The Dragon Keeper

Chp 5

"What's North Dakota?" Sophia asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"What? How do you not know where-" I paused as I remembered I wasn't in my world anymore.
"Never mind it's really not important."
"How old are you?" Jasper asked, studying me. I felt my cheeks heat up again with the intensity of his gaze but I didn't allow myself to look down, I wouldn't show him I was embarrassed.
"Seventeen."

A frown took over his face and he and Sophia shared a look.
"You should've gotten your animal already, so you're not a keeper." He muttered, mostly to himself.
"What's a keeper exactly?"
"Basically a caretaker for a certain animal. I'm Kings keeper, meaning we take care of each other and we can understand each other. If you were a keeper you would have an animal of some sort. I'd guess you would be an otter keeper."

"They're cute but I don't think I'd want to keep an otter all the time."
"It doesn't matter, moving on." Sophia huffed. We continued talking for a while. They explained to me some of the rules of the city we were in as well as told me more about keepers and anything else I might need to know and honestly, by the time we finished I was exhausted.

~~~~

I woke up with a start the next morning, sounds of sobs and sniffling breaking through my peaceful sleep. I peeled my eyes open and my gaze fell on Jasper, who immediately put a finger to his lips before looking out the window. Sophia was awake as well, pacing and stroking the owl -who I guess she named Pandora- on the back.

Jasper leaned back on his heels and turned to us.
"They're mourning. Who, I'm not sure, but they must've been important." He whispered, running a hand through his hair.
"This is them mourning?" I couldn't stop myself from asking, my eyebrows drawn together.
"We do things different then what you're probably used to. If someone important dies everyone is sent a letter the day of, and within a couple of days everyone in the village comes to the park, sets up a memorial of sorts complete with a headstone and things the person liked and-" he paused as a particularly loud, pain filled cry pierced the air.

"Well, you can hear it."
"What if it's not someone important?"
"Usually family and friends will do the same thing, as well as have a kind of 'going away' party for he deceased." Sophia answered, stopping her pacing to allow Pandora to fly to her perch.
"Weird..."
"Not for us."
"Anyway, we'll probably be up here for a while so why don't we relax and play a game?" Jasper offered softly, pulling out a deck of cards.

"Oh, can we play trash?" I asked, grinning. I was the best at that game, but it's been a while since I played. Jasper and Sophia looked at me as if I'd grown a third head and my grin fell.
"Why would you play with trash? Were you homeless?" Jasper questioned, his chocolate brown eyes studying my face.
"What? Oh, no!" I laughed and shook my head.
"It's the name of a card game back home. Basically you set the cards out like this," I took the cards from his hands and set up the game quickly.
"Then you take one card from the deck and replace it with on of the cards in front of you. Like this."

My eyes widened slightly at the sight of three jackalopes sitting in the middle of the card, but I pushed it off and took the third card, putting the jackalopes in its spot.
"You keep going like that until all of your cards are faced up. First one to have them all ends the round until there's only one left. Make sense?" The shrugged but agreed to play and hours later -after they'd lost a dozen plus times- Sophia threw her cards at me with a huff, a playful scowl on her face.

"This game is absolutely ridiculous!" She cried, earning a chuckle from Jasper.
"No, you're just a sore loser." He teased, setting his single card down. We were on the final round for our final game, and it couldn't be more obvious who was losing. She still had five cards, unlike Jasper and I who were tied on one.
"Shut up Jas, this is nonsense. I quit." She got up and made her way to the beds.

"Ignore her. Let's finish this." He smirked at me and gestured to the deck of cards. I smirked right back, amused.
"Let's raise the stakes hm? This game can get awfully boring otherwise." I suggested, leaning back a crossing my arms over my chest.
"What do you propose?"
"Well, when I win you have to get me whatever I wish for a week."
"What? Who said you'd win? This game is complete luck."
"Fine, if it makes you happy you can tell me whatever it is, but I'm sure we both know you won't be winning."

"Don't be too cocky miss Wild, I might just surprise you."
"Sure you will." He rolled his eyes as I reached for the deck. We moved swiftly, taking a card and discarding it when it turned out not to be a one. A few seconds later a triumphant grin settled on Jaspers face as he twisted the card around, showing me the one. He replaced it slowly, as if taunting me, before looking back up at my defeated expression.
"Ah, how the tables have turned."
"Shut up. What do you want from me? Servitude? Entertainment?"

"You and I will be going out tonight." His eyes sparkled mischievously and Sophia's eyes widened in surprise at him, finally turning her attention away from the window.
"Seriously Jas? I thought after what happened with you know who you didn't want to date."
"I can change my mind."
My eyes widened and I stared at him, completely and utterly shocked. Sure, he was kind and genuine and attractive, but this was most definitely a dream. I'd wake up and find out it was still early morning.