Meeting the Humans Read online

  Contents

  Title

  Stonfire Dragons Shorts Series

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Epilogue

  Author's Note

  Books by Jessie Donovan

  Copyright

  Meeting the Humans

  (Stonefire Dragons Short #1)

  Jessie Donovan

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  Books in this series:

  Stonefire Dragons Shorts

  Meeting the Humans (SDS #1)

  Meeting the Humans Synopsis:

  Ten-year-old Daisy Chadwick wins an essay contest, and the prize is her entire class gets to visit Clan Stonefire. Even if her best friend can’t come because her mom is afraid of dragon-shifters, Daisy is still excited. She’s determined to see a dragon up close and pet him.

  Freddie Atherton can’t wait to meet some humans his own age. At least, until he’s paired with a strange one. And not just any strange one, but a girl who may get into more trouble than even him, and that’s saying something.

  As the pair bond over a mini-adventure, Freddie learns that humans can be fun. He only hopes their sneaking away doesn’t keep the humans from ever coming back.

  Chapter One

  Freddie Atherton tried to listen to his teacher, Mr. MacLeod, but he couldn't stop looking at the door in the classroom.

  Today was the day, after all. The day he'd finally meet some humans.

  When his inner dragon spoke up, it was still hard for Freddie not to jump in his seat—they'd only started talking with one another in the last year and a half, and it was weird to have a second voice inside his brain.

  His dragon said, There are lots and lots of humans on Stonefire.

  Doing his best to concentrate, so he could talk with his inner beast but hopefully not attract the attention of the teacher, he replied, That's different. They're mostly old, and mum and dad's age. I've never met a human my age before.

  Freddie had just turned ten a few weeks ago. A big year, since it meant he would learn to fly soon.

  His dragon flapped his wings inside his mind. They can't be that interesting. They can't even fly.

  We can't either.

  But soon.

  A male cleared his throat right next to him, and Freddie did his best not to gulp. No one ever wanted Mr. MacLeod to clear his throat at them. It was heaps worse than even his mum shouting at him.

  Still, he knew better than to avoid eye contact. The first time he'd done so, Freddie had cleaned the classroom for a week all by himself.

  Meeting Mr. MacLeod's dark eyes, he said, "Yes, sir?"

  "What's the final check you need to make before you jump into the air?"

  Freddie should know this. He really should. His mum was always going on about being careful.

  Too bad he hadn't really paid attention.

  Lying would make things worse with Mr. MacLeod, so he shook his head. "I don't know, sir. I was talking with my dragon."

  His beast growled. Don't blame me.

  Mr. MacLeod spoke before he could answer his beast. "While we need to build a good relationship with our dragons, you can't forget the outside world. If you're flying and too busy talking with your beast to notice an airplane in the sky, you could die. You need to learn balance."

  "Balance, or I'll die?"

  Mr. MacLeod didn't miss a beat. "Exactly."

  Freddie nodded, hoping it'd be enough for the teacher. Ever since Mr. MacLeod's babies had been born, he mentioned all the time how they could die. Seriously, every day. If Freddie were to walk funny, he could run into a tree, crack his head, and die.

  It would be funny if Freddie weren't the one getting the most reminders.

  His dragon laughed, but this time, he ignored him. Freddie spoke again. "I'll try my best, sir." He decided to be more honest, even if it got him another reminder about dying. "It's just difficult. The humans are coming today. Do you know when?"

  Every student in the class turned toward Mr. MacLeod. It was one of those rare times when you'd be able to hear a bug walking on the windowsill.

  Not that there was one there, now, though. Maybe even the bugs were waiting for the teacher's answer.

  Mr. MacLeod walked to the front of the room, crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at each of them in turn. "I know all of you are curious about the school children coming today. And they should be here soon. However, we can't waste the morning hours. The more we cover, the sooner you can shift and start flying."

