Chapter 39: Bureaucracy

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, everything just seemed to get worse. My parents were acting especially strangly around me, Jason had stopped talking to me completely, and Mora was having no luck at all on discerning the writing. I had also failed my drivers test, and despite my fathers encouragements, I had decided to wait a while before trying again. One of the few bright spots was my lessons. I was becoming quite adept at using my dragon form, especially my stinger and my claws, and I was eager to start flying and ice-breathing, the last two components of my basic training. Unfortunately, secret flying lessons required special facilities to which we didn't have access, and Teresa said I wasn't "ready" to start learning to use my breath weapon yet. I found this odd, considering the "time is of the essence" attitude she'd been taking lately with my training. One day, as we were drilling Wyr'kaka moves in the gym, I decided to ask her about it.
"Believe me, Skyler," she answered, as she swung her tail around to try and trip me, "If it were up to me, that's what you'd be learning right now. But the bureaucrats on the Council have certain rules about this sort of thing,"
"What kind of rules?" I asked, jumping over her tail and side-stepping her incoming claw.
"You know that purple card I gave you?" she asked, as she swiped her head towards me.
I had almost forgotten the ID card I'd recieved more than a month ago. I'd hidden the thing in my dresser without really a second thought about it. I jumped back and curved my long neck down, trying to use it to knock her off balance.
"Yes?" I said.
Teresa stepped to her side, grabbed my neck, and swept me into a headlock with one arm. As she held my face against her chest, I wish for a moment we'd both suddenly turn human.
"The single silver stripe denotes a recruit," she said. "Thanks to Fintan O'Connell, recruits are no longer allowed to learn how to use their breath weapons. But don't worry. As soon as Thadius has a chance to inspect you, I'm sure he'll grand you a second stripe, and then you can learn anything,"
She finally let go of my neck. I went over to the bench and sat down.
"What's so dangerous about breath weapons?" I asked.
"You can go ahead and transform," said Teresa, walking over to her clothes. She quickly became a beautiful young woman again.
"Ostensibly," she continued, as I transformed and got dressed myself, "It's so young recruits don't light themselves on fire,"
"Ostensibly?" I asked, "What's the real reason,"
"You want my opinion?" asked Teresa, as she pulled her tank top over her head, "I think they just don't want anyone becoming that powerful unless they know their gonna work for us. It wouldn't be the first time a draconic's turned informant on an MLF cell,"
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said, "Five years ago about two thirds of our New York City branch was wiped out that way. I'm sure you heard about it,"
I vaguely remembered hearing something on the news about a "large terrorist cell" being shut down in New York about that time, but I wasn't really sure.
"Anyway, technically you have to be approved by the leader of the N.A. and three other operatives. I'm one, and Quentin and Pat are also going to vouch for you, so that just leaves Thadius. With any luck he'll see you in about a week,"
I went home hopeful. I was going to get to learn how to braethe ice, Catherine was coming home in a week, and Christmas was coming up. Things were looking up.

Chapter 38: Two Lessons

The next several days passed rather uneventfully. Everytime I saw Mora I would ask her if she'd made any progress, and she would say no, until we got to the point where she would say no before I'd even asked her. My Dad kept bugging me to take the driver's test, not realizing that I had.. other lessons on my mind. Christmas break was fast approaching, and everyone thought it was about time, seeing as it had started snowing in October. I was looking forward to finally being able to talk over everything with Catherine when she came home for the holidays. On Thursday, I had a good lesson with Teresa - she and Kevin both worked to teach me the basics of Wyr'kaka, a Draconic Martial Arts form that makes use of claws, jaws, and tails instead of fists and feet. Kevin wore a ridiculous looking pad on his stinger to keep him from accidentally killing us as we sparred, and he made one for me as well.
At the end of the lesson, as we were all getting dressed, Teresa invited me to the MLF Christmas party.
"Secret Organizations have Christmas parties?" I asked incredulously.
"No," she answered, "But the NPO's that front for them throw really nice ones. And the guest list tends to be rather selective - people we can trust. It'll be a good chance for you to meet some of the guys,"
"What about my parents?" I asked.
"Catherine comes home in a couple weeks, doesn't she?" asked Teresa.
"Yeah," I said, "Why?"
"Well, we invited her too," answered Teresa. "You two can just tell your parents you're going out for some brother-sister bonding event. It's the day before Christmas Eve. It's always a lot of fun,"
"It's downright stupid, that's what it is," said Kevin. In human form, he was a small, unassuming Jewish-looking man with a goatee. "If anyone from the government got ahold of the guest list for that party, it could compromise your whole organization. And if anyone was captured -"
"Don't start that again," said Teresa. "It's a risk, but I think it's a worthwhile one. We could all use an excuse to be cheerful for a couple of days, and Christmas is as good a time as any,"
"That sounds good," I said. I wasn't really sure it did, but somehow I didn't think Teresa would take know for an answer. Besides, it might be good to meet other Draconics.
Other Draconics, I thought. When did I start taking for granted that I was one? It seemed odd to me that so recently the idea had seemed impossible.
I decided that I should be able to drive before I learned how to fly, so I called the BMV and scheduled my driving test for the next day. I decided I should really go driving with my dad to make sure I was ready.
He was delighted when I asked. We weren't spending very much time together, and I guess he felt a cut off from me lately. My dad was a very good driving instructor -patient, unobtrusive, but he knew when to jump in (i.e. if I was driving in the wrong lane or making an illegal right turn on red). After I'd driven around for a bit, he suggested we stop for a warm drink. We found little cafe and went inside. I ordered a hot cider, he had a coffee.
"Son," he said, as we waited for our drinks to arrive, "Is there anything you'd like to talk to me about?"
"No..." I said, trying to look as bewildered as I could.
"I was your age once myself, you know,"continued my father, "Whatever it is you're going through, I've probably been through it myself,"
Oh no you haven't, I was thinking, Not this.
What I said was, "I'm sure you have, dad, but really, I'm fine,"
"Alright," he said, obviously unconvinced, "And are you doing any better in PreCal?"
For a moment this failed to register with me. I was good at PreCal, at least decenty enough. Then I remembered my lie.
"I think the tutoring is helping," I said, "I'd like to keep it going at least until mid-terms,"
"It's good that your not afraid to ask for help, son," he said, "I don't know if I couldv'e said the same when I was your age,"
The conversation dragged on uncomfortably for a while, but my father didn't manage to drag the truth out of me. I think he felt almost as bad about interrogating me as I did about lying to him. I hoped eventually I'd be allowed to tell him the truth. I wasn't sure how much longer I could conceal it.

Chapter 37: Sibling Rivalry

As I was walking through the hallway the next day, Fay walked up to me. She looked frazzled.
"Has Jason called you?" she asked, panicking.
"Not that I know of," I said, "Why? Should he have?"
"I don't know. He's acting really weird. When I asked him for more samples to give to Mora, he went off on me. Started yelling about 'Giving away our secrets!' and 'getting us all in trouble'. I told him we weren't doing anything wrong, and that he was overreacting. He told me not to tell anyone else about any of this. Then he stormed off. He's taken all the post cards and hidden them somewhere,"
"Wow," I said. Jason was unpredictable, but I couldn't think of any way to justify this sudden change of heart.
"He hasn't told you anything?" asked Fay.
"No," I said, "I haven't talked to him in almost a week,"
"I bet this is about Marrissa," she fumed. "He probably thinks she'll find this whole secret writing thing too childish. She and her friends," She said this last word as one might say 'snakes' or 'cockroaches'.
"Whatever it's about, I'm gonna talk to him about it," I said.
"Good," said Fay, "Maybe you can talk some sense into him,"
She walked off.
I had PreCal with Jason second period. He was already sitting at his desk when I came in.
"Hey," I said to him.
"Hey," he said, noncommittally.
I wasn't really sure how to proceed from there. I didn't want to confront him about anything he'd said to Fay, or it would be immediately apparent that she had sent me to him. I had to get him to bring it up himself.
"How're things with Marrissa?" I asked.
"Good," he said. This was not going well. I decided to risk addressing the subject directly.
"Any luck on that writing?" I asked.
"No," said Jason, turning, for the first time to look at me, "I decided it's not really important. It's probably nothing,"
He was lying. But why? What reason would Jason have to keep this from us? I decided to push the question.
"How can you say it's not important?" I asked.
"I just think maybe we're a little old to be playing detective," He said, "Maybe my sister still likes that kind of stuff, but we should have better things to do with our lives,"
"Such as?"
"Schoolwork?" he suggested, "Friends? Relationships?"
The last word he emphasized especially. It certainly seemed to be about Marrissa. I wished I'd never helped him win her over. But it was too late. Faye and I would have to unravel this mystery without him.

