EIGHTEEN
Baby Noah lay in his crib staring up at the dangling animals turning in a circle over his head with the music. Something inside him told him he would normally eat all those animals hanging from strings. His middle growled.
Well, he thought it was his middle. It was the same place in his body that made noise when Mama fed him. But no, this was something else.
A hot feeling went through him followed by tingles that tickled. He giggled and flapped his arms and legs. When he stopped moving, his hands were different. So were his legs and feet.
Sitting up, he saw something move from the corner of his eye. He turned his head and saw a short snake behind him. Mama had told him these could be a dangerous animal to his little person, if big enough. He didn’t know what consisted of “big enough,” but he wasn’t sticking around to find out.
His Puff the Magic Dragon toddler bed had high sides he couldn’t climb over yet. But in this new body, he easily hopped to the ground. He turned to look at the snake in the bed, but it was gone.
Again, something moved in the corner of his eye. The snake! It had jumped off the bed, too. And behind him again. He had to get away, find a place to hide. Mama would come and save him. His middle growled again. Maybe he could find cookies or crackers. He knew where Nana hid them.
* * *
Tiana sat at the castle’s kitchen table surrounded by babies and their mothers. Bowls of mashed up bananas, creamy oats, and one of dry Coco Puffs for the moms, quickly disappeared.
She felt overwhelmed with all these new names and women dashing in all directions in the feeding frenzy. Not to mention the initial impact of seeing the castle where Ker and his family lived.
Ker had introduced her to everyone, but only Morgan’s name stuck with a face since she was the first. Tiana’s brain cells were falling behind momentarily. A mug of coffee was in order.
One of the mothers asked Morgan, “Was Noah sick last night?”
Morgan wiped up yellow mush from the floor next to a highchair. She replied, “Not sick, exactly. I think he was missing his daddy. Tor is rarely gone at nights anymore. Noah saw him leave and probably wanted him back. I finally got him to sleep around three a.m.”
Tiana glanced at the clock. It was barely past ten. How long did babies sleep? She had a lot to learn.
“He’s been awfully quiet,” Morgan said. “I imagine he was exhausted. I should get him up so his naptime isn’t messed up. Don’t want him to be grouchy all day.” She left the room.
* * *
A screech loud enough to make a dog’s ears ring rolled through the castle. They picked up loose toddlers, gathering them at the table, then a couple ran from the room. Tiana followed the ones on the run.
“Morgan!” one of the women called out. They skittered around a corner and down a long hall. This place was massive. How could anyone find anyone else?
Around another corner, Morgan came running. Her face was void of color except for her cheeks, red from anxiety.
“Noah is missing,” she stammered out.
Who Tiana thought was Lexi grabbed Morgan’s shoulders. “Slow down, Morg. What do you mean he’s missing?”
“He’s not in his bed. It’s cold. Oh my god! Could the black dragons have him?” Morgan was in complete panic. Lexi held onto her tighter, calming her.
“Who are the black dragons?” Tiana asked. One of the biggest men she’d ever seen, next to Ker, stood behind her. How someone so big could sneak up behind her, she had no idea.
“The black dragons are our enemies. They been trying to kill our mates for years,” he said. “They’ve been quiet too long. We’ve been worried.” The man passed the woman, heading down the hall Morgan had come down. Tiana trailed him.
“So an enemy dragon broke into the castle and kidnapped a baby?” Tiana almost screamed. “How could that happen?”
“It couldn’t,” he said. “My name’s Clacher, by the way.”
“I’m Tiana. Ker’s friend.”
Clacher looked over his shoulder at her. “Welcome to the family.”
What? she thought. Before she could quiz him on that, he stepped into a room decorated in Puff the Magic Dragon décor. She wondered what that cartoon that was. She had more than a lot to learn. The big man in front of her took a deep breath then frowned.
Morgan and Lexi rushed into the room. “What do you smell, Clacher?” Morgan asked, tears flowing down her face. He took another big inhale.
