Ben certainly proved why he was the captain of the football team as he ran away from Sora. Fast. Sora pushed to keep up, but soon found herself cursing as the distance between them grew.

Sora and Drake remained close while Katie and Mo lagged a considerable distance behind. Sora tossed a brief look over her shoulder to assess their progress. She couldn't help but smile as she thought to herself that Katie lied, she could definitely run in ballet flats.

Sora burst into laughter thinking about her friend. Drake shot her a confused look as they kept on running. Suddenly, Sora felt more relaxed with every breath. When her laughter died, she was ready for what waited ahead. Ben, the Collectors, Japan. It all felt possible, and for a moment, she knew that she would somehow get through it all, while remaining sane. She started laughing again. Or relatively sane, she thought.

"I think he is headed toward the school," Mo yelled from behind them. Sora looked ahead at Ben. The school was the only other place he could take shelter besides his house. Sora knew he wouldn't go back to his parents' house. Ben's parents were meddlesome and demanding. They pushed him to constantly be the best at everything, and they never were content with any of his achievements. She remembered meeting them once, and she was grateful that she was with her grandparents at the time. There was something about them that was intimidating. No wonder Ben hates being told what to do, she thought. Still, she found herself wondering if his demanding parents were the only reason that Ben wanted to run away.

"We'll go through the forest and meet you there," Mo shouted. Without waiting for a response, he turned left with Katie at his side.

Be careful, Sora desperately tried to urge her thoughts to them.

***

It was Saturday, and the school was deserted. Sora's mind flooded with images of the last time she had been here when the school was empty. It had been three months ago, the night of the fire. Her eyes darted over the walls and in her mind she saw flames. The same flames that had haunted her dreams for months. Her feet froze and her body stiffened as the vision assaulted her.

Drake didn't realize she wasn't following him anymore. He pushed on after Ben, who was disappearing behind a line of green trees. Drake still had a few hundred yards of burned trees to navigate before he reached him.

Sora took a deep breath and shook the vision of flames away. The building slid back to freshly painted walls. She darted ahead after Drake. As she ran, Sora thought she caught a glimpse of someone staring at her through the building's windows, but when she flipped her head to look, no one was there. She mentally scolded herself and then resumed running. She had always loved to run, but the last few days, she felt like she had been doing way too much running. She was getting a little tired of it.

She was beginning to close the gap when Drake darted into the first line of trees. In a few more strides, Sora would be in the forest as well. Hopefully Mo and Katie are already there, she thought when she passed the first tree. After a few more steps, Sora was lost in the dense forest.

She slowed down and took a quick look around. Drake and Ben were nowhere to be seen so she pushed on. They had to be somewhere close. Sora plunged deeper into the forest just as the rain began to fall again. She was thankful for the protection provided by the tall trees.

"Let me go," she heard voices up ahead. She immediately recognized Ben's voice. Drake must have caught up to him, she thought. Sora picked up her pace and ran toward the voices. When she finally closed in, she was shocked to find that it wasn't Drake who had found Ben. Instead it was the two Collectors she had run into in the morning.

"There you are," yelled the one she knew was named Duke. She realized that she didn't know the name of his companion, model-guy. The big guy, Duke, had his hand clamped down on Ben's arm holding him in place.

"Sora run!" Ben screamed. Before she could turn to flee, model-guy blocked her path. He didn't grab her, he seemed content to just stand and stare at her. His grey eyes traveled up and down her body, pausing briefly on her lips before resting on her eyes. She couldn't help but stare at his perfect mouth when he bit his lower lip.

"It seems that fate has brought us together again," he said softly, and Sora tried to swallow with no success. He didn't try to touch her, he didn't even move from his place, but she felt him somehow getting closer to her.

He reached out, his cool fingertips gently feathered against Sora's cheek before he moved to push away a tendril of hair from her eyes. Sora didn't dare to breathe, her eyes locked on his face trying to read his expression.

"Don't touch her," she heard Drake's voice and for a moment, Sora thought it was in her head until she looked past the model-guy in front of her and saw Drake flanked by Mo and Katie.

Ben used the distraction to free himself from Duke's grip, and then he tried to punch the big guy but his fist failed to connect. Sora realized that if Ben could fight so could she. She certainly wasn't going to stand there and do nothing. With that thought, her resolve grew stronger and a faint memory of anger flitted in her mind. She knew immediately what to do.

Sora used both hands to shove model-guy away from her. She took a step back to gain more time as she hurried to tap into her emotions. It wasn't hard to find what she was looking for. She thought of how unfair it was that Drake's and Ben's lives were already decided, how they kept on getting pushed around by people who only wanted to use them, and it made her angry. Anger was good. Especially when she could feel Ben's anger melding with hers.