Chapter 36: Shameless Exposition

The weekend passed rather uneventfully; the only complicated thing I had to do was tell my parents another carefully prepared lie so I could get extra lessons from Teresa on Mondays. This time I’d thought hard about it, practiced, and come up with a difficult to refute alibi. I told them I was going to be getting tutored in PreCal. Not only were they satisfied with this but my mother actually commended me for not being afraid to get help when I needed it. I wondered what I would say when my PreCal grade inevitably failed to improve.
Because of the block scheduling, I didn’t have any classes with Fay on Monday. She tried to catch me in the hallway to talk to me about something but then the bell rang and we had to go to our respective classes. So it didn’t seem like long at all before my first Monday lesson with Teresa rolled around.
"We’re doing things a little differently today," she said as we walked into her apartment. She sat down at the kitchen table. There was a shoe box sitting in front of her.
"Pull up a chair," she said. "Banana?"
I sat down and took the banana. It was good.
"Okay, we’re gonna start with some conceptual stuff today," she said, "It might get a little boring, but bare with me; its important for you to know this stuff. OK?"
I nodded.
"Okay," she continued. "As far as we know, the draconics of the world represent seven species’ of dragons – there were probably many more, but only eight capable of morphing into humans and thus, of becoming draconics. These eight species have become what we call the classes of draconics, which are named based on their predominant color. You know about those?"
"Wait a minute," I asked, "I’m confused. You said seven, then you said eight,"
"Everybody’s pretty sure the Copper draconics are all dead," she answered, "Demetrius Kane was supposedly the last one. There’s no way to be certain though,"
"Gotcha," I answered, "Eight species, one probably extinct,"
"Good," said Teresa, "Now, the eight classes are, supposedly from weakest to strongest, Black, Blue, Green, Red, Copper, Bronze, Silver (that’s you), and Gold (that’s me). Got that?"
"If the coppers are supposed to be extinct, why keep mentioning them?" I asked.
"Cause we’re not sure," she answered, "There have been rumors. We won’t go into detail, but if you see one you should recognize him… or her. Now.."
She opened the shoe box and pulled out a small figurine about two inches high. It was a draconic, kind of like Teresa and me, but wingless, with an unusually long tail, two L-shaped horns that curved forward, and little spikes all over its body. It was jet black with a maroon stripe on its back.
"This is a black," said Teresa. "They’re considered the weakest because they can’t fly or breathe fire or anything. They do, however, have a pretty much instantly deadly poison in their stingers. They can fight pretty fiercely, too. And, like you, they can hold their breath indefinitely under water,"
She pulled out a second figure from the box. This one was much larger, still wingless, but bulky and muscular. It had a huge horn coming out of its snout and a tail like a spiked mace. It was colored electric blue.
"This is a blue," she said, turning it around in her fingers. She was eyeing it almost reverently, as if it were some sort of holy relic. "According to the government classification system, they’re the second weakest, but anyone whose seen one fight will tell you otherwise. They’re very strong, and that horn on the top of the head can shoot an electric charge a short distance. And although they can’t fly, they’re still quite a bit faster than they look,"
She stared fondly at it a moment before she put it down. It reminded me of the look on Jason’s face whenever he gazed at Marissa. She pulled out a third figure. This one was in flight. It was green, with large wings like mine, and a tail ending in a stinger similar to the one on the black. It looked very much like the dragon you always see in old illustrations for fantasy books. Then she pulled out a another figure, this one red. Though it’s wings were smaller, and it was slightly larger, it looked a lot like the green one.
"Reds and Greens." she said, "The two most common classes on the planet. Greens are the best long distance flyers aside from silvers, and they breathe this acidic gas that can eat through just about anything. They can also paralyze someone with their stingers. Reds don’t have the sting, nor do they fly quite as well, but they breathe fire in a wide spread and they don’t go down easily,"
She pulled out a copper colored figure with a huge head, set it down and then reached back in and withdrew easily the largest figure I’d seen yet. It looked like a huge man in bronze plate armor, with the head of an enormous alligator and a very short tail which barely touched the ground.
"Ok, I said I wouldn’t go into detail on coppers, so I won’t. That’s what one looked like though," –she indicated the copper figure – "just so you know,"
She picked up the larger one. "The bronze draconic is built like a tank. Just about everything bounces off that armor – bullets, fire, rocket-propelled grenades. They can also spit fire balls amazing distances. Unfortunately, they’re so weighed down they’re nearly incapable of walking, much less flying. Which brings us," she pulled out a familiar looking figure, "To you,"
"Any questions on what I’ve said so far before we go on?" she asked, standing up.
I couldn’t think of any, so I shrugged my shoulders.
"Okay then," said Teresa, "Let’s change,"
She pulled off her shirt, turned around and grabbed her battle garment. A few minutes later we were back in dragon form.
"I thought it kind of silly to use the models for this part," she growled, as I followed her to the bathroom, "Seeing as we have life-sized versions at our disposal. Okay, here we go,"
I found myself standing in front of the full length mirror. I took a moment to take in my reflection.
"You and I are pretty lucky, Skyler," roared Teresa, "Between us, we’re the two most powerful, dangerous classes of draconic out there. Those huge wings make you the fastest long-distance flyer in the MLF, as soon as you learn how to use ‘em. You’re also capable of breathing a steady stream of compressed cold air which if used properly can freeze a person alive. And the stinger on the end of your tail will put anyone into a deep dreamless sleep for hours. You’re definitely the most versatile type of draconic,"
"Does the stinger stay in someone after I sting them?" I asked.
"Like a bee?" said Teresa, "No. Actually your stinger is something we’re gonna touch on today. I need my moment of narcissism first. So enough about you, lets talk about me,"
"Okay," I said, "What can you do?"
"Shapable fire," she answered, "Watch this,"
A line of fire came out of her mouth, stopping when it hit the wall. where it stopped, it expanded into a large circle, about four feet in diameter, hanging in the air just in front of the wall. Then she turned it into a square, then a trapezoid, then it spread apart and disappeared.
‘Very useful, that," she said. "I’m not a bad flyer, either, although I’m afraid your always gonna beat me at that. Now just a moment and we’ll head to the exercise room for some stinger training,"
She headed to the entrance way and flipped a switch on her intercom.
"You’re all clear," said Pat’s voice on the other end. Teresa growled a ‘thank you’.
We headed down the hallway to the gym. When we got their, I was a bit startled to see it already occupied – by another draconic.
It was a black – only a little over five feet tall and covered in spikes, with a long tail that ended above his head. He was standing in front of a punching bag, thrusting his tail into it.
"Kevin?" said Teresa.
"Oh hey," he answered. His voice sounded higher pitched than any of the draconics I’d heard, almost like a small dog, "I was wondering when you’d get here. This the new recruit?"
It was actually refreshing to be referred to as ‘the new recruit,’ rather than "The great Skyler Woods Brimmer.
"Kevin has a stinger," said Teresa, "I don’t. So I thought I’d let him show you a few things,"
"Glad to help," said the small black, "I mean, say what you will about the Brimmers, a Silver is a Silver - Lord knows we could use the firepower,"
"So there aren’t any other silvers in the NA?" I asked.
"Aside from your sister," said Teresa, "And your mother if she’s still alive, there aren’t any other silvers in the whole MLF,"
"Like I said," said Kevin, "We could use the firepower. Let’s get started, shall we? Now, it’s a simple matter of thrusting your tail into the victim. That much you could figure out on your own, of course, but try it for me, will ya?"
I clumsily poked my tail into the punching bag in front of me.
"That’s a poke," chirped the small draconic. "If you want to poison someone, you gotta put some power into it. Thrust,"
After five or six more tries, I got it. Next, Kevin showed me how to feint with my claws, and strike with the tail unexpectedly. About half an hour later Teresa stopped us.
"You probably need to get home now," said Teresa, "We don’t want your parents thinking you’re too enthusiastic about PreCalculus,"
"I’ve taught him the basics," said Kevin, "It’s really just a matter of practice now. I’ll see you around, Skyler," He walked out of the gym.
"Does he live here?" I asked, as we headed back to Teresa’s apartment.
"Yeah, he just moved in about a week ago. He used to be one of the Knights of Ontario,"
"Knights of Ontario?" I asked.
"A Canadian sect of the MLF," answered Teresa. "He agreed to join the NA, but he wants as few people as possible to know it. He thinks are security is far too lax. Apparently the Knights never see each other in human form or use their real names so that if one was captured he wouldn’t be able to betray any others,"
We got to the door. Teresa immediately morphed back into a woman and began to get dressed. I followed suit. Once she was dressed, she put the figures back in the box and closed it. Then she took her car keys off the hook.
"Let’s get you home," she said. I followed her out the door.

