As a teenager, Jake had a whole list of things he hated. School is one. Brad is another, not to mention the Dark Dragon and all the other enemies he made over the last year, but of the non deadly ones, there were two that topped the chart. The first was mornings. He did not function well in the morning. According to his grandfather, dragons were originally nocturnal so the same could be said for a lot of dragons, but Jake hated it especially. The other was heat, which is a little ironic considering that he's a fire-breathing dragon, but he could not stand it. if given a choice between living in Alaska or anywhere along the equator, he'd pick Alaska on any day of the week. It just seemed so much more sensible to him. In cold weather, he could just put on an extra coat and feel at least somewhat comfortable, but nothing could be done for heat, short of shedding his skin. That was certainly out of the question, especially remembering the last time. He had a study date with Rose and then the zits and the ... But, I digress. Just let it suffice to say that it was a hot morning, and it didn't show signs of getting any cooler. Normally, he'd already be in school, or in the nearest convenience store if school wasn't in the books for that day, but on this particular morning he was standing on the corner of 5th and Samson, waiting for Trixie. Spud showed up almost thirty minutes ago, but Trix was nowhere to be found. First there was the slight irritation stage where the two just stood and complained. Well, Jake did most of the complaining; Spud didn't really mind the heat. Then, they slipped into the murderous daydream stage, during which they both described in great detail, the torture and eventual death that awaited Trixie if she didn't show her face in the next five minutes. Then there was the slightly worried stage, and Spud even wondered if she was kidnapped. They stared at each other for a moment before laughing out loud. Trixie would never let herself be kidnapped. She'd fought goblins, trolls and even Chiang with them. No puny criminal was getting the better of her. It would take something big. Something really ugly and nasty to kidnap Trix.
Spud saw her first. He was leaning against the streetlight pole observing his hat melt when he saw Rose, no Huntsgirl walking to them, something in her hand. He just stared. She kept walking, he kept staring. To be honest, he hadn't really believed Jake before. That is to say, he believed him, but he didn't believe him. Since he wasn't there and didn't experience it himself, it seemed so distant to him almost like a bad dream now, but here she was. It obviously didn't have the same effect on him as it did on Jake, but to see a person who died in front of you walking down the street would be strange to any man. Even a man already as strange as Spud. He looked around frantically, hoping against hope to see Jake, who'd gone looking for Trixie not two minutes earlier. But no, he was gone. She'd obviously waited for him to leave before approaching Spud and that didn't bode well for either of them. He did grab a fallen that was lying on the sidewalk before looking at her defiantly.
"You'll have to go through me if you want to get to Jake!" He shouted, his voice cracking a little. She didn't even pause. Not until she was within easy hearing distance and she did not look amused, much less scared. Nor did she show any other emotion, Spud noted absentmindedly. She looked completely apathetic. When she spoke, her tone was flat. Not low. Not soft, but merely ... emotionless.
"I did not come here to speak with Jake." Those were her orders. Meet the boy, not the beast. "I came to see you. Tell the dragon to meet me on the roof of the Pantheon building midnight today. Alone. And just so he doesn't get cold feet, take this." Spud barely had time to catch the box as it headed toward his stomach. He had to drop the stick in the process, but it wasn't a major loss. Rose had skills on par with Jake's dragon powers and Spud was all too aware of his abilities in the fighting department. By the time he looked up, the girl was already walking across the street, oblivious to the traffic around her.
"That was perfect my dear." Everything, every scripted line and gesture was delivered perfectly. She could be an actress but for her lack of emotion. That was the problem with her. With her kind. They weren't made to show emotion and that made things a little complicated. No worries, thought the woman with a little smile playing on her lips, stroking the girl's hair, your master knew what she is doing. She has been doing this for almost half a millennium after all. Every single detail of the meeting was chosen with the sole purpose of throwing the dragon out of balance. The place. The time. Even the day. It was exactly one moon cycle since the Homecoming dance. Humans. They were sooooo sentimental, so ... predictable. It made her life far too easy. Maybe that's why she went after the dragon this time? It could be it. After 500 years of easy meat, maybe she craved the challenge. That was rather strange in itself. She'd never considered herself the "type," but it happens to the best of us. And either way, it was too late to pull out now. As much as she'd enjoy simply disappearing and leaving the boy with hundreds of unanswered questions, there was far too much time and resources invested into this project already. It had to yield results or she'd end up back in some hole for another ten years. The last time was just horrid. No air conditioning, no makeup, no Spa. Ugh... She shuddered just thinking about it. No, not this time. All the aces were in her hand and there was nothing as easy as leading a fourteen year old, love stricken boy by the nose. Dragon or no, he wouldn't survive the night.
Jake was almost at Trixie's house when he heard the phone ring. He immediately knew who it was since instead of the usual music it was series of "Tallyho!" in Spuds voice. Flicking it open, he took it to his ear.
"Yo, Spud, I am on my way to Tri-" Jake visibly winced as he was interrupted by frantic yelling and hyperventilation on the other end. "Ok, Spud. Spud. SPUD!" That got him the break he needed. "Ok, now just relax and tell me what happened. Who came to you. What kind of witch? Wait, what?" He screamed, even louder this time. "Rose? Rose was there? Again?" He had used every trick in the book and even some shadier help trying to find Rose after the fight, but no luck and frankly, he was starting to give up on ever seeing her again, but here she was. In the flesh. Talking to Spud of all people.
It took Jake a good five minutes to realize that Spud was still talking.
"Yeah, sorry. So, what did she leave you? A box. What was in it? What? I can't hear you." The signal was deteriorating. All he managed to catch was something about a blue overcoat with and a cartoon panda, which didn't make any sense whatsoever. Where did the panda come from? It's not like she could carry a five hundred pound panda in a box around New York City. And how did the overcoat fit into this? Unless the panda was wearing the overcoat? His heart skipped a beat. There was no panda wearing an overcoat, the panda was drawn on to the overcoat. Ad he only knew one person who had a blue overcoat with a panda on it. In fact, he was heading away from her house right now...
