"You guys look nice."

Kira beamed at Elodie, and didn't have to look to know that Galileo did the same.

"I hope you didn't mind, you said I could bring friends—"

"Oh, no, I don't mind," Elodie promised as she closed the door behind Kira. "In fact, Galileo was who I was thinking of when I sent that."

Kira mouthed a silent 'thank you' before moving into the living room. College students were strewn across the place, chatting, drinking out of red solo cups, and occasionally expressing PDA. 

"This is wilder than my dad's parties back in Athens," Kira muttered. "Definitely wilder than here."

"Because they don't have a lot of friends yet?" Galileo's expression was sympathetic as he picked up a punch cup. He frowned and sniffed it. "Is this spiked?"

"Hand it to me." Kira smelled it herself. She was overwhelmed with a grape-ish scent. "Oh yeah— how did you miss it?"

"I've never had a good sense of smell," Galileo confessed as he put the punch cups down. "Are Elodie's parents here?"

"No, although Nani's upstairs," Elodie said. "I think they trust Brad to keep his party guests under control."

"Did you know about the alcohol?" Kira asked.

Elodie looked panicked. "I forgot to mention that— Brad's twenty-one— you didn't drink any, did you?"

"No, I caught it," Kira said. She turned a little red under Galileo and Elodie's inquisitive looks. "Look, because my dads like to party in June and on Halloween, they thought I should know the difference between their drinks and my drinks. So I never pick up the wrong one. Not that they ever left any of that just lying around, but still."

"Oh." Galileo nodded.

"I'll get you some un-spiked punch," Elodie promised. "I hid some in the fridge."

"Thanks," Kira said, but Elodie already had disappeared into the crowd of scantily-clad college students. "Did she seem a little frazzled to you?"

Galileo shrugged. "She's your friend. I don't know her all that well."

"Maybe I should go check on her—"

Before Kira could, however, she was ambushed from behind by Aideen. 

"Sorry I'm late," Aideen said as she hugged Kira. "Had to get my costume."

Aideen stepped away and spread the skirts of the sparkly red and gold prom dress and twirled like a six-year-old girl. She then had to adjust the fake plastic crown to keep it from falling out of her golden blonde hair. 

"I would not have taken you for the princess type," Kira admitted.

"Well, I am royalty," Aideen giggled, before realizing that Galileo was there.

He just shrugged. "You're a popular at Goldwater High. Same difference."

Kira laughed maybe a little too loudly, trying to cover up. Before anyone could say anything else, however, a loud crash cut through the noise.

Except for the Halloween music mix, the house went silent. 

"Vishnu Above, that was not a toy! That was an antique! Mama's going to kill us—"

They then heard the thud of someone falling over. As conversation resumed in loud whispers, Elodie's voice cut through again. 

"I don't feel so good."

Elodie was appalled, to say the least. Brad wasn't keeping his party guests under control. It was only seven, and half the party was drunk already, and one of them had decided it would be fun to play Frisbee inside the house. That caused one of them to break Arman Durand's favorite vase.

Her anger was so powerful, so overwhelming, it made her head pound as she screamed. Her throat felt like a desert, like a fire had taken place there. She fell to the ground, everything else blurring to the background.

Yet saying the words made it easier to comprehend. 

"I don't feel so good."

She felt pain in her knuckles, and saw dragon claws starting to emerge.

Oh no.

She hid her hands in the pockets of her green Robin Hood tunic, and stumbled outside right as she began to transform. Quick and easy, it was, but she couldn't calm down enough to stop the transformation, and she was too scared to. 

Everyone was going to find out.

"Is that a dragon?" Galileo squinted out the back window.

"Oh no." Kira and Aideen turned to squint out the curtains to the back door. Aideen picked up her skirts and ran to close the curtains. Galileo followed her and Kira. 

"Is anybody going to answer my question?" Galileo asked. 

"Yes, and you can't tell anybody about this," Kira whispered. "I'll explain more outside. But you have to help us keep the secret."

"What secret? Where's Elodie? Why have you guys closed the blinds?"

Before any of them could stop him, Brad tried to open the curtains, only to recoil and step back.

"What is that?" Brad demanded.

"Come on." Kira and Galileo dragged him outside, Aideen closing the door to the porch behind them. 

Elodie moaned, sounding human at least, as she tried to shrink herself with the blue and white scales.

"Is anybody going to explain what's going on?" Brad asked.

"I would have worded it a little better than that, but I'm with him," Galileo said.

"So, short version— Elodie, Kira, and I are dragon princesses training for a competition to become the dragon queen," Aideen said. "That's Elodie. I don't know why she just transformed, but she did. And that's going to attract the attention of some dragon-hunters, called Paladins."

"Wait, they're coming?" Elodie's voice carried down from the dragon.

"Sorry, probably." Aideen looked guilty. 

"Wait, how did you all become dragons?" Brad asked.

"It's genetic," Aideen said. "It passes down through bloodlines. All dragons can switch between human and dragon form. Or at least, they could, before the last dragon king died and cursed our race. So one of us has to be the dragon queen to break the curse. But that's not important right now."

"So why am I not a dragon?" Brad seemed to be drifting off into another world of thought.

"We don't know," Kira said. "But we can explain even more, later. Right now, we need Aideen to help Elodie transform back. Brad, Galileo, you two need to keep the other party guests from knowing what's going on."

"What are you going to do?" Galileo asked. 

"Elodie, you've got some weapons in your room, right?" Kira turned to the china-colored dragon.

"Yeah— do you even know how to use a bow?" Elodie frowned— as much as a dragon could, anyway."

"I've been to a few Ren Faires, and I've seen The Hunger Games at least twenty times," Kira said. "I've got this. Besides, someone needs to be ready for the Paladins."

She ignored Elodie's heavy sigh.

"I've got a few more tricks up my sleeves, ones that are a little less lethal."

Galileo approached the fence. "Brad, are any more guests arriving?"

"No, why?"

Kira gasped. "That's the Paladins' car. They stopped my dads in the road last weekend. Come on, we need to get ready."