Chapter 35: The Uncrackable Code

Second period on Friday I had to stay late to finish a test, so I came into the lunch room about five minutes late. I took my regular seat across from Faye. The seat next to me, however, was conspicuously empty.
"Where’s Jason?" I asked.
Fay looked at me sullenly and pointed back with her thumb. I looked over my shoulder. Jason was sitting there, with Marissa and her friends. He looked somewhat out of place with all the Jocks and cheerleaders, but less than I would have expected.
"Apparently sitting with his little sister just isn’t cool," Fay pouted.
"Oh, cheer up," I said. "Can’t you be happy for the guy,"
"I could," said Fay optimistically. Then back in her sarcastic, loathsome tone, "If she weren’t such a bitch,"
"Wasn’t," said a voice behind us. I looked up. It was Mora. "There’s only one of her, so it would be ‘wasn’t’ such a bitch,"
"Hey Mora," I said, "Any luck with that writing?"
"You have me intrigued," she answered. "As far as I can tell, that language doesn’t exist. It’s not anywhere. Even Mr. Terrell, the Etymology teacher hasn’t heard of it, and he speaks six languages!"
"So you’re giving up?" I asked.
"Hell no," said Mora. "This means one of three things. Either someone is playing you for a fool, You’re playing me for a fool, or this is a huge conspiracy with a massive cover-up operation,"
"And being Mora…" I began.
"I can’t resist huge conspiracies," she finished. "I could use a little more information, though,"
"No extra charge?" asked Fay.
"This is completely pro-bono," she answered, "I’m as curios as you are. I would like to know more about where you found the writing, and maybe see a few more samples if you have them,"
I glanced at Fay. She was looking pensive.
"Can I get back to you on that?" she asked after a beat.
"Sure," said Mora, "You know where to find me,"
She turned and walked away.
"Can we trust her?" asked Faye.
"Why so secretive?" I asked
"Someone obviously doesn’t want us knowing about whatever this is," said Fay, "I’d just as soon keep it low – profile,"
"I’m not sure how much I trust Mora," I said, "I’ve known her a long time, but I still don’t really know much about her,"
"Then we can’t tell her about the postcards," said Fay resolutely.
"I really don’t see where you’re coming from," I answered, "If she was gonna turn us into someone anyway, how much difference would it make if she knew where we got the writing?"
Fay weighed this for a while, then came to a conclusion. She stood up and slung her purse over her shoulder, then walked out toward Mora’s corner.
"I can definitely get you writing samples," She said, "I’ll bring them some time this week,"
"And the rest?" asked Mora.
"It was in secret writing on the back of a message in English. It might have something to do with knights, or motorcycles, or both, but then again it might not,"
"Knights or motorcycles?" asked Mora quizzically.
"Yeah," I said, "Well, armor anyway,"
The bell for third period rang. People started pushing past us to get out.
"Well, I might have a lead," Mora said, as she started walking towards the commons,. "Work on getting me those samples,"
"Will do," said Fay.
I turned the corner and headed off to my next class.

Chapter 34: Parental concerns

When I got home, I found the front door was locked. I didn't have my key, so I decided to go in through the screen door in the garden. As I approached the door, I heard my parents arguing in the other room. This wasn't too uncommon - I mean, it's not like they fought all the time or anything, but they had their share of disagreements. I stopped by the door, and listened. I didn't want them to know I'd heard them arguing, so I thought I'd wait until they calmed down.
"Look, Sylvia," said my father's voice, "It's not normal. It's not like him to hide things from us. I'm worried about him,"
"He's sixteen years old," said my mother, "That's old enough to be making his own decisions. I know my son isn't into drugs or alchohol or anything like that,"
"That's not what I'm worried about," said my father.
"Then what?" asked my mom. "If your worried he and Zhong were up to anything in that forrest..."
"No," said my father, "I know Zhong, she would never do anything like that. It's just..." he trailed off, as if lost in thought.
"Yes?," pushed my mother gently.
"No, never mind," he said, turning away.
"Tell me, Wallace," said my mother, putting her hand on his shoulder.
He turned around and wrapped his arms around her.
"He's acting like his mother," he said.
"What is that supposed to mean?" asked my mother, pulling away. "Have I ever been secretive with you?"
"His biological mother," said my dad.
"Oh," said my mom, a bit taken back.
"Before she disappeared Lisa would act... very strangely at times," he explained. Often she would go out after she thought I'd fallen asleep. She'd come back before I woke up and try to pretend she hadn't left, but she couldn't hide how tired she was. For a while I suspected she was having an affair, but it didn't seem like that - I mean, everything was fine, there was no reason to. And she was obsessive about what would happen to the children if anything were to happen to her,"
"None of this sounds too much like how Skyler is behaving," said my mother.
"She also had a propensity for ruining her clothing," my dad answered intensly, "In much the same way Skyler ruined those pants,"
For a moment neither one spoke. I was about to open the door when my mother responded.
"I'm sure it's nothing," she said reassuringly, "He probably just caught it on a snag or something. You know how kids are,"
"I'm worried about him Sylvia," said my father, "Worried and scared,"
I was worried too. I wasn't sure how much longer I could hide everything from my parents, but it wasn't going to be long.

Well, Here it is, at long last, Teresa. Special thanks to Evan for letting me use his scanner.

