Kaz set the plate down on the living room table and tried to look as sorry as he could to Jaybird. He'd been just as surprised when Hel and Freyja had arrived and made their way inside. He hadn't seen any sign of Eisaku, and none of the griffons except Princess had so much as poked their heads out.

Jaybird was clinging to Princess like she was a lifeline. Petting the griffon kitten for all they were worth, Jaybird picked up their mobile, unlocked it, and turned it to silent. Ever since the pair of literal gods had arrived, Kaz's phone had been going crazy with calls and texts. He'd just turned it off. Then they'd started on Jaybird's, so it was likewise off.

Beside Jaybird, leaning back with her phone in her wing, Puff was replying to absolutely everything she got texted or messaged. "Mal wants to know if she should expect an apocalypse. What should I tell her?"

"Uh, tell her no one here is planning to. Right?" Kaz knew Hel would let him know if she suspected a fight, but he wasn't sure about Freyja. Somehow, he thought telling Mal the Norse goddess of war was visiting might not be a great idea.

"I think we can discuss things without involving violence," Hel said. "Right, Freyja?"

"I am a guest in this house. While I wouldn't call one of your ilk's home neutral ground, this plane is." Freyja shrugged her shoulders and reached down to pat her hip. "I'll only draw steel if I feel threatened."

"I'll let her know. She's sort of a big deal around here, but she gets all kinds of bent sideways when she finds out a god has arrived. You should have seen all the messages that she sent when Fafnir came to pick Kaz up." Tapping away, Jaybird wasn't so much not scared as just aware that being scared wasn't useful as she chatted with her followers. "This is a huge ask, but could I get a pic with you two?"

"If you could find us something to drink, sure." Freyja wasn't completely aware of what a pic might entail, but assumed a picture. "Strong, foamy—honey mead if you know of it."

Writing down Find Beer for Gods on her phone, Puff reached out with her wing and grabbed Jaybird's arm. "Come on, I know a place that will have that, but I need you to drive."

Squeaking in surprise, Jaybird kept clinging to Princess all the way out to the car and only gave the griffon up to Puff when starting the car.

The only problem Kaz still had was the feline laughing in his head. ᱿Miaow, can you keep it down?᱿

᱿No! This is hilarious!᱿

Trying to ignore the laughter and purring, Kaz focused on the two women still present. He didn't know if he should speak up, but Hel had tasked him with learning about Loki. "If you don't mind me asking, why would you help us? I don't have all the history or lore, but didn't you and Loki swear and uh…"

Freyja laughed and nodded. "Argue? We did, and he made it personal a lot, but that was usually only when he was drunk."

"I remember you giving as good as you got," Hel said.

"It's not exactly hard to find topics to weaponize when your opponent has been known to cavort with horses. Given Sleipnir's prowess, though, I couldn't exactly lean on that too much." Ruffling her wings, Freyja leaned back a bit more carefully on the couch and was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable it was. "Honestly, though, the more interesting question is which time do the history books speak of? Flyting was great fun."

It didn't take an empath to read Freyja as looking angry or annoyed. Hel raised an eyebrow at her. "Wanting back the good old days?"

"We argued constantly, swore at each other, and would have come to blows a lot more often if it wasn't for his laughing at everything bad I actually said as a joke. Yes, I want the good old days back—because they were great old days."

Kaz decided he'd had enough of asking questions and just closed his mouth to stop more from freeing themselves. Freyja seemed uninterested in fighting, which was good, and she seemed interested in helping Loki, which was even better.

"So," Hel figured it was time to get to business, with drinks on the way she wished to get all the annoying bits settled, "what would it take to get your support during Ragnarok?"

It was the question Freyja knew was coming. It was the big one. The Æsir were all so focused on holding it off as long as possible, but Vanir were the dark horses of Ragnarok. "I don't even know anymore. Odin will lose his shit either way. He's already twisting his fate ridiculously just trying to change his own outcome—he might even welcome me shaking things up."

"With your army?" Hel asked.

That's what Freyja was waiting for. If she'd had any mead in her mouth, she likely would have spat it out before laughing. As it was she just laughed. "Really just want it all, don't you? What are you offering?"

"We're both left out of the current plans. We could—"

"I could tell you the most likely outcome for you, given events currently in motion?" Freyja leaned forward and her eyes gleamed in excitement. Her specialty, apart from war, fertility, and all the rest—was seeing into the future. The paths that may be taken. "Don't you want to know?"

Hel snorted and glanced over to Kaz for a moment before looking back to Freyja. "You want to, don't you? How many Æsir and Vanir have you asked?"

"All of them—except Odin. I don't think he should just get the answer like that."

Laughing, Hel shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, if you want to do this, go ahead. But—you'll be by my side, your army and mine, during Ragnarok?"

So excited, Freyja nodded. "It's a deal. But I want two more chances to read your future—and I want to read his." Pointing at Kaz, Freyja's excitement was practically a volcano. She could smell something big about his future, and ever since she'd first met him, it had itched.

"Kaz?" Hel asked. "When Freyja reads your future, it does settle things a little. Not perfectly, the future is not like that, but what is most likely becomes slightly more so. Are you prepared to have that?"

Freyja cackled. "You're asking him? You'd settle the entire weight of this on the shoulders of one young man, barely even immortal for a year?"

"I'll do it." It wasn't much of a question. Kaz had thrown his lot in with Hel and Loki, and if he could do this one thing to help them, that was fine by him.

"Come here then." Looking at Hel, Freyja smirked. "Bravery, I hope, drives you."

"Loyalty. Without Hel, I'd be dead. Loki doesn't deserve what's being done to him. Sleipnir is being gaslit and kept in the dark. Fenrisulfr should be free." Panting from saying it all, Kaz barely managed to stop himself from mentioning Vali. He was sure that Vali's fate was a closer secret than he should be spreading. "So do it. If it costs me the knowledge of my future, then do it and have it be done."

It made Freyja's magic crackle from the tops of her temples to her toes. "Kneel down there, where I can put my hands on your temples." She waited for Kaz to follow the commands and then slowly, careful of a newly minted immortal's constitution, began to unroll her foretelling on him.

Kaz couldn't have gotten away from Freyja if he'd tried. Her magic buried him, drowned him, poured through him and saturated his very being. But there was no malice in it—she was just looking at something even he couldn't see.

"You have a more interesting and twisted love-life than Loki. Goddesses, strange beasts from other pantheons, dragons—on a long timeline like you possess, there will be many loves and—" Freyja gasped and winced. "Your love. Your current love. Someone will get between you and them." She was surprised slightly at not being able to say her, but destiny tellings were true and without lies, and it felt right. "You must be honest with your love. These are an equal crossroads, it's not common, but you must be honest if they are to live.

