"Well, here we are," said Ruth, as they stood alone, sometime later. They had left the village behind, out of view, by about a mile, which was all they could manage before collapsing to the ground to rest. "Let's not do that again. I say we get to Eden and get it over with-and I have a few ideas about how to find the place."

"I agree," Abel said. "I have some ideas about where to go to. There's a ladybug, a ladybug in the stars. We go as soon as night falls. And I-"

And then he was tumbling down, and down, into another vision.

***

There was a cave called the Cave of Santanos, in which lay the Fountain of Eternal Fire. Adam had once gone to the Cave of Santanos with Prince Josephander after the prince had acquired a sudden belief in ghosts.

The Prince and Adam held their breaths and dove under the water all the way down to the bottom of the ocean floor. Although Adam was a reckless idiot of a young dragon, he still felt that little tugging question: was he making a mistake?

They had to flatten themselves on their bellies to wiggle underneath the stone, and then just when Adam thought his lungs would burst, they pushed up off the sand and ascended to the top of the water. It was warmer in the cave, and they could see the blurry, dark shapes of unknown creatures darting around in the clear waters below them. Prince Joseph and Adam dragged themselves up on to the smooth rocks and panted. Adam wondered how they would ever get back, but Prince Joseph only wondered how they could ever move forward. So Adam got up and followed him deeper into the cave,

Initially, the cave was so quiet that the boys' whispers were magnified tenfold in thundering echoes. Prince Joseph cultivated a small flame in the palm of his forepaw and used it to give them some light to see by. Strange marks were written on the cave's walls in white chalk. Prince Joseph hurried past them without paying them much attention, but Adam was so entranced that he often reached his hands out to feel the pictures.

"Come on!" Prince Joseph shouted, then grinned when Adam put his finger to his lips to shush him. Prince Joseph's eyes were alight with excitement and adrenaline. For Adam, the feeling was more like anxiety and apprehension. Something about this place disturbed him.

Though the boys were from opposite ends of Eden's social structure-Prince Josephander being royalty and Adam being the son of the palace groundsdragon-they had played together like brothers since they had been able to walk. Adam was usually game for whatever Prince Joseph wanted to do, though he did draw the line with actions that were disrespectful or downright cruel. Adam often played the part of keeping Prince Joseph out of trouble, something that the Queen and King of Eden were grateful to have him do.

Prince Joseph darted around sharp angles and curves in the sparkling black hallways of the cave. Sometimes the boys would have to bend down and strain to contort their nimble young bodies so they could make it under a rock. Other times, they would have to leap over broken bridges several stories above rushing water below. Once Prince Joseph stopped suddenly and dropped to his knees.

"Look! Look!" he shouted, even though Adam was just a few feet away from him.

Adam followed Prince Joseph's glowing hand and saw bones heaped in a macabre pile in a corner. Prince Joseph reached out and began to push them around. The orange glow of his torch illuminated tiny black specks moving over the white bones.

"These are dragon bones. And human bones, too!" Prince Joseph said, once again letting his excitement amplify the volume of his voice.

"Shh, keep your voice down, Joseph," Adam said, nudging him gently. Adam was one of the few people in the Kingdom of Eden who was able to call Prince Joseph by his first name-and the abbreviated version of it, at that-without the "Prince" title. It was a sign of the royal family's trust in Adam, but it was also one Adam never wanted to test to its limits.

Prince Joseph's mouth hung slightly open as he dropped the bone, crushing it and turning it to a fine powder. Adam was mesmerized by the little cloud that rose up from the bone and drifted up to their nostrils. He felt his eyes sting with tears, and even Prince Joseph coughed.

"Well, then. Shall we continue on in our search for the Ghost of Santanos?" Prince Joseph said, turning to Adam and wiggling his eyebrows up and down. It was clear that this was just a game to him, but Adam knew better. Adam had heard that people had come to this cave and never left-because they'd gotten lost or because they'd found something they never wanted to leave or because something did not want them to go. These bones confirmed that at least one of those three things was right. And that they were a mixture of human and dragon bones made Adam lean towards the idea that something had not wanted them to leave this cave.

He shivered. A moment later, they heard steady, heavy pounding on the floor of the cave. It was coming from a far off hallway, but it was getting nearer to them all the time. The closer it got the more it sounded like it was coming in every direction. Footsteps. It was unmistakable.

Prince Joseph's smug smirk was wiped off of his face. His expression was broken, his eyes suddenly wide. He gestured towards Adam to follow him deeper into the hole that housed the bones. For once in his life, Prince Joseph was silent. Adam followed his lead and crawled deeper in the hole. The boys held their breath as the footsteps got closer, and Prince Joseph extinguished the flame in his hand by making a quick fist.

The footsteps paced back and forth in front of the hole the two boys had used for shelter. Adam's shoulder was touching Prince Joseph's arm, and he could not tell if the raised scales he felt were his own or his companion's.

They heard the telltale click of dragon talons from the feet in front of them, blue-gray feet with horrible long, gray talons. All of a sudden the pacing stopped. Prince Joseph and Adam watched as the twisted face of one of their classmates peered into the cave's opening.