Chapter 33: Some Answers

By the time Thursday rolled around, I was so full of questions I was ready to burst. I was about to start questioning Teresa as soon as I got into the car, but she got there first.
"Did you listen to the tape?" she asked.
"Yes," I answered, "Of course,"
"Did you understand it?"
"Yeah, it only took me about three hours. How does that even work? I mean, I know you can learn a language quickly by immersion, but not that quickly,"
"It's your dragon blood. You're naturally inclined to understand Draconic. By the end of today, you'll be speaking it too,"
"So is that what we're doing today?" I asked.
"One thing, yes. Recent developments mean we need to... speed up your training a bit. Is there any way you could do a second day a week?"
"Would these... developments have anything to do with Senator Walsh?" I asked.
"That's part of it,"she admitted, "So is what happened to you on Friday. But it's a lot deeper then that. I wish I could tell you more, but I don't know all that much myself. When it comes to Senator Walsh, the fewer people who know the better - if he's to have have any chance of winning the nomination. Can you get off for another day?"
"I think so," I said, "But I think my father may be getting suspicious,"
"If Walter suspected anything, he'd have let us know," said Teresa, "He knows how to get ahold of us. So let us worry about that,"
We pulled up in front of her apartment building. We got up and made our way upstairs. To my relief, there was no sign of Pat along the way.
"He's working," said Teresa, when I brought this up. "Since that news story hit the air, Thadius has insisted on some new security measures, but they take a lot of people to orchestrate,"
"Am I getting more security?" I asked.
"That would draw too much attention to you," she answered. "Don't worry. You'll be fine. We just want to get you to the point where you can defend yourself as quickly as possible. Now, let's get started,"
Teresa pulled off her shirt. Then she started pulling down her jeans. She looked up at me.
"Honestly," she said, "If you want to go to another room, that's fine. I've pretty much lost all my reservations at this point. You'll only be a naked human for a few seconds - just strip and transform.
I turned away from her, a little embarrassed, and started taking off my own clothing. I was just about to pull of my underwear, ready to change forms immediately, when I heard Teresa behind me.
"Could you help me get this?" she asked. I turned around. Her back was now to me, and I could shee that her only garment was a gold, sequined thing with arm holes that went around her chest. There were two more holes in the back. It was clearly too large for her. It was fastened in the back with five large clasps, three of which had been fastened.
"I can't usually get those clasps with hands, much less claws," she said.
I reached over and clasped the other two. Immediately, the garment filled out as she transformed from beautiful woman to gold-colored lizard monster.
On closer reflection, she actually looked more like a cat than a lizard. Her face was distinctly catlike, and what, in the heat of battle, had appeared to be a mass of tentacles, now appeared to be almost hair, although very thick strands of it, that started gold and ended up turquoise. A strange turquoise marking, like a flame, was on the top of her her head. And a rainbow pattern on her leathery wings extended onto frills that ended at her tail. She was actually still quite beautiful, in an odd sort of way.
"What are you waiting for?" she asked in the same rough tongue he'd heard on the tape.
I turned around, pulled off my boxers and focused on what it felt like to have a tail, until I could feel the tail. Then I looked down at my new, silvery body and turned around.
"Good," said Teresa, "Much faster. I think you're geting the hang of it. The first thing we're gonna work on is communication, and maybe your motor skills a little more. Everyone who lives in this building either works for the NA in some capacity or has been vouched for by someone who does, so it doesn't really matter if we're seen. Lets take a walk, shall we?"
She opened the door and stepped to the side. I walked through.
"So how does this work?" I tried to say, but all that came out was "Ror horrir urur?"
"Don't try to talk yet," said Teresa. "Your grasp of Draconic is unusual. You have pretty much all the grammar and a fair amount of vocabulary, but as far as actually making all the sounds, you're at the level of a newborn. So we're gonna start with vowels. Most of them are pretty much like they are with a human mouth, with some exceptions..."
There's no point in my going on further. Suffice it to say, about an hour later I way speaking draconic, though with what could only be described as a thick human accent.

Chapter 32: Politics

That evening, I was getting on my computer surfing the web, when Mora IMed me:
Dark_Lady_42: Hey you see this?
I clicked on the link. It took me to an article on Yahoo! news:
Senator Walsh Linked to MLF
Senator Sean Walsh (D, New Hamphsire) may have to change his plans for 2008. Shadows were cast today on his designs for the presidency when rival Democrat Jim Braxton (D, Indiana) accused him of having ties to the Magical Liberation Front, the magical rights group that has long been suspected of terrorist activity. Fowler stated in a speech to the strongly anti-magical Southern Baptist Convention that Consolidated Starches, the company where Walsh worked for several years and of which his uncle, Fintan O'Connell, is CEO, makes huge anual contributions to the MLF. "If this man is elected," said Braxton, "Magic will come to replace Christianity in American households. Our forefathers began the work of stamping out this scourge, and as president, I will work to continue it,"
"I believe in the rights of all Americans," said Walsh, in a special press conference to address these accusations, "Including those of Elven or Draconic heritage. I do not, however, support the activities of Draconic terrorists that may or may not be connected to the MLF. They have every right to expect the same rights and freedoms as other Americans, but they should strive to achieve them through legislation and due process of law, not brute force and terror,"
Mr. O'Connell was unavailable for comment.
It was interesting. I hadn't really been following the political struggles of the MLF. I guess I just hadn't yet realized they could apply to me. I almost started a web search, but then I remembered what Teresa had told me about my computer being watched. I decided to give her a call. To my surprise, she picked up.
"Yes," she said, exasperated.
"I was just reading this article about Senator Walsh, and I was wondering -"
She cut me off - "I know. We can't talk about it over the phone. Thursday. And please don't call me unless it's an emergency,"
She hung up.
The6th: Got anything on that writing yet?
Dark_Lady_42: Not yet, I'm working on it.
Dark_Lady_42: Give me some time.
The6th: Ok. keep me posted.
Dark_Lady_42: k
Dark_Lady_42: I g2g
Dark_Lady_42 signed out at 4:05:22.
;">I decided to risk it and click on the link to the MLF, which took me to their official website. The site showed pictures of friendly, happy looking people, and contained a bubbly mission statement about "helping Draconic-Americans, Elvish-Americans and others of magical heritage to adapt and fit into a changing world." No mention was made on the entire site of vampires. Most of the language was incredibly vague.
It was going nowhere, so I decided to sign off. I would sure I would find out the real story soon enough.

Chapter 31: Misinformation

At school on Monday, Fay nearly knocked me over coming down a staircase, then proceeded to walk next to me, even though I knew the class to which she was headed was on the other side of the school.
"Hey Skyler!" she said exuberantly.
"Hey," I said softly, somewhat bewildered.
"What happened Friday night?" she asked eagerly.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You and Zhong were out together," Said Fay, talking very fast, "And now she's grounded for two weeks. Something more than what she told me happened happened,"
"What did she tell you?" I asked.
"If I tell you," said Faye, "You'll just make up a story to line up with hers. Zhong's a practiced and accomplished liar, and I saw through her, so you don't have a chance of fooling me,"
"Nothing happened," I said, "We went roller-blading, stayed out too late, and got lost,"
"Why didn't you invite me or Jason?" asked the girl.
I didn't really have an explanation prepared for this. We usually either all go along on something or else it's just Jason and me or just Fay and Zhong. I hesitated.
"You don't have to hide it from us," said Fay, "Jason and I think it's quite wonderful. In fact, if you'll admit it, I may be able to help you out,"
My mind was racing. How could they know about anything? Had Zhong told her? Had Mora somehow slipped up? But that was impossible, they didn't even know each other.
"How did you find out?" I asked, panicking.
"Well, you haven't exactly been doing a wonderful job of hiding it," she answered, "Besides, I'm an expert at this sort of thing,"
An expert? Where had she learned all this? And how hadn't he known about it? It seemed impossible.
"Wasn't expecting that much panic," said Fay, seeing my thoughts translate to my face, "Honestly, Skyler, have you never told a girl you liked her before?"
A wave of relief passed over my face. That's what she thought this was about? Me having a crush on Zhong? I opened my mouth to deny it, but then I changed my mind. It did seem a plausible explanation for things, and if I denied it, I'd have to come up with another one. So why not let her keep thinking that?
"I'd just as soon you not tell her," I said.
"I think she already more than suspects it," said Fay, "But whatever. Take your own pace,"
As she walked away, I thought about what she'd said. I'd meant it to throw her off, but the more I thought about Zhong in a romantic context, the more it seemed to make sense. She was very attractive - with her large blue-green eyes, her slightly pointy, elf-like ears, and cute round cheekbones. She had a certain unusual grace to her movements, and her smile could be downright bewitching. She was smart, I loved spending time with her, and we had a lot in common, in a way. We were both keeping big secrets. And it seemed only fair that since she knew mine, she should tell me hers.
But I soon put the thought out of my head. I wouldn't have time to date while learning to be a Draconic and trying to keep up with my schoolwork. She'd have to stay a friend for me to confide in. But still -it was nice to think about.

