I threw my pencil down, glaring at the scrap of paper with the list of things that I needed to get done. So many things I'd started and hadn't finished yet. Red Rose, Seed of Evil, Shades of Green...and those were just the beginning. Things that needed replotting and deeper researching. Not to mention my novel that I hadn't even thought about in months that needed to be redone from the ground up.

Everything writing I wanted to do...and none of it was getting done for one simple reason: Windflame wasn't there. The creativity demons were all tied up in their box, gags fitted over their mouths so they wouldn't be screaming and yelling. They all could get fairly vocal at times, but I didn't want to hear it just then.

"Why can't Windy ever just stay here when I need to write?" I grumped, sitting back down and jerking the chair closer to the desk. Max, the only other living creature in the room (I don't count the demons) just continued to clean himself, ignoring me. For which I was grateful; Kahva might like having a black cat for her muse, but that just wasn't something I, personally, felt like dealing with! Cats are totally lovable as pets....but I don't trust those claws where ideas are concerned.

"Because she's an idea muse," a tiny voice pouted. I glared at the small Aisha perched on top of my monitor. I really needed to toss her with the others; she was becoming a little unbearable since achieving full creativity demon status. She was fast, though, not that I was all that surprised. Being the version of Aisha that lives and works at the Onyx Tavern, she had to be fast or else.

What she said sunk into my brain for a second, and I turned the glare into a curious look. "An idea muse?"

"Sure." The little creativity demon swung her feet merrily. "There are all kinds of muses, but the chief two are idea muses and writing muses. Idea muses sprout ideas like there's no tomorrow. Writing muses help the author write them up. Some muses combine the two, they don't give as many ideas, but they help more with the writing. Windflame's an idea muse."

It made sense. It made the most horrific sense I'd ever heard. No wonder I always had more ideas than I knew what to do with, and never enough time to write them up!! I had an idea muse and not a writing muse!

"Where can I get a writing muse?" I seized the little Aisha in one hand and dragged her up to my face. "I want one now!"

A crystal-sweet voice spoke from behind me. "Ask and I'm here." I slowly turned around, and I mean slowly. Galaxies were born and died by the time I was all the way around and saw what was behind me. I was expecting anything. Another dragon. A unicorn. A griffin. A fairy. I didn't know, and I was actually scared to find out.

Perched on my dresser was a very large....American Bald Eagle. She peered down at me with the most intelligent eyes I'd ever thought to see in anything, and I felt very very comfortable with her. Windflame always had a manic gleam to her eyes, something to do with being an idea muse, no doubt. This one...looked very calm, and I had always done my best work when I was calm.

"Wh...who are you?" I hated stuttering, but seeing something as large and magnificent as this was in my room definitely shook me!

"Call me Skydancer," she bowed briefly. I knew at once it was a female bird. "I am your writing muse. I've been waiting for you to acknowledge your need for me. I thought you were never going to realize the difference in muses."

I shrugged. "Sorry. But now that you're here, I've got a little plot problem I need some help with. Can you handle that?"

"No problem at all," she spread her wings and hopped to the top of my computer. Thank everything that her talons didn't mark up the case, I'd never be able to explain it to my dad! "But I have a condition first."

My heart sank. I knew what that was. They were all alike. Skydancer just smiled at me, her beak gaping open in that avian way. "A muse fic."

"Exactly. Don't you want the world to know I'm here?" I felt sick at the very thought, but it would be nice to write something after a day of staring at the screen.

"All right. One muse-fic, and that's it," I declared. "Just the one." Cracking my knuckles, I pulled up a blank document and started to write. Just from the way Skydancer was looking at me, I knew this was going to be a good one.

Then something else occurred to me, spawned by the dragon that appeared just over the computer. Oh, no, what if they hate each other? was the first thought through my head. Windflame landed on my printer and peered over at Skydancer.

"Hey, Skydancer," she said, flipping her wings to her back. "Finally came out, huh?"

"No thanks to you," the eagle replied tartly. "When were you going to tell her about writing muses?"

I've never seen a dragon blush before....especially not so deep a shade of red....