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"What did you call me?" He leaned in, and I found myself staring into a giant eyeball that looked like a wall of ice. "Little witch, don't be too forward."
"I don't know your name, so I have to call you something other than 'hey you' or 'dragon,' don't I? So I'm calling you Smoky as long as you refuse to give us your name." I sighed. This was getting us nowhere, or worse—could be netting us an invitation to dinner.
But he laughed. "Too bad you can't stay awhile and play."
"Listen, we could really use your help," I said. "You could do wonders for us if you'd be willing to give us a hand."
"So now you need my help, do you?" He blinked; the gust from his eyelids actually ruffled my hair. "What do you want?"
I cleared my throat. "We have Tom, and we're taking him with us. We need an escort to his house. There are demons prowling the woods, Smoky, and they're bent on capturing Tom. They're not exactly planning a picnic for him, either. If they take him away from us, the whole world's going to suffer."
Sure, dragons could be downright mean, and they often snatched up passersby for a snack, but they weren't evil in the way that demons were evil. And lucky for us, they usually didn't like Demonkin. I'd studied my dragon lore in school.
Smoky frowned—not an easy task for a dragon—and after a pause that seemed to last forever, said, "Demons, is it? They're bloody well unwelcome in my woodland. Come on, I'll guard you on the way back to the house."
I whistled for Morio and Tom as the dragon drew back. A brilliant flash of light blinded me, and when it dissipated and I could see again, a tall man in a long white cloak was standing next to me. He had flowing silver hair that reached his ankles, and his skin might have been made of alabaster. But his eyes were those same twin glacial pools that had stared me down. I'd heard that dragons could take human form—at least the older ones—but had never known whether it was true or not. I guess this answered my question.
Morio's eyes went wide as he looked up at the lean giant. "You are—"
The man gave us a thin smile. "Smoky, apparently. Come then, let's get you back to Tom's house before I get bored."
We traipsed through the woodland with Smoky in the lead. I hung back a little, studying the creature-turned-human. He was handsome, though stern, but there was far more to his aura than to his looks. That ancient dragon energy imbued him with a regal stance. While he might eat me up in dragon form, he would never be rude or crude as a human. He might take what or who he desired without a second thought, but he would do so with courtesy.
"You find me perplexing?" he said without turning around.
I blushed. Somehow he'd sensed my fascination. "Just… different," I said, stumbling over my words. All my charm, poise, and experience seemed to have just flown the coop. Out with the bathwater, just like the baby.
Morio stared at him openly. "So tell me, if a human were to stumble on you in the woods, and you knew they were coming, what would they find?"
Smoky chuckled. "Why me, of course. As I am now. They'd find me a pleasantly eccentric hiker, out for a jaunt. Of course, I'd be wearing jeans and a leather jacket. Unless, of course, I was hungry and they were alone and there was no chance of me being caught." He let out a laugh that reminded me I was talking to a dragon, not a man.
"Do you eat a lot of people?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to know.
"The question is, how many do you consider a lot!"
I glanced at him, and he flashed me a smooth grin. Oh yeah, dragons were charming, all right.
"I find my food as I need it," he said.
I could tell I wasn't going to get a straight answer out of him on that question. Or probably many others. Dragons loved to speak in riddles.
As we came up on the edge of the path leading to Tom's house, I began to get nervous. What would we find? Would the demons be there? Were Delilah and Chase okay? Smoky went first, his long white robe swishing around his legs as he strode out in the open.
"Well, he's not afraid," Morio said in a low voice.
"He doesn't need to be afraid," Tom answered.
I laughed. "You're absolutely right, Tom. Say, listen to me for a minute," I said, sobering. "You have to stay with us. Unless we tell you that somebody's safe, don't go off with anybody else, and don't let yourself trail behind. You need to be with us at all times."
"Okay, but I wish I knew what you guys wanted me for. I'm nothing special." He frowned, looking vaguely disconcerted.
I tried to think of a reasonable explanation that would hold him off until we got back to Otherworld. I didn't want Tom knowing anything about the pendant hanging around his neck for now. He might get some half-cocked idea to play hero and try to use whatever other powers the pendant might have. I could sense that there were strengths hidden in that stone that hadn't been mentioned in the book that Grandmother Coyote gave to me.
Smoky whistled, and we slipped out of the undergrowth. As we entered the clearing, the door to the house opened, and Delilah came out, followed by Chase, who had apparently recovered enough to walk. They looked from Smoky to Tom, and started down the stairs.
"Everything's okay—" I started to say when I was startled by a noise from behind an ancient cedar growing near the house. In unison, we turned to look as a man stumbled out from behind the tree.
He was wild-eyed, with hair sticking out from his head, a real Albert Einstein type, and he wore a crazy getup that looked a lot like chain mail. On closer look, I had the sneaking suspicion it was made of tinfoil.