Chapter 30: New Perspectives

When I finally woke up the next morning, I went downstairs to have some breakfast. As I sat down, an article in the newspaper caught my eye. It talked about an unidentified man who had been found stabbed through the heart in the middle of the park. It was clearly the dragon hunter who had assaulted us. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be any suspects - it seemed too many people had been in the area that day. It was then that Teresa called me up.
"What happened last night?" she demanded.
"Huh?" I answered, uncertain of exactly what she meant.
"First off," she said, "Why were you in the woods at night? I mean how stupid can you get? I'm amazed you're alive and free,"
"I'm sorry," I said, "Time got away from me. If your friend had kept an eye on me like he was supposed to -"
"Bobby is being punished," she said, cutting me off. "He did a lot of things not exactly by the book. But you shouldn't have to count on our protection. Use some common sense, ok?"
"Ok," I answered.
"Thank you," she said. "Second thing: why are you still alive? Bobby said that you said those vamps vanished in a flash of light or something? We need more than that. Tell me everything you know,"
"That's all I know," I answered, "There was a flash of light, they turned to dust,"
"Who was the girl?" asked Teresa.
"Zhong Hua, a friend of mine," I said.
"She go to your school?"
"Yup,"
"Your age?"
"A year younger," I said, "Why do you want to know?"
"Don't worry," said Teresa, "We won't bother her. You been listening to the tape?"
I had not. In fact I had completely forgotten it existed.
"You haven't, have you?" She asked, alerted by my stunned silence. "Look, you have until Thursday. Listen to it until you understand it - trust me, you will. I'll see you then, ok? And please try to be more careful,"
She hung up. I figured I'd better get to work on that tape, so I went upstairs and found my old tape player. I hooked up my headphones and turned it on.
It was growling. And roaring. I understood nothing at all. I took the headphones off - how was I supposed to do this. But Teresa had known what she was doing in the past. I put them back on. I forced myself to listen to a full three hours of roaring and growling, until finally I'd had enough. I was about to take them off when suddenly, something changed. While I could still hear nothing but growling, my mind was ssomehow interpreting it as words.
"And so Terelafon was slain, and in the kingdom there was much rejoicing. But in the halls of Ab-duruth, the tone was somewhat more melancholy. Who could this new enemy be? And which of them would be next?"
I rewound the tape to the beginning, and sure enough, I understood it now. It was a history of the arcane age - the same stories we'd grown up with, but from a completely new perspective. I listened with rapt attention as it told of how the Elves, far from the cruel slave-masters conventional folklore made them out to be, had been the kind benefactors of humanity, until the Necromancer created his army of undead and destroyed them, along with the Dwarves, the Dragons, and every other non-human race. It was an exciting story, and most exciting of all, it was told from the point of view of the dragons.
I had a lot of questions, but when I called Teresa all I got was her answering machine. It appeared I would have to wait until Thursday for answers.

Chapter 29: Back to Reality

As he stepped into the light, I got a better look at him. Slender, of about average height, he had dark skin, curly black hair, and was wearing a long, black leather coat. His hand was extended.
"Skyler Woods Brimmer the sixth," I answered, shaking his hand.
"Bad move," answered the vampire hunter. "You had no way of knowing I was telling the truth. I could have been another dragon hunter, and you would have just held up a 'please kill me' sign. We gotta work out some kinda code or something, cause that ain't gonna work,"
"Umm..." I started, "You saw me turn into a dragon. Shouldn't that have tipped you off?"
He looked embarrassed. "Well, probably," He said, "But you never know. These dragon hunters aren't always so smart,"
"So, uh, reverend, you work for the MLA?" I asked him.
"Please, call me Bobby," he answered, "Cause I think we're gonna be pretty tight. Technically, I only worked for H.O.U.N.D. and the First Baptist Church of Minneapolis. But right now I'm apprenticed to Quentin, who works very closely with the Northern Alliance, and he assigned me to keep an eye on you,"
"Nice job," I said sarcastically.
"Hey, don't blame me," he answered, "I saw you head off into the words with a lady friend and figured I could give you two a little privacy. Speaking of which, I think she's coming to,"
I turned around. Zhong had opened her eyes and was slowly trying to sit up. She looked very confused.
"And I suppose I have you to thank for taking out those two vamps?" Bobby asked her as he helped her up.
"What?" she said, looking around, "No. Who are you?"
"He's a friend," I said before he could answer, "Are you alright?"
"Yes, I think so," She said, "But I was supposed to be home hours ago. My parents are gonna kill me,"
"Wait a minute," said Bobby, "So if you didn't take out those vamps, who did?"
"I told you," I said, "A bright flash of light turned them to dust,"
"Yeah," he answered, "But somethin' had to have caused it. Never mind. Lets get back to the parking lot,"
We followed Bobby back to the parking lot. When we got there, we saw a police car parked outside, along with my mothers car and Zhong's family van. Someone gave a yell as we approached, and both our parents' ran out to greet us.
"Where were you?" asked my mother, smothering me with a hug. "We were so worried! It's not like you to be an hour late when you say to pick you up at a certain time! We were about to send out a search party and everything!"
Next to us Zhong's mother was telling her what I can only assume was something similar in Chinese.
"We got lost," I said. "Then it was really dark and Zhong fell and got knocked out. Luckily, Bobby found us, and - "
I looked around for the Vampire hunter, but he was gone.
"Yes?" asked my mother.
"Where'd he go?" I asked.
"I don't know, Skyler," she answered,"I'm just glad your safe," As she turned around to hug me, she noticed the damage to my clothes. Then looking at me more closely, she noticed the lack of rollerblades and the helmet with the broken strap.
"What happened to your clothes?" she asked.
I didn't have a lie thought up. I tried to buy myself some time.
"It's a long story," I said. "Can we please get on home? I'm really hungry,"
That was true. Since I'd changed back to a human, I'd been starving.
"What happened to your rollerblades?" my mother asked.
"Wheels broke off them," I lied.
"All of them?" she asked.
"One from each, I answered, "But I figured they were useless now anyway. I'll explain it all when I get home. Can we just go please?"
"Alright," she said, "You've had a long night, and I'm sure you'll tell me all about it tomorrow. It's just you'd only had those things, what, a month? You have to be more careful with your stuff,"
We bickered and argued all the way home, but I think I got through it without giving anything away. When I got home, I ate a banana, climbed in my bed, and slept a solid ten hours.

