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"SNAP!"

Anar woke with a start. He rubbed his eyes and his snout. What were those dinosaurs up to now?

Groggily, he kicked away his quilt and peered through his privacy curtains.

Rap and Rave were playing card games on the coffee table.

Anar smacked his lips; his mouth was dry. He sniffed his pits; he needed a shower! Late night horror adventures in thick jumpers and long, heavy cloaks had left their aromatic mark.

Sliding out of his bed, he mumbled his 'good morning's and headed for the bathroom to brush his teeth and freshen up. By the time he was finished, he'd be smelling of vanilla and geranium, or Lynx Africa as it was better known. A distinct fragrance that could cut through even the most desperate teenage boy's natural aroma, you could detect its lingering notes in the hallways and communal spaces of every high school and college up and down the country. It was everywhere.

Through the thin wall, he could hear the kettle boiling for his first mug of coffee of the day. Rap had tried to give him tea once. That hadn't been pleasant, even Rave had told his lifemate that he'd gone too far. Caffeine was the vital propellent of life, without it there was no 'get up and go.'

As he scrubbed, he wondered what the day was going to have in store for him. There were a few class tasks he needed to be doing, such as writing about the dragon scale - that he was going to have to pretend was something else entirely, and filling out his magic sheet - that he was drawing a blank on how to fudge. He didn't have a brilliant imagination and he was only too aware of this; it was another reason why lying didn't come so easily to him. He simply ummed and erred as his little hamster-on-a-wheel brain spun, trying to come up with plausible events that might have happened, instead of whatever terrible disaster actually did. And it never worked, he'd only end up getting in more trouble than if he'd told the truth straight off the bat.

He rinsed his hair of Herbal Essences shampoo and shut off the pump. Maybe telling the truth could work out for him? It was all in HOW you said it.

"Toast!"

"Brilliant, cheers Rap, you're amazing."

"I know," the cheery raptor smiled, setting the plate down.

Rave was poking something over by the door.

Anar quickly pulled on his shorts, spreading the towel on the radiator to dry and glugged at his mug of coffee. Any minute now...

"So, what happened to you last night?" Rap asked sweetly.

"I put a wandering spirit to rest," he said, biting hot buttery toast.

"You never?!"

Sure enough, phrasing it this way got the gentle dinosaur's attention. He put down his chamomile tea. "How did you do that? Is that what the funny fog was? Did you use my crystals?"

"With some difficulty, yes and yes," he smiled, draining more of the brown sanity-juice.

Rap was clapping his scaly hands together in glee, "see? I knew my little collection would come in handy sometime, and you were all 'we're gonna get kicked out for having that stuff'!"

"We still might," he murmured, darkly.

"Did you have to tell the spirit it was dead? Did you have to lead it back to its grave? Were you scared?"

"I was a bit, actually," Anar confessed.

Rap pulled his mammalian friend into a hug, "you're so brave! I've had near widdled myself if I saw a ghost out in that garden."

Anar scoffed, "don't be silly, Rap, I just did what had to be done. I was a bit brave, I suppose..."

"What does S.W.A.K mean?" Rave interrupted, holding up a square piece of pink folded paper. "Is it code?"

Anar flushed. His hamster wasn't running fast enough for this! "Yeah, yeah it's... code."

"Ooooh, has Alexis sent it? Is it a duel challenge? Does Anar have to beat him in hand-to-hand combat?"

"Dunno," the big raptor growled, "but it stinks! Literally. Get a whiff of that!"

"Careful! It could be cursed!" Rap warned.

"Hmmm, you could be right, that colour does scream 'danger'. Anyway, it's got your name on it, Big Ears."

Anar took the neat little wad of bright pink paper.

Sure enough, it did have his name on it. On the back of the paper - that had been folded in such a way that it was its own envelope - was written S.W.A.K.

He really didn't want to open this in front of the raptors, not least because Rap could read! But all eyes were on him.

Thank you for a wonderful adventure last night. You're a brilliant kisser! Can't wait to see you again.

Mere xx

The writing was neat and precise, unlike Anar's loopy scrawl.

Surprisingly, Rave was the first to object, "are you cheating on the lady from the old things collection?!"

Anar's ears flattened, "what?"

"The history keeper! You had a thing with her! Who you kissing this time?"

Rap's lips were pursed thin, "shame on you! Cheating on the nice lady!"

Anar almost spat his coffee; "that nice lady stabbed me! She is NOT my girlfriend! I don't have a girlfriend!"

