"She waited eerily still." Lyla began her petition for the green stick figure with tiny praying hands, menacing eyes, and flared wings being a baby dragon and NOT a bug to the Dragon Hunter’s Society. In the society’s tree fort, Kyle and ‘Tavia eyed the creature inside the Mason jar.

"A spider dangled in front of her, minding its own business, and BAM!” Lyla’s eyes went wide. “She snatched it out of the air with her talons–"

"They’re really more pincers," corrected Kyle, president and final judge on such matters. ‘Tavia nodded.

Lyla scowled. "Anyway–she snatched it off its string and ripped its legs off." The other two blanched and studied the spindly legged creature with newfound respect.

Lyla leaned in, lowering her voice to a whisper. “She sat there munching away on its swollen belly when another baby Dragon crept up behind her. Her head turns clean around, and I knew exactly what would happen; then it didn’t.”

“What was it you thought would happen?” ‘Tavia asked.

Lyla shrugged. “I thought she’d offer him a leg for a snack.”

Irritated, Kyle asked, “But what DID happen?”

“She reached out all delicate and slow and touched the side of his head,” Lyla paused for effect, “Then ripped it off and ATE IT WHOLE!”

The other two gasped. Kyle took a deep breath and made a mark in the record book. “That’d be a dragon, all right.”

‘Tavia nodded in agreement.

Lyla sat back with a gratified grin.

Photo manipulated from an original by Andrey Tikhonovskiy