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5
Fury

“Look, I’m telling you, there’s been a mistake!” Ruby pleaded with the scientists. “We snuck in on a dare from our friend, Nicholas! Just ask him, he lives at…”
“There’s a Mr. Nick and a Miss Raven outside who want to see the dragons,” a girl poked her head in the room. “Should I tell them to go away?”
“No, no, send them in,” Ruby’s handler’s eyes gleamed. “I think they should see this.” I could have groaned. My brother was coming in? As if things could get any worse.
Raven strode in, trailing Nick like a kite’s tail. They both stopped dead when they saw us.
“Will?” Nick asked, incredulously. He frowned and shook his head, like he was shaking off an annoying fly. “No, stop it, Rave. What are you doing with my brother?”
“Your brother broke into the dragons’ cage and told us his name was Scott Johnson,” the translator said.
“Who are you?”
“Linda Thomson, biologist and translator,” Mrs. Thomson shot back. “Who are you?”
“Nick. What about Ruby? She break in, too?” I could tell that Nick didn’t believe a word out of her mouth. Raven just watched with a strange light in her eyes.
“Miss Brittany Johnson? Yes, she did. Funny thing, those are the names the dragons gave as their own. I understand you two were the ones who found them?”
“Yes,” Raven chimed in, “we found them. But how could Nicholas’s brother be connected with that dragon? And his girlfriend?”
“So they aren’t related?”
“Not at all. Will met Ruby three months ago.”
“Shut up, Raven!” Ruby yelled. “Stop telling them things!”
“Why?” the other girl returned, snottily. “They are the authorities. I always thought you were weird, squirt.” Mrs. Thomson and Ruby’s handler led Nick and Ruby from the room.
“Can I please rip her throat out?” my albino friend begged.
No. I want 2 do it myself. I scrawled.
“Well, now what?”
Can u magic us out of here?
“Maybe, but not without candles or incense or something. A spell that big needs a complicated ritual and I spent more time studying humans than magic back on the island. It’s come in handy, up till now,” she added ruefully.
What I wouldn’t give 4 a chainsaw.
“Wouldn’t we all.” We lapsed into thoughtful silence. Occasionally, one of us would offer a suggestion, but none were likely to work. Then, inspiration struck.
“Hey, I know!” Ruby sat bolt upright. She had been slouched against a tumbled rock. Her ruby eyes glittered excitedly. “I was thinking about how I had turned you into a dragon when I was drunk. And I shot lightning from my finger, right? No why don’t I try that magic on the glass and break us out?” It didn’t sound realistic, but it was better than some of our other plans. I spread my hands and shrugged expressively. She took this as consent.
She stood and hesitantly began to dance. Her song lacked the magic it had before. Her movements, while graceful, held none of the aura of magic that they had.
The lights dimmed, signaling the coming night. We settled in to sleep, Ruby wearily reverting to her dragon shape. She said that it was tiring, staying human for days on end. I believed her by the way she slept as deeply as if she were in a coma.
I envied her. I couldn’t sleep a wink for worrying.
What had Raven told them? What would they do to us? Would I ever go home? What would happen to Ruby’s island without their savior? Questions rattled around in my head like balls in that bingo machine. My thoughts were uninterrupted by any sound other than Ruby’s regular breathing.
Eventually, I slept. I hit the dirt and remained unconscious for hours.
Until, that is, sometime around dawn.
There was a thump high above us, in the ceiling. I looked up sharply, but couldn’t see anything with my weak, human eyes. There came a rhythmic clapping sound, growing louder. And still, Ruby slept. Slowly, a dragon drifted downwards.
“Hello, William!” He called. “Lovely night, eh? But you wouldn’t know, you’re in here. Poor Willy.” My mouth flopped open. Another dragon? He was yellowy-gold, more orange than Topaz had been. He had both my horns and Ruby’s ear-fans as well as huge spikes down his back and a two-pronged tail.
Who are you? I signed in the vain hope he’d understand.
“That’s a strange thing you do with your hands,” he noted. He sounded much older than Ruby. “My name is Captain Citrinespike Thunder. I know that you’re William and she’s Ruby, so don’t bother introducing yourselves. It’s made my job so much easier, you two being cooped up in here. My job, of course, is to eliminate the Promised One.”
What?! Wasn’t he a dragon? Wasn’t he supposed to be saved by her? Why did he want to kill Ruby?
More importantly, had he just called me William?! Why did everybody do that? Why was it so inconceivable that Will was my given name?! What was wrong with the world? I mean, was it so out there that it would never occur to anyone that my name was just Will?!
Oh, yeah, I had almost forgotten the whole ‘kill the Promised One’ thing. I dropped into a defensive crouch and shook Ruby.
“Wha’?” she woke slowly. “Whassamaer?” She raised her head and saw Citrinespike. “Okay, I’m definitely awake now.”
“Glad to hear it,” the citrine dragon responded cheerfully. “Now both of you will be awake to die. That’s wonderful.”
“Die?” Ruby was appalled. “What island are you from?” To me, this seemed like a stupid question under the circumstances, but, hey, I was just the dumb human in the room. It’s not like anyone was paying any attention to me.
“Originally from the Isle of Warm Sands and Rolling Dunes, but no island now. I’m a follower of the one you call ‘the Soul-Taker’. I serve Him now,” Citrinespike advanced; his lips sliding back to reveal ivory teeth. Quick-on-the-draw as always, that was when I noticed that he didn’t wear a necklace. I’d never even heard of citrine, either. “I’m terribly sorry, but I must kill you forthwith. I mustn’t disobey His Lordship’s orders.” He sprang.
Ruby dove in front of me. Just before the bigger dragon hit her, a thick sheet of red ice shot out of thin air between them. Citrinespike hit it with a crack and fell back, dazed. I felt the cold emanating from the crimson ice. Ruby glanced back at me, amused at my stupefied expression.
“I told you I was a Marked Dragon!”
There was no time for further discussion as the citrine dragon attacked again. This time, he leaped straight over Ruby, and aimed for me. I dove to the side and rolled. Citrinespike landed where I had been standing only a few seconds earlier and whirled to face me. I came out of the roll in a crouch a few feet away, ready to spring out of the way of a follow-up attack.
Hmm, where did that came from? I thought, surprised by my own agility. Citrinespike also looked mildly astonished.
“I guess there’s more to you humans than pink skin and too many claws,” he commented. “But how do you do when you have to fight instead of running away? Eh, coward?”
“Will isn’t a coward!” Ruby objected. We both ignored her. Rolling onto the balls of my feet, I slowly began to pace in a circle, Citrinespike copying the motion. I guess Ruby realized that she was in my way, because she retreated to the sidelines. Though not without protest.
“Will, you're being stupid! You can’t handle a dragon on your own!” she warned. I didn’t respond, didn’t take my eyes off the golden-yellow dragon before me.
Citrinespike lunged, but it was a feint. I didn’t flinch. I was full of an unknown confidence. The dragon’s next charge was no fake. His neck snapped forward.
I slammed my foot into the side of his head, ignoring the tremor of shock it sent up my body, caught the claw sweeping at my head, and twisted with all my strength. Citrinespike yowled in pain. Ruby took the opportunity and clamped onto his forked tail.
He jerked, intending to snap at my neck. I drove my free knee into his armored belly. (Ouch.) His breath left him with an audible whoosh. Ruby leaped clear.
Not giving him time to recover, I followed up with an axe kick, slamming my heel right between his horns. As Citrinespike crumpled, I felt a wave of hot pleasure mixed with fury. This was payback for all the times I had been hit, and I could vent on someone who actually deserved it.
I went to it with a will.

