Chapter 4

The woman hugged me before I could even get a word out. She gave me a bear hug that trapped my arms underneath hers as she giggled uncontrollably.

“My name is Annie, it’s so nice to meet you!” She squealed. Annie held me at arms length and took me in. The people in the busy city filtered around us in uninterest. I smiled at her and introduced myself.

“I’m Sam Reid-” Annie cut me off before I was able to say anything else. She introduced me to her husband, Ethan. He just waved to me from behind her instead of saying anything. Annie was quick to grab ahold of Colin’s hand and pull him along into the streets. Ethan and I followed behind. Colin looked back at me, but there was no escaping Annie.

“So, you’re a dragon?” Ethan asked quietly. He was watching Annie intently. I could tell he was restraining himself from getting jealous over Annie hanging off Colin. The jealousy came off of him in waves. I caught myself glaring at Annie and I couldn’t help feeling jealous too.

“Yeah, just found out.” Even my voice made me sound distracted. I hadn’t even really acknowledged anything going on around me until a large blue skinned man rammed into me.

The man with blue skin was the first troll I had ever seen. The troll was pushed into me by another man dressed in a black cloak. I toppled back on my butt and the troll stumbled back over me. He managed to stay on his feet. The man with a black cloak stomped forward, and the hood of his cloak fell to reveal an angry warlock.

His face had purple tattoos that stretched down his neck and the rest of his body. He had a scowl reflected in his eyes. He charged at the young troll, who was now behind me. How did I get in the middle of of this? I quickly pushed myself to my feet, and realized that put me more in the middle of the fight than before.

“I’ll kill you, rotten troll! I’ll kill you!” He yelled as he ran directly at me. I dodged out of the way, leaving the blue troll to fend for himself. The man made contact with the troll’s face, and he hit the ground with a thud. I thought it was over since the man had easily knocked him out, but he kept going. He really was going to kill him.

I tore off the jacket to avoid getting it dirty. I stared momentarily at the long, snake-like dragon curling around my left arm before roughly grabbing the man by his cloak and pulling him as hard as I could away from the troll. It worked. I put an easy distance between him and the near-unconscious troll. I stood protectively in front of the troll. Something told me that was not where I should be right about now.

“Stop it!” I yelled as loud as I could. The troll behind me was scrawny, and small. The lack of muscle on him would give anyone pause. The troll couldn’t even get one hit in and this man was trying to kill him!

“That piece of filth is getting what he deserves.” The warlock growled before charging at the troll again. There was no time for me to even think about reacting. He was headed for the troll, but I happened to be right in the large warlock’s way. A large green dragon jumped in front of me, effectively blocking the warlock’s path. I recognized this dragon, it was Ethan. He stood inches from me. I was astounded. My second dragon in one day.

Ethan bared his teeth in warning at the warlock.

“Fine, I’ll kill the measly troll another day then.” The man turned on his heels and walked off. I turned around and saw the kid staring at the tattoo on my arm. I stared at it too. It looked brighter than the last time I had looked at it. It almost glowed.

Someone smacked me on the back of the head.

“What were you thinking, you moron?” Colin yelled in my ear. He shoved the jacket into my stomach and told me to put it back on. “You can’t reveal that you’re a Zodiac! What if he comes back for us?” He continued to scold. I rolled my eyes. It’s not like I actually am the Dragon Zodiac.

“Thanks.” A quiet voice choked out. I looked back to see the troll holding his hand out to me. I shook it with a timid smile. I didn’t really do anything, it was all Ethan.

Now that I looked at him, he was actually taller than me. He wore baggy pants, and no shirt. His only other article of clothing was a white tattered scarf wrapped around his neck. His blue skin shined in the underground lighting, and his jet black hair glistened.

“So what did you do to deserve that?” Asked Ethan, as Annie returned to his side. She was smiling like her usual self. I could tell that she was bothered by the way she clung to Ethan’s arm. It was my fault that Ethan was put in harm's way.

“I sided with the witches.” He said quietly. The troll burned holes into the ground with his stare. He sounded so ashamed. Colin’s hand found itself tightly intertwined with mine again. And for some strange reason, I wasn’t uncomfortable.

“So you announced it to the entire magical community?” Ethan ground out between gritted teeth. Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose. Annie’s smile didn’t even falter. And then it clicked. I knew what they were talking about. Witches against warlocks with trolls caught in the middle. Finally, I remember something from Supernatural Studies.

“It wasn’t my choice. I had to escape from the Warlocks somehow.” The troll defended as he looked up to meet my eyes. A spark of amazement crossed his expression. He looked at me like I was his hero.

We all stood there for a moment in silence. The streets of people pretended to move on but watched us from the corner of their eye. They were waiting for something else to happen. I felt my arm burn slightly under the jacket near the mark. It was trying to remind me that it was there. That it wanted to be seen.

“I’ve never met a Zodiac before,” The troll was awestruck at me. I should be the one who was awestruck. I had never met so many supernatural creatures in one day.

“Keep your mouth shut. No one can know right now.” Colin tightened his grip on my hand to the point that it hurt. I ripped my hand from his. He was being really rude to someone we didn’t even know. Colin looked momentarily shocked by my action. He couldn’t figure out why I would do that.

“Don’t worry, I won’t say anything.” The troll raised his hands up to show his innocence. Colin wouldn’t look away from him though.

“You’re fine. Colin is just… Colin.” I tried to sound convincing. I held out my hand to shake his.

“My name is Sam, what’s yours?” At the motion, the troll flinched and backed away. Now this was something I didn’t understand. I was clearly not going to hurt him so why was he acting so afraid. I awkwardly stood with my hand out until he reluctantly shook it.

“I’m Alalai. Alalai Kunji.” He said as he shook my hand. He let go quickly. His caution confused me.

I liked this troll. There was something different about him. So, I invited him to eat with us. I caught a glimpse of Colin as he seemed to boil over in anger. What was his problem? I guess it didn’t really matter what his problem was because I wanted to know this guy, and Colin wasn’t going to stop me.

“So tell us, Alalai Kunji, where would you like to eat?” Annie asked as we walked toward the restaurant.

“Anything is fine, ma’m.”