"Yo hang out at my place?" That was a text from one of Seth's friends. The ringtone had made him jump, startled, because he had seen nothing but quiet for over an hour now.

Jesus! Better not be so jumpy out here. A certain someone might not appreciate that. Seth didn't have any intention of making social plans today, so he responded, "Not today man, maybe tomorrow." Seth thought about adding an excuse about having other plans already, but he didn't need whoever that was (the boy didn't much care at this time) to ask what they were. Explaining them would have been difficult to say the least. Who the hell is texting me at four in the morning anyway? That was when Seth was finally curious enough to check the contact. Logan. Figures he'd be up at this hour. I should'a ripped him a new one, but I guess it's too late now.

As Seth sat on a log and waited, he was about halfway through his second chocolate bar that morning when a pack of raccoons had gathered at the boy's feet... and he wasn't keen on sharing his candy. "'Ey," he acknowledged them before casually commanding them to, "Fuck off." That didn't cut it, though. One of the raccoons was even brave enough to hop up on the log with Seth and threaten to creep even closer for the candy. Someone out here must be feeding these fuckers if they're brave enough to get that close. The boy tried to scowl at the critter, but it wouldn't leave still. Well, I tried to be nice. You brought this on yourself.

Seth wrapped the half-eaten candy bar in its wrapper as best he could and stuck it into his Call of Duty themed pajama bottoms (he figured what the point was in getting dressed in real clothes when there were no people to see him in the woods anyway). That allowed him to stand up, the raccoons still not backing away. "I said, 'Fuck off.'" Deftly, and remorselessly, Seth lifted a leg and kicked the raccoon who had disrespected his personal space, sending it flying several feet. Huh. Lighter than I thought. Luckily the rest of the raccoons were smart enough to run off rather than defend their fallen comrade. After that Seth glanced behind himself to the rodent he had kicked. Apparently it was still there, lying still and prone. Did I knock it out? Or kill it? Didn't mean to hit it that hard.

Seth sat down again, bit his chocolate bar after taking it out, and glanced at the structure before him. It had been the treehouse the black dragon had almost killed Seth in, though it was no longer. Several of its wooden planks were scattered around it and its tree, but most of it (at least what remained before he fall) was whole. I don't know why I thought he'd come back here. It probably isn't exactly his most pleasant memory. Hell, for all I know he's not even in Ontario anymore if he can still fly. The boy heard rustling behind him then and... Crunching? The boy rapidly looked back over his shoulder then and inhaled quickly. There was the beast, chowing down on the immobilized raccoon! Well it's definitely dead now. The boy had to turn away for a moment in order not to lose his appetite, but he looked back just in time to watch the dragon lift the rest of the carcass by the tail and toss it into his own mouth. Brutal. How the hell did he even sneak up on me? I'd have had to hear him stomping around or flapping his huge-ass wings!

Seth was proven wrong when, in one long but effortless bound, the black dragon cleared twenty feet to wind up not behind the boy or even beside him but in front of him! The motion made Seth jerk to the side, dodging, but it turned out to be unnecessary; the dragon's wings, though almost right next to his skin, didn't even scrape him on their way past. Even more remarkably, the black dragon didn't make much of a noise when it landed. Or maybe I wouldn't have heard him. What is he made of? Air? Turned out the dragon wasn't perfect, though. Seth still watched it cringe, hiss, and lift its foreleg, the one that had been caught in a trap. Apparently that leg didn't like the landing. "So that thing's still bad, huh?" Glancing at it, Seth figured, I shouldn't be surprised. It's only been... What, twelve hours? Lucky he remembers me, I guess. I wouldn't wanna be on the wrong end of that fireball.

"Hey!" Seth whistled to the creature to get its attention, and that succeeded. At that point Seth dropped his backpack and withdrew his secret package: a fresh, unopened box of Oreos. Even a whole box of these is probably just an appetizer for something his size. "You know what goes good with... uh, dead raccoon, I guess? Enough sugar and transfats to give a mouse a heart attack!" Seth supposed he should probably throw the cookies on the ground; feeding a wild animal out of his hand, especially a meat eater, might not end so well. The creature didn't much like that, though; he retreated back from the pile of cookies tossed toward him a foot in a way that reminded Seth of a cat. But then Seth saw the dragon sniff the air. Damn right, they smell good. Too bad I didn't bring milk... or, maybe, I would have needed a cow.

