The next morning, Sora was at her desk, wearing the same rumpled clothes from the previous night, with her head resting on the pages of the red leather bound book Drake had given her. She opened her eyes slowly. The clock glared at her that it was already after ten, but there was barely any light in the sky. The sun was hiding behind thick clouds and rain was pouring down fast, leaving a buzzing sound in Sora's head that numbed any other thought.

She lifted her head and saw a small puddle of drool on the old page she had slept on. She winced and tried to wipe it off with her hand. That's when her eyes focused on the words written on the page. They were Japanese. She took the book in her heads, moving it too close for her eyes to see. She finally settled it at a more reasonable distance, on her knees.

Her eyes scanned the lines up and down while she was trying to make sense of the text. It was hand-written and looked old which made it even harder for her to unravel. She knew the basic Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries but she was no good with Kanji ideograms, the more complex ones were used to represent whole words. The ancient text was filled with them.

She rose to her feet, tucked the book under her arm and headed to find the one person she knew would be able to help her.

Her grandparents' bedroom door was open and welcoming, as it always was, but she knocked once before entering just to make sure she wasn't disturbing them.

"Hai," she heard her grandfather calling cheerfully from inside. Now that she could understand. A simple 'yes' was one of the few words in her Japanese vocabulary.

She entered the room slowly and her tired eyes immediately found her grandfather, still resting in his bed, despite the late hour for him. She carefully ducked to avoid all the colorful origami cranes hanging from the ceiling as she made her way towards him. The room was an explosion of brightly colored paper cranes. They covered every flat surface, and hundreds of strings hung from the ceiling in different lengths that ended with yet more cranes, swirling and dancing in the air.

"Sora," her grandfather smiled from the bed and started to get up but then, like his arms couldn't lift him, he fell back on his pillow.

Sora didn't miss that and ran to his side. "What's wrong?" she asked worriedly placing a hand on his shoulder feeling his old, fragile bones shaking underneath his shirt. For a moment, she felt so stupid and selfish for coming here with her own problems. She had spent the last few days focusing only on her own thoughts that she hadn't notice something was wrong.

"I am okay," he said and placed a wrinkled hand over hers and patted her gently. "A book?" he asked dropping the matter at hand and focusing his eyes on the red leather book that was still under her arm.

She followed his gaze and bit her lip with guilt. She needed to know what was in the book, but his condition upset her, and she didn't want to cause him any further weariness. "It's nothing, just an old Japanese text, nothing important. Now, you rest and I'll bring you something to eat, okay?" She started to walk away but he called her name, his voice sounding strong and steady like normal, so she hurried back to his side, dropping to her knees next to him.

"Give me the book," he said firmly, but she could see that he was forcing himself to sound like nothing was wrong. He was really tired, maybe even ill. She shook her head to shove that frightening thought away and handed him the book. She couldn't deal with the loss of someone else, so denial was her best option, besides she had more pressing matters at hand.

He stared at the page his eyes moving up and down faster than Sora thought possible. After a few seconds, his face changed as all the remaining color drained from his cheeks, not that there was much left, and his eyes were as wide as she had ever seen them and still moving. "Where did you get this?" he asked and she could tell he was worried, even worse, he sounded scared.

"It's for a school project," she lied hoping he wouldn't question her any further.

It didn't matter, he wasn't listening to her, he remained focused on the book. He brushed his fingers over the rough paper and then closed his eyes. A few seconds passed before he flicked them open, and in their depths Sora saw a new resolve. "How did this happen?" he asked but Sora had the feeling the question wasn't meant for her. Then he turned and faced her. "They found you."

It wasn't a question and that made the small hairs on the back of her neck rise. She felt her lips tremble as she struggled to find words, to make sense of what was happening. "What?" was all she managed to say.

"Who gave you this?" he asked, and this time he got his arms to work and sat straight up on the bed.

Sora didn't answer, she just shook her head. What the hell? She felt like she had just woken up in The Twilight Zone.

"Who?" her grandfather asked again, and she could hear the worry in his words.

"The guy next door," she mumbled barely audible, but her grandfather's eyebrows shot to the sky.

"You need to stay away from them. They are here to hurt you!"

Sora had a brief epiphany then. Her grandfather knew. But how can this be possible? she thought and shivered. Something truly terrifying had reached her small town and she was completely surrounded by it.

"Ojīsan-" She wanted to ask him what he meant, how he could possibly know about the Harrisons, about her, but she couldn't find the words.

He scrubbed a hand over his face resting it at his chin. "We need to leave," he said finally. Sora felt a shock strike her chest, that was enough to send her brain spiraling into overdrive, again.

"You know about me," she stated. Her grandfather turned and assessed her, confused. "You know what I am." She raised her brows begging him to agree. She needed him to say it too, to explain how it was possible.

