The extent of Matty’s ‘help’, seemed to be making sure that no nasty surprises awaited the girls. The house next door to the Tappers’ had blessedly been empty on the first night, but that hadn’t prevented the rats from smashing their way inside through the front door and windows. Splinters of glass, plastic and metal were strewn about the hallway and front room, the kitchen and rest of the downstairs bore ample signs of the vermin invaders.

  Kira, Lara and Sarah were joined by the last member of the inseparable quartet. Elizabeth Chen had been adopted by the trio immediately. She shared Kira’s studiousness but had been quiet and shy with only moderate command of the English language. This had been swiftly improved by the constant chatter in the group and a shared love of cartoons.

  The Chen’s had settled in the house next to the Neals, parents Ben and Kia with little sister Ruth. They had been half-starved and desperate when Matt and Arlee knocked on the door. Tears of gratitude were shed in great number when the offer to join the small community was extended, and their re-location was managed with no hostile encounters.

  Behind the group of chattering girls, Oswald lay on one of the many parked cars lining the road. Windows had smashed in when he had first chosen it as a resting place, but as the roof and side struts collapsed in, it formed a pleasantly comfortable basin for his growing form to relax in. There had been a few raised eyebrows at the casual destruction, but with the vehicles being almost useless that was the extent of any admonition.

  “Okay, it’s clear.” Said Matty as he emerged from the ruined front door. “The downstairs needs sweeping out, but the upstairs is almost untouched. It needs some serious work to secure the broken windows before any of us would be able to stay there, but I seriously doubt anyone is going to mess with His Magnificence here.”

  He nodded his head at a sleepily reclining Oswald, whose eyes were half-closed and small curls of smoke rose from his nostrils with each breath. Matty had turned out to be a Tolkien fan, and the presence of a dragon in their midst almost made the rest of The Weirdness worth the hassle in his eyes.

  “My thanks Master Stricker.” The cuddly bringer of fiery wrath intoned formally. “Might we impose upon you to assure the safety of the young Misses as they assist in clearing my new abode? While I sense no hostility from our audience, I do not wish to leave anything to chance.”

  Oswald turned a regal head toward the other side of the road, where a small group of ravens perched on the ridge of the Chen’s new house. Of all creatures the community had encountered, they seemed the least changed, though they shared some of the growth that seemed to be universal. A large colony had nested East of the village for many years and could often be seen chasing off circling red kites.

  Now however, they turned up day after day and just sat and watched the comings and goings in the street. Most prominently, they watched Oswald. As if sizing up a potential new threat to their colony, they seemed to study him as he lay on the ground, flying to a safe distance whenever he took flight. For his part, Oswald was respectful of their territory and returned the attention. He would brook no threat to Lara, and by extension the other girls.

  “What do you think they’re doing?” Sarah asked. “They’re creepy, sitting there watching us every day. It’s not like they watch any of the others in the road.”

  “Maybe now the rats are gone they’re plotting to take over the place.” Kira offered in a conspiratorial whisper. “You know that they’re really smart. I bet they could come up with some cunning plans.”

  As the group regarded the birds with thoughtful looks, their winged audience returned stared right back. Every once in a while, one or two would stretch their wings, cock their head to the side, or utter a distinctive croak.

  “Come on girls, you can birdwatch after getting this place clear.” Matty said as he watched from the porch. “Grab a broom and get sweeping, so Oswald finally has a proper place to sleep.”

  “Before the girls start this labour, there is some preparation which may well cause some further untidiness.” Oswald stated, levering himself up from the crushed car roof and padding to the ruined front window. “I do need a way in and out of my new abode after all.”

  Matty hustled out of the way and shooed the girls further back, tapping Kira on the shoulder and motioning her to keep watch around and above. When they were safely back behind Oswald’s previous resting place, the dragon reared up and carefully placed his claws inside the white, cracked window frame.

  His shoulder muscles bunched under the dull red-orange scales that covered his body and with little effort tore the ruined frame right out of the surrounding brickwork. Splinters remained as he turned to deposit the scraps in a corner of the front yard. Turning back to the house, he rapidly deepened the opening by tearing bricks from the bottom of the window gap, until a rough archway granted access to a shadowy interior.

  Oswald neatly piled the bricks and other building materials to the side, before turning back to the group who stared back at him with mouths agape. He looked askance at their expressions.

  “Is something the matter?”

  Matty cleared his throat before responding. “Err… Oswald, mate, you just ripped the side off a house.”

  Oswald turned round to regard his work critically. “A necessarily inelegant solution, but without the services of skilled tradesmen we must make do with the tools at our disposal.” He looked down at the razor-sharp talons gracing the end of his forefeet, slowly stretching and clenching the prehensile ‘hands’ as puffs of mortar dust settled to the ground.