"Go ahead, bud. It's food. More importantly, it's good!" Seth was amused to watch the dragon suspiciously crouch-crawl near the cookie, sniff them relentlessly, and snap one up like he expected it to fight back. Maybe throwing food around in bear woods is a bad idea. But, hey, he chased off the last bear, at least. The dragon warbled excitedly at the flavor and much more calmly snatched up the other cookies. He's kinda cute when he's friendly. Seth got a daring idea, then. Maybe I should see just how far I can go. Seth whistled again, and that made the nightfury make instant eye contact with Seth. Ha. It's like I'm training him!

"Want some more?" Seth had a few cookies in his hand now, and the boy wasn't surprised to watch the dragon fearlessly and casually approach to take them. Do I have a dragon literally eating out of the palm of my hand? The answer turned out to be, 'not quite.' The dragon went ahead and engulfed Seth's hand and fingers and pulled the cookies off his hand that way. Don't use the teeth! No teeth! he panicked, Teeth? No teeth? No teeth. Phew, close one. Maybe I pushed my luck too far. For the second time, Seth's hand was drenched in dragon slobber that he tried to wipe off on a leaf. It didn't work. Then again, it's hard to call something a bad decision if it works. "Hey, I brought you something else, too." At that announcement the beast craned its neck and looked down on Seth from above with a very certain look on its eye. That is definitely curiosity. He knows what I said.

Seth also took a towel of the bag he snuck, one from his shower. "Best not let much dirt and gross stuff get in some of those cuts, else it could mean infection. Tying this over them could help avoid that. Will you let me?" This time, Seth actually expected to be understood, but it still filled him with wonder that the dragon warily held out his bad foreleg and lay it over the log the boy was sitting on. Too bad I couldn't use a bandage of some sort. I'm gonna have to dry off after a shower with a hand towel. Good cause, I guess. When the towel was secure, Seth commanded, "Don't take that off until you're healed if you can avoid it. Understand me?" Actually, Seth wanted to ask that as a separate question. "Do you understand me? When I speak to you? Uh... blink once if you do." He did.

I guess I expected that, but that's so crazy! For all I know this guy is even smarter than me! Actually, that might not be hard to believe... What if he understands me by mind reading? He's still a walking wild card, after all. Uh... hey! If you're reading my mind, extend one wing! That didn't happen. I guess I didn't expect that to work anyway. So Seth got back on track. "Show me that shoulder, too." The boy empathetically patches that up, too. "I don't think I can do anything about the wings. Wait a second!" Seth knew he might be overstepping a boundary by unfolding one of the dragon's wings without warning or permission. Seth heard the dragon huff, annoyed, and saw it watch him closely, but it didn't stop Seth.

Hey, look at that. Apparently wing punctures do heal... Pretty damn fast, too. The puncture wounds weren't gone, but Seth knew some had shrunk in just the hours since he last saw them. I guess that makes some sense. It's evolution: dragons who heal quickly are more likely to survive than dragons that don't, and the survivors are more likely to pass on their genes. And maybe the type of cell in the wings also matters, but I wouldn't know. "Wow, that looks way better! This big hole must have shrunk an inch already!" Who says I need school? I'm already the greatest dragon biologist/veterinarian on the planet... as far as I know.

The dragon took his wing back in that moment and turned to face Seth directly. His snout snaked down Seth's legs until it reached his ankles and feet, where he pushed on them and warbled impatiently. At first Seth was just confused by this, but then he remembered that the dragon had seen him injured, too. "Oh, my ankles? I'm fine!" The boy took his shoes and socks off then to show them. "Couple bruises and scratches. Luckily I didn't need a ride to the hospital. Oh! Almost forgot!" Before the dragon could even figure out what happened, Seth quickly drew his phone from his pocket and snapped a hasty photo of the dragon. "Fuck, that is so cool."


Jenisa slowly walked out of the library, her Mary Janes softly scuffing against the sidewalk as she dragged her feet. She had gone there to study for a test, but it didn't exactly go as planned. She just stayed in the manga section for those two hours. Now looking up ahead a bit, she saw two girls from her history class. She tried to talk to them many times before, but it just ended in her being ignored, so Jenisa just decided to try and stop being friends with anyone. If it happened, she thought, it'd be natural; she wasn't going to try and force herself to be friends with anyone anymore. Looking down at her scuffed shoes, Jenisa let out a soft sigh as her mind went to her father.