  Normally, dangling the promise of flying would get all of the students to sit, nod, and ask for Mr. MacLeod to continue.

  Not today, though. The humans were loads more interesting. "But Mr. MacLeod, none of us will be able to focus on new stuff. Maybe you should give us a quick lesson in humans. You know, so we don't scare them or something."

  Mr. MacLeod raised his brows. "You should've had lessons about human etiquette already with Miss Lawson. Were you not paying attention during her lesson?"

  Freddie may have been distracted by Protectors doing flight drills out the window that day. But really, wasn't that the teacher's fault? They should cover the windows to hide those sorts of things from them.

  His beast spoke up. Or, you could just pay attention.

  Not wanting yet another person to try and scold him, he didn't reply to his dragon, but instead to the teacher. Freddie had an idea of how to get him to talk. "I tried and learned some. But Miss Lawson isn't mated to a human like you are, Mr. MacLeod. So you must know a lot more and have some tips for us."

  He had no clue if Mr. MacLeod saw through his distraction or not, but the teacher nodded. "I am mated to Miss Melanie, and it does give me some more insight into it all. But the question is—are you going to pay attention? Because if you can't promise to do so, then maybe you should stay in the classroom when the others go to meet the humans."

  Freddie half rose from his chair. "You can't do that! I mean, um, please don't do that, sir. I can pay attention. I promise."

  Mr. MacLeod stared at him a moment before he grunted. "Right, then pay attention everyone. Humans aren't that different from us, but let me tell you a few things to avoid at first."

  As the teacher gave his tips, Freddie leaned forward and hung on every word. For once, he would pay attention. He wanted to meet the humans more than anything. For the rest of the day, at least, he wouldn't mess up anything.

  He only hoped the humans came soon, though. Freddie's attention sometimes wandered no matter what he tried, and he didn't want to stay in the classroom while everyone else went out. He'd never hear the end of it from his mum, or his older brother.

  And so he did his best to focus on Mr. MacLeod. Well, until someone came into the classroom to tell them the humans had arrived, anyway.

  Chapter Two

  Daisy Chadwick had spent the entire bus ride to Stonefire bouncing in her seat. Unlike some of her classmates, who were afraid of the dragons and told horrible stories about them, she was excited. She'd actually seen a few of them flying in the air last summer, during her family's holiday to the Lake District. The purple and black and gold dragons had been diving, twirling, and doing all kinds of tricks.

  She'd even waved at them with both arms. One had noticed her—the purple dragon—and had flown even closer. But the dragon never came down to get her, or eat her, or tear her apart, like some of her classmates kept saying. Daisy was sure the dragon who'd hovered closer to her had nodded at her—right at her—as if to say hello.

  Too bad the purple dragon had flown away a few seconds later, along with his or her friends.

  Still, she
dreamed about those dragons all the time. So when there had been a contest for all primary students, one where they wrote why they thought getting to know the dragons was important, she'd entered.

  And best of all, Daisy had won. The prize was her class got to visit Clan Stonefire for a day.

  Most of her classmates had thanked her for it. But a few hadn't. Their parents had kept them home.

  But she didn't care. Daisy was going to meet some dragons. It was the best day ever.

  The bus stopped in front of a huge metal gate. The words above read, Stonefire.

  They had arrived!

  She wanted to jump up and race to the door, but Daisy stayed in her seat. One of the rules was to not get up until the teacher said so.

  And so she sat, tapping her feet against the ground.

  The bus went inside the gates and stopped near a big brick building. There were a lot of tall people around. Well, not people really, but dragons. Dragon-shifters in England were almost always tall.

  And strong. But even if the guy's arms just outside her window were massive, Daisy knew he wouldn't snap her in two. No one did that, unless it was a story. And that was only because it made things more interesting.

  After what seemed like an hour, the teacher climbed back onto the bus and clapped her hands. "Right then, we'll set off here in a minute. However, let's do a quick review of the rules."

