By the end of the train ride both Caedmon and I were starting to get cranky. There's only so much we could do before we were getting a bit sick of each other. Without my phone I was cut off from society and no one came to visit me except for the waiters bearing trays of cat food and hot dogs

At first it was kinda fun. Turns out Caedmon was a smart little man and I taught him to sit, roll over, and fetch by the second day (I think it was the second day anyway, time gets weirder the closer to Santa you get). We also played some weird game of tag where I usually ended up being drop-kicked from the ceiling by the feisty hatchling. He liked the reaction he got from popping out of the ceiling and believe me it was starting to get old.  Then, if I got tired or told him off for biting or jumping on my face he'd disappear. Who knows where he went. Could be the underworld for all I care. I was tired. 

For the first time since I boarded the Polar Express I was woken up by something other than Caedmon trying to pounce on my head or a waiter with another stinkin hot dog. The sharp clicks of heels announced the arrival of a female. I rolled over in bed to find myself staring at a typical 50s airplane stewardess type of girl with lipstick so bright you'd think they were bleeding. They pulled back when she spoke to reveal teeth stained crimson. "Justin... uh..." she looked at the sheet in her hands. "Justin, we have arrived at Elmendorf. Please.." she unleashed a scream before she was even able to finish the sentence, looking down to her tiny feet where the little black devil was attacking her skinny ankles. "It's attacking me! Help! Help!" 

I sighed and rolled over, plucking Caedmon up by his rubbery wings. He looked up at her with big purple eyes, his blue tongue slapping his left eyeball. 

"Chirp?" 

She pressed herself to the wall, looking down at us with fear in her eyes. "Please... grab your things. The General wants you." She scurried out of the room. 

I took one look at my little beast, eyes narrowed. "Really? You just had to bother that nice lady, didn't you?" The bright purple inside of his mouth gleamed wetly as he panted, looking rather proud of himself. 

SKREEEEE! Both of us tumbled off the bed and onto the floor as the train hit the brakes. I held the dragon like you'd hold a piece of technology you'd sacrifice a broken bone to save, landing hard on my side. He squeaked in fear and nuzzled into my sweatshirt, little claws digging into the fabric for dear life. As the initial shock wore off, I stroked his ridged spine comfortingly. "It's gonna be okay," I whispered, lying because that's what caring parents do. 

Caedmon looked up at me. "Meep?" he shrugged his little wings. I laughed at his concerned little dragon face and squeezed his chunky little self, gathering the courage to get up and venture out of my little prison. "We're gonna take a little peep at our surroundings," I whispered to him as I got to my feet. "You're gonna be real quiet, okay?" I'm not sure if he understood but he stared at me as if he was listening. I held a hand over his little head, hoping that he'd be more quiet if he couldn't see. 

Outside my door the chrome interior gleamed a blank silver. The retro lady had disappeared and no one else was in sight. Hah! Mistake number one: leave Justin Timberlake unattended. I heard heavy boots and short bursts of conversation to the right. I turned my head towards the left. There was some motion over there, but it definitely seemed less frantic. Maybe I could sneak out... make it to an airport or something. It was a stretch here in Alaska, but it was better than a century of slavery, right? Maybe I'll come out with a scratch from a bear or something and all the chicks will be after me because I got this mysterious aura of a wild man or something. Enough daydreaming. It was time to skedaddle.

Sneak mode, activated.

 Caedmon curled up against my chest, I lowered my head and walked into the next cabin. On either side of the aisle uniformed men and women scrambled for their bags and weapons. None so much as batted an eye at me. I even pickpocketed a Kit Kat from a huge dude's back pocket and he didn't seem to notice. With the sneakiest crinkle I opened the packaging and munched as I continued down the hallway, handing a little crunch to Caedmon, who proceeded to down the chocolate in the messiest way possible. 

A soldier stepped through the side door and left it wide open, the light streaming in like God was calling me from heaven. Outside, soldiers huffed and puffed, mist escaping their mouths like dragon fire. Further out, behind the iron gates and huge train station, I could see tall trees piercing the sky with serrated fronds. Caedmon's nose crinkled as he narrowed his eyes to peer out at the great outdoors for the first time. "Do you smell that, buddy?" I whispered. "Freedom. God bless America." 

"You step out that door and you're going to meet Him." My heart punched me in the throat and I almost fell forward when a huge hand smothered my shoulder and kept me grounded. I looked up to find General Landin in all his furious glory. "Where d'ya think you're going, boy?" he growled.

I shrugged. "Oops. Must have got lost going to the bathroom," I smiled so harmlessly that my soul died a little.

You know how you have this itching feeling when you see someone and they remind you of someone else? Well this guy did and it was killing me, but it finally dawned on me. With his heavy, dark eyebrows, thick sideburns, and the cigar poking out of his mouth, he looked like the spitting image of the Wolverine! If he didn't have such short hair I'd ask him about General Xavier's School for Gifted Children.