Her father, Jonathan Burgulow, died when she was four. According to Jenisa's mother, he was a soldier that died in the war. She missed her father greatly. One of her earliest memories was that when she was just three she was sitting on her father's lap while he watched hockey. It was insane; one day he was there, and the next he was gone. Still, Jenisa thought he was in a better place now. So, keeping forward for a bit longer, she suddenly swerved off the road towards the woods. She always went this way when she was coming home from the library. It was a lot easier and more shaded than walking down the sidewalk.

Once in the woods her feet started to loudly crunch the dead dried up leaves and twigs on the ground, she loved the sound , she was the type of girl to jump into a pile of leaves just to hear the crunching of the leaves. Going her normal route, Jenisa would normally listen to the many chirping birds in the trees, but today there didn't seem to be a bird in these woods. All was still and silent. It unnerved her a bit. Taking in a deep breath she continued to soldier on through the woods. She just wanted to get home and watch the rest of Blood-C on her laptop.

Hearing a sudden noise off in the distance made Jenisa pause her walking in mid-step as she listened deeply. The noise sounded almost demonic, just a low guttural bass much deeper than anything she's ever heard before. Bears?! Was her first thought as her mind started to race rapidly with fear. Breathing in a very shaky breath she was almost too scared to move as fear paralyzed her. Finally, she shook her head forcing herself to focus. It was probably just an old truck with a rusty engine or something. There's no way a bear made that noise, Jenisa reassured herself as she sucked in a deep breath. Slowly she trudged forward in a semi-jog as she just wanted to get home at this point.

Jenisa suddenly had to slow down at the sight up ahead. It looked like something had completely demolished the trees. They weren't uprooted, and some trees were and even fully on their sides, but most of the tall pine trees where all completely broken. The fresh light brown wood oozed sap slowly out of it's wounds. Off in the distance Jenisa could see that one pine tree looked to be completely burnt black- well, what was left of the tree, that was. Slowly and carefully she started towards that tree in particular. Being careful of the fallen limbs of the over trees, she made her way to the blackened tree and put her hand on it, which turned out to be a big mistake.

"Ah!" Crying out in pain, Jenisa moved her hand back and even backed away from the tree, frightened. The tree was still blistering hot despite being burnt already. Looking at her palm she could see it turning red from the heat, though she had hope it wouldn't be too bad. Shaking the pain away from her hand, Jenisa paused when she heard it again: the low guttural demonic sound once again sounding throughout the woods, only it was closer than last time. Turning her head towards where the sound most definitely came from, Jenisa swallowed hard before deciding it was time to investigate. Stepping over fallen tree limbs and being mindful of any spiderwebs, she was careful as she walked away from her normal route home. Narrowing her eyes she listened and became aware of another sound following the guttural sounds. It sounded like… flapping wings? Stepping on a branch it snapped loudly, so loudly that the flapping wings suddenly hushed leaving the forest feeling desolate and quiet. Putting her hands up, scared, Jenisa slowly and cautiously stepped forward, listening as much as she could.

"H-Hello?" Her own voice sounded foreign to her as it echoed dully around the woods. She honestly knew she wasn't going to get an answer as she slowly stepped forward. Feeling her skirt get caught by a fallen tree branch, she paused to get her skirt uncaught. That was when an impossible gust of wind caused her to lose her balance and fall back, ripping her skirt down the leg. Now fallen on her butt, she only blinked dumbly. That wasn't normal wind. She knew that by the fact that the treetops didn't sway, and it felt more like the wind had purposely pushed her down, which meant that wind was insanely powerful. Getting back up, a part of her just wanted to turn and run. However, something in her kept pushing her to walk forward into the woods. Moving a branch out of the way of her path, she paused when she started to make out something on the side of a rather large pine tree. It looked so out of place because it was bright white. For a second she wondered if it was the inside of a tree. Seeing how the rest of trees around are destroyed, aren't some trees white on the inside? But she knew that with it being a pine tree, it shouldn't be white on the inside.

