Tessa’s POV:

  A glimpse of blue scales had me crouching down as Dirk slinked between bushes. He kept low to the ground and glanced around nervously. He knew I was out here somewhere.

  It was hard to hold still, but any movement would draw his attention to my hiding place. After a few minutes, he scurried toward the bush I was hiding in. With a fierce cry, I jumped out at him. He reared up—squalling in surprise—and fell backward.

  “I caught you!” I proudly exclaimed as I tapped his tail and danced around him.

  A flash of silver above made me bolt back under my bush. Dad aborted his dive and sideslipped low enough to tag Dirk and flew up to land on a branch, waiting for me to come out.

  Dirk got to his feet and ran off before Mom showed up, which left me in hiding with nowhere to go. I knew I couldn’t fly faster than Dad—even Mom wasn’t that quick. But I was smaller. Could I get to a bush with branches too dense for him to get into?

  I stuck my head out for a better look. Dad sat on the branch, patiently watching me. I took two steps forward to see what he would do.

  He shifted his wings, but didn’t swoop down yet, knowing I could back into the greenery before he reached me. But I saw something he didn’t. I took another step out, half-unfurling my wings to keep his attention on me.

  At the last second, he seemed to realize something was amiss and glanced up. With a trill of alarm, he launched off his branch as he tried to evade Mom’s divebomb. I gaped at their speed and rapid changes in direction but soon remembered I needed a better hiding place. I dashed away, running under bushes to keep out of sight as much as possible.

  I managed to get to the house without being spotted by Mom, Dad, or Dirk. Taureen and Aeria watched me weasel my way under the shrubs that grew beside the house. I bet they would never think of looking for me here.

  I curled up and waited. And waited. And waited. With a silent yawn, I rested my head on my hands and tried to stay awake.

  “Tessa, where are you?” Mom’s somewhat worried voice interrupted my half-doze.

  “If I tell you, that makes it too easy for you.”

  Her faint relief came over the mindlink along with renewed determination to find me. I wasn’t sure why she was relieved—Dad told me that it was safe in the backyard.

  I had almost fallen asleep again when Dad called out, “Alright, you win this match. Come out.”

  Staggering to my feet in my haste, I slipped out of my really good hiding spot and ran over to Aeria, climbing onto her lap. That hiding place was going to be my secret. Aeria began petting me as I saw Mom’s golden scales gliding above the bushes.

  “Tessa. You can come out now,” Mom said, echoing Dad’s earlier call.

  “I came out. I’m with Aeria.”

  She immediately looked over and altered her course. She landed on Aeria’s armrest and nuzzled me.

  “Where were you hiding?”

  I grinned at her. “It’s a secret.”

  She snorted and looked at Taureen as she tilted her head.

  He shook his head in amusement. “I’m not telling on her. You’ll just have to look harder next time.”

  She snorted again and shook herself hard enough that her scales made a chiming sound. My eyes widened at the pretty noise.

  “Can you do that again?”

  She shook once more as her scales made the same neat sound, I shook myself, but didn’t hear anything.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  I sat up and stared intently at her. “How did you do that?”

  “Once you get bigger, your scales will make that noise too. Right now, they are too small.”

  That was disappointing. Just to be sure, I shook really hard, but my scales didn’t make any sound, let alone that nice one.

  My ear tufts drooped, and Aeria petted me sympathetically; she may not have been able to hear my mindvoice yet, but she could hear Mom’s. I lay back down, still disappointed.

  Taureen passed Aeria something—a small vial of oil!—and she began massaging my back. I cooed in delight as I wiggled around, happy to have every hint of itching disappear.

  I closed my eyes and relaxed.

  ***

  I yawned and stretched, still not ready to open my eyes after my nap. The sun was still warm. It felt nice.

  My stomach growled, ruining my relaxation with its demands for food. I finally pried my eyes open with a big yawn. I wasn’t sure how long I had slept, but it must have been a while if I was this hungry.

