Chapter 3: My Guardian Dragon (?)…

As we turned to make a second pass through the room, suddenly we heard a weak creaking sound. None of us moved and when there was not another sound to be heard, we slowly turned around to find a thin crack in the centre of the egg. Suddenly I fell to the ground in pain. There it was again, ripping through my body. The crack got bigger and suddenly I was surrounded in light.

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My eyes blinked open; I looked around at my surroundings. It was all white. I heard a faint 'grawk' sound and I looked down at my feet. There sitting clumsily and wiping the tendrils of membrane off itself was a reptilian-like creature. But it looked cuter, smaller and more docile. I bent down to touch it. Suddenly a beautiful lady with magnificent wings stood next to me. She didn't have a shining halo around her head but I could tell she was just someone you don't mess with. Ever. She picked up the tiny thing before me and gently stroked its head.

Then, she looked at me and said, "You must be Raven. (Ah, the voice of angels) This is your guardian. His name is Drackoreth. Call him Draco. I believe you humans are fond of syncopated references. (Wow! Talk about a vocab lesson) Look after him well. Both of you have a long journey ahead of you." Then she disappeared and I was back on the floor of the nest room. I looked down and saw Draco. Then, I tilted my head up and saw three amazed faces staring at the strange creature sitting on my feet. It was still making funny grawking noises and looking at me expectantly.

Hesitantly I reached out to touch it. It withdrew, sniffed at my fingers, opened its mouth to snap at them, then reconsidered and nuzzled its head against my hand. I smiled and picked it up gently. I admired its fine membrane-like wings. It was a black with white and silver curling patterns on its scales – almost identical to the ones on the egg it had just hatched from. I stroked it down its spine and it made a happy gurgling noise. It was so…well…cute. I heard a shriek and we all turned to see a young woman in a nurse's uniform coming in with a tray. She almost turned and ran when Alex's eyes glowed red and the lady stopped short a few inches away from the door and collapsed.

I sucked in a breath. They were just kids, but they were dangerous. Heather smiled at me and said. "I'll take care of that. For now…" She walked up to the tray explaining on the way. "There are weight sensors at the bottom of every nest. If the weight suddenly decreases, then they know that there has been a hatch or a theft. They come down here to investigate, bringing with them a vaccine for the new hatchling. We would have let the lady run and spread the word if you had hatched anything but that egg. The rest of the organization isn't ready for this. So, I'm sorry you had to see that."

I took in a deep breath and suddenly I heard another 'grawk'. I quickly loosened my tightening grip on the…thing I was holding. Heather was preparing the vaccine so Alex explained. "What you have just hatched. Is a baby dragon. No surprises since you ARE the 'dragon child' but we weren't expecting it to all happen so quickly." He bent down to pick up the restless creature. "When it hatched, you must have been given a sign, right. That will determine your guardian's name. If you change it, or name it something else, you would, apparently, anger the gods. Unless you're seriously atheist and don't believe in higher power mumbo-jumbo as Red would say." He passed the dragon to Heather. "That usually means getting randomly hit by lightning or being cursed. It happened before." Fang let out a small bark of laughter and quickly turned it into a hacking cough. The twins looked a bit displeased. Better not pry anymore then I should.

Then, he turned to me and grinned. "You had a pretty nasty fall though. So, what's its name?" I slowly got up with the help of Fang. "The lady said he was Drackoreth… Draco… I think that means dragon in Greek." Heather had finished jabbing and put the dragon on the floor. She giggled as it flapped its newly found wings and blinked its big blue eyes at us. "It's SO ADORABLE!" She petted it and then turned to the fallen nurse lady. She nodded at Alex. Their eyes glowed again and then the lady woke up. Without looking at us, she took the tray and slowly proceeded out the door saying "False alarm. Nothing to worry about." Fang sighed. "You kids are scary."

They turned to grin at us. The dragon had found its way into my lap and was experimentally nibbling at my finger. "Hey. Stop that." I hastily withdrew my finger. It looked rather dejected so I picked it up and cuddled it for a while. "I think it's hungry." Fang said with a laugh. Then we heard a growl. The twins smiled sheepishly. "I think we are too." Fang and I laughed again. He smiled at me and then grabbed the twins. My heart skipped a beat "Well, let's take the tunnel then."

