As the moon shied away, a new day was welcomed by the forest. Underneath some worn blankets, William mumbled, “It really smells weird in here…”, to Lucifer, who still couldn’t understand humans yet. Hearing the human communicate with it, the dinosaur cawed back in an aggrieved tone as it had been forced to stay confined in this room for a whole night.

William wasn’t too happy either. For even though he had been gifted the luxury of sleeping in a bed, Lucifer had made sure to keep him awake throughout the night. Cawing and scratching at the door and windows, begging him to be let out. William had even been kind enough to let the creature out but as soon as it saw that he didn’t leave with it, it came back. Only to scratch and whine again later that night.

Seeing the first stripes of sunlight, Lucifer knew it was time for things to start moving, so it jumped up on top of its lazy human... Having this extra weight dumped on him, William let out a deep sigh. He really wanted to sleep longer. At least until his host came to rustle him out of his feathers!

So he said, “Lucifer… You might not be tired because you have excellent senses to begin with… But I’m reeeeeally tired… Can’t you have mercy for once?...”. After these words left his mouth, William continued to show his unwillingness to get up. Seeing this, Lucifer whined a sweet long tune, but since its parent didn’t want to get up it couldn’t force it to. Thus in its boredom, it decided to rummage through the forbidden backpack again.

Once the tearing and ripping of fabric entered his ears, William flew up from the bed and grabbed the dinosaur around its stomach. In one motion, he lifted it up from the ground and swung it around only to fling it onto the bed. Then, with a wry grin, he said, “You thought you could just continue to torment me? Huh!? Well, know this! You have just doomed yourself!... Now stay silent and accept your fate of becoming a burrito!”.

Lucifer looked at him in bewilderment. Never had it seen William act so insane before, fueled on by his newfound power. Which was why it didn’t know what to do!? Seeing its dreadful parent get closer it wanted to scamper away from its punishment, but it was quickly caught by a now much stronger William, who forced it to become a bed-burrito. Wrapped into a tight cocoon, William forced Lucifer to nestle in between his arms and legs. “I said I was going to rest! Now you rest too, you little imp!”.

The dinosaur struggled and cawed a few miserable times until it finally gave up and accepted its fate as a… Burrito. Because in the end, It wasn’t that awful being in a warm embrace… William felt joy well up into his cheeks. It was truly wonderful to be a bonded human. What privileges he had!...

After a well-deserved rest, William happily pulled on some pants and a big shirt that Leonard had gifted him. They were old and a bit too big but definitely better than his former clothes that were a mangled disgrace!

When the belt around his stomach was settled in place, he wanted to follow the scent of food that sipped in beneath the door. But before he could open the door and be welcomed by the mansion, his actions were halted by Lucifer who cawed in a questioning way. The instant William looked back, he saw the dinosaur try on bedsheets as a fashion item. Wrapped like the little mermaid, it came waddling towards the door.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

“Wha-!?... What are you doing?”, William exclaimed beyond surprised at the odd sight. The dinosaur didn’t know what it was doing either. Only that its parent wore fabric over its body so it should probably do so as well. “Raw?”, it said as it heaved up some falling fabric with its mouth. It’s meaning was: Just look at how cultured I am? Please show me some respect!

William could guess that the dinosaur thought it had done something remarkable, but this time as well, he had to be the one to burst its bubble. He explained to it, “Ehm… You’re a quick learner but sometimes you do learn too quickly… Lucifer you shouldn’t wear that. It’s perfectly fine if you run around ‘naked’. This freedom you should use to the fullest!... And besides, this bedsheet isn’t ours. We shouldn’t inconvenience Leonard any further, so put it back… You never know… By damaging that linen you might get absorbed into its world of murderous dust bunnies!”.

But of course, Lucifer didn’t understand anything from that gibberish his tongue made. Instead, its focus was solely on the door. Which it was eager to see open as it wanted to dash out and eat some grub.

William stared at Lucifer, wondering how he should teach the dinosaur human language, when the little dino had finally run out of patience!... Since the human wasn’t sensible enough to open the door for it, it might as well open it by itself. Thus Lucifer jumped up in a flash and within seconds it had pushed the door open. William gaped at how clever and independent this dino was. It must have learned this trick after seeing him open and close it so many times during last night!...

William wanted to stop Lucifer so that he could tear off its ‘clothes’, but it was already scooting down the stairs towards the ‘nice’ smell. “Come back here, you rascal!”, William shouted after it, but to no avail. He could only helplessly watch as his bonded dinosaur fled down the stairs. As he watched, he had to admit that It was being a far cry from the obedient, stylish, and cool dinosaur he had imagined. That was for sure...

The next thing William saw, was Leonard with a confused expression on his face as Lucifer sat in front of him wrapped in linen. They were bathed in light inside the neat dining hall when he appeared. “Ah! I’m sorry!... Lucifer is a very curious critter so…”.

Leonard lifted his hand to have it rest on his chin as he muttered, “No need to feel sorry. That’s merely how it is to have a clever dinosaur… They tend to be less cooperative... Heh!”.

Not before long, the humans ate some gruel at the table. The taste was bland even with his enhanced senses, which caused William to focus on some of the other things he could sense. Like that odd foreboding smell that kept lingering around. With his last spoonful gruel gulped down, William dared to comment, “Sorry Leonard, I don’t want to be rude but... I can’t help but smell the scent of something that has died? Perhaps you should get that checked?”.

Leonard squinted his eyes happily as he threw the dishes aside, “Oh?... Hoho… Something I should get checked?... I guess I must have smelt it so much that my nose got accustomed to it… Mirabelle, what you’re smelling right now is certainly my library. Why don’t you come and see it? Come, come now”.

William found it difficult to show any real enthusiasm at Leonard’s invitation. The warning signs were piling up and although this strange old man seemed very kind, one could never truly guess what hides beneath the surface.