The next day, they entered the small town of Black Rock. Aaron tore some of the material off his robes and wrapped it over Lucy's cuffs. He was such a mess that the torn clothing did little to lessen his appearance. Lucy was given instructions to be quite, or else innocent civilians would die.

"I'm going to need to gather a few supplies and do a little research at the local magic library," said Cobra. "We might as well get a room at an Inn for the night".

Aaron grimaced. "I don't like being around all these people."

Cobra patted him on the back. "It's just for a few days buddy. Relax."

They found an Inn and agreed that Aaron would stay in the suite with Lucy while Cobra ran his errands.

While Aaron was looking around the second bedroom, Lucy whispered to Cobra. "Why do you keep leaving me alone with him? He keeps staring at me."

Cobra smiled. "I seem to have found the weakness of the Dragneel brothers."

Lucy glared at him and his smile faltered.

He cleared his throat and made a more serious expression. "I think you'll be okay but I can understand your concern. I'm used to hearing sexual thoughts but our former Dragon King is in a league of his own. I think he's not used to having a human body. While I'm out today, I'll see if I can pick something up that will help the situation."

She had no idea what he was talking about… a chastity belt perhaps?

Cobra closed the door behind him on his way out. Lucy and Aaron were left sitting on opposite queen beds.

Aaron was the first to speak. "Do you want to have sex?"

"No." Lucy squirmed, trying to press her knees more firmly together.

"I didn't think so."

It seemed that Aaron was a ball of nervous energy. He stood up and walked over to the window. He peered out for a minute and then began pacing around the room. Suddenly, he stopped short. "I'm going to try to get some sleep," he declared.

He looked around the room and found some rope that was being used to tie the curtains back. He took it and bound Lucy's wrists to the bedpost. When he was done, he stepped back and looked at her.

"Damnit," he cursed. "This is no good. Why did Brotan's spirit have to be bound to a woman?" He stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut.

Lucy held her breath for a minute but he didn't return. She exhaled loudly and tried to relax. Aaron definitely wasn't stable. If she found a chance to escape, she would need to take it. Tentatively, she tested her wrists. The rope that Aaron had used to secure her was decorative; it wasn't meant for tying heavy loads or holding women captive. Perhaps she could loosen it?

She began working her wrists in small circles. Sure enough, the rope began to loosen. After a couple minutes, her hands were free.

She sat up and looked around the room and spotted a window. With gentle footsteps, she walked towards it and unlatched the locks. There was a soft "click" the made her heart skip a beat. She paused. Nothing happened.

Lucy positioned her hands underneath the windows edge and took a deep breath. With controlled force, she lifted. The wooden frame crackled and popped as the window began to lift but it wasn't too loud. With a little luck, Aaron wouldn't hear her.

The sliding window stopped. Lucy silently cursed and examined the six inches that she had available to work with. There was no way she would squeeze through that opening. She needed at least another two.

She adjusted her grip and pressed against the window's edge.

Nothing happened.

She pressed a little harder.

Suddenly, the window jerked and rose four inches. There was a loud screeeeeetch as the window slid.

There was no way Aaron missed that sound unless he truly was asleep. As quick as a bunny in a carrot patch, Lucy hopped out of the window and began running.

A door opened and slammed shut. She glanced behind her.

Of course it was Aaron.

She hadn't been able to outrun the last Dragneel who chased her down, but she wasn't going to go down without a fight. She picked up the pace.

"Hey, get back here!" shouted Aaron.

Does he actually think that's going to work?

Lucy ran down the cobbled street, weaving in and out of the mid-day shoppers. People looked up, confused as she ran past. To them, she probably looked like a thief.

By the second block, she stole another glance back. Aaron was running after her, but he was having trouble. Every time a person stepped in his path, he became flustered. It was almost as if he thought the people passing had cooties.

It occurred to her that she might actually pull this off. She was approaching the edge of town—

there was a wide canal, and then forest. If she could just make it to the forest, she had a decent shot at losing Aaron.

She ran along the canal and passed underneath a tree where a boy was climbing.

"Hey lady, why are you running?" he called out.

She ignored him but a few seconds later, she heard a splash. She turned back in time to see the boy flailing in the water. He didn't appear to be a good swimmer.

Lucy ran a few more strides and glanced back again.

Damn it, why can't he swim?

She stopped and stared at the boy who was clearly struggling. There was no one else around. If she didn't help him, he could drown.

As luck would have it, Aaron's frame appeared from around the corner at that moment. He spotted her and began running towards her.

Lucy only had a split instant to make a decision—should she try to save the boy, or should she try to save herself.

Of course she had to help the boy.

She began running straight at Aaron. When he saw her approaching, his eyes widened and he actually slowed down. She was clearly confusing the hell out of him. By the time she was within twenty feet of him, Aaron had actually slowed down to a walk.

"Have you decided to turn yourself in?" he asked.

Lucy veered off to the left, jumped off the canal's ledge and did a perfect dive into the water. She reached the boy's location before she even needed to resurface.