"That bit of paper says otherwise, mate. Say's you're a brilliant kisser!"

"We kissed once!"

They gave him triumphant looks, their reptilian eyes aglow, "aha! You admit to it!"

"Yeah, ok, I might have kissed someone. Not the history keeper!"

Rap froze - "tell me you did not kiss the ghost?!" he begged, "I know you're very lonely..."

Anar was almost squeaking now, "no, I did not kiss a ghost! How could a ghost send me a note?!"

"You did say it was wandering..."

"Yeah, you did," Rave nodded.

"Well, she's not wandering now!"

"Ooooh, it was a 'she'...?"

Anar wanted to cry. This was bullying! This was worse than Alexis. "The ghost was a lady, but I did not kiss her!"

"So, who DID you kiss??"

"I'm not telling you!" he crammed the last of the toast in his mouth, washed it down with coffee and scurried off to his pile of laundry to find something still wearable. Even with his back turned, he could feel the lizard eyes upon him.

The hamster had reached Mach1 now, it was ready to break the sound barrier: his mental exercises had delivered a brilliant plan to him. The history keeper was absolutely fascinated with him, wasn't she? Anar wasn't good at cloak-and-dagger espionage, but he was good at flattery and smelling nice. He could go down and visit her, maybe bring some flowers, woo the lady a little, and come out of it with that neat item he needed for the Dark Lord's offering!

Rap and Rave insisted on coming with him on his little excursion outside the college's walls. It was painfully obvious that Rave's 'only with him for class' speech was a handy Get Out of Jail Free card to be used if Anar was doing something boring. Now that Anar was suddenly interesting again they were his shadows.

The Interflora shop on the high street was small, and densely packed with fragrant blooms of all sizes and colours. Rap stuck his nose in everything he could and loudly hinted to Rave that he would like a gerbera to put in a pretty vase.

They didn't have a pretty vase.

Rave didn't have any money.

Anar begrudgingly tossed the big raptor a pound for a massive daisy, and hissed that it would have to live in the Guiness pint glass they'd swiped from the local Social Club's beer garden, back home in Ilchester. It had been fortuitous that they'd brought it with them for the room, to put Vimto squash in.

Anar frowned at the array of pretty flowers - there was too much choice! Red roses were serious business, so he didn't want those. This was only a distraction, not a proposal of marriage! Plus, he didn't want to break into another twenty-pound note.

He selected some stripey-petaled, pink and white flowers whose name sounded like someone was cheating at Scrabble. They were rolled up in lilac tissue paper, and the human lady in a green apron behind the counter gave him a nice smile as he paid, "these are lovely, aren't they dear? Are they for your mum?"

He immediately blushed, "no..."

"Oh? Here, take a little card to fill out," she winked. "Ah, young love; I remember the days!"

Anar saw Rap fawning over his single droopy daisy, kissing Rave's cheek and holding his hand. "Yeah," he agreed, "it's nice, isn't it?"

They left the shop, and suddenly he felt torn; he should really give these to Meredith, she was the deserving recipient, she'd sent him the sweet note. Just thinking about her gave him those warm, fuzzy, romantic feelings that drove soppy story characters to pick up a lute and start serenading their sweetheart, or recite poetry that didn't rhyme. All Anar could do was offer her his last Rolo.

He checked the Casio watch at his wrist; he had a little time in which to carry out his mission as his first class was just before lunch, today. He set his shoulders back and prepared to descend into the building's underbelly; to the museum and its display of relics and curios.

Rap and Rave had gone to put the gerbera in water, and had promised to return, in case Alexis was lurking around. The big-winged menace would be out for revenge after his embarrassing defeat last night. Too many thumps and he would begin to lose allies. And just before Hallowe'en, too. It wouldn't do to lose face when the Hell denizens showed up!

The display cases gleamed under the lights, the floor had been mopped and the shelves were dust-free. Someone had been busy with the cleaning.

He'd carefully hidden his cheap bouquet under his cloak and he hadn't changed back into his winged form yet. He'd quite liked going out as his normal self in his normal clothes, nobody looked at him funny. The long black coat didn't look particularly demonic by itself - it was actually quite smart. The only hint that it wasn't everyday wear was the tall, curved collar and the College's logo on the top left breast pocket. Left was traditionally regarded as 'sinister' and had the connotation of being wicked. Left-handed students were admired here and would be looked favourably upon by tutors.

