As time passed, the cold got worse. Fire became a necessity, and more clothing. Eve had had to take to dragon form one night and fly far, until she had found a bear. She had killed it and taken it back whole, dropping it out of sight. They had made its fur into thick clothing and dried its meat to carry on their backs. But even so, they were cold and hungry.

One morning, Eve collected the handful of tiny wild carrots she had unearthed and carried them back to where Cain and Abel waited. The elder of the two boys was already wide awake, sitting by his younger brother and watching over him with all the zeal of a mother. Eve couldn't help but smile despite the worry gnawing in her gut.

They were so thin, she thought as she knelt beside him and carefully divided her haul into two piles. Despite the fact that she knew he was suffering from the cold and hunger, Abel smiled at her. She hugged him.

"You should eat too," Abel pointed out, his voice bordering on accusatory.

"Oh, I ate my share when I found them." Eve hoped the lie didn't sound too contrived. She busied herself rousing Cain. "Go on and eat your breakfast. This valley is just a pocket; it doesn't go anywhere."

Cain's waking and her firm command forestalled argument. Abel did as he was told, then made sure his brother did the same. The meager meal was gone all too soon, vanished into bellies that could have done with a good deal more. Eve's observations of human kind led her to believe that young boys ate voraciously to fuel their growth. With no food, her sons seemed not to be growing much.

That realization drove her thoughts to darker places, but she didn't let that show on her face. She told the boys it was time to go, and they slowly ascended the icy wall of the glacier and set off across the blinding, snow-dusted surface. It cut up their feet even through their bear-skin boots, and the sun reflecting off the surface made their eyes smart, but there was no other way to move across the world. She just hoped they were going in the right direction-towards the parts of the world that Amos had yet to touch. If those parts even existed anymore.

That night found them on the glacier, with no sheltered valley to protect them from the night winds that turned their skin to ice. As the sun was setting, it was Cain who broke the despairing spiral of her thoughts.

"We sh-should keep walking." He tried hard to keep his teeth from chattering, but even in the dim lighting, Eve could see the faint bluish tint to his lips. He was right. Activity would generate a little warmth, warmth that would save their lives. If they chose to sleep out here in the open, they would not wake up.

And so they walked on.

***

By the time a year had passed, Cain and Abel were dying. The troupe had run into only a few animals, and the brothers were wasting away. They looked to her as their leader, but she had her own doubts about their quest. Eve struggled to find a direction for their journey. She was following Jaco and Iris's pleas to go south, but a little seed had been planted in her mind when she'd spoken to Amos that last time. Eden. The word haunted her.

Resting against an ancient tree while the boys ran off in the meadow before her, Eve tried to recall her hazy memories of Eden. Being over 10,000 years old, she had a lot of history to remember, and stretching back to her childhood was a struggle. Earlier in the battle of the ages, Amos had tried to erase her memory. He had not succeeded completely, but considerable damage had been done.

Sighing deeply, Eve watched the glowing orange orb of the sun drift into the horizon. The sun was older than she, she remembered; older than Eden. And while there was the sun, there was hope.

Suddenly, some images came into her mind: curling up next to her mother, feeling the vibrations of her future brother kicking from inside her mother's womb. Feasts of fruit and vegetables served at dinner around big fires. Elders telling tales of their youth-wild, adventurous stories that all the young dragons swore they would top. A handsome face smiling at her while they flew high above Eden, observing their fellow dragons below.

That last memory, Eve buried back where it belonged, deep within the secret corners of her heart. She could not afford the grief it brought, not now.

Only vague memories remained, but she knew there had to be something important in Eden that had created the monster Amos had become. She massaged her temples, trying to will her brain to cooperate. Confusing pictures traveled before her. She saw Amos cornered in a cave, helpless to defend himself as dragons and humans alike cheered on an unruly pack of teenage boys. The boys carried wooden clubs lit with unnatural blue flames, flames the color of Amos's icy fire. Amos met her eyes as she watched in the crowd, and she stepped forward. Her mouth opened-

And then there were no more memories, only darkness. The answer had slipped out of her grasp. She snatched for it, but doing so was as hopeless as trying to get a hummingbird to drink nectar from her hands.

Eden had to still exist, she thought, though it must be abandoned by now. Humans and dragons had lived peacefully side by side there for some time, but now there were no dragons left, and humans had abandoned the paradise. What would remain? What kind of harmony could be sustained there? Who would be there to carry on their once-utopia?

It didn't matter. If there was any chance for survival, it was there. She had to press on, find Eden.

Defeat Amos.

"Eve! Eve!" Out of the solemn silence around her came Cain's desperate wails.

"Coming!" she whispered, then raised her voice. "Coming, Cain!" She whipped around in a circle. It seemed that Cain's cries were coming from every which way. She stopped abruptly and concentrated. There. Cain was in the grove just inside the forest on the other side of the clearing.

She raced over to him, her heart thudding in her chest. It seemed like all sound had transformed into a ringing in her ears that muffled everything else, even Cain. She could hear the terror in her voice as he continued to scream. She was getting closer.

She saw him bent over Abel's prone body, trying to scrape the snow away as quickly as it crystalized on his brother's skin.

