(unedited. I will work more on this later)

But... they were going to take my license.

After a hassle of bland accusation and informal speaking, I was hereby banned from driving until further notice. On account of several traffic violations and destruction of property. Oh, and there would be a fine for that too. Take another bite of my paycheck... if I had one...

I bit the inside of my cheek as Remy slowly closed the door with a sigh. He'd be the one ending up having to pay for it. "We could sell my doll house..." I said, my voice a bit smaller than I intended. "It's limited edition, got to be worth some money. I'm sure we could hike up the price if we got two bidders on Ebay-"

A freckled hand settled on my shoulder. "We're not selling anything. I'll come up with the money." He said softly, in his no-nonsense tone. A tone even I usually backed down on. But not today.

"We've got to do something," I said with an angry snap to my tone. I shouldn't be dealing with this right now. I should be a Rider- me and my brother should be rich, living in a Rothai manor, with servants waiting upon our every word. I wouldn't even need a freaking car because I could ride my freaking dragon wherever I freaking want!

"Woah.. Kara?" he said in a soft voice, staring intently behind me, where our old cuckoo clock was stuck to the wall.

"What?" I was a little annoyed with him for changing the subject so quickly.

His brows pinched as he stared. "What? I swear I saw it moving... or something."

I folded my arms, my eyes narrowing. That cuckoo clock hadn't worked since my father died of polio six years ago. Did Remington think I was so stupid that I'd fall for one of those dumb jokes you play in middle school to point out some phantom bird?

He must have seen my expression because his eyebrows almost disappeared behind his hairline. "I'm serious, I saw it move." He spread his arms. My eyes narrowed.

He was saved when there was a loud crash in the kitchen. My heart went to my mouth. "Ari!" I rushed in there as fast as I could and found he had fallen out of his chair. "Ari are you alright?" I crouched by him. He was lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling with a sort of stunned expression. His mismatched eyes were blank until he saw me. Like a toddler suddenly realizing they were hurt as soon as a parent was involved he burst into tears.

"Hey hey it's alright," I said softly, sitting down with my legs folded. I slowly eased his head into my lap. This boy was heavy! I stroked his cheek, trying to calm him down. "You're going to be okay." His face scrunched as he exhaled with a shuddery sigh, looking up at me with those glassy eyes.

I heard a muffled snort behind me.

I turned my head to see Remington with a hand over his mouth, his cheeks puffed out with pent up laughter.

"It's not funny!" I said vehemently. "He fell off his chair!" As soon as I heard my own sentence, I realized how pathetic it was. Here I had what looked like a grown man's head in my lap, trying to calm him down from falling off a chair.

"Hey he's glaring at me!" Remington said, amusement still tugging at his voice as he pointed to him.

I turned my head around to see Ari let out a whimper and his brows pinched adorably. "You liar!" I mumbled, pulling some of Ari's feathery black hair from his face. Wow his hair was glossy. I wish my hair was like that.

"He's sucking up to you can't you see that?" Remington said. He was still trying not to laugh. He was so incredibly annoying.

"No he's not. He's scared and you are making him nervous," I said frostily. "Come on Ari." I grunted as I scooped my hands under his back and tried to push him up. He seemed to realize what I wanted. I could feel his muscles bunch as he slowly sat up. "Good boy," I cooed.

"This is so weird," Remy huffed. "Where are you going to take him? Not your room. He needs to sleep somewhere else."

I ignored him, standing up and grabbing Ari's forearms. "Come on use those strong legs of yours," I coached, pulling at his arms. His eyes scanned mine, lips parted in confusion. I could tell he didn't know what I wanted and was trying to figure out. I helped him out, heaving the big boy to his feet with a grunt. 

"Need some help?" Remington asked, reaching out behind me. I turned around and put Ari's arms on my shoulders so I could sorta drag him to my room.

Remy gasped, pulling his hand back as if he had been burned. "Hey he just snapped his teeth at me!" he persisted.

Since I wasn't facing him, I couldn't tell, but I knew my sweet angel had every reason to be angry at him. "You're making him scared." I started marching to my room, the creaking floorboards adding to the drama.

"I'm making him scared?" I could hear Remington following me. "You're not going to put him in your room tonight." When I continued to ignore him –and try not to pant from exertion- he snapped. "Hey! Stop playing the silent game- I'm serious. You can't have him in your room. He could be dangerous."