Suddenly the white mass moved causing, Jenisa to gasp and fall back in fright. That wasn't normal! That was far from normal. The guttural sound rung around her now closer than ever and louder because of it. Putting her hands over her ears, Jensia forced herself to stand. She needed to see what this thing was at this point. Having had enough of being scared, Jenisa charged forward just so she could finally see just what this thing was. She stopped once she was close enough, eyes wide and mouth agape as she stared blankly at just what was in front of her.

At first she wondered if she was hallucinating; maybe she had been watching too much anime or reading too much manga, because what was on the tree was not something she truly expected to see. However, the gust of wind that rushed by her once more as it moved its giant wings told her otherwise.

It was a dragon, no doubt about it. A giant dragon that took up almost half of the giant tree. It's scales a polished white that almost reflected the sun off of them giving the dragon an almost angelic glow in the sunlight. It's head was long and narrow, and Jenisa could see that it was a snaggle tooth, as it had a large canine that rested over its upper lip. Its long neck leaned down so it could be face to face with her, its large body not moving from the side of the tree it was apparently stuck to. It tilted its head to the side as it looked into her large brown eyes. Jenisa looked over towards the dragon's wings, where she found that the wings were a duller white with no scales, just leathery white-looking skin. Suddenly the dragon brought her attention back to it by breathing into her face. As Jenisa stared back into the dragon's face, she noticed its pale and straight gray horns- well, horn, as the second horn was broken and missing. All that was left of it was a stump. The dragon breathed harshly into her face once more then, its breath hot. Then it lifted its upper lip into a snarl in her face. That was when her legs gave out from under her and her world went black.

She didn't think she'd wake up, but, she did. Looking up at the open Canada sky, she rolled over on the forest floor, leaves and twigs in her hair and all over her back. Then looking up, she was face to face with the dragon once more.

"So it wasn't a dream?" She deadpanned as she stood up. The dragon tilted its head at her and she took notice that it was still stuck to the tree. The dragon was also still snarling- No. it's... smiling at me? It's lips were curled up, but it wasn't threatening, and it wasn't showing its gums, just it's teeth like a demented smile. "Are… are you trying to be nice?" She felt silly asking, but to her surprise, the dragon nodded happily. Jenisa opened her mouth to respond, but quickly shut it, and opened it again, looking a lot like a fish out of water. "This… is new," she finally managed to spit out. The dragon then suddenly pushed its head into her chest causing her to take a step back. "What?" she asked, sounding meaner than she really needed to be.

The dragon lifted its head and started to thrash around once more. Moving its back up and down as hard as it could, the dragon didn't move. It couldn't move!

"Do you need my help? Is that it?" Jenisa inquired as she took a brazen step forward. The dragon opened its mouth and let out that same low guttural noise that she had heard earlier. Moving around the dragon slightly, she looked to see if maybe it was impaled by a tree branch or something similar, but, to her surprise, it looked like thousands upon thousands of quills were sticking out of its back and impaling the tree, keeping yeh Dragon stuck in place. Jenisa narrowed her eyes. Maybe I could...

Grabbing the first low hanging branch she could find, she grunted and pulled herself up so she could squeeze in between the dragon and the tree. Slowly and carefully, Jenisa climbed higher and higher up the trees. Jenisa had to climb up higher than her comfort level, so she was then at the dragon's shoulder. Instantly the dragon stopped it's struggle and held still once he felt her behind him. Being mindful of the dragon's many quills, Jenisa let out a sharp breath and started to push against the dragon's giant shoulder. She could feel her legs shake violently as she struggled to stay balanced on the branch she was on. Her knees wanted to buckle, but Jenisa stayed strong as she continued to push. Finally she felt the dragon slip just a little bit away from the tree. The quills moved about half an inch out!

Smiling pridefully to herself she, watched as the dragon's quills, now with enough movement to do so, went down flat against the dragon's shiny white back, almost blending in instantly, and the dragon was then free. It crashed down to the ground below it, causing Jenisa to suddenly lose her balance. Crying out, she flailed her arms wildly to try and gain her balance back. It didn't work, so she fell from the branch. Screaming out in fear as the forest floor got closer and closer to her, she could see her life flashing before her. Squeezing her eyes tight, she waited for the impact, but it never came. Instead she suddenly stopped in mid-air, the back of her jacket snagged by something. Looking up, Jenisa figured a low branch had saved her life by catching her jacket, but to her complete surprise the dragon now had her jacket in it's large mouth. The dragon wasn't even flying; it had just caught her out of the air like a fly. Slowly and gently the dragon brought Jenisa to the ground. On her knees then, Jenisa never felt more happy on the dirty forest floor in her life.