I released the traitor dragon’s tail when I tasted blood. Spitting, I turned to see how Will was faring at the other end. My eyes nearly popped out.
A devilish grimace stretched his face into a false smile. His green eyes smoldered like witch-fire which, incidentally, is green. He was beating the living shit out of Citrinespike.
I hadn’t thought that my gentle, take-it-as-it-comes-cause-it-ain’t-getting-any-better Will had it in him to be so… violent. I hadn’t thought that a scrawny human like him could even bruise a dragon.
The citrine dragon yelped and howled and tried to run away from the rain of blows. Will didn’t give him a chance, his limbs all but blurring with speed as he mercilessly beat the dragon. This had to stop, before Will killed him. As much as I hated the Soulless, I didn’t want Will to become a murderer. Not to mention he was freaking me out with that weird grin and suddenly-acquired martial arts skills.
I jumped between my friend and his victim, who was huddled on the blood-spattered ground in a futile attempt to create a smaller target. I shut my eyes and trusted to my ruby-ice.
There was an ear-splitting CRACK and I opened my eyes in astonishment.
Will’s fist was half a centimeter in front of my snout, wrist sticking through a jagged hole in the wall of protective red ice. Will had just managed to stop himself before he smashed my face out the back of my skull.
And he had punched through ice as hard as rubies without even a bruise. That, too.
He blinked slowly, the anger fading, the manic grin falling from his face. Citrinespike leaped into the air, hauling himself higher and higher on his torn and bleeding wings, shouting obscenities. For a few moments after his sudden departure, we just stared at each other through the barrier of ruby-ice. Will pulled his fist back and the ice melted.
“What the hell was that?” I inquired calmly. He looked back blankly. “You never told me you were a fifth degree black-belt, Will.” The boy shrugged. He didn’t have an answer.
Just then, the translator and ‘my’ handler walked into the room on the other side of the glass. They got an early start around here. Will’s appearance caused quite a stir among the various scientists trailing behind. I took a good look at him.
His already-ragged and muddy clothes had been torn up pretty badly. His sneakers had been shredded against Citrinespike’s scales and, uh, spikes, and Will’s bare feet were bruised and bloody. I couldn’t tell if it was his blood or the dragon’s, though Will didn’t seem to be hurt. His fists were actually dripping the stuff. His hair was soaked with sweat and his eyes were wild with confusion. He was a mess.
They dragged him out, babbling animatedly. A half hour later, he was shoved back in. He looked the same, but the scientists were much calmer. I guess they had figured out that it wasn’t my blood.
Will signed a query to Mrs. Thomson.
“No, Mr. Nicholas and Miss Raven are gone. They had some very interesting things to say about you two. I suppose Ruby’s reappearance confirms it. And I intend to find out what the hell has been going on around here.” With no further comment, she shoved our breakfast into the cage, turned, and high-heeled her way out of the room. The scientists stayed to watch us eat.
The food was a large slab of raw meat. I went behind a rock for privacy and turned Will into a dragon. There was no sense in letting them see all our secrets. We chowed down.
As we sat, licking our claws, one scientist said something to another in a language that wasn’t English. The other scientist answered in the same language. Will froze and stiffened, eyes wide. I sidled closer.
“What’s up?” I muttered out of the corner of my mouth. He held up a claw for silence as the scientists continued to converse.
“You already know that I’m mute. Well, I can read and write in several languages fluently, including Spanish. That scientist just said, ‘So, when do we dissect the brown one?’ and the other answered, ‘Noon, tomorrow.’ Then they went on to speculate about whether or not animal rights covered torturing me beforehand to find out what’s been happening.”
I froze as well. Dissect Will?! Torture him?!
“They must want to know how you use magic.”
“I can’t use magic.”
“They don’t know that.”
“****”
“Ditto.”

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. My head hit the glass in a steady rhythm.
“So, any ideas yet?” Ruby asked. I swiveled to face her, opened my mouth, frowned and turned back to the glass. BANG.
I gave Ruby the most menacing glare imaginable, then turned back and resumed beating my forehead on the glass.
“Ah.”
It was that afternoon. I had been hitting my head on the bullet-proof glass for approximately… thirty minutes. It wasn’t helping. At all.
“C’mon, Will, we have to get out of here before tomorrow or they’ll cut you open!” the albino urged.
“You think I don’t know that?” I snapped.
“I’ll bet you Raven suggested this. She’s a bitch,” Ruby ignored me. Raven! If that girl had just kept quiet I might not be in this predicament. I banged my head on the glass harder.
“…and Nick will go along with anything she says or does. He’s just as bad, the bastard.”
He hadn’t even tried to stop her. He didn’t care what happened to me at all. If the front page had a picture of my dead body on an operating table he’d just blink and ask Raven to pass the salt. I hated them both so much…
The glass shuddered and jumped with the force of my head striking it.
“Oh my God, Will, what will the Soul-Taker do to Opaljewel when he sees what you did to Citrinespike? D’you think they’ll kill him?” Ruby gasped.
Opaljewel! Here I was, hours away from having my organs ripped out and examined in the name of science and possibly tortured before that, and she was worrying about pretty-boy Opal who had only kissed her out of curiosity! I couldn’t… that little…
CRACK!
I felt something give way in front of me, but I really didn’t care right about then. I lowered my head and butted the glass with all the strength I had.
My horned head exploded through the bullet-proof material in a shower of glass splinters. I gripped the edges of the hole with my claws and tore a wider opening. Stupid cage! Stupid dragons! I didn’t need any of them. I bounded through the hole, wincing as my black crystal scraped a jagged shard. I landed heavily and a red light began to flash. A siren wailed piercingly.
“Will! How did you…?” Ruby was unable to finish her sentence. On her face was a look of pure bliss.
“Shut up, Frost,” I hissed.
“What’s wrong, Will? Why…”
“I said SHUT UP!” I yelled over the noise of the siren. “Why can’t you shut up? Why do you even talk to me? I’m just a dumb human. Go back to your precious Archipelago and save your boyfriend and leave! Me! Alone!” I turned away and flapped my wings as hard as I could. I flew up to the high ceiling.
Citrinespike had gotten in somehow, so maybe I could use that way to escape. The ceiling was paneled. He must have moved one of the panels and flown to freedom. I whipped my tail at a panel, performing an aerial somersault.
The panel shattered, raining bits down on Ruby, far below. I squeezed through the narrow opening and found myself on the roof. A fiery sunrise was just finishing on the eastern horizon. I scuttled to the edge of the roof and took a flying leap. Literally.
I felt irrational fury coursing through my veins, spreading with every beat of my heart like a poison. I knew I was being an ass, but I couldn’t help it. I was so freaking mad!
I flew as fast as I could, seeking a quiet place to calm down.

