Maple's heart was slamming so hard she thought it might fly right out of her chest. She clutched her book… his book? No, it was definitely her book. She could feel her pulse in every vein, and adrenaline coursed through her. There was a good chance she might even throw up. Her mind was swimming, but one dominating thought broke through the surface.
"Was that magic?"
Grel shook his scaly head, not at her, but in disbelief. She was the one who should be in disbelief. A real life dragon was right in front of her. Maple was in shock, and still very much afraid of him, but it seemed like he wasn't going to eat her. Yet.
If he even could. He was much smaller than she thought a dragon would be, standing only a couple feet taller than her. In fact he was much more humanoid than she expected, save the very obvious dragon features. He was covered in golden scales, dark on top and lighter from his jaw and down his belly and thick tail. His hands ended in dark purple claws that reminded her of a bear's. His horns, started bright gold and faded into a lavender shade as they swept back from his forehead. The sharp angular features were softened by the gentle curve of his snout that currently displayed a very obvious frown.
His deep purple eyes glittered with something she didn't understand and he asked, "shouldn't I be asking you that?"
"Me? You're the one opening magic letters, and who has magic glasses-"
"The glasses aren't magic."
"- and are a dragon!"
"So? You're the human here!"
Maple shrunk back when he raised his voice. Smoke started to twist up from his nostrils and he began to angrily pace. Nothing he was saying or had said made sense.
"What do we do now?" She asked miserably, looking at her frozen brother.
"We? Oh no, you bubblegum bookworm, there is no 'we.' There is only me, myself, and I who will be taking my book and leaving."
"You can't just leave me with no way to fix this. You heard that dragon woman-"
"Ruby. Her name is Ruby."
"How do you know that?"
"Does everything have to be an interrogation? It's none of your business anyway."
"It is my business! Can't you see that? Ruby said that my home will stay like this for all time unless we go to Diamantaire immediately. I've never heard of that place, but I assume you know it."
Grel's didn't call her bluff, only confirmed her hunch. She took a tentative step out from behind her brother and pushed onward with her thought before she could be interrupted.
"Look, you want this book and I'm not going to let you leave with it. However, as I am the... active museum curator at the moment, I could take an academic tour. Then, perhaps, when Spice Rack is unfrozen, I could part with the book."
"I could just take the book. You know, since I'm a dragon."
To hell with it, she had pushed her luck this far, what was just a little more? "But you're not going to do that. Otherwise you already would have. You're not going to hurt me at all, are you?"
Grel slumped moodily into one of the ratty old chairs with a long, hissing sigh. He glared at her like he wished he could hurt her and mumbled, "no."
"So, you'll accept my offer?"
"It's not like I have a choice in this. In case you missed it, Diamantaire gets sealed away forever too. It's a bitch and a half to find it already, and- you know what, that doesn't matter. Yes, I'll accept your crappy deal."
Unexpectedly victorious, she didn't quite know what to do next. She spotted the silver teapot and tray on her desk. She carried it over to where he sat and set the tray down between them. Then she settled into the other old chair across from him. He eyed her wearily as she slid over a cup of tea, and put milk and sugar into her own.
"You're, um, smaller than I thought dragons were supposed to be."
"And you're pinker than I thoughts humans could be." He had ignored the tea and snatched a petite cucumber sandwiches off the platter instead. "Look, just because you're holding me hostage doesn't mean that we're going to be friends."
"I'm just trying to be civil. Pardonme. I've never met a dragon before."
"Yeah, well, we don't get out much," he said, mouth full, making Maple cringe. He ate in sort of disgruntled way.
"Well, where are we off to then?"
"You know the volcano at the end of the mountain range?"
"Mt. Lava LaVida?"
"Please tell me that's not what humans call our sacred, ancestral home, the Smoulderbone?" Grel scowled, half-eaten sandwich in claw. "On second thought, don't tell me. Suffice it to say, that's where we're going."
