_ - _   Alec’s POV   _ - _

Leaning against the entrance door to the school, I waited for Amaya to get out of her last class. I heard a commotion after a few minutes of waiting and asked a short redhead that was coming from the direction of the noise what was happening.

“Makaila is bullying Amaya again, but she is going way too far if you ask me. She told Amaya that it is her fault that both her parents are dead.” The kid explained.

“That idiot!” I said in frustration. “Where are they exactly?” I asked the boy in a controlled voice.

“Umm, they are in front of the music room in the second hallway.” He said with a scared look on his face.

“Okay, thank you” I said before heading where he said they were. I had to ask people to move and then move them myself if they did not. There were a lot of people for such a small hallway. 

“Want me to show you just how fake this scar is? I can give you one just like it.” I heard Amaya say in a dangerous voice.

Oh CRAP! I thought. I started jogging to get to Amaya before she did something that she would regret. Normally Amaya is in such good control of herself. Why the crap did Makaila say that?!

“What’s wrong with her eyes?!” I heard someone shout. Oh, no. I silently groaned. As I turned the corner I saw her getting ready to punch a girl who was touching her shoulder. She suddenly looked at me and my breath was taken away. Amaya’s eye’s were golden and looked like they were almost shining. She had faint scales on her face.. She clutched her head in pain and fell into my arms just as I got to her. I picked her up bridal style and noticed everyone was staring at us.

“Everyone move out of the way!” I shouted. I have to get her out of here! There was a path made very quickly. I started speed walking to the front door. Once we got outside, I saw Mr. Marson parked next to the sidewalk and rushed over. He got out of the car with a worried look on his face,

“What happened?” Mr. Marson asked simply.

“A dumb girl was bullying Amaya and telling her it was her fault Enzo and Lilly are dead. Obviously that isn’t true, but Amaya still got mad.” I explained.

“Understandably. Let's get her home, then you are going to tell me who that girl is.”

“Sounds great.” I replied. Mr. Marson opened the door for the backseat and I got in with Amaya still in my arms. I put on her seat buckle as Mr. Marson got in the car and started to drive us to Amaya’s house. He was driving fast, going 60 in a 40 zone.

“AAAAHHHH!” Amaya suddenly screamed. I looked over startled and she was clutching her head again and she was crying. I was about to ask what was wrong, but then I heard it. There was a small sound. Cracking. Her bones were breaking. Slowly. Her screams were echoing in the car. I looked towards Mr. Marson in panic. He had a pained look on his face, but he did nothing to help. Then I realized. The first shift was starting. As I was frozen in shock, Mr. Marson suddenly swerved, gaining speed as he turned onto gravel. Confused, I looked out the window and saw the trees fading behind us as we sped towards grassy hills. 

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“This mansion sits upon 1300 acres of land, all owned by Amaya, though it used to be Enzo’s before he passed. He cleared this area of trees so that she could learn to fly in a controlled environment. There was a similar place in Mystic Falls. The grassy hills cover nearly 1000 acres of land. We are going to go to the middle of the grassy hills. Sometimes dragons go berserk after their first shift. Keep her still!” Mr. Marson shouted as Amaya started clawing at her arms and neck.

“Why is she doing that?!” I asked and I grabbed her arms. I shivered as I felt her body shifting under my palms. It almost made me gag, thinking of how it must feel to her.

“It is because of the pain. Shifting feels like your whole body is filled with splinters. All you want to do is get the splinters out. That is why I am glad you chose to sit in the back with her.

That sounds horrible. I thought. I wish I could take all her pain away. I felt a pull in my chest and the need to protect Amaya strengthened tenfold.

After some time, Mr. Marson slowed down and stopped the car. “Bring her and follow me.”

Following his instructions, I opened the door behind me, gently picked up Amaya and shimmied out of the car. I followed Mr. Marson for at least ten minutes before he stopped. 

“Lay her down here.” Mr. Marson instructed.

“What do we do now? Can we help her in any way?” I asked, worry clear in my voice.

“All we can do now is wait. It has only been about forty minutes or so. This process can take anywhere between five to nine hours to complete. She’ll be find, she is strong” Mr. Marson said in a gentle voice. He patted my shoulder and started walking away from us.

“Where are you going?!” I asked.

“Watch Amaya, I have some business to take care of. Be here for her when she wakes up.”

I watched Mr. Marson leave with my jaw hanging open, shocked that he would leave Amaya here when she was in so much pain, even if there wasn’t anything that he could do to help her. Finally turning towards Amaya, I settled down, preparing myself for anything that was going to happen.

 _ -  _   Some Time Later   _ -  _

I had been glancing at my watch every few minutes for the last three hours when Amaya slowly started moving her eyelids like she was trying to wake up. Amaya had compleated her transformation. She was much bigger than I thought that she would end up being. From tail to head, she was at least the size of three school buses. She had long wide wings, each at least twenty feet long and ten feet wide. Her whole body was covered in scales. Most of the scales were a silver color, but there were black and pure white scales scattered throughout the sea of silver. Her scales seemed to absorb the light, rather than reflect it. She looked like a cloud layed down to rest from flying.

Her eyes opened and my breath was taken away once again. Her eyes were gold with slivers of black in them. They shined in the dark of the night. She looked up towards the stars before looking around her. It seemed that she hadn’t spotted me yet. After looking around for a moment, she struggled to stand up before falling to the ground.

Rushing to her side, I said in a calm quiet voice, “Amaya. You're alright. You just went through your first shift. Your body is going to be very tired. Go to sleep, you’ll feel better when you wake up. I won’t leave your side.” After hearing this, she breathed out a sigh and relaxed into a calm sleep.