The guy in front of her rubbed his chest where she had pushed him. He took a step closer to her and said while raising his hands in a submissive gesture, "We are not here to hurt you."

"Yeah, right," muttered Sora and with one swift motion stretched her hands between them her palms almost touching his chest. She felt the energy channeling along her arms, bursting out through her palms. A sudden blast of orange flames hit her assailant in the middle of his chest sending him flying back. Sora knew she couldn't hurt dragons with fire, but she hoped her fire would shock him enough to stay the hell away from her.

She heard a small gasp, and turned her attention from the flames dancing between her fingers to her friends standing across from her.

Ben, Drake and Mo were barely holding Duke down. Duke thrust his legs up to his chest and shoved Ben away. He jumped up, pushing the other two boys off him like they were nothing more than children. "Stop fighting me. I didn't come here to hurt you," he said, and Sora remembered those were the same words that the other guy had used.

Could it be? she wondered.

Ben was beyond listening at that point. Sora could feel his anger strengthening inside her. The flames shot from her fingers again growing bigger and brighter, they were almost out of control so she quickly closed her fists extinguishing the flames.

Ben moved a couple of steps back and took his hoodie off. Even before he pulled his pants off his feet, Sora realized what he was about to do. Bad idea, she thought, but before she could move to stop him, she felt a gentle but firm arm closing around her shoulders while another drew around her waist, pinning her hands to her sides. She didn't want to risk burning her clothes or her skin, so she quickly extinguished the flames coming out of her palms.

"Good girl," she heard the model-guy, whose name she still didn't know, whisper softly in her ear. He kept her there, making a shushing sound while rocking her back and forth like she was a small child in need of comfort.

Sora didn't speak, she remained motionless unable to do anything to stop the horror that was unfolding in front of her. Ben's transformation had caused Duke and Drake to change into dragons as well. Now all three dragons flew over the thick trees into the rainy sky above them.

"Duke is not going to hurt them," the guy holding her muttered into her ear, his breath making the hair on the back of her neck bristle.

"Who are you?" she finally managed to ask.

She couldn't tear her eyes from the fight raging above them. Drake and Ben were both attacking Duke, who had turned into a red dragon similar to Drake, only way bigger. Unfortunately, Drake and Ben weren't working as a team, they were bashing into one another accidentally more often than not. None of them were using fire, which was for the best considering what happened the last time one of them had resorted to flames. She gave herself a mental slap. She was the one who had just used fire. In her mind, Sora silently prayed no more Collectors would appear.

"My name is Oliver," the answer came softly in her ears.

With her peripheral vision, she saw Katie and Mo running towards her, probably to help, but she didn't feel like she was in danger anymore, at least not from Oliver. "Oliver," she tried the name.

"We are not here to hurt you," he repeated for what seemed like the millionth time.

"You keep saying that, but you are still holding me," she said with fake annoyance in her voice. She was actually glad that someone was holding her still. She had no idea what she would do if she were free. At least this way, she had an excuse for not taking action.

She felt Oliver burying his face in her hair, taking a long sniff. Okay. That's creepy, she thought, but her body betrayed her as she shivered with joy at his warm breath against her neck. His lips brushed against her skin as he spoke. "We are here to recruit you all into our resistance army. Give you a way out. Isn't that what you want?"

Sora felt her lips part with surprise, but before she could answer, Mo reached them and Oliver decided to give her a gentle push away from him. She felt cold for only a moment, the warmth of Oliver's body gone from her back, before landing into Mo's arms. He hugged her protectively and brushed her hair softly.

"Stay away from her," he yelled fiercely in Oliver's direction.

Suddenly a large blast of heat above made them all look up. Ben had just shot a huge fire ball in Duke's direction. The enormous red dragon, dove to the ground. Using his tail as a bat and with the downward momentum he gained, he sent the flaming ball back at Ben. Drake managed to shove Ben away, barely getting himself out of the line of fire. Sora gasped and nudged away from Mo's embrace. She was now staring at the burning sky with wide eyes.

Duke counterattacked with a continuous barrage of orange flames shooting from his mouth. Ben flew to his right, slow but steady while the flames darted after him. Duke seemed to be able to maintain his fire without much effort. Tracking Ben's muscled dragon form wasn't hard either as he wasn't moving very fast.

The other smaller red dragon suddenly collided into the back of Duke's head. For a brief moment, the beam of fire ceased as Duke fought to gain some height. Once he regained his altitude, he turned his flames toward the two younger dragons, but he missed. The flames spiraled down, heading to the ground.

They're coming towards us, thought Sora in horror and awe.

"Move!" Oliver's voice drew her out of her stupor. He grabbed Katie's hand, while Mo snatched Sora's. All four of them ran as far away from the flames as possible.