Maple paled, her teacup rattling slightly against the saucer. "How- um, how do you propose we get there?" The RR Mountain range stretched across the entirety of Salt, cutting it in half. Mt. Lava LaVida, or the Smoulderbone apparently, was on the complete other side of the continent. It was almost impossible to traverse the distance in such little time.
"Hells if I know. We can't go back the way I caaa- had planned to go. It would be too harsh for a squishy little human."
He wasn't being honest, not completely, but there wasn't really anything she could do about that. At least he didn't seem to be leaving out the big details. He would keep his secrets whether she liked it or not.
"I guess we could try to catch the next train. Peppermint asked me to deliver some books regardless."
"You're really worried about that at a time like this? Besides, won't the train be frozen too?"
"Ruby said only the capital would be frozen, except for me for some reason. The train isn't run by Spice Rack City, it just has a stop here. So, no, hopefully it won't be frozen."
"'Hopefully?' Ugh, leave it to a human to fumble the plan from the jump."
"Well, then just what do you suggest doing?"
"I told you," he said, dusting off his scales. The gold and amethyst of his arms, legs, and tail were still on full display. "I've got nothing."
"I need to pack a bag, then we have to catch that train if we have even a hope of getting there on time."
Grel's eyes glittered deviously as he rose and slipped fluidly around the table beside. He rested a sharp-clawed hand on her chair, making her flinch, and said in a low and smooth voice, "Wonderful idea, Miss Archivist."
"Maple."
"Right, right, Maple. Why don't you go back your bags right now. Really get every last item you could possibly need. I'll stay here with LOVELOCK and-"
"Oh no you don't!" She barked and leapt from her seat, dancing away with the book pressed to her hammering heart. His claws had been too close to her face, and were now slipping into the chair with an angry rip of fabric. "This book is not leaving my sight. You are just going to have to come with me. That's the deal and you already agreed to it."
He glared at her, but did nothing more than change course to retrieve his fallen glasses. Maple returned to her brother, only allowing herself a moment of grief, before unhooking the keys from his belt. She began to shut off the lights, and prepared to lock up.
"I thought humans were afraid of dragons. You're taking this… well."
"Maybe you don't know as much about humans as you presumed to." She wanted to laugh, the viscous and savage laugh of the dragon woman, presumably Ruby. The memory of the wave of emotion that had passed over her just before the smoke settled prevented her from following through on that laugh.
Maple was scared, but showing that would only give him more power over her. Pretending she wasn't quaking in her boots was the only leverage she had.
The building secure, she popped down to the archives. She undid the window, letting it slap against the frame and switched off the lights. Before leaving, she grabbed the fat mail bag full of books and slipped LOVELOCKinto it. When she returned to Grel she was surprised to see that the tea set had been cleared and set aside on the cart.
She faced her brother, his face twisted with rage and forever silent, in the dark museum. Dust moats floated through the slats of sunlight that streamed through the windows. She threw her arms around him and embraced him like a child, his rigid form unmoving under her. She pressed her face into his neck, hot tears welling, and promised him that she would fix this. That she would save him. That she would come back.
Finally she took a deep, unsteady breath and pulled away from her brother. Grel was watching her, his lizardy face difficult to read. Maybe a grimace? It wouldn't surprise her to learn that dragons are incapable of love, let alone understanding it. He was literally cold blooded, how could he understand the way that her heart was ripping in half?
"Okay, I think… I think it's time to get going. Come along, Grel, it's not a long walk to my residence. Oh, and thank you for putting the tea set away."
He didn't respond, either to her command or appreciation, but followed her without complaint out into the brilliant day. Spice Rack City was uncharacteristically still and silent. It was like a painting, or a tableau perfectly capturing a moment in time. Or it would be, if the clouds didn't still drift languidly across the sky. If the chill mountain breeze didn't pull at the trees and blooms. It was the city itself that stilled, and all life within.
