“My breath tastes like dead plants and dirt, what did you give me?” Colin groans.

His eyes crack open and I’m already hovering over him like a mother hen. He squeezed his eyes shut again and rubbed them. The sun shining through the small windows was bright in the late afternoon. Colin’s eyes met mine and he groaned again. God, I loved those bright green eyes. The swelling on his face had gone down but the greenish yellow bruises remained. It hurt to even look at him.

“Haven’t you heard of Dead Plant Mouthwash?” I joked half-heartedly. He didn’t have it in him to give more than a half chuckle, half wheeze. Dr. Maize came through the door. I hadn’t said anything after she explained why she wouldn’t help Carmen. We both went silent, and I let it stay that way.

“This remedy should ease your pain for the first few days. You two need to get out of here before the unwanted company comes back,” She told Colin in a sterile doctor voice. It had no emotion in it. Not like earlier. Dr. Maize pet the phoenix as she handed Colin a jar labeled Phoenix Elixir.

Colin stared at the Elixir that was clearly contained in a recycled baby food jar. He looked more or less confused, but didn’t ask. I stood, and my phoenix glided across the room and landed on my shoulder. She rustled her feathers a bit before getting comfortable.

“Your Phoenix likes to be called Eos.” Dr. Maize smiled. I wasn’t sure if she knew that through some kind of magical superpower, or if she just named him for the hell of it. It wasn’t like I had thought of a name yet.

“Since when did you have a phoenix?” Colin grumbled at me. Somehow that tone felt endearing as always. He pocketed the elixir and swung his legs over the bedside. Pushing himself up, he swayed forward and stumbled.

I caught him by the shoulders and helped him stand straighter. I threw my arm around his waist, and he put his arm around my shoulder. I tried not to be too conscious of where my hands were. It failed. My cheeks were bright red as I rushed to change positions. I would rather piggyback him all the way home than to endure this. But to my horror, Colin stopped me from moving.

“How about I just carry you on my back?” My voice sounded like a sixteen year old’s worst nightmare. A voice crack.

Before Colin could even respond, Dr. Maize cut in.

“Your ankle needs a better wrap now that you’re up and moving.” Dr. Maize pointed down at Colin’s right foot. Colin nodded with a sheepish grin and lowered himself back onto the bed. She kneeled down with an old ace bandage wrap and thoroughly wrapped his ankle. Dr. Maize clearly knew what she was doing. I then noticed that Colin’s shoes were missing.

“Where’s your shoes?” I asked. I don’t remember taking them off before putting Colin on the bed. Maybe Dr. Maize did.

“I took them as payment,” Dr. Maize answered without a hint of remorse. And that was as far as I would question that. All I had was human money anyway. Dr. Maize finished putting the bandage on. I squatted in front of Colin with my back facing him so that he could piggyback.

“I am not piggybacking all the way back to the Colony. You’ll lend me a leg out the doorway and then we can fly to the fountain from there” He said with a certainty I couldn’t argue with.

He leaned to the left to avoid putting pressure on his right foot, and I stepped in close to his right. His arm tightly wrapped around my shoulder like he knew exactly how uncomfortable this situation made me.

My lungs stopped working when his scent crowded my senses. It was intoxicating.

“Smile!” Dr. Maize giggled as she snapped a picture of us holding each other up. My knees felt weak from his scent and it was all I could do to stay standing.

“Delete that!” The tips of my ears turned red with embarrassment. Her old camera spit out a Polaroid and she shook it as the ink developed. Her smile reached her eyes as she hung the photo on a board next to others.

“A Zodiac in my shop? I’ll get business for sure.” She laughed maniacally.

Colin and I limped to the doorway and Dr. Maize held the door open for us. The more I thought about his scent invading my senses the redder my cheeks got. Luckily, Colin was so focused on walking, he didn’t notice my embarrassment.

“One more thing,” She paused at the doorway. “If I wasn’t me, and I did want to find the Zodiac, I would go to the Charliegn House to find her.” Dr. Maize looked afraid to say anything more.

“Where is that? And who is keeping her there?” There was so many things she wasn’t telling us. She looked away again, biting her lip subconsciously. She glanced at her feet, and then back at me again with a determined shine in her eyes.

