Disclaimer: I do not own any character except Caroline and Luna. Luna is a dragon I made up, and they both belong to me.

Chapter 1 The Wish

Today was special. Today was going to be exciting. Only I didn't know it yet. My whole life was about to change forever…

My birthday had not been happy today. I'll turn fifteen tonight, but my grandmother is in the emergency room. I tugged on my auburn hair as I sat nervously in the waiting room. Freckles cover my cheeks and my hair was cut short. It was 9:30 when mom got the call. Grandma had been sick for a long time, but now the doctors think she won't have much time. Mom came back from grandma's room and now it was my turn. She wanted me to have a moment alone with her before…

The hospital room was chilly, and a dim light shined from a lamp on a table. Holding back tears, I took grandma's frail hand.
"Caroline?" grandma looked up at me with ancient brown eyes and they locked with my misty green ones.
"I'm here, grandma." I kept my voice from cracking.
She smiled, and with shaking hands she took both of mine. A small object was placed in my palms. She looked me in the eye with a serious expression.
"Keep this close and never take it off," she whispered in a frail voice.
A mix of sorrow and confusion rose in me as she breathed her last words. Her hands slowly fell from mine and I no longer could conceal my tears.
Sadly I stared at the half moon on the back porch. The summer night air felt nice, but it didn't make me feel any better. It was my birthday. I was supposed to be happy. But all I could feel was sorrow. Me and my grandma were so close. We saw each other almost all the time. What I loved most about her was the stories she told me. Stories about dragons and Vikings and they were always exciting and adventurous. I glanced down at the necklace she gave me before she died. It was a red leather choker with strange designs on it, and in the middle some sort of black animal tooth was sewn onto it.
Never take it off. Those were her last words. What was so special about this necklace? Why would she give it to me?
A shooting star shot across the sky. I don't know why I did it. Maybe a small part of me felt it would change things. Whatever the reason was, I closed my eyes and wished from the bottom of my heart.
I wish I knew why grandma gave me this necklace.
My eyes shot open as an odd vibrating came from my necklace. I gasped as it began to glow brightly and vibrate in a frenzy. More than anything I wanted to take it off, but I was horrified to find I couldn't move! My arms hung limp at my sides and I was slowly rising into the air.
"Mom! Anyone!" I screamed in a panic, "Help!"
Bright blinding lights forced my eyes shut. There was a loud ZOOM, and then everything went black.

