CHAPTER 79

"So...how are you doing?" he asked.

She scowled at him. She had the appearance of an older woman in her mid-to-late forties, with streaks of black in her mostly silver hair. She wore a simple skirt and a centaur's tunic that had been retooled to fit. Also, tiny bits of hay were stuck to her everywhere. The small horn in the center of her forehead was cracked, the tip of it missing, and when she stood, he noticed that her legs and forearms had large patches of glittering blue scales on them.

"I've been better," she said, then her legs wobbled and she stumbled toward him.

When he put his hands out to catch her, he received a sizable static shock that caused his left arm to suddenly retract, which caused him to catch her awkwardly. Because of this, her shoulders twisted funny, causing the top button of her tunic to pop open, revealing a pair of ample breasts that had been crammed inside.

"The youngsters have been teaching her to walk," Zel explained as Mike steadied the dragon. "She isn't used to her human form yet."

"No, I am not." Quetzalli managed to stand on her own, and then put her hands on her waist. She was about a foot shorter than Mike, but somehow looked just as menacing as if she were a foot taller than him. "It appears that my enchantment may be permanent."

"Any ideas about how we can reverse it?" Mike asked, then looked at Zel.

"None. Ratu might know, but I haven't been able to send her a faerie. Can't seem to find any of them when there's work to be done."

"I am so sorry," he began, but Quetzalli held up her hand to silence him.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," she told him. "This was the queen's doing, not yours."

"We'll find a way to reverse it."

"Perhaps." She looked him up and down. "It is so fascinating to see you up close like this. And this place we're in—is this your home?"

"Not...quite. I thought you would be far angrier than you seem."

"Oh, she was." Zel smiled. "But we were able to talk her down a bit, and convince her that we would do our best."

"Yes, she did." Quetzalli poked him in the chest with her finger, which caused another spark. "And while I don't blame you, you are the reason I ended up in this mess. You owe me for saving your life, and I intend to collect."

"Anything, just name it."

"I need a place to stay until I can return to my original form. I would prefer to stay with you, as I no longer know anybody in the mortal realm who can help me."

"Done." He stuck his hand out. "I will do everything in my power to keep you safe and help return you to normal."

Quetzalli nodded. "Then we have an agreement." She looked down at his extended hand. "What are you doing?"

"It's a handshake. When humans come to an agreement, they shake hands."

"Oh. Right. I am familiar with the custom, but keep forgetting I have...these." She held out her hands and wiggled her fingers. "They feel so fragile, like sticks that have been out in the sun for too long. And the claws are useless. Look at how thin they are! You could barely dig a hole with them."

"Yeah, I wouldn't recommend—OW!"

Quetzalli had grabbed his extended hand and squeezed it as hard as she could, which caused the bones and tendons inside his palm to pop loudly. He fought to yank his hand free, but she misunderstood and held on with a grip of iron, pumping his hand up and down vigorously.

"How do I know when a handshake is over?" The dragon asked, then looked over to Zel, oblivious to Mike's reaction. "Does this look right? It doesn't feel right."

Zel said nothing, hiding a grin behind her hands.

"Two seconds. Two seconds!" Mike yelled, and she released him. His hand was throbbing, but he didn't feel any permanent damage.

"Okay. Two seconds for a handshake. Got it."

"You're...you're crazy strong, aren't you?" He flexed his hand a few times, hoping that movement would alleviate the pain.

"She is a dragon, after all." Zel moved close to Quetzalli and pulled a small wooden stick from her pocket. "When she first came to us, she was as pale as a ghost. Her skin has darkened a bit, and these revealed themselves." She tapped on a set of scales along Quetzalli's neck. "She still has some draconic properties that I think will continue to emerge in the days ahead."

"Okay, but why the stick?" He found the centaur's behavior odd.

"I got tired of getting zapped," she replied, then pointed at Quetzalli's broken horn. "She constantly generates an electrical charge, but the sudden change in size meant that she could no longer hold in all that energy, and so it broke. Unfortunately, based on what she told me, her horn helped her control her own lightning, so you may get a nasty shock every now and then."

He thought back to the spark he had experienced earlier and looked at the dragon. "Not enough to kill me or anything, right?"

The dragon shrugged. "I really can't say. Zel didn't think so, and my horn will heal over time as long as I'm careful with it."

"Indeed." He moved closer to her and examined the fractured horn. It had a spiral pattern which reminded him of a unicorn. "Maybe we could get Tink to make you a cap for it? Something to keep it from getting damaged even further?"

"If you do that, pick a conductive material," Zel added. "You don't want her building up another big charge or anything. The discharge could crack her horn down at the core, which would be very bad."

"Sounds reasonable." He really had no idea how electricity worked beyond the basics, but was sure that Tink would be able to fashion something with little effort. "Any other things we should know?"