"You will become a mighty fighter. Trained by the best and lacking the hindrance of moral righteousness, you can become strong indeed. You will play a part in Ragnarok, and that part will not cost you your future." There was only one thing Freyja wanted to know now. Turning her attention closer to Ragnarok, she attempted to reveal the fates of others by Kaz's actions. "You will slay—"

Slumping back on the couch, Freyja let out a low groan of spiritual and intellectual delight. "This is going to be so much more exciting than those musty old prophecies!"

Eyes wide, Kaz stared at the wall opposite him without seeing it. Honest. Telling Jaybird that they would be "displaced" from his love?

᱿Kaz!᱿ Miaow screamed the word at him after several previous attempts at getting his attention failed. ᱿Kaz, we'll sort this out. I don't know how, but that's only because we don't know the situation. We. Will. Work. This. Out. Together.᱿

Mentally hyperventilating still, Kaz struggled to calm himself, and failed. It wasn't until two strong arms wrapped around him that he was able to just stop circling back to the panic.

"Kaz, what's wrong?" Jaybird asked. When they'd gotten back from picking up Freyja's drinks, they'd found Kaz sitting and looking catatonic. "Kaz?"

"Huh? Oh!" Grabbing Jaybird, Kaz pulled them against him. "I'm sorry. I—"

He didn't need to explain that he was feeling bad, Jaybird could feel his tragic pain directly from their contact with him. "Shhh. Just tell me what the problem is, we can work through it together."

"Freyja was telling me my future—a future that might be. She said"—Kaz froze again, the pain of having something outside his control interfering with his life in such an intimate way making it hard to continue—"someone was going to get between us. That if I didn't tell you this, you'd die."

"Kaz—Kazuma." Jaybird had never used his full name before. It wasn't easy to find or hold in their head, but being so close to him for so long revealed it and let them use it without triggering the wards the school used. Reaching deeper into his emotion, Jaybird reached a hand up and touched it to his chest. "You're one of the greatest things to ever happen to me. I thought I'd be trapped inside my shell forever, but you showed me—gave me the support, time, and a little push I needed. If someone else comes between us, so what? We'll always be close."

"If—If someone gets between us, I won't let it last long."

Kissing Kaz, Jaybird relished the flip of emotions that had him shifting mercurially from pain and horror to hunger and lust. The latter emotion, especially, was something Jaybird had learned from Kaz. "The future will happen, Kaz." Looking up at Freyja—who'd already found the cans of beer Jaybird had brought back—Jaybird focused their attention on the goddess. "What was the exact wording? Prophecies and readings are usually specific—and gameable."

Closing her eyes and bringing one of the cans to her lips, Freyja bit the edge off it, spat out the aluminum, and took a long swig. "A more interesting and twisted love-life than Loki—which is saying something. Goddesses, strange beasts from other pantheons, dragons… He'll know them all." Another swig of the brew had Freyja far more disposed to answering Jaybird—it was good ale. "His love, his current love. Someone will get between him and you. He must be honest with you.

"This was a tipping point, not a prophecy. Telling you about it ensures that the better of the two outcomes will happen for both of you." Tipping back the can, Freyja finished the can off and reached for another, only to have Jaybird demonstrate how to pop the tab on a can.

"Right." Jaybird smirked. "But you didn't say it was due to romantic feelings that they get between us. Or that between us is something we'd be upset about."

Freyja looked from Jaybird to Kaz, then laughed. "I did say more interesting and twisted than Loki's." She smirked as she turned to Hel. "You've been quiet. Are you ready for your reading?"

"Would it be bad of me to say I was hoping you'd get too distracted by Kaz and Jaybird, and beer, to notice you hadn't done mine?" Hel asked.

Shaking her head, Freyja reached out to Hel as the latter approached her. When Hel kneeled, facing her, Freyja leaned forward. "You have nothing to fear from my magic."

"Just the future, huh?" Hel asked, then reached out to grab a beer for herself, cracking the can, and downing it in one long pull. "Okay."

It took significantly more effort to pour her power into Hel than Freyja had used on Kaz. The power of a god was unlike anything even an otherwise immortal could muster, and left little room for another to penetrate.

But Freyja wasn't a novice. Delving into Hel took a lot of focus and effort, but she managed to edge her way in and feel for Hel's futures. "War. Ragnarok is coming, but it won't be a swift affair. Years—maybe centuries—will be consumed as the armies of dead Norsemen fight each other to a bitter standstill. Heroes will rise, heroes will die. You will not fall. The addition of a new immortal on the side of Loki Farbautison will tip scales thought to be locked in balance. A new alliance formed will have great consequence, and a missing prince returned will—" Freyja shook as the name tumbled out of her mouth, "Vali will return and lead a new wave. A wave of fur pelts and hissing dragons. He and his will have to make a decision. Thor and Jormungandr. Odin and Fenrisulfr. Tyr and Garmr. Loki and Heimdallr. There are too many fights he could upset—but he will upset one.

"You, Hel, will upset a second. Even now your bargain with me sets in stone your ability to act within Ragnarok as a larger power. Together we will break the tie at another fight." Letting loose a whoop of excitement, Freyja laughed—but held her grip on Hel's future. "And your little immortal. Saved from death and given a measure of your power—he may yet find his own fight to disrupt."

Freyja fell backward into the embrace of the couch, the soft cushions a welcome way to end her telling. "And here I thought Ragnarok was going to be boring."

"Pizza's here!" Puff called, jumping to her feet and starting toward the front of the house. Wrapped in Jaybird's magic, she answered the door and appeared perfectly normal to the young woman dropping off a stack of pizzas. "Here's a tip." She dutifully gave the driver a twenty before carrying the pies back into the house.

Leaning up against Jaybird, Kaz nibbled on any of the pizza they offered him and thought on the broader implications of the two future readings by Freyja. "I could turn a fight's outcome."

"Apparently. Remember, though, you did recently get your butt kicked by a minor half-goddess. Maybe you should train for this?" Jaybird wasn't surprised in the least when Kaz shrank a little and took on a more feline form—with a hooked beak and wings.

Climbing out of Jaybird's hoodie hood—having been riding in it all the way to get the beer and back—Princess looked down at Kaz and let out a squeak of surprise. "Who are you?"

Tilting his head up, Kaz squirmed from his clothes and rolled to his back so he could more easily look up at the little kitten (and totally not to get belly rubs from Jaybird). "I'm Kaz. Remember when your parents said I was part of the pride?"

