The Deal with Dragons

October 8th

It feels kind of weird to be writing in this on a Saturday. But given the dude with a knife they found in the school, beat up so clearly he wasn’t alone, I’m not really surprised we all got sent home. After some of us got questioned. Which was not fun for me since I’m the one who saw him in the first place and so I got the most questions. Thank god Sam was there to help and Kevin, when he woke up.

            The doorbell chiming had Leah shutting her diary and racing down the stairs before her parents could open the door. While they’d promised they’d leave her and her friends alone, she knew they’d be hovering, looking for any excuse to talk to the boys. She couldn’t really blame them. This was the first time she’d ever brought friends home.

            She yanked the old wood door open, it had a tendency to stick, revealing Sam and Kevin. Sam was eyeing Kevin. Probably because he was still wearing his backpack and yesterday’s clothes. Leah sighed. She’d have to have a talk with him about changing clothes again.

            “Hey. Let’s go upstairs,” she said, rolling her eyes in the direction of the kitchen where she could clearly see both her parents sitting at the table. Her mom was pretending to read the newspaper while sneaking almost constant looks over while her dad was making a sandwich at glacier speed, stealing glances after every movement.

            They both nodded and paused only to take off their shoes before climbing the carpeted stairs to the second floor. Leah opened the nearest door, revealing her room. The walls were all calming blues and greens with odd highlights of soft greys and purples. Her queen bed, made for once, was covered in a rainbow assortment of pillows. A desk and chair stood against the far wall, an old coat stand, now converted into a perch for Razor, standing beside it. She crossed her arms as her eyes met that of the bird’s. “This is Sam, Razor. He’s a friend. Which means I won’t be happy if you attack him, understand.”

            His feather puffed out and he pulled his head in but eventually he gave her the body bob that was his nod. “Good,” she said before turning to the boys. “Sit wherever.”

            She dropped down in front of the end of her bed, leaning back against it. Kevin copied her, sitting on her left. Sam hesitated, then folded himself down in front of them, his legs crossed. “Okay,” he said, eyeing them both. “Explanation time.”

            Leah glanced at Kevin. “It’s your secret.”

            He frowned and shook his head. “You are far more familiar with him and his trustworthiness. I will leave the decision to you.”

            She sighed. “Sure, cause I know so much.” She considered her options, doing her best to ignore Sam’s hard stare. “Well why don’t we tell him a bit and see how he handles that? Cause you dumping everything on me at once freaked me the hell out.”

            Kevin nodded. “If you think that is best.”

            When he did nothing but stare at her, she realized he was going to make her explain things too. She sighed again and met Sam’s green eyes. “Look, before I get going, I just need to know if you really want to know this. It’s probably going to make your life harder and mess you up. It’s like falling down the rabbit hole with Alice. Are you sure you want this?”

            Sam nodded, eyes steady. “You two have been keeping secrets, that I knew. But the fact that you ran headfirst into danger…I want to know what could make you do that. Not to mention the fact I just watched you talk to a bird. Clearly, something here is not normal.”