Chapter 3

Colin dragged me into the store. Burnt incense and candles wafted into my sensitive nose as soon as we entered. The spices filled the air, cinnamon and sugar being the most prominent. It was spicy sweet and the smell was suddenly unforgettable. I opened and closed my mouth, trying to get rid of the taste in my mouth. I wasn’t so sure I liked the taste of cinnamon anymore.

“It’s cinnamon. Dragon’s aren’t quite tolerable to it.” An old voice laughed quietly. I looked over to see an old woman standing behind the counter. Colin still held my hand. It seemed he didn’t even realize he was still holding on. I assumed it felt natural to him too.

I looked around the vibrant store. My eyes landed on bottles upon bottles of small potions with colorful labels wrapped around them. There were clear bottles filled with purple, green, blue, and so many other colored potions, and all of them glimmered in the yellowish shop light. Dream catchers were suspended from the ceiling. They were decorated with wooden beads and charms dangling from the webs.

“Wow. What do they do?” I stared at the potions, mystified. Was it real magic? Out of childish curiosity, I had once gone to a magic store run by a local witch in my hometown. It was nothing like this. The witch was not kind to humans, and the store lacked the magic feel that this one naturally had.

Colin yanked roughly on my hand when I reached up to touch one of the bottles.

“Don’t touch those. They are medicines, and they are fragile.” He scolded me. I have never seen medicines that look like this. I felt like a kid in a candy shop. Colin was giving me one of his many famous glares when the older witch spoke up.

“I'll get your grandfather's mix for you, Colin. Let your mate chose a potion off the shelf as a welcoming gift.” The old woman said as she went into the back of the store. She was only gone a few seconds before she magically appeared beside us. I jumped from her sudden appearance.

The old woman had a kind expression even though I had nearly jumped out of my skin when she appeared right next to me. She was older than I first though. Now that she was up close I could see her hands tremor, and I could almost see right through her paper thin skin.

“Thanks Agnes. He appreciates it.” Colin took the bag from Agnes with a appreciative smile. For the first time since his grandfather had given us a ride down here, he took his hand from mine. Colin dug in his pocket and pulled out three small bronze coins. They looked new and shiny.

“Your grandfather allowing me to live here is quite enough, Colin. No need to pay. Besides, today is a day to celebrate. You have finally met your fated one.” The old woman's smile was the kindest, most honest smile I had ever seen. It radiated off of her like sunlight. Fated one? Before I could ask what Agnes was talking about, she pointed at the wall of potions.

“Make sure to pick something out before you go.” Agnes disappeared again. I was definitely distracted from any previous questions after that. I reached out for a small vile no bigger than my forefinger. There was a sparkling blue liquid swirling around in the small vile.

I grabbed the small vile from the fifth shelf. I was conscious of the other fragile bottles since I could feel Colin stressing out about accidentally knocking any of them over. My fingers brushed the paper label tied to the neck of the bottle as I brought the bottle closer.

“Invisibility” was written in calligraphy. I looked over at Colin to see that same indifferent expression he always wore. He was quick to pull me out of the shop after that. Couldn’t he just slow down for a moment? I yanked my hand back to stop him from pulling me around.

He stopped immediately.

“What is your problem?” I ground out between clenched teeth. “You are sarcastic and rude, and you drag me around like a new toy! I don’t understand what is going on because I am human, so please, just… explain.” I wasn’t sure what I wanted an explanation for though. There were so many questions, like the tattoo on my arm, and why everyone suddenly thought I was a dragon. And what did Agnes mean by “fated one”?

“Sam… you couldn’t be human. It isn’t possible. But I get it. You were raised as a human and have absolutely no idea what is going on. I can’t answer every question you have at once because I’ll go crazy, but I’ll do my best, okay?” There were a lot of things I was expecting to hear, but kindness wasn’t one of them.

“Alright, I’ll try to break up my questions more.” I paused for an ironic amount of time. “What does this tattoo mean and how did it get here?”

He laughed. He laughed at me. His face turned a radiant pink. I don’t really know why, but I started to laugh too. It was like I could feel his happiness wash over me in calming waves. Colin wasn’t even going to attempt to answer my question yet. He was doubling over clutching his stomach like it was going to burst. The stress of the day dissipated with the laughter.

“It is a symbol of the zodiac. On the twenty first birthday, if a dragon hasn’t chosen a destiny, then one is given to them. In your case, it is the destiny of the Zodiac.” Colin’s voice was soft now. This was his world, but to me, it was a place I could only dream about.

“Right,” I nodded. I was finally able to stand up straight. I had more questions, if only I dared to ask him. “Don’t dragons change at a very young age though?”

“Only if someone is trained too. It isn’t like the werewolves. We aren’t beckoned by the moon to shift. It happens with training and discipline.” Colin explained. We started to walk along the sidewalk. I occasionally glanced into the windows of the shops.