Her eyes widening, Princess jumped down to land on Kaz. "Mom said you're a good griffon and a good mage!"

Kaz laughed as Princess landed on his chest and folded her legs under her. "I try to—" He had to stop talking on account of Jaybird offering him pizza, and he'd learned that griffon metabolism meant hunger was never far away. "Mmm, this is good."

Puff, Jaybird, Kaz, and Princess gave the two goddesses space to talk and made their way outside. Kaz, with Princess riding on his back, slumped onto the grass and yawned. "So I guess this is our life now—going outside to play while the adults talk."

"It's not that bad," Puff said. "Besides, they were—they are really intimidating."

᱿I agree. Just being there paralyzed me. I couldn't so much as think, and all my emotions were screaming at me to run and run and never look back.᱿ Miaow sighed and calmed herself by focusing on Princess—right up until she felt Kaz nudge her. ᱿What? Why would—Ugh, alright.᱿

Kaz relaxed into the back of his own head as Miaow stretched out her griffon self. ᱿Because you deserve some time out and about. Also, Princess likes her left ear rubbed. Just push at me when Hel or Freyja are leaving and I'll take care of things.᱿

"Oh, it's good to stretch properly. No matter how welcoming Kaz is to me in his head, It's always nice to be out and about in the world." Rubbing at Princess' left ear with her claw, Miaow turned her head to look up at Puff. There were few sights that made her want to purr quite so much as seeing her girlfriend looking back at her. "Hey there, cutie."

Picking up that it was Miaow doing the talking, Puff smirked and reached down to brush at Miaow's neck with her wing. "Enjoying yourself down there?"

"I have a cute little kitten, so yes. Where are the others?" Mioaw asked Princess.

Yawning and tilting her head into the excellent ear-rubbing, Princess mumbled, "Mom and Dad don't like it when mages visit." Then she realized something. "You're not Kaz anymore?"

"No. I'm Kaz's familiar. My name's Miaow."

Tilting her head to the side, Princess tried to make more sense of things. "So you live in Kaz's body? Do you have to force him out to take over?"

"Other way around. He gets tired and takes naps during the day. I consider it my expert training in feline skills at work."

"Dad said he was a mage who likes to spend time as a griffon. What are you?"

"I'm a cat who lived a little too long and became a little naughty. Kaz's mom made me promise not to be naughty and to protect Kaz." Purring in utter contentment, Miaow was startled by the sound of footsteps at the back of the house. ᱿Kaz!᱿

᱿Got it. Thanks for the break.᱿ Stretching back out, Kaz purred at Miaow for a moment before he was back in control of his body. Cupping Princess in one wing, he rolled over to his feet and shook his body. "Sorry to leave you to your own devices, you looked like you needed to discuss some things without us mere—without us there."

"You can't go an hour without shapechanging, can you?" Hel asked, but waved away Kaz's attempt at an answer. "You were a gracious host, Kaz."

"Yeah!" The ale was stirring Freyja's blood up nicely, along with having delved two immortals—she was having a good time. "Blessings on your house, and may your right arm never fail you!" She ripped open a tiny hole between worlds and slipped through it.

Taking a deep breath, Hel let out a sigh. "I would have spared you from that telling if I could, but I needed Freyja's pledge for Ragnarok."

"I understand, really I do. I think—I think it is best we do know about these things, particularly that I might be able to influence a fight at Ragnarok. I need to prepare for that." Kaz struggled not to giggle, thanks to Princess nuzzling around and kneading at his side from her spot under his wing. "And I need to find out who sent me to ancient Greece in the first place—Oh! Right! Vali. I will try to arrange a meeting with Artemis and see if she can find him."

"That's—That's actually a good idea. It would be something Odin wouldn't see coming, either. If you feel you can, go ahead." Opening her own path back, Hel looked at Kaz. "When you find out who sent you to that cursed place, don't argue or try to help them, Kaz, just kill them as they intended to kill you."

Kaz wanted to argue the point, but Hel stepped through her rip and was gone. "Ugh."

"There are a lot of mages outside!" Claws had poked his head out of the hole in the side of the garage the moment Hel was gone. "Some of them are angry!"

Having to push the door up on the garage with her head, Queen padded out and over to Kaz. She could smell a naughty kitten and followed her nose right to Kaz's wing. "You protected my daughter." It wasn't a question but a statement. It made her happy that he would do his duty to the pride.

"Princess? Yeah. She might be a little too inquisitive. I'm sorry, Queen, for inviting them here, but it was the best option and I wasn't exactly in a position to tell them no." Kaz carefully opened his wing and offered Princess to her mother.

Sniffing Princess all over, Queen decided it was most likely her daughter. "The day you can tell two gods no, I will be concerned."

Kaz leaned forward and butted his head against Queen's neck, purring and giving his beak a few soft clacks. "Take care of everyone here, Queen, when I'm not around. If you ever need any help from me, just ask for it."

"Fish." Queen smiled as Kaz jerked back in surprise. "Bring me a fish and I will guard your mate and family for all time."

Miaow let out a warning hiss in Kaz's head. ᱿Kaz, don't you dare bind her to that deal.᱿

᱿Hadn't planned to, but would it really—᱿

᱿Such things normally don't work, but you just had two gods here, one of which is deeply linked to destiny and prophecy—and they are both important death-figures. There is way too much magic here for my liking.᱿

᱿Got it. Also, thanks Miaow.᱿ Kaz shook his head and sat down. "I'll get you a fish, but not for all time. Maybe until next week?"

"And then I get another fish?" Queen leaned down and nuzzled Princess, licking her feathers to straighten several that she'd noticed were minutely out of place. "I will agree to that, but the fish will need to be pretty big."

"What about if I catch you one myself? From Niflheimr?" Kaz was surprised how easily the Norse pronunciations just rolled off his tongue now, especially given his lips were a beak at the moment.

"Only if you do it as a dragon. You could catch a nice big fish like that." Turning her head to the side, she let out a whistling yowl, which is when the rest of her kittens started rushing out. "I wouldn't want anyone to miss out."

"I promise." Tilting his head lower, Kaz rubbed his cheek along Princess' shoulders. "Listen to your mother next time. She is very wise."

᱿You big softie! Listen to how loud Queen is purring!᱿ Miaow was purring up a bit of a storm herself. She quite enjoyed spending time with the griffons.

Nipping at Kaz, Queen gave him a swat too. "Go on. You have mage matters to deal with. Leave me to deal with the griffon ones."