My lips thinned. My dad always said that when I was angry, he was afraid my hair would burst into flames. And I'm pretty sure a freakin volcano was erupting from it right now. "Stop dogging me, Remy. I've had a rotten day, and I messed up! I didn't get us into a Rider mansion and I lost my license and now we gotta pay a lot of money and I'm a failure and I hatched a freak that is probably going to be euthanized." Remington was staring at me with a frown. I could feel Ari's breathing hitch as his head rested on my shoulder. I hope he couldn't understand what I had just said. "But he's my freak and I know you don't like him but I'm keeping him!" I basically screamed the last sentence.

Remington was stunned by my scream. He didn't move as I stomped towards my room. Tears were rolling down my freckled cheeks. Oh how I hated crying! Remy moved to hug me and I yelled. "Don't touch me!" I knew it was a bit unfair but I didn't care. I had every reason to be miserable. Ari was making sad sounds, his breathing tickling my neck and I felt my heart melt- a little.

Once we made it to my room, I slowly helped him in his halting walk to sit down on the plush tan beanbag. When I let go of him, his head hit the wall and I winced. "Are you okay, baby?" I whirled around, looking at him intently as I wiped away my tear streaks.

I saw that he was crying as well, silent tears spilling onto his own cheeks. "Hey hey don't cry, don't cry," I wiped them away. "You hurt your head?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he reached out a shaky hand and traced where my tears had fallen. His lips parted and a deep voice spilled out, before his eyes widened in fright at the sound.

I smiled tightly, putting my hand over his. "That's you. You said that," I whispered, even though he probably couldn't understand me. My voice sounded strangled. I felt like I was going to burst out crying, but I had to be strong for him. Poor guy just got hatched and already he was feeling so sad. It wasn't his fault he was a freak.

He let out another sound, which just sounded like he was saying 'ahh' for the dentist with a mouth full of sour patch kids. Maybe Rider was the only word he knew how to pronounce? Why on earth would he only be able to say that? He let out a huffing sigh, giving up on trying to say what he was thinking. Instead his hand slowly traced down from my face to my shoulder, then glided down my arm. I watched his hand as it slowly took mine. He looked on with equal fascination before awkwardly curling his fingers around the back of my hand, one by one, and pulling it towards himself. I didn't fight it, wondering what he wanted. Was he still hungry? Did he need water? Oh I hadn't got him water yet. He was probably so thirsty!

Finally my hand came to rest on his warm skin of his pecs. He looked up at my meaningfully, those deep eyes searching mine. What was he trying to find? I could feel the pulse of his heart, but it was strange- not the normal tha-thump-tha-thump normal humans felt, but a heavy beat one second, a lighter one the next, and a double pump after that. Suddenly it dawned on me. "Dragons have two hearts," I said. He looked up at me, his lips moving, trying to copy mine. What did he want to say?

"Oh what am I going to do with you?" I said, my throat thick. My words could barely get past the lump in it. "You know you're different, don't you. You're trying to tell me you're still a dragon, aren't you?"

His lips moved slowly, and I could tell he was mouthing what I just said.

I grabbed the Christmas themed red and green fuzzy blanket that was folded neatly by the dresser and pulled it over him before tucking him in. When I looked at him though, at his expression, his eyes glassy with tears and that pained frown on his face, I felt the floodgates burst open and I started to cry. "It's not your fault," I wrapped my arms around him. "You're not a freak, you're special. I'm going to take care of you. You don't have to worry about.. anything."

I was ugly crying, my chest heaving and wheezing ambulance siren sounds escaping me. Snot was wiggling from my upper lip by the time I pulled out a dirty sock from the hamper, which was the closest thing to me. I blew on it, at this point not caring at all, before tossing it back into the dirty laundry. Ari's eyes glowed in the darkness of the room and I could feel his arms around me, pulling me back to him. I let him, feeling just so darn tired from all that crying, and I needed a hug. Oh it had been a big cry fest, and I wasn't proud of it.

I don't know when I passed out on the floor, clinging to Ari like he was my teddy bear, but I woke up to the creaking sound of my brother walking to my room. That's the thing about this house. You couldn't sneak anywhere. I woke up immediately, my eyes flicking open to see Ari's muscular chest. I lifted my head, a string of drool escaping my mouth. I looked down in horror to see I had drooled on poor Ari! My face flushed in embarrassment as I tried to rub off the drool with the blankie. Ari woke to that, and he blinked slowly, like a cat. His eyes settled on me and he smiled slowly. He was so cute I just wanted to pinch his cheeks like a grandma.

I forgot about Remy.

"What's going on?" His sharp voice was shrill and startling to Ari, who immediately pulled me to him. I made a startled sound, my face squishing against his pecs. I looked up at him, my rib cage shivering, trying not to freak out at how tight he was holding me. I saw he pulled his lips back in what looked like a smile, except for those razor sharp teeth of his.