"I know you! You're-" Prince Joseph cried, suddenly indignant.

"Amos. I am Amos, Ice Dragon. And you two are going to get me what I want," the sly-eyed dragon in front of them said. He was decades from maturity, still, but there was utter confidence in his voice.

Prince Joseph and Adam did not say anything for a minute. Nobody moved. Nobody even breathed. Eventually, the prince tried to muster some of his old bravado. He crawled out from under the shelter of the cave and put on a face that did not betray any of the fear that Adam felt radiating out of his tense body. Prince Joseph glanced at Adam and, while Amos stared the Prince in the eyes, beckoned he come out with a slight curl of his finger. Reluctantly, Adam followed him.

"So what is it you want, Amos the Ice Dragon?" Prince Joseph said. "Do you want jewels? Diamonds? Gold? We have tons of gold in my house, and I am sure my father would not mind giving some to someone-even someone like you."

Now standing next to his royal friend, Adam looked over at Amos and shivered. Amos was staring at Prince Joseph with a steely hatred in his blue eyes. His scales seemed to glow with a pale blue-white light that gave him a hazy, soft appearance in the darkness of the Cave of Santanos. Adam gulped, remembering that this young, powerful dragon had been one of those whom Prince Joseph had particularly liked to pick on. If they had to rely on Amos for the path out of here, it might well not go well with them. Not if Prince Joseph kept up like this.

His chest heaved.

"I do not want your gold. I want to know the location of the Fountain of Eternal Fire," he said quietly, each word annunciated with careful precision.

Prince Josephander looked genuinely puzzled at the Ice Dragon's statement. "But, but you cannot be serious. Right? I mean the Fountain of Eternal Fire?" Prince Joseph looked over at his friend Adam hoping to find a mirrored expression of amusement, but instead he found Adam looking extremely confused.

"Oh come on, Adam, you know the Fountain of Eternal Fire? They sing songs about it on the playground. I bet you know this one: 'Fountain of Eternal Fire. Man's Desire. Live Forever. Never expire.'" To other dragons, Prince Joseph's booming voice and jovial tone might have indicated confidence and certainty; but to Adam and even to the perceptive Amos, it was clear that the prince was starting to unravel. Coward, Adam thought, and was amazed at himself.

"Shut up. Shut up," Amos muttered, slamming his hand against the wall. "Are you telling me you do not know about the Fountain of Eternal Fire?"

Adam shrugged and then shook his hand. "I don't. Sorry. Can you fill me in, seeing as it seems kind of important?"

Prince Joseph sighed, his shoulders sinking a bit lower than if he were actually relaxed.

"There is a legend that the Fire Dragon of the Heavens created a secret fountain in a cave on the Island of Eden. Supposedly, the fountain is a brilliant flame that flickers with every color of the rainbow. If you go to it, you will turn into a Fire Dragon and not only have immortality but also have the powers inherent to a Fire Dragon-eternal warmth, the ability to breathe fire, the ability to overcome other Elemental Dragons in fights, et cetera, et cetera."

As Adam listened to his friend the prince drone on about the benefits of this mythical Fountain of Eternal Fire, he began to have an idea of what exactly Amos might want with it. He wasn't after power or eternal life; he wanted acceptance. He wanted the acceptance of one dragon in particular.

Oh, yes. Adam had seen the way that Amos looked at his beautiful friend Eve when they were in class or out on the playground. Adam had caught Amos staring at Eve, his eyes glazed over and his normally downturned mouth curved into a blissful smile. Perhaps Amos was seeking the Fountain of Fire to turn himself into a dragon that Eve might actually love, rather than the unwanted bastard Ice Dragon who nobody cared for.

Adam made a promise to himself right then and there. If they ever got out of this thing alive-and Prince Joseph could talk his way out of a lion's den if need be, although only after he'd talked himself into one-then he would protect the maiden Fire Dragon Eve from this peculiar and creepy dragon. Even though they were all so young at this point, not even into the age of maturity and marriage, Adam could tell that there was something off about Amos. Something he did not like. Amos was different, cold. He didn't belong. It was almost as if he had a heart that did not follow the laws of life. Like something coursed through his bones that made him wicked and cruel, closed-off and aloof. Something that could be destroyed one day, if need be. Something like ice blood.

Maybe Prince Joseph was right to pick on Amos. Maybe he wouldn't stop him, next time. Eve belonged to Adam, and she always would.

"So anyway," Prince Joseph finished, "they say that my ancestors, the royal family of Eden, were water dragons until a distant grandfather of mine found the Fountain of Eternal Fire. Supposedly that is how our line was changed over into fire dragons and has been that way ever since."

Prince Joseph broke his glance with Amos and looked to Adam for help.

"Sorry, but I've never heard of it," Adam said.

"You need to take me there," Amos said to them, his voice strangely hollow and heavy at the same time. "Now."

"What do you want with the Fountain of Eternal Fire? And what makes you think that I will take you there? You are just an ugly ice urchin who would be better off leaving Eden. You don't belong here. You're an outsider," Prince Joseph said. Adam gently but firmly prodded him in the arm to try to cut him off.

