Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a rainbow of micro-expressions cross Jane and Sienna’s faces. Shock was predominant, then a sense of greed – these were dragon eggs – then horror as they realized what I had (unintentionally… kinda) led them into.

The mimic was not a happy momma dragon.

She mantled over her clutch of eggs, which were visible just inside the mouth of the cave. Glaring at us, she bared her teeth and sent a puff of very frosty breath our way.

We were far enough back that I only felt an intense chill but leaves and plants unlucky enough to be in the breath’s path froze solid.

I hoped that the sudden cold from the mimic’s chill body wasn’t bad for the egg.

“We should go,” Jane said softly.

“We should report the clutch,” Sienna added. "Actual mimic eggs. Wow."

I half-turned to her, though I wasn’t stupid enough to take my eyes completely off the winter dragon. Just in case she charged.

“What do you mean by report?”

“Female dragons are rare. Broody mothers… well, they’re worth a lot of money.” Sienna shrugged at Jane’s glare. “Sorry, but they are. Not everyone can be the mayor’s daughter.”

“They are extraordinarily rare,” Jane said.

I should have guessed. Tiberius, Commodore, and Ferdinand were all male. Everyone else usually referred to their dragons as male too.

“Todd didn’t realize she was a… she?” I asked.

Jane shook her head frantically but kept her gaze low. “He didn’t realize she was a mimic, remember? He didn’t bother to look. She was just another dragon to sell.”

Welp. His loss, my gain.

“We’re not reporting her,” I said firmly. “And we’re not taking her eggs. We’re going to help her out.” With that, I looked down at Tiberius. “Stay here.”

Then I stepped forward.

“Harmony!” Jane snapped, reaching for me. For once, I was too quick and had stepped out of range of her grasp.

The dragon… was not happy with me.

She breathed out another puff of winter cold breath and rattled her icicle-tipped wings. They chimed together like a hundred threatening wind chimes.

“I know,” I said softly. Maybe it was a good thing I was physically incapable of moving fast because my heart was thundering in my chest and my limbs all felt shaky. Adrenaline raced through my system. If I wasn’t careful, I might have darted forward out of sheer rising panic. The need to go somewhere and get this over with now.

Somehow, I kept my voice low and soothing. “Easy there, big girl. I’m not here to trap you. I just want to talk.”

I held my hands palm up.

Behind me, I heard Jane and Sienna frantically whispering to one another. They seemed to be debating whether to rush in and pull my dumb ass away from the angry mother dragon, but neither one of them wanted to accidentally startle her into attacking.

Smart girls. And good friends. I hadn’t had many close friends in my life – mostly allies in various group homes I could trust to have my back if one of the more unbalanced girls targeted us – but those two had all the hallmarks of good friends.

The Winter Dragon’s lips peeled back from her teeth. She was showing every single fang in her mouth and had crouched low as if to hide the eggs from her.

Time to test how intelligent untamed dragons were.

“You probably figured it out by now, but this isn’t a good place to have your clutch,” I said, still in that soothing voice. “It’s too close to people. And to Todd.”

The dragon visibly flinched at that name. She covered it with an angry snort that sent snowflakes whirling around in frantic zephyrs.

“Yeah, he sucks,” I agreed. “And I sort of let him trick me into a fight. Winner takes Tiberius.” I gestured with my chin back over to my fennec dragon.

The mimic didn’t do anything other than narrow her eyes. If she could speak out loud, I thought she might have said, “Get to the point before I eat you.”

In fact, I thought she might have already tried something… if not for the fact doing so would expose her eggs to three unfamiliar dragons and two other humans.

“I was going to run off,” I said, “But I just thought of a better idea. What if I showed up with a dragon way above my own level? Something that would kick his ass?”

I heard either Jane or Sienna suck in a quick breath.

“It would be a one-time deal,” I continued.

Please be able to understand me… please, please…

One thing that I had going for me was that the mimic wasn’t a hundred percent a wild dragon. She had been connected to Todd. Yes, it had been a short connection and done through a shitty quartz crystal, but I was betting it was enough to give the dragon some insight.

“I’m sure you’d like to kick that guy’s ass,” I continued.

The dragon gave a grumbling sound that might have been reluctant agreement.

Or she was revving herself up to freeze me where I stood. One of the two.

Time to put the icing on the cake. “So that’s how you can help me, but here’s how I can help you: Your eggs are too close to town. Todd will be on the lookout for a dragon to challenge me, and there’s a good chance he’ll find your hiding place. He came close before, right?”

The mimic swelled up, anger flashing in her eyes. Again, I held up my hands.

“But if you were mine, I’d be able to protect the eggs. I’m thinking there’s laws about eggs from a tamed female?” I risked a glance over my shoulder at Jane and Sienna.

Sienna just stared at me like I’d gone insane, but Jane gave a tight nod.

I turned back to the mimic. “Become my dragon. Help me kick Todd’s ass and Tiberius and I will protect your eggs either until they hatch or if we can get them to safety. What do you say?”

The mimic stared at me.