"T-Thank you." Was all she could muster to say to the dragon. The dragon's blue eyes looked into her brown ones for a few moments, as they stared at one another Jenisa felt like the dragon truly understood just what she was saying and was saying 'thank you'' back to her. Bringing her hand up to the dragon's snout, she gently rested her hand between the dragon's nostrils. The scales just felt like scales, not warm nor cold. However, when the dragon suddenly snorted at her the breath was hot, causing her to retract her hand for just a moment before gently caressing the white dragon's nose. Suddenly the dragon rubbed against her hand and letting a low whine.

"What's the matter?" She softly questioned, Jenisa could hear her own concern in her voice. The dragon moved it's head away from her and seemed to be pointing to it's back with it's snout. Slowly walking around the large beast she could see it. On the middle of it's back that she couldn't see before was a large burn mark, making it's white scales a charcoal black and showing an open burn wound that was a sickly pink. Unable to reach that high she could only inspect the wound from where she was. "Jesus...What in the hell did that?" was all that came out of her mouth. Suddenly the dragon picked her up by her jacket once more and placed her on its back. Jenisa yelped once she was placed on top of the beast. Slowly she inspected the burnt scales and skin. She made the mistake of reaching out and touching the dragon's wound; hearing the dragon snap its teeth next to her ear she backed away quickly. She frowned gently and looked back at her friend.

"Well what do you want me to do about it? I don't have any medical training for giant flying reptiles you know," she quipped back at her friend as she put a hand on her chest. Instantly the dragon snorted at her like it was the dumbest question in the world. Finally it merely shook its head and she took that as time to get off of the giant beast. Looking at the height between her and the ground she froze for a second. Feeling her back suddenly being nudged she lost balance and was forced to jump down. Grunting out she turned to the dragon finally and just narrowed her eyes. "Ok, it's clear that you're injured, but there is literally nothing I can do about it."

The dragon only snorted at her once more, clearly a tad frustrated that she can't understand whatever it needed her help with. Sucking in a deep breath of frustration, Jenisa only took a step forward towards the dragon and gently patted its neck. "I want to help you, but I have no idea what you need." She softly explained to the dragon. The dragon only whined back in response before finally pulling away from her. Jenisa watched as the dragon painfully walked a few steps before returning back to her, something small dangling out of it's mouth. It suddenly dropped the small object, and Jenisa let out a gag as she realized she was looking at a dead squirrel.

"Jesus Christ! Why would you show me that?!" she cried as she looked away from the animal. The dragon only looked at her and picked the squirrel up once more. Morbid curiosity kept Jenisa looking as the beast suddenly threw the dead animal up in the air, and it one sickening bite that ended with a loud crunch, ate the dead animal. The dragon then looked at her for a few long seconds. Jenisa, for a terrifying moment, wondered if the dragon wanted to eat her, but by watching at the dragon more and realizing the dragon didn't have a hungry man-eating gaze to it, she got to thinking more and more. Finally, it hit her as she snapped her fingers, "You can't live on squirrels or birds! They're too small for you! You need me to bring you food so you can heal faster. Is that it?" She asked excitedly that she might have finally figured it out. Her guess was confirmed when the dragon nodded at her. Jenisa happily jumped and clapped. "OK, I can do that! I hope you don't mind stuff like hamburger though." Jenisa breathed out as she ran her hand through her hair. The dragon blinked at her before Jenisa let out a low breath. She then looked at the dragon, and gently patted the dragon's face.

"So, just out of curiosity…" She pause and started to tilt her body downwards to take a peek at the dragon's genitalia, she felt her cheeks turn red once he saw the 'red rocket' so to speak, and came back up. She only just patted the dragon's face once more before sighing out. Looking up at the sky she saw the orange hue of the sky and gasped out. "Shit! My mom is going to kill me!" she screamed out as she realized it was late now. "I have to go! I'll be back tomorrow! Goodbye!" She yelled out as she turned and ran back home as fast as she could.


Jenisa made it back home in record time. Slamming the door behind herself, she leaned against the door, allowing everything that had just happened to slowly absorb in her mind. Her favorite skirt was ripped down the side of her leg; her white stockings ripped and dirty, covered in mud and a bit of blood; she had leaves and twigs in her wild birds nest of hair; and overall she looked like a breathing out, she shakily locked the door behind her. Once the lock clicked she walked walked into the kitchen and grabbed a soda from the fridge.