He knocked gently on the wooden door that he had gotten very close to recently.

"Come in," came the soft voice of the curator lizardess; 'the history keeper', as Rave had dubbed her.

This was it. He shuddered. His tail swished.

He walked in and gave her his brightest smile, showing off his well-brushed sharp fangs.

She smiled back, "hello again! Oh! For me?" she gasped as he pulled out the flowers with a flourish and presented them to her with a small bow.

"For you," he said, "they're almost as beautiful as you are, though nowhere near as intellectual. I owe you my gratitude for guiding me to my draconish roots with your vast knowledge and wisdom."

"Oh! Well! Oh!" she turned this way and that, fussing for a suitable receptacle for such a wonderful gesture.

Anar also looked around the room, scanning for the table spot that was the last known whereabouts of the mystical blade. He spied it, on the top of some old parchments, by the lady's hip.

He smoothly slid up to her, taking her hand and kissing it, tenderly, "it's not wrong for a young student such as myself to admire an older lady for her stunning beauty, is it, ma'am?" He gave her the big puppy eyes to seal the deal.

Jade scales turned crimson. She didn't take her hand back. Instead, she moved in closer. "Well now, you're quite the charmer, aren't you, Warlock? That's probably the dragon in you. They're awful tricksters. Though, also very passionate lovers, I should imagine..."

Smooth scales traced his cheek and jawline as her delicate hand brushed his grey skin.

Anar slipped the dragon-seeking blade into his empty pocket as the lizardess's luscious lips touched his, and she kissed him, deeply. After a minute or two of smooching him she pulled away, her eyes sparkling, "I won't say anything if you don't," she whispered.

"Not a word," he squeaked. His heart was thumping in his chest; his second kiss in as many days and it was a full-grown woman! She went in for seconds and he sidestepped, "I must get back to class," he blurted.

She nodded, sadly, "I understand, little one. If you need me, you know where I am! Anything - anything you need to know at all, come to me. Say you will!"

"Absolutely! Yes, ma'am! Enjoy your flowers!"

He turned for the door and she playfully patted his rump. "Such a bad boy! You're going to go far!" she praised.

Anar closed the door behind him and rested against it for a few moments, composing himself. He'd just taken the one item that could prove the existence of dragons, and it was sitting heavy at the bottom of his robe pocket. He'd just made moves on a lady probably old enough to be his mother, too.

He was secretly very pleased with himself; his angle of praising her intelligence had paid off. Girls loved the whole 'hand kissing' thing, didn't they? His suaveness had been James Bond levels, for sure.

What he didn't want to praise himself for was the warpath she was going to be on when she suspected what he had done, or the warpath Meredith would be on if she got wind of his supposed romance with 'the history keeper'!

It would all be worth it when the blade was sent to the Underworld's vast vault of offerings that the Dark Lord, Satan himself, was given on the 31st October every year. It would lie in amongst the other unwanted shiny things for eternity, where it couldn't cause the aardvark any trouble. All that remained was a photo of faintly glowing runes, and Anar had seen enough so-called photographic 'proof' of UFOs to know that any printout would be dismissed as doctored evidence. Anyone could paint a bit of glow-in-the-dark paint on a rune! Dragons were still myths.

The raptors were just arriving to the top of the stairs leading down to the artefact collections when Anar was walking up. They'd brought his backpack with them, ready for class. Today's lesson was going to require another round of magical energy and Anar was crossing everything; fingers, toes and ears, that he still had plenty left in Sharon.

"How did your date go?" Rap grinned, handing over the Nike bag.

"Not funny. I'm saving my bacon, not making out with anyone."

He leaned in and sniffed, "you smell of perfume. Talking of bacon, I think someone's telling porkie pies."

Anar reddened; "I am not! I told you, the museum lady stabbed me with a flippin' knife. This one:" he pulled the hilt out of his pocket.

The raptor's 'ooooh'd at it.

"I've had no choice but to pinch it so she can't tell the world I'm part dragon."

"Which you don't really believe, right?"

"I don't know what to believe anymore, Rap, all I know is crazy stuff happens to me, so why not be part dragon or whatever? Yeah?"

"So, if stabby lady isn't the 'Mere' person who wrote the love note, who is?" he prodded the aardvark on the arm.

"I am never telling," he declared firmly. Because you're going to kill me, he added in his head.

They arrived at the sorcery studio just in time to see Alexis shoulder-barging his way inside.

"I owe him a thump," Rave growled. "Come on!"