My mind swam with dizziness as I felt around for my blanket.
"Man, it's cold in here," I thought with frustration, "What did dad do, turn up the AC?"
I grabbed small round object that was cool to the touch. Forcing my sleepy eyes open, I studied the thing in my hand. Strange. What's a rock doing in my bed? A few cold white flakes floated in the air until they rested on my hands and arms. Ok…why is it snowing in my room?
Good thing I'm fifteen, or I would have had a heart attack. My eyes nearly burst out of their sockets as I looked around. I was no longer in my house – no, I was no longer anywhere I knew. All around me towered huge mountains, cliffs and…ocean. Stretched out before me was a vast dark sea. I stood on a high cliff, over looking it all. The air was freezing, the air smelled so fresh, and the foliage was the tallest pine trees I had ever seen and massive boulders and in the area I was in, lush green grass came up to my knees. A full moon was high in the sky surrounded by dark clouds. It was by far, the most beautiful place I had ever laid eyes on. However, snow was falling at a fast rate and I shivered at the unexpected weather.
How could any of this be possible? It was the middle of summer, but it was snowing. And tonight was supposed to be a half moon, not a full one. But my confusion only grew when I noticed a strange creature staring at me on a boulder a few yards away. I could be wrong, but that "strange" creature looks like a dragon. And it was staring right at me.
Despite my anxious feeling, I couldn't help but stare at the dragon in awe. She (the dragon looked like a female) stood on two hind legs with three unbelievably sharp claws on each foot. Her body color was a light violet with thin curvy black stripes. Instead of front legs she had big beautiful light blue wings which faded into her body color at the arm pits – or would it be considered wing pits? Each wing had a thick long sharp talon. A long tail swished gracefully behind her with two black fins on the end and the whole tail had curvy black stripes like her body. All her scales mysteriously glowed under the moon light. Her head had a feminine appearance with a long sharp horn curving upward from in-between her eyes. Her eyes were her most noticeable feature. They were big, round and a deep aqua green and they shined with intelligence and reveled a playful nature.
Slowly, the dragon cautiously crept towards me. I should have been terrified; instead I felt a thrill of excitement! As the dragon got closer, I noticed something interesting. Her claws, talons and horn were completely black. She stopped only five yards away.
"Darcy?"
A loud gasped escaped my mouth. That dragon just spoke to me! I took a few nervous steps back. Noticing the dragon was still waiting for an answer, I replied in a timid voice, "No, my name is Caroline. But," I frowned, "My grandmother's name was Darcy. How could you possibly know her?"
She answered in a sad voice, "Darcy is my friend. She's a human too, but I haven't seen her in such a long time. She used to visit me often. Sometimes staying with me for days before leaving." Her voice was quite pretty for a dragon.
"Oh." She couldn't be talking about grandma. It wasn't possible. I felt awkward talking to someone who I didn't think existed five minutes ago. And strangely, I felt an urge to comfort her. "Where's your family?"
"Gone." She looked down sadly, "Now I'm alone. Darcy was my family."
"Oh." Despite my efforts, she only looked sadder. And talking about family made me miss mine. I stared hard at the ground. A lump formed in my throat and I nearly choked, "I'm all alone too."
I jumped when the dragon nudged me with her snout. A glimmer of hope and longing appeared in her eyes, "Maybe…we can be alone together?"
I smiled, "I'd like that very much."
"My name is Luna."
"It's nice to meet you Luna."
Slowly, I lifted a hand to stroke her. She shied away, but just as I was about to withdraw my hand, she hesitated then slowly brought her head forward. My hand softly made contact with her muzzle, and in that one moment, we shared a feeling of trust.
As we pulled away, I violently shivered from the cold. The snow was blowing more fiercely and I hadn't noticed it gathering on me. I was wearing blue jeans, a red tank top and Nike tennis shoes. Luna took noticed my distress and to my astonishment, she shot out a flame of fire and it burned warmly on a small dead log. A smile spread widely across my face as I drew closer to the welcoming flames. I sat on a flat stone at a safe distance. Despite the fire, I was still freezing as the harsh wind cut into me. But it abruptly stopped as a massive wing draped over me. I looked up at Luna who laid next to me. I gave her a grateful smile.
"Doesn't the cold bother you?"
Luna shook her head and bluntly replied, "Thick scales."
"So," I tried to think up a conversation, "How did you find me anyway?"
"Your necklace summoned me," Luna nodded at the jewelry. "I had hoped Darcy had come back to me."
I suck in my breath as I looked down at my necklace. That must be what brought me here! My memories about it vibrating and glowing came back to me. But how the heck did it do that? And where did it bring me? Was it possible that the Darcy whom Luna talked about was in fact my grandma?
"Luna," the young dragon gave me her full attention, "It could be that Darcy was my grandma. Can you tell me about her?"
She frowned, "What do you mean "was"?"
A familiar lump found it's way into my throat again. If I told her, she'd be miserable, but she did have a right to know. My grandmother loved that dragon. I had to be honest.
"Luna," I spoke softly as I put a comforting hand on her knee, "My grandma, Darcy…she's been terribly sick and she's been so old…well what I'm trying to say is…she's passed on. Do you understand?"
Luna looked like she got hit by a bus. She stared hard at the ground and only nodded. We sat in a miserable silence until Luna spoke up, "I always suspected it would happen soon. The last I saw her was three weeks ago, and she told me she might not come back."
"How did you two meet?" I couldn't help but ask.
Luna stared into the fire, "Last year, a Viking killed my mom. I think we were the last of our breed. I managed to escape, but I had no one else." She paused before continuing, "Then one day, I felt strange. Like I was being summoned somewhere. I followed this urge to the edge of this cliff, and there was Darcy. I was scared at first, and so was she. In my haste to get away I hurt my wing. But Darcy took care of me. She wasn't like other humans." The memory made Luna smile, "She so caring and compassionate. We had so many adventures together. She'd stay with me for days on end until she needed to go back to her home. She mentioned having a family in another world, but the longest she'd ever be gone was a couple of days."
"Does the necklace let me talk to all dragons, or is it just you?"
She shrugged, "Darcy was able to talk to all dragons, but not all of them were big on conversations. Some only say a couple of words at a time."
Through all this I sat deep in thought. Somehow my necklace had the power to bring me to a whole other world. And it allowed me and my grandmother the power to talk to dragons. But how was I supposed to get home?
Out of the corner of my eye, Luna slouched as a feeling of sorrow swept over her eyes again. A brilliant idea crossed my mind. I leaned against Luna and I began telling her about the wonderful stories grandma used to tell me. This seemed to cheer both of us up, and all through the night we stayed up, telling each other the wonderful stories grandma used to tell us.
And our sadness seemed to have disappeared.