Ceri and Leo stood their ground.
Bounding around the bonfire was a lion. No, not a lion. It had the mane of a lion, but its body was armored like a turtle. It was weirdly familiar.
“My friend,” said Leo. “You came back with me.”
It was strange, but Ceri felt she had seen it before. Or perhaps felt it.
“What is that?” asked Alison. She approached it cautiously as Willow ran off in the opposite direction saying “nope” over and over. “It’s so familiar to me.”
“To you too?” asked Ceri.
“I’ve felt its presence in the woods and the halls. Something stalking me just out of sight. I swear it’s the same. I’ve felt it since I came here.”
“This is the object of all of my childhood fears: the tarasque I described from my first night in the other world. I thought it had gone when the nightmare ring left me, but it returned today before the ritual. Don’t worry, it’s quite tame.” The tarasque licked Leo’s arm and then took to chasing a moth near the bonfire.
Ceri held her breath as Barney the dog ran across the courtyard barking at the tarasque.
“At least I think it’s tame—” began Leo.
The tarasque lay down in front of Barney, bending its armored paws. Barney walked around sniffing it. Then he barked his approval and ran to join Willow under the Norminster Yew.
“I don’t care how nice it seems,” Ceri heard Willow saying to the dog. “I have all the friends I need already, thank you very much.”
Alison left to go comfort the cat.
“What are you going to do with it?” asked Ceri.
“I have no idea,” said Leo. “It seems to be trying to protect me. I guess I’d better let it.”
“Not on school property, please,” said Dean Whittaker, eying the tarasque suspiciously. “We’ve had enough excitement for one year, and the autumn term isn’t even halfway done.”
“I don’t know,” said Harry Charlton. Ana was lurking shyly nearby, watching his every word. “The team could use a new mascot. Imagine the faces of King’s College if we showed up with that thing in tow.”
Harry grabbed a sausage off of the altar and tossed it to the tarasque.
It swallowed it whole.
Harry cheered.
“I don’t get paid enough for this,” the dean muttered, walking away.
“Welcome back, Leo,” said Idris, extending his hand to shake.
Leo took it nervously, looking for a catch.
Idris pulled Leo closer to him. “If you ever put my sister through anything like that again, I’ll have your head,” he whispered. “So nice to have you back,” he said at normal volume, patting Leo on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry,” said Ceri. “Idris is all talk.”
It wasn’t completely true, but there was no need to worry Leo unnecessarily. Ceri had no intention of letting him out of her sight anytime soon anyway.
As the bonfire wound down, Alison found them again to update them on the research.
“We’ve had some promising results in the lab. Professor Marin says the charge retention is much higher than the original design. We’ll be stopping in with the dwarves on the way home to see how they’re doing with replicating the enchantment. Did you want to come see the numbers?”
“Of course,” said Leo.
“Later,” said Ceri. She shot a meaningful look at Alison, who smiled.