  The girls were equally awestruck, but the silence would never last long with the four together in the same space. Sarah in particular was gleeful.

  “That was awesome! The way you just tore the wall apart! You’re so strong! Do you think you could tear a car apart as well?! Could you?! Could you?!”

  Oswald’s head lowered down to the same level, his deep, dark eyes staring into hers. “Now Miss Neal, what purpose would that serve? There are times when destruction is necessary, but it should never be undertaken lightly. It is far easier to destroy than create, so we must all be mindful of the choices we make to either of those ends, lest those choices have unfortunate consequences.”

  His voice was soft, kind even, but with a tone of gentle admonishment. Oswald saw himself as a protector, but increasingly as a teacher as well and never passed up an opportunity to impart some wisdom to the sometimes-flighty group.

  Quite where that wisdom came from was another matter. He had been sentient for mere weeks, certainly not long enough to build up the depth of experience and common sense that he displayed more and more. Arlee had commented on this a few days prior, and his explanation did nothing to alleviate her curiosity.

  “Everything has a nature, and it seems that growing toward or within that nature grants a certain level of familiarity with it. I feel – and know – things that I could not possibly know from sitting above my Mistress’s bed. Yet it is undeniable that those feelings – that knowledge – is within me.”

  Although unsatisfied with the answer, Arlee was perfectly happy to have another voice of reason within the community, which the girls paid avid attention to. As with many families where the child was approaching teenaged years, there was a growing resistance to simple acceptance of things a grown-up said. Luckily the shared experiences of the group were curbing the enthusiasm for self-expression somewhat. The danger of being eaten had a certain clarifying effect on the most careless of childish ideas.

  Matty interrupted the awkward aftermath of Oswald’s guidance by handing a broom to each of the girls. “Right, come on you lot, enough slacking. I’ll get the back open to get a breeze blowing through, and you lot can sweep the dust and stuff out the front door, so Oswald has a proper bedroom.”

  “Lair.” Lara corrected, speaking quietly. “It’s going to be a proper lair for a dragon.”

  The others nodded silently before entering the archway and starting to sweep. There was still some awkwardness between them, as Lara’s gut-wrenching grief at the loss of her family was something they could not begin to understand. This grief was becoming more bearable as time passed, and Lara spent time with Carry and Alan to support this. Carry had training in handling loss through her job, and Alan through the shared experience of having lost family unexpectedly.

  The girls had also made it their personal mission to help however they could. This manifested in a distinct rise in the number of pranks and practical jokes, as well as a suspiciously high number of sleepovers. They would congregate under makeshift tents in one of the family’s front rooms, reading, playing games and telling silly stories.

  They chattered about small things as billows of dust were wafted out through the archway. Oswald remained outside, alternating a watchful gaze between the sky and the ravens on the house opposite. At one point, a brave (or foolishly optimistic) member of the conspiracy flapped down and alighted on the fence a short distance from the reclining dragon. Cocking its head to one side it uttered a croak, though seemed unsatisfied and repeated the cry, each repetition varying slightly in tone and duration.

  Oswald regarded it with equanimity, until it ruffled its feathers in seeming frustration and flew back up to the group. There had been a purpose to the brief visit, he was sure, but at this time he could feel the pull of sleep asserting itself once more. He lay down, comforted by the sight of Matty brushing dust from his clothes, as in the shadows of the house giggles spoke of the source of his decoration.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Next door, Matt and Arlee sat together, enjoying a respite from the chatter of the girls. They could hear an occasional laugh or bump from the adjoining property and smiled at the sounds of productive effort from the younger generation. The novelty of the safer side of The Weirdness was wearing off, and enthusiasm for digging vegetables, housework and anything else vaguely resembling a chore was waning.

  Arlee read one of the numerous novels filling shelves dotted around the house, while Matt focused his efforts on completing another set of household patches. The last few weeks had been spent first upgrading the first round of patches he had created, replacing them with more powerful examples. These were possible through the third locus he had attuned to, creating a deep reservoir of energy he could feel within. He tapped into this with his weaving, imbuing a portion of it into each patch he wove on his small loom.

  The household patches provided heat, cold for food storage, water for washing and drinking, and light for the hours of darkness. Modern amenities replaced with small squares of rough cloth, he thought wryly. And no bills to pay for any of them.

  Each family in the road now also had an armour patch for each person, though Matt had refrained from adding the spikes to those he handed out. Alan and he were accustomed to the strange by effective defence, and he didn’t want to risk accidents with the numerous youngsters.