"Abel! Abel!" Eve cried as she sunk to her knees beside him. She bent over to listen to a heartbeat. It was there, but weak, uneven, and swiftly fading.

"What happened?" she demanded. She could feel Abel's chest rising and falling ever so slightly. His skin was icy cold. "Cain?" she said, turning her head to see him better.

"He just fell over!"

"Well what did he say before that? Was he sick?" She sounded hysterical, she knew, but her reaction shocked Cain out of his panic. The tracks of the tears were visible on his muddy cheeks. It was probably the closest he had come to a bath in weeks.

"He was trying to find us food. He said he was hungry a little bit ago and also this morning. He hasn't been eating enough," Cain observed. "He . . . he . . ."

Eve, wild-eyed, could feel herself losing control. Very calmly, she spoke. "What, Cain? He what?"

"He has been giving me most of his food each time we eat," Cain said, pouting and looking away from her.

Eve was too upset to dwell on this horrific revelation. She shivered and knew her scales were coming out on her torso. Cain could not see them, not through her dress and the furs, but it was only a matter of time before she was revealed.

Eve screwed up her mouth as she made her decision. They'd learn sooner or later what she was, and sooner could save Abel's life. No secret was worth robbing these boys of their lives-of the only thing she had left to give.

"Cain. Listen to me," she said, pushing herself off the ground. "Do you trust me?"

Cain did not hesitate to answer her. "Of course, Eve. You're like . . . Well, you remind me of my mom."

"Then you must not be afraid," she commanded. She locked eyes with him and let the change begin. She could see his expression open in surprise as her eyes turned yellow and her irises narrowed into the distinct slit that marked her true identity. Her white scales spread over her arms, glittering in the dwindling sunlight. They glistened and reflected the violent orange of the sun and flared as the heat within her dragon blood coursed through her veins. Her wings sprang out from her shoulder blades and stretched out to their full extent.

Cain was flabbergasted. Even as her vision shifted to the green filter through which she saw the world she recognize his awe. Yet he did not cry. His mouth hung open and he stumbled backwards, tripping over a tree root and falling flat on his bottom, never once taking his eyes off her.

Eve knew she had precious little time in which to save Abel . She brought her delicate white forearm to her incisors. Tearing open the flesh, she felt the heat of her dragon blood drip down her scales and puddle on the ground below. Once again she bent over Abel's body. She touched his neck lightly with her claw, finding the heat radiating from the muscle beneath his skin.

I'm sorry, she thought, and curled back her lips. With great delicacy, she leaned down and nipped his neck with the very points of her teeth. Even so, the wound was nasty, and if this didn't work, she might have just killed him. She tilted her wrist, letting her blood drip down into the boy's neck and splattering across his face and hair. As each drop met his flesh, his body shook violently. When she had finished, he fell still.

"Cain," she murmured, turning her attention to the younger brother. She beckoned him towards her. "Come to me."
***

Cain cowered as Eve approached his neck. She was enormous now, compared to him, and no longer seemed like the kind woman who had mothered him for so many weeks. He tried to scuttle up to the rock and evade her, but he could not. He felt a light sweat break out over his skin, yet he was still bone-chillingly cold.

Cain's mouth opened in a silent scream, but he realized that his feelings, his wants and wishes would be lost on this . . . this . . . creature.

"Come to me, Cain," Eve whispered, her eyelids heavy and her voice hoarse yet filled with a silken smoothness.

Cain had never felt so young, so vulnerable. Perhaps he could flee their camp and try to find help. People would be happy to help him, a lost boy . . . but even as he thought these things, he spotted his brother past the dragon. Abel was moving again, writhing, flipping over onto his belly and throwing up in the grass. He had not opened his eyes, eyes which were scrunched together in pain.

***

"Shut up," Cain said to his brother. It was fourteen months earlier, and they were with their tribe. "You are such a loser, Abel."

"Tell me more, O Beautiful Prophetess Talia. I long to sit beneath your window and listen to the stories you can tell me of our life together. We will have babies who will suck from your large-" Abel flexed his hands in front of his chest.

"You're such a jerk, Abel. I'm not in love with her!" Cain shouted, his face flushed red and burning. The starts of angry tears threatened to squeeze out of his eyes and fall down his face, but letting them would be the ultimate defeat, the ultimate emasculation.

"You say that, but you should see the way you look at her. The window was shut and the other boys and I could see through the glass that your eyeballs had practically turned into hearts at the sight of her. I swear, I believe there was even a little trickle of drool coming out of your mouth!" Abel was having a grand time with this fabricated detail, miming wiping drool off of his chin, not even trying to suppress a chuckle.

"I . . . I . . . I HATE YOU!" Cain shouted so loudly that a bruised apple fell off the fireplace mantel and smashed on the ground.

Abel said nothing, his mouth open in shock, his eyes wider than Cain had ever seen them before. Finally Abel closed his mouth. He folded his arms over his chest. "You don't really mean that," Abel said flatly. His tone of voice was the rare one he used with his brother when he was about to lay out something serious, when he was about to be honest. He called it Truth Talk. "Prophetess Talia is just some village wench with starry eyes who drinks too much of the pointed-leaf tea and flashes her bosom around. What did she say to you, anyway?"

