After we finish eating Emmit quickly takes off. "Hey guys love to chat about the new Transformers movie but I have to go," he says before dashing off.

"What's he doing?" I ask the others as I watch him haul butt.

Song snorks on her tator tot. "Haha his TV show is on tonight."

So we get TV here? That was a big plus. "What TV show?" I asked.

"Defenders of Berk," Song says and the others start to laugh. "He claims it's because Larissa has a crush on Toothless, but you should see the face he gets when he's watching it. He loves the TV show." She giggled.

I laughed along, offhandedly feeding Caedmon a sausage. I wasn't about to admit that I myself had watched it a time or two.

Eventually, one by one, people cleared off- Nathan dashing outside, Song going to take care of her dragon, and Brandon had to go to the bathroom, leaving me with Dustin. Not that I cared- Dustin was pretty freaking awesome but I was wondering if the others had left because they wanted to ditch me.

"Hey want to see my dragon? His name is Rayner." Dustin said finally as he threw the remnants of his meal away. If there was one thing Brandon could do- it was eat. I swear he ate more than the rest of us combined!

"That would be cool. Would you like to see him Cade?" I asked him as he gnawed on a tat or tot.

"Meep." He replied as he tried to chew it, which was cute in a weird sort of way.

"I'll take that as a yes," Dustin smiled and held out a hand, helping me up.

"Hey when will Caedmon learn how to talk?" I asked offhandedly.

"It depends. Song's took a month. Mine took three." He said, "their voices have to change because their vocal chords just aren't capable of speaking human."

Caedmon patted my cheek sadly as if he felt my disappointment.

"But that's not the only way they talk to you, don't worry. First they start out with mind pictures and feelings. I know it's frustrating to not be able to talk to each other yet but they learn fast, don't you worry," he said as he walked outside.

I shivered as I stepped out. It had to be forty degrees and the sun was setting behind the pine trees. The front lawn was clean and tidy like any other summer camp complete with a large wooden sign that read "Boys and Girls Scouts of America". Seriously?

Dustin winked at me before his eyes faded out. "Wait for it... One, two..."

Before he finished three an asteroid touched down, blasting me backwards until I landed flat on my back, Caedmon rolling on the grass with a scream. I looked up blearily to find a horse-sized brown dragon with heavy ram's horns and beady eyes looking at me like he was going to eat me. "You okay?" He asked in a husky voice, displaying jagged teeth.

I inched backwards. "Uh... Yeah."

"Sorry he's just learning how to fly," Dustin said, helping me up. "Rayner, this is Justin. Justin-Rayner."

"Uh hi," I said awkwardly.

"Hey Justin," he says sluggishly. "You smell like bacon. I like bacon."

"Uh... Thanks?" I said, backing up in case he was wondering if I tasted like bacon.

Dustin laughed softly and patted Rayner's thick neck. "Hehe what a funny joke, Rayner, now let's go get your scales clean. Come on Justin, I'll show you how to clean Caedmon's scales. He'll like it, I promise."

I followed him to the side of the barn which had a concrete floor and pumps and hoses. He cranked a pump and picked up the hose as Rayner stood patiently, his wings spread to their span of twenty feet. Dustin explained how to clean the wings "gently" before going into how to clean the scales. "Right to left or the scales WILL cut you"

"Okay.." Caedmon meeped in excitement as I set him down on a little stool. He fanned out his little floppy wings as he looked up at me with those baby puppy eyes. He shook his head like a frisky bull and stomped his foot, clearly ready to start the bath time. Dustin laughed at his expression. "Looks like the little guy wants to join in on the action." He handed me a garden hose and I smiled at him appreciatively as he turned back and got back to cleaning his scaly miniature tank.

I grabbed a tiny washcloth for hatchlings and wet it, adding the scale shiner that Dustin told me to use. I was a little nervous as I started with his tiny face. What if I got some of the shiner into his eyes? Caedmon pushed his nuzzle into the back of my hand like a little trooper and I smiled. First I started with the snout, my fingers massaging his scales and chin. He leaned in, closing his eyes as a light purr throbbed from his chest. I laughed to myself as I carefully washed around his big eyes and shined his tiny horns. As I moved down his knobby neck I started to see the smooth obsidian scales glint purple and blue in the brilliant sunset. He lifted his legs just like Rayner had so that I could shine his baby talons and little paws. His bones were tiny and fragile under my gentle fingers, his wings felt like I could twist with two fingers and break them. They were smooth yet rough like a thin leather jacket with hard 'fingers' that were the skeleton of the wing. But his favorite was when I scrubbed his armored belly. He snorted and wheezed like a dying rubber ducky, almost falling off his little post. "I found your sweet spot buddy!"

