A feast of burgers waited for us at lunch. Afterward, the fitting started.
I had to wear a beautiful cocktail dress after they had done my makeup and then stood underneath some sort of scanner, holding a pose that they wanted me to stand.
The area looked like something had jumped out of a science fiction book. It had dark glass panels against the wall and a black and green scanner. Rows filled with computers faced the scanner. A man and a woman operated the computers.
Phoebe, the woman that was in charge of the entire process, asked me to pose, not smiling.
She had put a beautiful silver tiara on my head and earrings that murdered my lobes. It fit well with the dress. I kept on wondering where they were going to put this one?
When they found the right pose, which was holding my hands in front of me, standing ramrod straight and not smiling, the scanner moved around me.
My heart pounded as the green laser beams bounced all over my body.
My nose itched and the worst part was that I couldn’t scratch it.
A drone sound like the scanner shutting off filled the room.
“Thank you, princess. Go back to the fitting room and get ready for the next one,” the operator with dark hair behind the computer said.
I walked to the door, and it opened, almost slamming into Dad. He looked spiffy wearing the same robe he wore the day of the hearing. The copper between the black in his robe brought out the copper in his hair and eyes.
“You look beautiful, Bear.”
“My earlobes disagree.”
A laughter poured out of Dad. “Perks of being a Malone.”
I paddled past him as the dress hugged my legs.
Blake was still in makeup, and his growls reached my ears. He didn’t like this part at all.
“It’s not that bad. Tone down the growling part,” I said as I walked past his room.
The make-up artist’s giggle filled the area. “Thank you, Princess.”
“It’s Elena.”
A hand yanked me into another fitting room and found some sort of leather outfit. “What is this?”
“Custom rider’s outfit. Get dressed, we have little time.” The artist pulled back the curtain we hid behind and left.
I struggled to get into the outfit as the leather clung to my body. It was warm and carried a slight weight to it, but the boots that came up to my shins awakened the must have inside my gut.
Then it was makeup and hair after, as the riders’ gear demanded a different type of look than the princess’ dress.
When Bianca, the girl that had done my makeup, finished. I found Blake waiting outside the door of the room where they scanned us, wearing a dark robe with a red-purple design on it.
“This color suits you.”
He lifted the corner of his lips.
“C’mon, it’s not so bad.”
“Yeah, I’ve done more than a few of these fittings. It’s not my cup of tea.”
“Well, one last time won’t kill you. Besides, it’s with me. You will love it.”
“If you say so?”
The door opened, and Dad walked out. “Are you finished?”
“Yes.”
Blake motioned his hand at Dad. “Your father gets my irritation.”
“Let’s go.” I grabbed his robe and pulled him behind me.
We stepped in again. A grunt left Blake’s lips at the second station in the back. It was huge and wasn’t there before. It looked like a mirror-image of the one at the front. “Where the hell did this come from?”
Blake leaned closer. “It’s Paegeia. Magical, remember?”
“Okay?”
“Blake, is it big enough?”
“Yeah.” He yanked off his robe. Heat rushed all over my body as he wore nothing underneath the robe. I looked away.
It elicited a couple of sniggers from the designers and operators.
“You need to get used to my nakedness, Elena.”
“Yeah, not going to happen in the next few months, Blake.”
Pulling and tearing mixed with grunts filled the area as a slight rumble came from the back.
My gaze flickered to where Blake stood and saw how giant wings unfolded. The boy was missing and in his place stood the mighty Rubicon, that was almost as big as a house.
The operator spoke, and I understood every word he said. It was weird as I knew the dragons didn’t understand English at all, but the guy spoke English and Blake repeated.
He took a majestic pose, pulling his one paw with talons into him, hovering in the air. His wings folded in and tight against his body. A hologram of the Rubicon standing in the same pose appeared on the platform I had to stand.
“Elena, get on the platform.”
I climbed on the step, and my hand glided through the hologram of the Rubicon. “Where do you want me to stand?”
“By his paw.”
I walked over to his paw raised in the air and stood in front of it.
“Try to show some affection.”
“Can’t I do it on his platform?”
“No, improvise.”
Gurgling sounds came from the Platform at the back.
“Blake, hold your posture, please?” one operator asked, and he stopped making that sound.
I didn’t know how to do this, as I kept losing my balance as I found the pose in my head. I look like I was sort of leaning against his torso.