Cain realized that he had nothing to gain by shutting his brother out, even though Prophetess Talia's words involved him. Although friendly and chatty, Cain, a year younger than Abel, was virtually friendless outside Abel's friend circle. Always awkward around the other boys and especially the girls in the clan, Cain preferred to stick by his brother's side. To his credit, Abel had included his baby brother in everything up until recently, when he had begun to shut his brother out of arrangements with his friends. Abel had never felt comfortable telling his brother this, but changes were taking place in Abel's life that Cain would not understand for another year. As his voice deepened and his body aged into that of a young man, Abel felt more distanced than ever from his pipsqueak brother.

"You really want to know?" Cain demanded. "I'm sure you'd just pass it off as something that didn't fit into your worldview, where magic does not exist and the supernatural is a hoax!"

"Of course I would want to know. Did she tell you of the woman you would marry? Was she someone beautiful-nothing but the best for little Cain, eh?" Abel was back to smirking, using a sarcastic tone of voice that Cain knew he did not really mean. "You're such a romantic little beast."

"If you really cared, you would act like it," Cain hissed.

"Fine," Abel sighed. "I want to know. Was it the woman you're going to marry?"

"The woman said that there would be a woman. Two women. Both of them would change me forever, one with love, one with pain. We will meet them soon. But you will take the one I love, and you will give her your baby." Cain had leaned his back against the wall and was pounding his fists against his thighs, embarrassed and frustrated. Why did Abel always get everything that Cain wanted?

Typical for Abel, he betrayed nothing of his thoughts. His face was marked by a blank expression, his eyes alert and considering.

"Everyone knows what that woman says is hogwash," Abel said carefully, although there was something in his voice Cain could not read, could not predict what would come next. "And yet. And yet . . . I saw her recently on my birthday. You know, everyone who is ten has to go see her on their birthday. It is a clan duty and a responsibility."

"What did she say?" Cain whispered.

"She said something very close to what she told you. I asked her for more details, but she would not enlighten me further. Our time was up . . ." Abel trailed off, his fingers wrapped around his chin in a pose of meditation. He paced the room. "Cain, that woman is crazy. She's a loon, that's all. She's off her head. Look, no matter what that old bat says, you and I are the unstoppable brothers. We are special and destined for great things. Haven't you ever noticed that the other children also come from two-child families, but there is only ever a daughter and a son? Our parents were lucky enough to have two sons, two brothers. No one can take that away from us. So when you say you hate me-"

"I'm sorry," Cain whispered, wiping his eyes with the side of his hand. "I didn't mean it. I was just being stupid."

Abel turned his attention to his brother and regarded him carefully. Then he opened his arms and stepped forward, enveloping Cain in a bear hug.

"I love you, Cain, and I'll never stop," Abel murmured into Cain's hair.

"I love you, too, Abel," Cain replied softly.

The brothers embraced for over a minute, but to them it seemed like only seconds when their parents blast through the door.

"What's going on?" Cain asked, stepping back from Abel and walking over to their mother.

"We have to leave," Cain and Abel's mother, Iris, answered. Iris walked over to the boys' corner of the room and put an arm on both of her sons.

"What are you talking about, Mama?" Abel asked.

"Your father and I . . ." Iris trailed off and looked back towards her husband, Jaco, for a response. Jaco stood by the door and clasped his hands in front of him. He rocked back and forth on his heels.

"We are in trouble," Jaco said. "We have made many people angry with us, and we need to leave. We are going to be separated, and I don't know for how long. We'll be going south; find us there. There is too much misunderstanding among my people, especially about our quest to save the dragons, and therefore we must leave for our own safety."

"But what about us? What about our safety?" Cain asked. His eyes began to well with tears.

"We cannot take you with us, unfortunately, and besides, there are things here that you still need to discover-your destiny, parts of the puzzle that need to emerge," Cain and Abel's father said mysteriously. The brothers exchanged a look.

A loud crash sounded outside, and angry voices called out. A mob was forming, singing songs and getting closer to Cain and Abel's house. Through the thundering noise of feet and the crashing that comes with a rowdy crowd, Cain and Abel heard a woman shriek. Her shriek turned into a scream so loud they felt it in their eardrums.

Iris dashed forward and kissed her sons' heads.

"Follow your brother, Cain," she whispered in his ear.

"Take care of Cain, Abel," she whispered in Abel's ear.

Their father looked at them with an expression of wonder, sadness, and, yes, excitement. "I will see you again one day, boys. I do not know when. But it will happen."

Cain hid his face in his hands. Abel nodded solemnly.

The crowd was approaching. Iris and Jaco grabbed two bags and exited through the back door of the hut just as the mob arrived.

***

No matter what, no matter how much Cain had frustrated him senseless over the years, Abel stuck by Cain's side; he had never hurt Cain or let him be hurt. Not when their tribe had abandoned them. Not when their parents had left.

Abel had been brave; now it was Cain's turn. He wouldn't run away when his brother was there, when his brother was hurt.

He walked towards Eve.