Page 37 of Ensnared

“You don’t sound very grateful.” She tilts her head and twists her lips. “If you don’t really want help, I’ll just head back.”

“No, I do,” I say. “I have no idea how to do anything.”

She purses her lips as if she agrees. “Where shall we work? It needs to be somewhere you won’t be distracted.”

Fluff Dog races through the open front door and starts barking. Helpful. Very helpful.

“Hey.” I scoop her up and jog up the path to the door, abandoning Sammy’s Batman lamp. I raise my voice to top volume. “Now, you stay in there, Fluff Dog. I’m going to be training, and I can’t be distracted.” Even if the others don’t get the message, Coral will. She’ll keep them inside, I’m sure.

“What was that?” Penelope looks disgusted.

“I found her a few days ago,” I say. “She’s a rescue.”

“Things like that won’t survive in this world. You should learn to let them go.”

Is that what she’s done? Has she let go of anything that she thinks won’t survive? I’m afraid to ask. “Let’s go around the back of the house.”

“Were you really ensnared by an earth blessed?” Now Penelope really looks unimpressed. “How unfortunate.”

“He’s their prince at least,” I say.

“Wow, the prince of the unfortunates,” she says. “Which makes you the bottom of the pile.”

I stretch a bit and bounce back and forth. “I can take care of myself.”

Her laugh is hard and sharp. “Maybe you could in your past life, but now you take your position from your blessed, and yours is the worst it could be, prince or not.”

“And I suppose your dragon craps rainbows?”

“Mine can take down a plane,” she says. “She can kill a hundred people with one lightning bolt. So yes, she’s far, far superior to yours who can. . .dig holes.”

“And yet, here you are, at the request of my mud dragon prince, teaching his little lackey how to mind-control humans.”

“Alright.” Penelope starts to walk away. “I think we’re done.”

I’m not sure how hard Axel had to work or how many favors he called in to get me a trainer, and now I’ve already scared her off. That’s not going to go over well, and if what she’s saying is true, I may need to be strong enough to keep my siblings safe when Axel’s not around. That means I need to figure out exactly what I can do. And also, if she leaves, I’ll never be able to ask her about Mom.

But how can I stop her?

I can supposedly mind control humans just like she can. . .and she’s a human.

I focus on her retreating form, thinking as hard as I can about how she should not be leaving, and how her feet should not be moving away. Her body should about-face and return to stand by me.

Then I push that thought at her.

She freezes.

I can’t help my smile. I clearly did something.

“Was that you?” She turns around slowly, a wicked smile curving her lips.

I drop my hands to my hips. “No more digs about how my dragon’s crappy, alright?”

“That was, without a doubt, the most pathetic attempt to coerce that I’ve ever felt.”

My jaw drops. It was. . .pathetic? “I stopped you, though.”

“Only because I had an uncontrollable urge to laugh.”