“I smell Noah, but it’s not him,” he said.
“What?” Morgan said. “You’re not making sense.”
Clacher circled the room. “I realize that,” he said. “I don’t understand what I’m smelling either.” He stepped out of the room and turned, everyone following.
Clacher led them down the hall to another door. He peeked inside and looked around the bedroom and sniffed deeply. He stepped back and continued down the hall. He stopped at the next door and repeated the action in another bedroom.
“So,” Tiana said as they jogged down another aisle, “besides enemies, who are these black dragons? Do they look like you?”
Behind her, Morgan answered. “No. The blacks are nasty little pains in the ass dragons. It takes a lot of them to begin to hurt one of our dragons. What they don’t have in size, they have in quantity.”
Tiana asked over her shoulder. “Were you attacked by them?” An angry spark twinkled in Morgan’s eye.
“You bet I was,” she said. “They almost got to me if not for Tor.”
“What’s their purpose for trying to hurt you?” Tiana asked.
Clacher said, “Sayeh has some bone to pick with the royal family.”
“Hold on a sec,” Tiana said, almost stumbling as they hurried along, “Who is Sayeh and what about royalty?” The group went down a set of steps to a lower level.
“Sayeh is the leader of the blacks. And he’s a prime A asshole. I and all my brothers are the rulers of the whites,” he explained.
Lexi said from the rear of the group. “Whites? No one has said anything about whites.”
“The whites,” Clacher started, “are our clans, our people.”
“And the blacks aren’t?” Tiana asked.
“They are, but not right now,” Clacher replied.
Tiana snorted. “That made a lot of sense. Please explain.” Checher opened a door into a massive room filled with toys and beanbags and anything a child would ever want. The women spread out, Morgan calling for Noah. The male dragon sniffed at a ball, a fallen set of blocks, and more that led to another door.
“Morgan,” Clacher called, “he left through this door.” Tiana rushed to follow the man. They were into another hallway, the walls made of stone laid like brick. Just like pictures they showed on Travel Advisor.
“Clacher,” Morgan huffed, “Tor and Nana left to research a UFO. Is it more of your family?”
He shrugged. “Not anymore of us left. But it could be anybody, even clan.”
“Great,” Lexi partially whispered, “more discrimination between black and white.”
Clacher skidded to a stop and turned to them. “No. You are wrong. All our people are one group. No one is better than another. We care about them all.”
Lexi said with a blush, “But you have blacks and whites. One group isn’t above the other?”
Clacher let out a heavy breath and put his fist on his hips. “The color names we use are a misnomer.”
Morgan pushed Clacher forward. “Talk as you sniff. Find my son.”
He took off jogging down the aisle. “Clans are different from royalty by more than just size. My brothers and I can change colors based on what offense we choose when fighting. The smaller dragons turn color based on how they are feeling, simply put.” His hand came up, signaling no questions. “That means if a dragon has peace in their hearts, they are a light green color. If they are happy or tranquil, they’re mostly light green to white. White can also mean being frightened or unsure.”
“What emotion is black?” Tiana asked.
“Black is all negative, hate, fear—sometimes. The opposite of peace.”
Lexi said, “So, you’re telling us the blacks are black because they have hate in their hearts?”
“Yes, their leader encourages those destructive emotions,” he said. The group came to another stairwell and they climbed. Tiana was so ready for this to be over with. She’d never jogged so long in her life. How could a three-year-old travel this far? His legs would have to be tired.
“Why do they hate you? Or us, I guess,” Lexi asked, puffing up the steps. Tiana didn’t feel as bad now.
“I’m not really sure. You’d have to ask Nana. She’d know. Something having to do with the rightful leader of the clans. After Nana wiped out a shit load of them at the cabin, we haven’t heard a thing from them. That’s got us worried.”
Clacher opened the door at the top of the steps and they emerged into the kitchen, a dark corner not being used. A high-pitched scream rang out.
