Lou

  Lou felt strange in the cave. And this was not because it was a cave. No. Both Remy and the dragons had made him as comfortable as possible. He had it soft and warm. But that wasn't the reason either.

  Lou didn't understand why this cave reminded him of his family's house. Of his childhood. Harper's siblings were loud, cheerful, and constantly arguing. They teased each other incessantly. Harper, in particur, was the target of many jokes. His father was quiet. Most of the time he y next to the cave entrance and looked out, unless he was hunting with Haper's mother. And Haper's mother? She was nice.

  When Harper's family approached him, they always took on human form. But most of the time he heard them rumble and hiss and saw their blurred outlines. White dragons. If they didn't get too close to him, Lou wasn't afraid of them. As long as they didn't tilt their huge heads towards him, the horrific images stayed away.

  And Harper? He spent most of his time in almost human form. His wings were almost always visible. Beautiful white wings with a few orange spots. He let Lou touch his feathers whenever Lou wanted. They were soft. Lou thought Haper looked beautiful when he spread his big wings. Like an angel.

  But the long cws and Harper's sharp teeth were terrifying. And in the half-form, as Harper called it, these were very striking. Even if Haper took on a complete human form, Lou could see sharp teeth and sharp fingernails. In addition to the glowing eyes. But they were not quite as pronounced as they were now. Sharp cws that could tear Lou apart in seconds...

  Harper grinned broadly. "What is it? Do I have something on my face?"

  Lou quickly shook his head. He didn't realize he was staring at Harper. They were sitting close to each other and his friend had a wing around him. As usual. With one hand, Lou stroked the soft feathers.

  "What is it then?", asked Harper.

  "Hm." Lou blushed.

  "Hm?" Amused, the dragon nudged him with his wing. "Am I so beautiful to look at?"

  In the background, Lou heard Ross groaning in annoyance. Lou's ears turned red. “Hm.” That's all he could say. Max snorted. Apart from her and Ross, no one else from Harper's family was there. But the two older dragons left Lou and Haper alone. Until now.

  "Heavens!", growled Ross.

  "Leave them alone!" Max's loud dragon voice sounded amused. Lou wanted to sink into the ground.

  "Hm? Is that a yes? Your HM?" Harper winked at him.

  Lou nodded unconsciously. "Oh!"

  "Thank you! I think you're beautiful too!" Haper announced, without blushing. Lou envied him for that. But he also wondered what might be beautiful about himself. Ugly and thin as he was.

  Before Lou could reply, however, he was startled by a sound. The fpping of mighty wings. A dragon approached the cave. Lou was frightened every time.

  "That's Narcisse!" Haper murmured quickly. "What does he want?"

  Lou shrugged.

  Then Narcisse nded in the cave. Lou saw the white of the dragon. Then he heard his thunderous voice: "Good afternoon everyone! You received a wonderful visit! I'm here!"

  "How wonderful!", growled Ross sarcastically.

  "Isn't it?" Narcisse didn’t react to the sarcasm. Instead, he approached Lou and Haper. As he did so, he took on human form and finally leaned over to Lou. "Hello, Sweetie!"

  Harper growled, but Narcisse ignored it. Instead, he sat cross-legged in front of Lou and smiled even more happily. "You're a celebrity! Do you know that?"

  Lou shook his head and moved even closer to Haper. Immediately, Haper put an arm around him.

  "Yes, really!" Narcisse nodded eagerly. "Almost all dragons want to visit you! Everyone wants to see the boy who now lives with us. Temporarily. It's not easy to stop them. But don't worry! No one wants you any harm!" Narcisse quickly added when he noticed that Lou was shaking. "Lou? Sweety? Are you all right?"

  "No. Of course not!", hissed Harper. "You just told him that a horde of dragons are coming to our cave!"

  "No, they’re not! And certainly not all at once. They won’t fit in here at once!", grumbled Narcisse. "But as cute as Lou is, of course, they want to see him!"

  Harper sighed. "Narcisse? Did you tell around that Lou is cute?", he asked.

  "Of course!", the other dragon replied proudly. Lou couldn't believe his ears. The dragons wanted to see him because he was cute?

  I'm not cute.

  Restlessly, he pushed the thought aside. "Narcisse?", he said softly to Remy's friend.

  "Yes?"

  "I want to see Louise. And Nina. My parents", Lou whispered now. He id his head on Haper's shoulders and sighed. "But that's not possible, is it?"

  "I can try to bring Louise here. But the rest of your family? I don't know..." Narcisse sighed, too. "Maybe it's better they don't know you're here. For their protection and yours."

  "They think I'm dead." How could it be otherwise? The idea didn't please Lou at first. But if he was no longer alive, officially, then perhaps they could leave the slum? Then maybe they could live a better life?

  All Lou had to do was stay dead.

  He was never allowed to return home.

  sasi