I followed Will out the roof at a safe distance. I had no idea what was wrong with him or why he was acting so strangely, but I didn’t want to aggravate him any more. I saw him as a black speck speeding into the distance.
Well, now what? I wondered. Will was gone, I had no idea where I was, and more people with tranquilizers were probably on their way. I took flight and went in a different direction than the one Will had taken. I was happy to see that we weren’t all that far from Arum Lane. I spiraled down and landed on Nick’s doorstep. I figured I was more intimidating as a dragon, so I shouldered aside the unlocked door and marched in.
I had a score to settle.

There wasn’t much to do now that Rubygem and Opaljewel had gone. Aquagem and I hung out, like always, but there was something missing. Aquagem was as cute and naïve as ever and I was… me. But there was no quiet authority to fall back on after I pulled a prank. There was no one to teach me how to dance or how to swim like a croc. Opaljewel was gone. Rubygem was gone.
“Hey, I wonder, do you think if Rubygem really does save the Archipelago they’ll make her a ‘jewel’ or promote her straight to her chosen name?” Aquagem asked, idly. We were kicking around the desert. Even though it was forbidden to be on other islands right now, we always snuck over.
“I dunno. Her fifteenth birthday is only a few days away, so she’ll be a jewel soon anyway. I guess they’d just let her pick her own name five years early. I wonder what she’ll pick.”
We were arguing about whether Rubyred sounded stupider than Rubyeyes or not when I heard something.
“Wait, what was that?” I held up a claw for silence. Faintly, a cry drifted on the breeze.
“Someone’s calling for help!” Aquagem cried. I sighed. She was so dramatic.
“What makes you think that? Even if they needed help, we can’t just swoop in to the rescue on a whim! If anyone sees you off your own island, there’ll be hell to pay,” I reasoned. I didn’t like being the voice of reason, but Rubygem was gone, so there was no one else. While Aquagem pondered this, the cries grew louder. Now we could make out words.
“Help! Topazgem, Aquagem, help! It’s me!”
We exchanged stunned glances. It was Opaljewel. I stopped trying to be reasonable. It was too hard anyway. With no further discussion, we pelted off in the direction of the voice, sand flying from our claws.
As we crested the final dune, I caught sight of him. Our friend was tied to a palm tree by an oasis. He was yelling and straining at the ropes with all his might, but the tree stayed firm. His face lit up when he saw us.
“Topazgem, Aquagem! Get these ropes off of me!” he called. I slid down the dune in a shower of grit, Aquagem close behind me. I snapped one of the ropes in my teeth, but paused before biting a second. There were claw-prints in the sand around the tree.
I was so stupid! Who would have tied Opaljewel up like this? His kidnappers! And this was all a trap to catch…
“Aquagem, RUN!” I roared. Not even bothering to notice my first real dragon-roar, I leaped forward and shoved the blue dragoness away. A net weighted on the ends fell around me and I was dragged to the ground. But the net had missed Aquagem.
She scrambled for the dune, but it was obvious that she wouldn’t make it. A crystal dragoness sprang over me and clubbed my friend with her spiny tail. She fell like a sack of bricks.
I struggled against the tough weave, fighting to shred it with my teeth and claws. The crystal dragoness swayed over to me, liquid grace.
“Sorry about all this,” she laughed. “I’m your new superior. My name is Crystalspine Glass. Commit it to memory.” She swung her spiny tail. Pain exploded in my head. Blackness overtook me.

I panted, worn out by my fight with Citrinespike and my flight from the lab. I perched in the jungle of beams that had been the construction sight for a mall: the place where I had learned to fly.
Fury still coursed through me, making my every thought irrational and vengeful. What was this? I had never, never felt so angry in my life! I wanted to grab the steel beams and crunch them in my teeth and claws, to shred them into confetti.
Well, why not? I had broken through bullet-proof glass. Maybe it would release some of this rage.
Soon, a pile of steel scraps lay on the ground beneath me. I was only slightly calmer. I once more leapt into the air. Dragging myself heavily through the sky, I headed in the direction of my own little, ramshackle house.

“Holy crap!” I sprang to my feet. Ruby had just lumbered in the door. That is, if I was to believe Raven’s ‘magic dragon’ theory, it was Ruby.
“What the hell did you tell them?” she demanded. Her voice was nothing like Ruby’s. It was like flutes whispering words in English. If an animal could make the sound of a flute, she did.
“Tell who what?” I asked. She advanced, snarling.
“What did you tell the scientists? They were going to dissect your brother you heartless bastard!”
“Will?”
“Do you have any other brothers?”
Right on time, Raven strolled in from the kitchen. She took in the scene with a glance of her bottomless eyes.
“Good morning, Rubygem. What can we do for you?” she addressed the albino dragoness.
“You can burn in hell and leave me and Will alone,” Ruby growled. Rave shook her head sadly.
“Sorry, no can do. Nick and I have things to do.”
We’re too busy to leave now, Nicholas!
“Yeah,” I agreed, “we have way too much stuff to do to my little brother to go away.”
Threaten her!
“You should leave before you get hurt, little gecko.”
Tell her to go back where she came from!
“Crawl on back to your precious Archipelago, Frosty!”
There was silence. Raven clapped her hands to her mouth, looking mortified. Ruby-dragon jerked as if I’d slapped her. I, myself had no idea what was going on. What had I just said? ‘Archipelago’? What did that mean?
“You…” Ruby’s wide eyes shifted from me to Raven back to me. “You… know about the… Archipelago. And you knew my real name: Rubygem. How…?” Her eyes narrowed.
“I got no idea what you’re babbling about, but it’s startin to piss me off,” I sneered. What was all this talk of an Archipelago? I didn’t even know how to spell that, much less what it meant. Raven’s eyes had a crafty look in them again.
“What is going on here?” the dragoness opened her mouth to reveal a flickering, forked tongue and hissed fearsomely. “Tell me how you know!”
“The internet’s an amazing thing, Marked One,” Raven snapped.
“Yeah,” I began to back her up, not really knowing what they were talking about. Rave shot me a poisonous look.
Shut up, Nicholas! Don’t say or do anything. I shut up and didn’t say or do anything. Now, stop. Everything except breathing. My brain shut down.

“You’re hypnotizing him!” I realized. “You’re a dragon!” Nick crumpled to the ground in a heap. Raven stepped forward and picked him up. She carefully laid him on the couch in the living room.
The dead-looking boy’s eyes stared straight ahead and his body was limp. Only now did I see the telltale jagged irises that showed prolonged hypnotism. He looked awfully corpse-ish.
“No shit?” Raven laughed. “It took you long enough. Yes, my name is Sunjewel Raven and I’m a Soulless one from the Isle of Starlit Water Surrounded By Tall Trees. Unfortunately for you, you won’t remember any of this.” She sauntered over to Nick’s immobile body and caressed his face. “Soon you’ll be just like my Nicholas here.”
“Why are you hypnotizing him? What is he to you? And what about Will?”
“He’s my boyfriend, O Unobservant One,” Raven/Sunjewel sneered. “I would have thought that that was abundantly clear. As for my hypnotizing him… I can’t tell you about that.”
“Why…” I began. I never finished. The front door of the little house blew off its hinges as something exploded through. I caught a glimpse of black horns and speckled scales before I was struck by something large and heavy.
“Rubygem, Rubygem!” someone cried. I was hopelessly confused. Will was the one with black horns, but he never called me Rubygem. Someone was hugging me fiercely, but I could see Will standing in the doorway, panting.
Then, I recognized the voice.
“Opaljewel!” I screamed in delight. I embraced him back, fully intending never to let go. Everybody began yelling.
“How did you escape?” Sunjewel snarled.
“What did you do to my brother?!” Will roared.
“Topazgem and Aquagem are in trouble, Rubygem!” Opaljewel hollered.
“Will, Raven’s a dragon!” I shouted. Then, “What?!”
“Nick!”
“Will!”
“Topazgem and Aquagem!”
“Opaljewel!”
“Huh?”