_ - _   Amaya’s POV   _ - _ 

All I know is pain. My whole body feels like it is being torn to pieces then put back together. I can feel each and every bone breaking, shattering into thousands of shards. The splinters of bones growing and shifting. Muscles stretching and expanding. The skin on my back, tearing apart and stretching to cover new bone and muscle.

I don’t know how long it went on for. All I can see is nothingness. Not even black, just simply… nothing. I can hear mumbling over the noise of my body reshaping. Alec? He sounds worried. Who is he talking to? Ah, finally, the pain is lessening. It still hurts, but not as much. My skin is hardening now. Solidifying its shape.

It’s strange. I can feel that I am bigger. I am laying on my side, but my shoulder blade and collarbone don’t hurt because of it. My whole body feels heavy. My eyelids are fighting me when I try to open my eyes. When I finally open them, I notice a lot of green. I soon realize the green is grass. Hills and hills of grass, stretching as far as the eyes can see. I tried to stand up but ended up falling back down almost immediately.

“Amaya. You're alright. You just went through your first shift. Your body is going to be very tired. Go to sleep, you’ll feel better when you wake up. I won’t leave your side.” Whoever the voice belonged to was obviously relieved. I wonder why? I thought as I let myself fall into a calm blanket of black, the voice echoed in the back of my mind.

 _ -  _   Some Time Later   _ -  _

When I opened my eyes again, the sky looked purple. I could see millions of stars as I craned my neck to look up. It was night time, yet I could see better than in the day. I yawned and stretched trying to wake up after sleeping for who knows how long. I stood and realized that I was standing on all fours. When I looked down I shouted in surprise. I had four legs! My feet looked like a mix between a hoof and a paw. I was covered in tiny scales. Some are pure white, others are a silver color, and a few look black as night. I took a step back in confusion and felt something on my back move. When I turned to look, I got very scared. 

“WHY DO I HAVE WINGS?!!!?!!!?!!” I shouted. I notice some birds in the air almost comically fall towards the ground before they start flying again. Ohhhh right, the whole dragon thing. This is so weird!

“Amaya!” I looked over and saw Alec sitting on the ground looking slightly panicked and a little scared. “How are you? Are you in any pain?” Alec looked both worried and relieved at the same time. 

“I’m fine, just very confused. What happened? I mean, I know I went through my first shift, that sucked by the way, but what happened when I was out? What time is it? When did my shift start? Did anyone see me shift at school?” I asked, trying to hide the panic and, mostly, confusion from my voice.

“You're perfect. I mean, umm, uh” Alec looked like he got caught saying something he really didn’t mean too. It was amusing to see the flustered look on his face. I accidentally laughed out loud.

“I see you are doing well Amaya, that is good.” Mr. Marson said. I was startled, I never heard him walking toward us. “Now, I am sure you have a few questions, so before you ask them I will give you a brief summary of what happened while you were shifting. First though, I would like you to try shifting back into human form. Then we will drive home and I promise to explain everything to you then.

“Is shifting back to a human going to hurt as much as shifting into a dragon did?” I asked. I never want to feel that much pain ever again. I felt a cold shiver go down my spine causing me to shiver.

“It shouldn’t hurt as much, but it most likely won’t feel good.” Mr. Marson replied looking a little sorry. “Go ahead and try to sift back whenever you are ready.”

“Um, okay.” I responded. Okay so… just how am I supposed to know how to shift back. Maybe just picture myself as a human? I thought.

…

Okay, well that didn’t work. “I don’t know how to do this.” I said in exasperation after five minutes of Alec and Mr. Marson staring at me watching me do nothing.

“Hmm, what are you doing when you try to shift?” Mr. Marson asked me.

“I tried to imagine myself in human form, but nothing changed.” I responded confused.

“I think you should try relaxing.” Alec said. “You looked like you were really tense, that probably made it harder. Try to imagine something that you like or a scene of nature that you found relaxing.”

“That might just work.” Mr. Marson said approvingly. 

“Okay, I’ll try that then.” I said in a thoughtful voice. What is a good picture? As soon as I thought those words an image popped into my head. It was the starry sky that I saw the first time that I opened my eyes in dragon form. I remember the shine of the stars contrasting to the black of the night. I thought of how the black background looked like a blanket of calm.

I suddenly felt warm and relaxed. My body heated up and didn’t seem like it would cool down anytime soon. I closed my eyes and embraced the warmth. In a daze, I felt as if my body turned into warm clay. My bones softened and squished to make smaller bones and fill the little holes in the bones. As I focused on the transformation, it seemed to slow down. Picture something calming. The memory of the stars appeared in my mind again. 

“It’s funny isn’t it?” A female voice said in my head. “The common expression ‘black as night’? Night isn’t dark. It is only dark if the clouds are covering the stars.” The voice faded and I opened my eyes.

“That was so weird.” I said, in human form once again. My body had cooled down, I could feel the cold breeze lazily swish past my body.

Alec was watching me with a horrified look on his face that was somehow amazed at the same time. “That looked so weird.” He mumbled under his breath.

“What looked weird?” I asked.

“Your transformation. You went from being a thirty foot tall dragon to a six foot human, in five minutes! Your eyes are still golden too. But the pupil isn’t a slit anymore and there are some black slivers in your eyes. They are beautiful…” Alec trails off.

“Let's get you home now, miss Amaya.” Mr. Marson said strangely politely.

“Alright. I can’t wait to get some sleep. How far are we from home exactly?” I asked as Mr. Marson started leading up to the car.