Page 29 of Horn in My Side

“This was the last shop I visited, and they were already closed by the time I arrived. I didn’t see any broken glass inside, so I thought it was all good, but I had this feeling, like I needed to go in there.

” She should have followed her instinct.

“We could probably wait until morning, but I’m worried he or she might be hungry or thirsty. Or they could hurt themselves.”

“Yeah.” He put his hand on the door. “Huh.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t feel any magic protecting this place. No locking spells, no shields, or wards. You’d think they’d at least spring for a burglary hex, considering what they have in there.”

“They have one of the best electronic security systems on the street. Kap told me about it because he had to respond to a call from them one night when someone tried to break in. There’s a silent alarm inside and the entire place locks down once it’s triggered.

But more important, every item they sell has a curse on it, so if anyone tries to take a piece without paying, they immediately start growing boils on their skin and their teeth fall out and other nasty stuff. ”

“I see. That makes it easier, then.”

“Easier for what?”

“To break inside.”

“Break in—” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Break inside? Are you mad? Didn’t you hear what I said about the curses and your teeth falling out?”

“We’re not stealing anything. Nothing that doesn’t belong to us, anyway,” he reasoned. “And we don’t need to break in—we’re just breaking Clawdia out.”

“Clawdia? You think she’s a girl?”

“She did choose to hide out in a jewelry shop.”

Wow, another joke. But this wasn’t the time for laughter. “All right. What do you propose we do?”

“Come with me.”

She trailed behind him as he led her to the rear of the jewelry store. Like Fantastic Tails, there was one metal door that served as the back entrance and one window that was above the bathroom sink. A camera mounted on the wall pointed at both.

“One sec.” Mal held up a hand, then a yellow dome appeared over them like an umbrella.

“It’s the same one I used for the tizzie whizie.

It generates a magnetic field that disrupts all kinds of electrical signals.

Prevents me from getting electrocuted, but in this case”—he nodded at the camera—“it’ll make us appear invisible, at least to the camera lens. ”

“That’s amazing.” She had no idea he could do that. “But you said we were breaking Clawdia out. How do we do that?”

He gestured to the window. “I can also disrupt the tripwire signal to the alarm with this same magnetic field. But my magic isn’t infinite. I can only hold up the shield and stop the signal for so long—you’ll have to be quick.”

“You want me to climb in and find her?”

“No, no.” Mal shook his head. “Draw her out. Call her.”

Fear and doubt washed over her and her knees trembled. “How am I supposed to do that?”

“Use your instinct, think about the things you do at the shop. Or how you knew that basilisk was sick.” His purple eyes bored right into her. “You can do this, Jasmine.”

She didn’t respond right away. How could she, when his words of faith shook her to her very core. “I—Okay, let’s do this.” It was worth a try.

He flashed her a smile. “Ready?”

She rubbed her hands together. “As I’ll ever be.”

Mal reached up, digging his claws under the window to pull it wide open. “Now, Jasmine.”

Still unsure what to do, Jasmine raised her hands up. She tried to imagine . . . whatever it was in there and draw it out.

Come out and play, Clawdia.

Here, here, Clawdia.

Pspspspsps?

Oh Mother Goddess, this was stupid. She dropped her hands to her sides. “I’m never going to—”

“Shhh!” Mal hissed. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Something’s crawling around in there.” His face strained tight, the veins on his temples bulging. “Keep going.”

Okay, Jasmine, you can do this.

Rolling up her metaphorical sleeves, she raised her hands to the window once more. “Come on, Clawdia. Time to come home.”

Closing her eyes, she tried to picture Clawdia in her mind’s eye.

First, she was a dark blob, formless and free.

Slowly, though, the blob began to take shape.

The lower half stretched into five legs—no, four legs and a long tail.

Then wings sprouted out from the top half as the head morphed into its true form, slowly forming an outline before the details appeared to her.

The shock struck her like lightning.

“I know what Clawdia is,” she whispered.

“What—Fuuuuck!”

A small, dark blur flew out from the open window and straight into Jasmine’s arms. About the size of a golden retriever puppy, it let out a happy chirp and blinked up at her with shiny blue eyes that matched its scaly body.

Small horns dotted the middle of its head, going all the way down its back, where two wings sprouted on either side.

Mal gasped. “Is that a—”

“Dragon,” she finished. “Clawdia is a dragon.” The cheeky little thing batted her long lashes at Jasmine, as if she was saying, Yup , I’m a dragon all right! “I can’t believe it. How did—”

“Let’s figure that out later.” The yellow magnetic shield above them flickered. “I can’t hold on to this much longer.”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” She clutched Clawdia closer to her chest as Mal led them away from the cameras.

