Page 3 of Rescued By My Dragons

”Good one, though,” said Byron, removing his own mask.“Well played.”

I chuckled.“Maybe soon I’ll be good enough to take on some of the other stuffed-scales in this place.I might even get good enough for something else.”

”What else?” Byron wondered.

Morphing back to human, I screwed up the courage to tell him something that had been on my mind.”Since Reptos,” I said, “you know I’ve had a lot of time to think about things, about what I’m gonna do with my life from here forward.I’ve been getting some ideas about what I might do.”

”Let’s hear it,” said Byron, going human again himself.

”I liked how it felt, helping Jenna.I kind of like how it feels, helping someone else and maybe caring a little about someone besides just me.I’ve been thinking maybe I could make some kind of life out of it.Maybe with someone like…the World Justice Bureau.”

Byron raised his eyebrows at that.“Really?You—a World Justice Agent?You’d really want to go out for that?”

”I know it’d be hard,” I said.“And I know with my recent record they might not even take me at all.Someone who’s been in the cage for theft isn’t exactly their first pick.But maybe someone who’s been in the cage and has some good connections and can vouch for him…”I trailed off, letting him take the suggestion.

He rolled his eyes, looking as if he were rolling the idea around in his head.“You—a Justice Agent,” he repeated.“I’ve got to admit, I never would have thought of it, with your background.No offense…”

”No, that’s what I’m saying.With my background, my record, I’d need someone to put in a good word about me.If they were my friend, you know, and they were willing…”

”Well,” said Byron, “someone is your friend and someone, I think, would definitely consider it.Come to think of it, it might be good for you.”And he reached over and put a friendly hand on my shoulder.“Maybe so.Let’s take a breather before we go again.”Byron walked over to the bench.I followed him.

“We probably only want to do one more,” Byron said, sitting down, resting his foil on his lap and his mask on the bench beside him.“You don’t want to get too tired before your shift later tonight.”

Sitting down next to him, doing the same with my foil and mask, I said, “Probably right.I expect I’ll spend tonight buffing floors at the Museum of History for community service.Which won’t be as much fun as what Elliot is probably doing right now with Jenna.I’d sure rather be boffing than buffing.”

”Be thankful you’re not still in the cage, and you pulled this particular assignment,” Byron said.“Museum cleanup is one of the nicer things you can be doing to work off the rest of your sentence.”

”True,” I agreed.With a crooked grin, I added, “Still not as nice as what must be going on at Elliot’s place.”

Byron nodded with a faraway sort of smile of his own.“Between you and your community service, and me with my legislative staff business tonight; neither of us is going to have as much fun as Elliot is having.I was lucky to get away long enough for a workout here.”We had a pause of silence, each of us quietly envying our friend.Then, Elliot went on, “I like how this feels, though.Almost as much as I’d like how that feels.It’s better than the way I felt in Reptos.”

”Hey, don’t feel bad about that,” I said.“Maybe you hung back out of the action because you weren’t practiced enough to take on those Gorgonite goons.But if you hadn’t been there to arrange my legal help, I could have gotten myself a worse sentence than I did.”

”You were a first offender,” Byron recalled.

I reminded him, “It was my first time getting caught at something and it was something pretty bad.”

Byron argued, “You weren’t actually handing off stolen goods.The Intercross made up a fake of that data box with the plans for the weapons tech.”

”Yeah, but I was the one who stole the damn thing—pushed into it by my cousin and the elders.It was a bad enough mess, and thanks to you, it could have gone a lot worse for me.”I offered him my hand, which he slapped and clasped.We shook like brothers.

Byron said, “If we’re ever in a spot like that again, I want to be good for something more than calling in the lawyers.I want to be able to help—really help.I want to be able to protect Jenna better.I need to know I can do something for her if there’s more trouble, which there could be.”

”I get it,” I said.

We were quiet for a minute.Then, suspecting our minds were wandering to the same place, I said, “You know how it is between them, don’t you?”

”Elliot and Jenna?”

I replied, “Yeah.Elliot and Jenna.You know how they are, right?”

Byron shrugged his shoulders and let out a sigh.“Yes.I know.”

”It’s not like she doesn’t care about us,” I said.“She’s too good to be with anyone she doesn’t really care about and when the four of us are together, she’s enjoying all of us.Jenna likes and trusts and enjoys all three of us.She has real feelings for all three of us.But with her and Elliot—you can feel it, can’t you?”

”Yes,” said Byron, and I could tell he was picturing them.

”When you watch her with him,” I said, “you just know.”

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