“Is that why you can’t shift?” As soon as I said it, I regretted it. Colin’s easy-going behavior stopped short. His expression hardened. He leveled me a glare that could kill. I offended him in the first real conversation we ever had! Why was I so stupid?

“I am not weak compared to you, dragons. I haven’t trained less than anyone else, and yet, I am still seen as weaker. I cannot shift because it is my destiny to be your rider as it is your destiny to be my dragon.” His voice was rough. He wasn't yelling at me though. Colin was trying to contain himself.

“So, like a Yin Yang thing then?” I was doing my best not to be intimidated. Whoever called him weak should take it back immediately. Colin was built, and not even I could deny that. His lean body and sharp muscles were sculpted perfectly.

And that’s when he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

It wasn’t long, but I could feel the passion there. The mere intentions of the kiss were scary. I was not originally attracted to him like that. I had not even considered he was gay. The short kiss had warmth that I had never felt before. I couldn’t exactly say I hated the way it felt.

“You are the first person to understand that right away.”

Colin grabbed my hand and pulled me along again. Instead of dragging me behind him like before, we walked beside each other. I looked ahead a saw a fountain in the middle of the courtyard area. We were making a beeline for it.

“What are we doing now?” I asked. I wasn’t opposed to sitting by the fountain but there were still so many shops I could look at instead.

“We’re meeting my friends in Undercity. The only way in from here is through the water.” Colin explained with a helpful grin. I nodded slowly. Not a lot of what he said made sense.

“Is Undercity part of the Colony?”

“No, it’s for all magical creatures. There’s different ways of entering all around the world, but the easiest way for dragons is through this fountain.” Colin pointed down at the square fountain in front of us. Before I could even ask about any more questions, he pushes me in.

I can’t swim.

I felt myself slowly sink down, grasping at bubbles to try and keep myself up. Colin was in the water too. He sunk faster than I did, and he seemed completely calm. I looked at him and then back at the surface. If this was his way of messing with me, then consider it not funny.

Trust me, I know, what kind of a kid can’t swim. But I figure it is worth knowing that the only pool in our area was overrun with mermaids and sirens, and my parents weren’t fond of magical creatures. So learning to swim wasn’t as important as it once was.

We sunk further in, and by this time, I felt my face turn purple from the lack of oxygen. I dizzily looked for the bottom. There wasn’t one! We were sinking into a black hole!

As I am panicking, a fishtail slaps me in the face and I'm not even sure where it came from. I was in a fountain, sinking, drowning, and a fish- a fish- is what gets to me.

To me, water felt like trying to fly, but falling instead. No matter how hard I tried to move my arms, I still sank; I still fell. I hated this feeling.

Colin just stared at me with a blank expression. The further and further we sunk, the harder it was to see the top. It was getting really dark as the light got thinner and thinner. My heart raced, and black spots danced in my eyes. My chest was starting to convulse, begging me to open my mouth and suck in the air. But there was no air to breathe anymore.

And then I was falling. I hit the ground with a thud, and the weight of the force knocked me flat on my face.

I moaned into the ground. Colin bent over me with a worried expression tingeing his near perfect features. I stood up as quickly as I could. I was sick of this jerk. I started hitting him as hard as I could. He put his arms up to block me calmly.

“You stupid idiot!” I growled out. “I can’t swim! I was drowning! Why would you do that?” I screamed incoherently at him. His arms protected him from my weak punches.

“It's a portal! You can breathe in that water, it’s magic!” He screamed back at me.

“Magic?” I paused in my useless attacks to try and clarify what he was saying. I felt like falling over. So much of this world I didn’t understand, and it only seemed to get more complicated the further I went in.

“Look around.”

Floating lights seemed to be everywhere in sight. The ground was covered in strange colored mushrooms and purple grass. At a closer glance, there were even fairy looking things around the mushrooms. The ground we stood on overlooked a lower plain that held a huge, bustling city. It reminded me of New York, except underground.

Lights from the buildings helped illuminate the otherwise dark atmosphere over the city. I could see shapes of people rushing about, some carrying bags, and others were sitting down at tables on the sides of the streets. I stared out in amazement.

“You see? We aren’t even in North Carolina anymore.” The many mysteries of this world were making less sense than usual.

“What is this place?” I said in awe. I stared at the black ceiling above, and then back down at the city. The buildings were stacked on each other. At the far reaches of the city, small houses held people who lived here permanently.

“Undercity. A town by the supernatural, and for the supernatural.”

I followed Colin as he made his way down into the valley. When we reached the bottom, we were in the outskirts of town. The buildings were old and worn down from age here.

A familiar looking couple stood a little bit away. The woman turned to look at us. She was the one I saw jump out a window earlier. She barreled toward us with no hesitation. The woman had her arms raised in the air and a goofy smile plastered on her face.

“Colin! Over here!”