"You're right, Prince Joseph, I don't belong," Amos growled. "But I will get that fire one way or another. And if you want to live to see the sun again you will take me there this instant!" His furious statement echoed off the walls of the cave until it faded away.

Adam's mind started devised a plan. "I believe I know where it is," Adam volunteered, ignoring Prince Joseph's look of shock and Amos' suspicious eyes. "The fountain, I mean."

"How can you, my man?" Prince Joseph scoffed. "You didn't even know what it was until a second ago.

Adam silence him with a look. "Oh, he said airily, I didn't know that's what it was until now. You see, my wet nurse told me the secret key of how to get to a certain treasure." Adam swiftly calculated what he knew about the cave based on how far they had gotten. When they had passed the walls that were covered in shaky white chalk pictures, he had taken note of the image of a hollow in the center of the cave where the pictures had warned of fire beetles. If he could trick Amos into there, the dragon would be too busy to follow them.

As they passed through the passageways, Adam forced himself to pay attention to the geography of the stone, the slope of the ground. EWhile Adam navigated and tried to anticipate which way to go following the natural patterns of the earth, Prince Joseph filled the cave with his cavalier tales of young maidens, conquests abroad, and the love-hate relationship he had with his sister, Princess Abigail. Prince Joseph clearly had no idea what Adam was up to, but he trusted his best friend and childhood companion enough to let him take the reins while he settled into the usual routine of charismatic prince-not that Amos ever stared at him with anything but loathing. Nor did he say anything, even once throughout their journey through the twists and turns of the cave. He walked in between Adam leading the way and Prince Josephander bringing up the rear. Adam was busy paying attention to the geological clues that would tell him where to go.

Adam's eyes widened and his breathing became more rapid once he figured out that they were approaching the courtyard where the fire beetles awaited. He stopped and turned around.

"I remember . . . I remember my wet nurse told me that to get there you have to pass through this hollow. That it is on the other side," Adam said, hoping that he had mustered some convincing tone into his voice.

Amos peered in, but, unable to read the pictograms, saw nothing amiss. "I don't think that could be right," Amos grumbled. "You're making that up to get rid of me."

"No, I'm not," Adam said. "Look, do you want to find the fountain or not?"

Suddenly Amos wheeled around and backed Adam into a corner. Adam fine young dragon, but Amos towered above him.

"If you're lying to me . . ." Amos growled.

Adam locked eyes with the ice dragon and felt a chill come over him. As he looked into the sky blue irises, Adam saw a power in there so raw, so uncontrolled, and so passionate that he truly feared for his life. A hot trickle of tears streamed out of the ice dragon's eyes, but he did not blink once when he spoke to Adam.

"If you're lying to me, I will hunt you down one day and kill you. And you will never feel warmth, or joy, or happiness, or love again. Got it?"

"Of course, Amos," Adam whispered.

"Good," Amos replied, then pushed off the wall to walk out into the cave hollow.

The transformation was astounding. Amos froze in place, his hands twisted into angry, coiled knots. He swiped at the air in front of him trying in vain as fire beetles swarmed all over him, digging between his scales, the smell of burning rising into the air. As Prince Joseph and Adam watched in horror, Amos let out a cry unlike what they had ever heard before, a cry that mingled sorrow, defeat, pain, humiliation, and, yes, revenge. Even Prince Joseph shuddered as Amos fell on his side. Amos's face was visible to them as they cowered in the passageway.

"I will find you. And I will kill you," Amos shrieked, writhing in agony.

"Come on, let's get the hell out of here," Prince Joseph said, tugging Adam aggressively. But Adam was transfixed by the sight in Amos's terrible pain. He wondered what he had done, what he had set in motion, and if, in the end, saving his own life that day had only delayed the storm that soon to come.

Or perhaps even caused it.

***

"Abel? Abel? ABEL!?"

Slowly, Abel came back to the present. Someone was calling his name, a young man with blonde hair. But who was it? Cain.

Seeing Abel's face lose the slackened mask that had veiled it for the last ten minutes, Cain felt relief. He stepped towards his brother and pressed a hand out to him tentatively. He used his other hand to feel Abel's forehead and neck for the unhealthy warmth of a fever.

"You do not seem feverish," he stated. "Not that I've ever heard of a vampire getting a fever."

"What happened?" Abel asked, shaking his head ever so slightly. He appeared to be lying on the ground, and the sky showed that hours had passed.

"We don't really know," Ruth said. "You zoned out like you were in a trance. We couldn't get your attention, and when we touched you, you fell. You've been out for hours. Were you having a vision?"

Amos . . .

Abel blinked, looking around, his mind ablaze with images.

"I saw . . ."

"What?" Cain prompted.

"It was long ago. Long before we were born. It was Amos." He looked wide-eyed up at his companions. "He is going to Eden, and I think I know what he wants. He's not going to try to destroy the world the same way twice. He's already tried ice, and it hasn't worked. This time, he's going to use fire."