Apprehension choked my breath, and I clung tighter to the uppermost branches of the elm tree I was dangling off of.

This had to work! I thought, and yet I couldn't quite convince myself to let go of the branch; every fiber of my body fighting the inevitable, even with Sam, her amber scales glistening in the afternoon sun, physically trying to pull one talon after another out of the tree, I wasn't letting go. Sticky sap ran down, oozing between my claws. I wanted to, I just couldn't.

"If you're going to learn how to fly, you have to take a chance!" she hollered at me, jerking one of my stubborn talons from the tree.

"Can't I just be a land dragon?" I begged. Better yet, I could just stay in my human form for the rest of my life. It didn't matter that much to me about being able to transform, other than it being a pretty cool party trick, you know, one that I could NEVER actually do at a party.

"Fuchsia, you know you have to master these things." Sam was getting breathless, and I was suddenly pretty impressed with my strength. Sam, although was technically younger than I was, she was impressively tough. She was the closest thing I had to a sister, but I was the one who discovered her egg and was there when she hatched. In high school, we told everyone she was my cousin. No one ever suspected we were dragons underneath the magic that transformed us, although I always thought Sam's features were a little reptilian and was convinced that one-day people were going to find out.

"Just. two. more. talons." said Sam in a staccato fashion, fighting my fingers. I was losing my grip. If only I could just ignore this part of me. "You don't have to fight me; you know you have to do this!"

"No, I don't!" I squeezed my eyes shut and curled my tail around the branch for extra support. The tree swayed under the force of the two of us fighting.

"Don't be so stupid. If you don't get control over all of this, things are going to start happening without your consent! This is for your own good."

"Easy for you to say," I pouted, although, a dragon pouting looks fiercer than anything else! Sam never had these problems. Where I struggled, she didn't. She never spontaneously transformed, and she never accidentally set something on fire. She did everything with enviable ease. I, on the other hand, was getting worse by the day. During my last music class, the totally hot teacher's assistant, Mr. MacKissable, sorry, Mr. MacIntyre, had reached out to adjust my flute position, and I blushed, sending pink shimmers floating down. Signaling a transition, I threw my flute down and had to run for the bathroom just in time to turn completely into a dragon complete with my hot pink scales, and then was stuck there until I calmed down and could change back. Thank goodness we were more or less our normal human size as a dragon. If not, I don't know where I would have hidden! It had been happening a lot, well, especially in music class. My dragon existence was creeping into my human existence, and they do not cross well. I needed to get it under control, the flying, the fire, and control over my transitions.

"Fine," I said, sucked in my breath and released my talons, and tried to ready a proper flying position. Little sparks shot out of my nose as I snorted, just as I jumped, wings spread out, hoping desperately not to die on the way down.

"Fire!" yelled Sam after me as I dropped like a stone. I looked up to see her frantically patting down the leaves, putting out the fire I had accidentally started when I snorted.

Looking up caused me to veer slightly to the left, and half a second later I was in a free fall banging my head from one tree branch down to the next. I landed hard on the ground. A few moments later Sam gracefully landed a few feet from my crumpled heap, and I changed back into a human.

"Well, that didn't exactly go over well, did it?" I said, rubbing my shoulder that stung a little from bouncing off of it on the way down. I knew it could have been worse, my scales had protected me.

"Nope, not even close," her arms crossed and her blond ponytail looking a tad singed at the ends. "You wanna try again, or should we head back and start getting ready for the Art show?"

I jumped at the chance to leave, not really wanting to repeat the, almost starting a forest fire while falling 30 feet through the branches of a tree, thing. Besides, I didn't want to be late for my Father's Art Gala. He was a sculptor and was releasing four new sculptures tonight. In most cases, an art show was a solemn affair, wine, cheese, black cocktail dresses, but my mother usually like to put on these events which normally meant some sort of extravagance. Tonight was no exception, and she had invited half the town to the unveiling, and costumes were a must. I loved my Dad's work with its beautiful, fluid lines, morphing into shapes that call out to be touched, all cast in bronze, mounted on colorful slabs of granite.