  Each family had been provided with a pair of flame-tubes for utter emergencies, though thankfully none had arisen since the destruction of the Malicious Rat nest. Copious warnings had been dispensed as these were handed over, and all children were made totally aware that if they were ever found with one in their hands, the world had better be ending, or there would be hell to pay.

  Matt spent some time each day weaving new sets of household patches, which could be used if others joined their community, or potentially for trade. The latter was a possibility now, as in their scouting around the village they had met other groups of survivors. Usually holed up in close-standing properties, a surprising number had been found, raising hope that the village might become a functional community in the future.

  Most were on tight rations, but there were a large number of allotment areas around the village which were experiencing the same increased growth as Matt and his friends had noted in their own vegetable patches. One enterprising group of families had even managed to preserve a small flock of chickens. The eggs provided by these were similar in size to those of ostriches and went a long way to staving off starvation for that group.

  Matt hadn’t had time to produce anywhere near enough sets of patches for the several groups of survivors. Instead, he focused on water patches which were then distributed to each surviving household they encountered. Clean water was the biggest problem facing everyone, and Matt suspected that by now, numbers dying of dehydration or water-borne bacteria might even rival the casualties inflicted by aggressive wildlife.

  Matt considered all this as his fingers moved back and forth across the loom. Next to him, Arlee put her book down and looked over.

  “Matt, I think we should visit the church in Wargrave.” She said in a thoughtful tone.

  He looked up, caught by surprise. “I… what for? That’s a decent distance to be outside with the kites around.”

  “We could go through the woodland along the train tracks, that would be plenty of cover. I was thinking that would be a likely place for another locus for both of us.”

  He stopped and considered this. Wondering how he hadn’t thought of it yet. Arlee and he were deeply committed to each other, and the day of their wedding at St Mary’s church had been the culmination of a process of discovering how right they were together. The depth of emotion and the bond they had solidified that day seemed to be a prime candidate for producing a locus.

  “I love you.” He said simply, smiling over at her. “Here I am as the mighty wizard, but you found something that I hadn’t even imagined.”

  Arlee leant over and rested her head on his shoulder. “That’s my pleasure, oh mighty one. Apparently fantastic magical power doesn’t improve your memory.” She said this last part with arched eyebrow and a cheeky grin.

  “Cheeky!” Matt exclaimed before grabbing a cushion and mock pummelling her in gentle retribution, to peals of muffled laughter. Once the chastisement had been thoroughly applied, they got down to some planning.

  “We could check with the others, see if any of them got married there as well?” Matt suggested.

  “They didn’t, I already checked.” Arlee said. “We’ve had the chance to get to know the Chens and Neals a lot better now they’re living here, and it came up in conversation one day. I think you were off with Alan burning down some place.”

  Matt winced. “It’s only three places – it’s not like a habit or anything. But when something is coming at you with big pointy teeth, or fur like porcupine spines, sometimes you only have one chance to stop them.”

  “And I’m glad you did my love, sorry for teasing you.” Arlee reassured him. “I think the main thing we need is protection. If your experience proves true, attuning to another locus might knock you out completely, and I don’t want to be there by myself if there is anything nasty around.”

  Matt thought for a second. There was a good chance that the church would house a locus for them both, and more power couldn’t hurt. Yes it can – it will hurt like a bastard attuning to a fourth locus, Matt admonished himself. Was it a necessary risk though?

  Even as he had this thought, Matt mentally kicked himself. He was not deluded enough to think that defeating one threat had removed all danger from their future. They needed to take any chance they could to get stronger, and were in the fortunate position of having been in the area for most of their lives. Most of their significant and developmental experiences had been close by, which raised the chances of loci existing for them.

  “I’ll speak to Al and Matty later on, see if they’re up for the trip.” He sighed. “I don’t like that we lean on them – particularly Alan – so much for protection, but they’re so damn good at it.”

  Arlee leaned in close. “Neither of them begrudges their role in our little community my love.” We all have our strengths, and we have been blessed to find our way through this time with some wonderfully capable people. It’s not like you’re a Napoleonic general, throwing hundreds of lives away in fruitless charges.”

  Matt nodded, stretching his shoulders free of stiffness. “I’ll speak to them this afternoon, after Matty has finished with Oswald and the girls. Our fire-breathing friend should provide ample protection while we’re gone as well.”

  Suddenly he perked up. “We could pop by my parent’s old place as well! I spent twenty years living there – that might be enough for a locus to form there as well.”

  Arlee smirked. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, your wizardliness. If there is a locus at the church, we need to see what state you’re in after touching that. Then we can think about side trips that might leave you in an even worse state.”