As I flew for my house, I caught sight of another dragon headed in the same direction. His scales glittered in all the colors of the rainbow. His head was adorned with whiskers, ear-fans, and horns that curled like a ram’s. His tail was thick and muscular and his claws strongly resembled paws. His soul-stone glimmered in the sun. He was flying purposefully towards my house.
“Hey, you!” I roared. “What are you doing here?” I altered my course to intercept him. He may not have been a Soulless one, but I was distrustful of any dragon in the human lands. He started in surprise and stared at me.
“Who are you?” he called. “My name’s Opaljewel. I’m trying to find Rubygem Frost. Do you know her?”
“I’m Blackgem,” I replied, “and I’m Ruby’s friend. What do you want with her?” My fury rekindled a little as I examined Ruby’s miraculously-reappeared boyfriend, but then ebbed again. He didn’t look as girly as his name suggested.
“I need to… warn her,” he yelled over the rushing wind. “What island are you from? You have a weird soul-stone cord.”
“I’m from Washington DC; I’m a human!” I blurted. I wanted to kill myself immediately after the words left my mouth. Once upon a time, I couldn’t say a single word. Now I said whatever I thought whenever I thought it. It might have been better if I had stayed a mute.
Opaljewel gasped and pumped his wings harder. He shot forward. I pursued him hotly. I still didn’t trust this girly-boy.
We burst through the door and Opaljewel tackled Ruby in a hug. I was slightly thrown by the sight of her in her dragon-shape in my house. I was also shocked by my brother’s staring body on the couch. I thought he was dead until I saw his chest rising and falling.
After a few minutes of unintelligible shouting, I managed to make out the words “Raven’s a dragon”. With a roar, I threw myself at the girl.
There was a flash of light, a sound like the rushing wing-beats of a bird, and several black feathers spun out of nowhere. Raven was a dragoness.
Her snout was strangely beak-like, her wings were tattered, and her short horns curled inwards. She was black from her head to the oak-leaf-shaped fan on her tail. The only spots of color were her burning, yellow eyes and her double-pyramid sunstone necklace.
She flicked to the side and I landed on the floor where she had been. My suppressed fury burst free, sizzling in my veins like ropes of fire. I roared as loudly as possible and attacked the dragoness that had been Raven. She evaded my charges with infuriating agility.
Something white flickered at the corner of my vision. I whirled and snapped at it.
“Will! What are you doing? It’s me!” I heard a voice dimly through a haze of rage. I continued to claw and bite at the shapes that surrounded me.
“He can’t understand you when he’s like this!” another voice spoke up over my roars. “He’ll continue to attack anything that moves until the fury wears off, until everything stops moving, or until we magic him out of it!”
“How do we magic him out of it?”
“We need to suppress his Fury!” None of these words made any sense to me. How could somebody suppress somebody else’s anger, even with magic? And wasn’t I helping? Didn’t they want Raven-dragon gone?
I let go of these confusing thoughts and attacked.

Will spun around and around, roaring with anger and trying to kill anything that moved. Sunjewel darted around, just barely evading his teeth and talons. Opaljewel and I tried to attack her as well, but we backed off when Will went berserk on us.
“What do you mean ‘his fury’?” I asked while dodging Will’s sweeping tail.
“Who cares?” Opaljewel cried, throwing up a claw to fend off an attack. “Let’s just do it already, before he kills all of us!” I winced in total agreement as I acquired a new scratch on my side. Where the hell was that whole ‘protective ice’ now?
“You have to touch him and release magic into him,” Sunjewel instructed, having retreated into the kitchen. “Think calming thoughts.”
“Touch him?!” Opaljewel cried. “He’s insane!” As if to prove this point, Will pounced with a snarl onto his tail. The opal dragon yelped in surprise and pain and jumped. He hit the opposite wall with a smack and dug his talons into the plaster, whipping his injured tail up and out of reach.
Will lowered his head and charged at me. I was forced to perform an awkward pirouette to avoid his horns.
I was struck by sudden inspiration. The pirouette had reminded me of the time I had ‘danced’ Will into his dragon state. I wasn’t drunk now, but maybe I could still work that kind of magic.
“Distract him!” I ordered. Opaljewel sighed and began to wave his tail tantalizingly at the enraged dragon. While Will chased it, I began to dance.
I used slow, tranquil movements, one shape flowing into another. I thought calming thoughts. I crooned a soothing song with a lullaby-like tune.
“The sun has set; the night is come
Go to sleep, courageous one.
The stars are lit; the sun has gone
Courageous hearts bring dreams of dawn.

When the moon is full and bright
Courageous ones think of the light.
Although the dark has beauty, too
Those who see it are only few.

The fear of dark’s a common thing
Unwelcome guests the night may bring.
Courage doesn’t mean the fear has gone
But that you can smile, softly, and move on.”
While I sang the second verse, Will stopped chasing Opaljewel and blinked. He looked confused. As I began the third verse, he began to sway. As the song’s final note rang out, he collapsed in a heap. There was a flash of light and he was human again, deeply asleep.
…leaving me to deal with a Soulless one and her hypnotized boyfriend. Thanks for nothing, Will.
“Let’s make this as painless as possible, shall we?” Sunjewel suggested, sauntering over to us.
“Let’s,” I agreed, baring my fangs. But before I could dance up a spell, or even pounce, Opaljewel dropped between me and Sunjewel. Once, not too long ago, I would have gratefully hid behind Opaljewel. I would have been glad that he was there to protect me.
Now, I was annoyed. How could he just assume that I was helpless? Did he have that little faith in me? I couldn’t remember Will ever standing in front of me like this. He always stood beside me except when I insisted on standing in front of him.
“Keep away from Rubygem,” he growled.
“Why in hell would I do that?” Sunjewel rolled her yellow eyes. “I have the Promised One right here and ready to kill. I’ll have to eliminate any witnesses of course. I’m sure His Lordship wouldn’t mind.”
I was all set to rumble, but it wasn’t to be. Just as we three stood there, tensed and ready to spring (in my case, spring over Opaljewel, who was still in my way), someone crashed our party.
Literally, they crashed through the window in the living room.
It was a crystal dragoness. She was spiky and her scales were almost translucent. She almost looked like a glass or crystal statue brought to life. She didn’t have a soul-stone.
“Come on, Sunjewel,” she called. Her voice was like the ringing sound you make by rubbing damp fingers over the rim of a glass cup. “I’ve got the other two. His Lordship wants you to come back with me.”
Sunjewel gave a long-suffering sigh. “Fine, but only because His Lordship wants me, not because you told me to, Crystalspine.”
“You’d better have done it because I told you to, because I just replaced Citrinespike as your Captain,” Crystalspine informed her smugly. Sunjewel cast her a look of fury, but held her tongue.
Both dragonesses raised their wings and took off, flying away through the broken window. I looked at Opaljewel.
“Well, at least that wasn’t weird or anything.”

