Page 25 of Medium
No one was standing in the doorway. Shane opened the screen door and stepped outside. I followed closely.
To our right, a tall blond guy stood by the railing on the side of the porch. He was a magic carrier of some kind, wearing a whitebutton-down and black pants, and he was holding what appeared to be a potted plant wrapped in black fabric. I couldn’t see it clearly since he had his back turned. The guy looked over his shoulder and blinked at us, but then he went back to staring at something else. I turned to see what had his attention.
“Fuck!” I stumbled backward into Shane. There was a fuckingdragonlooking at us from the side of the house!
Shane grabbed my arm, and through our bond he sent calming thoughts. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Ms. Jackson, is that you?”
The dragon bobbed its head.
I put my hand on my chest. Right. Ms. Jackson had been in dragon form before, and I’d seen the picture someone had posted on Discord.
“Hey, what’s up?” Shane was talking to the guy with the plant. “Don’t be scared. That’s just Ms. Jackson. They’re, uh, not going to hurt you.”
I looked at the guy’s pasty-white face, then I looked at Ms. Jackson’s sharp teeth and the smoke curling out of their nostrils. Yeah, I wouldn’t believe Shane either. And I fucking hoped none of the neighbors were looking out their windows right now.
I stepped between the blond guy and the scary dragon. “Ms. Jackson, you’re frightening our visitor. I don’t think they mean any harm. Can you maybe change to something a little more... friendly-looking?”
Ms. Jackson tilted their head, considering the guy. Then the vertical slits in their reptilian eyes widened. I spun around. He was now facing us, and I could see the potted plant he was holding also contained a young girl. A dryad, based onher yellow and green-mottled skin and hair. She bared her fangs at us.
Ms. Jackson made a crooning noise. When I glanced back at them, they pushed their head further under the roof of the porch. Shane and I backed up, but before I could say anything, they shimmered, and the creepy four-foot-high hedgehog from this morning was sitting on their ass on the porch.
The blond guy made a choking sound. He had a horrified expression on his face.
Ms. Jackson twitched their very large snout, and their extremely long and sharp spines moved threateningly.
Shane held up a hand. “Ms. Jackson, this form is, uh....” Through the bond I felt his frustration at not being able to find the right words.
“Scarier than the dragon,” I supplied. “Hedgehogs aren’t supposed to be that large, so when you turn into one it makes our human brains freak out.”
“Exactly,” Shane said.
Ms. Jackson snuffled discontentedly but nodded. They shimmered again and became a... fluffy donkey. They were a little taller than the hedgehog, but the fluffy gray hair didn’t look like it would stab you if you got too close.
It would have to do.
“Um, thanks. That’s cute and not frightening.” I threw a glance over at the guy and the dryad. “I promise, they won’t harm you. They’re, uh, very protective of their friends and you were a stranger. But now they’ve, uh, met you, you’ll be their friends too.” Or something. At least the color was coming back to the guy’s face. The little girl blinked at Ms. Jackson with bright green eyes. She smiled briefly then hid her face in the potted plant.
Behind me, Shane chuckled. I turned to see Ms. Jackson had manifested a crown of flowers around their ears.
Shane came to stand beside me. Our visitor—the guy—was in his mid-twenties, good-looking in a rich white boy way. The rich part was reinforced by the late model hybrid Range Rover parked by the curb, his expensive haircut, and the tuxedo he was wearing. Or had been wearing. The jacket was wrapped around the little girl as she clung to the potted plant, and his bow tie hung loose from his open collar.
“I’m Ellis,” I said. “This is Shane. Uh, sorry we aren’t dressed for visitors.” I gestured at our towels and naked chests.
The guy shook his head. “It’s not like I had an appointment. I’m Rory, and this is Pia. She was being held captive by an asshole with too much money on his hands.”
Holy fuck. I tamped down the rage I instantly felt, which was echoed across the bond with Shane.
“We’ll get his info from you later.”
Rory, who must’ve been a Hunter, nodded. “Absolutely. Pia here didn’t have any plants in the cage with her. Uh, I was told the District Monitor lived here, and you could help?”
Shane moved closer to them. “We’re both District Monitors, but I think I’m the one you’re looking for.” Keeping a firm hand on his towel, he bent down so his head and Pia’s were on the same level. She didn’t look at him. “Hi, Pia. I’m Shane. I like plants a lot too. What’s your favorite kind of tree?”
She tucked her head down even further. Rory cleared his throat and said, “I was told she likes fruit trees the best.”
Shane made an exaggerated delighted expression. “Really? I have an apple tree right here in my backyard! Let’s go see if it suits you better than that juniper you’ve got there.”
I held the screen door open. Ms. Jackson clopped inside, then Rory and Pia. Shane followed them into the house, chattering like it wasn’t the middle of the night and he wasn’t wearing next to nothing. I smiled. He was so good at putting people at their ease.