  Daisy resisted groaning. They had written the rules a hundred times the day before, and then had gone over them many, many times on the way to Stonefire.

  But she didn't complain. She couldn't risk being held back and missing the dragons.

  The teacher held up her first finger, and the children all said, "Stay with one other student at all times."

  At her second finger, they continued, "No wandering off."

  And the third finger. "No bothering the dragons. Be respectful at all times."

  Miss Fletcher smiled. "Good. Miss Nikki, one of the dragon Protectors, is waiting just outside. Form a group near her."

  The students slowly got off the bus. Daisy didn't say anything to her partner for the day. She and Emily didn't get along well. But Daisy's best friend hadn't been allowed to come.

  Too bad because her best friend would've loved meeting the dragons. But her mum was silly and thought they would keep her a prisoner, or kidnap her, or something weird that dragons wouldn't do.

  Of course, adults never listened to Daisy. And so her friend had stayed home.

  Daisy was the last one off the bus—she was sure the teacher had put her in the back on purpose to avoid her questions. So when she stepped onto the gravel, the rest of the students were standing near a kind of short dragon-shifter with black hair and dark eyes. The tattoo on her arm meant she was a dragon. Each dragon-shifter had a different one. Daisy wanted one, too, when she was older, even if she wasn't a dragon-shifter.

  The woman watched them all with very intense eyes. Not mean ones, but still, it made Daisy feel like a CCTV camera was watching her.

  Maybe dragons could remember everything.

  Before she could stop herself, she blurted, "Miss Nikki, can you remember everything you see? Like, if you wanted, you could replay a memory like a movie? That would be brilliant if you could."

  Her teacher shushed her, but Miss Nikki smiled and said, "No, although that would be fantastic if we could. Sadly, we only have sharp eyesight and super hearing."

  Daisy whispered, "So you can hear me now?"

  Miss Nikki laughed. "Yes, which means I can hear all of you." She looked at the crowd. "So don't go planning any mischief behind my back, okay?"

  All of her classmates nodded. Daisy opened her mouth with another question, but her teacher said, "No more questions for now, Daisy. Unless you want to stand here and not meet the other dragon-shifters?"

  Even though she wanted to ask Miss Nikki tons more things—after all, it wasn't every day someone could talk to a dragon-shifter—seeing others her own age would be more fun, probably. Maybe she could learn new games from them. "No more for now, I promise, Miss Fletcher."

  Nikki spoke up again. "Ah, Daisy, as in Daisy Chadwick?" She nodded, and Miss Nikki added, "Then congratulations on winning the contest. I hope today is a lot of fun for you."

  She nodded enthusiastically. "Me, too. Can we go now? Please?"

  Miss Nikki chuckled and motioned toward a path. "This way. It won't take us long to get to the school."

  As they walked down the path, Daisy did her best not to skip ahead. She had to stay with Emily, after all. Too bad Emily walked really slow. A tortoise might beat her in a race.

  Still, she knew mentioning it would only make Emily walk even slower. That's the way she was.

  Even with Emily being a snail, they soon reached a two-story building, and Nikki stopped them. "This is the school. We'll go around the back, where the students should be waiting."

