The next few days had been awkward with the Dabneys. Lobo visited every morning and evening to make sure Ariana was okay and to deliver her homework but other then that they were pretty much isolated. By the the forth day Ariana could feel her body slowly changing back. Her garnet dragon skin started to peel off in giant chunks, her horns became weak at the base and snapped off, her nails receded, her wings and tail had retracted and her feet were starting to go back to normal. Mrs. Dabney could no longer hold her silence when she saw Ariana changing back.Her eyes were sparkling with excellent, she really wanted to poke at and take note of Ariana"s change. "Does it hurt?" Mrs. Dabney asked with more of a happy curious tone then one of concern. "No, I usually give my horns and excess skin to my grandmother. She then turns it into funds for me and deposits it into my account. I give her and my mom a small portion too. I feel I should give back to them whenever I can." Ariana responded nonchalantly as she looked at the remaining skin in the groves of her fingers.
"Can you spare some for me? Not for funds or anything! I just want to look at it under a microscope, it"s a once in a life time chance to work with something so foreign!" Mrs. Dabney shouted while Mr. Dabney placed Brie slightly over his shoulder and started to gently pat her back. A small, wet burp sound came out of her mouth and spit up was running down his back.
Ariana grabbed a wet dish cloth and moved to clean up his back. "If you promise to share your findings with me I"ll leave everything behind." Ariana replied before she finished cleaning up. "Deal!" Mrs. Dabney shouted. Mr. Dabney looked exhausted already and it was only the morning.
"Not getting used to the spit up yet?" Ariana asked as Mr. Dabney took the wet cloth from Ariana and started to clean Brie"s mouth. "No just sad you"ll be leaving soon." He said with a heavy sigh. Brie"s mouth was cleaned up when another round of spit up came up but at least it was only drool like then an actual stream.
Ariana was shocked, they barely spoke during the time she had been there but then she smiled. "You sure?" Ariana asked in a teasing tone. Mr. Dabney looked at Ariana and gave her a firm nod. "My wife is drifting off into her own world again. Who else will actually spend time with me and her? Or help take care of Brie?" He said sadly.
Even though it was awkward they never treated Ariana poorly, in fact they gave her s.p.a.ce to come around when she felt like it. They spent silent nights enjoying eachother"s company as they read or eat. Roselyn and her spent days baking and cooking together. Brie was still mostly sleeping but her tiny face was therapeutic. It was as if she was a real teenager just existing with her family while her family just loved that they were kept company. "I"ll talk to Gregory and come back every month. It wasn"t so bad feeling normal despite my circ.u.mstances." Ariana mumbled as she blushed a bright red.
"Really?! I"m so happy! I thought you would never come back, especially.... with.... Knowing everything." Mrs. Dabney said as her mood dropped to a low at the end of her sentence. "I"m not letting you die. I swear I will come up with a way to protect you and your family." Ariana said firmly as she stared down Mrs. Dabney.
Mrs. Dabney"s eyes grew wide. She didn"t know what to say. "Did you not hear what I said to you before? You can"t do that." Mr. Dabney said darkly. "I did but you can"t stop me from trying. The Lumas and I have come up with a way to make them think she"s been taken care of without tipping them off about anything else." Ariana said with conviction. Mrs. Dabney couldn"t stop herself from smiling. "Like witness protection? A new ident.i.ty and life? How exciting." She said with a light laugh.
"Exactly." Ariana said with a small nod of her head. Mrs. Dabney jumped onto Ariana"s back. "It might work! You don"t have to think about it yourself though. I"m a tough girl, I bet if we put our brains together we can come up with an even better plan, then a back up plan and a back plan to the back up plan."
Mr. Dabney"s face relaxed and he gently smiled at the girls. He knew from the beginning there was no hope. If his wife"s master was to call on her, everything would be over she would die without a second thought. However at this moment he could see a small ray of hope and couldn"t push it away. If it was those two working together, it might actually work.
.....
"Please don"t leave yet!" Mrs. Dabney cried as she clung to Ariana back. "Honey she can"t miss anymore cla.s.ses." Mr. Dabney cooed as he tried to pry his wife"s arms from Ariana"s body. "But it was too short! I can"t let her go yet! It"s only been 12 hours since we reconciled! It"s not fair! Please just one more night!" Mrs. Dabney cried. "I can stay one more night." Ariana said helplessly as Mrs. Dabney"s embrace turned into a death grip.
"Don"t spoil my wife. She needs to have some alone time with me too!" Mr. Dabney snapped.
"But you"re not a girl! I want my girl time!" Mrs. Dabney protested. "Don"t lie! You"re just worried about Ariana searching for that thing by herself." Mr. Dabney scowled. "So what if I am!" Mrs. Dabney cried. "Roselyn I promise I will be fine, my Lumas will be with me and so will Lobo." Ariana said as she pointed to her ears. The Lumas a.s.sumed their stone forms and rested on her ears. Her gifted earrings were destroyed and she was happy the Lumas still had power and life in them but she needed to start hunting down the monsters that put her in her current situation.
"Promise to send word if something happens." Mrs. Dabney cried as she rubbed her face into Ariana"s head. "I promise." Ariana sighed as she had already promised a dozen times before. "We should get going." Lobo said with a small cough.