Chapter 3: Are dragons really real?

(Picture of a squirrel named, "Ryan Chestnut" writing a book about mythical animals in a chestnut tree.)

12:35PM And I am sitting here with my dog nephew Felix and cocoa from my best friend's bed and breakfast.

"Hey!" I saw my absolutely favorite relative person who is tossing keys in the air! "There's Auntie Missy now!"

So I did the super responsible thing of putting Felix down so that he could run to her (if he wanted to) but then... Like a light bulb I know EXACTLY what I'm going to submit for Mandy's new magazine!

"Okay!" I told my absolutely best friend Narrie Middlecreek, "So basically, Ryan and Mandy are like the town publishers right? Like Chestnut and Inkwell right? It's a running Joke."

"Un huh."

"So like my drawing comic is going to be about a chipmunk," I explained what the coolest new idea in my mind is, "And like Ryan Chestnut, their writing stories about mythical animals!"

"Cool!" Narrie smiled at me, and like... I have this problem, I can NOT look at people in the eyes for long, so I just looked behind her and...

"Hey," I asked Felix's human mommy, "where's uncle Randy?"

"With Ryan." Missy pointed out in front of the main building and explained, "There playing snowball..."

"What..." I looked around, "Snow?" I mean yeah, there was a few pieces here or there but... "Oh," I pointed at the tiny patches of snow on the ground and said, "I guess there is a little bit."

(Picture of Noah hopping up onto the bench like a teddy bear.)

"Hiya!" Noah called... And then raised her arms and growled like a real bear!

"Ha ha!" Narrie smiled and then looked at me and whispered, ""Sometimes I think that she might not be just a robot..? Does that make sense?"

"Umm..." I... Do I spill the beans here and now??? "Yeah, Noah's more than just a robot."

Yeah... See, I do, I really want to tell Narrie all about Gaia and I also know that the magic in Gaia isn't just something make believe like the garden fairy's that Narrie hides around here... But... She did tell me they sometimes talk to her so...

Well, that's what I mean! See, what I'm thinking is that if she can believe in quiet and invisible things like garden gnomes and guardian angels then like, why can't I show her some things that people besides just me do in fact see...

And interact with.

BUURP!

And listen to..?

I looked to where that sound was coming from and... Guess what?

First, I am pretty sure there is probably a real live hot air burping dragon

And twos... She's looking up in the mountains right now!

But... I can't just tell her that in front of everyone...

Like... I know that the Chrystal family knows more about Gaia than me and that Mandy Inkwell family is celebrating dragon day and Mom and Dad told me that this is all just a big cover for real dragons but...

I can't just embarrass her by saying something like... "Hey Narrie, that imaginary dragon I told you about? It's real."

And this one...

"Hey Narrie... You know how we like to pretend that Noah is a robot? Well... She just PRETENDS to be a robotic plush teddy bear!" I actually am smiling at my best friend and shaking my head... "Yeah."

"Yeah what?" Someone muttered.

"Umm..." I froze and like...

I... Almost actually did imagine telling my best friend, "Oh, that's just a teddy bear suit. She actually looks in-between like plant roots! It's kinda cool actually..."

But thankfully I just told her, "I'm starting to get a cool story like Uncle Randy, maybe I can be a comic artist like Uncle Randy."

"Cool."

"Yeah, I think it would be a really good cover for me if my stories were about a Mom who is a spy and tells her kids about all of her "exotic adventures"..!"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Sounds fun."

"Yup!" I stood up and stretched and looked directly at Noah to find out if my silly story was offensive to her..?

I guess not so I added, "And then I would cast doubt on my secret intelligence agency story by getting into "mom mode" and saying something silly like, "And the only proof I have is these pictures."

Basically what I'm thinking is that I am pretty sure that in order to live the best of both worlds I'm going to have to spin a web of lies to protect the truth! I mean like, If I tell anyone that I fly with dragons the they are probably, definitely gonna be thinking that I'm a liar anyways.

"Remember!" Mandy called at us before picking up her camera tripod, "That we are ALWAYS looking for interesting things to report and..." She just looked up to the cave and added, "there's history in the making in this strange little town of ours."

WELL! I do have a secret, and it's about that giant "bird" that just melted that snow and...

ROAR!!!

Yup totally might have just been a bird..

"So!" Mandy propped her bag over her shoulder and asked Narrie, "You got any fun stories to tell? Or just anything on your mind?"

Narrie looked at her and me and said, "... Anything?"

"Yup, that's what I'm here for!" Mandy tapped the phone in her pocket. "And if you want this for the festival show, we got a camera too!"

"I don't want this on recorder..." Narrie told Mandy.

"Honey..!" Mandy settled down and told Narrie that "If it's something silly like north pole Santa stuff?"

Mandy proudly, or accidentally spilled some coffee on the ground and told my best friend, "That's not silly at all. This is Noel you know and like, who doesn't believe in real elves? Huh?"

"Okay..." Narrie said, "Like Mr. Vesley's riddle, "Who is the "real" Santa clause right?"

"Yeah..." Mandy smiled and answered that riddle, "'Cus they all are... And we can all be Santa in our own way."

"Okay then..." Narrie looked at me. And then my heart nearly stopped when she blurted out, "I learned something about dragons!"

I gulped the rest of my mocha and watched Mandy put on a smile and get really close to Narrie's ear.

"What'd you learn?" Mandy whispered to Narrie loudly enough for me to hear, and then added, "That fire birds and dragons are definitely real and probably even hiding in this very town?"

"Yes." Narrie nodded at Mandy Inkwell, the town gossip columnist, and now I completely failed in my mission to keep Moms secret...

Secret? Around untrusted people..?

Wait? Do you think she totally expected me to tell Narrie without telling me to tell her?

"Yes." Narrie kept her mouth open, "I saw a dragon melt the snow and fly off and crawl in the mountains and land in my very own secret garden and now I got a dragon stature to remember and it's really pretty and it's wooden and I think that I can even get Momma Kate to go inside of my secret garden to help decorate for CHRISTMAS!!!"

PHEW!!! I think she's just describing a day dream about how one of the gargoyles landed on her gazebo!

"Yeah!" I exclaimed to back up my bestie, "I think that's." I took a breath and explained myself as calmly and as sensibly as possible to people who don't even know that Gaia might exist. "I think that dragons are real too but I didn't want anyone to make fun of me."

"Phew," Mandy held her chest, pointed to the mountains and explained to me, "I thought it was just me who just saw something that looked an awful lot like a dragon peaking out of that cave there."

Me? Was I freaking out? Nope... In fact I started to blurt out, "You know something else? Noah is alive..!"