Chapter 28: An Unorthodox Rescue

The first thing I did when I managed to get up was check to see if Zhong was okay. I couldn't find a pulse, but I've never been able to, and when I got closer I could hear her breathing - she was alive. I shook her, but she didn't stir.
I heard rustling in the leaves, and I looked up. The man who had been with the vampires was standing over me. He was a grisly, muscular man with with hair all over his face and arms, but none on the top of his head. He was wearing a wife beater, cargo pants with a utility belt, and an enormous sinister grin. He was holding a bizarre sort of gun, with an enormous barrel, and leveling Zhong.
"Git up," he said, in a gruff voice. "Do as I say and nobody gets hurt. Make one wrong move and the girl gets it,"
I wasn't sure what to do - I knew I couldn't take this guy down in human form, but my dragon form was stronger. If I transformed, he might be to startled to react, or maybe my scales could protect me from the blast. It seemed as good a plan as any to me, so as I stood up and raised my hands, I focused hard on what it felt like to be a dragon, just like Teresa had told me. It wasn't working. I closed my eyes and focused as hard as I could.
"Don't even think about it," said my captor, "This thing's designed to take out Dracons, I'd have you before you were done changing. Save your strength,"
I stopped trying to transform. He'd ruled out both my reasons for thinking it would work.
"You Skyler Woods Brimmer?" he asked
I didn't say anything. I didn't think giving him my name would be a good idea.
"I asked you a question, boy! Answer me!"
On the other hand, not doing what he said seemed like an even worse idea. So I decided to lie. Unfortunately, I'm very bad at lying.
"No," I said, "Never heard of him. My name is Ted Chambers,"
Why exactly my U.S. History teachers name had come to mind I have no idea, but it had an unusual effect. The man immediately started laughing.
"Ted Chambers," he chortled, "Ha! Ted has been-"
Unfortunately, I never got to hear what Ted had been, as the man was interrupted. Specifically, by a blow to the head. He whirled around to face his assailant. The two grappled. All I could make out were silhouettes, but I saw the attacker pull a knife. My captor threw off his oversized weapon, since it was only impeding him in the struggle.
I ran for it. I picked it up and looked for the trigger. While I while examining the weapon, I heard a cry as my would be rescuer was thrown into a tree.
"Ok," he said, strangely calmly, "Now you're makin' me angry,"
As he ran back towards the other man, my fingers felt what seemed to be a trigger. I pointed it at my attacker and fired.
It veered off to the left and landed harmlessly in a tree trunk. The mysterious man jumped on the slightly-less mysterious man, trying to stab him in the chest.
I focused on changing forms again, and for some reason, this time it came naturally. I felt again the tail, the wings, and the powerful claws. It felt better outside. I ran towards the man and grabbed him.
"Now that's what I'm talkin' bout!" exclaimed my ally. As I restrained the man, he stabbed him through the heart. I let go of him as he fell to the ground. I'd never really seen a dead person before, and for some reason I hadn't expected to kill the guy. Apparently the other guy hadn't either.
"What the Hell?" he said. "shit! This ain't no vampire!"
"No," I tried to answer, but of course it came out "Ruur,"
"Hey man," he said, "I don't speak none of that draconic shit yet. Turn human again, then we'll talk,"
After some concentration, I managed to. I realized that the tail had ripped a whole in my pants, and my rollerblades, pads, and helmet were all ruined. How was I going to explain this to the parents.
"Man," said my rescuer, "I wasn't expecting to kill that guy- I mean, I was, but I didn't think it was no guy, you know- thought it was one a them vamps,"
"No," I said, trying to hold my pants together in the back, "They both turned to dust in a big flash of light,"
"Really?" he said, "So that's what that was all about. Well don't that just kill ya. Show up to do your job, and somebody else does it for ya," he thought for a minute.
"Oh I'm sorry," he said, "I never introduced myself. The Reverand Robert Freelander, Vampire hunter extraordinaire, at your service,"

Chapter 27: Obligatory Chase scene

We got a bit of a head start, but it's amazing how fast those things can glide. Still, you can rollerblade faster than you can run. We seemed to be maintaining our lead. The only problem was we didn't have anywhere to go.
It was dark, and hard to see. Tree branches poking out of the trail seemed to appear just in time for us to dodge them. I ran over a tree branch and stumbled, almost falling down, but I managed to get upright again. I glanced behind me. The vampires were gaining. The non-vampire who was with them was running, but he was falling behind. I couldn't get a good enough look at him to figure out who he was. While I was trying to, I nearly slammed into another tree branch. Zhong called out to me just in time for me to dodge it.
It looked like a straightaway ahead, so I bent low to gain speed. I glanced behind me- they were still gaining.
The straightaway was on a downhill, and at the bottom of the hill the path widened. I was glad - there would be less to dodge - but Zhong had another idea.
"This way!" she yelled, turning into a narrow side passage. It was brilliant- the vampires wouldn't be able to fit through the slim opening in the brambles. I glanced back as we entered to see what they'd do, and for a moment I thought they we'd lost them. Then I spotted them -there were two fearsome black bats flying after us.
My attention was brought sharply forward as my arm slammed against a tree branch. The canopy over the path made it even harder to see, and the twig-strewn ground made roller-blading even harder. I looked back - the bats were almost on us. I looked up just in time to see a branch poking out from the woods next to me. I got an idea. I grabbed the branch as I past, pulling it forward with me. It snapped back and hit one of the bats, knocking it forcefully into the woods.
The other one was now dangerously close to me. As we left the narrow passage for another wider one, I bent down and grabbed a stick. Swinging it around like a baseball bat, I nailed the second bat, and Zhong and I sped down the trail leaving them in the dust.
We slowed down after a while - we were exhausted, when they suddenly appeared from around a curve. We sped up again, heading determinedly back towards the trail.
We passed a figure trudging along the road. As I turned back to see him, I realized it was the same one who had been with the vampires originally - we were going in a circle.
I snapped back to attention as I heard a cry. Zhong had hit a snag and fallen over, an easy thing to do on rollerblades in the dark. I had kept going and I was now ahead of her. As I swerved around to to help her up, I saw the two vampires glide toward us. We had lost our lead.
I turned to face them. There was know point in running. I bent towards the woods and grabbed two sticks, holding them out in front of me like a cross.
The lead vampire reached me. He grabbed the two sticks and pulled them apart, tossing them aside. Then he grabbed me.
Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light. For a few seconds I could see nothing and all I could hear was two horrible, tortured screams. When the light faded and the sunspots finally cleared from my eyes, the Vampires were gone. At my feet was a pile of dust. I turned around. Another pile of dust was in front of Zhong, who was lying motionless on the ground.

Chapter 26: Zhong

After school I hitched a ride with my mother down to the trail. I got there a bit late, at 7:12 instead of 7:00 when I'd told her to meet me, but luckily Zhong was still there. Her mother was also there leaning out of the window of her van and arguing with her in Chinese. Her tone changed as I approached her. She smiled, said something to Zhong, then drove off.
"Hey," said Zhong, as I approached her. It had been a while since I'd last Rollerbladed, and I was still a bit shaky. She glided gracefully towards me, in sharp contrast to my Shaky, disconnected movements, and extended her hand to help stabilize me. This turned out to be a mistake, as I was somewhat heavier than she was, and if I'd really been collapsing I would have pulled her down with me. As it was, I just stumbled a bit, so we stumbled together and found our way back up.
"Hey," I finally answered, as we glided towards the trail. I was getting a feel for it now, and I was no longer feeling quite so embarrassed.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" she asked.
I looked around, and determining that there was no one close enough to listen, started talking.
"I don't know where to begin," I said.
"The beginning," answered Zhong matter-of-factly. She swung her small backpack to her side, unzipped, and pulled out a Bananna. Then she swung the pack back over her shoulder and began peeling it.
I thought for a while, trying to figure out where the beginning was, and finally started my long explanation.
"Ok," I said, "You know that woman who was talking to me online? Well, I met her in person,"
I paused.
"Go on," said Zhong. We both bent low to dodge an oncoming tree branch.
"See," I said, aware of how silly it was going to sound, "After Jason stole Harvey, I was attacked by a Vampire,"
As expected, she gave me a quizzical look. "I thought they were all extinct," She said.
"Me too," I answered, "But I know differently now. Anyway, I was saved by a draconic, who turned into a woman named Teresa..."
I went on to describe everything that had happened to me in the past couple of weeks. It felt good to be able to talk about it. Zhong listened, interjecting comments from time to time, and we glided along down the trail, deeper into the woods. The sun was starting to go down, but somehow I didn't really notice. When I finished, she started asking me questions - what I liked about it, how it felt - as if she was really interested in the whole thing. It felt like she really understood my situation - not the situation of being a draconic, nesscesarily, but the situation of not being able to tell anyone about a large chunk of your life. In time we moved on to other topics. It was starting to get quite dark when we realized we had no idea where we were.
Zhong looked at her watch - she had to be at the parking lot fifteen minutes ago. We had come to a fork in the path, however, and we weren't sure which route would take us home. We were deliberating it when we saw three figures approaching.
"Excuse me," I hailed them as they approached, "Would you happen to know the fastest way back to the-"
I stopped. It was then I realized that only one of them was walking. The other two were gliding speedily toward us. I cursed myself. I had let myself be out, alone, at night, and I hadn't even brought a wooden stake. Not only that, but I'd endangered Zhong. Grabbing her by the hand, I took off down the path away from them, hoping against all hope it was the right one.

