where he’d been clutching his head. He had a splitting headache, and he knew the monsters wouldn’t give up until they got what they wanted. “I’ll tell you everything.”
And he would. It wasn’t as if he had any choice. But in the deepest, quietest, most private recesses of his mind, the one place he had left where the monsters couldn’t reach, he thought,I’ll tell her everything… except that I’m a monster.
Precious rubbed her head under his chin, and he couldn’t help feeling cheered. She’d given away the game, but he couldn’t blame her. She couldn’t stand to stay away from him, and as baffling as that was, it moved him too.
“She’s a dragonette,” said Carter. “Not a baby dragon. She won’t ever get much bigger than this.” She banged her head into his throat, making him cough and then chuckle. “Her name is Precious.”
Fen looked as though she wanted to object, but couldn’t find anything specific to pick on. She settled on, “Does that make you Gollum?”
“Do I look like Gollum?” Seeing the gleam in her eyes, he said, “Don’t answer that.”
The faintest snicker escaped her lips. “I know not to call anyone anything that can turn into ‘no you.’”
“I would never,” he said with perfect sincerity. “Even when you were covered in mud, you looked like…” He fished for anotherLord of the Ringscomparison. Both movies and books were sadly short on female characters, and none of them looked like Fen. He settled on one who was at least dark-haired. “…like Arwen covered in mud.”
“I’ll take that,” she said grudgingly. “Where’d your precioussss come from?”
“I don’t know—” Seeing her draw in a deep breath, no doubt to scream at him, he hastily added, “I mean, I don’t know where sheoriginallycame from. The first time I ever saw her was yesterday—when I went off by myself, she flew down and sort of glommed on to me.”
“But you already knew what she was. You claimed she was a drone and ran off to meet her.”
“I guessed what she was,” he corrected her. “I’m pretty sure she was one of a bunch of magical animals—”
“Magical animals?!” She sounded equal parts outraged and disbelieving.
“You’re the one who knew she wasn’t some kind of rare lizard. Look for yourself.” He pried Precious off his shoulder. “Fen, hold out your arm. Precious, go visit Fen.”
Fen scowled, but offered her forearm. Precious lifted off and landed on it. She cocked her head, looked inquiringly at Fen with a sapphire eye, and trilled. Cautiously, Fen petted her. Precious stretched her wings and wriggled with pleasure.
Carter made sure to keep a straight face. If he smiled, Fen would probably drown him in the swamp. But as he’d guessed, Precious could melt even the prickliest, chilliest, angriest heart. Fen looked positively happy as she stroked the golden dragonette, marveling, “Her skin’s so soft and warm. I thought she’d feel like a snake, but it’s more like suede.”
“Technically it’s hide, not skin,” Carter said absently.
He shouldn’t have said anything. Fen’s head whipped up and she fixed him with a glare again. “Don’t think you can get out of explaining this by distracting me with your little pet.”
“I was trying to explain,” he protested. “You keep interrupting me.”
She glared some more, then boosted Precious on to her shoulder and folded her arms. “Fine. No more interruptions. Tell me the entire story, from the beginning. I want to know every detail about every bizarre thing going on right now. And include your desert island lie, because I have a feeling that’s part of it.”
