Deciding that he could look for more victims in the park later, Colin invited his friends to come back home with him.
As the group flew in closer to his house, Colin thought about how to ask a question about his own parents, in a way that would seem natural. He mulled around different conversation starters, guessing at what responses they might make. From there, he could go for a rhetorical question, that’d be less likely to set off suspicion.
He landed in front of his house, letting Robyn let go of him and stand up, then opened the front door, and motioned them to follow him inside. As he stepped through, he saw his parents were already in the living room, his dad going over some kind of paperwork on his laptop, while his mom was looking at her phone, on the couch.
It was perfect.
“Here we are. I can show you guys around, then maybe we can watch a movie or play a game for a while. Then you guys can stick around for dinner tonight.”
His dad looked up at him. “Wo-ho there Colin! It’s fine for you to invite your friends by now and then, but unless you’re doing the cooking, having them over for dinner isn’t your call to make.”
“Oh, come on, Dad,” Colin said with a smug, fanged grin, “We’re a wealthy, respected family of dragons, aren’t we? We’ve definitely got more than enough to feed everyone, don’t we?”
His father’s posture stiffened, as he droned out “yes” twice. Then the changes began, countless golden scales sprouting from seemingly every pore on his body, starting in his hands, and slowly spreading from there. His fingernails vanished, claws that glinted like pearls growing in their place.
Looking over to his mother, Colin saw she was changing in the same way, though her skin was covered in purple scales, instead. As their arms became completely engulfed in scales, and retreating under their shirts, both of his parents’ bodies began to grow, their muscles twitching and swelling under their skin as they became more defined. Colin watched in awe as his father’s physique began to surpass even his own.
Their clothing began to strain and rip, the tears revealing the scales had already spread over their chests and legs, and were soon heading up his parent’s necks. Their toes grew longer, splaying out, as toenails were replaced with claws.
Each of their heads were quickly consumed by scales, crests made of darker shades of their scale colors taking its place. Their ears grew wider, fanning out into fin-like shapes while their noses and jaws both stretched forward, their nostrils flaring up at the end of their long, toothy snouts. Each grew a pair of horns, his mother’s curling forward like a ram’s, while his father’s arched back like an antelope’s. Their pupils narrowed as their eyes changed colors, mother’s becoming red, and father’s, blue.
Their clothes were torn to shreds, then vanished, as three new appendages grew from each of their backs; a pair of thick, powerful tails, and four wide, leathery wings between the two. In place of their old rags, Colin’s dad now wore only a golden collar, and a pair of golden bracelets, all of them studded with the largest Sapphires Colin had ever seen (well, outside of his newly-cursed statues). His mother, meanwhile, was adorned in bracelets, anklets, earrings, and a few bands of tail-jewelry each made of solid silver, and studded with finely-cut rubies.
Just as Colin thought the changes were about done, the whole house seemed to blue around Colin, the room getting bigger, every piece of furniture becoming more orante, and every piece of tech more bleeding-edge. New paintings hung from the walls, anthro dragon statues stood by either side of the house’s entrance, (which now featured double doors,) and a large fountain stood in the center of a much larger lawn.
Colin’s parents shook their heads, as they regained their senses. “Eh, you’re right Colin,” his dad said. “It won’t be that much trouble for our chef to add some extra ingredients. You and your friends go have fun.”
“Thanks Dad,” Colin said, barely restraining his glee. He’d got himself a mansion (well, he got his parents a mansion, but he wasn’t going to split hairs), with a simple question. “Let’s go, guys.” He led his friends up to his room. Or, at least, he started to, when, on getting to the top of the stairs, he realized he no longer recognized the layout of his house.
As he stood there at the top of the steps, glancing around erratically, his sister spoke up. “Are you lost, Colin? Get going!”
“I’m not lost!” He huffed. “I know my way around my own house, don’t I?”
“Yes,” she droned, as memories of the mansion suddenly flooded into Colin’s mind. Her droning stopped. “Yes, you do, so don’t just stand around while your friends are waiting to follow you. Come on, Jack.” She motioned for her love doll to follow her to what Colin now recognized as her room.
“Right, sorry about that,” Colin said. “I’ll show you to my room.”