“It was the council meeting house about three hundred years ago. And I really can’t say. I’m sorry but… they would kill me if I said anything.” Her voice lowered to a whisper as if everyone around us was listening in. She quivered in her shoes at the thought of whoever kidnapped the troll Zodiac.

“There’s no one here but us.” Colin looked around to confirm that there was no one who could listen in. Dr. Maize shook her head.

“They are always here. And they are always watching.” Her voice was stone cold and certain. She looked around one more time before leaning in to say, “Please, help her.”

Transfixed by her sudden change in attitude, all I could do was nod my head. I unlatched myself from Colin to prepare for a transformation. Colin leaned against the doorway and waited. David had taught me all he could about how to control the shift, but it was still scary to me. I wondered if changing from a human to a dragon would ever become natural. I doubt it would.

I shifted. It felt like sore muscles having to move after a long exercise. I painfully stretched out my wings as my skin turned red and scaly. My teeth grew, and my claws sharpened. Nope. This would never become normal.

Dr. Maize helped Colin limp over to my side. Colin lifted his bad leg over first, and Dr. Maize gave him the push he needed to mount correctly. I could fly, but I wouldn’t be winning gold medals anytime soon. I pushed off the ground as hard as I could, and flapped my wings down hard.

Once we were in the air, Colin did his best to guide us upwards. Flying in Undercity was very different from flying above ground. There were no wind currents to help carry me fly. It felt like at any moment I might fall out of the sky.

To my surprise, we didn’t fall to our deaths. We were soaring above the city, full of floating lanterns, witches on brooms, and packages whizzing around to be delivered somewhere. The fake underground stars were easier to make out now, and seemed bigger now that I was closer to the ceiling.

Luckily, the waterfall was close. The men who beat Colin up were gone now, and we were almost safe again. I hoped they wouldn’t know to look in the Colony. Of course, it was mostly public knowledge that the Colony existed, so chances were that they would find us eventually. And when they did, I was in deep trouble.

“So how’d you get us out of there?” Colin laid down on my back. He was too tired to hold himself up any longer. I spotted Eos ahead of us. She was clearly leading us back to the gate. She was a very smart creature.

“I breathed fire. I mean, it was an accident, but...” I knew what I had done was wrong. Even David had said breathing fire wasn’t a great idea in closed areas or at people. Or in general. Most dragons didn’t resort to trying to burn someone’s face off with fire. Maybe I hopeless.

“I know. It’s fine, really. It’s not like you had many options.” His voice didn’t say the same thing as his words did though. He sounded worried. His hand pushed my left wing down when a witch passed by. I avoided running straight into her by less than a few inches. The witch clearly had no intention of moving out of a giant flying dragon’s way.

“You sound worried.” I pointed out. He shifted uncomfortably. For a long while, he didn’t say anything. We flew in silence.

“Thank you,” His voice was hesitant. “I thought I wouldn’t get to see you again,” He hugged me tighter. If I was in human form at this moment, I would have blushed a deep crimson red. Luckily, he couldn’t tell if I was blushing or not. Thank god for dragon scales.

The warm feeling around Colin overwhelmed me. I knew how I felt about Colin. I knew that there was nothing I wanted more than him. At some point I stopped hating him and that scared me. I wasn’t ready for more.

“Colin, don’t ever disappear like that again,” The words fell out of my mouth without permission. I tried not to let that get to me. The fact that I cared was normal. Colin was a friend. So of course I would be worried. I clearly knew that wasn’t what I was really feeling. I let it go. He was safe. That’s all that mattered right now.

“Hey! It was you who ran off!” He answered defiantly. The waterfall was close by now, and Colin guided me down to the ground. I either landed now or faced doing a roll into the nearest building. Sliding to the ground, I felt my chin and feet scrape against the ground. I must have forgotten to slow down before landing. Nothing like hitting the ground running. I felt Colin carefully dismount. He was really favoring his left side. I made sure I didn’t so much as twitch as he got off of me.

“You are being too cautious. I’m fine.” Colin’s tone was anything but reassuring. He said it harshly. In a way that would reassure anyone else that he was the tough guy he really seemed to be. But I knew better.

The red scales softened to skin and my claws retracted as I shifted back to my human self. I wasn’t sure what to say to make Colin and myself feel better. He was struggling but there was nothing I could say that would make it better. Eos landed on my shoulder and fluttered his wings.

“That’s what I got whacked over the head for?” He tried joking. I didn’t laugh.

