"Phoenix!" Maddox screeched as another green flash streaked above his head. The sky was full of the the little squeaking creatures, clashes of green and orange wings soaring into each other in an unending, joyous war. They swooped over his head, covered the path, floated on the breeze and drifted down to an intricate society of sparkling nests.

Maddox stepped cautiously, one hand raised to his head in the dark of night as another dragon swooped down. Above him, they were a flurry of wings, but below his feet, nests made from inky black branches, sparkly bits of metal, and something that looked like fish scales all glistened in the moonlight. Every nest was like a starry night sky, and with each step, Maddox was more and more terrified that he would crush their precious eggs with his clumsy feet.

Pausing in the whirlwind of wings, Maddox lifted his head to see Robin. She was nestled in the middle of the clearing, laughing at the rim of a nest as tiny lizard-like beasts hopped up and down her arms. One was even nestled in her hair, fast asleep among the piles of dark braids.

"So, this is what you consider fun?" Maddox swatted a dragon off his shoulder like a mosquito, stumbling towards his laughing sister. She shrugged her shoulders, sending a shower of squeaking wings into the air.

"They're cute, aren't they?" Her voice was hardly audible over the chatter of leatherbacks. Maddox forced a tired smile before sitting down next to her, flinching as the tiny beasts settled on his back.

"A little pesky, actually." He answered as a brownish-green rocky landed on his head. Maddox winced. "Are they always this...cuddly?"

Robin grinned as it's tail fell before his eyes, swinging back and forth above his nose like a pendulum. "Only if they like you. Have you found an egg yet?"

"An egg?" Maddox questioned as his eyes were drawn to the tail, almost hypnotizing him with its calm, swaying movements. "You need one for whatever you've been collecting all those herbs for?"

"No, that's for something else." Robin stumbled over her words, suddenly cursed by a sense of mystery. Her voice dropped, twisting between an array of guilt and excitement as another dragon climbed into her arms. "But don't you want a pet?"

"Umm, is that even legal?" Tiny claws dug into his head, piercing each dangerous thought with a surge of quiet pain. "Like, taking animals from the forest...and whatnot..."

"Of course it is. How do you think Kadri got Penny? Or Karena got Oscar?" Robin swept aside the flurry of dragons, getting to her knees in the storm of wings. "I'm thinking of finding a Horned Rocky. They're the little green guys. Super sweet and gentle."

"And the other dragons?" Maddox let his voice fall into a slow drawl, the spiked tail still holding his gaze captive. He could feel the dragon breathing on top of his head, feel his little claws buried in his scalp. It was a wonderful feeling to be so close to the creature, breathtaking and mesmerizing even when the claws cut into him. No relationship was without pain.

"Well, there's leatherbacks like Penny, but they're pretty chatty." Robin had her hands buried in the bark of a nest, petting vomit green eggs like puppies at a pet store. "And sometimes you can find a Polynesian frostbreath out here, but leave them alone. They're giant and impossible to tame."

Maddox nodded, carefully shifting to peer into the closest nest while the dragon on his head chirped in defiance. Little claws scampered across his head, the tail swinging around until a tiny snout dropped before his face.

"This your nest, buddy?" Maddox strained his eyes up at the rocky, watching as its jaw clicked into a another defiant sprawl of chirps. "I promise I won't wreck anything. I'm just looking for an egg." He held out his arm, placing it on the edge of the nest like a ramp as the dragon made his way down to the nest.

Again, a sputter of chirps and squeals poured from the dragon as it curled around its eggs, protecting them like gold. Maddox sighed, falling back on his knees as the chirping grew sporadic.

"Fine then," he declared, sifting his hands through all the nests on the ground. "I'll just take....this one!"

Maddox's hand closed around a small orb, proudly raising it up for the dragon to see. It was tiny, about the size of a leatherback and speckled blue like a piece of mint gum. The whole egg fit in the palm of his hand, fragile, vulnerable, and a complete masterpiece in the field around him.

"Hey Robin," Maddox called through the darkness, searching the flurry of dragons for the girl. The egg was completely unique, not the vomit colored Rocky eggs or the dusty, earth-toned leatherbacks. It almost seemed like a ray of moonlight, trapped underneath the dirt of the earth. "What kind of egg is this?"

Robin's figure appeared among the constant storm of wings, her face lit up in excitement. Her arms were filled to the brim with vomit green eggs, the pockets of her coat bulging with the tiny orbs.

"Umm, I thought you were only getting like, one egg." Maddox spoke as she dropped to her knees, grinning at each one like a treasure chest.

