The boy, Mack Hopkins, led us to the house.

The streets became less crowded the further we went. It became almost impossible to remember the way back to the main street. The buildings were separated, and there were far less businesses than houses out here. It reminded me of a housing development, only magical... and underground.

All of the houses were brightly colored to distract from the dark background of the underground walls. I wonder what it was like to never go above ground. Didn’t people want to see the sun? I knew that they lived here because the humans had chased them below ground during the vampire craze, and then the witch burnings. Humans have changed though. Haven’t they?

We arrived in front of a house that looked like it had been burned down. The colorful paint that once made it look so magnificent and bright now made it eerie and the stuff of nightmares.

“My little sister started to notice the inside of the walls rotting. And then it started to turn black and it smelled like mold and water damaged drywall. When it caught fire… we ran for our lives. My mother barely made it out alive.” Mack paused. “It wasn’t until the flame turned blue that we realized something was really wrong.”

“And Annisa Hopkins is your older sister? Was she here when it happened?” Colin asked. We knew the answer to both, but had to make sure. Dr. Maize could be right. If this girl had a history of disappearing, or using magic for bad reasons, these things could be explained.

“No, she had already left for the party by then. And I know what Dr. Maize said. But this isn’t like her. She would never do something this bad.” Mack told us.

We went up to the front and looked around. The house creaked under the weight of the second story. I was surprised that it hadn’t folded in on itself already. The paint peeled and rotted off the wood. I touched the porch railing and yanked my hand back. White, burning cold resonated from touch alone.

“So what did she do then?” Colin directed me away from touching the building the same way a parent would do with a child. He was trying to figure out if she would really do something like this. That much was clear. But it didn’t make sense. If she were doing it, then why did it happen in front of us in the woods? What did some random tree have to do with this?

“She used to - allegedly - do sigils on the side.” Mack made it clear that we couldn’t ever prove that she actually did it, even though we knew that she probably did. I wish I knew what was so bad about a sigil.

“What’s wrong with sigils?” I asked. I didn’t want to sound so clueless in front of Colin, but it was kind of necessary that I know.

“Sigils aren’t bad when they are made for simple things like good luck, or a happy new year. But there’s sigils out there that can wish bad luck, or even for someone to die if they’re marked. She never did anything so drastic though. Just small things like finding money and such.” Mack explained. “Each sigil has a cost, and those bad ones are expensive. Dr. Maize thinks she’s finally gone over the deep end, but she wouldn’t do this. I know it.”

“Why wouldn’t she? What’s to say she hasn’t just decided that you’re worthless to her, and that she can just do better without you?” Colin snapped out of nowhere. The boy looked hurt, but he stood up for his older sister.

“She wouldn’t! Annisa was always bringing home whatever she earned to pay bills. She didn’t do those sigils because she wanted to!” Mack yelled at Colin before turning and running in the other direction.

“Great! Now look at what you’ve done! He was our only lead, and you scared him away!” I yelled at Colin.

I realized that I had just yelled at him. I took a deep breath to try and calm myself down. I shouldn’t say anything rash. I just needed to calm down, and take a step back. Making him more upset wouldn’t solve our problems. Colin clenched his fists and glared at me. There’s been times he has been angry with me, but never like this. Things were getting way too out of hand between us.

It wasn’t like the boy had any helpful information at this point anyway. All we had was a missing girl and a blue burning fire that somehow connected a tree to a house. Colin turned away from me and started to make his way back to the main street. I didn’t follow.

Maybe some alone time would help both of us figure out what we’re going wrong.

I wandered in the direction of the boy. The streets curved in and out and the houses all looked different. Some had witches brooms nailed to the front porch like a decoration, or maybe a warning. I paid attention to the houses with kids playing in the front yard. They threw magical spells at each other to play tag, or used disappearing spells to play hide and seek. It was very different to the things I did as a child.

I’ll be honest, I was running out of things that were the same. I missed my family. I miss my last name. I miss mom’s homemade sloppy joes, or dad’s slightly burnt cheeseburgers. I want to be here and there at the same time. With Colin, but with my family too. Everything was messed up now.

I thought about what it would be like to go home. Would they even let me come inside? Or would they just pretend that nothing is happening and that I was just visiting home from college? I never even told them I got into college. Granted, it’s a community college compared to the school I’d planned on going to but it’s better than nothing.

The further I went, the less there was. The houses started getting more spacious, and the people were far and in between. I noticed that the cave walls fell further down as I neared the edge of this part of the city. I knew Undercity stretched the length of the entire world, but it seemed that it was divided by sections, just like the city’s above were.

“Help!” A voice screamed at the top of their lungs. I froze. That was Mack’s voice.

“Help me!” Mack screamed from somewhere up ahead. I took off in his direction. My heart rate spiked and I began to feel myself change. Not yet, I told myself. He might need me as a human more than a dragon. Who am I kidding?

I turned the corner on the sidewalk and came face to face with black scales and red eyes. Bright white teeth leered over me with shameless violence polished into them.

“Little Sam. There’s nothing you can do here.” It’s voice was far removed from the human spectrum and it only made it that much scarier. I took a step back and searched around for Mack. He was gone.

“I’ll be taking my leave now.” It hissed with the amusement of an apex predator stalking its weak prey. Why take Mack? It didn’t make any sense.

The Dragul disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke that wisped through the air. No. That thing took Mack, and he just got away with it. He just slipped right through my fingers. No, no, no. Mack was just a kid. He was barely twelve years old.

