Josie appeared in the Hole in the Wall’s office. She sat down behind the desk and

  looked at the model she had constructed. The thing worked great for what they

  needed.

  Red dots congregated north of the city. Were there more magical problems up there?

  Would the idiots wake up the Lich Queen? Maybe she should swing by and have a

  word with them.

  She noted that the quest for the Dragon was gone. She wondered how Jack had done

  that. She wondered if he had done a Sleeping Beauty and threw a magically enhanced

  sword into the dragon so it died.

  She should have went with him, but if she had, the women she had rescued would

  have been shipped out of the city to somewhere else.

  She had made the right call to do what she had to do. She could ask Guin, or the

  Duke, who owned that building and where they lived.

  Paying them a visit would be something to arrange when she had the other things

  sorted out.

  Josie decided to check if the others were home, maybe raid the kitchen. If Jack was

  home, she would show him the improved model.

  He loved how magic worked. Improving something good into something better was

  something he would tell her was a good idea.

  She heard the girls arguing with a squeaky voice when she came down the stairs. She

  spotted Elaine and Jack leaning on each other. They were smiling at what was going

  on in the living room.

  “What’s going on?,” Josie asked. She didn’t like the sudden grin on Jack’s face.

  “Nothing,” said Jack. “I made a new friend and brought him home to meet the girls.”

  “Really?,” said Josie. She listened to the clamor from the living room. “How

  dangerous is this new friend?”

  “He’ll bite your face off, mate,” said Jack. He was doing Gabriel Eglesias doing

  Steve Irwin. “He’s angry.”

  “We’ll see how angry he is,” said Josie. She stepped inside the living room.

  A blue lizard with wings roared from the back of the couch. He glared at the five girls

  present. Beatrice must be with her beau. The girls all had nets in their hands. Matilda

  had a burn mark in her hair.

  “What is going on?,” asked Josie.

  “These females are chasing me around, and I don’t like it,” said the lizard. It flapped

  its wings. “Call off your children before I bite their faces off.”

  “Jack,” said Josie. Then louder because he wasn’t presenting himself with the speed

  she wanted. “Jack!”

  “I heard you the first time,” said Jack. He stood in the door. “What you want?”

  “What is this?,” said Josie. She waved at the dragon on the couch. The beast glared

  at her over its crocodile snout.

  “This is my tiny new friend, Aviras,” said Jack.

  “I’m not your friend,” said the dragon. “I hate you for making me like this.”

  “So you told the girls it would be okay to further torture this tiny new friend?,” said

  Josie. She could feel the blood pressure rise in her neck.

  “We’re trying to put him in his night basket,” said Alicia. “Tomorrow, we are

  supposed to get him a terrarium.”

  “I don’t want a night basket,” said Aviras. “I want my freedom.”

  “Tell her why you’re not fifty feet long and full of flaming fury,” said Jack. “Jo will

  love to hear your side of things.”

  “You’re Jo?,” said Aviras. “Please do not give me cancer.”

  “Really?,” said Jo. She turned her glare on her friend. He grinned back at her. “You

  told Hilda about the ear thing, didn’t you?”

  “I would never stoop so low,” said Jack.

  “Yes, he would,” said Aviras. “Look at me. I used to be majestic and handsome. Now

  I am a child’s doll. He would stoop lower than this.”

  “Our friend here drains all of the mana out of a place,” said Jack. “He was starting on

  the Duchy, which is why the Society wanted us to drop the hammer on him and take

  him out.”

  “So you brought him home?,” said Josie. She could feel the pain build in her eye. “To

  the girls?”

  “He’s mostly harmless,” said Jack. “He will never be able to drain enough mana now

  to do anything. The only thing we have to worry about are his teeth and claws.”

  Aviras breathed fire at him, but he was standing outside the range of the tiny flame.

  “Oh, yeah,” said Jack. “We have to worry about him setting fire to the place while

  he is roaming around.”

  Josie rubbed her face. It didn’t help her headache go away, but the sensation

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  distracted her from wanting to kill her friend.

  “Come here, dragon,” said Josie. “We’re going to sit down at the dining room table.

  Clean up this mess, girls. Then go over your lessons before going to bed. Elaine,

  please see what you can do about Matilda’s hair. I can see why Beatrice didn’t want

  us to meet Todd now.”

  “Are you going to give me cancer?,” asked the dragon.

  “Buddy, out of all the things I might be stopping myself from doing, that is the least

  of your concerns at this moment,” said Josie. “Am I clear?”

  She held out her hand.

  Aviras inspected the hand for a moment. He decided that it wasn’t going to hurt him.

  He made a running leap from the couch, using his wings to give him enough lift to

  reach the appendage. He sat in the palm and watched the room as Josie took him

  into the dining room and put him on the table.

  “Sit,” said Josie. She pointed at one of the places for Jack to sit. “I’m disappointed

  that you let the girls chase this dangerous beast around, and let Matilda’s hair get

  struck, and did nothing.”

  “I am disappointed too,” said Aviras.

  “You shut up,” said Josie. “We’re not in the business of taking in our enemies.

  We are in the business of putting holes in their heads. Is there any reason why I

  shouldn’t drop the hammer on you right now other than Jack has turned you

  into some kind of weird science experiment?”

  “Everyone matters, or no one matters,” said Aviras.

  Josie squinted at him. She turned the look on Jack. Jack grinned at her from across

  the table.

  “The both of you are dangerously close to being torn to pieces,” said Josie. “Let’s

  start again. Jack, why didn’t you kill the lizard? Let’s start with that.”

  “We were having such a good talk, I decided that just removing him was good

  enough,” said Jack. “And he is so cute now compared the monstrosity he was

  before I put the Pym curse on him.”