"I know. I just can't pick." The eggs tumbled from her lap, landing in heaps at her feet as she began to sort through them. "They're all so beautiful."

"Uhh, but what about this thing?" He held up the moonlit orb, cradling it in his palm. "What kind of dragon is this?"

Robin raised her eyes, seeming to study it's peculiarity. Grabbing it from his hand, she turned it over and over again in her palm, searching for some kind of message that was never written.

"So...what is it?" Maddox leaned forward after several moments, trying to grasp what she saw in the moonlit sphere. Robin's nose wrinkled in contemplation.

A Nordic firescale" she turned it over again, her thumb dragging across its starry shell. "I've never actually seen one before—they're not native here. Actually, I think they're pretty close to extinction. Maddox, this egg could be worth a fortune!"

Her eyes lit up, starry skies reflecting back on her irises as Maddox felt his heart begin to pound. The egg was poised in her palms, suddenly a rare and glorious moon stone that captured all of his attention. He felt his arms reaching out towards it, wanting to take home the little dragon and all of its magical potential...

"Oh my phoenix, Maddox you're burning!"

"What?" All of the precious tension faded away as Robin dumped the egg into his arms, fear drenching her face. Her hand wrapped around his arm, yanking him forward, dragging him through the nests as wings slapped his face.

"Robin!" His words were lost in the flurry of dragons, squeaks and squawks filling his ears as he stumbled over another nest. She hardly paused, dragging him further and further towards the inky black trees.

"Robin! What's going on?!" Maddox felt his foot catch on the back of a fledgling, tiny teeth threatening to puncture his ankle. With a quick yelp, he swatted away the dragon, stumbling on and into the shade.

"Moonburn, Maddox!" Robin screeched as the path became narrower and darker. The only think guiding him was her hand firmly clasped against his wrist. "We need to get you home!"

Facts began to sift through his mind with each footstep, recounting each detail of the teachers presentation. words flew through his mind with each painful breath: muscle damage, blindness, silver scars....

He tripped over his feet and tumbled to the ground, feeling the silver rays of the moon sink beneath his skin. He couldn't see the scars, couldn't see the damage, but he felt it there. It wound around him as he collapsed into the dirt, burned deep within as each breath buried him in his own mind. Maddox could feel himself deteriorating.

"Come on! We have to get home!" Robin's long nails pushed his shoulder in an urge to make him get up, but Maddox knew it would be no use. He was turning silver, from his fingertips to his eyes. Tendrils of the moon's light licked up his back, spread like fire.

"Am I dying?" He hardly felt the words, his lips frozen in a silver case. Every muscle was transformed into priceless metal, every movement a gift.

"You're not dying!" Robin shook his shoulder again, his heavy, silver shoulder. Each syllable hissed with frustration. "But if you don't get up, Anna will see your burns and know I broke the law again! so if the moon doesn't kill you, I will!"

"I can feel it killing me..." the words hardly escaped his mess of silver scars, the deep penetrating scars that made his mind sluggish, his thoughts dull.

"Oh come on!" Her hands wrapped around his shoulders, dragging him up from his early grave. "Even if you're out all night, you won't get more than minor moonburn! Only half the moons out!"

Maddox rolled his head and stared up at his sister, his sibling. It was all too familiar to the first time he was trapped in the woods, lost along the creek. His face was in the dirt, monsters watched him from the shadows, and whether he burned from fire or moonlight, he knew what part came next. The eyes on his back would take his family away.

Maddox haggard a breath among every silver scar that wove through his lungs and stared straight into her eyes, forcing each word with his silver cast tongue. "We're being watched."

Maddox hardly finished his sentence before collapsing back to his knees, sunken over and heaving as every memory came flowing back. He burned. He had set himself on fire in hopes of saving his family, but just as before, he never came close. Every muscle that had betrayed him was becoming a silvered sculpture, as useless as he was.

With every muscle straining, he raised his head as Robin staggered back, bewilderment and fear strewn across her face. She felt it too, the eyes on their backs, the towering presence that surrounded them from the shadow of every inky black tree. Each footstep she took , backing up slowly down the path crushed branches and leaves as if alerting everyone to their presence.

He had been through it before. No amount of running, no attempts to hide would save them. The only thing Maddox knew to do was lie alone, covered in mud and sunk deep into the bank of the creek as the figures dragged his brother away. The only defense was to let them take everything from his life again.

Maddox let himself fall back into the heap, counting each precious breath as Robin's feet began to quicken, each crunch of leaves sounding like an alarm. She spun around and sprinted down down the path, heaving breaths of air shooting from her lungs...

Maddox didn't even move as the monsters sprang from the trees.