Beautiful...my what?I look down to where her finger’sstillpressed against my front.“It’s beautiful?”
Again, with the reddening skin.
“I think your thermal regulation is off,” I say.“It is a warm day, so I’m not sure how much I can help, but?—”
She whips her hand back, palm flat out, fingers splayed.Her eyes dart from the spot she was just jabbing back up to my face.“I’m sorry.It’s really strange, when you’ve been longing for something for a very long time, to suddenly have it, but alsonotto have it.”
“Longing?”I arch one eyebrow.“Define longing.”I’m smiling, now.I may not have any idea what she’s doing, but I find that I like all of it.“This situation’s unique, but I find it entirely pleasurable.”
Liz’s mouth dangles open.
I reach up with one small, human finger, and press underneath her chin until her mouth closes.The feel of her chin, her human skin, under my finger—it’s nice.I like it, too.“This is all very...interesting.I intend to spend a lot of time in this tiny shape, whenever no villains are threatening, of course.”
“No freaking way.”Coral’s standing in the open doorway, her eyes wider than Liz’s were.“No fair!”Her eyebrows shoot up her face, and she turns, pointing.“I want you to fix Hyperion.”
“He’s not an earth dragon, dummy.”Now Jade’s beside her.“But Gordon is, and Rufus too.Can you fix them for Sammy?He’s making me crazy, asking to play Candy Land and cards.”
Liz looks a little sick, like she wishes no one else knew.“I—” She shakes her head.“I’m not sure.It just happened.”She glares at the door, like she’s wishing it would spontaneously close on its own.
Usually she’s very pleased to see her sisters.I’m not sure why she’s upset.I expected them to all celebrate together, or with me, perhaps, now that I’m size-appropriate for the leaping around and cheering.I decide to show her that I’ve been paying attention to their human customs for excitement.I leap up and down, wiggling my arms and then I yell.“It’s great news, though, right?”
Liz’s eyes widen further than I’ve ever seen and she takes two fumbling steps backward, stepping on the edge of her wing and falling.I reach and grab her hand, yanking her back upright, but I overestimate and pull a little too hard.
She tumbles forward, her hands both flattening against my chest.
Mybeautifulchest.
I can’t help smiling at her.“Was that authentic human excitement?”
“This is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen,” Jade whispers from the doorway.“We should have been recording it.”
“No kidding,” Coral says.“She’d doanythingwe asked just to keep anyone from ever seeing her like this.She’s like Bambi, in that scene when he can barely walk on the ice.”
They’re both laughing, clearly delighted, but Liz straightens, her eyes flashing.Faster than I could have imagined in this defective form, Liz dives for the bed, lunges for a pillow, and whips it at the door.
The girls disappear behind a barrage of fluffy pillows aimed at their heads.
“I think they’re gone,” I say.
“You wish.”She shakes her head and straightens.“Vultures.They’re like tiny, doe-eyed vultures.”
“I think they’re just happy,” I say.“As am I.”
She laughs then.“What on earth was that jumping in the air thing?”Her laughter’s beautiful.I may not understand why she thinks my perfectly flat, normal humanoid male chest is beautiful, but any fool could see that her face, suffused with joy as it is, is a thing of unparalleled loveliness.
I could stare at it all day.
“What?”She finally stops laughing and straightens.“What are you looking at?”
“You,” I say.“You look...different to me when I’m like this.”I look down at my hands and move them at the same time, wiggling them.“I—I understand more about why you lamented the loss of this shape.”
She stands up, stepping toward me.“Because when you’re like this, when you’re likeme, we can connect in a way we can’t when you’re scaly.”She traces a finger down the side of my face and shakes her head.“You’re so heartbreakingly beautiful.”She’s leaking again.
“I hope this is one of the happy-crying times,” I say.
She nods.“It is.”Her finger reaches my chin, and then she takes her finger away.
I hate it, so I inhale, leaning forward a bit.
