Disclaimer: This story is completely original. All characters, settings, and events are spawned from my own mixed up little mind and may not be used, copied, or adapted without my express written permission. Do not steal my story!!!

5.

They sat there, the dragon like a giant blue wall around her and her with her knees to her chest, morbidly contemplating how many bites it'd take him to eat her, for what seemed like hours. It couldn't have been more than half an hour, though, before there was a sudden pulse of light from between the trees.

The dragon straightened, tension humming through his body. He rustled his wings in anticipation.

"What's—"

Shush, he said for the billionth time that night, more curtly than before. She lapsed into angry silence, but he ignored her.

The light pulsed again. The dragon's great maw parted and she stared at the double row of sharp white teeth that the action revealed. He exhaled slowly, a red hot glow at the back of his throat, visible even from her poor position.

Another pulse. He was crouching around her now, his wings unfurling and flaring. They were as long as he was, and massively wide. They were anchored to his sides in a way that made it clear he wasn't a riding dragon. A rider wouldn't have any place to hang his or her legs or even hold on to that smooth, sleek hide.

The light pulse again, but this time didn't fade completely. Another pulse, quicker now, and the light was shining steadily, growing in brightness until the backyard and the ruined remains of her house – and the rest of the house, set neatly to one side – were lit as brightly as if someone had turned on a flood light.

Then something shot out of the light like a streak. The dragon roared, a sound that made Toby's entire body vibrate. She screamed and covered her head with her arms as the dragon leaped into the air.

There was a sudden crack and flash, like lightning striking, and the dragon roared again, this time sounding as if in pain. Toby hunched against the fridge, which had been knocked over by the dragon, trying to cover herself as a fireball erupted in the sky. Another crack of lightning. A ball of white hot flame exploded on the ground, turning the dirt molten white.

Over the din, she heard, very dimly, a woman's voice yelling.

Then came a crack that seemed so loud that Toby's first thought was that the world had been ripped in half. Silence fell, followed by a muffled thump.

Toby cracked one eye open.

There, lying in front of her, and still smoking, was a naked boy. Well, young man.

"H-hello?" She reached out with the toe of her shoe, poking his arm. He moved, groaned, but didn't respond. His hair was brilliant blue, and there seemed a faint patterning on his skin, especially down his spine, reminiscent of the dragon's scales and just as prismatic. "Are you hurt?"

"He'll be fine, poppet!"

Toby raised her head just in time to see a young woman float to the ground. She was as strange and alien looking as the boy, with long silver hair and piercing amethyst eyes. She wore a dress that looked like it'd been stolen from a stage performance of Cinderella, complete with puffy sleeves and a huge skirt. In one hand she held a thin, gnarled branch that was glowing like white-hot ember at the end.

"Who…" Toby started, not sure if she could take any more surprises tonight.

"Verily, verily, my name is Verum, my very confused pet." She knelt in front of Toby, smiling, and Toby was struck by the fact that she didn't look much older than Toby herself.

"Verum? What… what happened? Who's that? And what happened to the dragon?"

"That…" Verum said, a very smug gleam in her eyes. "..is the dragon."

Toby straightened and looked at the naked young man. She could see by the rise and fall of his chest he was alive. "…you turned him into a human? But… but how?"

Verum stood in a rustling of skirts and gestured with her wand dramatically, sending sparkles coursing through the sky. "I, Princess, am your fairy godmother! … Well, sort of."

Toby ignored the first part. She was pretty sure she was either hallucinating all of this or had really gone crazy, anyway. "'Sort of'?"

"Well… I'm sort of still in training. I actually meant to turn him into a toad, you see… but I guess I got thinking that then you might kiss him and then he'd turn back into a dragon, and then I'd have to turn him into something else, so I just decided to cut to the chase and turn him into a human. My, won't the Knight be amused." She clapped her hands together happily. Toby stared at her.

"…why, on Earth, would I kiss a frog?!"

Verum smiled. "Oh, goodness me, I've no clue. But you are a princess, you'd probably kiss a porcupine if it told you it'd turn into a handsome prince."

"Stop calling me that! I'm not a princess and I don't know where you crazy people came from, but go away! My mother will be home soon and she's going to freak at the sight of the house, and I have no idea how I'm going to explain this to her, much less you and the dragon who is now lying naked on our kitchen floor!" Toby finished yelling, finding that she felt much better. Verum just blinked at her.

"Well." She pushed up her sleeves – a futile endeavor, because they were so billowy and loose they just fell down immediately – and raised her stick. Wand, probably. "I can, at least, take care of the house…" She paused, then added, "I think."

"You think?"

Toby's indignation fell on deaf ears, however. The fairy godmother-in-training was gesturing with her wand, humming to herself in a language that Toby felt she could almost understand. The meaning was right there, like something she'd remembered she'd forgotten, but eluded her. She was so busy wondering about that that she jumped in surprise when the house suddenly.. moved. It gave itself a good shake with a clack of shutters slamming back and forth, shingles flying everywhere. Then it crawled from where the dragon had set it on thousands of splintered-timber legs back towards them.

Toby squeaked, ducking, but the house lifted itself up on its millipede wood legs, carefully stepping over them before settling down onto its foundation. There came a soft, appreciative groan, and it was still.

"There!" Verum said, happily.

Toby looked around and could hardly tell that the house had been separated from its base. "I… guess that works," she said, slowly, then looked back at the odd silver-haired woman. She shook her head, getting to her feet and dusting herself off as she surveyed the mess that was the kitchen. She didn't know what to do about the refrigerator, which was on its side with most of its contents spilled on the ground.

"My mother's going to kill me," she groaned.

"Tch! Princess, you wound me!" Verum's eyes were glittering in that smug way, as if she knew a secret that Toby didn't. The brunette blinked slowly at Verum, too tired by all that had happened to bother asking what it was. She'd probably blurt it out in the next second.

Sure enough, "I'll just have everything put itself back where it belongs!"

"Is that a good idea?" Toby asked, warily.

"What could go wrong?" Verum replied in a flippant tone that made Toby's head hurt.

"I really wish people wouldn't say things like that," she muttered to herself, but Verum wasn't listening. She was gesturing with her glowing twig again, speaking in that strange almost-sensical language.

Then she tapped the tip of her wand on the countertop. "Listen, listen!" she called. "Everyone! Back to your places!"

The refrigerator shuddered and groaned, pushing itself up. Toby squeaked and jumped away from it as all the containers of food closed themselves, lifting up and settling back into their places on the shelves. The sponges flew back onto the sink from where they'd slid off. She could hear things tinkling in the living room as they returned to their places on shelves and tables, some brushing themselves off before settling down. One of the pictures even circled three times like a cat before plunking itself down.

"Watch out," Verum advised as the mop and bucket flew from the closet, whizzing overhead. The bucket wedged itself into the sink, which obligingly turned on, filled it with some water, then turned off. The mop dunked itself, wrung itself out, and then began mopping up the mess on the floor. The broom started industriously sweeping up the crumbs and Toby heard the hum of the vacuum cleaner in the other room.

"What did you do?"

"That doesn't matter, poppet. It should wear off before your mother dear gets home. Now, we'll just take this," she gestured and spoke a word at the former dragon and he lifted off the ground. "And up we go." At Toby's blank stare Verum beamed again. "Don't you want to know what's going on? Who better to tell you than your very own fairy godmother?"

"…sort-of fairy godmother," Toby corrected under her breath as she headed for the stairs.