While I had been staring, he'd been talking. ".. you made me do this, kid. I don't want you escaping into the wilderness to get eaten by an elk or some other mischief-"

"Uh, elk are herbi-" then I stare wide-eyed at the hand holding the needle that had sunk into my neck. Caedmon screamed in fury, jumping at General Landin, but he was snatched in midair and I was... out.

I woke up with a flick to my ear. "Wake up, kid," the General's rough voice wakens me from a dream I had about eating  spaghetti. When I opened my eyes, I realize I had been chewing on my sweatshirt strings. "Yuck!" I spit them out. Those things were practically crusted over with baby dragon spit. Before I was even fully awake my sweatshirt was snatched and I was hauled out of the vehicle, Caedmon thrust into my hands, and pushed right onto General Landin's chest.

He doesn't even seem to notice. His eyes, or his sunglasses were focused on something behind me. "Ahh," he sighed, a small curling smile pulling at his lips. "Welcome to S11 Training Facility."

I pushed myself away from his heavily decorated chest and turned around to find myself standing in front of a large string of concrete buildings that reminded me of the really ugly community college back in my hometown. Huge stone chimneys were belching out smoke and the front porch held several rocking chairs. Did I just arrive in a rural nursing home? A huge crowd of kids around my age all in uniform gathered, ogling the General. 

Next to me, General Landin's smile grew larger and he pulls off his sunglasses for a split second and I get a glimpse of something underneath- glowing gold irises! But it's not that that gets me.

A giant white dragon was reflecting off the Hummer's windows. It strode towards me, its claws snapping out with every footfall, teeth gleaming like lightning. 

"Ah!" I started to scream but General Landin had a steel grip on my shoulder, not allowing me to run for the hills. Caedmon hissed at the General's leathery hand before crawling into my jacket, shaking with fear.

"Bobby," the white dragon said smoothly, its voice high and pleasing, kind of reminding me of Jason Derulo when he hits the high notes. The dragon had a thin, long face like a Spinosaurus with a flair of feathers to soften its wicked curves. Two curling black horns sprouted from the back of its skull, low eye ridges bent over its golden eyes like a bald eagle, making it look serious from the side and confused from the front. Its body reflected the sun like the moon on a cloudless night, each step it took was graceful. I couldn't help but notice its huge talons and the spade at the end of its flickering tail. Nobody seemed to notice it, even if its tail flashed an inch away from their noses. It was like it wasn't even there! I cast a quick glance at General Wolverine, just to make sure I'm not the only one who can see this thing. But sure enough his lips were curling up and I assumed his golden eyes were trained on this creature. What was he waiting for? Did he even have a gun?

Other than the fact that the dragon was, well a freaking dragon- I felt something foreboding about it and stepped away. My cheeks started to burn and Caedmon cried out in pain as it neared. I had an intense urge to go into the shadows... hide in the darkness. I had to get away, run away from this evil creature. I stumbled backwards, my body involuntarily shrinking back towards the cover of the truck. 

"You big lug," The General greeted the dragon back. "Give us some space, will you? We've got a shadow dragon on our hands."

The dragon's eyes widened. "Shadow? You have a lot of explaining to do, Bobby."

If I wasn't so freaked out, I would have laughed at how he called Mr. Tough Guy 'Bobby' like some little kid. I looked out of the corner of my eye, under the Hummer I could find some shade... escape.

The General sighed and puffed smoke from his cigar before taking something out of his jacket. Sunglasses. "Put them on," he grunted.

I did, and sighed when the glare from the white dragon dimmed. Caedmon nuzzled my shirt, his little claws digging into my skin. His squirming body was shaking under my sweatshirt.

Then I noticed the crowd was looking straight at me. They wore heavy duty black jackets with the little crow patch on the front. Each one seemed to have a number, and each one looked as emotionless as Kirsten Stewart. A few big guys in the back seemed to even be glaring at me. What was their problem? Couldn't they see I was in distress?

I saw flaxen hair as a girl cut through the ranks, her bun wobbling with every step. Her eyebrows sunk over her beautiful amber eyes, her hand gripping what looked to be a bully club. I took a step back. Yep, she wanted to kill me.

"Who is he?" she asked, pointing a finger at me like I was some random wombat that got into her trashcan.

"A new recruit," even the General seemed nervous and the glittering white dragon moved aside to watch.

Her eyes raked over me, testing me. I guess she didn't like what she saw because she flicked my shoulder. "Where did you pick him up from, the streets? We don't need an average Joe. All of us here have worked our butts off to get here!" She waved a hand to the others. "Where did he come from!? Where?" she demanded. 

