Paper Stars:An Ordinary Magic Story(2)

Jean and I had hot-footed it out here while Myra and Officer Shoe took the rockhound's statement. We wanted to get this under control before the papers picked up the story.

I could feel the tension radiating off of Jean as the cave's blackness remained black.

It was rare that a creature of Ordinary became violent, but it had happened before.

"There." She angled the beam onto the shape coming toward us.

I held my breath. Reached for my gun.

The shadows slid around, at first huge, then wide, then long and then …

A creature paused in the light, right there on the inside of the cave overhang.

"Is that … ?" Jean breathed.

I exhaled all in one rush. "Yep." I put away my flashlight. "It's a dragon."

"Piggy!" Jean crowed. "Look at all that pink. That little nubby nose, chubby cheeks and pointy ears. And that tail. So curly! That's a pig, Delaney. A wee little piggy-pig-pig."

The dragon oinked, its curly tail wagging a mile a minute.

"Jean, I'm not kidding. It's a dragon."

She tipped her head, considering it. "Are you sure?"

I studied the little monster. It looked like a baby pig, all pink and sweet-faced and adorably sandy from its chubby little legs up to its squishy round belly.

It opened its mouth in what could only be described as a darling little smile. But there was a sort of wobbly haze around it, as if looking straight at it caused a slight warping of reality behind it.

Dragons could appear as anything they wanted, any size they wanted. This one, apparently, wanted to be a tiny pig.

"It's a dragon," I said again.

"Aw," Jean cooed. "Who's a cute dragon? Is it you, little piggy? Cutey-pootie dragy-wagy?" She knelt. "C'mere, baby. C'mon, piggy-poo, cuddle boo-boo."

It oinked, absolutely delighted with her. I raised one eyebrow, absolutely suspicious of it.

Then it ran at us. Well, not at Jean who had her arms wide open ready for some pig-on-police mutual admiration.

No, it ran at me.

Not good. Not good at all.

"Hold it right there, dragon," I said in my cop voice. "You know the rules. No violence within the boundary of Ordinary, Oregon. If you want to remain inside Ordinary, you will follow the rules."

The pig slowed to a cute little trot, then stopped at my feet, tipping its face up at me.

Okay, so far, so good. I had its attention.

"We've had a complaint," I explained. "A man looking for rocks saw you in what I assume is your more natural form? You frightened him."

The little tail wagged faster. The dragon liked getting a scare out of the guy. I tried not to smile.

"We've talked him out of coming back here to get a picture of you because we do not need news of a dragon spreading on the internet. Citizens of Ordinary expect to live here without their supernatural nature being discovered by the world at large. You've endangered that.         

     



 

"What I need from you today, is a guarantee that you will take the form of a creature belonging to the natural world if anyone else stumbles upon your cave."

"Oink."

"D'aw..." Jean cooed again. "Look at its little face. You can't be mad at that little face, Delaney."

"I'm not mad. But I am serious," I said to the pig. "We're going to tell the man that he probably saw a sea lion or a lost cow. If you'd rather stay in piglet form if he comes by again, that's fine too."

The dragon just stood there, wagging its little loopy tail, face tipped up to me like I'd uncovered the sun.

"Do you understand?"

The dragon trotted a little circle, and oinked once.

Jean snorted.

"Good. Okay."

The dragon didn't say anything even though I knew dragons were capable of human speech. So I guessed that was pretty much that.

Job done.

"All right then. Hope you have a nice day."

"And Merry Christmas," Jean added.

"Yes. Merry Christmas." Did dragons celebrate Christmas? Who knew? Probably Myra.

I turned back into the rain that was still pelting down at an angle. At least now it was at our backs.

We didn't try to shout over the racket of the wind, rain, and ocean as we picked our way over stones, soft wet sand, clumps of driftwood, more rocks, a tangle of kelp, and finally trudged toward the land's edge.

We hiked up the gravel access road, the sound of storm and ocean dampened by the rise of the land on either side of us.

It was several degrees warmer without the wind, and I rubbed at my face to slick off the rain.

Jean hummed Jingle Bells as she walked around to the passenger side of the Jeep. She'd been humming Jingle Bells for three weeks straight.