  Next door, the girls’ efforts resulted in the eviction of clouds of dust, as well as a few comically harmless woodlice. Hidden behind a silent television, Matty kicked himself for missing them, knowing the potential for disaster in encounters with any wildlife now. The bugs were now football-sized and had elicited some shrieks when they first scuttled into view. The loud noise had triggered their normal defence of rolling into an armoured ball, which they refused to emerge from. After Matty had an impromptu game of hockey rolling them out of the back door, they unfurled and scuttled away into the garden shrubs.

  Oswald had made Sarah’s day by carefully tearing the crumpled roof from the car he had been reclining on. Entering the opening he had made in the front of the house, he laid this improvised bed down, threw a bunch of cushions into the rough bowl and laid down once again. The girls cheered as he declared it a “most satisfactory lair.”

  “Will you collect gold and silver, build a big pile and sleep on that?” Sarah asked eagerly. Like Matty, she recalled well the sight of Smaug’s hoard in the movie adaptions of ‘The Hobbit’, as well as numerous other dragon stories.

  “I fear that part of dragon culture may be more fancy than a true part of our nature, Miss Sarah.” Oswald replied from his comfortable repose. “I feel no particular urge to ravish the countryside, gather treasure or devour princesses.”

  All of a sudden, his head rose and jabbed forward, open jaws coming to a stop in front of the girl’s faces. “Although if this group of princesses is volunteering, I am a little peckish.” The threat was completely undermined by his jovial tone of voice though.

  The girls gave a surprised shriek as one, before settling into relieved laughter. Oswald laid down and spoke once again.

  “And now, Mr Stricker, would you do me the courtesy of escorting Miss Sarah and Miss Elizabeth back to their families? I have things to discuss with my mistress and Miss Kira.”

  Matty nodded, though Sarah was not impressed. “But I want to stay with my friends. Why can’t we stay? We don’t keep secrets from each other, do we?” She turned to Lara and Kira, the latter squirming under her gaze and suddenly looking miserable and torn.

  Oswald rose and padded over to stand in front of Sarah and Elizabeth. “It is not a matter of secret-keeping, but one of safety and security for us all, Miss Sarah. This is not something that either of you…” - he looked both girls in the eyes - “…can be a part of, nor would it be safe for you to observe. Please accept my words, your playmates will rejoin you soon.”

  Elizabeth calmly nodded and exited the rough arch, where Matty waited outside. Sarah looked ready to argue further, but a cocked eyebrow from Oswald made her reconsider. Grumbling quietly, she waved goodbye to Lara and Kira before heading out and disappearing over the road.

  “Why did you have to send them away, Oswald?” Kira asked with a quiet tone. Sarah’s almost accusatory query about keeping secrets had touched a nerve. The need to tell her friends about her book was almost bursting out of her. Only the promise she had made to her parents kept that secret intact.

  “I believe it to be time that my mistress and I strengthen our bond. Attuning to the loci has forged a connection even above that which existed as part of this ‘Overlay’ event, and your previous research seemed to indicate that this could be used to share parts of ourselves with each other. I wish to explore that and my mistress has agreed.”

  Kira turned to her best friend in the world. “La’? Do you know what will happen?”

  Lara leant against Oswald’s flank, reaching up to rub the back of his neck and prompting a pleased rumble from the dragon’s mouth. “Not… completely Ra’. Oswald has promised that I won’t get scaly, or grow big teeth, but there are things… that make up a dragon?” She turned to Oswald with a quizzical look. “Am I saying it right, Oswald? Things that I might be able to bring into myself and make myself better.”

  “Not better, mistress.” Oswald said quietly. “Everyone is perfect in their own forms, for what is life but infinite variety? This will allow you to share some of my nature and spirit – the essence of what a dragon is.”

  He turned to Kira before continuing. “This world that we now exist in does not seem strange to me, as I was born into it with only fractured memories of what had gone before. For my mistress and all others though, this change presents unprecedented challenge. I hope to strengthen her for those challenges.”

  “So why do you need me here?” Kira asked.

  Lara threw her arms around Kira, crushing them together. “Because you're my best friend Ra, and we need someone to make sure we’re ok, and…” She sniffled quietly, wiping a tear away. “...after losing… after everything that happened, you’re family. I… We need your help to move on. I need you to move on – this is part of moving on.”

  Kira hugged her back fiercely, tears forming in her eyes as well. She couldn’t imagine what Lara had gone through, although the fear she had felt whenever her parents had left on some dangerous journey certainly gave her a taste. I will do whatever it takes to help La… and Oswald she thought to herself.

  The girls separated with a nervous chuckle, before straightening hair and wiping tears away. They turned to Oswald with refreshed smiles.

  “So, what happens next Oswald?” Kira asked.

  The scaly features looked down on them both, before focusing on Lara.

  “Now, mistress. We shall see if Miss Kira can assist us in sharing Dragonsight.