I ran through the purple smoke even though I knew it was too late. Mack had been taken even before Mr. Tall, Dark, and Scary showed up to gloat in my face. I brushed away the purple smoke and realized that it was familiar. I have seen this smoke before.

I took a seat on the sidewalk curb.

Vexx was helping the Draguls take people. It was fine when it was just me being taken, but who knows what they’ll do to these people. They aren’t Zodiacs. What if they kill them for some twisted reason?

I heard another scream. It sounded familiar to Mack’s, and it had me standing in attention. Were they taking someone else too? I thought they were only taking one of each, but now another witch has been taken.

Another scream had me sprinting toward the noise to try and help. I was useless though. As a human, and as a dragon. Neither parts of me could do anything to stop these things from happening.

I stopped when the sidewalk stopped. There weren’t any houses passed this point. There was nothing but open grass and a few trees to cover the cave lining. I frantically searched around for any one that could have been screaming. Did they already catch this person too?

“M-m-mr.! T-there’s a fire, come q-quick!” A heavily accented voice of a child yelled from my left. My head snapped in his direction before taking off to follow the kid into the treeline. A fire? Like the other ones?

My questions were answered when we came across a tree fort that was blackened, and moldy. If I had to take a guess, I’d say it burned blue, and was freezing cold to the touch. My questions were answered when a small blue skinned troll boy started to ramble.

“I-it came out of nowhere! The fire b-b-burned b-blue! It turned all- all b-black and it smells s-so ba-bad!” He told me. The stutter was probably getting worse from the panic he was feeling. I nodded to tell him I understood what he was saying.

“Everything’s going to be fine. Let me walk you home, okay? It’s not safe here, right now.” I told him. He nodded and took the hand I offered to him. He was shaking with fear. Had he been in the treehouse when it started happening? The boy looked to be only about eight or nine years old. No wonder he was scared out of his mind.

“What’s your name?” I asked as we emerged from the trees. The little boy took a little bit to answer.

“My n-name is Connor.” He said meekly. He guided me to the left side of the street as we approached it. He must live somewhere nearby. I looked up to try and judge which house was his. The row of houses here were all cool colored shades like purple and blue. I was guessing it was one of those.

“My name is Sam. Were you in the treehouse when it started turning black?” I asked. He gripped my hand tighter when what I said registered with him. Maybe I shouldn’t ask these things. It was making him way too nervous.

“I had to j-jump out w-when it caught f-f-fire.” He told me. Connor must have noticed the blackness spreading and watched it until the treehouse caught fire around him. That must have been terrifying. I think I was putting it together though. Whenever someone was taken by the Draguls - and possibly Vexx - something burned blue to replace them. It was just a theory at this point. It still didn’t explain the burning tree in the forest outside Mount Willmore University.

“Connor? What happened?” An older lady ran up to Connor and hugged him tight. She must have noticed the charcoal on his face and hands. He did look like a mess. The older woman had gray strands of hair mixed into her sleek black ponytail. She crushed Connor in a bone-breaking hug.

“The treehouse caught fire. He got out just fine though.” I told his mother. It was better that she did not know that a kid only two years older was taken only minutes before. From the looks of it, no one was looking for Mack the same way Connor’s mother was looking for him. That made me wonder if Annisa was the only other person in that home.

“Could you tell me about the Hopkins family? I was doing some investigating into the older sisters' disappearance when I heard Connor scream.” I lied. I wasn’t doing any of the sort, and I only heard Connor scream after Mack did. The mother stood up cautiously and pushed her boy behind her protectively.

“Rowdy bunch of kids. Never met a single adult from that entire household.” She said sheepishly. “That girl did everything she could for Mack though. She was shameless when it came to begging for money to make ends meet. Annisa could never give up the alcohol or the parties though. Just like her mom, that one.” The woman said. She didn’t sound ashamed of herself at all for talking badly about the girl.

“Did you hear anything on the night Annisa went missing?” I asked. I felt like a cop in one of those bad TV shows. All I needed was a uniform, some aviators, and a notepad to complete the look.

“Yes. She was yelling at someone about… oh, I don’t remember. It was something like money or maybe alcohol. It was a heated argument, but I never found out who she was arguing with. The whole neighborhood could hear her that night.” The woman paused with a faraway look.

“Maybe if I had stepped in earlier. Tried to help her get to more AA meetings. Or if I had gone over that night to see who she was yelling at. Maybe she wouldn’t have disappeared into the human world.” She looked down at the sidewalk. Connor squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“I’ll make up for it by taking care of that boy, Mack.” The mother said solemnly. She was trying to make up for it more than the other neighbors were, but it didn’t matter now. How could I break it to her that Mack was taken? How could I tell her that her son wasn’t safe here anymore?

“That’s not necessary. My colony is hosting the people who’ve lost their homes to these blue fires. He’s got a nice room there. When we find his older sister, and get his house fixed, he’ll be back. I promise.” The lie sprang from my lips uncontrollably. What is wrong with me? I should tell her the truth! What if the Draguls come for them next?

She gave me a warm thank you, and hugged me. I was surprised. Usually strangers weren’t quite this close. I let it go. She was just happy that I was doing something helpful even when I wasn’t. Lying felt horrible on my insides.

I waved goodbye, and headed up the road again. It was going to take me a really long time to find my way back. Hopefully if I just keep going straight, I’ll find the waterfall before I find the other side of the city.