  The food bowls were absent, and I continued looking around. There was always food nearby. Always.

  My eyes widened when I saw the cantaloupe on the grass in front of the chairs. There was more than enough there for a snack.

  Eagerly, I flew over and landed next to it, too impatient to go on foot. My nose snuffled the textured rind; there were pinpricks from when I had rolled it, but I wasn’t sure if my claws were sharp enough to actually cut it.

  I braced myself as I tried to dig one claw in. Flickers of proper ways to do this skittered along the edges of my mind, and I shifted my claw so the sharper base could slice while the tip pierced deeper.

  My claw wasn’t long enough to reach the center, so I pulled it out and set it sideways against the skin, sawing back and forth. I grabbed the peel in my teeth and pulled it away while I kept shaving more of the rind off.

  The peel came loose. I dropped it by my feet, my mouth watering at the strip of gold inside. I quickly cut a piece out by twisting my claw through the soft fruit. The sweet juice filled my mouth, and I happily chewed as I shaved more of the peel away and made the opening bigger.

  The fruit was very good, although the seeds were yucky. It was a lot of work to scoop them all out, and I had to roll the cantaloupe away from the mess a few times, but it made it much easier to cut pieces free.

  Eventually, there wasn’t room for another morsel. I was so full I wasn’t sure if I could fly. There was still lots of cantaloupe left. A yawn announced Dirk’s waking, and he jumped down from Aeria’s lap and came over to stuff himself with the juicy fruit.

  A strange burbling sound made me stand on my hind legs and stare at where Taureen was kneeling beside a big puddle of water, somehow making water come out of the rocks he was stacking. It was the sound of water running.

  I waddled over as Mom landed by the water and waded deeper until just her neck and head showed. It seemed wrong to walk in something that I might have to drink. She easily swam a few laps around the pond. I hoped that the water in our water dishes didn’t come from here.

  “The water is warm,” Mom told me.

  I wasn’t too sure why she was telling me this. I preferred to drink cold water, but not if someone had their feet in it.

  She noticed my silent confusion and clarified, “Come in.”

  Ah.

  I sniffed the water suspiciously, unsure why anyone would want to get wet. Flickers of dragonets swimming crossed my mind, showing that it was a common pastime.

  Reluctantly, I took another step forward, letting the water touch my scales. I kept walking and jumped when the water touched my warm stomach.

  Mom came closer to watch my progress. She stretched her wings and dipped a wingtip in the water before flicking a shower of droplets at me. When the water hit my sun-warmed scales, I squealed and flared my wings in objection. With a mischievous grin, she flicked more water at me.

  If she could do it, so could I.

  It was harder than I thought. The water didn’t want to go in the right direction, and it took me several tries before any of the drops actually hit her. They promptly slid right off her scales and landed back in the pond.

  She splashed me back as she romped through the deeper areas. Scooping my wing under the water, I tried to throw a lot at her—and she disappeared under the surface!

  I looked around wildly. Where did she go? A shimmer of gold moving beneath the surface made me back up quickly. Her head lifted out of the water when it was too shallow to cover her shoulders.

  Lifting my head, I quickly skimmed through the Blood Memories as I gathered tips on diving and swimming. It looked like fun! I bounded into deeper water, took a deep breath, and closed my nostrils before plunging beneath the surface.

  When I opened my eyes, I was surprised to see Mom’s face beneath the water as she watched me. The small waves above made the sunlight ripple along the bottom in fascinating patterns. It was an entirely different world down here.

  It was hard to move though, and I had to dig my claws into the sand to get any traction. Once I was deeper, I lifted my head to get another big breath of air before returning to the underwater world. Strangely enough, the water no longer felt cold.

  Mom swam closer, using her legs to paddle while her tail propelled her forward. Copying her method made my attempts to swim easier. I paddled deeper, moving my head from side to side as I examined the sand and ripples of light.

  Swimming was fun.

  I still had no plans on drinking this water though.

  Mom and I continued playing in the water until I grew tired and went to rest in the sun.