A New Beginning

Chapter 26

Tessa's POV:

"I am so glad that my scales aren't red," Abby murmured as we stalked through the tall grass. "You are having almost no luck."

We both knew she was right. Her green scales blended in far better than my red ones did.

I veered off to the side. "Give me a moment. I think I know how to fix this."

I would have to visit the creek before we went back to the Kymari, but the mud puddle at the base of a nearby tree would make it much easier to sneak closer to the big dragonflies.

With a wince, I began rolling around in the slippery stuff. By the time I finished, only my head and the upper part of my neck weren't thoroughly covered in mud. My feet squelched in the soaked dirt as I left the puddle.

Being this dirty did not feel right. Serena had failed to mention how unpleasantly the dirt and grit would rub between my scales.

A large blue dragonfly landed on a twig near the edge of the puddle, its clear wings glinting in the sunlight. Moving almost imperceptibly slowly, I edged closer to the watchful insect.

These things were nearly impossible to sneak up on – which was probably why Drake was offering a sunburst berry in exchange for whichever fledgling managed to 'tap' twenty dragonflies without harming them.

He said it was good skill to learn, but I was pretty sure that the adults were just tired of us tormenting them. Apparently, peace and quiet didn't exist when all eight of the flock's fledglings were in the same area. Drake's version of 'training' was a far cry from my sicora and crawler training earlier today.

The dragonfly shifted, and I froze, hoping it would relax slightly. When it began cleaning its face, I slowly took another step closer. Then, another. I was getting so close...

It shifted its position, and I lunged forward as I whipped my wing above it. The light fluttering of its wings tickled the underside of my wing as it escaped, but I had touched it without harming it.

"I got another one, Drake!" I happily crowed across the mindlink.

"Good for you. That's three now. Prita is at twelve, so you better hurry up."

As much as I was beginning to like that blue dragonet, sometimes I just wanted to strangle him.

I managed to 'tag' six more dragonflies before Prita won the game and went to claim her berry. My back and sides were far too itchy to lament over the lost prize.

"Let's go to the creek. I want to wash this mud off."

"Come on, Dirk," Abby called. "She's probably going to need both of us to help her get her scales and harness halfway clean."

I flew upstream to a sandy section and dove right into the water. My quick swim did nothing to dislodge any of the muck clinging to my scales. I swam to the shallows and rolled a few times on the sand, which removed a lot of it.

That still left a third of my scales hidden beneath my previous camouflage.

My mind focused on a distant dragonet. "Hey, Serena, how do you get mud off of your scales when you roll in it?"

"Time, a lot of cleaning, and several helpers. Why?" The growing amusement in the undertone of her voice told me that she had a pretty good idea why I was asking.

I sent her a wordless image of how muddy my harness and back still were.

"Ohhh... You found a really good mud puddle. Have fun with that!"