  With each step they took, Daisy's heart beat faster. She couldn't wait to see how the best day ever would get even better.

  ~~~

  Freddie wished they could meet the human students anywhere but the school. Normally he didn't mind the other students, but they all would be watching them. And that also meant other teachers would be watching them. No doubt they'd each make a report, so if Freddie messed up again, they'd tell his mum.

  Even if he was going to try his hardest not to mess up today, it could still happen, and then he might not be able to practice shifting at home for a few days as a punishment.

  And he wanted to get better at shifting. Because once he was good, then he could maybe start flying.

  His dragon yawned. Don't worry. Just stick with the other students, and we'll be fine. Mr. MacLeod won't allow anything bad to happen.

  I hope you're right.

  Before his dragon could reply, a group of children came around the corner, and he forgot about everything else.

  The humans had arrived.

  At first, they looked like any other school kids. Although why they walked in pairs, holding hands, he had no idea. Weren't they supposed to be the same age? A dragon would never be forced to hold hands that way at nine or ten.

  His inner beast snorted. If we were in a human school, I'm sure we'd be doing the same.

  We'll be flying soon and aren't babies. We shouldn't need to hold hands.

  Mr. MacLeod spoke briefly with the human female adult he guessed was the teacher and then turned toward them. "Miss Fletcher and I came up with a plan over the last few weeks of how today will go. First, listen for your names. Each human will be paired up with a dragon-shifter student. You are to look out for your partner for the day, no matter what. Understood?"

  Everyone murmured their agreements, except for Freddie. His mouth hung open.

  His dragon laughed. He'll say we have to hold hands next.

  Mr. MacLeod's dark eyes stared right at him. Freddie quickly bobbed his head. "Yes, sir."

  "Good. Then listen for your name, and when you hear it, come up to me and Miss Fletcher."

  As Mr. MacLeod began yelling out names, Freddie watched as the group of potential human student partners got smaller and smaller.

  And then there were only two girls and one boy.

  Oh, no. He didn't want to be paired with a girl. His friends would tease him over and over again.

  But then the last boy was paired off and then the other girl. The only one remaining was the girl who kept swinging her arms and staring at everything in a funny way.

  Fantastic. What should've been a great day would be embarrassing. Not just because he'd be forced to watch out for a girl, but because she was one of the weird ones.

  "Freddie Atherton and Daisy Chadwick."

  They were the last two, but still, Freddie dragged his feet as much as possible. Mr. MacLeod had noticed, too, because he raised one of his eyebrows. The eyebrow raise was almost as bad as the throat clearing.

  It meant the teacher would watch him extra closely or give him tasks no one wanted to do.

 
; He resisted a sigh. Mr. MacLeod gestured toward the little girl bouncing in place. "Say hello to your student partner for the day."

  The human girl didn't wait. She grabbed his hand and shook it. "Hi, I'm Daisy! I've been waiting to come to Stonefire for weeks and weeks. Are you allowed to shift? Can I see your dragon? Dragons are so pretty, and shiny, and oh. Okay, Miss Fletcher. I'll try to be quiet."

  Freddie glanced at the human teacher, who was shaking her head.

  Interesting. Maybe Daisy got in trouble a lot, too.

  His dragon chimed in. That means maybe she's the fun one.

  If she ever stops talking.

  Give her a chance.

  Daisy squealed. "I saw your eyes change! That's weird, and cool, and um, what does it mean? We don't learn a lot about dragon-shifters."

  Mr. MacLeod gave him a gentle shove, meaning he needed to make an effort.

  It was going to be the longest day ever.

  Still, maybe he'd get a chance to talk to some of the boys later. So he answered, "It means I'm talking with my dragon."

  "Oooh, your dragon. I wish I had a dragon. Then I'd always have a friend with me. I love my best friend, Lucy, but she couldn't come today. But if I had a dragon, she'd be with me always. I'd love that."

  To be honest, Freddie hadn't thought of it that way much. It was just something that happened.

  His dragon said, I like her. Be nice.

  Mr. MacLeod said softly, "You're right. It's nice to have someone always with you, Daisy. And you can ask Freddie more questions later, but for now, let's start the tour, okay?"

  She nodded, her curly hair bouncing. "Okay, Mr. MacLeod. I'm ready."

  The dragonman blinked, and Freddie did his best not to laugh.

  If the human could surprise Mr. MacLeod, she might be okay. Not the greatest, but okay.

  Mr. MacLeod turned toward the group of students. "Right then, both sets of students have the same rules. Don't leave your partner, no wandering away, and be respectful. So let's visit our first stop—the student practice landing area."