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"Luz never mentioned the Human Realm had dragons!" Hunter's voice goes high pitched, and Vee can see the wheels spinning as he tries to think of how to defend the Noceda house from draconic attacks. She considers letting him believe the so-called documentary she's watching on Animal Planet is fact, not fiction, but Hunter's eyebags are deep enough without extra dragon sentry duty.
"Relax, dragons aren't real. They're just common in Human mythology, so this show is pretending that they actually exist."
Hunter sits down next to her and absorbs that for a moment. "Do you think they ever were real?" he finally asks. "Since there are so many stories about them?"
He knows she knows his secret — she's known for a while now — which adds weight to the question. Magenta Grimwalker eyes meet hers, and her eyes blink — sideways. They're just two extinct, mythical creatures, watching a Human show about mythical creatures.
"Maybe?" she hazards. "Dinosaurs were real, and some people think Humans came up with dragons after they found dinosaur bones."
He hums in response and hugs his knees as dragons swoop and swerve on the screen. They sit through another fake documentary about mermaids before Camila shoos them off to bed.
Animal Planet is on again the next day — it's one of Camila's go-tos, so it's become one of Vee's too — but this time, it's a documentary about wolves.
Hunter is entranced as the pack howls and runs together over the moon-bright snow, and his smile is soft as multiple adults take care of the cubs.
Weeks later, at the top of the stairs to the basement, Vee stops in her tracks as she overhears Hunter talking to Gus about "mystical beasts called wolves."
Maybe she should have told him that some — most? — nature documentaries weren't fake.