The screams have come back. I can barely hear my own thoughts over the memories that insist on filling my mind, but Rasha told me to do this. It gives me something to do, and in a weird way, it will probably help me forget. I'll be able to finally put into words all the things that happened... and maybe I might get closer to understanding. 

The first thing I think of the past is that it was almost perfect. 

My father, though involved in leading the dragons, was always around. And interestingly enough, it was my mother— and not my father, the Darii, the spiritual leader of the dragons— who taught me what I know of the Shape Shifters. 

From my mother, the first thing I learned was that the Shape Shifters of Life, Time, and Hope all had assigned appearances. If you knew their descriptions you could recognize them. But... why call them Shape Shifters if we're going to expect them to continuously appear the same way? 

Anyway, in retrospect, I believe that my father thought the war of the dragons would be between the humans and the dragons... no matter, I will write no evil of my father. 

I just realized I still don't know why my father taught me how to steal.  

Perhaps I should not have started writing. I think it confuses me more. I'm not even sure I'm good at it. I guess that doesn't matter. The plan isn't for anyone to read this...

End Journal Entry

***

Jeremy Delmer was sitting on the floor in front of his son. The walls around them were made of thinly woven sticks and branches. A breeze made its way into the room.

David slipped his hand into his father's pocket, making sure not to touch the scaly clothing.

David brought out a leaf and sat back. He folded the leaf in his hand over and over again, keeping himself busy. A few moments later, his father turned around and stared at his son. 

"You did it?" There was a sound of both doubt and pride in the man's voice.

David didn't look up from the leaf; he was getting bored of learning how to take things from someone's pocket without them knowing.

His father, seeing the leaf in David's hand, clapped his son on the back, as his wife came from the hallway, pulling the makeshift door closed. She took in her husband and child sitting on the floor. She smiled briefly at her son.

"Jeremy, you're needed." Her golden scale dress seemed to float around her ankles.

David's father nodded, clapped his hands on his knees, and stood up. David just continued playing with the leaf in his hand. Quickly getting bored, he put the leaf on the floor. 

After his father had left the room, David's mother picked him up. The child smiled, pulling on his mother's blond hair. 

"Hello." David placed all the emphasis on the ending letter o. Rachel Delmer smiled and kissed her son on the forehead.

"It's getting late. It's time you went to bed."

"Where is Daddy going?" David wrinkled his nose when his fingers got tangled in his mother's hair.

"He has an important meeting." She gently pulled David's hand out of her hair.  "I'll tell you a story."

David's eyes lit up. "About the Shape Shifters?"

"You're just like your father, you know that?" She tapped his nose. "Always obsessed with them. You're both green dragons too."

"Like my eyes," David grinned. "Aiden says my eyes are green. Emmralllld green." David struggled with the name of the stone.

"Yes, honey, emerald green, just like your eyes."

David started playing with his mother's hair again. "I miss being a dragonfly."

At this statement, her eyes widened. His mother was silent for a moment as she balanced David in one arm. After she opened the door, she spoke again. Her light tone hadn't changed. 

"You remember that?" She started walking down the hallway.

David nodded, twisting his mother's hair into knots. 

She pulled her hair away from her son. "You have a very... strong memory."

David pouted. "It was fun to have wings. Will I be able to turn into a full draaaaagon? With scales and wiiiiings?"

She looked at him for a moment, "Dad hasn't taught you how to change yet?"

David shook his head. Her expression soured.

"Is Daddy in trouble?" David asked. 

At his question, she almost instantly smiled again, "You hatched as a dragonfly. Worried us all. You grew far too fast. We had to find a way to force you to change shape, to make sure everything was..." Her voice trailed off. David rested his head on his mother's shoulder, and he stared at the empty hallway's woven walls.

His mother turned into an open room and put David on the single bed. The fresh leaves that stuffed the mattress bent to his shape. Her hair fell in David's face, and he tried to grab it before she pulled away.

"Mommy, can I change?" David's eyes lit up. "I know how. I remember how."

She sat next to him on the bed, "You remember how to change your form? You said no one's taught you."

Yes, but," David sat up and bounced on the bed, crushing more leaves. It would have to be stuffed again when he woke up. "I remember what it felt like. It felt like suddeeeenly I was air, and I could be anything I wanted. Can I? Can I? Can I?"

She smiled, "It's time for you to rest. You've been up for three days now." His mother didn't move though. The walls around David let a cool breeze through. "David, you'd let me know if anything strange happens tonight?"

"Strange like what?" David's eyes widened. "Strange like dreams about the future, or strange like dreams about love. Aiden talks about those! Ooooo, what about seeing a creepy stranger in my room? Is that strange?" He frowned. "No, I think that's normal."

His mother's eyes danced around the room. Eventually, she focused on him again.  "These things have happened?"

David wrinkled his nose. "Not all of them, but I have seen a stranger here, it might have been Daddy. It was dark. They had green eyes. Emaaaraaaaald green." He smiled at his mother, deciding he had finally gotten the word correct. "Aiden says it happens to him all the time. It's normaaal."

Pushing, her hair behind her ear, she studied David for a moment.

"Of course." She said, before kissing him on the forehead and standing up. David's mother left the room. 

He stared at the open doorway, wondering why his parents hadn't put a door up if they didn't want strangers visiting him. Though, his dad had said something about doors being difficult to make. He pulled the blanket around his shoulders, and he curled up, shifting around until the leaves had bent themselves into a comfortable shape. 

His mother hadn't told him a story like she said she would. 

***

He woke up to the sound of his parents' voices. It was dark. His mother must have put out the lamps. David wondered if it was already the next day. 

It didn't matter.

He expected to be able to focus on his parents' voices to fall back asleep.

"Did you know?" His mother asked, struggling to keep her voice down.

David rolled over, trying to put the worried tone out of his mind. 

His father responded. "I knew Time was doing something. It wasn't my business. Does it matter if she's searching for a new Keeper? The Shape Shifters can do anything they want."

There was a pause. "Jeremy, have you ever thought that he's telling the truth? Have you tried to look at this from his perspective?"

"I don't doubt the boy, Rachel. I know he's the Keeper of Hope. But he openly told me he had the gift of words. He could say anything he wanted and we would hear something else. And if what he says is not a fabrication, then I do not believe he understands the motivations of Hope. I... don't want to talk about that now."

"Time's considered our son. Did you know?"

Those words from his mother came before another great pause. This silence was longer than the last. 

"Then let it be so." His father's voice sounded like a whisper from the wind.

"See, this is what I'm talking about. I don't think you understand what you're doing... My own son knows how to steal. STEAL." Her voice dropped immediately. "What do you think he's going to do with that knowledge? Why would Time have told you to teach him that?"

His father didn't respond.

"Time tells you to do something, and you don't question it. Jeremy, I think you need to get it together. How well do you really know Time? Do you know her well enough to put everyone's lives at stake?"

If his father responded, David didn't hear it. He forced his eyes to close tighter. The words his parents had said were a meaningless maze to him. He focused on good things, not the tone of his mother's voice. He focused on being a dragonfly. He focused on what it felt like to change.

David felt his skin start to tingle, and he let himself change. The blanket fell over top of him. After changing his form, he felt calmer. Why was it easier to relax as a dragonfly? He fluttered his wings once, then rested, and pretended the world didn't exist.

The calm around him was a silent promise of protection. 

The stranger did not visit that night.