Warning: Tainted Recollections

The carpet squelched under foot. Carpet overflowed with salty water. Her feet could taste the minerals. It squelched with the consistency of mud as her loafers melted. Windows dripped with a violet slime as an aura spread through the books.

The ceiling dripped water, salty rain, on her nose. Thunder rattled the shelves as she pressed her back against them.

Lilly held a discussion with Grabby. This was obviously a memory she’d suppressed. This was how it all started. She wanted to forget and suppressed the memory. But now betrayal surfaced like a haunted galleon.

“Fidglesticks! Since you saw me, I have no choice but to do you a favor. What would you ask of me?”

That eye squinted, a short tail swayed behind it as its little wings fluttered slightly. Lilly put her hand on her hip in a perfect villainous pose. She looked left and then right, but somehow missed Zenobia clinging to the shelves.

“I want you to make Zenobia disappear. Take her into your world so she can never come back.”

“Hehehe! So that’s what you want? I can do that. Just lead me to her, or tell me what she’s like.”

Lilly tapped her cheek, “She’s thin with light brown hair, a few freckles, her forehead is a little high. I can make sure you get the right person. She’ll be here soon. Here’s the plan. I’m going to accuse her of social manipulation. That way, you’ll know who to take, got that?”

“I do, sounds like good fun.”

“I can taste the relief. I’ll finally be out of her shadow.”

Grabby vanished as Zenobia slogged through melting carpet. Her face melted as tears flowed over her body. The school uniform became a muddied mix of tones. Lilly melted too.

“What’s wrong with you?!” Zen shouted as if through water.

“Wrong with me? There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m just busy.”

Zen’s grabbed Lilly by the wrist, “You’re not busy. I remembered you talking to Grabby. I heard everything you said. I know what you really think of me. I know what you actually wanted to happen. You can’t just brush it off.”

Lilly growled, “I can do what I want. I’m not your shadow puppet. I’m going home. I’m tired of being your fake friend. Why don’t you just leave me alone?”

“Lilly, why are you doing this to me? Is it because of Zak?”

Zenobia trembled but failed to suppress her tears. Her head split into rough stands of fabric that fell over her shoulders as they became heavier with moisture.

“What’s this,” Lilly smirked, “A new strategy for social manipulation?”

Sharp claws dug into her shoulders followed by the sensation of falling.

-----

“Nerrrrrrr umph! Ah, finally!”

The grey mittens pulled off Grabby’s hands while leaving an excess of sticky residue. With claws free, it didn’t take long for the tape along his wings to slice open.

“Owwwww! That hurts!” he protested as the tape lifted the leathers of his injured wings, which flapped tentatively as he sat to free feet. Tape unrolled more easily from his jeans. Thus freed, he bounced to leather satchel, retrieved it, and hastily retreated to the yellow dragon’s side.

Zenobia gurgled as she slid on her knees. Hands splashed into her head where her ears would be, “Stop it! Stop it!”

The yellow dragon coughed as he brushed himself off. Then he arched his back into a healthy stretch while raising his arms and popping his claws.

Darius lay bleeding.

Zenobia held the mop instead, though the form she’d managed outside of her item already showed signs of decomposing into a blob.

Claws clicked while he waited for her memory to decompose with her. The staff struck the cement floor. Power flowed through the small cracks. Voilet mixed with neon blue.

The mop shook as the legs melted into a blob. Frantic gurgling rushed from her faux throat. The glowing neon orbs in her head became staticky before flickering.

Grabby tugged at suit pants, “If that dragon next to the mop, we won’t be able to recover what he’s storing in here.”

“They have a bond. She has to protect her master. And even if she does kill him, there are always other means. But consider this. Do you feel the dryness in the air? Can you see the threads?”

Threads of flowing water thinner than droplets entered through rusted holes, hairline cracks, and the raggedly open ceiling. Grabby noticed a slight blueish glow to them as water pulled inward. It was like hundreds of invisible thin pipes led directly to its form. The warehouse dried so that not even a puddle remained.

Zenobia clutched her featureless head. Her back tensed. It arched as the colors melded, then merged into a darker blue glow with streaks of violet. Fingers separated as her form solidified again. Water flowed in the form of flowing hair that moved like it was in a heavy wind before becoming a circulating waterfall. The blue orbs in her head brightened. They glared accusingly, yet without any particular focus. The mop dripped backwards as water from the pipes flowed into it.

“Look at how she resists with such finesse. She’ll do perfectly for the plan. Grabby you do know how to fail forward. I’ll give you that. Expect a fully renovated library,” the yellow dragon shifted his mouth to bare many sharp teeth before releasing a puff of smoke, “Though, what became of the other human you grabbed?”

Grabby stiffened slightly, “Well, you see sir, because of that interloper the item kind of sort of- got away from me. But no worries! I’m pretty sure I know exactly who has it.”

“We’ll put renovating your library on hold and discuss it further once this matter is settled. Zenobia needs a little push. Keep nearby if you enjoy life.”

The cane tapped the cement floor as the yellow dragon approached. With a firm tap, he stood his ground in arms-length. He stroked her flowing hair to feel the strong cold cascading falls.

A gurgling his came from her center. She raised the mop over his head. But her hands shook. It sunk slowly into her arms.

The yellow dragon glanced upward, yawned, then stretched his back, “I’m sorry Zenobia. Your pain is so visceral I can feel it. But you are a human and I am dragon. Don’t expect sympathy from me. Human’s slay dragons. I see your master is out cold. He’s left you all on your own so he can die.”

Zenobia backed away and leaned over Darius. Shaking him did nothing. Water pushed against his wounds to hold the blood. Tendrils pushed at his chest to massage his heart.

“I see he made good use of the magic bond. You serve him well. How does it feel to be a tool?”

Zenobia stopped, glared at him, but remained crouched. Her hold on the mop recentered as he hands solidified. The fronds stiffened, then sharpened. They separated into prongs.

“Do you think Darius here cared about you?” he laughed, “You’re a human and he’s a dragon. Think about it for more than two seconds. You survived torture and isolation for months, only to be thrown into some hasty training and used to rob a bank on the first night he met you. He doesn’t care. He never did. You’re a dirty mop. Nobody cares about you here and nobody ever will. We all despise you. We all, even Lilly, want you dead. A dead, will-deprived, proper magic mop to clean feces, urine, and vomit.”

Zenobia stood over Darius. A line of water blasted a crater into the cement under her. It quickly filled with dirty water. The watery outflows from the back of her head redirected. Darius splashed into the pit.

Violet aura flared in a sphere segment around the yellow dragon.

A blob of water grew until it absorbed Zenobia. A sonic screech echoed through the warehouse.

Grabby held his ears while the yellow dragon endured it.

It rumbled. The blob exploded. Spikes of high-pressure liquid pierced steel frame walls as they shot in every direction.