Knowing his hide was tough enough to take such treatment without harm, Kaz strutted off to the side of the house and around it, only to have Mal glaring at him from the footpath at the front. Remembering his fate, he tried to keep his strut going as he made his way toward her. "Good day, Mal. I hope—"

Mal was irritated—again. Not for a hundred years had she been stirred to such action for one student, let alone so many times within a year. "I may not have rulership of the whole city, but when one of my students invites two death gods to his home, I start to worry. What game are you playing?"

"You were the one who got me tangled up in this, Mal. You could have let me die, but instead I am here, entertaining Hel and—and a friend of hers."

The wink that Mal got from Kaz spoke volumes. She could tell it was another god associated with death, but exactly which one was hard because there were so many. "We'll have to discuss this later. You should reinforce your wards or find somewhere to live that has better."

"And school tomorrow?"

"If you miss it, Kaz, I will come looking for you. I don't care if you're a direwolf, a dragon, a griffon, or are actually dead. You. Will. Be. There." Turning on her heel, Mel walked back to the old black car parked at the curb and climbed in.

The engine, Kaz mused, sounded well cared for, and the machine sped off without so much as a single sound of strain. Turning back for the house, he padded happily along the footpath—ignoring the other mages who'd tried to pretend they weren't watching him, Mal, and the house, and shapechanged to his normal self at the door.

Being naked in public barely registered anymore. Kaz sauntered into his house again and headed to his bedroom to get dressed. After talking to Hel and getting that side of his life sorted, he now felt the need to find who'd been trying to kill him.

----------------------------------------

"No." Robin shook her head. "I thought you knew someone was hunting you." She pointed one huge finger at the back of Kaz's head. "But, I don't care how good your money and friendship are, you ain't bringing that in here."

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"I'm Princess!" Princess was most adamant she wasn't a that.

"You could be the reincarnation of Mary, Queen of Scots, but I don't let pests in me bar. I'd get shut down. People would stop coming in. You'd shit on something inconvenient."

Tilting his head to the side, Kaz caught a glance back at Princess through one eye. "Okay, I'm going to teach you how to shape-shift."

". . ." Staring at Kaz, Robin took a moment to process what he'd just said. "Okay. I'll tell you what. If you can teach that griffon how to shape-shift on its own, you're allowed to stay. You have half an hour."

᱿You're mad.᱿

᱿I know,᱿ Kaz replied to Miaow. ᱿But I think she can do it. I know griffons have never managed to do magic before, or so Queen told me once, but I think Princess can. She has a… I don't know.᱿ Turning his attention back to the real world beyond his skull, Kaz reached back for Princess. "Okay, this shouldn't be hard. You've seen me shape-shift before, right?"

"Yeah! You're good at it!" Fluffing her wings, Princess sat up on the table in front of Kaz and looked up at him.

"Thanks. I bet you'd like to be able to become bigger, or better at something. Why don't you think of yourself with the head of a cat instead of a hawk? Don't worry about magic or anything. Just think about it." Kaz had never actually taught anyone this aspect of his own chosen focus. It was interesting to just freestyle it.

"But then how would I talk?" Despite her complaint, Princess did as he said—not exactly liking the look but thinking about how cool teeth were.

"Don't change your throat, just your head."

"Okay. Can I have an extra eye?"

"Sure. Just don't go too crazy with it. Now, I know you have magic in you—I can feel it." Reaching out his hand, Kaz stroked down Princess' head to her rear, getting a little wiggle of excitement.

Frowning as she looked up at Kaz, Princess narrowed her eyes. "Mom said not to tell anyone about it."

"Your mom's clever, but I am not as blind as she might think I am. Besides, wouldn't you want to be a great mage yourself?" Reaching up to her head again, Kaz brushed his hand all the way back down and seeing her flex her back into the attention made him smile more. "So, picture yourself with a cat head and just push your magic into the picture in your head—then push it through and out into your body."

Princess didn't like the idea of just changing her head, though. It was silly and worse—conformist. So, glaring at Kaz, she pictured something way cooler and did what he told her to.

Kaz had expected her to do something, but turn into a little tiny dragon wasn't it. That said, he laughed when she looked up at him and roared in a high-pitched voice that broke halfway through. "I knew you could do it! Great form, too. You know, when I was researching Norse lore I found a saying: Always be yourself, unless you can be a dragon. Then always be a dragon."

Nodding, Princess walked up to Kaz—or tried to. It turned out that paws and talons were a lot different to draconic talons. When she fell, though, he reached out and picked her up. Purring, she rubbed her cheek against his arm. "Thanks."

Setting a glass of tomato juice with a dash of blood in it before Kaz, Robin huffed out an annoyed breath. "You're looking for a guy and a girl. They asked me about you and I told them I don't know where you live. Sounded like utter twats." When Kaz looked at her with a raised eyebrow, she clarified, "Wankers. Idiots. College kids with less brain cells than a griffon." In retrospect, Robin had to agree that she deserved the lunging snap from the tiny dragon Kaz was carrying. "Present company excepted, of course."

Settling back down, and quite happy to get more pets, Princess wiggled every time her brain remembered that she didn't have fur or feathers. It was weird, but at the same time she liked her scales.

"Can you describe them better?" Kaz asked.

"I'll do you one better. Come with me." Leading the way to the far end of the bar, Robin gestured to a small screen that was set where customers wouldn't be able to see it—just under the bar. She fiddled with the controls, swore at it a few times, then brought up the footage she had of them. "That's them."

"Yeah, I've seen 'em around. They're lackeys of one of the college's stupid popular clubs. I tried to get into the pet club, but they didn't appreciate me bringing my friends." Tickling Princess under the chin, Kaz grinned at Robin. "At least now I know who I'm dealing with."

"Don't assume they're the only ones, Kaz. As someone with an army of enemies myself, you can't just rely on the fact you only have to deal with one at a time." Robin set the screen back to monitoring live feeds and shooed Kaz out from behind her bar. "The drink's on me, but I'd suggest you use the kick it gives you to find those two and convince them to leave you alone—permanently if possible."

Walking back to his table, Kaz said, "Thanks, Robin, I appreciate the drink and the help. The advice too. I've never really fought someone with an aim to kill them before."

"It's a good way to stay alive. Also a good way to make new and interesting enemies." Robin approved of it, despite her warning. She also approved of Kaz swigging down the juice and blood. "If you need a hand with a fight, give me a call."

"Got it. Thanks, Robin." Kaz couldn't help but catch when her eyes turned from normal, civilized being to violence makes me horny. Inviting her to fight someone, he realized, would be every bit a romantic date for her. "Come on, slayer of peanuts, we have some idiots to find."