“Blake, lower your paw just an inch. Just keep that pose, Elena.”
I stood as still as I could, but my stomach muscles protested all the way, as it was not a natural pose.
The designer melted as she looked at what was on the computers.
“3, 2, 1,” the guy counted down and then the scanner bounced over my body again and I assumed Blake’s dragon figure, too.
It shut down, and I wanted to see what the image looked like. I rushed to the computer as Blake transformed back into his human form.
On the screen was his dragon form. His paw lowered in such a manner that it looked as if he was holding me. I placed my hand on his upper tight and it looked as if he hugged me. You can’t get a better pose than that.
“Not bad.” Blake’s voice came from behind me, making me jump. “Sorry.”
“Last one. Let’s go, both of you on the podium.”
“Both of us?” I asked.
“Yes, in your human form, Blake.”
We both stepped on the podium, and this one was more natural.
We faced each other, and Blake cradled me in his arms. His strong musky scent mixed with a smokey one reached my nose.
“Now both look this way. Don’t smile, Elena.”
My smile disappeared as the operator started the countdown again. The scanner’s beams bounced over our bodies again, and the drone sound came.
“Are we done now?”
“Yes, thank you very much for giving us the time to fit you, Elena. You too, Blake. I know it’s not one of your favorite things in this world.”
“Yeah, sure.”
We both walked to the wardrobe area and changed into our street clothes.
Sammy kept me company as I changed and I couldn’t stop explaining the details to her of our Dragon-human pose.
“I can’t wait to see that. He’s growly at these fittings, but I think he enjoyed it today.”
“My dad will slaughter him if I tell him how he just yanked off his robe.”
Sammy thought it was funny. “We are dragons, Elena. Nakedness is like breathing air on this side.”
“Yeah, not to me. That one is going to take some time to get used to.”
When we got out, Blake waited for me at the entrance of the museum.
He was in a deep discussion with Lucian and my dad. They stopped when we reached them.
“Be home for dinner.”
“Are we going somewhere?”
“Yes, with me. Don’t worry, she is in expert hands.”
“I heard that one before, too.”
“Not with me.”
Lucian and Sammy followed us.
“So, where are we going?” Sammy asked.
“Do we want my sister to come with us?”
“Yes, she is one of the few people I know at Dragonia.”
“Blake is the only one you need to know, Elena, as he will be like your shadow,” Lucian said.
Sammy’s hyena laugh filled the tram, thinking it was the funniest thing.
Blake put my hoodie up. “You are famous now. If they see you, they will know I’m here too.”
Great.
He yanked his own hood over his head, and Lucian followed.
We took a tram and hung around at the back underneath our hoods.
There weren’t many people on the tram and they didn’t spare us a lot of glances either. But it didn’t stop the beating of my heart.
Blake and Lucian got up, and Sammy and I followed.
The tram stopped, and we got off in front of a glassy building that has music notes in their logo. DCB recording studios.
Blake walked in and the girl behind the desk beamed up at him as he took off his hoodie.
“The guys here?”
“The band has been waiting for you for almost half an hour already.”
“They’ll be okay. The three of them are with me.” He nudged over to us.
We followed Blake to another area, and he opened the door. He slapped hands with a guy sitting in the booth behind so many buttons. The guy pulled in a quick breath as he saw Lu and got up to greet him.
The members of his band laughed and fooled around with their instruments.
Isaac strummed some sort of tune, singing, “Blake is here.”
Ty hit the drums at the end, and they all cheered.
He flipped them off. “I told you I have a fitting.”
“Another one?”
“Yeah, with Elena.”
“Ooh, the princess—”
“Which is here, Ty, so your best behavior.”
“She came?” I think Jamie or the other guy asked and Ty left a disgusting remark that had to do with sex.
“Ty!” Blake and Isaac said, but Sammy and Lucian tried to suppress their laughter.
“What, I will not pretend to be a saint. Elena has to take me as I am on leave.”
Blake looked at me. “I apologize for whatever is going to leave Ty’s lips today.”
“It’s all good. I’ll take it with a pinch of salt.”
“Yeah, you might want to take it with a shot of something stronger.”
A giggle slipped through my lips as I pushed him toward the door. “Go.”
He opened the door and walked to the podium. He grabbed the pair of earphones that were on the wooden chair and took a seat as everyone got ready for a jam session.
