The next day I miserably got up to line up with the others in the brisk Alaskan air. My eyes were pink. My fingers had fumbled with my combat boot strings for way longer than necessary. Caedmon was still sleeping when I tucked him in my jacket and trudged down the hall with the surge of other kids after hitting the bathroom.

            I felt a familiar poke to my shoulder and didn’t even look up. I knew who this was. “Morning, Merman.”

            “You alright? I heard Cade was upset last night,” Merman whispered.

            “Really?” I raised a brow, surprised that Merman had actually woken up from it.

            “Well… someone told me about it,” he said, looking at the little tail peeking out of my jacket.

            I sighed. “He’s tired. Was up all night crying,” I said. “They put a band on him that’s hurting him.”

            He looked at me and I saw emotion cross his features. “They are just doing this to him to hurt you,” he whispered firmly, like this was a big secret. “They should know it wasn’t his fault.”

            “I know,” I sighed, shaking my head.

            “Today we’re going to be doing training in the woods. I hope he’s feeling better by then, because you’re really going to need him,” Merman said, gravely serious.

            I nodded, not having the heart to say that I couldn’t shadow travel.

            When we sat down to eat with all the group, Song and Dustin were talking about Sherlock and how Benedict Cumberbatch was going to play Doctor Strange, their voices dripping with excitement. Merman was gone, skipping breakfast to take a swim with little Larissa. And I was glumly playing with my eggs with a fork. Caedmon was curled up as a tiny ball of heat on my lap, his head tucked neatly under his wing, and his little tail spazzing in a dream. I smiled fondly down at him as I ran a hand down his little spine before I sighed and leaned forwards staring at my mound of eggs.

            I could almost see a face peeking out of the cloud-like folds of the eggs. Angry. I could sort of imagine his sideburns in the splotch of white, his heavy brows shading those golden eyes. He’s not yours! He never was! I could hear his voice and the underlying message, loud and clear. You were a mistake, and if you mess up again, we’ll take him from you!

            I inhaled sharply and stabbed my fork into the egg, my teeth grit. No he’s mine, Stupid Wolverine! He’s my dragon and he.. is smart and capable as any human! I thought, twisting the fork, my eyebrows creating rifts on my forehead.

            “Uh.. Justin?” Song asked softly as she got up with her plate.

            “What?” I snapped so hard I woke up Caedmon who yawned big, showing off baby teeth.

            Song frowned slightly before turning around and walking to the trash can without saying another word.

            Song sure knew how to do a killer ‘I’m-disappointed-in-you’ look. I picked up Caedmon as I shot up in my seat. “Hey- I’m sorry Song. Didn’t mean to yell at you.”

            Song paused and turned to smile at me like nothing had happened. “It’s alright Justin. You look really troubled. Are you okay?”

            “No,” I admitted as I looked over to see the other first years lining up at the exit. Before Song could ask me why, I threw away my trash before trotting over to the line behind the same moss dragon rider that had given me my first flight lesson. I could feel her eyes boring into me the whole time, but I refused to look back.

            After everyone had gathered, we headed out to the chilly Alaskan morning. Even so, it was bright outside because the sun had not set at all. Even though much of the snow had melted, there was great fluffy clumps gathering below trees and behind bushes, seeking refuge from the burning sun. Luckily, there was virtually no wind today so I probably wouldn’t be half frozen by the end of our jog.

            As we set off into a brisk marching pace into the well worn path, I could hear the haunting call of loon cutting through the forest with its keening call. The sound, which reminded me of a chilling mix wolf’s howl and a woman’s wail, sent shivers down my spine and made Caedmon perk his head up as he clenched my jacket with tiny talons, his regal little head turning towards the sound. I could see small puffs of hot air every time he exhaled and in my mind’s eye, I could imagine him opening his jaws and releasing a stream of fire. I opened my mouth and exhaled my own ‘smoke’ making a growling face like I was pretending to be a dragon.

            Caedmon turned to look at me and he put a paw on my cheek, clearly not amused. His expression told me ‘Never do that again.’

            ‘I’m sorry you bonded to a weird guy like me,’ I told him in my mind.

            Either the message didn’t go through or Caedmon didn’t want to talk to me, but he didn’t respond.

            Soon I got sucked into the rhythmic blur of marching with the others, my combat boots crunching on the gravel path. There was something oddly comforting as you let your body go into cruise control and just fade out, letting time blur.