We started to head back. The woods where we were practicing was behind our house, and was part of our property. The woods backed onto town property and continued on, surrounding the town. It was handy for when we went flying, or wanted to practice transformations, which we had been doing everyday since my first accidental transformation in school. This was Sam's idea, not mine, or even my parents. They were reluctant to talk about this hidden ability that we all had.

Inside the house, we headed to our rooms to change wondering again why I couldn't go to the Art Gala as something that I chose. I groaned as I pulled out the costume my Mother insisted I wear, wishing that it was a simple black dress, instead of the full peacock tail, made out of real feathers, and the tight, low-cut black bodysuit, which made me feel a little uncomfortable. Even Sam's costume was better than this. At least hers had wings and was slightly more modest.

I look in the mirror and adjusted my hair. It's a dull brown which looks out of place with the flamboyant costume. I stuck on the matching headdress.

"Much worse," I said out loud to the walls.

I stomped down the stairs, slowly, hoping that Sam was close behind, which caught my Mother's attention, wondering what was worse, falling out of trees or going out in public with this peacock costume on?

My Mother's smile looked like she was going to swallow me whole. "Oh Sweetie! You look so beautiful!"

Ugh...

"It's not too late for me to change into something else." I sounded falsely optimistic. I had playfully suggested earlier going as a rock, but that idea backfired and that's how I ended up with her picking out the peacock costume.

"It's a big night for your father, and I want us all to make an impression."

Sam smiled as she joined us in her flowy monarch costume. I could see how much she liked it. Granted I couldn't help but think of the irony, as a dragon, she'd be more apt to eat a butterfly than to dress as one!

"I'm sure I could still pull off that rock costume!"

"You'll wear the peacock costume, and that's final." I looked at Sam. I had obviously hit a nerve.

"You knew that would happen," Sam chastised me, as we left to walk to the Hall where the Gala was being held.

An hour later people dressed in flamboyant costumes of fictional characters like Alice, and Belle, animals, Victorian princesses, and Pirates walked through the door of the Hall, quickly making themselves at home amongst the smaller sculptures my father had made and the food. In the center of the room was a platform with the four new sculptures covered in silver sequined cloths.  I was pleased that so many people had showed up, and I could tell by the look on my Dad's face that he was pleased too. My Mom was having the time of her life, flitting around from one conversation to another, her wild lemon curls bouncing around in a golden tree costume that took up a good chunk of the room.

Just as Dad was about to do the official unveiling of the statues, a trio of girls excitedly strutted in, and I felt like I had the wind knocked out of me. Three people, I didn't know, dressed as cheap pale pink dragons. Sam looked at me and I could see her eyes widened.

Pink dragons, it had to be a coincidence, right?

There was a flourish of bells, and my Mom walked onto the stage beside my father. I inched my way closer to the group of dragons to get a better look, hoping I was being paranoid, but I couldn't help but think this was their not-so-subtle way of calling us out. I wondered if my parents had noticed them, but realized my father was halfway through giving his opening speech and probably wasn't paying attention. My Mom slipped the cloth off the first statue to a chorus of ooh's and aww's. Dad's work was outstanding, made more unusual by the fact that he was blind. He said it made him have a closer relationship with the materials he was sculpting with. There was clapping, and then my Dad started talking again as I slipped in behind the group, hoping to catch what it was they were saying.

Their costumes made them look a little more like the three little pigs instead of what I looked like in my dragon form. The little pig closest to me was drinking a glass of champagne and commenting enthusiastically about the lines of the sculpture had just been revealed. I breathed a sigh of relief. These were fans of my Dad's and were talking about the dragon tails that he usually hid within the sculpture. Still, I couldn't help but feel oddly shaken given the fact they were all pink dragons, there had to be more to this.

