I made cookies.

I couldn’t help it since I didn’t feel like I’d get any sleep after all of that. Instead, I tossed a batch of double chocolate cookies in the oven and pulled out a book from my stack. The amount of sunlight streaming in from the skylights was perfect, and as soon as I finished making some Boba Tea, I was going to read and get some sun. I’d gotten some kits and tried a regular milk tea with Boba. Prep was super easy, and it turned out perfect, not too sweet.

The smell of melted chocolate was so freaking enticing. I pulled down a plate and waited until the timer went off. I used an oven mitt to pull the tray out, then danced around the island waiting the three minutes they needed to cool on the pan. Once that timer went off, I added six cookies to my plate.

It was time to get some sun.

Yet, as I moved to go up the stairs, I heard something from the shop area. The cat had vanished shortly after I’d decided to just relax. He hid wherever he did when I couldn’t find him. “Hello?” I called.

The door was still closed, locked, and the shop lights were off. From the skylight, the sun brightened the room, but it wasn’t perfect. I set the plate on the counter, along with the glass with my iced tea in it. Some sound came from the table in the center of the room. I moved closer, seeing something move on the table.

“Holy smokes,” I mumbled. Right next to one of the books sat a tiny purple dragon. It stared at me with bright green eyes that reminded me of the cat. Yet, it was tiny. The size of my palm, tiny. “Hey, little guy… It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”

The dragon backed up right into the spine of a book sitting on the tabletop. “Are you hungry?”

The dragon blinked at that and nodded.

It freaking nodded.

Where was the cat when I needed him? I didn’t know what little tiny dragons ate, or how to take care of them. Where did this little guy come from, anyway? “I don’t know what you eat…”

I held out my hand for him to crawl on. He hesitantly moved forward and scrambled on my palm. His claws wrapped around my thumb as I moved him closer to me. “Let’s head into the kitchen and figure out what you eat, and what you’re doing here.”

The kitchen lights were still on, and resting on the center of the island was a chunk of meat. Like someone had set out a few pieces of cut beef for stew. As soon as the dragon caught sight of it, he jumped off my palm and flew toward the plate. He tore the meat into little pieces, eating all of it.

“Well, now I know you eat meat…” I grabbed a cookie that was still resting on the pan and munched on it. The chocolate was gooey and still warmer than I’d have liked, but at that moment, I was a little preoccupied. “Now, what are we going to do with you?” I mumbled. Yet, as soon as the meat vanished the little dragon curled up tightly and went to sleep.

“Hm… no reason my plans need to change. I’ll just bring you along. Maybe when the cat shows up, he can let me know what you're doing here.”

#

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

I woke up from my nap. I’d ignored the cookies earlier, to give Sable a chance to regain her footing. The battle between the dogs had shaken her, along with the magic she had used to get rid of that creature. I huffed, wondering why we even had to deal with him. The book hadn’t said, which wasn’t unheard of, but was unusual.

Something important happened there, I just didn’t know what.

Still, there were cookies to eat, and I should check in on Sable. I wanted to make sure that she was okay. It was the only right thing to do. By the time I polished off two cookies and made my way to the roof, something tickled at the back of my head.

Sable wasn’t alone.

I raced toward the roof in panic. No one should be in the shop without my knowledge. The door hadn’t opened, and the portals were closed. This wasn’t possible.

#

“You're a book dragon. Did you know that, little one?” I asked the tiny dragon dozing in the sunlight. On my way up to the roof, I’d discovered a book on different dragons. The tiny purple dragon had been napping on and off since eating. I still had no idea where it’d come from, but I knew it did not like cookies. Or Boba tea. That meant more for me and the cat.

I wondered where the cat had gotten off to. It surprised me he hadn’t made an appearance, given something was happening, even if that something was mostly napping. Still, I had a handy book all about dragons to read and the little guy seemed happy enough. I’d fed him, gotten him some water, and he was curled up in a hand towel next to a book.

From what I’d read, book dragons guarded books, but they could also eat books and get stronger. Or maybe it read books and got stronger? I wasn’t sure. The dragon book I was reading was in English, but a weird form of it. It wasn’t from my world, and so trying to understand what the words meant was harder than I thought it would be.

The dragon only knew a few words when I spoke: hunger, water, sleep, and other very simple concepts. The book made it out that book dragons were scholars. My only assumption was the little guy was very, very young.

Finally, the sound of the cat padding down the carpet reached me.

“Hey cat, we have a guest.”

He darted out of the door I left open, his fur all poofed out. “Where is it?!”

“Shhh, you’ll wake the little guy…” I pointed to the towel.

The cat jumped up on my lounge chair to see what I was pointing out.

“This has to be a joke,” said the cat.

“It’s a book dragon,” I said. “Though, I don’t know where he came from. I fed him meat and got him some water. Now he’s napping.”

“She, and you can’t keep it,” said the cat.

“She?”

“Purple ones are usually female.” The cat shook his head. “You need to pick her up and set her outside the door.”

“Woah, woah, woah…” I whispered. “I am not leaving a baby dragon on our stoop. That’s just wrong. Bad cat.”

The cat jerked back. “What?”

“You can’t do things like that. What if this little guy, uh girl, is supposed to be here? Isn’t that what we do? Things we’re supposed to?”

The cat's lower jaw moved and his eyes narrowed. “Don’t you move. I’m sorting this out.” The cat jumped off the chair and vanished into the bookshop. The dragon still napped, and I grabbed my last cookie. I rolled my eyes and nibbled on the chocolaty goodness. The sunlight felt divine, as I waited for the cat to reappear.

It took longer than I thought it would.

He slowly slinked his way back to the chair. “She can stay until I figure out where she needs to go. You must not let her out of your sight. There are things, even books, in the shop that could kill her.”

“I won’t - I swear.” I held out half of the cookie to him.

“No, thank you.”

“Where did she come from?” I asked, finishing the cookie.

“I have no idea, but I’ll find out.” The cat had a grim look on his face as he left this time.

I leaned closer to the napping dragon. “You get to stay,” I whispered. The dragon curled tighter and sighed a sigh of sleepy contentment.