Description
5
Fury

“Look, I’m telling you, there’s been a mistake!” Ruby pleaded with the scientists. “We snuck in on a dare from our friend, Nicholas! Just ask him, he lives at…”
“There’s a Mr. Nick and a Miss Raven outside who want to see the dragons,” a girl poked her head in the room. “Should I tell them to go away?”
“No, no, send them in,” Ruby’s handler’s eyes gleamed. “I think they should see this.” I could have groaned. My brother was coming in? As if things could get any worse.
Raven strode in, trailing Nick like a kite’s tail. They both stopped dead when they saw us.
“Will?” Nick asked, incredulously. He frowned and shook his head, like he was shaking off an annoying fly. “No, stop it, Rave. What are you doing with my brother?”
“Your brother broke into the dragons’ cage and told us his name was Scott Johnson,” the translator said.
“Who are you?”
“Linda Thomson, biologist and translator,” Mrs. Thomson shot back. “Who are you?”
“Nick. What about Ruby? She break in, too?” I could tell that Nick didn’t believe a word out of her mouth. Raven just watched with a strange light in her eyes.
“Miss Brittany Johnson? Yes, she did. Funny thing, those are the names the dragons gave as their own. I understand you two were the ones who found them?”
“Yes,” Raven chimed in, “we found them. But how could Nicholas’s brother be connected with that dragon? And his girlfriend?”
“So they aren’t related?”
“Not at all. Will met Ruby three months ago.”
“Shut up, Raven!” Ruby yelled. “Stop telling them things!”
“Why?” the other girl returned, snottily. “They are the authorities. I always thought you were weird, squirt.” Mrs. Thomson and Ruby’s handler led Nick and Ruby from the room.
“Can I please rip her throat out?” my albino friend begged.
No. I want 2 do it myself. I scrawled.
“Well, now what?”
Can u magic us out of here?
“Maybe, but not without candles or incense or something. A spell that big needs a complicated ritual and I spent more time studying humans than magic back on the island. It’s come in handy, up till now,” she added ruefully.
What I wouldn’t give 4 a chainsaw.
“Wouldn’t we all.” We lapsed into thoughtful silence. Occasionally, one of us would offer a suggestion, but none were likely to work. Then, inspiration struck.
“Hey, I know!” Ruby sat bolt upright. She had been slouched against a tumbled rock. Her ruby eyes glittered excitedly. “I was thinking about how I had turned you into a dragon when I was drunk. And I shot lightning from my finger, right? No why don’t I try that magic on the glass and break us out?” It didn’t sound realistic, but it was better than some of our other plans. I spread my hands and shrugged expressively. She took this as consent.
She stood and hesitantly began to dance. Her song lacked the magic it had before. Her movements, while graceful, held none of the aura of magic that they had.
The lights dimmed, signaling the coming night. We settled in to sleep, Ruby wearily reverting to her dragon shape. She said that it was tiring, staying human for days on end. I believed her by the way she slept as deeply as if she were in a coma.
I envied her. I couldn’t sleep a wink for worrying.
What had Raven told them? What would they do to us? Would I ever go home? What would happen to Ruby’s island without their savior? Questions rattled around in my head like balls in that bingo machine. My thoughts were uninterrupted by any sound other than Ruby’s regular breathing.
Eventually, I slept. I hit the dirt and remained unconscious for hours.
Until, that is, sometime around dawn.
There was a thump high above us, in the ceiling. I looked up sharply, but couldn’t see anything with my weak, human eyes. There came a rhythmic clapping sound, growing louder. And still, Ruby slept. Slowly, a dragon drifted downwards.
“Hello, William!” He called. “Lovely night, eh? But you wouldn’t know, you’re in here. Poor Willy.” My mouth flopped open. Another dragon? He was yellowy-gold, more orange than Topaz had been. He had both my horns and Ruby’s ear-fans as well as huge spikes down his back and a two-pronged tail.
Who are you? I signed in the vain hope he’d understand.
“That’s a strange thing you do with your hands,” he noted. He sounded much older than Ruby. “My name is Captain Citrinespike Thunder. I know that you’re William and she’s Ruby, so don’t bother introducing yourselves. It’s made my job so much easier, you two being cooped up in here. My job, of course, is to eliminate the Promised One.”
What?! Wasn’t he a dragon? Wasn’t he supposed to be saved by her? Why did he want to kill Ruby?
More importantly, had he just called me William?! Why did everybody do that? Why was it so inconceivable that Will was my given name?! What was wrong with the world? I mean, was it so out there that it would never occur to anyone that my name was just Will?!
Oh, yeah, I had almost forgotten the whole ‘kill the Promised One’ thing. I dropped into a defensive crouch and shook Ruby.
“Wha’?” she woke slowly. “Whassamaer?” She raised her head and saw Citrinespike. “Okay, I’m definitely awake now.”
“Glad to hear it,” the citrine dragon responded cheerfully. “Now both of you will be awake to die. That’s wonderful.”
“Die?” Ruby was appalled. “What island are you from?” To me, this seemed like a stupid question under the circumstances, but, hey, I was just the dumb human in the room. It’s not like anyone was paying any attention to me.
“Originally from the Isle of Warm Sands and Rolling Dunes, but no island now. I’m a follower of the one you call ‘the Soul-Taker’. I serve Him now,” Citrinespike advanced; his lips sliding back to reveal ivory teeth. Quick-on-the-draw as always, that was when I noticed that he didn’t wear a necklace. I’d never even heard of citrine, either. “I’m terribly sorry, but I must kill you forthwith. I mustn’t disobey His Lordship’s orders.” He sprang.
Ruby dove in front of me. Just before the bigger dragon hit her, a thick sheet of red ice shot out of thin air between them. Citrinespike hit it with a crack and fell back, dazed. I felt the cold emanating from the crimson ice. Ruby glanced back at me, amused at my stupefied expression.
“I told you I was a Marked Dragon!”
There was no time for further discussion as the citrine dragon attacked again. This time, he leaped straight over Ruby, and aimed for me. I dove to the side and rolled. Citrinespike landed where I had been standing only a few seconds earlier and whirled to face me. I came out of the roll in a crouch a few feet away, ready to spring out of the way of a follow-up attack.
Hmm, where did that came from? I thought, surprised by my own agility. Citrinespike also looked mildly astonished.
“I guess there’s more to you humans than pink skin and too many claws,” he commented. “But how do you do when you have to fight instead of running away? Eh, coward?”
“Will isn’t a coward!” Ruby objected. We both ignored her. Rolling onto the balls of my feet, I slowly began to pace in a circle, Citrinespike copying the motion. I guess Ruby realized that she was in my way, because she retreated to the sidelines. Though not without protest.
“Will, you're being stupid! You can’t handle a dragon on your own!” she warned. I didn’t respond, didn’t take my eyes off the golden-yellow dragon before me.
Citrinespike lunged, but it was a feint. I didn’t flinch. I was full of an unknown confidence. The dragon’s next charge was no fake. His neck snapped forward.
I slammed my foot into the side of his head, ignoring the tremor of shock it sent up my body, caught the claw sweeping at my head, and twisted with all my strength. Citrinespike yowled in pain. Ruby took the opportunity and clamped onto his forked tail.
He jerked, intending to snap at my neck. I drove my free knee into his armored belly. (Ouch.) His breath left him with an audible whoosh. Ruby leaped clear.
Not giving him time to recover, I followed up with an axe kick, slamming my heel right between his horns. As Citrinespike crumpled, I felt a wave of hot pleasure mixed with fury. This was payback for all the times I had been hit, and I could vent on someone who actually deserved it.
I went to it with a will.

