Page 41 of The Dragon’s Captive

“You will give me permission?” Kate growled the word at him. “You haven’t heard a damn thing, have you, Vilka?”

“I have heard it,” he said, stony-faced. “And I have made my decision. Mika has seen dragons here. If she tells people of the portal, if she speaks of the dragons…”

“She doesn’t talk about dragons. She talks about dinosaurs. Even if she did, every kid her age talks about dragons,” Kate sighed. “It’s all anyone back on Earth talks about ever. There are entire groups of people claiming to be dragons. They put on fake claws and wings and they go into the woods and pretend to fight one another.”

Vilka looked at her with an expression of extreme incredulity. “Why?”

“Because people are silly,” Kate said. “And you’d know that, if you visited.”

There was a very long silence in which Kate’s stomach churned. Finally Vilka nodded. “Very well,” he agreed. “One day. I will give you one day to convince me as to why Earth is a better place for us than our native realm.”

“Your father’s native realm,” she mumbled under her breath. “As a group, we’re about as native to this realm as kangaroos are to fishbowls.”

“Kangaroos?”

“You have a lot to learn, mister,” Kate said, kissing his cheek. “I’m going to get us ready.”

CHAPTER 20

“You’re sure we can only stay a day?” Kate was not at all sure how she could possibly show Vilka that Earth represented a world worth living in within twenty-four hours. She couldn’t even show him all of New York in that time.

“That is ten days for Mika,” he reminded her. “She will miss you terribly.”

“She will barely notice I’m gone,” Kate laughed. “She loves your parents. Especially Vyktor.”

“He is so soft with her,” Vilka agreed. “I believe he would let her do anything she pleased. I do not know what happened to the man who raised me.”

“That is how it is,” Kate said. “Parents get the tough stuff, grandparents get the fun stuff. And think, when we live here, a week’s vacation taken from here will be more than two months there. She will have the longest vacations.”

“As long as nobody notices that our daughter appears to be growing at an astounding rate relative to her peers,” Vilka said.

“True,” Kate agreed. “It will be awkward if she ages a year over summer break for sure, but we can work around these things.”

“You continue to think anything is possible, don’t you,” Vilka said with a certain fondness.

“I know it is,” Kate replied. “Mika is evidence of that.”

“Alright, my love,” Vilka said. “Show me the wonders of this world of yours.”

They held hands and stepped through the portal.

* * *

“What is…” Vilka’s voice trailed off into silent, stunned incomprehension. The first hour or so on Earth had been spent in Kate’s apartment. That had been doable. His first cab ride had been an adventure, but he’d taken that in stride too. Now, Kate was wondering if she had pushed him too far too fast.

Standing amidst bustling crowds rushing back and forth between brightly lit high-rise buildings, Kate watched a wide variety of expressions flashing over Vilka’s face. She did not know that she had taken him to the right place to make an introduction to the human world, but Times Square was iconic and so much of what was different about the human world could be seen there.

Billboards flashed high above their heads, entertainers moved among the crowds wearing various cartoon suits, some dressed as dragons, which made Vilka snort. Jutting out from one of the buildings, a large animatronic dragon hung out over the crowds. Vilka made a beeline for it and laughed roundly at it.

“Mika’s dinosaur drawings are closer to the real thing,” he snorted. “That is what they think we are? Pot-bellied lizards with stumpy little wings?”

“That’s for kids,” she tried to explain. “I told you dragons are in right now.”

“Yes, but so small, so cheap…”

“Don’t get the urge to show them your dragon form,” she reminded him. “It won’t go down well.”

“I am not foolish, Kate,” he reminded her. “I know better than to be reckless.” He turned around, looking around the crowd with an expression of wonder. “There are so many humans.”