Enigma
Chapter 1
Jake Griffin walked down the concrete sidewalk, eyes watching the small lines from the metal brush that had flattened it and small grains of sand lodged into them. The night was still around him, only the warm California air, and the smell of sea water drifted to him from his right where the Pacific Ocean was. Long Beach was empty at night, normally, except for running into a few teenagers who thought it would be a blast to sneak out at midnight and make out on the beaches. He tried to dodge those.
Jake had lived in Long Beach all his life. And the whole while nothing interesting had happened there. So, it was up to him and his group to make interesting things happen. Which was quite fun.
The crescent moon reflected onto his black hair with deep purple and electric blue tips as his pale green eyes held that light in them as if it was very important to him. Those eyes lifted quickly to a vacant beach house coming up as a girl stormed out of it. When he saw something like that, he'd normally thing, Oh, great. Another couple breaking into an abandoned home to get freaky with each other. Except not this time.
This time, when he saw her blue hair with tips the color of dark lilac slightly spiked seeming to glow in the moonlight, all normal thoughts vanished. He somehow could see her eyes, as well. They were light lilac with a glowing light and slits for pupils. Her body was well built for a female, and she was tall. A normal mind would think that she was a punk with contacts—strangely, he knew different.
Her bare feet stomped on the grass in front of the house and she seemed to… change. Her face became blockish, like a snout. Her eyes became larger, ears becoming long, swirl things going down to the ground. The body became hunched as a tail emerged from its rear. Gigantic, beautiful wings of dark lilac sprouted from its back and the feet and fingers became sharp claws. Scales of electric blue sprouted from the things skin tipped a deep lilac color, but lighter than the wings. The thing walked a few more feet and didn't seem to see Jake as it launched itself into the night sky, beating its wings and disappearing.
Jake stood there, stunned, thoughts swarming around his mind like a storm; What was that? Was that a dragon? I want to learn how to do that! Oh my God…
He just about fell over when a second person came out of the house, this time male. Red hair seemed to be on fire as light danced on the ground. When this one turned into a dragon like the one before, it became red with black wings and dark, dancing eyes. It launched itself into the air with more ease than the first.
Jake's legs gave out and he fell to the ground, landing on his knees. He was sure he was going to faint when another girl came out of the house after a few minutes. This one seemed different, with hair as white as snow with a silver shimmer to it. Her eyes were iridescent white, reminding him of the seashells found on the beach.
A thought entered his mind: Who are these people?
Oh, shit, San thought, staring at the boy that sat on his knees before her. Do Anj and Red even know he was watching them change?
Sandrine looked the eccentric boy up and down, noting that his black hair was oddly tipped with two colors like Anj's, but stuck up in things that looked like spikes. Pale green eyes stared at her wide-eyed, and there was absolutely nothing normal about those eyes in San's eyes—they had no slits, no change of color, no flames, or anything remotely interesting about them—which made them interesting to her. A necklace bobbed around his neck: a circle with a five pointed star inside of it made of silver and jewels of different color set into the circle.
All thoughts about running from the house behind her vanished as she realized she had some major explaining to do to this human.
"Um, hi," she said shyly, waving one hand.
The boy just stared.
"I'm San," she reached out a hand to shake his, long hair spilling over her shoulders and sweeping against the sandy ground.
Cautiously, the boy reached a hand forward and grasped hers in a loose handshake. "Jake Griffin," he said slowly, eyes never leaving hers.
San's eyes perked and a blue shimmer went through her eyes. "Griffin?" she asked.
"Yes, as in the mythical creature." The boy—Jake—stood carefully, eyes still never leaving the ones he held.
"Mystical creature?" Her brow furrowed as she concentrating on thinking.
"Creatures that don't exist. Like dragons—"
"So you are one of us!" she gasped, eyes shimmering blue once more. She backed up and took on the boy with new eyes.
"One of you? I don't know what you're talking about—unless… Are you talking about the dragons?" After a curious nod from San, he said, "I'm not a dragon!"
"Its not dragon, its Dragon." This time, Jake heard the capital D.
"Dragon? B-but I can't be a Dragon! I'm human!"
San laughed a laugh filled with sweet memories and pleasant thoughts. "But you are. Unless a Human picked up on one of our last names. Which is possible…" Her brow furrowed again. "But not likely."
"Why do you say that's one of your last names?" Jake asked, eyes narrowing.
"Because I know a Dragoness named Alicia Griffin. She's told me that she once visited the Human World, and that's what's gotten me to want to come here." Sandrine bite her lip while she thought, eyes drifting to her right and staring at the ocean.
"My mother's name is Alicia Serpine, not Griffin. She took her maiden name back once they divorced and he left her for some other girl. My mother then said she couldn't handle me and dropped me off on a doorstep at a local orphanage a year later." His voice was emotionless as he spoke and his eyes were distant.
"Oh, I'm sorry… I didn't know." Her eyes became saddened with guilt for making him remember horrible things such as the memory of losing his mother.
"No big deal." San thought that maybe Jake had forgotten what he had seen moments before. Actually, it was more as if she hoped. Until he said, "So, you're a Dragon."
"Yes, I'm a Dragon. What's the big deal?"
"Dragon's are mythical creatures, they aren't real. At least, that's what we think."
"Oh." San's eyes drifted and held onto the necklace around his neck. It was shiny silver, the star sparkly as if some type of magick was held into that cold metal. The circle had designs that seemed like knots that made her go cross eyed. The jewels set into the circle at each stars point were blue, brown, green, red, and clear. As she watched it, it began to glow eerily as if a light was shining behind it.
Suddenly curious, she asked, "What's that?" Her right hand lifted gently and pointed at the necklace.
Hesitantly, he said, "It's the symbol of my religion—a pentacle—representing Wicca."
"Pentacle? Wicca?" The words sounded foreign on her tongue.
"To put it easier, I'm a witch," he said slowly.
"A witch? But aren't witches women?"
"No, some think so, though." His green eyes held hers.
"Oh." She fidgeted and crossed her arms over her chest, realizing the Human clothes she wore were dusty and torn from her escape and hiding out in the abandoned house. The white shirt had a V of black dirt, the pale blue sweatshirt over it halfway zipped, sleeves slashed in the wrists and arms. Her baggy blue jeans were torn from ankle to thigh and soaked with mud.
Jake seemed to understand what she was thinking as he stood up from his spot on the ground and dusted off the dirt from his knees. "You haven't planned much before you got here, did you?"
A silver eyebrow lifted and the face took on a defensive look. "I did to! Do you have a clue how hard it is to escape from my world? Dragon's surround all gates that lead to the Human World, the most dangerous Dragon's there are that are still breathing. Its awfully suspicious to see a Thin Blood, such as myself, to just waltz out of there as if she owned the damned place like a Noble," she said, voice coated in deadly venom. Her eyes flashed red, then darker and darker till it shined the color of dried red, a deep burgundy.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Jake actually backed up from her, only taking a few steps onto the sandy beach.
Suddenly, the eyes flashed yellow and gold. "It's ok," San said softly, smiling grimly. "You couldn't have known—it's in another realm."
Jake went silent. After a few moments, he asked, "You can stay at my house—my foster parents are never home."
San hesitated, watching the ground. Then she said, "Ok. Thanks."