I released the traitor dragon’s tail when I tasted blood. Spitting, I turned to see how Will was faring at the other end. My eyes nearly popped out.
A devilish grimace stretched his face into a false smile. His green eyes smoldered like witch-fire which, incidentally, is green. He was beating the living shit out of Citrinespike.
I hadn’t thought that my gentle, take-it-as-it-comes-cause-it-ain’t-getting-any-better Will had it in him to be so… violent. I hadn’t thought that a scrawny human like him could even bruise a dragon.
The citrine dragon yelped and howled and tried to run away from the rain of blows. Will didn’t give him a chance, his limbs all but blurring with speed as he mercilessly beat the dragon. This had to stop, before Will killed him. As much as I hated the Soulless, I didn’t want Will to become a murderer. Not to mention he was freaking me out with that weird grin and suddenly-acquired martial arts skills.
I jumped between my friend and his victim, who was huddled on the blood-spattered ground in a futile attempt to create a smaller target. I shut my eyes and trusted to my ruby-ice.
There was an ear-splitting CRACK and I opened my eyes in astonishment.
Will’s fist was half a centimeter in front of my snout, wrist sticking through a jagged hole in the wall of protective red ice. Will had just managed to stop himself before he smashed my face out the back of my skull.
And he had punched through ice as hard as rubies without even a bruise. That, too.
He blinked slowly, the anger fading, the manic grin falling from his face. Citrinespike leaped into the air, hauling himself higher and higher on his torn and bleeding wings, shouting obscenities. For a few moments after his sudden departure, we just stared at each other through the barrier of ruby-ice. Will pulled his fist back and the ice melted.
“What the hell was that?” I inquired calmly. He looked back blankly. “You never told me you were a fifth degree black-belt, Will.” The boy shrugged. He didn’t have an answer.
Just then, the translator and ‘my’ handler walked into the room on the other side of the glass. They got an early start around here. Will’s appearance caused quite a stir among the various scientists trailing behind. I took a good look at him.
His already-ragged and muddy clothes had been torn up pretty badly. His sneakers had been shredded against Citrinespike’s scales and, uh, spikes, and Will’s bare feet were bruised and bloody. I couldn’t tell if it was his blood or the dragon’s, though Will didn’t seem to be hurt. His fists were actually dripping the stuff. His hair was soaked with sweat and his eyes were wild with confusion. He was a mess.
They dragged him out, babbling animatedly. A half hour later, he was shoved back in. He looked the same, but the scientists were much calmer. I guess they had figured out that it wasn’t my blood.
Will signed a query to Mrs. Thomson.
“No, Mr. Nicholas and Miss Raven are gone. They had some very interesting things to say about you two. I suppose Ruby’s reappearance confirms it. And I intend to find out what the hell has been going on around here.” With no further comment, she shoved our breakfast into the cage, turned, and high-heeled her way out of the room. The scientists stayed to watch us eat.
The food was a large slab of raw meat. I went behind a rock for privacy and turned Will into a dragon. There was no sense in letting them see all our secrets. We chowed down.
As we sat, licking our claws, one scientist said something to another in a language that wasn’t English. The other scientist answered in the same language. Will froze and stiffened, eyes wide. I sidled closer.
“What’s up?” I muttered out of the corner of my mouth. He held up a claw for silence as the scientists continued to converse.
“You already know that I’m mute. Well, I can read and write in several languages fluently, including Spanish. That scientist just said, ‘So, when do we dissect the brown one?’ and the other answered, ‘Noon, tomorrow.’ Then they went on to speculate about whether or not animal rights covered torturing me beforehand to find out what’s been happening.”
I froze as well. Dissect Will?! Torture him?!
“They must want to know how you use magic.”
“I can’t use magic.”
“They don’t know that.”
“****”
“Ditto.”

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. My head hit the glass in a steady rhythm.
“So, any ideas yet?” Ruby asked. I swiveled to face her, opened my mouth, frowned and turned back to the glass. BANG.
I gave Ruby the most menacing glare imaginable, then turned back and resumed beating my forehead on the glass.
“Ah.”
It was that afternoon. I had been hitting my head on the bullet-proof glass for approximately… thirty minutes. It wasn’t helping. At all.
“C’mon, Will, we have to get out of here before tomorrow or they’ll cut you open!” the albino urged.
“You think I don’t know that?” I snapped.
“I’ll bet you Raven suggested this. She’s a bitch,” Ruby ignored me. Raven! If that girl had just kept quiet I might not be in this predicament. I banged my head on the glass harder.
“…and Nick will go along with anything she says or does. He’s just as bad, the bastard.”
He hadn’t even tried to stop her. He didn’t care what happened to me at all. If the front page had a picture of my dead body on an operating table he’d just blink and ask Raven to pass the salt. I hated them both so much…
The glass shuddered and jumped with the force of my head striking it.
“Oh my God, Will, what will the Soul-Taker do to Opaljewel when he sees what you did to Citrinespike? D’you think they’ll kill him?” Ruby gasped.
Opaljewel! Here I was, hours away from having my organs ripped out and examined in the name of science and possibly tortured before that, and she was worrying about pretty-boy Opal who had only kissed her out of curiosity! I couldn’t… that little…
CRACK!
I felt something give way in front of me, but I really didn’t care right about then. I lowered my head and butted the glass with all the strength I had.
My horned head exploded through the bullet-proof material in a shower of glass splinters. I gripped the edges of the hole with my claws and tore a wider opening. Stupid cage! Stupid dragons! I didn’t need any of them. I bounded through the hole, wincing as my black crystal scraped a jagged shard. I landed heavily and a red light began to flash. A siren wailed piercingly.
“Will! How did you…?” Ruby was unable to finish her sentence. On her face was a look of pure bliss.
“Shut up, Frost,” I hissed.
“What’s wrong, Will? Why…”
“I said SHUT UP!” I yelled over the noise of the siren. “Why can’t you shut up? Why do you even talk to me? I’m just a dumb human. Go back to your precious Archipelago and save your boyfriend and leave! Me! Alone!” I turned away and flapped my wings as hard as I could. I flew up to the high ceiling.
Citrinespike had gotten in somehow, so maybe I could use that way to escape. The ceiling was paneled. He must have moved one of the panels and flown to freedom. I whipped my tail at a panel, performing an aerial somersault.
The panel shattered, raining bits down on Ruby, far below. I squeezed through the narrow opening and found myself on the roof. A fiery sunrise was just finishing on the eastern horizon. I scuttled to the edge of the roof and took a flying leap. Literally.
I felt irrational fury coursing through my veins, spreading with every beat of my heart like a poison. I knew I was being an ass, but I couldn’t help it. I was so freaking mad!
I flew as fast as I could, seeking a quiet place to calm down.

