I guess there’s no way to keep this thing between Murr and me very secret. If he acts like this when I scrape my chin, how’s he going to be when something seriously bad happens?
“You can come down now,” Dottie says, wheezing as she collapses against the nearest car. “We’re here.”
As if I’m in this spot on purpose? I tug on Murr’s claws, but he’s not releasing me. “This…wasn’t…my idea. Someone check on our nomad. See if he’s alive.”
Aggie mops her brow with an old, wrinkled red handkerchief. Her wig is askew again, but her expression is determined as she approaches Murr’s powerful hind legs. I lean over the side of the dragon’s hand so I can see things, and underneath Murr’s claws, I see a utility boot and part of a leg. Aggie moves towards the leg and kicks it.
The man flails, yelling again. “Let me go! Let me go, you dragon-loving bitches!”
Aggie squints up at me. “He’s alive.”
“What now?” Rabbit asks.
“Now we torture him until he admits where he’s got Stella,” Dottie says, and pulls out a pair of pliers.
“Guys!” I yelp, because torturing was not on the docket. I hammer on Murr’s claw, shooting a worried look at my daughter. “No one is torturing anyone. I have a teenager here!”
Aggie gazes up at me. “You’re right.” She turns to Rabbit. “Look away, honey.”
“No torture!” I bellow again.
CHAPTER 45
DAKOTA
It takes far toolong for me to get Murr to set me down, but he eventually does. I immediately move to my daughter, running my hands over her arms and legs. “You’re okay, aren’t you, baby?”
She rolls her eyes at me. “Mom. I’m fine. All I did was blow a whistle.”
Yes, but that whistle ratcheted up my anxiety. I hug her close and turn towards the others. Aggie and Dottie are waiting, not so patiently, beside one of Murr’s big back legs. They want to torture our captive, or at least make him think we’re going to. They’re doing a good job of being convincing, too, because I’m not entirely certain that they don’t want to torture him. I’m going to have to supervise closely. “Have you asked him about Stella yet?”
“Thought we’d wait for you, fearless leader,” Dottie says.
Am I the leader? Ugh. I don’t want to lead anyone, but I also don’t want to see a man slaughtered in front of my daughter if he says the wrong thing. Man, it sucks to realize you have to be the responsible one. I ruffle Rabbit’s hair and move towards Murr’sfoot. He’s still got the man caged in his claws, but it doesn’t look like it’d take much to flatten him. Just a quick shifting of weight. “Hi there,” I say, bending over to address our enemy. “Fancy seeing you again.”
The man lets out a long string of nasty, four-letter expletives.
“I’m going to ask you not to say that sort of stuff in front of my daughter,” I tell him, keeping my tone cheerful. “If I get upset, the dragon gets upset. Understand?”
Curtis goes silent.
“We’re looking for a dog,” I say. “I heard you took her from Aggie and Dottie. We want her back.”
There’s a long pause, and a scrape of fabric against the concrete, as if he’s trying to wriggle out from under Murr’s claws. “You’re wrong. Those old bats are crazy.”
“We are not!” Aggie yells, pushing forward. I put my arms around her and hold her back before she can kick Curtis again. “You stole my dog! You’re keeping her because you want to sell her puppies!”
Murr’s head tilts and his wings flutter.
“Don’t know nothing about that,” Curtis says, bluffing. “You’re either going to have to let me go or kill me.”
He’s not afraid of us, that much is obvious. But I’ve noticed that Murr’s paying attention. I think he picked up on a few words of our conversation, but it’s hard to tell what. I decide to repeat some of the conversation back to see if I can figure it out. “You stole a dog from Aggie and Dottie.” Those words elicit no response from Murr, so I continue. “We want her back, and her babies.”
The word “babies” makes Murr twitch again. Aha.
“You might not be afraid of us,” I say. “But this big dragon loves babies and if he thinks you’re keeping us from them, he’s going to be very upset.”
Curtis just makes a dismissive sound. Funny how someone can have so much piss and vinegar while trapped under a dragon’s foot.