My brother jumped into action. He tried to pry Ari's hands away from me. "Don't worry Kara I got you," he panted, sounding obviously freaked.

In reply, Ari lifted his foot and kicked poor Remy hard where it hurt, sending him onto his back with a painful wheeze.

"Ari! Ari stop!" I said, feeling my heart pump with every word. "Let me go!"

He looked down at me and stroked my face just like I did to him last night. His lips moved, but no sound came out. I grit my teeth and tried to pull away. He let me go, and my momentum sent me on my back on the floor. "Kara are you okay?" Remington said, still curled up in pain.

"I'm fine," I looked at Ari, exhaling slow. Ari was searching my expression, always searching. This time it was disconcerting. I looked away.

"He's dangerous," Remington said when he could talk like a normal person. "He's dangerous, Kara. He could have killed you."

"He wouldn't do that," I shook my head, refusing to believe it. Behind me, Ari leaned forwards before trying to take my hand again. I slapped it away.

A small, inhuman cry escaped him and I shivered at the haunting thrum. Remington's eyes rounded, staring at Ari as if scared Ari would suddenly breathe a gush of fire. Guilt pulled at my heart, and I turned around to find he had pulled the blankie over his head, hiding himself. Remington and I shared glances. He shrugged, not knowing what to do, but shook his head when I reached out towards my freak. I slowly took the blanket and pulled it down, his tousled black hair flown about the beanbag, his face hidden in shame. "Hey... hey it's alright."

"No it's not," Remington said. "He's going to bite you. Don't touch him!"

Ari peeked at me, his bright blue irises swirling and roiling like the waves of the ocean. "Everyone messes up sometime," I said softly, stroking his cheek. "Doesn't mean I don't love you."

He slowly turned his head so he could look at me, his eyes half closed. His full lips parted, mimicking me again. I let out a long sigh. "I wish I knew what he wants to tell me."

"He doesn't want to tell you anything. He's just mimicking you like a parrot." Remington said irritably. "I know he means a lot to you- but I got a call this morning about him. They asked if he had survived the night."

I stiffened. "What did you say?"

"I said that he had died." Remington folded his arms. I grinned and got to my feet, rushing over to him and hugging him tight. "Thank you thank you thank you!" I said in relief.

"There's still a problem," Remington said, his gangly arms wrapping around me. "They're coming to pick his carcass up."

"Oh no." I froze, looking over at Ari as he stared in fascination at floating dust specks, awkwardly trying to catch them. "What do we do?"

Remington was deep in thought. He sat on the bed.

I was getting more and more nervous as I thought about it. "Remington, you could get into serious trouble for lying about that." My brother being in jail was one thing I didn't want to think about. For a crime like this, he could be at the docks with rats gnawing at his toes.

"I know, I know," Remington snapped. "I just thought it'd help- I hadn't thought it through. Now we got a big problem on our hands. They made it very clear that they want him...they want the ....oddity put down."

I gulped. Ari was looking at me, then Remington and his eyes narrowed on my brother. He grabbed the dresser and slowly heaved himself up. Remington and I forgot our discussion and stared at him. His eyes were on us as he slowly stretched out his legs, trying to mimic us. My eyes widened when he finally stood, looking as wobbly as a newborn colt. He'd never walked without someone's help before- was this going to be my baby's first steps? He looked at Remington like he wanted to show him a piece of his mind, his shuffling penguin walk very slow before he lost his balance. I jumped up to help him, taking his hands and steadying him."You got it... it's not that hard," I coached, slowly backing up towards the bed.He shuffled along after me, his strange eyes focused solely on me. "Remy- you have any ideas?" I asked.

"It's crazy," Remington said. "But I might have something. I'll show him how to do his business, then you'll teach him how to walk normally. I'll be making breakfast, then I'll talk to you about it after that."

By the time Remington came back from the bathroom, he had scratch marks all over his arms and a very scandalized Ari crawling on the floor after him.

"Didn't go well?" I asked, trying not to show well.

"Let's just not talk about it."

While Remy cooked up ideas and breakfast, I tried to teach Ari how to walk on his own, and without shuffling so that his feet never left the ground. It's not really that easy, especially if the guy in question is a foot taller than you. I made him cling onto the dresser as I squatted beside him, my hands on Remington's old Converses Ari was wearing. I enacted the movement of walking by moving his foot around, and he copied me. I grinned and congratulated him at his achievement and he grew ever more eager to please me.

I plopped on the bed and spread my arms. "Now Ari, show me what you just learned. Walk on over."

