Dragon's Dawn Read online

  Dragon’s Dawn

  Rose unlocked and turned the handle of the empty laboratory where they had been permitted to store their child. In a box in the corner, a Deinonychus antirrhopus egg was snuggled with a blanket, warm and hidden from prying eyes.

  “Hello, Virgil,” Rose said, walking over. She sat down beside the egg and brushed aside the absurd teddy bear her husband-to-be had brought for him. According to Henry, a child should have a toy to cuddle with. According to Rose, the child was currently inside an egg.

  She felt a stirring in her mind, a sensation she was gradually becoming more used to. Deinonychus dragons were, they had discovered, telepathic. This was good, because there was no way they could have communicated with the fetus otherwise, nor even known that he was intelligent.

  “Are you asleep now?” Rose asked.

  Warmth. Comfort. Sleepiness. Gone.

  Rose reached into the bag she had brought with her and removed her textbook and notebook. Carefully, she smoothed down the pages and began taking notes. She had splurged and spent the five cents on the subway because she had a great deal of studying to do before next week, and she had not wanted to spend an extra hour walking. Quiet would suit her perfectly.

  Try as she might, though, she could not ignore the fact that her wedding was tomorrow. Her wedding to a man who was still little more than a stranger, in order to parent a child who was not even their species. Her mind skittered away from the notes she was taking, and terror squeezed her heart.

  What am I doing? Rose thought frantically. Her fingers tightened around the edge of her notebook. Almost all of the women in college are single. I know no women with a baby and a career. I’m determined to become a paleontologist, which is a difficult field to break into in any case. Am I destroying my whole future?

  Her fingers tightened around the notebook, crumpling the paper.

  And then there’s Henry. What if I’m wrong about him? What if he becomes chauvinistic once we’re married, like my father? He’s already shown signs of inflexibility!

  Her fingernails dug into the paper, opening a tear. Heedless, her thoughts kept on spinning into further and further fear.

  And then there’s Virgil! We haven’t told the city that he exists yet. How will they react when they learn that not all dragons apparently died millions of years ago? He’ll be seen as a miracle. He’ll be seen as a monster. He’ll be seen as a pet, or animal, or source for curiosity. How will we make people understand he is a person?

  She wanted to cry. Her shoulders heaved.

  The equivalent of a matching howl came from the egg. He was tight and he was uncomfortable and his tail was squashed and his toes were squished and he couldn’t move and he hated it! He hated it, he hated it, he hated it!

  Rose was in no mood to put up with a tantrum. She slammed her notebook shut.

  “You’re going to hatch soon,” she told him sternly. “You’ll be fine.”

  He didn’t want to hatch, he wanted to stay right here, where he was warm, and comfortable, and SQUISHED! He hated it! He didn’t want to be squished anymore! SQUISHED SQUISHED SQUISHED SQUISHED!

  “You were the one who told us you were close to hatching. You were the one who looked forward to it eagerly. Remember?”

  Nooooo! He didn’t want to, he didn’t want to! He was going to kick the side of the egg!

  Whump. Whump. Whump. Rose could actually see the egg moving.

  “If you do that, you’re going to hatch right now,” Rose said dryly.

  The dragon sent out a burst of terror and a kaleidoscope of panic. He didn’t want to hatch! He didn’t have to! He would just stay here forever!

  The doorknob unlocked and turned, and Henry walked in.

  “Perfect timing,” Rose said. “Virgil’s throwing a fit. He says he doesn’t want to hatch.”

  Whump! Whump! Whump! Whump!

  “Whoa,” Henry said, walking over and putting his hand on top of the leathery egg. “No one’s going to force you to do anything before you’re ready, Virgil. You don’t have to feel rushed. You can do things at your own pace.”

  The egg stopped moving. The panic stilled.

  Virgil’s father was nice. Virgil liked his father better today.

  “Thank you,” Rose said with annoyance.

  Virgil’s mother was scared, too. She had woken him up. Virgil hadn’t liked that. He’d share his memory of it.

  Rose winced as her own emotions from moments before flooded back over her again, this time filtered through the dragon’s perception. Henry raised his eyebrows at her.

  “You’re having second thoughts about the wedding?” he asked.

  Rose hesitated. It wouldn’t be much use to deny it, given that their son apparently could tattle on her. “Not so much second thoughts as . . . doubts. Fears.”

  “Ah.” Henry sat down beside her and tucked the teddy bear back in with the egg. That ludicrous teddy bear. “Well, I’ll tell you the same thing I told to Virgil. I’m not going to force you to do anything before you’re ready. If you want to wait, we can wait.”

  Rose drew in a deep breath. “But we have to get married as soon as possible. We’ve paid for the apartment. I’ve moved most of my clothing there. My roommates have found someone to replace me. We can’t possibly delay it.”

  “We most certainly can, if you want to,” Henry said. “We’ll find a way.” He made a face. “Even if your father makes my life miserable for it.”

  Rose laughed. Her father was a difficult man even when he liked a person, and he wasn’t fond of Henry.

  “I mean it,” Henry said seriously. “I don’t want to start a marriage with you having second thoughts. If you want to delay, we can delay.”

  Rose gave that serious thought. Did she want to delay?

  Henry had promised not to stand in her way of her dreams, despite the fact that her ambitions were unusual for her gender. He had always treated her with respect. He was undoubtedly a better father than she was a mother. In many ways, he was the ideal match, and Virgil was a better child than she deserved.

  The timing might be rushed, and that was frightening. But this was the right family.

  Rose reached out to put her hand on top of Henry’s.

  “No,” she said softly. “Tomorrow. Tomorrow will be fine.”

  It no longer seemed like a source of fear.

  Rose didn’t count on becoming a mother to a brand new baby dragon egg.

  She’s always wanted to be a paleontologist, and is now in college studying to become one. But a chance meeting at the American Museum of Natural History turns her world upside down. Because, millions of years after dragons have gone extinct, there’s an egg that seems to be unexpectedly . . . alive.

  The egg knows what he wants. He wants Rose and a stranger, Henry, to be his new parents. But can three strangers of two different species become a family?

  You can get it here.

 

 

  Emily Martha Sorensen, Dragon's Dawn

  Thanks for reading the books on GrayCity.Net