"Hey," Dustin's voice called behind me. I looked around to find Rayner was now a squeaky clean tank and Dustin was probably just as wet as the humming dragon. He chuckled as he saw my expression. "Yeah I better take a shower, I would stay out here but when the scale shine dries... It's not pretty. You ok if I leave you out here?"

'No' I wanted to reply but I didn't want to sound like a big baby. "Yeah sure," I replied, sliding my thumb over Caedmon's flashy tail.

"Thanks man, I'll be right out," he assured me as he jogged inside.

After I was finished with bath time Rayner and I got into a conversation about ketchup (having a conversation with a dragon- crazy right?) before I heard a familiar voice. Mr. Sunglasses. Rayner drawled on as I perked my ears towards Landin's gruff voice, my eyes raking our surroundings. Sure enough the General appeared walking up the hill, flanked by the golden beauty. For once his glasses were off and hung on his jacket and his hands moved as he talked animatedly, his tone frustrated as the glowing creature responded in cool tones, his words indistinguishable. "Shh, Rayner, it's them."

"Them?" Rayner repeated, his beady eyes narrowing.

"Yeah- General Landin and the glowing lizard," I grunted.

Rayner gasped so suddenly I turned to look at him. "You-you can see Mardu?"

"Well, yeah," I whispered back, craning an eyebrow at him.

"Hardly anyone has seen Mardu- and most of the people that have are too terrified to talk about it. I heard-" his voice dropped to a dramatic whisper. "That he's as tall as a skyscraper with blood red teeth and a mouth large enough to devour a city!"

I shook my head. I could see him just fine and he definitely wasn't like that. The size of a three story building, he moved with a lethargic grace, like a proud tiger, his golden scales flickering red in the sunset and his outline hazy like he was a hologram. Now that they were closer I could hear snippets of their conversation. "-it's been ten years, Mardu. Ten years! I don't even...."

Mardu's gentle voice answered, his head lowered to look the General in the eyes.

"I know but when-and how? I can't stand seeing him face to face when..." He paused when Mardu's eyes drifted to me and I immediately pretended to be super busy cleaning Caedmon's neck, a little too hard for his liking. Rayner was totally making it obvious that we had been spying when he jerked around and pretended to be deep in conversation with me how we weren't at all spying on the General.

"Rayner, aren't you supposed to be on guard duty?" Mardu's melodic voice drifted over to us.

"Er yes I was just talking to the rookie here," Rayner stuttered, his eyes groping for any sign of the light dragon but I could tell he couldn't see him.

"You should go."

Rayner didn't argue. Sweeping his thick, muscular wings, he strained forwards, taking off from the ground in an ungainly fashion. I decided I should probably take off too and quickly shoved the scale cleaner supplies in the closet before hustling off with Caedmon.

I wasn't really sure where I was going- I circumvented the barn and headed down the trail towards the other barn where Avery had tried to make me clean the animal stalls. As I walked I offhandedly ran my hands over Caedmon's scales which were now waxy and smooth as he thrummed a happy song, peeking around at the strange world.

I still didn't know what to think of this place. Sure, the excersize had been real torture and I could feel it setting in now that I got my achy limbs to walk but for the first time in my life I felt like I had made some real friends. I still didn't understand why they had reached out to me- nobody usually even seemed to notice me. I called myself the shadow back at school- because that's all I ever was and I actually didn't care. And now I had a real shadow dragon... Oh the irony of it all. I looked down at my little buddy as I wondered what powers I was going to get. Would I be able to turn invisible? Or would my power just be the sucky abilitity to get sunburned like slug?

Suddenly I heard a loud whooshing sound behind me and labored wingbeats like a helicopter in slow motion. I twisted and looked up through the canopy of branches to see a scaly face smiling down at me- baring hideous teeth that seemed to be pointing every which way like the bristles on a hairbrush. And on its chili pepper red back was Jonathan leering down at me. Caedmon squeaked and dove into my pockets where I could feel his little body shaking. "Hey guys- no hard feelings right?" I asked as I walked backwards, hands in the air.