The great clock tower neither ticked nor tocked. A flying V of birds cast their shadows over the city, their migration halted. The merchants in the town square held their wares aloft, mouths open to proclaim their delights. Children paused in their games.
The unlikely duo passed an ice cream parlor where a small family sat outside under the striped umbrella. The father, a broad and beaming man, held his cone to his son's nose and the fat child smiled with joy. The mother, her gray-streaked purple hair tied into back, tiredly regarded her family with obvious affection. In the park near her house a rusty red dog had broken free from its master, and perched at the base of tree. Its head was thrown back in a silent howl; up the tree a plump squirrel waited. The dog's master was halfway complete with a fall that would land him in the mud.
"Wait, hang on. I just need to help Celery Root!" She said, suddenly, breaking the silence they had settled comfortably upon. Grel paused dutifully, though he watched her with contempt as she ran into the park.
First she went to the little dog and picked him up. His little legs stuck out straight as she carried him to his owner. She couldn't prevent Celery Root from falling, so instead carefully lay him down on his side. His fist would not close around the lead, so she secured it with a knot around his arm instead.
She realized, half embarrassed and half indignant, that Grel was leaning against a tree and still watching her as she jogged back. He raised a ridge above his brow, giving him a smarmy questioning look.
"I thought we only had so much time to work with." Maple was about to bite back, but he turned on his heel and put his arms behind his head casually, the scales flexing with the muscle underneath. "Where are we even going anyway?"
"Up there," she replied coolly and pushed past him. She pointed up to her lovely home upon the hill. Grel made a long noise of disgust and followed her up the path.
"Ugh, why is this whole city so saccharine? Everything looks like it was built with gingerbread."
She started to explain that the bricks were made and treated in a special, local process that gave the buildings the uncanny appearance of gingerbread, but he ignored her and carried on with his complaints.
"And you had the audacity to mock my human costume! I mean just look at this jester." He gestured to people as he spoke.
"At least his attire actually fits his body."
"I just grabbed what was there."
"Wait, the clothing isn't a part of the magic glasses? Did you steal them?"
"Of course the glasses, that again are not magic, don't make clothes. That would be dumb. I'll give them back and get new ones if its such a big deal."
"What do the glasses actually do?"
"I'm not gonna put them on, because I'll be naked which I guess is a problem around here." Grel held up a finger, then dug around in his bag before pulling out the glasses. They glinted in the sunlight. "These little beauties make me appear like a human. Probably the most handsome human there's ever been."
"Debatable." Though, the human persona was one of the more handsome men she'd ever seen.
"Now the key word here is 'appear.' They're not magical, they're alchemical. I can appear human, thankfully I can't become one; they only work if I wear them."
"What happened if I were to put them on?"
"What a stupid question. I'm not going to indulge any more foolishness."
Time was running short, so Maple didn't fight it. He could have his tantrum, but she had more important things to worry about. She also didn't know how much longer he would willingly continue to follow her orders before he snapped and ate her. He followed her in moody silence to her home, and refused to enter, which was fine by her.
She dipping into the house, trying to ignore her frozen family members, and pretending it was just a normal day. Just normal Maple popping up to her normal messy room that she shared with her sister Clarry. She tried not to think too much about where here pretty younger sister was.
Maple was a blur of pink as she packed her life into the mail bag. This wasn't the first time she had tried to do so. Her life had been spent reading the stories of countless heroes and brave adventurers being called into action, and she wanted to be ready if her call finally came. Today was that day. Though, she hadn't really thought she would be called. Still, she had never been able to resist a good list.
Before she left, she spotted the figure of her mother Anise in the kitchen. Her mother sat at the table, with a half empty cup of tea and a book open in her lap. A big pot of stew was on the stove. Maple knew she had to leave, but took a long moment to embrace her mother. To breath in her lavender scent.
"I'm coming back, Mom" she whispered into her mother's graying pink hair. "Then maybe someday, we'll both read a good book about my adventure. I love you."