Grabbed from where she'd found a bowl of salted nuts, Princess hissed at Kaz but didn't otherwise protest being carried out of the bar.

----------------------------------------

The college was Kaz's first target. He assumed the vampire-fan-club would be either there or he could find out where they met. Not being far from the bar, he decided to just walk there. Almost exactly at the midpoint between the two, he felt a queasy, sick feeling spread through him.

"Told you it would work, Cleo."

Snapping his head around, Kaz could see the two from the video. The gnawing sickness inside him felt worse and worse—and he dropped to one knee.

"Don't use my name, Peter, you idiot." Walking up to Kaz, Cleo drew back a leg and kicked him solidly.

Reaching for his magic to change forms, Kaz was left clutching at straws. There was nothing. Not a drop of magic was there for him to use. "What—?"

Peter kicked Kaz too, savoring the joy of finally getting his revenge. "Asshole. You killed my brother. Now I'm gonna return the favor."

The kicks, Kaz quickly realized, weren't supernaturally strong, when the two vampires working him over really should have been. Obviously, he realized the magic canceling thing had affected them too.

Princess waited. She was too small and had no magic at all to get bigger, but when the woman leaned down to punch Kaz, she saw her opportunity. Jumping right at Cleo's face, she raked at the woman's eyes with her talons.

Shrieking in pain and trying to pull Princess off her face, Cleo's vision was stolen from her while the cat-sized dragon continued to rip at her pale features. "Help me!"

Kaz saw his chance. Rolling away from the pair, he got to his feet and took off at a sprint. Ten long strides away from the pair, Princess landed on his shoulder.

᱿I really like this kitten. She doesn't hold back.᱿

"Thanks, Princess." Kaz tried to ignore the mess on her claws that was now staining his top. ᱿We need somewhere safe.᱿

᱿I'm looking. I can feel several magic-rich areas nearby. There's a park over there where—Wait! Turn left!᱿ Miaow's metaphorical tail stood straight up. ᱿This house is a safe place!᱿

Turning onto the garden path that led to the front door of the house, Kaz asked Miaow, ᱿How can you tell?᱿

᱿I don't know, Kaz, and that worries me a little. It feels safe, though.᱿

Clenching a fist as he stepped up to the door of the old, shabby-looking white suburban home, Kaz made his decision and knocked. Turning to look behind him, he saw the two vampires (Cleo's face still a mess, though her eyes seemed to have regrown) running toward him.

"Eyy! What's up, man? Wanna come in and chill for a bit?"

The voice, sounding like another college student, surprised Kaz. Turning, he saw a somewhat overweight guy wearing an old Megadeath shirt and a pair of cargo shorts. There was also power behind him—a lot of power. "Please! They're trying to—"

When the guy stepped aside and ushered Kaz inside, he didn't hesitate. The door was closed behind him. "They're trying to kill me."

"Yeah, figured. Vampires have no chill, dude. Loungeroom's on your left. Find a seat and you can fill me in."

The guy sounded like he didn't have to worry about a pair of vampires about to reach his front door. And, of course, a loud knocking came right then. Kaz was a little surprised that the anti-magic thing wasn't penetrating the house like he knew it should.

When he opened the door, Kaz could see the two vampires looked very angry.

"Let us in and give us the kid, and we won't rip you apart," Cleo said, her fury reaching new heights as she set eyes on Kaz.

"So long as you agree to the rules of my house, you are welcome inside."

The strange guy's words made Kaz shiver precisely because he hadn't agreed to any rules. When Cleo stepped foot over the threshold, Kaz took a step back reflexively.

Peter stretched an arm across to stop Cleo. "What are your rules?"

"No violence, no vendettas, and no magic unless I ask you to use it. Oh, right, and if you want to stay, you have to partake."

"Partake in what?" Cleo asked.

The resident's demeanor changed on a dime and a chill radiated from him. "Whatever I offer you."

Rolling her eyes, Cleo tossed aside Peter's arm and pushed into the house. "I don't care about your stupid games. His life is forfeit and I intend to kill—"

Raising his palm, the young guy reached his hand up and to Cleo's forehead. "I'll be chill since you haven't been here before." When he pushed, Cleo flew backward, across the street and into the front yard of the house opposite. "Will you abide by my rules?"

Of the two, Peter liked to think he was the smarter. Turning, he ran from the house before he got blown away—or worse.

"Th-Thanks. I'm Kaz." Introductions were, Kaz figured, the best way of finding out who someone was.

Narrowing his eyes, the guy let out a laugh. "Yeah you are. And you're also Miaow. And this is Princess." Reaching one hand out, he set a little cloth bag on Kaz's shoulder. "Now let's chill for a bit. This is totally messing with my buzz."

Following his savior into the living room, Kaz was a little taken aback. Sitting on the couch was a young woman without a top on and a guy that looked about as rake thin as you could get. Both were watching Bugs Bunny cartoons. It was a mild surprise, but the woman seemed more to have just not bothered putting anything on rather than intentionally exposing herself.

As soon as Kaz picked a spot and sat down in one of the armchairs, the guy reached out a hand toward him with a half-smoked joint in it. Steeling himself, he remembered the whatever I offer you part of the house rules. "This is yours?" Kaz asked.

"Mmmhmm."

Taking it, Kaz put it between his lips and took a long pull on it before passing it back. He lasted nearly two seconds before coughing and loosing the gray-blue smoke. The effect was rapid. It was like his worries melted away and he could just exist without the fear of being attacked or the destiny of Ragnarok hovering over him.

᱿Kaz, I—I don't think he's bad, but I don't think his intentions are all good.᱿ Miaow was struggling to keep her mind together. ᱿Also, this is a magical drug of some kind. Even opium wasn't this strong.᱿

᱿Yeah. I'm feeling that. Wow am I feeling it. I—He's looking at us like he can hear this. Uh, hello?᱿

"Hello. Have you guessed my name yet?" The man asked, taking the offered joint from the woman (after both occupants of the couch had taken a draw) and taking a long pull on it himself. "And can I get you a beer? Or perhaps wine?"

Trying in vain to blink away the effects of the smoke, Kaz felt the last word resonate a little. ᱿Wine...᱿

᱿The Greek god!᱿

Bacchus grinned. "Wine it is. I won't hold you here against your will, don't worry, but I figured you could both have some time to relax and get away from your problems. Those vampires aren't the only things out there that are stalking you. You are in the house of Bacchus, though I'll take Dionysus in a pinch."