I followed Will out the roof at a safe distance. I had no idea what was wrong with him or why he was acting so strangely, but I didn’t want to aggravate him any more. I saw him as a black speck speeding into the distance.
Well, now what? I wondered. Will was gone, I had no idea where I was, and more people with tranquilizers were probably on their way. I took flight and went in a different direction than the one Will had taken. I was happy to see that we weren’t all that far from Arum Lane. I spiraled down and landed on Nick’s doorstep. I figured I was more intimidating as a dragon, so I shouldered aside the unlocked door and marched in.
I had a score to settle.

There wasn’t much to do now that Rubygem and Opaljewel had gone. Aquagem and I hung out, like always, but there was something missing. Aquagem was as cute and naïve as ever and I was… me. But there was no quiet authority to fall back on after I pulled a prank. There was no one to teach me how to dance or how to swim like a croc. Opaljewel was gone. Rubygem was gone.
“Hey, I wonder, do you think if Rubygem really does save the Archipelago they’ll make her a ‘jewel’ or promote her straight to her chosen name?” Aquagem asked, idly. We were kicking around the desert. Even though it was forbidden to be on other islands right now, we always snuck over.
“I dunno. Her fifteenth birthday is only a few days away, so she’ll be a jewel soon anyway. I guess they’d just let her pick her own name five years early. I wonder what she’ll pick.”
We were arguing about whether Rubyred sounded stupider than Rubyeyes or not when I heard something.
“Wait, what was that?” I held up a claw for silence. Faintly, a cry drifted on the breeze.
“Someone’s calling for help!” Aquagem cried. I sighed. She was so dramatic.
“What makes you think that? Even if they needed help, we can’t just swoop in to the rescue on a whim! If anyone sees you off your own island, there’ll be hell to pay,” I reasoned. I didn’t like being the voice of reason, but Rubygem was gone, so there was no one else. While Aquagem pondered this, the cries grew louder. Now we could make out words.
“Help! Topazgem, Aquagem, help! It’s me!”
We exchanged stunned glances. It was Opaljewel. I stopped trying to be reasonable. It was too hard anyway. With no further discussion, we pelted off in the direction of the voice, sand flying from our claws.
As we crested the final dune, I caught sight of him. Our friend was tied to a palm tree by an oasis. He was yelling and straining at the ropes with all his might, but the tree stayed firm. His face lit up when he saw us.
“Topazgem, Aquagem! Get these ropes off of me!” he called. I slid down the dune in a shower of grit, Aquagem close behind me. I snapped one of the ropes in my teeth, but paused before biting a second. There were claw-prints in the sand around the tree.
I was so stupid! Who would have tied Opaljewel up like this? His kidnappers! And this was all a trap to catch…
“Aquagem, RUN!” I roared. Not even bothering to notice my first real dragon-roar, I leaped forward and shoved the blue dragoness away. A net weighted on the ends fell around me and I was dragged to the ground. But the net had missed Aquagem.
She scrambled for the dune, but it was obvious that she wouldn’t make it. A crystal dragoness sprang over me and clubbed my friend with her spiny tail. She fell like a sack of bricks.
I struggled against the tough weave, fighting to shred it with my teeth and claws. The crystal dragoness swayed over to me, liquid grace.
“Sorry about all this,” she laughed. “I’m your new superior. My name is Crystalspine Glass. Commit it to memory.” She swung her spiny tail. Pain exploded in my head. Blackness overtook me.

I panted, worn out by my fight with Citrinespike and my flight from the lab. I perched in the jungle of beams that had been the construction sight for a mall: the place where I had learned to fly.
Fury still coursed through me, making my every thought irrational and vengeful. What was this? I had never, never felt so angry in my life! I wanted to grab the steel beams and crunch them in my teeth and claws, to shred them into confetti.
Well, why not? I had broken through bullet-proof glass. Maybe it would release some of this rage.
Soon, a pile of steel scraps lay on the ground beneath me. I was only slightly calmer. I once more leapt into the air. Dragging myself heavily through the sky, I headed in the direction of my own little, ramshackle house.

“Holy crap!” I sprang to my feet. Ruby had just lumbered in the door. That is, if I was to believe Raven’s ‘magic dragon’ theory, it was Ruby.
“What the hell did you tell them?” she demanded. Her voice was nothing like Ruby’s. It was like flutes whispering words in English. If an animal could make the sound of a flute, she did.
“Tell who what?” I asked. She advanced, snarling.
“What did you tell the scientists? They were going to dissect your brother you heartless bastard!”
“Will?”
“Do you have any other brothers?”
Right on time, Raven strolled in from the kitchen. She took in the scene with a glance of her bottomless eyes.
“Good morning, Rubygem. What can we do for you?” she addressed the albino dragoness.
“You can burn in hell and leave me and Will alone,” Ruby growled. Rave shook her head sadly.
“Sorry, no can do. Nick and I have things to do.”
We’re too busy to leave now, Nicholas!
“Yeah,” I agreed, “we have way too much stuff to do to my little brother to go away.”
Threaten her!
“You should leave before you get hurt, little gecko.”
Tell her to go back where she came from!
“Crawl on back to your precious Archipelago, Frosty!”
There was silence. Raven clapped her hands to her mouth, looking mortified. Ruby-dragon jerked as if I’d slapped her. I, myself had no idea what was going on. What had I just said? ‘Archipelago’? What did that mean?
“You…” Ruby’s wide eyes shifted from me to Raven back to me. “You… know about the… Archipelago. And you knew my real name: Rubygem. How…?” Her eyes narrowed.
“I got no idea what you’re babbling about, but it’s startin to piss me off,” I sneered. What was all this talk of an Archipelago? I didn’t even know how to spell that, much less what it meant. Raven’s eyes had a crafty look in them again.
“What is going on here?” the dragoness opened her mouth to reveal a flickering, forked tongue and hissed fearsomely. “Tell me how you know!”
“The internet’s an amazing thing, Marked One,” Raven snapped.
“Yeah,” I began to back her up, not really knowing what they were talking about. Rave shot me a poisonous look.
Shut up, Nicholas! Don’t say or do anything. I shut up and didn’t say or do anything. Now, stop. Everything except breathing. My brain shut down.

“You’re hypnotizing him!” I realized. “You’re a dragon!” Nick crumpled to the ground in a heap. Raven stepped forward and picked him up. She carefully laid him on the couch in the living room.
The dead-looking boy’s eyes stared straight ahead and his body was limp. Only now did I see the telltale jagged irises that showed prolonged hypnotism. He looked awfully corpse-ish.
“No shit?” Raven laughed. “It took you long enough. Yes, my name is Sunjewel Raven and I’m a Soulless one from the Isle of Starlit Water Surrounded By Tall Trees. Unfortunately for you, you won’t remember any of this.” She sauntered over to Nick’s immobile body and caressed his face. “Soon you’ll be just like my Nicholas here.”
“Why are you hypnotizing him? What is he to you? And what about Will?”
“He’s my boyfriend, O Unobservant One,” Raven/Sunjewel sneered. “I would have thought that that was abundantly clear. As for my hypnotizing him… I can’t tell you about that.”
“Why…” I began. I never finished. The front door of the little house blew off its hinges as something exploded through. I caught a glimpse of black horns and speckled scales before I was struck by something large and heavy.
“Rubygem, Rubygem!” someone cried. I was hopelessly confused. Will was the one with black horns, but he never called me Rubygem. Someone was hugging me fiercely, but I could see Will standing in the doorway, panting.
Then, I recognized the voice.
“Opaljewel!” I screamed in delight. I embraced him back, fully intending never to let go. Everybody began yelling.
“How did you escape?” Sunjewel snarled.
“What did you do to my brother?!” Will roared.
“Topazgem and Aquagem are in trouble, Rubygem!” Opaljewel hollered.
“Will, Raven’s a dragon!” I shouted. Then, “What?!”
“Nick!”
“Will!”
“Topazgem and Aquagem!”
“Opaljewel!”
“Huh?”