Chapter 25: Fact finding

Third period was U.S. History. After class, Jason went up to the teacher, Mr. Chambers, to ask him about the writing. Mr. Chambers was an older, gruff-looking man with an unkempt beard, a long pony-tail, and no hair on the top of his head. This rough appearance was contrasted with a gentle, intellectual personality. Normally gentle, anyway, which is why his response was so unusual.
Jason approached him with a sample of the secret writing from the notecard, and ask him if he knew what kind of writing it was. As Chambers peered at the paper through his half-moon spectacles, what could only be described as a look of recognition crossed his face, which quickly flashed into almost a look of anger.
"Where did you get this?!?" he bellowed.
Jason was too taken aback by this sudden transformation to answer. Luckily, Chambers himself seemed equally suprised.
"Quite sorry," he said, reverting to his usual composed self, "I don't know what came over me. I must have mistaken this writing for something else, honestly I've never seen it before in my life,"
He was clearly lying, and badly too. Jason noticed this as well, but he was scared to push it.
"Thanks anyway," he said. He retrieved the paper, and we headed out of the room.
"He definately knows something," said Jason to me as we walked down the hallway towards lunch.
"I know," I answered, "but how do we find out what? He obviously doesn't want us to know,"
"We could break into his house," suggested Jason. He might have been joking. I've never really been able to tell.
"We'll call that plan B," I answered.
"I can't believe he's covering it up," complained Faye, when we told her what had happened. "It's like this is some sort of conspiracy,"
The word clicked with me, and set something off in my head. I grabbed the writing sample and took off across the cafeteria. A confused Faye followed me.
Outside, I spotted Mora in her usual place, leaning against a wall.
"Hey Mora," I said, slowing down as I approached her.
"Hello, number six," she said, "How goes it?"
"Not bad," I lied, "I need your help,"
"That's unusual," she remarked, "How may I be of service?"
I handed her the writing sample. "Does this mean anything to you?" I asked.
She looked the paper over somewhat quizically. It was not the actual postcard, but a set of characters from one that Jason had copied down. He didn't like the idea of bringing the postcards themselves to school.
"Hmm..." she said, after a while, "Interesting. I suppose this is a 'no questions asked' sort of affair?"
"For now, yes," answered Faye from behind me.
"Can I keep this for a while?" asked Mora, "I know I've seen it somewhere before, but I can't quite put my finger on where. I'll check it out for you, though,"
"Great," said Faye. She'd now pretty much taken over the conversation.
"Of course, I'd be taking the time out from other things," she continued, "I might be more motivated to really dig for an answer if I was being.... compensated somehow,"
"Five dollars enough?" asked Faye.
"Barely covers the gas to the library," Mora replied, "But I'll do it for you Sky, since you're a friend and all,"
"Thanks," I said, "Get back to us when you can,"
"Will do," she replied, pocketing the sample.
The bell rang, and I headed to class.

Chapter 24:Isolation

My parents seemed altogether too interested in my day that evening; I had to make up a lot of stuff, and as I've already said, I'm a horrible liar. Even my well rehearsed anecdotes of a non-existant self-defense class felt flat and full of holes. Whatever my misgivings, though, they seemed to buy it; at least my mother did. My father... well, there was something off about his response. Hard to define, really - just something different in the way he looked at me.
That night I lay in my room, trying to fall asleep. It was impossible. I kept thinking over everything that had happened in the past two weeks. I could barely believe it myself. Keeping all this a secret was going to drive me insane. I needed to talk to someone. And there was still only one person who knew anything already.
I called up Zhong. This was probably a mistake since it was about 11:00 at night, a fact which had unfortunately slipped my mind. After about five minutes of being screamed at in Chinese, I muttered a "sorry to bother you," into the reciever and hung up. I was glad she hadn't answered. It would have been very easy to take this the wrong way. I hoped she didn't have caller ID.
At least an hour later, I finally fell asleep. I don't remember what I dreamed about, but I remember it was something really weird. I remember this cause for a little while after I woke up I couldn't remember which was the dream and which had actually happened last night. The reality was actually stranger.
When I got to school the next morning, still exhausted, I caught up to Zhong and Fay in the hallway.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey," answered Fay.
"Hey," echoed Zhong, then more quizically "Did you call my house at 11:00 last night?"
"No," I blurted out, before I had time to think.
"You sure?" she asked, "My mom said some guy called for me at eleven,"
"Well, yes," I said, changing my story, "I had a homework question. I didn't realize how late it was,"
"Okay," she said, "I just wanted to make sure I didn't have a stalker,"
"I gotta get to class," Fay interupted, "See you two around. And keep trying to figure out that writing,"
As soon as she was gone, I moved up to Zhong.
"Hey," I said, "Are you free this afternoon?"
"I think so," she answered, "Why?" She seemed a bit confused.
"I'd like to take you up on your offer," I said, a little uncertainly, "I need to talk some things over,"
"Ok," she said, "Any time,"
"After school?" I asked, seeming perhaps a bit too eager. "We could go rollerblading,"
"That sounds good," she said, "I'll meet you at that bike trail we went to over the summer,"
The previous summer the four of us had consented to a rather superflous excercise program to help Jason shed a few pounds. It was fun for a while, but quickly became a drag.
As I walked away from her, I couldn't help but feel she somehow had the wrong impression. Still, it lifted my spirits to have some one to talk to.

Chapter 23: Riding Home with Teresa

After I got dressed, I realized I was exhausted and famished.
"It'll do that to you," said Teresa, handing me another banana, "These things are real life-savers. I think you've had enough for today. I'll take you home,"
We headed back downstairs. Pat intercepted us in the hallway. I had the strange feeling he'd been waiting for us.
"How'd he do?" he asked excitedly, "He was a natural, wasn't he? Just like his mother,"
"I wouldn't know about his mother," answered Teresa, "She trained me, remember? But he did fine for his first time,"
"I'm sure he did," said Pat. He turned to me, "You're gonna lead us all to victory some day, kid. The day is coming. I can feel it,"
"Pat..." growled Teresa as she led me away.
"Long live the Brimmers!" he yelled, giving a funny sort of salute as we walked off.
"Don't let the loyalists get to your head," said Teresa as we climbed into her car, "The last thing the MLA needs right now is a civil war. You can come to power the way anyone else would - by making a name for yourself and being elected,"
"I'm really not planning on running for office any time soon," I answered, truthfully. Then I decided to change subjects.
"How old are you?" I asked.
"It's not polite to ask a woman her age," she replied with a wan smile, "Besides, I couldn't date you anyway, it'd be a conflict of interest,"
I was somewhat embarrassed she'd taken it that way. "No, " I answered, "Not what I meant at all. I was just thinking if my mother trained you, you must have been a lot younger than me when you started,"
"Not too much younger," she said, "You're, what, fifteen?"
"Sixteen," I corrected her.
"I was twelve," she said, "But then, girls mature faster than boys. I was a bit of a special case, though,"
"What happened," I asked.
"My father was an operative with the NA," Teresa began, "Somehow he let his real name get out and a couple of dragon hunters came into our house one night. That was when I found out. You can imagine how terrified I was, as a twelve year old girl, watching my father turn into a monster and burn two men to death. The third one got him, though. They killed my mother too - she was a civilian, probably with as much idea about dad's day job as me. I hid in the cupboard under the sink - he never found me. The police we had called never showed up - the vamps had the sherriff under their command by then. Quentin's family took me in, and Lisa volunteered to train me. A year into that she was captured on patrol,"
What do you say to something like that? I had no idea that's what her like had been like. There was an akward silence.
"I'm sorry," I said, after a while.
"Why?" she answered, "It all happened before you were born. I'm over it now. It's been a few years,"
The rest of the trip was pretty quiet. I couldn't think of much else to say. Eventually, though, something did come to mind,"
"What was she like?" I asked. "My mother, I mean. I've heard about her from my father, but I'm starting to get the feeling he didn't know the whole story..."
"Oh, Wallace knew far more than he ever let on. He's a smart guy. But don't talk about Lisa like she's dead. I maintain hope we'll rescue her some day. As soon as we figure out where "Camelot" is, we have people in every faction ready to storm the place,"
"Camelot?" I asked
"The secret facility where they hold part humans and other magic users. We've managed to access a number of secret files, but none that help us ascertain it's location. It's one of our major goals,"
"I thought my family wasn't terribly popular right now," I asked, "Why would rescuing my mom be such an important deal?"
"Because Lisa's not the only one being held at Camelot. Our top geneticist and at least twenty-three other operatives are there. The personel boon alone is enough to make it a target. Now that I think about, I probably ought to stop discussing this with you. Your security clearance is about two levels below mine,"
"Ok," I answered. I'd absorbed just about as much as I could that day anyway. As we got out of the car, Teresa handed me a cassette tape and a plastic card.
"Listen to the tape," she said. "You won't understand a word of it now, but it'll help you later. That's your security card. Show it to any one of our people, but only after you've seen theirs. Otherwise, keep it hidden,"
The card had my face in one corner and a purple background with a silver stripe diagnolly across it. It did not appear to have any writing on it.
Teresa drove away and I came inside, prepared to tell my parents about my first day of self-defense classes.

