Follow the Dragon Scales

Ditched

Jarvis scratched pitifully at the window leading to freedom. It was clear that he had no idea what was happening.

Andy didn't like it one bit.

"This is stupid! Look at him! He just wants to go to play in the canals," he said trying to sound persuasive. 

"Sorry kid," Mr. Jones replied, fidgeting. "I'm not paid to feel bad about ending your friendship with the dragon. I'm paid to take 'im down to the dragon reservation and make sure it's in a safe environment. This--" He gestured around at the town. "ain't it. So, I'll be on my way now." 

Before Andy could reply, Mr. Jones rushed to board the boat and slammed the door to it shut. Shae went to jump on as well, but, before she could, the boat sped off, leaving her teetering on the edge of the dock before she finally fell with a splash. 

She'd never had the best balance.

All Andy wanted to do was panic. He wanted to scream in Shae's face. What if 'Mr. Jones'  wasn't who he said he was? What if he was going to kill Jarvis? Andy didn't have a clue where the dragon reservation was either. 

As you can guess, the two went back and forth for quite a while after Shae had drug herself out of the canals looking like a half-drowned rat. Andy was nearly  crying in anger. 

"I-if, yo~ou--," His voice trembled dangerously, "If  you had just left him alone NONE of this would have EVER HAPPENED!"  A stricken-looking Shae muttered half-heartedly in response.

"I was just trying to make sure everyone was safe." Fed up with what was, in his opinion, a stupid excuse, Andy turned and stomped his way down the canal towards his house, muttering curses and obscenities in Spanish. Upset herself, Shae crawled her way out of the canal and shoved her hands in her pockets, scowling. No wonder he doesn't have any friends, she thought to herself as she too walked to her house. 

And, it was true. Andy was known, not for his social skills, but for his incessant disagreeability with anyone and everyone.

Teachers and students, young and old, men and women, even babies. 

But, he'd connected with Jarvis.

Andy the Disagreeable had gotten along with and cared for Jarvis. 

Later that evening, after Shae had washed and dried herself, she couldn't quite get the events of that afternoon out of her head. 

She wondered if Jarvis was doing okay. Was he cramped in that weird, hybrid vehicle? 

The trip up north by boat or car or whatever that submarine-boat thing was would supposedly take close to two days. It would be awful for Jarvis to be stuck in a cramped position for two days. And, what if Mr. Jones wasn't who he said he was? What if he was a poacher? Her parents hadn't been around to check! He'd just showed up and taken the dragon! What if Andy was right?

No.

That's just silly. 

What poacher would have ever thought to go to a little town like Bellview for a dragon? 

It was just Andy's stupid words from earlier coming back to bother her. Jarvis was fine... wasn't he?

- -

Eventually, the worries became too much. At nearly one o'clock in the morning, Shae couldn't take it. She snuck out of her bedroom.

If all went well, she would not be back before the morning began and her ploy was discovered when it was time for school.

She was getting Andy, and together, they would make sure their dragon friend really was safe and sound. 

A/N I know that this is a pretty short chapter and it took a while to do, but I've been getting pretty busy so this story won't have a hardcore update schedule. I'll just do it when I can. Thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote if you like it a lot!