I sat in my room holding my dragon egg. It felt warm but cold at the same time. It was late at night and everyone was asleep. A knock came from the door; I got up to answer it. There was a quiet squeak as I swung the door open. It was Julie. I didn't hesitate to let her in, she must be as worried as me about the dragon eggs; in fact she was carrying hers herself. I shut the door and walked over to her. "I know. It's a lot to take in isn't it?" I said. We both went over to my bed and sat down. Julie just sighed and clutched her egg to her chest. We sat there a while and then Julie said, "If dad had one as a kid, wouldn't it have grown up with him?" I looked down at her surprised. She was really making this dragon egg sound like a bad thing.

"What do you mean?" I ask nervous like. She examined her egg, "Well something had to have happened to it. Otherwise we would know about it. And what if the same fate will happen to our dragons?" I watched Julie smile at her egg and lightly touch it. She must have bonded with it already. That was what I liked about Julie; she always cared for the helpless. Just then the bright yellow egg shook in Julie's hands. "Ahhhhh!" She yelped. I put a finger to my lips and said, "Shhhh! We don't want to wake mom up!" Julie stared wide eyed at the yellow egg. We sat there holding our breath, watching the egg for a couple more seconds before it shook again. "Huh!" Julie gasped again. I shook my head, "That dragon better not hatch yet." I said. Then I heard a weird scrapping noise behind me. Julie pointed and said in a hushed voice, "Look, your egg!" I turned to see it shaking from side to side. I wasn't sure what to do. So I just sat there and watched it shake. "What are we supposed to do?" Julie said helplessly. I looked and her egg then back at mine. "Nothing," I said, "Just wait." Julie shook her head at me, "I am not going to let it hatch in my lap, all that gooey slime stuff in the egg will be all over me when it hatches." She said annoyed. I nodded, but then I had an idea. "Wait here." I told her.

I went to the door and slowly peeked out; then I tip-toed to our bathroom. I shut the door as quietly as I could, and then flipped the lever to turn on the redstone lamps above the bathroom sink. I opened the chest that held our towels. I grabbed up to five then headed back to my room. When I finally shut my room door and turned around, I almost jumped out of my skin. My mom was there in front of me with her arms crossed. "Uh…Hello." I said shyly. "What's with the towels?" my mother asks. I struggled to make up an explanation but then Julie came out from behind mother. And in her arms was a small curled up baby yellow dragon with bright orange eyes. My mouth dropped open. "Is that…." I struggled to find any words. My mother un-crossed her arms and smiled. She then guided me over to my bed, Julie following. "Yours hasn't hatched just yet, Leo." She said, handing me my blue egg. I watched it as it continued to shake like before. Then a crack raced across the top of the egg. I leaned a bit closer to the egg.

CRACK! The egg burst opened, and out rolled a small blue dragon, with emerald green eyes. Immediately I felt a strong connection with it. It cried a small whimper; then Julie's did the same. "Their cold." Mother said looking sweetly at the baby dragons. She reached for the towels I brought and gently wrapped my dragon up. It tried to nibble on her finger, but she avoided it quickly. She then did the same for Julie's dragon. We sat there stroking observing the dragons, now sleeping peacefully in our laps. "Well, we ought to go to bed now. Goodnight." Mother said. She gave us both a hug and kiss then left the room. We sat there a while, but I felt an awkwardness between Julie and I. I glanced at her. She had this worried/scared look on her face. "Um….Leo? Could I sleep in here-" she started to say. Then a loud crash came from down the hall. Julie clutched her dragon. In fact the dragons were looking at my door now, with a look of anger in their eyes. I held up a hand to silence Julie before she could say anything. I slowly got up from the bed and headed for the door. "Leo!" Julie whispered in an urgent voice. I looked back towards her, and saw her pointing out the window. Our dragons were sitting two feet away from my window out in the yard, looking at us. I rushed to the window. How do they move that fast!?

"We can't let them run off!," I said in a hushed voice, "Someone might hurt them!" Julie nodded; she started to climb out the window when we heard heavy footsteps coming down to our door. And it wasn't our mother's footsteps. "Go!" I said franticly to Julie who clambered out the window. I stuck my head and shoulders through just as a heard someone near the door way scream, "No! Leave them alone!" "Shut up, you old widow! I told you to be quiet. Hold her back, Jason." said a scratchy voice. "Yes, sir." said another voice. "Let me go!" the women shouted. Now I recognized the voice. Mom. They got Mom. I felt something pulling on both my arms. Julie was tugging on my left and the baby dragons on my right. I snapped back to reality, I shook free from the grip of the dragons and used the hand to push myself out. Finally I fell out and hit the ground, hard. "Ow!" I said through gritted teeth. Julie gasped and started to reach down to pull me up but I said to her, "No, just go, Now!" She grabbed her yellow dragon and ran off to the woods behind the creek. I jumped up and ran after her. My dragon ran beside me, eyes glowing in the dark.

I ran to the creek edge and jumped it. I looked back to see my dragon standing on the opposite side. "Oh!" I said hitting my palm on my forehead; but before I could jump over, my dragon dove into the water. "Huh! What!" I said horrified. But then I see his head pop out of the water and then work his way out to me. I reached down and scooped the baby up. I looked up from the dragon and back at my house. And what I saw broke my heart. Giant flames came up from the roof and walls. My home since I was a baby was burning. My eyes filled with tears. They took my mother and my house. My worst fear. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped and turned around to Julie with her dragon. Tears were coming down her cheeks. I looked at my feet than back up at her my face serious. "Don't give up, Julie. We'll be ok." She just nodded and sniffled. Her dragon that was held in her hands climbed up on her shoulder and licked her cheek. Julie smiled at her dragon and then at me. I scooped up my dragon too. And we made of into the woods; leaving our normal, happy, and old life behind. "No turning back now." I said. "No turning back." Julie agreed.