As I flew for my house, I caught sight of another dragon headed in the same direction. His scales glittered in all the colors of the rainbow. His head was adorned with whiskers, ear-fans, and horns that curled like a ram’s. His tail was thick and muscular and his claws strongly resembled paws. His soul-stone glimmered in the sun. He was flying purposefully towards my house.
“Hey, you!” I roared. “What are you doing here?” I altered my course to intercept him. He may not have been a Soulless one, but I was distrustful of any dragon in the human lands. He started in surprise and stared at me.
“Who are you?” he called. “My name’s Opaljewel. I’m trying to find Rubygem Frost. Do you know her?”
“I’m Blackgem,” I replied, “and I’m Ruby’s friend. What do you want with her?” My fury rekindled a little as I examined Ruby’s miraculously-reappeared boyfriend, but then ebbed again. He didn’t look as girly as his name suggested.
“I need to… warn her,” he yelled over the rushing wind. “What island are you from? You have a weird soul-stone cord.”
“I’m from Washington DC; I’m a human!” I blurted. I wanted to kill myself immediately after the words left my mouth. Once upon a time, I couldn’t say a single word. Now I said whatever I thought whenever I thought it. It might have been better if I had stayed a mute.
Opaljewel gasped and pumped his wings harder. He shot forward. I pursued him hotly. I still didn’t trust this girly-boy.
We burst through the door and Opaljewel tackled Ruby in a hug. I was slightly thrown by the sight of her in her dragon-shape in my house. I was also shocked by my brother’s staring body on the couch. I thought he was dead until I saw his chest rising and falling.
After a few minutes of unintelligible shouting, I managed to make out the words “Raven’s a dragon”. With a roar, I threw myself at the girl.
There was a flash of light, a sound like the rushing wing-beats of a bird, and several black feathers spun out of nowhere. Raven was a dragoness.
Her snout was strangely beak-like, her wings were tattered, and her short horns curled inwards. She was black from her head to the oak-leaf-shaped fan on her tail. The only spots of color were her burning, yellow eyes and her double-pyramid sunstone necklace.
She flicked to the side and I landed on the floor where she had been. My suppressed fury burst free, sizzling in my veins like ropes of fire. I roared as loudly as possible and attacked the dragoness that had been Raven. She evaded my charges with infuriating agility.
Something white flickered at the corner of my vision. I whirled and snapped at it.
“Will! What are you doing? It’s me!” I heard a voice dimly through a haze of rage. I continued to claw and bite at the shapes that surrounded me.
“He can’t understand you when he’s like this!” another voice spoke up over my roars. “He’ll continue to attack anything that moves until the fury wears off, until everything stops moving, or until we magic him out of it!”
“How do we magic him out of it?”
“We need to suppress his Fury!” None of these words made any sense to me. How could somebody suppress somebody else’s anger, even with magic? And wasn’t I helping? Didn’t they want Raven-dragon gone?
I let go of these confusing thoughts and attacked.

Will spun around and around, roaring with anger and trying to kill anything that moved. Sunjewel darted around, just barely evading his teeth and talons. Opaljewel and I tried to attack her as well, but we backed off when Will went berserk on us.
“What do you mean ‘his fury’?” I asked while dodging Will’s sweeping tail.
“Who cares?” Opaljewel cried, throwing up a claw to fend off an attack. “Let’s just do it already, before he kills all of us!” I winced in total agreement as I acquired a new scratch on my side. Where the hell was that whole ‘protective ice’ now?
“You have to touch him and release magic into him,” Sunjewel instructed, having retreated into the kitchen. “Think calming thoughts.”
“Touch him?!” Opaljewel cried. “He’s insane!” As if to prove this point, Will pounced with a snarl onto his tail. The opal dragon yelped in surprise and pain and jumped. He hit the opposite wall with a smack and dug his talons into the plaster, whipping his injured tail up and out of reach.
Will lowered his head and charged at me. I was forced to perform an awkward pirouette to avoid his horns.
I was struck by sudden inspiration. The pirouette had reminded me of the time I had ‘danced’ Will into his dragon state. I wasn’t drunk now, but maybe I could still work that kind of magic.
“Distract him!” I ordered. Opaljewel sighed and began to wave his tail tantalizingly at the enraged dragon. While Will chased it, I began to dance.
I used slow, tranquil movements, one shape flowing into another. I thought calming thoughts. I crooned a soothing song with a lullaby-like tune.
“The sun has set; the night is come
Go to sleep, courageous one.
The stars are lit; the sun has gone
Courageous hearts bring dreams of dawn.

When the moon is full and bright
Courageous ones think of the light.
Although the dark has beauty, too
Those who see it are only few.

The fear of dark’s a common thing
Unwelcome guests the night may bring.
Courage doesn’t mean the fear has gone
But that you can smile, softly, and move on.”
While I sang the second verse, Will stopped chasing Opaljewel and blinked. He looked confused. As I began the third verse, he began to sway. As the song’s final note rang out, he collapsed in a heap. There was a flash of light and he was human again, deeply asleep.
…leaving me to deal with a Soulless one and her hypnotized boyfriend. Thanks for nothing, Will.
“Let’s make this as painless as possible, shall we?” Sunjewel suggested, sauntering over to us.
“Let’s,” I agreed, baring my fangs. But before I could dance up a spell, or even pounce, Opaljewel dropped between me and Sunjewel. Once, not too long ago, I would have gratefully hid behind Opaljewel. I would have been glad that he was there to protect me.
Now, I was annoyed. How could he just assume that I was helpless? Did he have that little faith in me? I couldn’t remember Will ever standing in front of me like this. He always stood beside me except when I insisted on standing in front of him.
“Keep away from Rubygem,” he growled.
“Why in hell would I do that?” Sunjewel rolled her yellow eyes. “I have the Promised One right here and ready to kill. I’ll have to eliminate any witnesses of course. I’m sure His Lordship wouldn’t mind.”
I was all set to rumble, but it wasn’t to be. Just as we three stood there, tensed and ready to spring (in my case, spring over Opaljewel, who was still in my way), someone crashed our party.
Literally, they crashed through the window in the living room.
It was a crystal dragoness. She was spiky and her scales were almost translucent. She almost looked like a glass or crystal statue brought to life. She didn’t have a soul-stone.
“Come on, Sunjewel,” she called. Her voice was like the ringing sound you make by rubbing damp fingers over the rim of a glass cup. “I’ve got the other two. His Lordship wants you to come back with me.”
Sunjewel gave a long-suffering sigh. “Fine, but only because His Lordship wants me, not because you told me to, Crystalspine.”
“You’d better have done it because I told you to, because I just replaced Citrinespike as your Captain,” Crystalspine informed her smugly. Sunjewel cast her a look of fury, but held her tongue.
Both dragonesses raised their wings and took off, flying away through the broken window. I looked at Opaljewel.
“Well, at least that wasn’t weird or anything.”