Page 48 of Earth-Bound

I sat, with my foot on the brake pedal, thinking.

Tonight in the café had been just like a lot of other times, but had it really been that bad? So they’d been having a joke at my expense, but it hadn’t actually hurt me.

What bothered me more than anything was that I didn’t know how they’d found out about the weirdness. I hadn’t said anything, I was sure of it. Hadn’t given them any reason to think I was different from everyone else.

I lifted my foot and my camper rolled forward.

That fox darted out in front of me and I slammed my foot on the brake. She was a few feet away so I didn’t hit her, but I felt the jolt of panic. I yanked on the handbrake and scrambled outof the cab, hurrying round to see where that fox was. She was sitting there, calm as anything, and looking at me reproachfully.

No, not reproachfully. She was an animal, I reminded myself. She was just sitting there because… of some reason.

I sighed. “Are you going to move?”

She stood and sauntered over to me, pressing her nose against my hand. I scratched behind her ears and she rubbed against my leg.

“Fine,” I said. “Let’s get you some milk.”

I opened my camper back up, poured some milk into a bowl and placed it on the ground. Then I took out my stool and sat beside the fox, stroking my hand along her back.

I didn’t need to leave, not yet. Maybe there would be a simple explanation for the joke. Maybe they’d have forgotten it by morning.

Chapter 21: Terrund

Dum bounded over to me and stood just a fraction too close for me to be comfortable with.

“What are you waiting for?”

“Excuse me?”

He pointed out at the expanse of fields around the house, taking in my tree and the slope down to the village. “You’re waiting for something to arrive. What is it?”

“Nobody.” I cringed. That hadn’t been convincing.

Nearby, Arram said, “Do not tease Terrund, Dum. They are waiting for their mate.”

Dum tilted his head to the side. “I thought he said he didn’t have a mate.”

Arram walked slowly over, studying me. They were taller than me and there was a soft beauty to their face. I liked dryads. I had liked Arram, too, except now I was reconsidering. They’d dropped me right in it.

“Dum is right. You did say that. Yet I was under the impression that Joe was your mate, Terrund.”

It wasn’t as though I could deny it. Joe was, indeed, my mate. It was just that I had hoped not to let the dragons know that.

On the other hand, it transpired that the dragons were related to Randall and Marcia, and they were intending to help Randall clear the sick spells out of the house. It made me consider that they were perhaps to be trusted after all.

“Joe is my mate. I have not claimed him yet, though. He does not know that we’re mates.”

“Ah, I see,” said Arram. “Perhaps we can help you to woo them?”

Dee was by her mate’s side in an instant. “Yes, let us help you woo him,” she said.

Dum nodded vigorously. “We’ll do a great job of that, trust us.”

“We’re the best wooers in the country.”

“Even if he is weird about it.”

I had to butt into their conversation. “No. No, thank you. No.”

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