"Is he home?" it asked. I should have been ready for the voice. I knew how they spoke, but I still found it unsettling. I heard the words clearly, but it hadn't moved. No part of it had moved.

Startled in spite of myself, I took a step back up the flagstone steps. "I… yes. Yes, he is."

"I did not mean to frighten you, you know." Its great head swung slowly toward me. A glint of light shined from somewhere deep behind its eyes. It could have swallowed me whole, right then and there, and I'd never have noticed.

"No, I know you didn't…"

"May I go in? It is very tiring keeping my tail in the air like this, and this is such a wonderful garden that I would not like to spoil it."

I looked up at its tail suspended a number of stories above me. Barbs stuck out all around the end. Giant hooks like that could… wait a minute, it was gone.

"He is expecting me, then." A strange voice spoke.

My head snapped back toward earth. The dragon was gone. In its place stood a young man, about twenty years old, dressed in a suit cut from the most beautiful blue silk I had ever seen. He had pale skin, and his features were those of Michelangelo's David. His eyes sparkled a sharp silver and blue. I gave a stupid-sounding laugh.

He smiled. "Oh dear, I have startled you again. I am sorry."

I managed a small smile myself. "I didn't know dragons could do that," I said sheepishly. I'd taken a few more steps backward without realizing it.

He walked toward me, and placed one finger on his lips as he passed. "Please do not tell anyone. It is supposed to be a secret."

More secrets for me to keep, I thought. No problem. However you looked at it, this was sure as hell more interesting than Missouri.