We rounded a couple of turns and climbed up a long spiral staircase. We reached the conference room. Red, Sydney and Louisa were there. I was carrying the gurgling little creature when they spotted us. The stood up and were about to mouth a greeting when they spotted Draco. They stood there with their mouths open…except Sydney (DUH) who smiled smugly and mouthed to Red 'I told you so.' I smiled and put the dragon on the table.

"It's a boy. Draco." Heather and Alex slowly told them what had happened while Fang and I tussled with the creature. Louisa had set some food on the table. Her eyes never left Draco. I wasn't hungry so I let him have my food. BOY, could that little guy EAT! He just devoured it and looked up at Louisa, expecting more. Louisa took an instant liking to him and his big, blue eyes. "Well, I'll be. This thing can eat more than a horse in a field full of oats. I'll go get the little critter something else to chow."

Sydney thanked the twins and turned to Draco. He looked at her and blinked. Red grinned at him and said "He's almost as cute as his owner. He's processing the new faces." He reached out to pet him. Draco shied away and weakly flapped into my arms. I lifted him up and stroked him lightly. "Well, he's taken an instant liking to ya." Alex smiled. "He thinks you're his mommy. Heh heh." I smiled despite myself then gasped. "What am I going to DO with him?" Sydney raised an eyebrow. Of course they hadn't figured that I wouldn't want to keep him with me in my home. "We'll keep him here for further tests. It's very rare that we get a dragon guardian."

She nodded at Draco who was already starting on the new plate of food Louisa brought in. "In the mean time, you will continue to go to school with your helper, Fang. Don't worry about it. You can visit him everyday after school. All guardians can take up a human form two months after hatching. After he passes that stage, you and…Draco will take training with us after school." I just nodded. Red bent down and flicked a piece of meat off his plate. It skidded on the table and Draco dashed after it. He almost slipped, regained his balance and pounced on the meat. He gobbled it up and turned around.

He faced us with a satisfied look on his face. I felt like a proud mother looking at her kid. There was silence when all of a sudden, Draco released an enormous burp. The twins broke down into fits of giggles while the rest of us just smiled. This time, Draco let Red pet him. "Welcome to the gang little buddy."

The next day…

It was kinda heartbreaking to leave Draco there. But then again, they were the experts. Somehow I had developed some kind of bond with him. Not the Eragon kind of bond where I half-die of pain and wake up with a Harry Potter scar, but a more family kind of bond. I woke up and set about my normal routine, which involved practicing the piano for a couple of hours. Suddenly, one of my personal maids, Rosa, scampered in looking rather excited. "Sorry, to disturb you, ma'am. But, there is a boy outside. He's looking for you." She shyly smiled when I nodded and headed for the door. Out there was Fang, Cedric now, because we were in public. He was all in black. The only colour was the white slash across his jeans. I could see all his muscles ripple as he walked up the steps to greet me. The sleeveless shirt he was wearing really complimented him, though I hated to think it, he looked good.

"Hey, just got up?" He smiled his lopsided, wolfish grin. I curtly nodded back. "Come on in. I got up a couple of hours ago. If you wanted to go to school with me, then you came a little early." He just kept grinning. School had already started a couple of minutes ago. Obviously he had figured out my 'famous-for-being-late status. Somehow I never got scolded. *secret smile* "Just checking up on you. I am your… chaperone-thingy-person." I could feel the side of my mouth twitch at his awkward fumble. We walked through the halls and reached the dining room. They had served breakfast. I invited him to eat but he just shook his head, "I already ate back at…home."

I nodded and sipped my coffee, deciding to ignore the pause between words. As I ate my pancakes, he rested his chin in his palm and watched me. I could feel the questioning glances the servants flashed at each other. I sighed. "What?" He shook his head again. "Nothing." I frowned. "Then stop looking at me like that." His mouth twitched into a smile as he intensified his gaze. "Like what?" I groaned and decided to ignore him. After breakfast the servants cleared the plates. "I'm going to get changed. Stay." I said. He gave me an exasperated look. 'Do I LOOK like your pet dog?' His expression read. He stood up. "Nope."

