“Yes!” Canto says and slaps the back of his head.
“Leaf and I will go down to the beach,” I say. “I’m not good with people, and he will intimidate them.”
Ronit hesitates, I can feel his sudden concern in the air.
“I am a Nightmare; I have survived so much. We will be on the beach in broad daylight. Don’t fret for me, Siren.”
He grunts, and the Sirens disappear. I turn to Leaf and see the teal flash in my mind.
“You don’t like this place?” I ask as he moves closer, almost hovering over me.
“There are too many people, and it feels wrong.”
He takes my hand and leads us down to the beach. I kick off the flip-flops Reed forced me to wear and walk barefoot on the cool sand. Leaf goes to the water and growls.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know,” he says in frustration. “There is something about this place that feels wrong.”
I crouch and dig my hands into the sand, pausing at the strange texture. It’s more like…ash than sand.
“Leaf?”
“Yes?”
“Is there anyone besides us on the beach?”
“No. It’s just us.”
“But it’s a beach town, and it’s a beautiful day, isn’t that what humans do? All the TV shows I listened to talked about it.”
Leaf rushes towards me just as something explodes up from the sand. I’m thrown high into the air. I tuck myself into a ball and twist until I land lightly a dozen feet away.
Leaf roars and slams into something. They scrabble, but my dragon is far too angry to stop now. He drives it to the ground and snarls.
“Feed me,” the creature calls piteously.
I sigh. I know what this creature is.
“Wait, Leaf. Don’t kill it. It needs to go back to Nightmare.”
“Hungry,” it says hopefully. “Feed me!”
“Why should I let it go? It hurt you!”
“Because I’m asking, and because it guards the dangerous parts of the world, stopping the young from going into territories that belong to creatures like Deux.”
The Sirens come, called by our commotion.
“What is that?”
“What does it look like? Can you tell me?”
Reed snorts. “Nothing you want to see. It’s sand coloured, with huge white eyes and wrinkled skin. It’s got no nose and four sharp teeth.”
“It’s a protector of children. I’m sorry, but it has to go back. It probably came here by accident and didn’t mean it.”
Ronit runs a hand down my back. “Fine, I’ll call Diablos.”