  “And let me guess, Aviras,” said Josie. “You don’t like the Pym curse.”

  “I do not,” said the dragon. “Look at me. I can’t terrorize people like this.”

  “Or eat planets,” said Jack.

  “Or eat planets,” said Aviras.

  “So we do what?,” said Josie. “We let him live as our prisoner until he gets back to

  full size?”

  “That will never happen,” said Jack. “He doesn’t have the mental capacity to break

  the curse. Can I name him George, and hug him and pet him. He will be a great

  bunny.”

  “No,” Josie and Aviras said at the same time.

  “You’re not turning a sentient being into a brainless problem,” said Josie. “Are we

  clear?”

  “I had hoped he could be the ringbearer for when Elaine and I get married,” said Jack.

  “I will never help you,” said Aviras. “You are a monster.”

  “I can send you back home as you are,” said Jack. “You can send a postcard to let us

  know how that is working out.”

  “How does he break the curse?,” asked Josie. “That’s seems more relevant to the

  discussion.”

  “He just has to learn to be better,” said Jack.

  “How much better?,” asked Josie.

  Jack shrugged.

  “If he was a superhero,” said Josie. “Which one would he have to be to break this

  curse? Captain Marvel, Captain America, Superman, Batman, Beast Boy? Give me

  a ball park look, Jack.”

  “At least Captain America,” said Jack.

  “You’re screwed, bro,” said Josie. “I need to get you a tiny knife so you can kill

  yourself.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Aviras.

  “The only way to break this curse and regain your full size is for you to be a paragon

  of good,” said Josie. “I don’t know how you are going to learn to be that hanging

  around with us.”

  “I will kill you,” said Aviras. He turned his attention on Jack. “I will kill you and eat

  your flesh.”

  “That still won’t break the curse,” said Jack.

  “It will make me feel better.” The dragon tried to roar out some flame but the mark

  just scored the top of the table, and nothing else.

  “Don’t do that,” said Josie. “I just repaired this thing.”

  Josie sat back in her chair. She looked at the tiny dragon coiled up and hissing.

  The wings flapped in anger.

  “You’re not a threat any more, except if you can set someone’s house on fire,” said

  Josie. “If you want to make your way in the city, we’ll let you go.”

  “You would do that?,” said Aviras.

  “Sure,” said Josie. “You should do okay. Most people won’t see you. Stray dogs and

  cats should leave you alone after you set them on fire a couple of times. And if you

  want to get bigger, harming people is the last thing you can do. The girls will hate it,

  but I’ll get them a goldfish, or something.”

  “You would replace me with a goldfish?,” asked Aviras.

  “I wouldn’t consider it a replacement since they never had a pet as far as I know,”

  said Josie. “More like a future prospect. We’re always doing dangerous things. A

  goldfish might not live long enough.”

  “Am I not better than a goldfish?,” asked Aviras.

  “They might not want you,” said Josie. “Dragons are notoriously fussy. And this

  outfit has no room for fussy babies.”

  “I am not a fussy baby,” said Aviras.

  “Let’s ask the girls,” said Jack. “We can always kick him out tomorrow.”

  “The city should be safe enough for him,” said Josie. “As long as he keeps a low

  profile, he should be okay.”

  “Some cat will eat him in a heartbeat,” said Jack. “We can put him up by the hanger.

  The ring will keep people away, and the mana charger will keep him fed as it charges

  up the quinjet.”

  “There’s no shelter other than the hangar,” said Josie. “I don’t want him trying to

  steal the quinjet and blowing up part of the city.”

  “We can build him a lair,” said Jack. “It shouldn’t take a minute.”

  The girls came into the room. Elaine stood behind them. They firmed up their resolve

  in the face of the questioning looks they received.

  “Yes, ladies?,” asked Josie. “How may we help you?”

  “Are you making the dragon leave?,” asked Matilda.

  “He doesn’t want to live here,” said Josie. “He’s not a real danger to anyone else. So

  we are discussing if we should let him have a lair at the hangar. It will have to be far

  enough away so we can take the quinjet, but close enough that he can use the mana

  charger to feed.”

  “I can build another charger just for him,” said Jack. “The jet’s charger would just be

  a backup.”

  “We would like for him to stay,” said Matilda.

  “Why?,” asked Aviras. “I am a dragon. I should be huge and dangerous. Not whatever

  this is.”

  “We don’t have a lot of friends,” said Laura. “We would like for you to join us. We’ll

  make a space for you.”

  “And Matilda loves stories of dragons,” said Melanie. “This is her chance to be the

  hero in one of those stories.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Aviras.

  “They’re offering you a chance to break the curse and be something better,” said

  Jack. “Everybody matters, or nobody matters. You have half the saying mastered.

  Can you do the other?”

  “I hate you,” said Aviras.

  “You don’t have to stay,” said Jack. “You can take off any time. Wouldn’t you rather

  be with people who will treat you good because they can instead of wanting to drop

  the hammer on you because of the threat.”

  “I think this is the time to look around and ask yourself who is going to help you back

  up now that you are down,” said Josie. “I think you should take the night and think

  about it. I will be glad to put you out in the daytime so you can see any problems

  coming and find a place to stay where you have enough shelter to live however you

  want other than hurting people.”

  “Your Society won’t say anything about this?,” asked Aviras.

  “Unless your situation changes, what can they say?,” asked Jack. “You can go with

  the girls to their practice tomorrow. It’ll get you out of the place and let you see

  things here in the city. It might be a little dangerous, but if you are one of us, we will

  look after you.”

  “Don’t abuse the privilege,” said Josie.