Page 139 of The Pushy Pixies Are Going Down
Maggie and Nash showed up too, and I was glad they made it before the dragon fully hatched.
Maggie pulled a chair in from the dining room, but she ended up sitting on Nash’s thigh like I was on Win. We shared an eye-roll before she said, “I can’t believe we’re actually watching a real dragon hatch.”
“Me either,” Nash said, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her shoulder. “Thank you guys for letting us be here for this.”
That made me smile at him, and Chaos said, “Psh, of course you were invited.”
Win and I exchanged a look, one filled with surprise and fondness for the teenager. God, we really needed to find a way to make them stay here. I couldn’t let them just… live on the street the way they had been. I hated the thought of them being out in the cold. I hated the thought of those two wonderful kids not having anyone in their corner.
But they had me now. Me and Winter.
Shaking off those thoughts, I focused on the dragon egg again.Gah! A freaking baby dragon!
I sat on the edge of my seat—or rather, on Win’s leg—and watched every little movement as the baby pushed piece after piece off itself, revealing more and more of its pretty green scales and little spikey spine.
When he finally pushed the last large piece off, revealing his head, I couldn’t contain my gasp. It was the most adorable damn thing I’d ever seen in my life. Big golden eyes blinked up at us, a wide and rounded snout made him look cute rather than fierce, and his little nubby horns on top of his head reminded me of a baby goat’s horns. His green wings were curled up behind him, and his entire body was covered in amniotic fluid and whatever other fluids were inside an egg, making him look wet and shiny. I’d need to clean him off.
His eyes blinked some more before they focused on me.
I stood up, moving closer to him, pushing my empath magic out and toward the baby—calmness, happiness, safety—and I whispered, “It’s okay, sweet baby. You’re okay. You’re safe.”
He let out a small whimpering sound that made me think he was about to start crying—I could feel the fear—so I grabbed oneof the blankets and slowly moved in close. I continued pushing my magic toward him.
Calmness, happiness, safety.
You’re safe here with us, sweet baby. I promise you’re safe.
Carefully, I wrapped the baby up and pulled him to my chest. His fear began to settle, my hold on him offering comfort. I grabbed a towel from the pile I’d put next to the nest earlier and began cleaning the baby.
And still, I kept up a steady stream of my magic because I didn’t want him to be scared.
Winter kissed my head and whispered, “I’ll go make a bottle.” I had plenty of formula in the kitchen to prepare for this moment.
“I’ll help,” Maggie said, following her brother.
“Thank you.”
I couldn’t look away from the blinking eyes that were staring up at me. The poor thing was kind of just taking things in in wonder, but he was surprisingly not fearful now that I was holding him and pushing my magic into him. I was so excited and happy that he was here, that he was okay, and I knew my own feelings were bleeding into my magic.
Still, I would’ve thought not having another dragon around would make him scared, but he was doing alright, thank goodness.
Aeson came up beside me with another towel and asked, “Can I help?”
“Of course.”
He wiped the baby’s feet off, and his golden eyes watched Aeson intently.
“He’s so cute,” Ace said, his voice still soft. “It is a he, right?”
“I… I honestly don’t know how to tell, but… I think so? That’s what I’m… sensing, I guess.”
“I’m sensing he’s a boy too.”
I glanced at him. “Really?”
Aeson nodded and shrugged. “Don’t know why, but I am.”
“Same.”
