They had found a cure for the mutants. That was what she read on the TV just before heading out to the barn to ride. Her host family had told her not to worry that she was not a mutant, that they were not mutants. They were draconidaes but she was only eleven. Dominic didn't quite understand what that meant. What she did understand was that sometimes she caught on fire but never burned. She could move things with her mind and hear what people were thinking. She could also turn into a dragon when she was extremely upset. Weren't these mutant things? She didn't know what to think. Her thoughts were interrupted as she noticed the cow she had been searching for. The cow was due any day and was now visibly thinner than she had been yesterday. Dominic sighed. Mother cows could hide their calves really well but she had to make sure it was OK. Dominic checked all the usual spots that this group had access to. The calf was nowhere to be found. She was just about to ride back to the house when she noticed the fence was down. She rode over to it and sure enough there were tracks going in. "The calf could be in there somewhere in those woods." Dominic thought to herself. She nudged the horse forward with her heels. She found the calf not very deep in the woods. Dominic dismounted and lead her horse Dae to the calf. She pulled her blonde hair back. The calf squirmed as she picked it up. There was no way she could carry it back to the fence. She decided to tie it to the saddle. She touched Dae's shoulder and the horse bowed to allow Dominic to lift the calf onto her shoulder.
Dominic had just secured the calf with rope when she felt something slice across her back. She turned to see a guy off to her side. She watched in shock as a bony projection grew from his arm. He through it like a spear. Dominic pushed Dae away spooking the horse who ran for the fence. The bone spear barley missed her. She turned and ran. The next spear hit her in the shoulder causing her to stumble a fall. Blood seeped from the wound catching the dead leaves around her to catch fire. Before she could get up he was on top of her holding her down with his boot on her back. He pulled the bone spear from her shoulder. She could see him raise the spear for the final blow. Time seemed to slow down as she was consumed by a white fire changing her into a dragon. She through the man from her back. Her purple scales glistened like jewels. Her blond hair fell free, the hair tie disintegrating in the transformation. She stood only five feet tall on all fours. The man moved towards her to strike again Her purple eyes narrows as she flattened her ears and growled. This would normally scare most people but this guy was out for blood. She slashed at him with her sharp black claws. Her claws made their mark on his arm making him scream in pain. She tried to go back the way she had come but he kept cutting her off. She opened her wings to try to fly. She knew she wasn't great at flying but she had to try. The man dashed any hope of this when his spear tore a large opening in one of her wings spilling more of her blood. It was a good thing that there wasn't much leaf litter or the fire in her blood might have set the whole forest on fire. She felt her rage rise to the surface at her torn wing. She caught her attacker in her teeth by his leg and began to shake him violently. He was screaming now. Dominic finally released him throwing him deeper into the woods.
She saw two people moving quickly towards her. Was she crazy or was one of them floating. They must have heard the screaming. She backed away from them flattening her ears and growling as she did. She had only backed a few steps when she bumped into a group of trees. Dominic saw one of the people raise his hand. She felt an unseen force grab her collar bone and drag her forward towards the two people. It was incredibly painful and she yelp has she was dragged. Pushing against the force with her legs did nothing. Now that she was closer she took in their details. The one who had raised his hand was an older man wearing some kind of costume with a cape and an odd looking helmet. The other was a woman with long red hair. She looked relatively normal except for her black eyes and the orange energy coming from her that looked like fire. Dominic wondered if others could see that too as she was told her eyes were special. "What have we here" the man in the cape asked. The man whom she had fought with earlier walked up. "Dang he's resilient" Dominic thought to herself. "Magneto sir I encountered her while patrolling the outer perimeter" Dominic realized what had dragged her forward and was now holding her. Magnetism. She knew her own magnetic abilities weren't very strong but just maybe they would be enough to get away. She focused trying to push her own magnetic field against his. "Is that so" Magneto said to the other man. He turned to Dominic as she tried to push against his magnetic. He smiled. "That won't do you any good my dear." She knew he was right and tried a mental attack instead but he didn't seem to be affected. "who are you and what are you doing here" Magneto asked. At this question Dominic felt someone enter her mind. They shattered her mental defenses like they were nothing. She also felt every nerve in her body activate. It felt as if she were being electrocuted. She dropped to the ground screaming in agony. "Jean!" she heard Magneto yell as he released his grip on her collar bone. "She is no one" Jean said. Dominic felt herself shift back to human completely vulnerable now. The pain had stopped and she struggled to move and her breathing was labored. Her body was covered in sweat. "She's just a child" Magneto say with a shock. "he examined the wounds on her back. "did you do this" he asked the other man helping her into a sitting position. Dominic could see that the red haired woman was gone. "yes" the man said. "We do not attack our own kind especially our children" Magneto growled. "But sir what about…" "That's different!" he said cutting the other man off. "now go make yourself useful and get some medical supplies then get back to your watch." The other man left.
