Alice mentally shook herself. Her own stomach pinched with hunger, but Numi was newly hatched, and she remembered how fiercely hungry Prim had been when she’d just hatched.

"Of course," she said, and with only a little bit of reluctance, offered her own meat pie to Numi.

The little dragon sniffed it, but then made a face. "Ick. You want me to eat this?"

Alice and Prim exchanged a look. There was no other food inside the room.

Numi, however, had other ideas. She started crawling into Alice's lap, snuffling at Alice's pocket. "What is in here?"

Curious, Alice pulled out one of her copper coins. Instantly, Numi grabbed it up in her tiny pincer claws. Although the coin itself was bigger than her head, she somehow wrapped her jaws around it. Before Alice could say anything, the entire coin went in. Numi's gullet was stretched as the coin descended to her stomach.

"Numi," Alice said, in complete shock. "Are you... are you okay?"

Numi licked her chops. "That tasted delicious."

Alice stared at the little dragon, mildly horrified. But the little green dragon scales seemed a little brighter as if the coin had given her strength. "Can I get more?” Numi asked, hopefully.

Alice hesitated. "I don't know if swallowing coins is good for you.” Then she looked again at Numi's scales and thought back to what she had asked for just before the little dragon hatched. Had she accidentally requested a dragon that ate money? How in the world was she going to be able to afford to keep Numi fed?

“I only have one more copper left," she said but reached into her pocket anyway.

Prim poked her elegant head towards the window.

"If you want to eat more coins, you can go find some yourself."

"Really?" Numi sounded delighted.

"No," Alice said, then hesitated. "I mean..." She paused and looked down at the eager little dragon. "Would you mind getting coins for me?"

"Of course not, I want to. But only if I can eat some too."

Alice bit her lip, this was such a bad idea and she felt terrible. She was supposed to be protecting her dragon. But...

"You may eat half the copper coins you find and bring the others to me," she said, and on a burst of inspiration added, "But you may find others made of silver and gold. If you see any of those, bring them straight back to me. But... you must be careful, Numi. It's not safe out there. You must stay in the shadows and not let anyone see you."

The little dragon bobbed her head up and down, looking even more lizard-like than usual. "Okay, okay! I'll be careful. I'll look along the ground."

"You don't have any camouflage skills," Alice continued, "so you must stick to the darkness."

"And most importantly," Prim said, "you must make sure that when you return, no one follows you here. Evil men are looking for Alice. You must keep her safe."

For the first time, Numi looked entirely serious. "I will," she said. "I won't lead any evil people back to Alice. I promise."

"Stay safe," Alice picked up the little money-eating dragon and walked to the window to where one pane had been knocked out completely, leaving no sharp fragments behind. Below, the street was dark and empty.

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There was no sign of the men who had come after her.

Unless they, too, had a skill that would keep them hidden. She didn't want to think about that.

She placed Numi at the edge of the empty pane, and the little dragon scuttled out. "I'll bring back many, many coins, and try not to eat too many of them," she said. Then, she flared her narrow wings and, to Alice's mild alarm, took off into the air.

Her flight was wobbly at first, but she straightened out and dove to the ground. Her green scales were impossible to see in the gathered darkness.

Alice returned to Prim, troubled. "Did I just do the right thing?"

"She is your aspect," Prim said, "this is how she can best help you. Now, you can best help yourself by eating."

Alice gave her dragon a look. "Don't start mothering me now."

In reply, the dragon only started preening her beautiful pearl-pink wings.

Alice sat and ate half of her meat pie, saving the other half. She didn't know if she could count on Numi being successful, and Alice had certainly gone with a lot less to eat than this. She could manage.

Somehow, despite her anxiety, she fell asleep.

Her rest was broken a few hours later by the sound of clinking. Opening her eyes, it took a few seconds for her to locate the source of the sound. There was a dark form by the window, and it was trying to squeeze into a broken-out pane that was too small for it. It took a few seconds for her to realize that it was Numi, her stomach distended.

Instantly, Alice was on her feet, dumping Prim off her lap, who squawked in indignation.

She rushed to the window, but the damaged frame wouldn't budge without being broken. Luckily, the wood was old and rotted. It snapped when Alice forced it.

Numi squeezed all the way through. The little dragon's stomach was distended, much like a snake Alice had once seen that had just eaten some chicken eggs.

"Numi, are you okay?" she asked anxiously.

The little dragon peeped a happy reply. "I was too big for the window!"

Alice cradled Numi and brought her back to the corner where she and a slightly disgruntled Prim had been sleeping. Every motion brought a renewed sound of coins clinking together.

As soon as Alice sat down, Numi scuttled from her arms and stood in front of them. Then she reached into her mouth and pulled out one coin after another. It took a few moments for Alice to realize that Numi was yanking them out of her storage space, which apparently made the dragon like a money purse.

The coins kept coming, and Alice's eyes widened. "How many did you find?"

The dragon mumbled something, but her answer was lost as her mouth was misshapen. It only took a few moments before she was finished, and Alice was looking at a stack of 15 copper coins, 2 silver coins, and one gleaming gold.

It had taken Alice years of work to scavenge 20 coppers on her own, and moments for Dolly to steal most of them.

Now she was looking at more coins than she ever thought she would see at one time.

“What are these worth?” Prim asked, coming over and tilting her head one way, then the other.

“It takes a hundred copper to equal one silver, and it takes a hundred silver to create one gold,” Alice explained.

“Did I do good?” Numi asked.

With a start, Alice realized that her shocked stillness was making the dragon anxious. In answer, she grabbed the little dragon up and cuddled her close.

“You did amazing. How did you find all these coins?”

“Oh, everywhere! They were stuffed in cracks between the edges of streets, and in gutters where the water collects. The glittery one,” she used her pointed tail to indicate the gold, “was between a house and the street.”

She could easily picture Numi's flat form scuttling in and out of cracks.

“Was I good?” the little dragon asked again. “Did I help?”

She hugged the little dragon closely. “You helped so much, thank you.”

Numi let out a purr of happiness.

Since Prim was looking on wistfully, Alice grabbed her and hugged her close too.

“Can I eat some of the coins now?” Numi asked. “I was very good and I only ate a few of them, but I’m very hungry.”

“You didn't eat them when you put them in your stomach?” Alice asked.

"No, I put them in my fake stomach, not my real stomach. I was very, very good," said the little dragon, bobbing her head happily in affirmation. And why shouldn't she be rewarded for her work?

Alice plucked up the shiniest silver coin and passed it over to the little dragon. Numi's eyes bugged out even more than usual, and she ate it hungrily, biting through the large silver and swallowing it down in two pieces. Then, sated, she curled up on Alice's lap, while Prim curled up on the other side.

Alice stayed awake, staring at the coins and thinking.

For the first time since leaving the estate, she had a glimmer of hope. Things might turn out okay.