Mystery Beyond Compare - Fablehaven Oneshots

What I Would Do

The situation was dire. Kendra had been in a lot of pretty terrible situations, but rarely was she all alone, facing something that could, would, and fully intended to kill her in seconds. Life or death situations were a pretty common occurrence in her life. Fairies, she could deal with her own. Demons trying to take over a preserve? Sure. A particularly large dragon staring her dead in the eyes from five feet away with the intention to murder her, and no backup whatsoever?

Not quite as accustomed to that. 

After the incident with Celebrant, Kendra could hold her own in a conversation with a dragon. Most of them paled slightly in comparison to the raging dragon king, and she'd come to pride herself on being able to both speak and move in a dragon's presence. So yes, she could speak, and move to an extent, but neither of those were really helping her situation.

The giant blue eyes were following her through the last layer of trees as she stumbled back another several feet. All she wanted to do was run, but that would be one of the worst options in the moment. Heart racing and entire body trembling, she swallowed and carefully backed up another step.

"I'd stay still if I were you." The voice was smooth, silky. Some dragon's voices were grating, but this one was almost soothing. She really was a beautiful dragon, reflective powder blue scales that sparkles wherever light touched them, and a mouthful of razor sharp teeth that could and would easily tear her to shreds.

"Avert your eyes, if you will?" Kendra didn't move. "Please, dear. Be polite."

She flickered her eyes to the side reluctantly. Out of her peripheral vision she sensed the giant bulk of the dragon shrinking down and compacting into a less paralyzing human form. Some of the trembling halted, but part of it was just normal fear. In human form she was still beautiful, waist length hair the same color as her scales had been.

Older dragons liked to play with her food; Gavin had been an asshole demon prince, but he'd at least given her that bit of correct information. This dragon was clearly older and had every intention of doing just that. Footfalls approached her across the layer of leaves on the forest floor, until she was only a foot away from Kendra, with a single finger tracing her jawline. She flinched and squeezed her eyes shut. How had she let this happen? She was the caretaker, why the hell had she gone back for something as unnecessary as a backpack? Too complacent. She'd been too complacent, and now she was going to die because of it.

The backpack and sword she had brought with her were both lying abandoned on the other side of the small clearing where she'd dropped them when she dove for the cover of trees.

The hand tapped her cheek sharply. "Eyes open, darling. I want you to see me."

"Don't call me darling," she hissed through gritted teeth, jerking away from the hand. Great. Talk back to the dragon, what a lovely idea. She needed to stop hanging around Seth so often, although if she survived this, he'd be proud.

This time it was a slap instead of a tap. The stinging across her face burned, and the force almost knocked her over.

"Hush," the dragon snapped. "Or I'll kill you sooner."

"I'm the caretaker. Do you realize what'll happen if you do that?"

"Do you realize that I don't care about that?" she hummed. "Obviously not."

No. She wouldn't die, not this way, and definitely not by this damn dragon. What would Warren do? Probably something self sacrificial that would get him out injured but alive, she supposed, but something that he could only pull off with his years of training. She didn't have that advantage. Kendra only had her couple of years of self defense, and a year of fight training from Henrick.