"Your mother was a Dragoncaller, too," he said, and for a moment, the shock was enough to leave her completely speechless but then more questions popped into her head.

"How did you know about her in the first place?"

Guilt flashed over his features, and he stared at the wall behind her head, refusing to make eye contact. "I was assigned to her by my Order," he started saying and it was like he was reliving the past. Sora kept quiet despite her burning need to voice all of her questions.

"Her parents were killed by dragons in a house fire, but she somehow managed to survive. She was found a day later by another member of our Order and brought to us all the way from the U.S. Her mother was one of the last known Dragoncallers, and we knew that Yume would have the gift as well," he said as tears welled in his eyes at the mention of his adopted daughter's name. He turned and rested his eyes on Sora. "Just like you."

There was a moment of silence and Sora thought that he was done with his story but then he kept on talking. "The Order assigned your mother to your grandmother and me. We had just gotten married and couldn't have any children, so we raised Yume as our own. She was a dream come true, hence the name. She never had any encounters with dragons, and she didn't even know what she could do. She never had an incident like yours."

Sora's eyebrows shot up. "You know about the fire?" She didn't know if she was shocked or relieved. Maybe both.

He nodded. "There is another dragon in town, right?" he asked already knowing the answer but she still nodded. "Who is it?"

"Ben Ryder," she said and her voice was steadier than she expected.

"Have the Collectors found him yet? Or do they only know about you?"

"How do you know all this stuff?" she asked ignoring his questions.

"The Order," he said like it was all the explanation she needed. She fixed her eyes on him, waiting expectantly for him to continue. "We pledge our lives to protect your kind."

Our kind. Sora knew he wasn't talking about humans or dragons. "Dragoncallers," she breathed the word out and he nodded.

"There are only a handful of you in the whole world. The Order watches over and protects the few who remain."

Sora was shocked. "There are more?" she exclaimed. She thought she was the only one, but knowing that there were more people out there like her made her feel better. "Do you adopt them all?"

"No. I only... Your mother... She was the only one."

Sora could tell it was hard for him to talk about her mother. He really loved her, she could see the pain and sadness in his eyes clearly. His sorrow prevented her from being angry that he had withheld the truth from her. Her mother never knew. He was protecting them both. She gave her mind a moment to digest everything before her eyes landed on the red book still in his hands.

"What does the text say?" she yelled, surprising her grandfather to the point that he actually jumped to his feet. She smiled at his reaction. Maybe her grandfather wasn't as tired as she originally thought.

"It's just an old story of how the Earth Dragons came to be the only dragons alive," he explained and then opened his mouth to say something more but she cut him off.

"What do you mean? Who are the Earth Dragons?"

"Ben Ryder, the Harrisons, they are all Earth Dragons. Every dragon you will ever meet is an Earth Dragon. But there used to be more, The Asian Storm Dragons, the gentle Sea Dragons of the Pacific and several others, but the Earth Dragons killed them all. That's what they do. They destroy anyone who poses a threat," he said as he caught her shoulders and looked her straight into her eyes. "You are a threat."

Sora could only blink. There used to be more and they killed them all. And now they are coming for me, she thought terrified, but then she recalled the fierce look of protectiveness written plainly on Drake's face when he looked at her, and how he refused to tell his parents about her. How could he be bad when he was so good to her?

"We need to leave before they come for you," her grandfather said immediately, more determined and alert than ever.

"They are not coming for me."

He shot her a scolding look, and she felt like a child who was about to learn there is no Santa Claus. But she cut him off before he could say anything else. "Drake, the Harrisons' son, has known about me for weeks," she tried to ignore the disbelief in his eyes and kept on talking. "He was the one who told me what I am, what they do to people like me, and he was the one who helped me keep my secret. They found Ben yesterday. They are leaving this Sunday," she blurted out so quickly that she hoped her grandfather was able to understand her.

He seemed confused but nodded. "That's good," he muttered, and she could see his eyes darting fast from side to side like his was reading a book in his mind. "Still we need to make sure you are safe until they leave, so we might need to leave the house for a few days," he said.

"No," Sora stated emphatically surprising herself as much as her grandfather. She hadn't meant to sound so loud and angry, but she couldn't help it. She felt desperate after the startling turn of events.

"We can't go," she said as she thought of Drake. "He can't go. He doesn't want to keep on doing this." She had been mulling it over for a long time, and now she was sure of it once she heard her words. Drake didn't want to continue to hunt down dragons and force them to join the pack. She saw that when he thought she was a dragon, and then again when they found Ben was one. All his sadness and guilt finally made sense to her. He didn't want the life that he was supposed to live, and she was living proof of that. Because, no matter how loyal he seemed to be to his parents and pack, he had refused to reveal her secret.

That's when she knew she couldn't let him go. She wouldn't. He saved her life by keeping her secret, and she wanted to save him, too, from a life he didn't deserve or want.