He looked at the ground, then me. Then he slowly reached out one leg like I showed him. Tentatively he touched the ground, clinging onto the drawer. He looked at me.

"Good job. Now another one," I coached, clapping my hands. Out of the corner of my eyes, I spotted Remington was dawdling by the door, peeking in on our training session. I hoped Ari would prove to him just how smart he is.

Ari took another step, clinging to the dresser. He let go of the dresser and immediately looked like a kid trying out a bicycle for the first time. Terrified he'd go reeling off into the abyss. He made a strange sort of alarmed sound, reaching out for me but he was still too far to reach. I could just feel Remington's frown right now. "Come on, do another step. Just like I told you."

His foot moved, slowly. I could tell he was trying to shuffle. "No shuffling! I said quickly. He looked down at his foot carefully, doing what I showed him. Taking another step, wobbling as he almost fell over, before pushing off with that foot to hurtle towards me. "Woah!" I said as he grinned up at me, head between my knees. Waiting for my compliment. He was such a ham.

"Okay so we can't get him to walk normal just yet," Remington said. "But we don't have time for this. I got our breakfast ready. We're eating on the road." He grunted as he managed to pick Ari up princess style. "Open the doors for me." He managed.

Ari did not look too happy at all with being handled. He folded his arms like he saw I did earlier, glaring up at him.

This scene would be hilarious if it were any other time. But I could sense that this was very serious by the tenseness in my brother's voice. I led the way through the house, opening every door for him. Outside, the muddy old van was sending farts of smoke into the sky above, the door open and ready for us. I saw a box in there that was taking up most the back seat. By this time my brother was about to collapse and Ari was chewing on his shirt angrily. The dragon was dumped into the backseat. On the way in, Ari's head into the top of the car. I wasn't sure if this was an accident or not. "Careful!" I hissed, hiding my mouth with a hand. Ari looked up at us for a few seconds, then he decided to start crying.

"He's just faking it so that you'll baby him," Remington said hurriedly, strapping him in. "Get in the car!"

I hesitated.

"Now!" Remington slammed the back door closed.

Remington very rarely raised his voice- well before yesterday anyway. I jumped into the front seat and strapped myself in, adrenaline already pumping in my system. "Where are we going?" I asked as Remington took the driver's seat.

The tires squealed as he swung out of the driveway. Was this really my brother- the guy that always got honked at for driving too slow? He put the car in gear before the car jerked awkwardly down the driveway.

Once we reached the highway, travelling at a pretty steady speed, I could hear Ari's soft voice from the backseat. "Rider?"

"Did he just say that?" My brother demanded, eyes huge. I realized he'd never heard him speak before.

"Yes, but I think that's all he can say for now." I turned my head so I could see him. "What is it?"

"Rider?" He was rubbing his belly glumly.

"Ohh... he's hungry," I said, grinning that for once I could understand him. "What do we have, Remy?"

"Oh I have some meatballs for him. Check in the cooler. For us I have these pancakes," he patted a pillar of aluminum foil beside him. I unbuckled, unzipping the cooler behind me. When I saw all the things jam packed in there, my eyes widened. "Remy- why does it look like you shoved everything in the fridge in here?"

"Because we're not going home, at least not for a long time," he said through clenched teeth. Sounds like he didn't want me to know that part.

Ari sniffed excitedly, peeking into the cooler. I exhaled slowly, getting out the small tubberware container of meatballs and opening it for him. He started wolfing them down, his expression that of pure happiness. "What are we doing?" I asked, as calmly as I could muster.

"We're going on a road trip."

"Where?"

"To a place I think you and Ari could be safe. Even I'm not sure where, but I know someone who does," He shook his head. "I couldn't tell you back home- you'd take forever to pack up."

"Well what do you expect? You want me wearing these clothes every single day?" I demanded. I didn't have much at home to miss. Except that dollhouse, but I wasn't going to say so.

"That's why we're going here first." He said, pulling up to WalMart.

We rolled in with style. Remington had a hood over his head like an albino gangster, his bold red T Shirt emblazoned with bulging white letters that spelled out 'Just Talking'. I had my hair in pigtails like Pippi Longstocking, my chin up as I pushed along a cart with a grown man inside. The grown man aforementioned had some dark tinted glasses from a garage sale hiding his exotic eyes. He was wearing pajamas with Spongebob characters sprinkled all over it. He violently sucked on the lollipop my brother gave him to shut him up, looking around at everything with fascination.

The other shoppers barely batted an eye at us, even though a few glances shot our way. We had officially become honorary members of the Walmartians group.

