My calls might reach a monster first, but they speak the same language I do. If one shows up, I’ll just explain that I lost my dog. Maybe they’ll even help me look for him.
There’s a wolfgirl in my AP Calc class, and she’s nice. She has to use a special grip to hold her pencil, but everything else about her is basically just like a human teenager. She plays softball and worries about finals and wears a hoodie with our school mascot, the Fighting Fox, on the back, the pointed ears on the hood fitting perfectly over her wolfy ones.
The thought that I’ve never seen her fully shifted nibbles at the back of my mind. Does she have the same personality in full monster form? Or is she something different… something deadlier?
Goosebumps raise on my arms, but I scrub them away and keep walking. It’s going to be fine.
Up ahead, I hear the murmur of voices and then…a high, delighted bark! That has to be Radar. Someone found him…or he found someone. Either way, I’m so relieved, tears well in my eyes.
“He’s pretty cute,” one voice rumbles. I can hear a smile in the deep, friendly tone.
The other one snorts. “Domesticated. Probably tastes like chicken.”
I break into a jog. “Hey! Please don’t eat him. That’s my dog!” I call.
The voices abruptly cut off, replaced by footsteps and grunts and rustling and a muffled curse that’s very nearby.
“I’m serious. Give me my dog.” Where did they go? I stop, heart pounding, to listen. The sounds are coming from behind a large boulder to my left. “He’s just a puppy. Please, don’t hurt him.”
“I wouldn’t.” The deep, rumbly voice sounds irritated and…a little embarrassed? “Gabe was joking. We don’t eat dogs. I just…need a minute. Then I’ll bring the little guy to you.”
“Okay.” My heart’s racing, but what can I do? I wait.
Long minutes later, a huge, shadowy figure with glowing yellow eyes and red skin steps from behind the boulder. He must be seven feet tall. Horns sprout from his head and a thick tail with a pointed tip snaps behind him. It’s adragon. And this is hisless-scary form.
Instinctively, I take a step back and trip over something. I would have landed ungracefully on my ass, but someone catches my arm, stopping my fall. The dragon looms over me, Radar cradled in one arm.
“Sorry,” he says, like he’s the one who pushed me down. “I’m still slow at shifting. Took me a sec to change form and getdressed while I was holding onto the dog.” He motions to his outfit. He’s wearing a very human jeans and a T-shirt that must have been hard to put on with one hand. In the dim light, I can barely make out the logo. It’s an axe, the mascot from another high school, South Lincoln. The all-monster school.
Something in me settles. He’s a student, just like me. He extends his free arm, offering to help me up.
I take his clawed, scaly hand. It completely dwarfs mine. His skin is much warmer, too, almost hot. He pulls me upright, his bicep stretching his sleeve with the effort. He squeezes my fingers slightly before he drops them, like he’s reassuring me everything’s going to be fine. For some reason, I believe it.
I clear the catch in my throat. “Thanks for finding him. Radar ran off like a rocket, and I couldn’t keep up.”
“Radar, huh?” he asks, looking down at my puppy, who’s draped over his muscular forearm with his tongue hanging out. Is mine hanging out, too? Feels like it. Forearms are my weakness.
I nod, and he passes the dog to me. Exhausted from his adventures, Radar immediately snuggles into the crook of my elbow. “I call him that because he can’t see. He has to navigate using his other senses. So…Radar.”
“Cute name. I’m Zed, by the way.”
“Caroline. Well, Cari,” I correct, stroking Radar’s soft fur. It feels so good to have him back in my arms, I can’t stay mad at him. “I live on the edge of the woods. We moved in last month.”
Something comes over Zed’s face, but it’s hard to read exactly because even in his humanoid form, his features are so inhuman. “Oh. You’rethatCaroline.”
My heart sinks. He must have heard my dad yelling at me before. I paste on a big, brave smile. “Guess I’m famous around here.”
“Just to me and Gabe because we hunt in this quadrant so often. He’s hiding because he’s shy meeting new people. Sasquatch thing,” Zed explains awkwardly.
“Hi Gabe,” I say to the seemingly empty woods. “Nice to ‘meet’ you, too.”
Zed grins when I use one of the puppy’s paws to wave into the trees, but his smile quickly slips away. “We’ve been worried about you. Probably sounds strange since we haven’t met, but more than once I’ve thought about tracking you down. Saying something. Is that your husband?”
I laugh. “I’m only eighteen. Not married. You probably heard my dad. He’s got a little bit of a temper.”
Zed growls softly. “He shouldn’t treat you like that.”
I shake my head and hug Radar to my chest. Dad blows up, but he’s never hit me or anything. “I’m fine.”
