Page 41 of The White Dragon's Dilemma

“I know, right?”Caden agreed, attempting to look affronted.

But he sort of had been thinking of wandering past the townhouse.But that really would have been foolish as there were likely cameras and lookouts.Would Jasper Hawes and his people really not notice the White Dragon Shifter just sauntering past?No.

“We’re so much smarter than that!”Tilly harrumphed as Rose gracefully shed her clothing.

“You might be, Till, but your brother… I don’t know about him,” Rose laughed.

“I’ll keep him safe!”Tilly assured her.

Wally, too, had stripped his clothing in seconds.Caden was really going to have to figure out how they did that.Was it just practice?Or were there tips and tricks he could learn to do the same?

“We’ll be back, kid, in two shakes of a rat’s tail,” Wally told him.

“Isn’t the phrase two shakes of arabbit’stail, Wally?”Tilly asked.

He grinned at her.“You just haven’t seen a rat waggle its tail!”

And with that, Rose shifted into her bee form and Wally into his rat form.While Rose became a whole hive of bees, Wally became just one rat this time.Tilly’s eyes were wide with amazement as she gently reached into the very center of the swarm of bees.Rose crawled on her hand and arm, not stinging her of course, which had Tilly laughing.

“Her little feet and wings tickle!”she explained.

Caden grinned.He picked up Wally as he saw the rather fat rat trying to crawl up to the window crack and squeeze through.While rats were able to get through impossible tight spaces, he didn’t want Wally to have to try.So he just opened the car door, patted Wally on the head and gently set him down.

“There you go, Wally,” Caden said.

Wally squeaked appreciatively.Rose’s hive flew out the open door as well.The two of them went towards the townhouse.Wally leaped along the road towards the ground floor and basement while Rose soared to some of the windows, splitting into smaller groups to go investigate the second and first floors.The moment that Wally hit the small grassy front area he suddenly became many rats instead of one.They oiled through the grass like water and disappeared from sight. He and Tilly were silent for long moments before Caden shut the car door with a thunk.

“Do you think they’re going to be okay?”Tilly asked in a small voice.

“Yeah, for sure.They can’t be hurt easily, Till.Remember what Rose said about what she experiences when someone kills one of her bees?”Caden reminded his sister.

Her arms were tightly wound around her chest again.She gave a shudder once more.“I don’t want to think of anyone killing evenonebee that makes up Rose.”

Caden had to agree.The thought of it was sickening.Had he made the right call in asking his friends to go inside of the townhouse? What if the Humans First people were just in there talking up stupid propaganda?They already knew that the Faith were behind the bombings.

Maybe he was just doing exactly what Landry said, which was to ascribe bad motivations to Humans First because they hated shifters and really hated Valerius. Maybe it was because he wasn’t overly fond of Jasper Hawes’ smirky face.Or the fact that he may have lost a good friend to them.Had he put Wally and Rose at risk for prejudice?

“Caden,” Tilly said as she put a hand on his shoulder, “you shouldn’t feel bad about Landry.You didn’t do anything to make her act that way.And she’s wrong, too, about what she thinks.”

Caden blinked in surprise and took his eyes away from the front of the nondescript townhouse to look at his sister.Tilly was looking at him out of eyes much too old for her face. She was solemn and serious and caring.

“Are you sure you’re thirteen, Till?”he asked her with a laugh that was meant to lighten up the situation.

But Tilly didn’t fall for it.“I just know you.”

Caden swallowed.

“You always think it’s your fault or something you did when things go wrong or people are mean,” she said calmly and in that too adult way of hers.

She should have been the White Dragon Shifter,Caden thought, though freezing someone as a teenager was rare and could be quite awful for them.

“I don’t know how Landry could say those things,” Caden admitted.“After all she went through to be loyal to me…”

“She revealed who you were to Jasper and he told you he planted a bomb in our house, Caden,” she pointed out.

He paled.“She--she had no choice! Her brothers--”

“Of course, she did!”Tilly’s eyes flashed and she reminded him fiercely of Rose at that moment.“Her brothers have been jerks since like forever!And theychoseto join Humans First and do bad stuff.”

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