Then he stopped. There was something cold and weirdly slimy on his head.
A moment later, he realized that Liana had bent over with laughter.
She was giggling helplessly as she stared at him. “Oh, please don’t move! Let me get my phone. I need a picture—don’t touch it!”
“No, thank you,” Timothy said with as much dignity as a man with a jellyfish right on top of his head could muster.
While Braeden and Liana watched, crying tears of laughter, he helped the confused jellyfish back into the ocean.
“Who wants coffee?” Timothy then asked, eager to change the subject.
Both Braeden and Liana kept grinning as they climbed the wooden stair up to the beach house. Every time they looked at each other, it set off a new round of laughter.
“We were thinking of a barbecue on the beach this evening,” Timothy continued, combing through his hair again just to make sure that there weren’t any stray fish or clams left.
Braeden gave him a smirk and held out his hands. The cuffs of black obsidian still encircled them.
“Take these off and you can have some dragon fire charred fish.” Braeden sighed when Timothy shook his head. “Yeah, didn’t think so. How long are we going to hang around here doing nothing?”
“You wanted to see the world,” Timothy reminded him. “Live among humans. Experience all they have to offer.”
“You call this the world?” Braeden glared at the beach. “Not much for me to experience here, is there?”
Timothy rolled his yes. “Chill. A day or two of a nice beach vacation won’t hurt you. Learn to relax a little. Anyway, tomorrow we’re probably going to see the chimera, and you’re coming along.”
“Ugh.” Braeden grimaced. “No thanks. I’d rather stay here. Maybe I can check out that coffee shop of yours and give all your friends a good view of the terrible monster you’re dragging around with you in chains—”
“Nope,” Timothy said cheerfully, “you’re coming with us. I’m not leaving you alone here for a full day. You’ll scare the neighbors, and I don’t want the werewolves to move out. The quietest neighbors I’ve ever had.”
“Except for the full moon?” Liana said with a grin.
Timothy grinned back. “You got it.”
***
Inside, the air was cool. The sensation was welcome after the long afternoon out in the ocean.
While Liana vanished to shower, Timothy started the coffee. The large grouper was waiting safely in the spare fridge in the pantry, and despite Mrs. Grimes’ worry, they had all the essentials they needed for a barbecue on the beach.
Which meant that Timothy now had some time left to deal with the more unpleasant facts of life.
Like fire dragons. And the chimera.
Timothy sighed when his phone showed a missed call from Ginny. Then he opened his emails—and yep, there it was.
Just as he’d suspected, the chimera wanted to see him and his mate. Not just him, apparently. Ginny had also been told to summon the dragon of earth and air with their mates.
I hope nothing has happened with that damn plinth of fire. We should just tear it down.
The thought of how the fourth plinth had just suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the hall of the council still made him feel grumpy. The element of fire had no right to join the council of elements.
For one thing, there hadn’t been a master of the fire for many centuries.
For another, the fire dragons who’d suddenly returned from where they’d hidden underground since the Middle Ages were hell-bent on destruction, and on conquering all of humanity, if Braeden was to be believed.
Timothy still didn’t quite believe that. From what he’d seen of fire dragons, they really weren’t smart enough to establish a dragon empire, or whatever it was they were going for.
But Timothy could believe that they wanted revenge and destruction. And they didn’t care who got harmed.