Miaow was trying to keep her thoughts straight, but her mind started spewing out monologue. ᱿That explains why I can't think straight. Uh, thank you?᱿

Pulling a bottle of wine out from somewhere behind the couch, Bacchus filled glasses he'd similarly produced. "You caused a mess when you wound up in my homeland. I'm not sure why, but I think you will have more run-ins with others from my pantheon."

"Ugh." Kaz took the glass that was passed along to him and sipped at it. "I already ran into Circe and Artemis. Who's next?" The wine hit him like a truck. Kaz would have wobbled if he were still standing.

"Feel free to change into something more comfortable. The ban on magic is totally meant for offensive magic and killjoys trying to crush the vibe." Leaning back in his seat, Bacchus took a long swig from the bottle he'd just poured from.

Kaz thought hard enough to figure out that a different shape wouldn't actually help him. His dragon and wolf forms would be both too big for the room and didn't have any manipulative digits. "I think I'm fine like this. Do you know how I could contact Artemis again?"

Bacchus stopped halfway through guzzling some wine and stared at Kaz. "Dude, no. Just—Just no. That woman will break you. She'll hunt you down and put so many arrows in you, you'll die. You—Don't."

Laughing, the drink and the smoke helping shred his inhibitions, Kaz said, "Yeah. I want her to. I owe her a good hunt, and I want to ask her if she'll help me hunt someone else."

Finishing off the bottle with a gulp, Bacchus sighed. "There's a ritual to call her. She'll be angry she came to this world, but she'll come. You better hope you can show her a good hunt. You'll probably have the mage authorities asking questions. You should have seen it earlier today, some lunatic invited two of the Norse goddesses here to—to…" He stared at Kaz, trying to fathom the grin on his face. "Oh no. No, no, no! No way! You—What are you doing?!"

᱿Hee!᱿ Miaow was purring now, delighting in seeing things go to complete chaos. ᱿He doesn't know the half of it.᱿

"Miaow, you're being a tease." Turning his attention back to Bacchus, who was now perched on the edge of the couch seat, he shrugged his shoulders. "I'm a follower of Hel. She wanted neutral ground to talk to another Norse god and she picked my place. There's not a lot you can do to dissuade a goddess once she gets her mind set on something."

"Exactly! That's what I said! Hera was not happy to hear it. She told me to find somewhere else to live for a while. I—" Slumping back in his chair, Bacchus felt pure joy overtake him at sharing a good chat with someone who could appreciate it. "I picked this plane. The local mages weren't happy about it at first, but I told them my house would be neutral ground."

"What is it with neutral ground, anyway?" Kaz asked.

"Mostly it isn't. There is no such thing as neutral ground where gods are concerned. For a start, anyone coming here would have to contend with my own proclivities"—Bacchus held up the bottle of wine, which was now full again—"and I'm sure whichever god it was that visited with Hel knew you were on her side?"

"Yeah, but I'm not exactly a big hitter when it comes to this. I just—I guess I just keep getting caught up in things. Hel, Artemis, Freyja, now you…" It took Kaz a moment to realize he'd just said who the other goddess was. "Fuck."

"Hey, no stress, man. I collect gossip—I don't spread it. That said, I enjoy collecting it. Speak as freely as you want, and don't mind them." Nodding to the pair on the couch, Bacchus couldn't help but let his eyes linger on the woman a little longer than required. "They're so baked they can't think about more than one thing—and my man Bugs has their complete attention.

"They thought they were banishing me. Sending me away to a life of strain and withdrawal. It was, at first, but if there is one thing about mortals here, they find strange and fantastic new ways to bake their minds. I try to limit it. These two agreed to spend ten years as my disciples—I won't impede them from freedom, but I will offer them another ten years."

"What do you see in them?" Kaz asked.

"They are beautiful. Each in their own way has surrendered all they are and will be for the duration of their stay to achieve a holy state of being completely stoned and drunk." Bacchus sighed in delight and leaned back in his chair. "But enough about me and my couch-weights here. What about you? What do you do?"

"Learn as much as I can while staying alive." Kaz took another sip of the wine and instantly regretted and appreciated it. "Try to keep my life together, keep my closest friends safe and close." He paused a bit, and when Bacchus didn't interrupt him, he added, "Learn how to kill people who are trying to kill me."

Letting out a low, impressed whistle, Bacchus reached beside his chair and picked up a bong. "That's some heavy shit. Excuse me for a moment." With that he packed the cone, brought the pipe to his lips, covered the breather, and lit it.

For Kaz, having his first experience with drugs being at the hands of Bacchus, he was doing quite well—he hoped. He'd grown up inquisitive and knew about most of the equipment and even jokes, but sharing a drink and a joint with the literal god of indulgence was testing him. "I don't know if I could let go like them," he said, gesturing to the couch.

"You'd be surprised. Both of them suffered to the point where they wanted to curl up somewhere and just stop. I found them and offered them time to recover."

"They're recovering?" Kaz almost waved off Bacchus when the god offered him the bong, then he remembered the rules of the house. "How do I work this thing?"

----------------------------------------

When she stirred, Miaow took stock of the situation. There were five naked people in the room and she was, presently, one of them. Trying to stand took a few tries, but eventually she got her feet under her.

"Leaving?" Bacchus asked.

Looking at the god, Miaow nodded carefully. "You had a deal with Kaz to stay here as your guest—but not me. I feel it is only proper that I leave you before you decide you want a pet cat."

Laughing, Bacchus gestured to the couch seat where Kaz's clothes were tossed. "You'll probably want those, Miss Cat. Your mage's little pet is curled up in the pocket."

"Thank you." Miaow picked up her clothes and carefully got dressed. Something struck her about Bacchus, warning her that it would be a bad idea to assume her normal form. Being attractive, in this house, might just work against her. Walking for the front door, she paused at the exit of the living room. "Thank you for protecting him."

"He is welcome in my home any time he wishes. You too, Miss Cat." Letting his detached and godly self slough away, Bacchus just smiled. "Both of you are, like, cool to hang here."

Miaow got out of the house and instantly felt better when she stood on the sidewalk. There was a miasma, she decided, that existed inside the house that only sought to remove inhibitions. "Are you there, little Princess?"

"Huh? What happened?" Poking her head out of the pocket she'd been sleeping in, Princess looked around at the dark evening. "Where are my feathers? Where is my fur?!"

Reaching for her own magic, Miaow reshaped herself to be the bombshell Kaz had designed for her. "You wanted to learn how to transform. Kaz is nothing if not cool with any situation—he did a good job."

"Oh. This isn't my body?"

