Page 19 of Ensnared
He does seem a little out of his element. I suppose it’s new to them too, overtaking Earth and massacring thousands. Or more. The thought makes me sick, and I can’t stop thinking of the people that electro dragon fried. The pilots the red dragon roasted. The houses that were burning.
Why are they even here?
What do they want from us?
“Liz.” Jade’s nose is scrunched up. “There are flies.”
Even though it’s October, she’s right. Flies are landing on the blood puddle. If I don’t get it cleaned up, this store’s going to get really gross, really quick.
“I can help,” Jade says. She does most of the cleaning at our house. Mom doesn’t usually notice the mess, and Dad’s gone a lot.
“No way. You three stay here.” I point at my bag. “Eat a granola bar, and then go to bed.”
“What about brushing our teeth?” Sammy asks. “Mom said if we don’t brush our teeth every night, they’ll rot out of our heads, and I forgot my toothbrush.”
How very un-hippy-like of her. She never made me brush my teeth if I didn’t feel like it. Maybe my dental bills scared her straight. I’m a little sad to hear that Mom has caved to the man.
“Jade can help you,” I say. “You can use my toothbrush. March into the bathroom when you’re done eating and brush brush, okay?”
He nods.
I mop up most of the sticky, disgusting blood and chunks of I-don’t-want-to-think-about-what with towels I find in the supply closet. I set the soiled towels just outside the door to deal with later, and I’m on my hands and knees, going over the spot with a wet paper towel and some Clorox spray, when the doors reopen.
The smell of sizzling steak floods my senses as Axel drops the same cow carcass on the spot I just cleaned. At least this time, it’s not blood that’s pooling. It appears to be sizzling juices. . .or grease. Ew.
I’m understanding a little more why Mom’s a vegetarian.
Eat.
“Actually, we already ate,” I say. “Maybe you can eat it instead.” I don’t point out that he just made a huge mess in the place I just cleaned. I’m proud of myself for that.
He frowns. The dragon overlord I’m bound to frowns.
“I really appreciate all the hard work you did,” I say. “I mean, I didn’t even ask you to do it,” I mutter. “But we all ate granola bars, and other than me, the three kids are vegetarian.”
He stares blankly.
“It means we don’t eat the flesh of animals,” I say. “And you know what? I’d been considering moving to that, too. I just had this competition coming up where my coach wanted me to get more protein, and—you know what? Doesn’t matter. We want you to have as much as you want to eat, big guy.” I pat his back leg. “Alright?”
He growls, and it’s so loud that it fills the entire empty space and echoes off the walls.
“I’ve been meaning to try meat,” Coral says. “I could have a bite.”
I shake my head. “You agreed to protect them, not bully them.” I point at the door. “If you’re going to growl and grump, get out.”
For a split second, it looks like Axel’s thinking about biting my arm off, but he doesn’t. He grabs the cow, again, and drags it out one last time. I ruined it by cooking it for you, and you won’t even try it.
I hear the implied ‘how rude’ even though he doesn’t say it.
“Are you coming back? Or can we go to sleep?” I yell.
Sleep, he says. I’ll be back when the sun rises.
Oh, goodie.
As lullabies go, his threat to return with the sunrise isn’t the best one. I toss and turn and get kicked in the nose twice, but at least we’re all alive the next morning.
That’s more than plenty of other people can say.