It was epically annoying but I knew if I told her to stop, she'd only sing it louder.

Sisters.

She studied the phone in her hand, thumb swiping across the screen.

I found my keys, got the doors of the Jeep open, and was debating pulling off my soaking jacket when I heard a sound at my feet.

"Oink. "

"Jean."

"Yes?"

"The dragon is following me."

"Dragon pig, dragon pig, fol-low-ing us home," she sang to the tune of Jingle Bells. "I told you this is the best Christmas song. You can put any words to it!"

"Not helping."

Jean just laughed.

"Do you need something?" I asked the dragon. "Are you all right? Are you hurt? Lost?"

It trotted in a circle again, jumped up into my Jeep then hopped into the back seat, making itself comfortable with a snuffle and grunt.

"You want a ride?" I continued the apparently useless twenty questions. "Somewhere down the beach? Into town? By the lake?"

The pig snuffled again, then closed its eyes, cute as an internet meme. It started snoring.

Jean chuckled. "Oh, my gods. So cute." She held up her phone and snapped away, then typed something.

"It can't stay there," I said, trying to feel grumpy about the situation and failing. The cute was powerful with this one.

"Looks like it can." She pressed one last button. I had a feeling that pig was going to show up on all of her social media. "See how happy it is?"

Yes, I could admit it made a adorable picture. I was just trying to get my head around the fact that I had an actual dragon curled up in my vehicle.

"This is my Jeep. I need it for work. I can't drive around with a dragon sleeping in the back seat."

"I don't think it's listening to you. And unless you want to do battle with a dragon … ."

She paused, a little too much hope in her expression.

I scoffed at her.

"Spoilsport. Fine. Then I'd suggest you stop worrying so much and let the dragon situation work itself out naturally."

"Naturally?"

"Naturally. Like how nature intended."

"Nature didn't plant a dragon-pig in my backseat, Jean. The dragon-pig did. And this is … "

" … our job?"

I sighed to cover a groan. She was right. This was our job.

"Fine." I got in the Jeep and glanced at the dragon in the rearview mirror. "You let me know if you want off anywhere, okay? One grunt for yes, two grunts for no."         

     



 

It grunted once.

Jean chuckled. "Progress! Actual dragon-pig, human communication. See how great things work out when you stop worrying and just go with the flow?"

The hazy warp still surrounded the piggy, but it wasn't as noticeable. The dragon was getting better at controlling how it was perceived. If someone saw it in the back seat, they'd probably think it was a normal pig.

At least it knew how to hide in plain sight. That was a good trait for surviving in Ordinary. Maybe it wouldn't be any trouble.

I put the Jeep in gear.

"Hold on." Jean pulled off the Santa hat she'd been wearing under her hood and dropped it gently on the pig's head.

It sat up and oinked. It turned its head side to side as it tried to bite the edge of the hat.

Jean snapped more pictures. "Adorbs to the millionth power! Hey, dragon, can you make it snow?"

"Jean."

The pig oinked twice.

I laughed. "That's a "no" sister."

She shrugged. "It was worth a shot. You know what else is worth a shot? Calling Ryder and telling him to come home."

"He's busy."

"He's lonely and so are you." She shifted in her seat and stared at my profile as I drove.

"What?"

"I know you keep wondering when you and Ryder are going to stop being a thing, but two months apart isn't going to change what you are to each other. "

She was right. I knew it. But a small part of me still worried.

She patted my knee. "Believe in a little magic, Delaney."

"Dragon in the back seat looks like a pig. I believe in magic."

"Then it should be easy to believe in love." She smiled and fiddled with the radio.

Christmas music rolled out loud and strong, ordering us to "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."

Jean sang along. Loudly and off-key just to bother me.

It must have bothered the dragon too because it ate her Santa hat. Sucked it down like a noodle until the little white pompom popped in its mouth. Then it chewed and swallowed.

Jean thought it was hilarious. She recorded it on her phone.





Chapter Two





"You gonna get that?" Bathin, tall, dark and demon-y, blew over the top of his quad shot espresso with the Blue Owl's logo on the side.