"No, kitten, it's not." For fun, and because she could, Miaow added a cat tail and pointed ears to herself to feel more feline. "You're good for a first-timer, but you have a long way to go to learn to shape change as completely as he does." She reached a hand down to rub Princess' head.

Taking the petting as her due for merely existing, Princess looked around. "Where is Kaz? Did he have to sleep again?"

"It's night time, he almost always sleeps at night. Do you think you can figure out how to shape change back?" Miaow pondered running, then threw the idea away as a bad one—attention was not what she wanted—and instead decided on walking home. "I should let Puff know I'm coming."

When Miaow pulled the phone out of Kaz's pocket—the same one Princess was inhabiting—the griffon let out a little squeak of annoyance. "That was warm." Her complaint earned her another head-rub that didn't quite make up for having a heater to curl up around.

Pushing some magical warmth into her hand, Miaow pressed it down into her pocket and the complaining kitten. With her free hand she texted Puff to tell her she was coming home.

The walk back home was far less stressful than Kaz's run had been. She opted for well-lit roads and petted the tiny dragon/griffon in her pocket. By the time she reached the house, though, she started to feel watched.

When she opened the door, Miaow had a very angry looking griffon and a relieved looking harpy waiting for her. "Hey!"

"Where is my kitten?" Queen flexed her claws. Miaow was another female—a strong female—one normally she tolerated. But Miaow didn't normally get her daughter mixed up in anything. When a sheepish looking, tiny dragon crawled out of Miaow's pocket, Queen sensed something about them. "Little kitten?"

"Kaz taught me how to be a dragon and then he got attacked but I saved him and we ran and hid at a nice man's house and Kaz started acting funny so I slept and then when I woke up Miaow was here and she left the nice man's house and we walked back here."

Puff looked between Queen and Princess and then shook her head. "Sounds like an adventure—and quite a set of lungs. Excuse me, Your Majesty, Your Highness, but I want to go snuggle with my girlfriend." Lifting Princess out of Miaow's pocket, Puff set the little dragon on her mother's head and walked past the two to the living room.

Racing to the couch, Miaow flopped down and reached out to Puff, pulling her down and onto her lap. "It was a weird place, alright. I didn't even know Bacchus lived in the city here."

"Bacchus lives here?!" Puff lived up to her namesake when all her feathers picked that moment to stand on end. "He was exiled a long—He was exiled before America was colonized!"

Miaow started working her fingers into Puff's feathers, gently soothing them even as they sprang back up in alarm after her hand passed. "He's not terrible. He protected Kaz, actually. The vampires had some kind of magic-blocking thing, so Kaz was stuck as a normal human but they still had some of the speed and strength of their undead forms."

"Uh, on a scale of one to stuff you want to think about later on when we're having fun—how much do you think I want to remember hearing you talk about undead?" Puff watched the dawning realization on Miaow's face. "There is someone who will want to know about it, Mal. Send her a message on Mager."

"Right! I knew that." Miaow pulled out Kaz's phone, swapped the logged-in user on Mager to herself, and started typing a private message. She included all the details she could, even Bacchus, and included the names (and links to their Mager profiles) of Peter and Cleo.

----------------------------------------

When Kaz woke, he was still a little dazed from his time in Bacchus' care. Cracking one eye open, he saw Puff cuddled up against him, felt someone cuddled up behind him, and just smiled and closed his eye again.

When he woke for a second time it was because a griffon was pecking at his foot. When a griffon with a hooked beak pecks, you know about it. Kaz looked down the bed to see Queen about to make a meal out of one of his toes. "What?"

Queen refrained from removing the toe only because she knew it would take Kaz longer to undertake her task if he was complaining about a missing—yet likely delicious—toe. "You will teach my daughter how to become a griffon again."

"She learned how to become a dragon on her first try, she can probab—Okay, getting up." His tune changed when Queen's beak started closing around his left, small toe. Slipping out of the combined hugging power of Puff and Jaybird wasn't easy, but Kaz solved the problem by shapechanging himself into a snake and slithering out.

Once he was free of the bed, he took his griffon form and padded from the room so he could discuss matters without waking the sleeping women in the bed. He made his way to the living room where he found a tiny dragon looking angry enough that she would roast the next thing she saw. "Ah, Princess." Kaz bowed his head to her, even as he heard Queen walk in behind him. "Thank you for saving me."

"Mom says I need to be a griffon again." Princess glared at her mother. "Tell her, Kaz! My claws are amazing!"

Tilting his head, Kaz nipped at one of the claws, but Princess pulled it away before his beak made contact. "They are indeed fine claws, but you need to learn this magic properly."

Looking back toward her mother, Princess saw a pair of uncompromising eyes locked onto her. With a heartfelt sigh, she slumped her shoulders and flapped her wings before settling them. "But I'll be able to do it again, right?"

"Yes, so long as you can still manage to be my kitten." Queen kept up her glare, alternating between her offspring and Kaz.

So began Kaz's second lesson teaching griffons how to transform. This time he included Queen, too, and repeated the whole thing again when Claws returned with their other kittens. When he was done, and could hear footsteps coming from the bedroom, he looked up and saw Puff walking out. "Good—"

Halting his greeting at the look of annoyance on Puff's face, Kaz changed quickly back to his male self to catch the phone she dropped in front of him. Mid-air, the phone beeped with a message.

"It has been doing that since eight. Over and over. I had Miaow send a message about what happened yesterday and I think Mal is trying to contact you." Turning on her heel, Puff marched back to the bedroom to attempt to salvage more sleep.

"Sorry." Kaz mentally kicked himself for not having grabbed his phone on the way out of the bedroom. Sitting on the floor while the kittens explored the new trick he'd taught them, he started to flick through the messages.

Hitting dial, he figured he'd be better off just calling Mel. It answered after two rings. "Hey, Mal. What's up?"

"Your familiar has already filled me in on what happened. Kaz, you can't keep playing games like this. If someone is trying to kill you, kill them first." Mal didn't wait for a reply, she hung up the phone and rested her head on her hand. "You will never reach far into immortality if you don't make it to thirty." They were the words she probably should have said to Kaz, but he seemed so young and, despite every evidence to the contrary, pure.

Looking at his right hand, and knowing the magic it held, Kaz sighed and put his phone down. ᱿Are you asleep?᱿ When he got no reply, Kaz simply slumped further back into the couch. "I need to learn how to kill."

Queen looked at Kaz as if he'd just declared that the sky was yellow. "But you have hunted before."

"Yeah, but those were—We were hunting for food." Kaz lifted his head when he felt Queen's weight land on the couch beside him, just in time to see Princess do likewise.