The boy was a young teen and panicked enough to be difficult. Thankfully, Lucy only had to pull him a couple feet back to the canal's ledge where they were both able to grab one of the thick wooden beams along the canal's side. Unfortunately, the water was more than an arm's length below the ledge and it was impossible to get out without help.

"Get me out of here!" screamed the boy.

"Relax," said Lucy. "Just hold onto siding and someone will be along to help you soon enough. You're not going to drown."

"That's not what I'm scared about," said the boy. "A tiger-squid was seen in the canal this morning. That's why I was in the tree. I was trying to get a look at it."

Lucy's head spun around. The water looked calm but it was murky. The monster could be anywhere if it was still in the canal.

Aaron's head came into view over the canal's edge. "Were you trying to save this boy?" he asked.

"Yes, isn't that obvious? Get us out of here."

Aaron lowered an arm and the boy reached for it. He was about a foot too short so Lucy tried to hoist him up.

Suddenly, a tentacle about as thick as her leg sprang out of the water and wrapped around the boy. He was lifted in the air and then disappeared beneath the water's surface.

"Oh no!" screamed Lucy.

"Quick, give me your hand," said Aaron. He strained so that his arm was as low as possible.

She ignored the outstretched hand and dove beneath the water's surface. She had to get the boy back up to the surface soon or he would drown.

She swam in a circle around the area where the boy had been—nothing. Hopefully the tiger-squid hadn't taken him out to the river the connected to the canal.

Her lungs were burning. She resurfaced.

"What are you doing?" asked Aaron. "Give me your hand now. There's some sort of creature in the water."

"I know, but I have to get the kid."

She dove back into the water. Almost instantly, she felt something thick and strong wrap around her waist. The tiger-squid squeezed.

Through the murky water, an eye suddenly appeared. It was eerily similar to a human's in that it had a white sclera and a black pupil, except this eye was the size of a baseball. She reached out and poked it.

Instantly she was lifted up in the air. Lucy tried to take a quick breath but crashed back into the water before she had time to do so. Instead, she sucked in water and gagged.

The feeling of suffocation was terrifying. She had once heard that the most fearful ghosts were the lost souls of the drowned and now she understood why.

There was a rush of heat and the tentacle around her waist suddenly went slack. She began to kick and then realized that she didn't know which way was up. She forced herself to pause and could feel her body begin to drift—that direction was the surface. Lucy reoriented herself and was breathing air a moment later.

The scene up above was bizarre.

Aaron appeared to be gliding along the surface of the canal. On closer inspection, Lucy could see clouds of vapor around his feet.

The tiger squid's body and tentacles were partially exposed. The beast still had the kid wrapped up in one of its limbs. Lucy tried to see if the kid was okay but the movements were too fast for her to focus. The squid was trying to swat with a tentacle Aaron but he was weaving too quickly for him to land a blow.

A whip of fire lashed out and sliced the tentacle holding the boy. He fell into the water and Lucy swam to him. Grabbing him, she pulled him to the ledge. He was conscious but groggy and his lips were blue.

Once they was clear, Aaron let loose a fire fist that hit the squid in its main body. A mass of flesh and tentacles went flying through the air and landed on the other side of the canal. The squid lay on the grass, occasional twitching. There was a large singed mark on its torso where Aaron had hit it.

Aaron dusted off his hands, seemed pleased with himself. He glided over to the two of them and with a quick motion, hoisted Lucy and the boy back up onto grass.

Something was wrong. The boy's eyes were now closed.

"What happened? I thought he was awake a minute ago." Lucy leaned over him, pressed her mouth to his, and began to breath.

A small tongue darted into her mouth and she jerked back.

The teen was smiling up at her impishly.

"What the hell?" she asked.

Laughter erupted and she turned to see where it was coming from. Aaron was sitting in the grass with one arm draped over his knee and another around his stomach. He was laughing hard enough to make his body shake.

"You can't fault the boy for taking advantage of the situation," he said through a brake in his outburst.

"Oh yes I can."

The boy sat up, still smiling. He turned to Aaron. "Hey mister, that was awesome. You must be a powerful mage. How do you walk on water?"

Aaron got control of his laughter. "It's a trick my brother and I learned when we were probably about your age. We're fire magic users. The secret is to heat up the water near your feet and create a temporary cushion of vapor that you can balance on. I haven't done this in centuries. I forgot how fun it is."

The boy's eyes widened. "Cool!"

He smiled. Somehow, his whole face changed when he smiled. He almost looked like a normal human being.

"Well, thanks for saving me. I thought I was a goner."

Aaron's smile faltered a little.

Lucy was much too tired to try another escape attempt and she didn't want to get the boy involved. "Well, we should probably head back, don't you think?" she asked Aaron.

Aaron nodded and they stood up. The kid thanked them again and ran off. Aaron stared at him after he was gone.

"That was a nice thing you did for him," she said.

"What?"

"You saved his life," she said.

"I don't think so. I was trying to save yours."

"No, I was already free when you cut off the tiger squid's tentacle. You didn't have to help him."

Aaron was quite. He seemed to be deep in thought.