He didn't seem to hear me. "Hey little shadow punk, where's your friends to save you now?"

What was this guys problem? My fists started to clench up. "Oh yeah, says the guy riding the flying porcupine. What- are you afraid to face the little shadow guy alone?"

His face turned almost as red as his dragon's scales. "Jakaress could screw your little dragon any day. But since I'm in a good mood..." Jakaress landed right in front of me- the crash making me stumble back. He slid off the saddle and rolled up his sleeves with an devilish look on his ugly face. "Let's do this wimp."

Why did I always have to open my big mouth?

Jakaress hissed at me before taking off again and flying over the trees, leaving us alone. I backed up, eyeing the other guys muscles. He was going to pulverize me. I felt my back hit the wall of the animal barn and I knew I was cornered. I carefully put Caedmon on the window sill behind me and turned around, my fists raised.

"Aww he's gonna fight back. Wait I just remembered something. I don't even need my fists. All I need is a tiny little flashlight." He grinned evilly and snapped the flashlight on.

I bit my lip as the light burned onto my skin, making my exposed hands start to turn a blotchy red. Caedmon started to cry as I tried to cover my hands in my sweatshirt. "What did I do to you?" I asked angrily as he stepped forwards, laughing.

"You came here, Landin's little pet. And now you think you own everything just because you managed to get in easy. No one to report me now so I'm gonna fry ya widdle shadow punk ."

"I'm not his pet," I said between gritted teeth, turning my head away. Suddenly a fist came out of nowhere and smashed him to the ground.

"Might want to step back," I heard a different voice with a distinct Texan accent as Jonathan scrambles to his feet and places a nasty punch in my partner's gut before he retaliates with a ninja kick to the guy's skull, knocking him out.

Jonathan swung around, his meaty fist poised when I saw Tyler deal a nasty uppercut that sent Jonathan flat out on the ground. For a second I just stared at the unconscious fire Rider before looking up at Tyler. "Justin you okay?" He asked, wheezing.

"Uh.. Yeah," I said awkwardly. What was I, some freaking damsel in distress? Suddenly embarrassed, I turned to pick the whining Caedmon up and cradle him in my arms. "Thanks. We are going to get in big trouble though." Not that I cared about trouble but I don't want to turn into bacon again, ok? Bacon=not fun.

Meanwhile he slung the big dude over his shoulder. "I think we should... Have him get a little sunbathing treatment from the wombat, yes?"

I laughed at the thought. "That sounds great!"

"Say.." He drawled. "How about we take Jonathan on a little trip outside the boundaries? And oh look at the time! Almost after curfew!" We smiled evilly at each other.

Twenty minutes later we were slapping each other on the backs and snickering as we walked back to the main house where the other recruits were already lined up and getting counted. I slid into ranks with Merman who shot me a questioning look as he stood rim-rod straight. I mouthed 'later' as I copied his pose. The gym teacher lady walked in front of us and we all stood at attention, our hands up in a salute before she barked "At ease!" Then everyone's hands went back to their sides. After that she called out the different rank's leaders and they responded with 'All Present!' Until she reached Avery's rank which was the highest in the training facility. I could hear the bitterness in her voice when she responded with a curt. "Jonathan, Rider of Jakaress is missing, ma'am."

Tyler and I tried to keep in our snickering.

The gym teacher looked flustered. Apparently this did not happen often with that rank. "Is this an excused absence?"

"No," a familiar voice barked. General Sunglasses walked up behind her, his hands behind his back and a cigarette dangling from his tight mouth. Mardu walked behind him, a very burned Jonathan on his flickering back. I wondered how he looked to the other kids, just randomly floating there. "We found him in the forest past curfew." General Landin's golden eyes swept over the ranks and it was an effort not to laugh and give myself away. "Let this be a warning to those of you who don't have it in their thick heads to NOT stay out of bounds after curfew." He said in a deadly voice, which made me gulp. Then they slowly walked back to the Wolf Lodge, Jonathan moaning like a zombie.

I gave Tyler an underhand high-five. Maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all.