            As I was retreating into my mind, Caedmon was looking around curiously. He was fascinated by the smells, sounds, and sights of outside and just couldn’t seem to get enough. His tiny blue forked tongue flicked in and out rapidly as his head swayed to gather up all the scents. His ears perked at the tweeting call of a Phoebe and his tail swished rapidly in wonder as he saw the peach-bellied bird flit across his vision. He slowly spread his wings and puffed out his chest, his head going back and forth as he saw the birds flitting to and fro above. His wings shook as his swirling purple eyes struggled to memorize their flight patterns.

            Finally he scared the dickens out of me by flapping hard as he could, his wingtips grazing the side of my face and sending my black hair into a ruffled mess. “Woah!” I yelped as I saw him lurch forwards, wings flailing as he fought for a lift. I snatched at him, struggling to grab something solid as my hands were met with tiny flapping wings and stubby little legs that only tried to push against my hands to make him fly higher. “Cade!” I hissed.

            “Justin!” I heard the moss dragon Rider’s voice bark as he saw me going crazy in the ranks. “Get back into position!”

            Caedmon hissed and flapped harder. “Fie! Fie!” he screeched as I tried to grab him. Then he bonked his head on the guy in front of me and instinctively grabbed his butt with his tiny talons.

            “AH!” the guy yelled and stiffened. My eyes widened as his hair erupted into angry flame. He reached around to slap at the little pest before I grabbed Caedmon around the belly and yanked him back.

            A horrible ripping sound of fabric and I was staring at a nickle sized section of the fire Rider’s pale white butt. Two patches. “Sorry!” I said.

            He grunted, turning around to glare at me with orange eyes which were tinged with red and blue. They narrowed as they studied me before he turned back around to get into rank with the rest of them. Not a word.

            I gulped, glaring down at Caedmon.

            Caedmon glared at me, looking unamused as I held him like a doll. His front paws grabbed my hand and his wings and hind legs hung limply. He suddenly twisted and slapped my cheek with a paw.

            “Why are you mad at me?” I frowned, even though the little paw had hardly hurt at all.

            “Fie fie fie!” he pouted, squirming in my grasp. He slapped my hands with his paws, throwing a temper tantrum. “FIE!” His tiny squeaking voice carried all over the ranks and I could hear some snickers from the other troops. Caedmon looked around, seeing they were laughing at him and suddenly his big purple eyes got all big and watery. I held him to my chest and he sniffled, his paws curling around my collar and digging his head into my chest.

            “Aww little buddy,” I was so concerned about him that I almost bonked into the fire dragon Rider in front of me. His little fire hatchling hissed at me, tiny crest raising to warn me to back off, which I did very quickly.

            “Welcome to our sharpshooting range,” The Rider called from up front. “It is here where we will learn how real combat feels like. You will all wear vests and be given weapons. We will divide you into two teams and you are given a person to protect, a job most of you S-11 graduates will transition into. The team with the special said person will have to get the subject into enemy territory safely and with as few casualties as possible. Both teams will need scouts or spies, dragons working to their aide, offense and defense. Booby traps are perfectly acceptable as long as they do not kill the person they are meant to trap. May I remind you that killing or maiming anyone will result in immediate expulsion from S-11 facility.” He said dryly, like he was one of those tired old workers that had to tell all the little kids to fasten their seat belt on a kiddy ride. “And the groups are..” He started to read names for Team A, and they started filing away to the left. My name wasn’t called.

            “All the rest, you stay here.  I will take the enemy north to their territory,” Mr. Piffer announced as he stalked off with the others. “You have half an hour, starting now. And your… person.. is Justin Timberlake.”

            What? Me? The other kids looked at me and raised a brow. Somehow I felt embarrassed. I could be a great spy! Probably the best here! But I’m stuck being protected by a bunch of other kids. General Landin probably orchestrated this just so I could be a target.

            As Rihanna started to formulate a plan, carving it out onto a tree stump with her dagger, I just paced behind them. Her fat forest dragon sat on her shoulder like a parrot, chirping and meeping to the other dragons, being just as bossy sounding as his Rider. Some of the other hatchling listened intently, while the ADHD lightning dragons raced around the forest floor trying to catch squirrels. The sand dragons were flat out sleeping.

            I paced, grumbling internally about my treatment. How did I deserve this? Just for a stupid joke? Caedmon resumed biting his bracelet before his mouth hurt too much from the light to do it much longer and he panted, hanging on to my shirt.