"Hey!" I called, trying to defend myself. "I'm not an avera-"

She held a finger under my nose, not even looking at me. "Shut it."

By now, I was so ticked I could swear steam was coming from my nose. But, as usual, no one was here to come to my rescue. "I know he doesn't look like much," the General said in his gruff voice. "But it hatched for him. Project R214."

For a split second her eyes widened, then she turned to me with dipped eyebrows. Sensing she wasn't expecting that, I smirked and Caedmon poked his head out of my hoodie to stick his little blue tongue out at her before diving back down at the white dragon's glance. "How on earth did he get it? I don't see anyone like him registered on the waiting list for R214."

"That's because he wasn't. Listen, can we talk about this later?"

She nodded slowly, although I could see her fists clenching.

"For now, show him around," he said, the warning clear in his tone. He stalked off and white dragon went with him. I sighed when he was gone, realizing how tense I was. The girl still hadn't taken her eyes off me. "You wipe that smirk off your face," she said gruffly, "Just because you made it into the S11 without busting your butt doesn't mean you get any special treatment. We have standards here, regulations. You can get kicked out like this," she snapped her fingers loudly. "Believe me. You won't make it a week."

"Okay, okay, I get it," I snapped, hands up in the air. "I don't want to be here any more than you want me to be here."

Instead of calming her down, this seemed to make her even more angry. She waved a hand at the others and they dispersed quickly. Grabbing me by the hoodie, she marched off, forcing me to follow like a reluctant dog. She led me up the side steps of the main building, through the huge wooden doors, and into the great room.

Despite the foreboding exterior, the place looked like some kind of Alaskan resort. Huge, plush chairs sprawled about the lobby, and the great room had a roaring fire place and a huge elk head hanging over it. Golden plaques covered the wall and a half circle of sofas surround a coffee table, where people were reading and drinking from steaming mugs. Candles flickered like tiny stars above us in their ringed chandeliers crowned by an array of antlers.  A stuffed lynx glared at me with marble eyes, one paw outstretched. 

I only got a glimpse before she opened another door by the stairs and shoved me inside. I stumbled forwards but before I could fall she snatched me again, this time by my sweatshirt strings. Giving them a good yank, my hoodie tightened to threatening levels around my neck. Her glowing gold eyes neared and narrowed. 

"Woah, going a little too fast here, we just met," I managed, giving her a cheesy smile.

"Shut up!" she hissed, jerking on me. "You think your such a bigshot to get in here so easily? Well I got news for you, people here," she gestured towards the door, "Worked hard to get here. We've been tested to our limits, went through all the training, we spent our whole lives to become a S11 agent. Our team is one of the best in the world. We know how to work together, fight together. We trust each other with our lives. And if you ruin it..." she paused and inhaled slowly. "I will have my dragon eat you. One limb at a time."

I nodded, biting my lip. Did dragons really...Did she honestly think...

She must have thought threatening to eat me wasn't enough. "Listen, to live here, you have to follow the rules. And the first one is you have to obey the commanding officer. Me. Or I'm going to make sure you end up somewhere much worse. That goes for your dragon too."

Oh no! I was going to have to work under her?

She nodded grimly. "That's right. So let's get to your first job. Cleaning the stalls."

I folded my arms. "Wait up, weren't you supposed to be showing me around?"

"I did. I showed you the great room and lobby. Be happy." She started to grab my hoodie again but I slapped her hand away. "I can follow pretty good. I'm not a kindergartner that needs to be put on a toddler leash."

She rolled her eyes but didn't grab me again. "Follow me," she huffed impatiently, leading me back outside.

When we were out again, I could see that the truck I had been riding in had already took off and a group of teenagers were carrying crates back to the big cabin. The girl, whose name I have yet to unlock, led me behind a small copse of trees shading a huge stable. I could smell it before I spotted it and hoped to heaven that Caedmon wasn't gonna smell like that. She tromped up to the entrance of the sliding barn-style doors and took an exaggerated inhale. "Ah, you smell that? We've got pigs, cows, and chickens who need a clean pen."

"Woah woah wait, what is this place? A training place for how to become a farmer? Because I definitely didn't sign up for this! In fact, I didn't sign for anything!" Caedmon crawled out of my sweatshirt and sat on my shoulder like a parrot, his violet eyes lighting up in the shade of the stable. He looked around curiously.

Her amber eyes narrowed on me. "You really don't know where you are, do you?" she asked.

Heat radiated from my left as a dragon the size of a horse sidled up next to me. Its neck curved over me, its hot breath ruffling my hair. "Welcome to S11, Alaska's one and only Dragon Rider Training Facility." And with that, it casually snapped a chicken at my feet in its jaws. There was a cut off chicken squawk and a terrible crunch. Feathers rained down around me. 

"I'm ready for the needle now," I whispered, swaying on my feet.