Scott and Mel ended up sitting on the basement couch after Tober got enough hugs. He was playing with the dragon again, trying to get it to shape its tail into a ramp. Mel's phone had gone "ding ding" twice, but she'd ignored it. She rediscovered her logical nature and turned her attention to Scott's plan to lure the big dragon to a nearby park.
"That's kind of a foolish plan. This 'big' dragon went away because it didn't find whatever it was looking for. I'll grant you it makes sense that it is probably looking for Sepal. Tober, how do you know her name is Sepal?"
"I just knew it. Sepal is a girl."
"So, if the big dragon is looking for Sepal, we need to lure it away."
"No, it has gone away because it didn't find her, and you're going to lure it back to an area it's no longer looking in."
"But, it already followed her here. What's to stop it from following her here again?"
Mel took a deep breath, held Scott's hand gently, and looked him in the eyes. "Sweetie⦠because you aren't going to have her fly halfway across the state following you and Tober and then bring her back to the house."
Scott paused. "Oh."
'Ding ding'
Mel grabbed her phone. "That's weird."
"What's weird?"
"Some place called 'f-l-s-h-f-l-w-r-s-b-z' keeps texting me 'page 318'."
Scott stared. "flashflower.biz"
Scott looked at Mel. "Mel, how do they have your number?"
Mel looked at Scott. "Who is it that has my number?"
"The people who sold me the book? And I think the magic flower parts. And I think who put a picture of the dragon egg in our backyard on the internet."
They looked at Tober and Sepal.
"Wait, you left that part out, they were in our backyard?"
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"No, I think it was from a satellite. It was on a site that led me to the flower place and the book place. Should we text them back? They know what's going on and what all this means."
Scott waved at his floating feet and the dragon playing with Tober.
Mel took a deep breath. "Or⦠we go to page 318 in the book first, and then we text them."
Scott picked up the book. "There are no page numbers."
Mel watched as Scott counted pages. She watched Tober and Sepal. They were on their fourth attempt to get the car to roll down the dragon's tail when Scott said, "318."
Melanie stood to see better. She noticed not only no page numbers but no indents or paragraph breaks. She leaned closer. "Is that German?"
Scott took a picture. "Yeah, I must have left that part out."
Soon, they were staring at his phone as he scrolled through the translated text. After commentary on ingredients and variations, there was a line that read: "In a marketplace in Outer Bohemia, I was invited to a nighttime meeting of hedge wizards and there I came across a concoction for losing something that had already been found."
Scott stopped reading and looked at Mel. She was muttering the phrase.
"Lose something that has already been found? Lose what?"
Scott saw she was onto something. He returned to the translation on his phone. Mel stopped talking to herself. She was looking at him intensely.
"How do we determine what is lost? Keep reading."
Scott read the next passage aloud.
"The effect is essentially to eliminate awareness of the existence, location, or trace of something. A very old, wrinkled hedge witch called it a concealment spell. Fresh thistle blossoms are essential..."
"Yes. If we use this on the Sepal her location and her trail will be lost. Great! The nig dragon won't remeber the trail back to our house."
Scott nodded, returning to the recipe. He heard Mel tapping on her phone. He had just found the full list of ingredients when he heard Mel say, "Hello, are you the flower and dragon people?"
Scott watched Mel as she waited for a reply. She nodded, then turned to Scott.
"He, not sure which name was his, wants to know if you have all the ingredients for the 'hiding the little dude'."
Mel made finger quotes. Scott skimmed the recipe.
"Yeah, tel, whoever it is, that between what we have in the house and what's at the park, we have everything. Ask him⦠"
"Wait!" Mel pressed a button. The speakerphone mode was now on.
Scott started again. "Hey, this is Scott. I have everything except the fresh thistle blossoms, which are probably at the park. I was wondering⦠who am I talking to?"
Silence. Then a calm voice. "Whoa, dude, chill. It's all gonna be okay. Well, maybe, kinda. This is Michael Christopher Matthew Jacob, and we're here for you, man. Keep the little guy hidden, and go get the thing, then make then stuff. Then we'll come and deal with it all, man."
Scott made the same face as Mel as the tone and words seemed to be from "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" or "The Big Lebowski."
"Wait, all of you⦠Michael Christopher Matthew & Jacob are coming here? And, the baby dragon is a girl not a guy or a dude."
"Allright, a dudette! No, man, I'm Michael Christopher Matthew Jacob, but I'll bring Ashley Emily Sarah Amanda. It'll just be the two of us. Hang tight."
The dial tone indicated he had hung up.