Page 22 of Rescued By My Dragons

The next morning, we checked the news media again.Just like Jenna predicted, there hadn’t been any more mention of “the Sunbeam Canyon Dragons” overnight, except for a few stray reports and a lot of chatter on the Internet saying the whole thing was just a hoax.The humans of California had an easier time thinking of my friends and me as a hoax than wrapping their minds around the idea of real, living dragons on their planet and besides, what if they knew the whole truth?What would they do with the fact that not only were there real dragons, but there were dragons that could morph into humans and be no different from anyone else they might see?No, maybe the best thing for all of us, including Jenna, was to let ourselves be the humans’ hoax, and get off Earth before anything else happened.

That meant saying our goodbyes to Jenna’s grandmother, who’d been so kind to us.That was the saddest, hardest part of it.I think I speak for Cade and Byron as well as myself in saying we’d quickly gotten to love her.

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Next morning, with our things all packed up, we went back to where we arrived:the Callaway’s basement.

Jenna had the ring out and ready.She and Sarah were saying their goodbyes while my friends and I stood near.There was a mood in the room, like everyone’s heart was heavy.Mine definitely was.I hoped this wasn’t the last we’d see of Earth, that we’d get another chance to see it through Jenna’s eyes.

Holding Jenna’s hands in hers, Sarah said, “Now, when you see your father and your uncle again, you might want to let them know that their mother misses them and would appreciate hearing from them.”

A little misty, hating to leave her grandmother again, Jenna said, “I’ll make sure they know.After I’ve had a few words of my own with Daddy.”

”That’s my girl,” said Sarah and the two of them hugged each other hard.

Cade, Byron, and I stood by patiently, letting Jenna and her Nana have every precious second of time they could get.Jenna was soaking up every possible bit of her grandmother’s love to take with her back across the threshold to our world.We could wait.

When they finally finished their hug, Sarah turned around and faced us.There was something like the same kind of warmth in her eyes for us as she had for her grandmother—a warmth mixed with fascination, which was good to see.“You know,” she said to my friends and me, “a woman of my age sees a lot of things in her life.From the time I was younger than Jenna to now, I’ve seen this world become a different place.But I never thought I’d see it become a place where men who are dragons would come to visit through passages from other worlds.I feel like I’ve been trusted with a great, precious secret.Thank you, lads, for bringing my granddaughter home to visit.I’ve watched the three of you with her.I’ve seen the kindness that you showher, the attention and the respect you give her.I’ve seen how happy you make her.”

”Jenna makes us happy,” I said.

“She’s the most special girl in any world,” said Byron.

”Jenna’s the best,” Cade said.

”That she is,” said Sarah.“And I’m very glad you know that.Now, before you go, if I could just ask one more thing?”

”What’s that?” I asked.

”Could I just see you one more time—the other way?Just to have that sight to remember?Just once more?”

Byron, Cade, and I traded smiles and nods.After she’d been so good to us, it was the least we could do.We commanded our bodies to change, swapping human skin for scaly dragon skin, growing necks and horns, snouts, tails, and wings, changing the shape of our heads—shedding our human bodies for the forms of dragons.The look on Sarah Callaway’s face this time was not an expression of shock, disbelief, and fear, the way it was before.This time she was seeing us not as impossible, inhuman creatures in her home.She was seeing our whole selves, the dragons and the human men who thought of her daughter as the best thing that had ever come into our lives and Sarah now looked at us with acceptance and wonder.Would more humans of Earth one day see us the way Sarah did?We could only hope so.

“Amazing,” Sarah said, sighing, marveling at us.“Just amazing.”

We stayed as dragons for a lingering moment, letting Sarah have a good long look, before morphing back.Then, caught up in the feeling of that moment, I held out my arms to her and I felt a warmth growing in my heart when Sarah, without hesitation, came to me and hugged me.I put my armsaround her and hugged back, and Jenna looked on, her eyes getting moist and a sweet, tender smile lighting her face.

Sarah traded hugs with Byron and Cade, and we all laughed gentle little laughs at the unexpected sentimentality we were having.Then Jenna asked us, “Are we ready now, guys?”

”About as ready as we’re going to get,” I said, and Byron and Cade nodded their agreement.As much as we were loving this moment, it really was time for us to go.

“Okay then,” said Jenna, holding up the ring.“Let’s be on our way.”

Jenna set the ring to spinning on the basement floor and the glowing threshold back to my apartment in Pendrake City opened up wide in the air.The guys and I picked up our bags.Cade went through first, then Byron.I stayed long enough to give Sarah one last hug and a kiss on the forehead, which gave her a bashful feeling and made her blush as if she were younger than Jenna and had never been kissed.“Thank you, Sarah,” I said.

“Oh, thank you,” she said back.

And with a nod to Jenna, I stepped to the portal, leaving her with her Nana for one last second.I looked over my shoulder as I approached the threshold and saw her waving her grandmother goodbye.Then I went through.

On the other side, the guys and I saw Jenna slip on her backpack and step from Earth to Tellus.She stood at the threshold and we all looked back through and saw Sarah waving.We waved back.Then Jenna reached down and stopped the ring’s spinning, which made the hole in space waver and contract, shrinking down until it was gone, and it was once again the four of us in my living room.

We were quiet at first.The sense of having seen and experienced so little of Earth was very much with me, and I guessed it was the same for my friends.Jenna stared at thespace where the threshold had been and softly sighed.Just to break the silence, I said, “Nice world you have there.”

”It is a nice world,” said Jenna.“It’s beautiful.But there are so many things about the way people have made it that could be better.I know that was part of Daddy’s reason for coming here.But I want to know what he’s doing.”She faced me, her wistful look at leaving her grandmother now changed to something harder, her lips and jaw set with stubborn determination.“I’m going to find him.So help me, I’m going to find him.”

”You will,” I said.“We will.Wherever he is.”

My words relaxed her a bit.She looked around at the living room, where we had moved back the couch, and said, “So.Are we staying here tonight?”

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