            “Justin?” Rihanna’s voice boomed and I turned to face her on my heels. “You got it?”

            “Aye aye,” I said dryly and saluted like a total derp.

            Rihanna glared at me for a moment, her emerald green eyes boring into mine, before she relented and turned to boss around the other kids. She sent some kids out to booby trap the area in case the other kids gave an offensive attack, before sending spies all around to make sure we knew if the enemy was closing in. And before I knew it, I was surrounded by fifteen kids, most of which were way bigger than me. Their dragons hissed at me as we started to shuffle forwards into enemy territory, pushing me along with them.

            I didn’t like this. I didn’t like this at all. This wasn’t a good idea, I thought as they grabbed the weapons left for us. I saw Rihanna pocket a few grenades and my eyes got huge. Grenades? Were they gonna blow us up? And what kind of booby traps were they going to have?

            “Remember, Once you hear the sound of a great grey owl, we scatter and you run like crazy,” Rihanna whispered to me, which I was pretty sure sounded like the dumbest plan ever.

            “Don’t you need to keep me safe? How’s that gonna work if I race off into oblivion?” I hissed.

            “Don’t worry. I’ve assigned five wyvern Riders to accompany you. They usually are good at keeping in formation,” she whispered back. “Now shut up.”

            I did so, trying to keep my panic at a minimum as the Alaskan forest rattled in the wind, bare branches stretching to an elusive sun. My eyes flitted about, expecting to find bodies crouched in trees, ready to attack. The threat of imminent attack sent my mind into overdrive, my heart pumping a million miles an hour, and adrenaline making me feel like I could run like a rabbit. Caedmon must be feeling it because he hopped on my head to look out.. but in the wrong way. A black tail swiped across my vision like windshield wipers.

            For five tantalizing minutes the only sound was our group’s huffing breaths.

            Then we heard the hooting call blasting through the silence of the forest like a fowl cannonball and all chaos broke loose.

            Our group split up, rushing onwards with loud cries as kids jumped down from their perches in the trees to ambush us. A few jumped out of the bushes, while I could see the muzzle of the guns poking out of the leaves. My eyes widened as I lurched forwards like a spring, the wyvern riders keeping perfect pace with me, like a human wall.

            Plumes of smoke rose up on either side of me, I heard a couple shrieks. The wyvern Riders lifted their lazer tag guns, shooting into the woods at assailants I couldn’t see. Caedmon’s claws dug into my shoulder. I could feel sweat start to color my uniform darker. How could I get out of this?

            Suddenly the blonde girl right next to me lets out a scream that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. She falls forwards, crashing onto the ground. I gasp in alarm and almost ram into the guy to the left in surprise. What happened to her! I stood there like a sitting duck, wanting to shift to shadow, but my faintly glowing band stung me to remind me that I couldn't. Silly me.

            “Keep going! GO GO GO!” Rihanna’s voice almost blasted my eardrums out as she smacked me between the shoulder blades to coax me on.

            I jumped in surprise but obeyed her and my legs started going on cruise control, pushing me faster and faster as blunt yells filled my ears, plumes of gas dancing around me as I skimmed over booby traps. Another wyvern rider goes down with a yell, his little white wyvern squeaking as its almost crushed… I had no time to stop. I had to move.

            Branches break against my legs, thorns dig into my pale skin. I feel the rugged terrain testing my ankles as I constantly dodge low hanging tree branches. All other thoughts are crowded out by the primordial instinct of survival. I was the gazelle, escaping through the woods from the lion. I was fast, nimble. I could run a thousand miles through these..

            Crunch.

            The rocky soil gave way into the hardened soil, smoothed out by hundreds of nimble deer hooves. My world tilted as my combat boots gave out under me in a spray of mud and I found myself landing hard on my butt before tumbling downwards down a steep slope, flashes of branches and mud filling my vision. Out of reflex, I try to grab Caedmon as dread flashed through my veins. If I crushed him on my way down…. But my flailing hands met nothing as my spine hit a rock so hard that tears sprang to my eyes. I gasped as a branch slapped me across the face, my grasping hands smacking against a rock.

            Then I rolled to a stop in the tall grass of a small meadow, just lying there like a little sack of boo-boos. For a moment I didn’t move, silently assessing my battle scars. My right knee was throbbing, my back tight with pain. My face stung, but I don’t think anything was broken. My eyes cracked open enough to see blurry gold sway across my vision. Grain. I opened them a little more to focus on the sky above, the bright blue splashed with the occasional watercolor cloud.