“I didn’t mean-” He cut me off.

“I’m kidding. Learn to take a joke already.”

Colin stepped into the Waterfall without another word. I followed reluctantly. The water rushed us forward with a powerful current, and I prayed that the fish would hit me in the face again. It was such a simple request so imagine my surprise when it didn’t happen.

I climbed out of the water with Eos in my arms. I wasn’t sure how a phoenix would handle water, but as soon as I set him on the edge of the pool, he flapped his wings satisfactorily. He seemed fine. I, on the other hand, did not seem fine. I flopped out of the fountain like a beached whale. I hated the fountain thing. It always making me feel like I was drowning. Eos let out a squawk and took off into the air. I knew he would be back.

“Eos doesn’t seem to like you very much,” Colin commented triumphantly as he pulled himself out of the small round pool. He seemed determined to ignore the last day and a half of complete and utter terror that we both felt. He kept acting like nothing phases him. And it did. I know it did.

“He’ll be back,” I grumbled. I raised my arms above my head to stretch. My shirt lifted with my arms to reveal the round purplish green bruise on my stomach. It still aches from where the warlock punched me. I hadn’t told Dr. Maize about my injury because I wanted her to help Colin. My pain could wait, his couldn’t.

Colin couldn’t help but notice the bruise. His hand reached out to touch it, but I stopped him. I held his outstretched hand and then lowered it to my lap.

“I am fine. You just worry about getting better, not about me.” My voice came out more confident than I expected it to. I was grateful that it did. He opened his mouth and sucked in a breath. Had he been holding it since he saw the bruise? Colin didn’t say anything else.

I helped Colin stand up from his grounded position at the fountain. His leg was in bad shape still. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and I helped him over to a small picnic table. After I sat him down, I collapsed on the bench next to him. I outstretched my legs and threw my head back. I felt relief. It was finally sinking in that this was almost like a safe haven compared to Undercity. That place was full of magical creatures who were all at each other’s throats.

That made me think of Dr. Maize. She hoped to pit two factions of the magical world against each other and let the weaker side die. If she succeeded, she would free her people from slavery, but at what cost? I haven’t met a nice Warlock yet, but they can’t all be evil.

“I can’t believe I sprained an ankle! Who does that?” Colin groans loudly. His leg lifts the swollen ankle into the air as he points at it to make his point. Before I could respond, I found that I was mesmerized by a dragon. I watched as the girl swan dived out of her window, and waited until she was nearly hitting the ground to transform.

Once she transformed, the dive rounded out. I couldn’t imagine the strain it must have had on her wings to do something like that. Then the rider, a young blond girl followed suit and swan dived out the window. I jumped. She couldn’t fly! What if she-

The dragon swooped in low and she landed with a perfection I couldn’t hope to master. The rider sat in a low squat with her feet perched on the dragon’s back and her hands on the dragon’s wings. Her back was parallel with her dragon’s wings. I had never seen someone ride a dragon that way before.

“Cool, isn’t it? That’s Maria and Danielle, they are training for this year’s Olympics.” Colin smiled. He looked up fondly at the rider and her dragon. They were in perfect harmony unlike Colin and I.

“Why is she sitting like that?” She appeared to be bear crawling, but her back was straight and parallel with the dragon’s wings. When the dragon turned, she moved to accommodate the shift appropriately.

“It’s called Hunt Seat Flying. It’s for people in competitions really. I used to love doing competitions.” Colin looked excited to talk about it. He watched as the girl, Maria, let go with both hands as Danielle dived toward the ground. Colin’s eyes lit up and Maria grabbed Danielle’s wings and rounded out the dive.

It was then that I realized I wasn’t even watching the Maria fly anymore. I was watching Colin.

I looked away before he could notice, but my heart was beating out of my chest. My face was cherry red. I turned to look at him again. His eyes met mine and they told me all I needed to know. Colin was thinking the same thing as me.

“It’s okay… you know, to feel… like this,” he was leaning in and my mind went blank. Something. Anything to stop what he was about to do. I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready for everything between us to change. He scooted closer on the bench. My internal panic was starting to show on my face.

Colin leaned with a brave little smile on his face. He knew exactly what he was doing. I didn’t want to push him away. I couldn’t. But if I didn’t… then he was about to kiss me!

Eos squaked and landed in between us. Thank god, phoenix to the rescue.