The next sculpture was revealed; this one was called Wind, and had a dragon tail playfully weaving its way through a bronze cloud. It complemented the one before, called droplets. The next one was my favorite, a fully bloomed Orchid with delicate petals, and a dragon tail weaving around the stem, and then spreading out into roots in the ground.

I was momentarily distracted by the sculptures on stage and my parent's happy faces, I stopped paying attention to the dragon/pig look-a-likes in front of me. I almost missed it. Those little words, "... seen the pink dragon today?"

My heart thudded into my chest, echoing in my ears. I could feel my hands start to shake, and didn't have to look to know that pink shimmer was raining down around me. I closed my eyes tightly. I needed to know more, I couldn't run. I needed to hear everything that was being said.

Concentrate! I said over and over in my head.

My ears strained, and I moved as close as I dare, listening through the buzz of the crowd and my Dad's voice over the microphone. I wished being a dragon gave me super hearing. That would come in very handy at a time like this.

Sam came up behind me and touched me on the shoulder. I jumped, accidentally throwing the cookie I was munching on in the pig's direction.

"I'm so sorry, she startled me," I quickly apologized, as three piggy's heads turned round, annoyed, in my direction. An annoyance that quickly disappeared as they saw my face.

"Hey, are you the artist's kid?" the 2nd little pig piped up.

I sort of resented being called a kid but answered, "Yes" politely instead.

"Your Dad is amazing. It's the dragon tails he hides. If you look at it closely, they are so seamlessly placed that you can hardly tell they are even there. We've been placing bets all day on whether these new pieces were going to be more overtly dragon-themed or not."

I smiled. Maybe I hadn't heard what I had thought I did.

"Are you guys big art fans?" I asked, pressing the matter a little further.

"We're major fans of your Dad's. We were hoping that the pink dragon that we spotted in the area was one of his art installations, ya know? That's why we wore these costumes. We were hoping to impress him," said the first little pig.

"I'm sorry, pink dragon," I sputtered. I felt Sam's hand reach out and squeeze mine tightly.

"See, I told you that it had nothing to do with him!" squealed the second little pig. The first one made a face in return.

"We've been seeing flashes of pink and gold running through the forest, climbing trees. They look like real-life dragons in the area around your Dad's shop."

"How have you see that? Have you been stalking him?" My skin pricked uncomfortably. They had seen us. I told a deep breath, my nerves were starting to get the better of me, and the last thing I needed to do was to transform right underneath their stalker noses.

"Not stalking exactly, it's just that we're big fans of his work, and well...."

I couldn't listen anymore. "I'm getting out of here. You guys are crazy." The truth is I needed to go, I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep a hold of myself.

I turned and fled for the door, slamming it shut, and felt the shimmer truly begin.

"Run for the trees," pushed Sam, and we picked up the pace and rounded around the corner and into the park. The tree line lay just beyond that. My breath was hot, and I wished for the millionth time that I had the control that Sam did. It wasn't fair. I could feel my body changing, my fingers changing to talons, my neck growing and thickening, my feet thumping out a rhythm that my human feet never could.

"Hey," shouted voices from far behind us. "We're not stalkers!"

Clearly, they were delusional. We ducked behind the trees, and peaked behind to see if they were still coming after us. They slowed down, catching their breath as they approached. "Why are they following us?" asked Sam. She stayed in her human form, dressed in her butterfly costume, a picture of poise and control.

"They're crazy, that's why. We need to head back to the house."

Sam shook her head, and I knew she had another thing in mind.

"Don't go near them!" I hissed.

"Listen, I need to get rid of them, or else they are going to spot you. I can't even imagine what would happen if everyone found out what we could do."

I hated she was right.

"Hey!" she shouted, stepping out of the trees. "What do you want?"

I panted, catching my breath. What if they found me? I couldn't transform back until I got myself under control. I also couldn't let them see me like this.

