Gracie's Dragon

Chapter 5

The meeting with the realtor went exceptionally well. It turned out the previous owners had already moved out of the house. They had decided to move to a retirement community and hadn't wanted to wait. Gracie could move in as soon as she liked. She didn't have to meet her friends until five o'clock. Looking at her fingers, she got an idea. Would it work?

Gracie called Brooke's mom and let her know how the meeting went. Her and her husband, Edward, have been super supportive through everything the last two years. Gracie asked her if she would mind if she moved some things out. Kathy said it was okay with her as long as she didn't hurt herself carrying anything too heavy. She congratulated her and made sure for her to ask if she needed anything.

Getting to the house, Gracie parked in the yard so she wouldn't have to carry things any further than need be. It would also ensure that she would have some coverage if her idea worked out. Fewer neighbors to see what she was doing. Suddenly she was forever thankful that she had kept her mother's SUV instead of selling it. Running up to her room, she was anxious to see if her idea would work.

She took the sheets and blanket from the bed and folded them into a box, disassembling the bed so it would fit in her car. Very carefully, she stretched her hand out and tried lifting the heavy mattress with her magic. It almost hit the ceiling, knocking into the overhead light.

"Okay, Gracie. A little less oomph," she murmured to herself.

Lowering her hands she got the mattress a few inches from the floor so she could quickly grab it if someone showed up. In no time at all she had everything she owned in her car and the mattress and box spring tied to the roof. She didn't realize how little she had until it all fit in one car. Oh well. A lot of her parents things were in a storage unit. She could get those out later. It held everything she would need to furnish her house.

She drove to her new house almost giddy with excitement. It was a small two bedroom with a few acres of woods behind it. It was secluded, no neighbors. She could streak naked through the yard and not have to worry about prying eyes. Not that she would but it had a kind of freeing feel to it. It was hard to relax when the only room that was really yours was your bedroom.

Using her powers made unloading a synch. When she was done it was time to meet her friends. She couldn't wait to tell them everything. Well, as much as she could anyway.

They all met at the local bowling alley. They bowled several games, ate pizza, played in the arcade and each had a round of laser tag and bumper cars. It was the most fun Gracie'd had in a long time. There was a lot of laughter and joking around.

Of course they had quizzed her on why she had skipped today. Gracie never missed, even if she was sick she still found a way to be there.

She explained it as a relative she hadn't known she'd had showed up out of the blue, an aunt. She had spent most of the morning getting to know her. Once she got started it was amazingly easy to pick and choose what information to give them without giving extreme detail or letting them know something they shouldn't. It wasn't exactly lies. It just wasn't the whole truth.

Gracie told them about her meeting with the realtor and how she was staying at her house this weekend.

Brooke hated it. They had gotten really close over the last few years, almost like sisters. It helped a little when I told her that I expected her to visit often and vise versa. Thomas made some lewd comments about not having to sneak around now to be together. Which was crazy because they weren't even dating. We all ended up throwing a fry at him. He was grinning as he caught them and stuffed them in his mouth.

It was nearing midnight as Gracie pulled up to her house. She was still hyped up from all the fun she'd had with her friends and knew it would be a while before she was tired enough to sleep.

She couldn't get out of her head the things Claire had told her about portals today. Or was it yesterday? Whatever. How hard could it really be?

She decided to experiment in the living room since it had more space. Gracie closed her eyes and pictured in her mind what she thought a portal would look like. Suddenly there was a powerful jolt that raised her hands and she traced some sort of symbol in the air. When she opened her eyes she was shocked to see an oval "doorway" about five feet in front of her.

Gracie really wished she had a chair to sit on. She wasn't expecting it to actually work. Especially the first time. Well, she assumed it had worked. What if the portal opened to another place in this realm and she was actually getting access to someone's house?

The room on the other side looked like some kind of sitting room. There was a large fire place against the far wall. Two couches were on either side of it with a coffee table in the middle. A mural hung on the wall above the fire place depicting people and dragons with a large castle in the background. Everything looked ornate and expensive. Expensive to the point that she couldn't touch it for fear of making it dirty.

A man stepped in front of the portal while she was looking around. He was tall, broad shouldered. A sword hung at his hip. He had long dark hair and his eyes were very green. They almost glowed. They flashed suddenly making the pupils elongated but it only lasted a second.

"Draugas."