Page 4 of Here Be Dragons

I’d expected Carly to struggle to get a class mainly of boys interested in history, but I was wrong. Her students were fully engaged and raptly attentive. Curious, I listened in on her tour.

“Anyone want to guess how many heads were decapitated during this battle?”

“A hundred!” shouted one of the boys excitedly.

“More than that,” she said. “According to the records, a whoppingone hundred and eightyheads rolled that day! And the battle itself only lasted fifteen minutes! I know this isn’t math class, but can anyone tell me how many were beheaded every minute?”

I grinned.

No wonder the boys were listening. She was speaking their language. A quick look at the teacher following behind, however, showed she was less thrilled about the topic of conversation.

One smart aleck pulled out his cell phone and did the calculation quickly.

“Twelve!” he called out.

Lucky kids. Back in my day, I had to do everything in my head. I didn’t have phones with built-in calculators to rely on. Which was why I really had to win this competition. The last twenty years had seen such quick advances in technology that it felt as though I’d miss everything if I even dared to blink.

Combine current speed of technology with the recent disappearance of The Wall the next few decades would move fast. I didn’t know what would happen in the next decade, never mind the next century.

Carly led the group to another display of weapons, and the boys ohhed and ahhed.

“Does anyone know whatthisis?“ she asked.

“Oh, that’s easy! It’s a morning star. My video game character has one,” said one of the kids.

“That’s right. And can anyone tell me the difference between a morning star and a mace?”

This stumped the boys, so she explained that a mace was a club with a weighted end, and a morning star was a mace with the addition of spikes. Then she continued to talk about the weapon on display and the history behind it.

I actually didn’t know much about the historical details of the pieces on display here, despite owning them. Like many dragons, I didn’t care about the history of lesser beings. I owned these pieces simply because my dragon said, “Oooh, look, shiny,” and immediately tucked them away.

Throughout the centuries, my dragon’s tastes had changed, sometimes preferring sparkly things like gemstones and jewels, other times preferring intricate metalwork. I even underwent a “uniquely shaped carvings” phase, many of which were undeniably phallic. I wondered if Carly had found her way to that section of the museum yet. It wasn’t part of the itinerary for school tours.

I continued following the group, staying just out of sight until my phone buzzed. I left my museum’s newest hire reluctantly and made my way to the loading dock at the back of the museum. The statue was here!

Chapter 3

Carly

Janice and I satat the front desk. It was late Wednesday morning, and the museum was quiet.

“I can’t believe Desmon actually kissed your hand,” Janice said, rolling her eyes. “I mean, he’s always been a little old-fashioned and eccentric. Filthy rich people usually are, especially if their hobby is collecting rare, ancient artifacts.”

I nodded in agreement. “Yup, I bet money smooths the way.”

If a random dude on the street greeted a woman he’d just met by kissing her hand, he’d be called a creep. But when someone like Desmon does it, it was…eccentric. It helped that he was also ridiculously hot too.

At the thought of Desmon and his low, rumbly voice, the butterflies in my tummy started up again.

Damn it! After the whole incident yesterday, I kept imagining him everywhere as I did my tour, but every time I looked, there was nothing.

“Well, we all have our little things,” I admitted. “Me, I’m a bit of a klutz.”

“Seriously.” Janice squared me a look. “We work at a museum. ‘Nuff said.”

That had me chuckling. She had a point. Many who chose to dedicate their lives to keeping museums running were oddballs, in the best possible way.

The massive man in the guard’s uniform who interviewed me for the job last week approached our desk. I squinted at his name tag. What was his name again? Right, Mateo.

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