"If it's not an art installation he is working on, then what is it that we saw in the woods behind your house. You have to tell us; we need to know!" demanded the first little pig.

"Nosey little people aren't you!" Her hand was on her hip, and she had her don't mess with me face on. With her reptilian features, she looked very menacing for someone so small.

I looked down at my hot pink scales, shimmering in the moonlight; it was so hard to hide. I started to hiccup, my nerves getting the better of me. I hated these situations. I wasn't one of those people who liked to be scared, it tingled in my toes and worked its way unpleasantly up through my whole body. I hiccupped again, sending out sparks that begin to light the dried leaves that crunched under my feet. I cursed out loud, and tried to stomp out the burning embers that were sure to draw the stalkers in closer. I hiccupped again, sending out more sparks. I was going to set a forest fire if I wasn't careful! If only I was invisible. Being able to hide would be perfect. I closed my eyes, and groaned, breathing out heavily; my body tingled, and my hot pink scales faded into nothing. Whoa!

"Sam! I need you, Sam!" I shouted out, stomping out a few more embers with my invisible feet.

"Who's back there? What do you know? Seriously, you have to tell us. What is he working on?" asked the third little pig.

"Sam! Really, you need to come here."

"Fuchsia, I am kind of busy at the moment!" Sam shouted back.

"That's it! I'm going in after her. I have to know."

The impulsive third little pig with the supped-up barney suit barged into the woods just behind where Sam was standing, and I froze. The last of the embers was out, but the full moon was still shining bright through the branches of the elm trees. She starred right at me. Was I really invisible? It wasn't like this had happened before, maybe I was so scared I made it up. I could be losing my mind!

"Do you see anything?" asked the second little pig.

"No, nothing,"

I breathed out a sigh of relief, and hot air blasted the first little pig, "What the...?" Her eyes darted from side to side, still not seeing me.

"Come out of there if there's nothing," shouted the first pig.

"Where's your friend?" shouted the third pig to Sam, I could see she was getting nervous.

That was it, my nerves were being over taken by anger. Who were these people? What business was it of theirs what was going on? They were jerk-face little ants, and I was a real freakin' dragon, an invisible dragon at that! I snorted, inches from her face, hot air blasted her and I rumbled from deep in my throat.

"What was that?" she shouted and turned to run.

I grumbled louder, spark jumping out of my nose and singing her costume's tail. I flapped my wings, wind gusted from both directions and I could tell she was getting scared as she really picked up her pace. It was hard to suppress the giggle. I followed her, and poked hers in the back, not hard, be she was so startled her tripped over her own feet. That's when I laughed out loud. I couldn't help it. She came tumbling out of the woods screaming, "RUN!"

Sam watched the whole thing, puzzled, as they ran full tilt away. I stepped behind her, and whispered Boo into her ear.

She turned and looked straight at me, "Fuchsia?" she mumbled.

"Yep, me! Were you aware I could become invisible?"

She looked at the area where I was standing and raised her hand, tracing my outline with her finger.

"I can see your shimmer," she said with a smile, and then she laughed. "You scared the pants off of those guys!"

"I know; I don't think they'll be coming back any time soon. Thank goodness."

"The best part is if they tell anyone they'll look crazy. Dragons flying around the woods, being attacked by invisible forces."

We both laughed together, mostly from relief.

"Shall we head back to the show?" asked Sam.

"Sure, one thing. How do I become visible again?"

"Beats me."

I was slightly worried, but figured as I calmed down from all the excitement, it would naturally happen - hopefully. I walked beside Sam back towards the hall where the art show was going on. Maybe my parents could shed some light on this if I wasn't back to my normal visible self by the time we got there. Or maybe we'd have to find out on our own.

Tomorrow, I decided, I better start taking this dragon training a little more seriously.

***********************

Author's Notes

Thanks for reading Singed! if you would like to see how this story first got started and how Fuchsia learned she was a dragon in the first place pop over and check on Scales.

-Lavinia Leigh xo