            Then realization hit me. Caedmon! I shot up, ignoring the pain in my back. “Caedmon?” I whispered, fumbling in the tail grass as I searched for him. “Caedmon? Where are you? Talk to me buddy!” I hissed, searching madly. My heart jumped to my throat and I suddenly felt sick. “Buddy?” my call hardly made it past the lump in my throat, my fingers clawing at the grass.

            Suddenly my eyes caught a small dark shape and I clambered up the deer trail to find my small dragon sprawled out on the grass, eyes closed. His head was curled backwards almost unnaturally and his wings were tangled in the branches.

            “Buddy? Are you okay?” I whispered, dread draining my face of color. Fumbling fingers disentangled the thin wings from the branches. I couldn’t even breathe as I worked, sweat beading on my forehead, cold against my skin.

            Finally I pried him away and held his little body close to my chest, thankful I could see his tiny nostrils flaring at each little breath. He was alive.. just got knocked out badly. My poor buddy. I quickly placed him in my large pocket, where he was surrounded by one of my black gloves for comfort.

            And that’s when I realized I was alone. I squinted as I looked around. My bodyguards were gone- had I outrun them? Or had they been taken down in the fighting? In the blur of motion I couldn’t really remember. And I didn’t remember there being any boundaries.. there was no telling where I was. By now the sun was shining on my back, leaving long tongues of shadow stretching towards the forest.  

I needed to get Caedmon to a veterinarian. What if he hit his head bad? What if he was seriously hurt? This stupid war game could wait. I needed to find our instructor. “It’ll be okay, buddy,” I mumbled to that little bundle in my pocket, patting him gently.

A flash of movement caught my eye.

            A shadow was moving, slithering over the trees and landscape in an uneven form. While my eyes were telling me someone was creeping up behind me, my senses proved otherwise. There was something different about this shadow.. I could tell this much. I traced the shadow back to its origin… my feet! What? I looked back up at it. I hadn’t been moving that dramatically had I? But as I watched, my giant shadow crouched on the leaf strewn ground.

            And without question, I did too.

            Immediately a grenade sailed right where my head would have been. Before I could freeze in shock, it exploded into smoke directly in front of me. I looked back at my shadow, which was now leaning the opposite way the other shadows were, towards the forest on my left. This wasn’t your average shadow, folks.

            As much as this should freak me out, I felt strangely calm. I remembered just the other day when my shadow had steadied me when I was lost in shadow land. Maybe this was one of my powers- to have a friendly shadow. In any case, it saved my sorry butt twice and I was going to listen to it.

            Keeping my head low, I limped slightly through the forest after my shadow, hand on my pocket where my precious cargo was held and my tongue in my teeth. I could hear whispers behind me, in the field. They hadn’t seen where I went. I sighed in relief before seeing my shadow tilt drastically to meld into the shadow of a large rock which resembled a T Rex head, creating a sort of cave. Perfect hiding spot.

            “Thank you shadow,” I whispered as I crept towards it and sat under it gratefully.

            Going into the shadows is comparable to me to walking into a warm shower. Refreshing, like a balm to my skin. Relaxing even. Gosh I was turning into a vampire. But the glowstick wasn’t helping. It burned me harsher as the contrasts heightened and I hissed, gritting my teeth in pain from the torture device. I shook my hand slowly, saying naughty words in my mind.

            A brush of skin made my eyes fly open. I could feel it, warm, brushing against the skin of my arm slowly as it slid down to my wrist. But nothing was there.

            I blinked twice and it appeared to me, plain as day. My shadow was curled up over me, on the wall of the stone T Rex’s jaw. Its hand reached out to take mine, a darker shade of black in the shadows. My jaw dropped as I watched those jet black fingers rake over my wrist, groping, pulling.

            Before another pair of hands grabbed me by my collar and jerked me out of my den of misery. “Justin.. Timberlake,” a growling tone told me this was Colonel Piffer. “There you are.” He let me go to stumble to my feet. Dang he was strong. “You just won the game with your hiding skills,” he said with amusement clear in his voice. “Now line up with the others.”

            I nodded dumbly, heading alongside him, feeling numb. I wasn’t sure what had just happened. But I was sure of one thing.

            My shadow had tried to get the wristband off.