Denied - 91. Chapter 91

Sparkles blinked once, staring at me intently, her claws nudging my hands closer, just barely touching them. The sharp tips pricked my skin, one tiny blood drop welling up. “That’s it, isn’t it? You can’t touch the eggs.” But she could retract her claws. But her paws were still hard, the scales rough. I’d felt it when she grabbed me earlier. My skin, on the other hand… “I can touch it?”

She blinked again.

“Okay. Here goes.” I slipped my hands into the water and cupped them under the egg. Then I lifted them, bringing the egg out of the water. The weight settled into my palms as I got it out of the water, heavier than I expected and almost overflowing both hands. The egg was smooth, and it rotated in my palms, but it wasn’t slimy, instead the outside felt silky when I barely slid my thumbs against the sides to hold it as the water streamed between my fingers.

Captain stood beside me, one hand hovering just under one bicep. I was still crouched over the water. Glancing up, I looked at Sparkles. “Now what?”

She chirped, stepping backwards, not breaking focus. I turned and followed. “Where’s it going?” Deke said behind me.

“How do we know?” Aparoe snapped.

I focused intently on not moving my hands and watching every step I took, placing each foot with precise care so I wouldn’t stumble. The horror of possible dropping the egg was forefront in my mind, and I was glad when Captain stayed close even as I used every speck of my training to move fluidly.

“Thought you’d been keeping an eye on the beast,” Deke muttered.

“I checked on the eggs. Sparkles didn’t let me wander around. She’s sentient, I said. She’d let me in and out, through the one entrance, and that’s it.”

Sweat dripped down my face by the time Sparkles stopped. The suns had risen and light bounced off the rocks, warming them. She indicated a white mass in a depression.

“Kohen, is that your shirt?” Captain frowned.

“Yeah. I wore it that day I cut my hand carving. See, there’s the blood from where you used it as a bandage. I thought you threw it out.”

“No. I didn’t.”

Sparkles chirped and looked from me to the shirt then back. “You want me to put it there?” What was it with her following me? The babies liked my scent, burrowing into my arms earlier. They seemed happy enough now, perched on Sparkles’ head, curled into sleeping coils. Did she know this egg would need help and take my shirt?

How smart was Sparkles?

The fluid-filled egg was slightly firm, but would the shirt be enough cushion? The baby inside still wasn’t moving. Why wasn’t it moving?

Questions flitted through my mind and worry churned in my gut, making me sick. Tremors shook me, and I wanted to ask Captain to hold me, to sink into the comfort of his arms. But I couldn’t. I had to do this myself.

Well, not completely alone. Captain steadied my wobble as I knelt. I nestled the egg in the small depression with shaking hands. It shook slightly, like jelly, when I slid my hands out from under it but then went still.

“What now?” I asked Sparkles. She thrummed and nosed me, pushing back. I stumbled, reaching for Captain now that I wasn’t holding any babies. Funny… the three babies on Sparkles head were all awake and thrumming too. Sparkles pushed me farther with her tail, facing the egg.

Her sides heaved, then a stream of fire burst from her mouth and consumed the egg.

“No!” I screamed. I tried to jump forward, to shover her, stop her, but Captain’s arms closed like vices around me.

“Stop, Kohen. It’s too late, you can’t save the egg now,” Captain shouted over my cries, and I couldn’t stop fighting him for the long seconds Sparkles continued to fry her egg to a crisp.

“Why? Why would she—” I broke off, unable to say it. I turned my face into Captain’s shoulder, body shuddering, tears streaming down my face. I’d thought she wanted me to save the egg, not help her destroy it.

The humming cut off and then someone gasped. Deke cursed. I couldn’t look. Captain’s hands on my back froze. “Kohen, you need to—”

“No, you were right, okay? She’s an animal. Fire-breathers like her are dangerous.” I shook my head against his shoulder. “I can’t… I don’t want to see.” I gasped in short breaths.

“Yes, she can be dangerous. But you need to see this.” Captain moved back and put his hand under my chin, moving my head when I didn’t do it on my own. “Open your eyes.”

Reluctantly, I did. I’d face it, then we’d leave. She had her babies, she could stay away from me and I would never think about the precious egg I’d held so briefly in my hands….

Lit up with incandescent swirls as my shirt flared and then crumbled to ashes. Through the glowing swirls, I could glimpse the baby. And it moved!

I gasped. “It’s alive! I’m sorry, Sparkles. I didn’t understand. Fire burns. That would hurt me. Oh stars, you knew,” I said breathily. “That’s why you pushed me back. But the egg had to come out and this baby needed fire?”

She blinked once, then turned and started humming. I scrambled up to the edge of the depression. The cloth was gone, but the egg didn’t look soft anymore. The baby inside rolled, stretched, and tapped one side.

The egg shattered around the small being. I sucked in a breath, staring. Bigger than the others, but just two back legs and forelimbs, dark wings wrapping its rounded body unlike the others’ lean, tube-like bodies. Blue, orange, and yellow swirls colored its… skin?

Its blue eyes had met mine, and it changed.

“Aparoe?” I whispered.

“I said it had more of your DNA.”