When the fire collided with the ground, orange waves shot out in all directions, drowning anything that stood in their way. Sora watched as the waves undulated toward them at a frightening speed. There was no way they could outrun them, but her flight instinct had fully kicked in, and she couldn't stop moving.

She braved a quick glance toward Katie who was still running close to them. Her friend seemed terrified and hopeless. Sora felt guilty for dragging her into this whole sordid mess. The bitter thought of Katie being harmed and her blood being on Sora's hands stopped her cold in her tracks, Mo's hand sliding though hers.

Her eyes darted to the sky where she could still see the dragon's warring above them. Duke was still breathing out a continuous flood of flames, keeping Drake and Ben at bay. The soft rain pelting down had no effect on the fire.

A heat wave washed over her face, and Sora knew that she would be buried under the searing heat of the flames in mere moments. She braced herself for the impact. Maybe like the dragons I can't get burned, she thought and hoped it was true, although she hated the thought of standing there as the flames roared over her.

"Duke that's enough!" she heard Oliver screaming from somewhere nearby. She turned and saw that he had stopped running, his eyes fixed on the fight raging above. She had no idea how, but the huge red dragon heard him. The burning waves sliding toward her stilled, instead the fire started feeding off from everything that was already in its reach.

Sora shot Oliver a surprised look, but he failed to notice as he was still captivated by the dragon fight in the sky. Now Duke was on defence while both Drake and Ben took advantage of the sudden stop of Duke's flames and attacked. Drake grabbed his neck in his jaws while Ben crushed the huge spade at the end of his tail directly into Duke's spine.

Duke's wings were paralyzed and he began to lose height, dragging Drake down with him. The smaller red dragon's wings beat fiercely, struggling to keep them both afloat, or at least slow their descent. His efforts were met with little success.

Ben soared higher and higher gaining speed. A sickening thought struck Sora as she realized he was building momentum for his descent. He meant to crush both Duke and Drake.

"No!" she screamed but no one heard her. The fire around her drowned out any sound she made. She turned to Oliver but he seemed as helpless as she was. He had stopped Duke but he couldn't stop Ben.

Only I can, she thought and she dug her nails into her palms and tightened her fists.

In a desperate move, Duke breathed a ball of fire toward Ben, but the blue dragon dodged it easily. The power of the flames made Duke and Drake fall faster toward the trees lines. Drake wasn't letting go. Sora could see him still fighting to save the dragon he had been fighting just a moment ago. Drake appeared to be slowing them just a little bit.

Sora concentrated on the huge fire ball that collided with the clouds. She got lost inside of them as they painted the sky a brilliant orange. For a moment, everything was beautiful and quiet, with the burning sky above and the soft rain pattering against her face. Then everything changed. The clouds darkened and the rain fell harder. Every drop sliced through her. Ben turned and barreled downward toward the two hapless dragons.

"You can do it," she told herself and looked straight into Ben's dragon eyes. Stop, she thought weakly. She shook herself, trying to relax. It hadn't been enough. She wanted Ben to stop, but she knew that Drake and Duke were still falling fast enough to hit the ground and die. And just like that she knew what she had to do. She reached out grasping the connection to Ben's brain. Now that her resolve was stronger, she had no trouble reaching him.

Ben kept spiraling down. For a brief moment, Sora wondered if her powers were working. Suddenly, Ben began to accelerate and he flew right past the two red dragons. Sora relieved, began to concentrate even harder. Ben hovered beneath Drake and Duke waiting for impact. When the two dragons came hurtling toward him, he bent his thick neck and pushed Duke's body. His wings beat fiercely as he propelled them upwards.

It wasn't enough for them to actually gain any height. They stalled and hovered above the trees for a heart stopping moment, and then they began to descend slowly. The thick flames raging around Sora, blocked her vision of the dragons as they drew near the ground.

Exhausted, she faltered back a few steps before connecting with something. Two strong arms looped around her.

"Can you do one last thing?" she heard Oliver's voice. He was staring over her head so when she titled her neck back to see him all she caught was the stubble along his jaw. "Make them follow Duke," he demanded.

For a moment, she thought, hell no, but then again, Oliver had prevented Duke from burning her to death. Sora was still in sync with Ben's mind so she reached out and sent the order. For someone who didn't like to be bossed around, Ben didn't put much of a fight.

Once she was sure he would obey, she reached for Drake's mind. She wasn't sure if she could control him as well, but the moment she sent her thoughts to him, they connected. It was as if he let her in. Follow Duke, she pushed the thought into his head and felt his approval.

Even over the loud cracking noise of the woods burning to embers, she could hear the loud steps of the three dragons stomping away. "Good girl," Oliver said and buried his face in her hair once more. "Dragoncallers sure come in handy," he commented, and it made the blood in her veins freeze.

He knew.