Now satisfied her daughter could be a griffon whenever she wanted to, Queen let her kitten do as she pleased. "You buy us food and meat. We don't need to hunt."

"But you need to—" Stopping himself before he went too far, Kaz sighed. "I know I'm making excuses, Queen. It's a big thing here, though. Well, for humans."

"How human are you?" Queen asked.

"Physically? I'm as human as I am dragon or griffon. When I take a shape, I am that."

"That's not what I asked. How human are you here." Reaching her talon up, Queen tapped Kaz's forehead with one claw. "Because you need to be a griffon up here, at least a little. If you want to know what I think?" Queen only gave the barest hint that she expected an answer before she added, "I think you should keep a little human, because a mage wouldn't have shown a griffon any compassion at all."

Kaz was more than a little surprised at her level of adeptness with the topic of philosophy. "I think, firstly, I need to take precautions against that kind of trick again."

"Claws, beak, or something else?" Straightforward in her normal approaches, Queen knew the tools of her body very well. "Perhaps fangs?"

"I don't know if fangs would be good. My face isn't well designed for shoving at people without getting really hurt in the process."

Queen let out an annoyed whistle, the same kind she used when all her kittens were doing something she honestly wished they wouldn't. "There are plenty of predators of humans that look just like them. Why not modify one of those to look like yourself? Be a predator of the things that want to hurt you."

"That's—" Kaz's phone beeped and he opened it up again to see who the message was from: Shenlong.

> Kaz, I see you found at least two of your enemies. I also heard about the anti-magic field. Those can be countered with...

The message went into complex magic that Kaz had no clue about. He liked Queen's idea better. "So I need to find a form with the best physical attacks that could kill a human fast, or a human-like thing, within an anti-magic area. I guess, obviously, a redcap would be the ultimate for that, but I don't think I could shape that form to look like me without being bulging all over the place."

"More offensive, then," Queen said, pecking at Princess when her kitten looked about to shred the cushions with her dragon talons. "You should not be scared to kill in self defense."

Putting his phone on silent, Kaz stood up and walked to the bookshelf. As he'd been assigned books to read, he'd made copies of them for his own collection. The librarian at the college had even shown him some tricks he could use to search a shelf of books. "Something that can look human…"

"Or something that uses magic to disguise itself as human," Princess said. "That way you'd turn into a monster if anything used that nasty magic on you."

"That's my daughter." Queen used a talon to scratch at the ridges on Princess' back, making her daughter squirm in a purring, twisting ball of dragon.

"Something that can look human or can appear human with magic." Kaz pushed a little magic into the spell he'd learned. Various books lit up with varying colors. "Cross-reference with creatures I have become."

All the lights winked out.

"You're doing it wrong," Jaybird said from the hallway. Walking in, they pointed at Kaz. "Puff showed me a joke that's popular because people were posting it on a video she took of you. It goes, 'Always be yourself, unless you can be a dragon. Then always be a dragon.'"

"I don't get what you mean." Kaz surrendered his spot at the bookshelf to sit on the couch, only to find that Queen had stretched out on it.

"Princess said it herself. You shapechange yourself into a dragon, then you use magic to make yourself look like you." Walking in with only a bathrobe around them, Jaybird sat on the arm of the couch nearest Princess and reached down to give her pets. Of course, Princess rolled onto her back which meant Jaybird wound up giving tummy rubs. "You want to know a spell that can do that?"

"Sure. But won't my actual size be a problem? What if I used my redcap form?" Picking a spot on the floor, Kaz sat cross-legged and looked up at Jaybird.

The spell, once Jaybird had worked their way through it a few times, wasn't complicated. Kaz focused on each and every time Jaybird cast it, and soon enough had a solid read on it. "What class is this from?" he asked.

"Witchcraft, core class. Witches haven't exactly had a good run over the years. Hiding who you are is a big part of basic survival." As they'd demonstrated the spell, Jaybird had noticed Princess watching intently. "Kaz, how much magic have you been teaching this adorable kitten?"

"Uh, whatever she wanted to learn—but mostly whatever Queen wanted her to learn. I think she gets her magic from Queen, because they both can cast pretty well, though Queen is more focused on spells that make her stronger." Shrugging and letting himself fall backward onto the floor, Kaz slipped out of his own bathrobe and shifted himself into his redcap form.

Jaybird's eyes widened a little at the sight. "Sooo many muscles. Why do you make so many forms female?"

"I think about half and half are female. Not really sure most of the time, but this one was because I only had one redcap to base it off, Robin." Shrugging, which was quite an expansive action given his proportions, Kaz closed his eyes to focus on the spell Jaybird had shown him.

The magic wasn't complicated, but as being a dragon made him able to do many magics easier, so too did being a redcap make a lot of magic harder. It took some real work to push his magic to do what he wanted, and in the end he stopped. "No, this won't be okay. I won't be able to do any magic at all while this spell is up."

"Always be a dragon," Jaybird said.

Crunching his abs and sitting up, Kaz looked at Jaybird. "Do you have a thing for dragons?"

Jaybird closed their eyes and imagined flying on a dragon. "A little. Are you big enough to ride?"

"Not really. You'd have to be smaller and a bit lighter."

"I can do that." Eyes dancing now, Jaybird snapped their fingers to produce a chicken leg, and passed it to Princess.

Kaz smiled as Jaybird handed out chicken legs to all the griffons. "So, dragon then? Do you want to go for a fly before I try your spell?" The wide-eyed look of joy on Jaybird's face told Kaz his answer.

In the time it took Kaz to shapechange into his dragon form, Jaybird was already working their disguise spell to shrink down to half their normal height. When done, they snapped their fingers and produced a light sundress about themselves.

"You're smaller!" Princess straightened herself and looked up at Jaybird. "Can I use magic to make myself bigger?"

"Only a little. It takes a lot of magic to go bigger." Jumping to the cushion and then down, Jaybird ran over to Kaz, but not before looking back. "But I can teach you that after we go flying!"

Waiting for Jaybird to climb onto his back, Kaz felt joy and excitement grow inside him. "Hold on tight!" Running through the house, he slid across the kitchen floor to a stop at the back door. "Uh, we need to open the door, though."

Inching a little further forward on Kaz's neck, Jaybird reached out and unlatched the door. Laughing as he bounded forward again, they grabbed hold of his neck near where they'd been sitting. The next thing Jaybird knew was Kaz had thrown both of them into the air and, for the first time in their life, they were riding a dragon.

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This story is released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. If you are paying money to see this or the original creator, Damaged, is not credited, you are viewing a plagiarized copy of the story.