Chapter 22: Through Dragon Eyes

Despite the fact that I was in an entirely new body, the first thing I noticed after I stood up was that I was naked. so I bent down and pulled on my boxers. The first time I tried this I missed - my arms were slightly longer than I had expected. About the third time I got them, but for some reason, I couldn't get them to fit. This is when Teresa started laughing.
"You'll never get those on," she said, "There's no hole for the tail,"
She was right. I hadn't yet connected that the thing coming out of my butt was a tail, but having realized this, I was left with a bit of a dilemma. That's when I realized that the thing I normally wear boxers to conceal was not there. This panicked me slightly, but Teresa, seeing where I was looking, reassured me.
"Silver dragon males fertilize the eggs after they're laid, under water," she said, "It doesn't take the same external equipment. Which is why your particular species doesn't have to worry about finding clothing for your new form. You're lucky in that,"
"You mean I can just run around naked?" I tried to ask. Unfortunately, my mouth was a completely different shape than I was used to, so what came out was "Yuor rour rie rang ruj ruh ruh ruh rahruh?"
"You can't speak English in Dragon form," said Teresa, "Because you can't form most of the syllables. Learning Draconic is one of the first things we'll be focusing on. But right now, you need to practice just walking around. Your proportions are slightly different, plus you have the tail and wings providing an unusual counterbalance ou're probably not used to. You're going to be very clumsy for a while,"
She was right about that. Just turning towards the door I nearly fell over. But halfway there, I encountered the mirror.
I was somewhat taller than I'd expected, with Silver scales running the legth of my body, except for the front of my neck and my chest and stomach. My head was bizarrely shaped, elongated with little ears like webbed feet coming out of it. And lots and lots of teeth. Two in particular came up like tusks, which was contributing quite a bit to the difficulties I was having talking.
My wings were beautiful, even folded as they were - big, sparkly things. I wondered if I was going to fit through the door with them.
"Like it?" asked Teresa.
"Yergh," I answered.
She laughed again. "Let's go see what you can do," she said.
Slowly and clumsily, I walked out of the bathroom. As I had predicted, I had to bend down to get my wings through the doorway. And I fell down my share of times on my way around the apartment. But after a while, I thought I was starting to get the hang of it. I was exhausted, so I sat down on the couch. At least, I tried to sit down. Of course I'd again forgotten about my tail, and to make a long story short, the whole couch ended up flipping over.
"Okey," said Teresa,"I think it's time for you to try changing back. It's a lot easier the second time. Focus on something different about your old body - some aspect of it that you prefer. Ok?"
I focused on not having a tail - I thought about sitting down without knocking things over. It didn't seem to have any affect.
"Just close your eyes and focus on what it's like to be a human," she said, "Think about having smooth skin instead of scales, about hair, and no cumbersome wings or tail. Hands without sharp claws, a mouth you can speak from - " she hesitated, "Yes, even the equipment you men are so fond of. Think about it, and imagine you are back in your own body,"
I was imagining as hard as I could. I could almost feel my neck shrinking, my tail receding, my wings folding in - and then I realized I was feeling it, and I was standing in the middle of Teresa's apartment naked. I blushed, and ran to the bathroom to get dressed.

Chapter 21 (for real): On Ice

As we headed into the bathroom, Teresa turned and went into the kitchen.
"Almost forgot," she said. She returned holding a banana. "Eat this,"
I was a bit confused. "Ok..." I answered, peeling it. "Why exactly?"
"We're not sure why," she answered, "But Potassium seems to enhance magical abilities. It's just a small boost, but it's best to be on the safe side. I always eat one before I transform,"
I ate the banana. It was good - a little mushy, but not too much.
"Ok now," said Teresa, "Let's go,"
It looked like a perfectly normal bathroom. It was a little odd that the bathtub was filled up. I walked over to it. Looking closer, I could see it was filled with ice. Also, there was a large piece of metal on the back rim of the tub, leaned up against the wall.
"Strip and get in," said Teresa, "I'll look away if you like,"
"That water's freezing!" I protested.
"Exactly," she answered, "Silver dragons can withstand incredibly low temperatures - and breathe under water. Submerge yourself in there for a little while, and your body will realize it has no choice but to transform,"
"You're certain about this?"I asked
"It's safer than what they made me do," she answered, "At least you can't suffer permanent burns,"
"I could get hypothermia," I argued.
"Look," said Teresa, somewhat frustratedly, "Do you want to do this, or not? It's dangerous, ok? We never said it was safe. But your mother, your grandfather, and five Brimmers before that all went through the same thing. This is probably one of the least dangerous parts of your training. If you want to back out, now's the time. You understand?"
I did. You couldn't do something like this without risking your life. I took off my shirt, then noticed Teresa still standing there.
"Would you mind looking away?" I asked
"Of course not," she said. She turned her back.
I undressed the rest of the way and climbed into the water. Or at least I tried to. As I dipped my toe into the tub a shiver went through my body and I quickly pulled it out again. Then I tried going in hands first. It was worse. I couldn't bring myself to put more than a finger or a toe in - it was just to cold. I stood there, balanced on the edge of the tub, looking down into the icy water, pondering if my mother and grandfather had gone through the same thing. Or was I just too weak to face this? Was this stupid little test going to bring down the Brimmer family? This is what I was thinking about when Teresa pushed me in. Before I could pop out she had slammed the slab of metal over the tub like a lid.
It was frigid. Immediately my whole body was filled with stinging pain, like being poked with lots of little needles. The everything starting to go numb. At the same time, I realized I was drowning. I hadn't had time to get a breath of air before I'd been pushed in. I hadn't even been able to close my mouth to save what oxygen I did have - it had all been exhaled before I thought to.
Suddenly I was in severe pain, and I couldn't quite figure out why. The cold had numbed me already, and drowning didn't cause pain in my neck, shoulders, and butt. Where was that coming from, I wondered. Then something very odd happened. Feeling started returning to my extremities - first my legs, the my arms, then - what was that? Something I'd never felt before - as in, a limb I'd never felt before, almost like a third leg, but with no foot. And two extra... arms? No, too wide to be arms. Very wide. In fact, they were feeling quite cramped in here. They need to....
Wham!
As I extended my wings to their full size, they threw the slab of metal off of the tub. I stood up and looked around. The bathroom looked different somehow.
"Congratulations," said Teresa, "You've taken the first step,"