It wasn’t a yes, but it wasn’t a no.

Considering “no” meant death, I was willing to take it.

“Look, if I found your nest then anyone can,” I said. “And I won’t bond you with a lame-ass quartz. You’ll have this.” Slowly, very slowly, I withdrew the gold crystal from my pocket.

In the shadows under the trees, it seemed to glint with a light of its own.

“Harmony?” Sienna rasped. “You’re going to use a gold crystal on a temporary bond?”

“Yes, I am,” I said firmly. And I heard a slight smack of flesh against bone as if my two friends were facepalming.

Well, gold crystals were pretty rare.

My focus was on the mimic. “You know what this is? It means you’ll be able to use all your powers in the arena. Maybe even discover a new one.”

The mimic’s attention sharpened. While in the winter dragon’s form, her eyes were the pure blue of deep ice.

And they were fixed on the crystal.

I couldn’t tell if the mimic loved the idea or hated it. If I was an ally or a threat.

I had said my piece and no it was up to her to decide. I wouldn’t ever trap a dragon and force it to bond. She’d have to come on her own.

The moment stretched on and on.

Just when I was starting to sweat, the mimic took a careful step forward. Then another. Well within biting range, it looked me up and down and I got a distinct feeling that I was being weighed.

Tiberius made a curious noise I had never heard before. It sounded like a cross between a growl and a warble.

The mimic snorted a soft gust of freezing breath that made me shiver.

Then she bowed her head.

Oh, holy shit. It worked.

Acting on pure instinct, I raised the gold crystal and gently pressed it to the mimic’s forehead.

The crystal sank into the mimic’s head, as the opal had sunk into Tiberius’ egg.

A feeling of warmth expanded in my soul, as if I had been covered by a warm electric blanket.

The mimic’s next gust of frozen breath didn’t affect me at all. It was like its cold couldn’t touch me.

Ding!

Congratulations! You have Tamed Mimic Dragon! (♀). Would you like to name this creature?

“Uh,” I said, flicking through several names in my mind. I settled on one. It was stupid. “Arcee? On my world, it’s the name for a girl who… er… transforms into other objects.”

And fights Deceptacons, but no one needed to know that.

Arcee blinked at me, and I got an impression of amusement… and expectation.

“Arcee it is,” I said.

Ding!

You have used (Gold) bonding crystal. Please choose an attribute to share.

Strength

Dexterity

Constitution

Intelligence

Wisdom

Charisma

Whoops. I’d forgotten about this part, too. Since gold was on the basic crystal scale, I didn’t get a fun characteristic like I had with Tiberius’s looting skill. Instead, I received an attribute.

Which to choose? Luck was already take, though I wouldn't have picked it anyway.

Damn it. The next time I found a bookseller, I was getting a Dragon Taming for Dummies.

“Dexterity,” I decided.

Another muted Ding! sounded in the back of my mind.

Suddenly I felt… different. Not in a bad way. Like my joints were both looser and yet better put together. It was really weird.

I blinked at Arcee. “Your Dex is pretty high, huh?”

Arcee had a stiff dragonish muzzle instead of human lips. She still managed to smirk at me.

Out of curiosity, I brought up my full sheet:

Name: Harmony St. Claire

Race: Human (Traveler)

Age: 18

Dexterity – Mimic “Arcee”

Luck – Fennec “Tiberius”

Occupation: None

Craft: None

Tamer Attribute: (1) Treasure Hunter (Opal)

(Loot ability. Two items per creature. 5 percent chance of a special or rare drop.)

Dragons: 2/5

Tiberius

Fire-Opal Bond

Fennic Dragon

First Tier – Level 3

Arcee

Gold Bond

Mimic Dragon

Fourth Tier – Level 9

“Fourth Tier?” I demanded. “No wonder you beat that bone dragon. Oh, I’m Harmony by the way… I don’t think I introduced myself. And this is Tiberius.” I gestured back to my dragon. “And that’s Jane and Commodore. Sienna and Ferdinand. Guys, this is Arcee.”

Sienna stared. Jane held up her hand and wiggled her hand in a wave.

Arcee snorted frost breath (which again did nothing to me. So weird!) and the vague feeling of expectation grew.

Then she reached over and butted her head against me, shoving me a step to the side. I stumbled on my bad leg perilously close to the clutch of eggs.

Probably a bad idea, considering Arcee had to be protective of them.

But she just shoved me again and again until I stood right next to them.

“Um,” I said.

Arcee gave me a look, nodded her elegant head once in a way that made all the icicles chime. Then with a pop transformed into her house dragon form.

I felt the transformation – or specifically, the effort that transforming cost her. It took some stamina to move from one form the another.

Arcee let out a chittering, scolding sound like she was dictating directions to me. Then with a flip of her tail, she took off into the sky.

There was a moment of silence.

“What.” Sienna said. That one word seemed to encompass… everything.

“I think,” I said, “She wanted me to watch her eggs while she hunts. I did say that I would.”

I just hadn’t meant right now.

Sigh. This was going to be a weird evening.