By now Dominic had gained back some of her mobility. She tried to stand and staggered forward as she tried to run. Magneto caught her wrist. She tried to pull away but all her strength seemed to have left her. "I'm not going to hurt you." Magneto said pulling her back towards himself He could see the fear and distrust in Dominic's eyes. He sat down on a log and took off his helmet with his free hand setting it next to him. My name is Erik what's yours? He asked her. It took her a minute to answer. "Dominic" she said timidly. "Come sit with me Dominic" he said. "You're not going to hurt me again are you?" she asked hesitating to move. "No" he said. Dominic sat down a few feet from him. Magneto released her wrist. "What were you doing wondering around the woods?" he asked her. She explained about the missing calf. Magneto sighed "you were leaving and he still attacked." He mumbled under his breath. "You have an amazing gift child. Could you show me again?" Dominic shook her head not looking at him. "I can't my powers hurt people. I can't control them very well." She said. "You were doing a fine job earlier" he said. "Yeah but I was trying to hurt you" she said turning to look at him. "Erik are you a mutant?" She asked. The question seemed to surprise him. "Do you know another group of powered humans?" "Well my family said that I'm not a mutant." Your parents told you this?" he asked. "well their not really my parents. They just kind of adopted me and they're like me" "Your powers you mean?" she nodded. "They also said I should avoid mutants. That they were bad people." "What do you think?" he asked. "So far you are the only semi good one that I've met." "only semi good?" he laughed. "you did drag me around by my collar bone earlier. That was uncalled for." "I see your point my dear and you'll have to excuse my brother and sister for their rudeness towards you. Mutants aren't normally like that. That I can promise you" Dominic wasn't sure what to think anymore. "Erik I need to go home before anyone comes looking for me" she said. "What about your wounds" he asked. "Oh any bandages you put on them won't last very long." She said. "What do you mean" he asked becoming concerned. Dominic took a few drops of blood from her back and let them drip onto some leaves. The leaves instantly caught on fire. "You're full of surprises aren't you" he said. she smiled at this. "it's a wonder your clothes haven't caught fire" he laughed. "Wool doesn't really burn" she said turning to leave. "Wait, what will you tell your family?" he shouted. "I'll think of something" she called back breaking into a run. She was definitely not telling them that she had met a bunch of mutants in the woods. They would have a hay day with that.
Only when she got to the field did she began to walk. She was about halfway to the house when she heard the wing beats. Two dragons, one red one white rose above the hill and circled her before landing. "What happened. I smell blood" the red one said. "Dae spooked and threw me and I landed on a tree branch. Some noble steed she turned out to be." An orange fire consumed the red dragon and a blue fire the white consumed the white one as they shifted back to humans. They had accepted her answer. Mary her host mother came close and lead her back to the house. She was a moon dragon so she had amazing healing abilities. James brought her a new wool shirt to change into. She went back out to the barn to care for the new calf. Her host family never suspected what had really happened to her. Maybe mutants weren't bad.