Once again I was annoyed at his stubbornness. He followed me to my room and sat on my bed, checking out the surroundings. I scowled when he sat on my bed. He picked up one of my satin pillows and sniffed at it. In my head, I could really see the resemblance between him and a wolf. He turned to me. "Your room smells nice." He walked up to me and I froze when he picked up a lock of my hair and took a deep breath as he held it up to his face. "Smells like you. You smell nice too." Then he dropped my hair and flounced to my wardrobe.

"Can I pick out your clothes?" I was shocked. "What are you? GAY?" But he was so boyish and innocent looking so I just harrumphed and nodded. "Yay!" Then with that, he riffed through my closet. All I heard were different exclamations of surprise:

"Oh, FISHNET!"

"All you have is black. No other colour?"

"Nope."

"LIES! You have red and white."

In the end, he dumped a red tube, a fishnet shirt and a pair of black jeans with red flowers on the side on the bed. Then he put it together and smiled at his handiwork. Then he turned and winked. "Go ahead. I promise I won't peek." I raised an eyebrow. "Suuurrrreee." All sarcasm intended. But I was amused at his sincerity. Maybe he really was trying to be friends. I complied and changed into the clothes. Once he saw the finished result, he grinned. "Now we match!" I deigned to smile at his childish statement. "You do know that I'm not supposed to wear a tube in this fishnet right?" His eyes opened wide as the sputtered something that sounded like a swear word. "WHAAAAA?" I smiled. "Psyche."

He was a five year old stuck in the body of a seventeen year old. A VERY good looking seventeen year old. We decided to walk to school so on the way he could elaborate on the tests they would be running on Draco and explain more about the organization. So technically what I found out was that the legend was only half true. The only thing I could be sure of in my spinning head was that the Thorakh actually existed. Fang sighed. "WE exist mostly to kill them. They're everywhere. They take a human form during the day. Yes, anybody you know could be a Thorakh." I nodded weakly. "Is that what all the training is for?" He nodded grimly. "But you're purpose is slightly different. Since you're training is still incomplete… actually not even begun, you're not entitled to know the details of it. *insert evil grin here*" I punched his arm but he just laughed.

"What about parents. If it isn't genetic, then how do you explain?" His face turned dark. "The organization tells them. If they refuse to give the child up, they kidnap the child under Law 122.80." I nodded. I had taken a law course in 4th grade. He continued. "Others try to publicize it. We use Heather's powers for that. A number of people in the organization can control minds so it's easier. Then there are the ones where they give up the child willingly. Because he's a freak of nature. A mutated, deformed, inhumane THING. Some people even ASK for a mind wipe. I guess they never wanted him in the first place."

His voice was so bitter. I was a little scared to ask but I did anyway. "Was that what happened to you?" He stopped walking and suddenly rushed into a dark alley. I yelled his name and then followed him. Damn he was fast. But I did manage to eventually catch up with him. He was leaning on an abandoned factory wall with tears running down his face. He sat down and put his head into his hands. It dawned on me that he didn't want anybody to see him cry. "You okay?" I mentally kicked myself for asking such a stupid question. I sat next to him. Suddenly I felt a wave of pity and awkwardly wrapped my arms around his muscular frame.

He didn't resist. He just rested his head on my lap and cried. Then slowly he morphed into wolf form. My guess was he was wrapping himself in his own little world. But he was easier to hug in that form. And it wasn't as awkward as I stroked his soft fur and lay my head on his. I felt helpless because I had never seen a person cry but I felt his pain. So there we were comforting each other. I couldn't do anything but slowly hum a lullaby my mother had taught me before she started leaving too. After a while, he was back to his normal self but was we were a little awkward after what happened. Then I stood up and smiled at him. "We don't have to go to school today. Come on. I'll take you somewhere." He nodded, grinned and we walked to the park. I was right. There was a funfair going on and turns out that a lot of people had skipped school just to go. It must have been a one day thing. The funny thing was that Fang had NEVER been to a funfair. He just stared at everything in awe. I smiled inwardly at his confusion. Guess he didn't get out much.

We walked around and stopped by at stalls, buying stuff, playing games, going for weird rides I would never have gone on. Surprisingly, I had fun. It was the first time I had actually laughed so much in years. He tried to jump off the Ferris wheel when it started moving, didn't know how to eat candy floss, and all throughout the day he told me about the organization. I learned a lot. Then after that we went to the same park and made our way into the HQ again. I was still amazed at all the technology and vowed to master everything as fast as possible so I could see what was really going on.