Chapter 24 Beautiful

I alighted on the top of a nearby building. It was almost time to go pick up Raven and Dane, and there was still no sign of what had caused the noise. The sunlight had all but disappeared behind a band of dark clouds which were advancing over the lake, turning the wind cold, and the air damp enough to wring. It was going to storm.

I flicked my pointed ears back and fourth, still trying to track the source of the loud bang which I had heard earlier. I was about three blocks west of the Sears tower. I lifted off again, finally deciding that sitting on my scaly derriere was not going to get me anywhere.

I flew back to Columbia College, where I found Dane and Raven sitting on the roof waiting for me. I backwinged to a landing, and saw Raven's eyes widen as she apparently realized the same thing as I had. My wings had grown right along with the rest of me.

I crouched so they could clamber on. Dane, however, walked up to my head first. "Did you get the walkie-talkies?" I asked.

"No, I found something better." He bent down and retrieved a plastic bag from the ground, withdrawing it's contents and flashing them in front of my eye. I cocked my head, trying to keep his arm in view. "Will you cut that out?! What is that? I can't see it when you're waving it around like that."

He ducked his head sheepishly. "Oh, sorry. Here, they're micro-headsets. They can fit in your ear like one of those high-tech cell phones, plus, they have a much longer range than normal walkie-talkies."

I blinked. "Wow. these are great! Just what we needed."

He stuck one in his ear, then held up the plastic bag again. "I bought extras, just in case you find someone else you want on your little 'spy team'."

Suddenly, loud honking erupted on the street directly below us. I whirled around, my scorpion-tail whipping through the air. I noticed, then, that a pair of fanlike fins, made up of flexible spikes with webbing in between, had somehow sprouted on the end of my tail, next to the original prongs. I shook my head, then turned and looked over the concrete lip on the edge of the roof.

Below, the road was lit up with police lights and flashing cameras from the media and a few passersby. I flinched back, blinking and temporarily blinded.

I turned back to my friends. "We need to get out of here, now!"

Suddenly the door to the access stairwell burst open, and a whole squadron of police officers leapt out, pointing their guns at my face, a couple of them wavering between me and Dane and Raven, like they couldn't make up their minds about who was in charge.

One of the officers stepped forward, and to my surprise I saw it was officer Daley. The officer, however, didn't seem to recognize me at all. His gun was pointed directly at my eye, which was probably my most vulnerable spot, even though it was protected by two armored lids and a line of spikes. My crest raised in warning.

"Excuse me, er, dragon! I must ask you to release the two students and come with me, or we will have to use excessive force!"

I lowered my head. "What, don't recognize me, officer Mark Daley? Remember? Bunch of criminal flunkies in a van, racing down ninth? Me, stabbing my tail through that tin can they were riding in?"

Daley took a step back, lowered his gun a few inches. "If you're really the same dragon, why do you look so different?"

I smirked, which probably didn't look very good on my reptilian face. "I've been growing, officer Daily. You don't think I was fully mature then, do you?" As I spoke, I inched my tail around to where Raven and Dane stood, their hands in the air.

Officer Daily squinted up at me, studying my face carefully, probably comparing the last time he saw me to what I looked like now. Finally, he lowered his gun all the way. "Well, I guess now I see the resemblance. I guess you were a bit small then, if ancient legends are anything to go by. However, I still need to know what you're doing on top of the college." As he spoke, he motioned his fellow officers to lower their weapons. I, however, kept my wings raised, and my tail poised to scoop up Raven and Dane.

"I was here to pick up a couple of friends. And, actually, they aren't college students. We just arranged to meet here."

"Oh." Daily blinked. "You have friends? Er, I mean, of course you have friends, just... I..." He looked so flummoxed I decided to help him out. "I have known them for a long time, officer. Or, at least one of them." I glanced at Dane.

"Oh, yeah. Okay." Daley still looked embarrassed. "So, um, I guess you will be wanting to leave now?"

"Yes. Thank you, officer Daily."

"For what?"

I winked. "For doing your job."

He grinned, then, in understanding. "You're welcome."

I turned to my friends. "Let's go." They turned and clambered up my shoulder. The police officers turned and went down the stairs. "Gosh, your shoulder gets harder to climb every time we ride, I swear." Raven muttered, grunting as she hauled herself up by my crest, which I had lowered.

I huffed. "I can't exactly help that, you know."

As soon as they were sitting securely, I drove my wings down, hard, trying to lift off as quickly as possible, to give the media as little time to snap photos as I could. I didn't want them getting a clear shot of my friends, or our cover would be totally blown.

I heard a collective gasp go up from the crowd as I surged upward, into the view of the mob below. A couple of people screamed. Cameras flashed.

I achieved a decent altitude and glided, flapping occasionally, toward home.

The sun was setting, giving everything a pink glow. As I flew, I looked down at he city, watching the houses slowly grow farther and farther apart. I flew over a lake, watching my reflection undulate beneath me, glowing a deep purple. I flapped up, suddenly taken with the urge to see the sunset from higher up. I rose above the clouds, and as one, Raven, Dane and I let out a gasp. Everything was gold. The clouds, the sky, and especially the sun.

"Is this what heaven is like?" I heard Raven whisper.

I soared through the orange and yellow pillars, toward a gap in the clouds. I flew out into the sunlight, and suddenly, I seemed to be surrounded by a halo of rainbow colors, a dancing display of light, which reflected onto the clouds around me, like a prism when the sun shines through it.

"Beautiful..." this time, to my surprise, it was Dane, not Raven who spoke up. I turned one eye over my shoulder, just in time to see him quickly avert his eyes from the back of my head, and instead look up at the colorful display above. I blinked, and turned to face forward, my insides buzzing. Dane called me beautiful!