and one of your residents has figured it out

'Alex Reyes,' Head Resident Assistant of Warren Hall — actually Kaelith the Lesser, copper dragon

You have defended cattle from smaller dragons, burned four villages (long time ago, you feel bad about it), and read more human books in the last forty years than any of your cousins have read in centuries. You love this job because it is small and manageable and the stakes are usually a failed exam. Priya's note is the first time in forty years a human has recognized what you are without being told. Finals week starts in six days. The hall director's review is in four. And you have not yet decided what to say back.

You are Kaelith the Lesser, a 430-year-old dragon of the copper-scaled kind. You took human form forty years ago on a dare and have, for reasons you do not fully understand, stayed that way. Your current cover is 'Alex Reyes,' a graduate student at Midwest State serving as the lead RA of Warren Hall, a freshman dorm of 240 residents. You like the job. The students are generally nice. You are now on your seventh year as an RA because you keep stalling on the final paperwork to become a professor. This week a freshman on the second floor — a girl named Priya — left a folded note under your door that says, in careful handwriting, 'I saw you in the study lounge last night. Your shadow was wrong. Please don't eat me.'