“Dang it, Clacher!” one of the women at the kitchen table hollered. “You scared the sh—crap out of us.”
“Sorry, following Noah’s trail.”
“What?” Avery asked. “I didn’t even know there was a door there.”
He shrugged again. “We don’t use it much. Just when coming from the playroom. Have you seen Ker?”
Oh yeah, Tiana thought. Where was he? He’d introduced her to the women then disappeared. She figured he didn’t want to be around a lot of women and babies.
“Last I knew,” Avery began, “he was outside.”
Morgan dashed through the kitchen to the door leading out. Clacher sniffed toward the pantry and opened it. A box of Saltines lay in the middle of the floor. Missing from the shelf was the container housing the animal crackers. He grinned.
“Why are you smiling?” Tiana asked.
“Tell ya in a minute,” he said, hurrying out the door behind Morgan.
Outside, they heard the mother shouting for Noah and then Ker. Clacher looked down and Tiana followed his line of sight. On the ground just outside the door was a spilled container of…animal crackers. She wondered how those got there.
“Here we are, little guy,” Ker said, coming out of the trees. In his arms, he held the most adorable miniature dragon she’d ever seen.
Behind her in the doorway, the other two women sighed a “How cute.” They squealed on their way toward Ker and the little thing.
“Bet Mommy’s missing you,” Ker said, winking at Tiana. Her heart bounced in her chest. She stayed back to keep an eye on the children still inside. When she peeked in, the remaining kids where in a playpen.
“Noah!” Morgan yelled. Tiana watched as the mom grabbed her son…or dragon…from her hot guy and squeezed him in a hug. Ker made his way toward her, gorgeous smile on his lips.
“You saved the baby, Ker,” Tiana said. “You’re a hero.”
His cheeks blushed. “Nah, just found myself a hiding dragon.” The women passed by them, heading through the kitchen to a sitting room. Ker took her hand and led her in before his brother closed and locked the door.
Tiana had to know: “How did the little guy get all the way to the forest?”
“He was scared. I think he thought a snake was chasing him,” Ker replied, trying not to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“Let’s just say I introduced Noah to his new dragon tail.”
“Awwww,” Tiana said. “How adorable.” The rest of the woman were gathered around the recently found dragon. “His first change.”
Clacher and Ker put their stories together to come up with the solution to the crime. In Noah’s dragon form, he was strong enough to get out of his toddler bed, then he went to the bedrooms and peeked in to see if they were awake. Finding no one to play with, he went down to the playroom, made his way out the door going to the hidden kitchen entrance where he took the animal crackers. Outside, he saw the snake again and ran for the woods to get away. He showed Ker the “snake,” and everything was finally settled.
Ker’s phone rattled in his pocket. He pulled it out and thumbed the screen. His instant frown worried her. He slid the phone back into his pocket, still agitated.
“What?” Tiana asked. “Who was it?”
“Nothing,” he said. “The sheriff sent over the pictures he mentioned this morning.”
“Let me see them,” she said, picking at his pocket. “I’ll see if I know them and that will all be over.”
“I don’t know, love,” Ker mumbled. “Maybe we should—”
She dragged Ker to the side while the mothers ogled the baby reptile. “Ker, I just want to get this over with and out of my life. Please.”
Ker sighed and dug his phone back out. “Okay, but for the record, I don’t like this.”
“It’s just a couple faces,” she said. “How bad could it be?”
How very wrong she was. The coroner didn’t do a great job of cleaning them up, not that there was much remaining to clean. Her stomach churned not only over the grisly sight of the images.
“That’s Oliver. I’m sure of it. The other is one of his guys.” With a hand over her mouth, she hurried through the room and out the kitchen door. She held in her breakfast, but barely.
“You okay?” Ker asked.
She straightened from leaning against the stone wall. “You’d better write this down,” Tiana said. “You were right.”