I wasted no time in shopping. I wasn't really much of a shopper. I know- weird for a girl. But honestly, I loved just wearing a uniform for my school. It was easier than matching socks and shirts, which was an unnecessary hassle. I put the bathroom requirements in the cart, then moved on to the clothes section while Remy lingered around the movie center.

Ari sucked dutifully on his lollipop, watching me as I tossed shirts, undies, and shorts at him. I was so engrossed in my work that I didn't remember he was in the cart until I looked back and saw he was sitting in a sea of clothes, a bra dangling over his face. "Oh my-" I couldn't help but blush, pulling the bra off him. "Sorry bud."

He pulled the sucker out of his mouth and nodded gravely then resumed sucking on his lollipop.

I almost busted out laughing at him. Everything was just so weird. I reached over and ruffled his soft black hair, leaning over to kiss his forehead. "Don't worry, it's almost over," I promised, heading through the aisles back to the front, where Remington was lounging on a couch that was for sale. "Ready," I announced.

"Finally," he let out a manly groan. "Poor Ari. He's drowning in clothes."

I rolled my eyes, heading to the cashier. The woman, who had milk chocolate colored skin and looked to be in her mid-thirties looked mildly alarmed with the amount of clothes I was buying and she hastily ran them with her pricing gun. Ari stared at her, openmouthed as if she were an exotic creature.

"What's he starin' at," The woman said, sounding aggravated as bag after bag was filled.

"Ah sorry he's a bit slow," Remington apologized.

"That'll be seven hundred fifty three."

Once I heard that number, my tongue was fat in my mouth. I just stared at the price on the small device.

Remington realized I was too shocked to be of much use. "Are you seriously going to charge her?" he asked in a no-nonsense tone. "Don't you know who she is?"

The cashier folded her arms. "I don't care if she's Kim freaking Kardashian, she's gotta fork over the cash." She stared my brother down.

Remy didn't cower from her intimidating gaze. "She's a Rider, a Rider of a level four Appalachian Cave dragon. Would you really deny her of free goods in exchange for your protection?" My eye twitched because I knew that the cave dragons were only level one. The woman frowned before taking another glance at my eyes. "Her commander is Morgan Puckett, Rider of the Great American Wyvern. She wouldn't be happy with the disrespect you've shown to her star student."

The woman was obviously trying to process this. "We've never had a Rider come here before." She said, scrutinizing me before heaving a sigh. "Yeah, you got those creepy freaky eyes alright. Have a good day." She shook her head, giving a big roll of her eyes. Ari stuck his blue tongue out at her when we rolled the cart up to load it with grocery bags.

She glared at him and the two had a stare down while Remy and I filled up the cart with our goods, which included Remy's snacks for the road. Finally, when I pulled the cart by the front, he shifted his weight and let out a loud trumpet. Nonchalantly, he pulled off the wrapper off another sucker and started sucking away with me fast walking away from the smelly scene.

Before we rolled out of the store, I caught sight of the woman evacuating the area, coughing hard.

Imagine how bad it'd be if he let loose on our little roadtrip. It'd be like an atomic bomb inside the enclosed space. "No meatballs for you," I patted his head. Remington was laughing so hard only squeaky sounds escaped when he tried to inhale.

"Halt! Stay where you are!" An amplified voice echoed across the parking lot.

Remy's laugh died in his throat. Were they talking about us? My heart raced and I looked around wildly. Ari did as well, clutching a grocery bag to his chest as if protecting it. A low rumble escaped him, making the grocery cart shiver.

Then I froze at the sight of a bulky creature with an impressive crown of thick, splayed horns. The heavily armored beast was covered in dull red scales, like dried blood. Huge wings dug into the roof of the Walmart, the ends curving skywards. The brutish head hung over the edge of the building, a hungry look pulling at its severe features. A Montana Janartaw. And on its back was none other than the Mestari, the protector of the town. Mathew Braden's startling red eyes were trained on us, dragon and Rider alike looking down on us as if we were nothing but bait. "Stay where you are," Mathew yelled. "You are under arrest for violation of law sixty two, by the unlawful possession of mutated dragons."

Remy and I looked at each other. Ari's sucking intensified. Then we began to run, yelling, the grocery cart hurtling down the parking lot.

 The dragon let out a roar.

 Remington jumped onto the sides, holding on for dear life and I jumped up, my feet on the lower rung of the cart. Our momentum caused us to roll downhill at a dangerous pace, rocketing towards the busy highway. 

We had no breaks, a fire breathing dragon on our tail, a mass of cars speeding down the asphalt in front, and a dragon in a grocery cart laughing his fool head off.

Farewell cruel world.