Well, that sounded foreboding. I brushed myself off and grabbed my toolbox to head inside. Before I reached the door, I felt a nudge on the side of my leg. A smile stretched my lips at the sight of the familiar golden scales. I knelt down and held my hand out, which was met with a head bump against my knuckles.
“Hey, Ellie. What have you been up to, girl?” I asked the small dragon. She’d been here when we first toured the place, and here still when we returned as the owners and began the demolition. The dragon kept showing up over and over. She seemed especially interested in the workers who came to the island. Though I remember her not being particularly fond of the ones who ended up fleeing. Even still, she’d never left. Ellie, as I’d taken to calling her, had become our mascot of sorts. Not a pet, because she wasn’t a pet, but she lived here as much as any of us, roaming about the facility as if she owned the place.
I’d taken a liking to her immediately, and she seemed to enjoy being around me, too. Either that, or she was keeping an eye on me. Whichever it was, I appreciated the company. I didn’t usually dowell with animals, but the dragon didn’t seem to be bothered in the least by my wolf side. In fact, she found me more in that form than in my human one, often at my most vulnerable moments.
Ellie stomped her front feet and made a hissing, chittering sound, and looked up at me expectantly. It was adorable, but I never really knew what she wanted. My version of smile-and-nod with her usually involved food.
“I’ve gotta head down to my supply closet, which will take me past the kitchen. Do you want to come with me? We can stop and see if Zee has anything.”
Her horned head bumped against my pant leg, and her wings fluttered before she tucked them back in. “Okay, I take that as a yes.”
I held the door open, and she walked proudly ahead of me. There was nowhere off-limits to Ellie. She was welcome inside, outside, wherever. I mean, it wasn’t like any of us were going to stop her; she was adragonafter all. Besides, doors and walls didn’t seem to stop her.
The guests sometimes startled when they first caught sight of her, though they usually adapted quickly when we explained she was a resident. It also didn’t hurt that no one knew she was a dragon. Ellie usually kept her wings concealed, and with Maxime’s help, everyone who saw her simply saw a bearded dragonlizard, not anactual dragon.
A few people even greeted her as we passed by. Greeted her more than me, but just because this place was a supernatural haven didn’t mean guests paid any more attention to the handyman than they did anywhere else. Not until they had a problem that needed fixing. Which was fine most of the time, and I was used to it. I would rather not be noticed than be noticed for the wrong reason.
On the main floor, we passed the dining room and headed for the kitchen. A sign on the outside of the swinging door read ‘Employees Only.’ I pushed the door open to find Zephyr with his white-feathered hair held back by a fabric headband. His sous chef was busy chopping and dicing and whatever else a sous chef did, while Zee was looking into a pot with deep concentration.
As I opened my mouth, he held out a hand to stop me from saying anything, his intense gaze never leaving the pot in front of him.
“Just a minute.”
It always amazed me to see the shift in him when he was cooking. Almost more of a change than when he literally shifted into a griffin. His focus was so intense, I could practically see the raptor in him, as if whatever was in his pot was his prey. Zee looked like he was about to dive out of the sky to snatch a rabbit out of a meadow.
“Almost there. Almost there,” he muttered. “There!” With swift motion, he scooped something out anddropped it into a bowl of ice water. He rattled off some instructions I didn’t understand to the sous chef, who took the bowl of mysterious, wiggly tentacle thingies.
When he looked up, he met me with a questioning look. “Wolfie! I thought you had a hairball to take care of.”
“Yeah, I’m heading that way, but I wanted to see if you have something for Ellie.” I angled my head toward her, where she stomped her front feet.
Zee crossed his arms over his chest, giving me a stern look. “What did I say about animals in the kitchen?”
My brow furrowed with confusion as my eyes went to the long feathers on Zephyr’s head. “Uh…”
He smirked. “Chill, Wolfie, I’m just playin’. I’m sure I can find something for her. What about you? We’re getting ready for the dinner crowd, but I can whip something up if you’re hungry. It sounds like you’ve had a busy day.”
There was a gleam behind his eyes, his amusement likely stemming from my earlier… incident. Even if he was always the first to laugh at the misfortune of others, he had a big heart.
“Thanks, but I think I’m good. I don’t want…whateverthat is.” I tried not to grimace as I saw his assistant cut into a tentacle that was still squirming.
Zephyr let out a laugh. “Don’t worry, that’s a special order for one of our guests. They have very particulartastes and require special preparation. I’ve got some leftover meatloaf; I could make you a sandwich.”
I felt my lips tug up at the offer. Two years later, and I was still getting used to being around such close friends in person. People who actually seemed to like having me around and were kind to me. “Can I take a rain check? I really should go check on Silas first.”
“Sure thing, Wolfie. I’ll have it ready for you. Now, let me see… for Ellie, I have…” He examined the bowls and jars on one of the counters. “Ah! Here we go. How about dried anchovies?”
Zee grabbed a handful of the small dried fish and held one out to Ellie. She sniffed it before snatching it out of his hand. “Whoa! Careful, I need these fingers, if you don’t mind.”
Ellie snuffed, huffing out a puff of smoke, eyes locked onto the fish in Zee’s hand. He dropped them on the floor, and she pounced, scarfing them up noisily.
“I guess she likes them,” I said with a smile. She always appreciated when Zee fed her, but she didn’t seem to have as much patience for him as she did me. A fact that made me feel weirdly proud. Ellie had never once snapped at me or snuffed smoke at me.
After Ellie licked up every crumb off the floor, I indicated toward the door. “Okay, girl, let’s leave them to finish cooking. Thanks, Zee.”
“Sure thing. See ya later.”
At that, I stopped by the custodial closet that was at the end of the hall, near the basement access door, and past the kitchen. With tools and an industrial snake, I made my way to the in-house salon, an amenity Silas had fought passionately for us to have, and he’d been right to do so. If the reason for having a safe retreat didn’t include pampering that some beings didn’t typically get to experience, then what were we doing it for?