Before Jenisa could even shut the door, Seth yanked another one out and greedily chugged it. The girl hadn't even heard him come in behind her, but it was easy to see why: Seth was barefoot, not exactly prepared to go out. Perhaps he hadn't even left the house at all that day; his hair was a mess, and he was wearing pajama bottoms where any reasonable person would have put on real pants hours ago. He didn't seem very interested in talking, though, so as soon as the can was empty he turned back for his room without a word.

"I'm fine, thanks for your concern." She quipped at him as she shut the fridge door. Taking in a deep breath she pulled the top of the soda and started to chug it as well. However; she wasn't done in the kitchen just yet. She climbed on the counter to open the top cabinet and pulled out her hidden stash of marshmallows from the very top of the cabinet.

"Hmm?" Seth turned around lazily then, almost looking drunk, but it was clear the real culprit behind his sluggishness was sleepiness: he could barely keep his eyes open. On the remark Seth looked Jenisa up and down, rubbed his eyes, and asked with as much interest as he could gather (which was still less than was appropriate), "Damn, Jen, what happened? You get jumped?"

Jensia had already run through her excuse in her mind on the way home and so, without skipping a beat, she simply shrugged and just sighed, "I was walking home through the woods when a bear showed up. I ran and tripped a few times, but I managed to get away."

"Yeesh, why couldn't we live near otters or cats instead? It had to be fuckin' bears, didn't it?" Seth was done with his drink then, so he lazily tossed it into a bin with perfect accuracy. "Or you'd at least think they'd learn to stay away from people. Hell, yest-" Seth almost told the story of the bear he had encountered, but he only then realized he couldn't. Jenisa would ask just how Seth got out of that, and he didn't think telling her was a good idea. "Eh, fuck it. I swear, someone's gotta do something about the, uh, crazy wildlife around here."

"Agreed." Jensia breathed out weakly. That was when her mother came in through the front door,

"Jesus! What happened to you!?" Joan demanded as she cupped Jensia's face in her hands.

Jensia got out of her mother's grip and just mumbled a quick, "Nothing. I'm hopping in the shower now."

"Jenisa, did you get into a fight?" Her mother concernedly asked once she noticed her daughter's ripped skirt.

"No, I almost ran into a bear in the woods, I'm fine mom," Jenisa stubbornly fought back, normally she wasn't one to lie to her mother, but her mom couldn't learn the truth.

"Did someone get into a fight?" That wasn't Seth, but Seth scoffed as his father barged into the kitchen from the next room. "Jenisa, what happened to you?"

Great, the boy thought about Dustin's arrival, just what I wanted when I woke up at- He glanced at the clock. -7:33PM: a family reunion.

"I just told Mom and Seth there was a bear in the forest. I ran and tripped a few times. That's why I look like this." Jenisa scoffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. As far as you guys know she thought gleefully to herself.

At that Seth furrowed his brow. A few times? Seth thought to himself. While escaping a bear? And succeeding?

"Well why don't you go change, honey? I'll go get the sewing machine." That was Dustin volunteering, and he scampered out of the kitchen as soon as he said that.

Yeah, Dad, Seth grumbled internally, Nothing says 'masculine' like eagerly running for the sewing kit.

"Alright… thanks…" Jenisa mumbled before walking away and popping a marshmallow in her mouth.

Her mother suddenly turned and ran off full speed towards the bathroom letting out a sickly gag as she did so, making Jenisa cringe as her mother did so. The bathroom door slammed shut and Jenisa could hear her mother gagging and retching. "Ew…" Was all Jenisa could say before turning to Seth. "She must not be feeling well." Was all Jenisa could say.

"After dinner last night? I didn't feel so good either." Jenisa's story had piqued the smallest possible portion of Seth's interest. "So how did you escape a damn bear if you tripped and fell more than once, anyway? What, 'd he only have two legs?"

