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He was a very small lizard, when it came down to it. Darcie had to concentrate to pick him out even now; the bright green and yellow markings down his back blended into the garden, and it was only the glint of his odd blue eyes which distinguished him. Evasive eyes, Darcie thought, but she could have been imagining it.
She would never have spotted him at all if he hadn't spoken to her when she was sweeping the path. She'd been sitting on the step talking to him now for nearly twenty minutes.
'Are you something unusual, then?' she asked at last. He did keep hinting.
'I might be a dragon,' he said, looking up at her cautiously.
Darcie gave a hiccup of laughter. She couldn't help it. He looked reproachful, and she said quickly, 'But you must see that I would know it, if a dragon turned up in my garden?'
'You know every dragon, of course,' the small voice said with dreadful sarcasm, and she tried again.
'I don't mean that. I just mean that you can't be a full-flight dragon.' She cast about. 'For one thing, you have no wings.'
'Maybe you can't see my wings today,' he said. 'Maybe you can't see my size either, today. But maybe someday... maybe someday you will.'
'When?' she asked, but she couldn't get any more out of him. After a while she gave up and went back inside. Her little sister was already asleep, and for an impulsive moment Darcie considered waking her, to ask her what she thought about the lizard. But in the end she just pulled her knees up in bed and turned to the window. She focused on the dark shape of a moth against the pane, and tried to imagine the lizard out there in the darkened garden. Perhaps he was a dragon.
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She woke near dawn, pulled from sleep by a noise like none she'd heard before. Her sister sat up, round eyed, and stared at her. Darcie got out of bed and went cautiously to the window.
There was a roar of downward rushing air, and in the corner of her sight she saw the edge of something green sweep by. She ran downstairs and out into the front garden, and stared up. Above the sleeping suburbs the creature circled like a great, green swan, neck stretched out and wings beating down powerfully in the pre-dawn light so that the house shook. It gave a high cry like the one which had woken her, and turned away from the dark city, the long tail streaming behind. Her mouth opened.
She stepped back, and then looked down, hearing a small sound at her feet.
'Oh!'
She regrouped. 'I thought... I thought that was... you.'
The lizard didn't reply, but she thought the odd blue eyes looked embarrassed. She sat down, slowly.
'I'm glad it's not,' she said after a moment. The lizard hunched down further. 'It would be very uncomfortable, to have a... a dragon, in my garden. I hadn't really thought about it before.'
The lizard still hadn't replied, and she turned to look at him, frowning.
'What are you? Truly, I mean?'
He lifted his head just a little, to regard her.
'Truly? I'm... a griffin.'
Darcie gave a hiccup of laughter. She couldn't help it.
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