Adventures in Summoning

Chapter 13

We stopped for an early lunch about an hour short of our destination. I wasn't too hungry, as my stomach was still in knots over the events of the weekend, and the added detail about the paper in the glove box didn't help. However, I didn't think we should be distracted by growling stomachs when we got to my Nana's house. I'd rather us be able to concentrate on finding the information we needed and then figure out how to help Quin get home.

The previous night we had picked up some burgers, as I remembered Quin liking the taste of them when my parents had given them to us for dinner the previous night. Evidently dragons love burgers, because we had to run out for three more of them when we had finished the ones in the original order. It had made Dee giggle uncontrollably to see Quin's reaction to the food, she had her eyes closed like she was enjoying it more than anything in her life before. Since she hadn't had pizza before, I decided to let her try something else new before we sent her home, so we stopped at a little hole in the wall place to grab some.

Just like at the school, Quin drew a lot of attention. It was hard to get the waitress to get our order, as she was too busy staring. We did finally settle on a pair of pizzas though just in case Quin liked them as much as the burgers. Hopefully it was enough! Worst case we could just bring any extras to my Nana's, and I'd share with Helen after getting Quin home.

When the pies arrived though, Quin looked at them skeptically, then leaned forward to sniff them, her eyes widening in surprise.

"This looks interesting," she murmured.

"It's a simple food, but you can make it a lot of different ways," Dee mentioned as she grabbed a slice. She showed Quin how to hold the crust and fold it and took a big bite.

"I think we have a similar food, with bread and melted cheese and sausage. But what is the red sauce?" Quin inquired.

"Do you not have tomatoes on your planet?" I asked. I looked around the pizza place until I spotted a picture on the wall with one and pointed it out.

"No, I don't recall seeing one of those," she answered, after studying the picture. She tentatively reached forward and picked up a piece, sliding it onto her plate as I trimmed off the strands of cheese that tried to stay attached to the rest of the pie. She slowly picked a piece and followed Dee's lead, folding it, and taking a bite, then let out a guttural moan that sounded almost like a growl.

Our waitress had to sit down to recover.

I was only glad I was already seated myself, and Dee was blushing furiously.

"That tastes so good," Quin sighed.

"Yes, w... we can tell," Dee stuttered, trying not to look too embarrassed.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it so much," I chuckled.

Quin was the oblivious to the affect she had on the surrounding humans, and just polished off one of the pizzas in minutes. Dee and I each were able to nab two slices, before she inhaled the rest of the second pie soon after. For a moment I thought she was going to lick the plates clean, but she restrained herself.

"We ready to keep going?" I asked.

"We might as well get this over with," Dee suggested.

"Thank you both for your help in getting me home, it will not be forgotten," Quin stated in a low voice. "It has been a long time since I felt hope that we dragons could exist with humans, and you have both given me that hope."