Jenisa pursed her lips, "One: you ate Oreos for dinner last night. Two: I zigzagged ran. That's what you do for bears." She then felt her mind mentally scream at her, That's for alligators, idiot! But it was too late to take it back now. "That's why I kept tripping,"

"One: why do you think I felt like shit? Two: bears run about a whole fucking lot of miles per hour. If you tripped that much you'd be a meal." Seth crossed his arms then. It couldn't have been a certain very different animal... could it? Seth thought he'd try probing softly without revealing anything. "Are you hiding something? Maybe... because you think no one will believe you?"

Jenisa narrowed her eyes at Seth, unsure of what to say, should she tell the truth? Why should she trust Seth of all people with this secret? The man who clearly couldn't keep his own father's secret a secret for long. "I... don't know what you're talking about." She finally mustered out.

That wouldn't cut it for Seth. He was in lie detector mode now, and he caught that hesitation in Jenisa's voice. Unfortunately for her, the look on Seth's face showed that he knew. "If I took a shit in a pot and cooked it on the stove, it still wouldn't taste as bad as the bullshit you just tried to feed me." Seth was real interested now. The boy took a chair from the table, sat in it, and leaned back in it. "I can only think of two things you'd hide given your story and state. Either you were raped - and you really, really need to be honest if you were-" for once, actual concern showed in the seventeen-year-old's voice. "-or the creature that attacked you was... something else." In his head Seth thought, Damnit. If that dragon did this... I don't know what I'm gonna do. It's not like I can chase him away, but that shit can't happen. He could'a killed someone!

Jenisa took in a sharp breath at the word 'rape' it just didn't make her comfortable, the word alone. Still she just scoffed, "I wasn't... Urg… raped." She shuddered, but continued, "You know something as well then. You know that there's something in those woods, by the library?" She questioned as she crossed her arms.

That's it. It has to be him. The boy pursed his lips. Should he show his hand? Do I have a choice now? "The, uh... reptile. So you saw it, too." That means it had to be him who tried to kill Jenisa. Soon as I can I've gotta see him again and put a stop to that... if he'll even listen to me. "Never saw it as far away as the library, though."

"Yes, the reptile, it didn't attack me, in fact, it needed my help. I got like this from being scared and running. However, the poor thing was stuck on a tree and needed my help," she explained quickly as she looked at her skirt. "It knocked down several trees, and my skirt got caught on a branch," she absentmindedly added.

"Stuck in a tree?" Seth misheard, perhaps because being stuck in a tree made slightly more sense than being stuck on a tree. Still, I can't see him having any trouble with trees. Not sure he can fly right now, but I can't see tree climbing being an issue. But, hey, at least I don't have to try and rough up a dragon. That wouldn't go well. "The dragon," Seth finally spoke openly. But he looked over his shoulder then, wishing he had done that first. Still, it was clear. "Can't imagine him getting stuck in a tree. But I guess I should warn him to stay away from human places... especially if he's been caught twice already." Seth then added, "I think he understands human speech. Or the ultimate message behind it, at least."

"Right… I think he does as well, I mean, he was rather... happy to be free." Jenisa snorted slightly as she laughed at the memory. "He pretty much showed me that in order to heal he just needs some food and time. I saw the thing eat a squirrel in one bite!"

The bathroom door finally opened and Joan came wobbling out looking rather pale in the face. "I think I need to lay down." Joan groaned as she held onto her stomach.

Jenisa just let her mother go, she waited until the door to her mom and step dad's bedroom shut before turning back to Seth, "Look, I could literally talk about this all night long, but I need to hop into the tub. I hate feeling this filthy." Jenisa grimaced.

"What, are you shitting me?" the boy pressed, rising up from his chair. "We discovered a motherfucking dragon, and the first thing you wanna do is take a damn shower?"

"Well, what do you want to do about it then? Huh? Call the cops? CSIS? Get the thing discovered? Don't you think Mom and Dustin might get a little suspicious if I tell them I ran away from a bear and then immediately leave the house for no reason what so ever?" Jenisa argued back against him.

"Hell, no! We are not running our mouths on this, so let's shut that shit down right this moment." Seth supposed she had a point, though, in that there wasn't anything time sensitive to discuss. "...fine. But we are not fucking done here."

"Fine by me. Now, I'll be in the shower if you need me for anything else," She simply put it as she grabbed her bag of marshmallows and walked off towards her room to get some night clothes.

How can something all black and so quiet be so bad at hiding from people? Seth glanced out the window towards the woods. Well, no one's gonna be suspicious if I go back outside for no reason. I gotta give that overgrown newt a talking to.