By the time they walked around to the front, the yellow dome had faded away.

They hurried down Main Street, sprinting as fast as they could all the way to the shop.

As soon as they were inside, Mal stumbled forward.

“Mal!” Shifting Clawdia to her right side, she slid her left arm around his waist then guided him toward the counter. “Are you all right?”

He heaved. “Yeah . . . need to catch . . . my breath.” Planting his elbows on the countertop, he leaned on it and took a deep breath. “Is she . . . okay?”

Releasing him, she wrapped both arms around Clawdia. The baby dragon snuggled up against her shoulders. Sharp talons dug into her skin and the horns poked at her neck, but Jasmine didn’t mind the discomfort. “Yeah, she’s good.”

Mal pushed himself off the counter. “A dragon. I kinda suspected it, but never really thought it was possible.”

“My supplier must have mixed up Clawdia’s egg with his batch of carcinos eggs,” she deduced. “Or he didn’t know what it was.”

“If he did, he wouldn’t have sold it to you for such a low price.”

“Have you ever seen a dragon before? I’ve only watched videos of them.” Jasmine had never encountered one, much less had one in the shop. They were much too expensive and there were only a handful of dragon breeders in the world.

“A couple of times. Had some clients who owned them.” He peered at Clawdia. “She should grow to about the size of a German shepherd. Human selective breeding over generations reduced their size, though there are rumors that wild dragons as large as buildings like in ancient times still exist.”

Jasmine had heard of that too. “Clawdia’s ancestors must have been huge.”

“Likely. So, are we going to keep calling her that name?”

“Of course,” she replied matter-of-factly. “She does have claws. Anyway, I think she’s hungry. I’m gonna go find her something to eat. Do you know what dragons like?”

“Not a clue.”

Turns out, dragons were not discerning at all when it came to food.

After placing her in an empty pen, Clawdia happily gobbled up the banana Jasmine offered her, as well as a jar of peanut butter, half a tub of yogurt, and an entire sample bag of Ethereal Balance kibble.

As soon as she finished eating, she curled up into the blanket in the corner and closed her eyes.

“She’s finally asleep.” Unable to help herself, Jasmine took her phone out and snapped a photo of the snoozing baby dragon.

They knelt down side by side, looking over the side of the pen, watching over Clawdia. Adrenaline poured out of Jasmine as the day’s adventure finally caught up with her. She was tempted to crawl back to the counter—and all the way home—but she managed to get to her feet. Mal stood up as well.

“We should close up,” she said. “I hate to leave her alone . . .”

“I can stay with the hatchling,” Mal offered.

“Are you sure?”

“She shouldn’t be able to escape.” He had already reinforced the pen and fireproofed it while Clawdia ate. “But just in case, someone should be here. I’ll grab the sleeping bag in the office.”

“I’ll stay. You shouldn’t—”

“It’s fine. You can stay tomorrow if you want.”

“I—Okay.” She didn’t have the strength to argue. “I’ll help you close up.”

Heading to the counter, she turned the lights low and was about to lower the volume of the music when she paused.

It was one of her favorite songs by a sixties girl group, a sentimental and corny love ballad.

On a whim, she turned up the volume, humming along as she began to arrange the counter and clean up the receipts and other clutter on top.

“All done,” Mal said as he approached her. “I also found the sleeping bag.”

“Thanks, Mal. Are you sure you’re gonna be okay?” Rounding the counter, she went over to his side.

“Yeah, I’ll be good. I’ve slept in worse places.”

She shot him a skeptical look. “Really?”

“I once had to share a bunkhouse with bunch of ogres after a ten-hour day. They served wildebeest and bean stew at the mess hall for dinner.”

“That doesn’t sound pleasant at all,” she said with a grimace.

“A sleeping bag on the floor isn’t so bad. You go on ahead home and get some rest.”

“All right. We also have some pillows. Let me go scrounge them up. They should be in the hatching room.” Before he could protest, she ran upstairs, returning moments later with a pillow under each arm.

Mal was spreading out the sleeping bag right by Clawdia’s pen. “Thanks,” he said as she handed him the pillows.

“Yeah.” She glanced down at the sleeping dragon through the slats of the pen. “Actually, Mal, I’m not leaving.”

“No,” he grunted. “I told you—I’ll stay here and you can go home.”