The first two children clomped down the stairs, Phee saying, “And that’s why we made this for you. Don’t worry about trying to memorize everything right away. Not even Arthur could do that. It’ll take time.”
David said, “And you’re sure this will work?”
“Yeah,” Phee said as they reached the bottom of the stairs. “It might seem a little complicated because it’s not just about the sounds he makes, but the emotion behind the sounds. Thankfully, you have us. We’ll all help you learn about different things. Like me with trees. Talia with her plants, Chauncey with the sea, Lucy with scary stuff—”
“What kind of scary stuff?” David asked excitedly as they came into the sitting room. In his hands, David held a ream of paper tied together with colorful yarn. Phee had a bag slung over her shoulder, which she set down near the entryway to the sitting room.
“Like blood and guts,” she said. “He’s good at all those things. Sal can help with almost everything else because he speaks better wyvern than even Arthur does. That’s why they’re best friends. When Sal first got here, he didn’t talk very much. But Theodore took to him right away. Turns out, some types of wyverns thrive on empathy, and Theodore said Sal shone with it, brighter than almost anything.”
David’s eyes widened in anticipation. “Thrive on? Like … feed?”
Phee snorted. “Not like that, but that’s a cool idea. We should tell them so they can act like that’s what happens. It’s more that they … bring the better parts of each other out. And it helped Sal find his voice to learn Theodore’s.” She paused, frowning. “I wonder if that’s why Theodore can breathe fire now.”
A pretty thought, and one that Arthur couldn’t find fault with. Sal and Theodore rarely went anywhere without each other, and both had blossomed since their arrival on the island. Though Arthur knew he and the others had played a part in it, there was a truth to Phee’s words. Theodore had done more for Sal than anyone else.
“What do you have there?” Arthur asked David.
“It’s a translation book,” David said. “To help me learn wyvern.” He flipped through the pages, eyes darting side to side as he read. “Where’s the section on curse words?”
Linus crossed his arms. “I doubt they would have put such a thing in—”
“In the back,” Phee said. “Last three pages.”
David gleefully flipped to the back of the book, smile widening as he read. After a moment, he lifted his head and said, “Click click rawwwr, clickety-click.”
Linus lifted a hand to his throat. “Well, I never. We do not use such language in this house.”
Phee snorted. “Keep telling yourself that.”
“You made this?” Arthur asked Phee.
She shrugged, looking away with a scowl. “I didn’t. We all did. Thought it would help. It’s not a big deal.”
“I think it is,” Arthur said. “Whose idea was it?”
Phee rolled her eyes. “It was mine.”
“I see. That was kind of you, Phee.”
She flushed, her wings trembling as David continued to read, his face inches from the pages. A moment later, she leaned over and started pointing out tips and tricks she’d learned in her own quest to understand Theodore.
It wasn’t long before they were joined by the rest of the household, each of the children bringing down their own bags, gathering in the entryway as Arthur rose from his chair. Linus joined him as Phee and David stood with the others, all waiting to see what Arthur would say next. Sal stood with his hands behind his back, Theodore perched on his shoulder.
“We’ve discussed what’s going to happen starting tomorrow,” Arthur said. “As we did with Linus, we will show our guest kindness and courtesy, and absolutely no one will make threats up to and including bodily harm and/or death.”
Everyone looked at Lucy and Talia. “What?” Talia asked. “I’m a gnome. I’m supposed to be threatening. It’s, like, my thing.”
“Right there with you, sister from another mister,” Lucy said. “Except I’m not a gnome, just the incarnation of evil.”
“Be that as it may,” Arthur said, “we don’t want to run the risk of anything negative going into a report. As such, I expect all of you to be on your best behavior.”
“And each of us must play our parts in order to keep David from being discovered,” Linus said. “The inspector can’t know he’s here.”
David raised his hand.
Amused, Arthur said, “Yes, David?”
“What if they see me? Will Lucy and Talia kill the inspector and bury them in the garden?”
“Yes,” Lucy and Talia said together.
“No,” Linus said loudly.
Theodore chirped and squeaked, spreading his wings.
“Don’t tell me what he said!” David cried. “I want to figure it out on my own.” He opened the book once more, flipping through the pages before stopping on one, eyes narrowing. “Hmm,” he said. “So, if I’ve got this right, Theodore just said … um. Okay. He said … ah! He said that murder is legal, but only if you don’t get caught.” He squinted at the translation text. “Wait, that can’t be right.”
“There will be no killing,” Linus said sternly. “Or maiming,” he added as Lucy opened his mouth. “And David, if you are discovered, we will be right by your side. Though we want to avoid that if we can, we must prepare for any eventuality.” He eyed each of the children warily. “It’s why we’ve asked you to bring us anything that might be … misconstrued.”
“You better not throw anything away,” Lucy warned. “If you do, there is nowhere on this earth you could hide that I wouldn’t find you.”
“That threat worked better on me when I didn’t know you liked footie pajamas,” Linus said.
“That’s because they have a flap for my butt cheeks,” Lucy said. “Humanity’s finest invention, next to music. If I grow up and decide to enslave the human race, I’ll make footie pajamas mandatory for everyone.”
“Until then,” Arthur said, “we are on our best behavior. Show us what you brought. Theodore, let’s start with you.”
Theodore flew down from his perch on Sal’s shoulder, tugging his bag over to Arthur’s feet. Gripping the bottom of the sack, he upended it, spilling out its meager contents on the floor: a few of his baby fangs that had fallen out, a green rock that looked like an oversized arrowhead with a thin line of quartz through the middle, and a familiar brass button with teeth imprinted on it.
