Kes fingered the dragon tooth as she watched Ricky from her window.
He was making sure everything was working right on the tanks. Sighing, she
slid the tooth around her neck. It made a soft thud as it hit her chest. As
the hinges on her door creaked, she slightly tilted her head to see Jared
looking in on her.
"Hello, Jared."
"Quinn wants to know if you were planning to come down for dinner." She shrugged.
"I don't really know. I'm not really hungry. But tell him thanks for asking." Jared smiled.
"I will." He closed the door, and Kes stood up. Wandering to the end of her bed, she pulled the lid open on her fireproof safekeeping box. She reached inside, and pulled out a book, small in size, bigger in weight. She leaned against the box, and flipped through the pages. She looked at pictures of a woman, a little older than her, beside a man, holding a little child. Pictures of Ricky, very little, wrestling with a boy. Then a picture of a family: a mother and father, two sons, and a daughter. The caption beneath made her sniffle:
A family of Van Zan's: Melissa and David, and the children-Ricky, Denton, and Kessie. May happiness and love find them all.
Her family photo. The only one that had ever been taken her whole life before the dragons took over, and burned the world. She sighed as she remembered the last day she'd had with her brothers.
"Kessie! Come on! The parade isn't going to wait for you!" Ricky called. She ran from her room, down the hallway, and passed Ricky.
"Let's go! If we don't hurry, we'll miss Denton!" They raced each other down the sidewalk, to the street the parade was on. A little boy, with short blonde hair, rode about on a unicycle.
"Yea!!! Go, Denton!!" Kes called, cheering. He waved, and kept going. He made his way down the street, Kes and Ricky watching from their original standpoint. The parade turned a corner, but Denton didn't realize it. Turning too late, he skidded. The unicycle flipped out from under him, and he slid down the road.
"Denton!" Kes cried, and ran down the street. Ricky was ahead of her, and when he saw the fire truck, he pushed harder. The truck driver didn't see Denton on the ground. Ricky slid into the road, and pulled Denton out of the way, up into the grass. Kes made her way between the trucks, and sat beside her him.
"Denton?" she asked.
"My knee hurts!" he cried. Then they noticed the blood flowing from the wound. She pulled off her sweater, and tore the arm into pieces. She strattled over his leg, and applied pressure to the wound with her sleeve.
"Where are mom and dad?"
"Kes? Kes, wake up." a voice said, gently shaking her. She dropped the photo book, and shoved him off her.
"No!!" she cried, jumping up. Quinn sat on the floor, shocked. Kes looked around. She was in her room, in the castle. Ricky was outside, Jared was in the doorway.
"No what?" Jared asked. Kes took a breath.
"Sorry.bad dream."
"Are you alright? This is the first time you haven't come down for dinner."
"Yea...I'm fine.sorry." She turned around, and picked up the book of pictures.
"Well, if you need anything, you know where we are." She nodded, and they left the room. Kes sighed, and placed the book back in her box.
It was almost one in the morning, but Kes couldn't sleep. She was wide-awake, flipping through the album again. A knock came at her door.
"Who is it?"
"Jared."
"Come on in." He walked in.
"I thought you were sleeping," she said.
"I could say the same about you.but I saw your light on, so I thought I'd stop in, see how you are."
"Alright, I guess." Jared eyed the leather book in her hands.
"Come here." He walked over, and sat beside her.
"I want to show you my family." She flipped through the notebook. She showed him pictures from birthday's, anniversaries, parades, her family photo, random pictures of her with her brothers.everything.
"Kes?" he asked.
"Hm?"
"Who is this?" he asked, pointing to one picture. Kes looked down.
"This was my oldest brother.Denton."
"Denton?"
"Yea."
"Wait. Wasn't Van Zan's first name.?"
"Mmm-hmm."
"So that means, he's."
"My brother. The morning before he started to London, he gave me the dragon tooth he wore.the last thing I'd ever gotten from him. Denton was a great guy, and I was his only weakness. That's why you heard us screaming at each other before we went to London. He didn't want me to get hurt." Jared nodded. He dropped his head against her shoulder, and she continued to show him pictures.
"And this was Ricky, when he was five, with his pupp." She looked down. Jared had fallen asleep. She smiled, laid him down, and covered him up. Carefully, and quietly, she put the book back in the chest, locked it, and headed out of the room, turning off her light.
Kes found herself in Jared's bed the next morning, Quinn looking down at her.
"Where's Jared?" he asked.
"He fell asleep in my bed last night." She got up, yawning, and walked passed him, into the hallway. She only got halfway to her room when Jared walked over.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" he asked.
"You looked too cozy. Didn't wanna risk wakin' you and finding out that you couldn't go back to sleep." He nodded.
Kes headed down to the kitchen, for something to drink. Quinn followed her.
"Quinn, what is it with you? You follow me like I'm one of them, someone you don't trust." He shrugged.
"I trust you, Kes, really, I do.It's just."
"Just what?" she asked. He shrugged.
"You've been acting strange lately." Kes shrugged.
"It's not everyday my brother comes with news of another male." Quinn nodded.
"I guess your right." She turned and looked at him.
"How about you? How are you doing?" she asked.
"Fine, why?" She looked at the calendar she'd made, sitting upon the wall.
"It's been about two years now, hasn't it?" Quinn still seemed confused. "Creedy.and Barlow," she said. He looked away.
"Aw, Quinn, I'm sorry." He didn't answer. Kes walked over, and put her hands on his shoulders.
"I'm sorry for bringing it up, but last year." He turned around.
"They were my best friends, Kes. If you lost the two people you started a journey with, how would you feel?"
"I did, Quinn."
"What?"
"When I was twelve. I did lose the two people I started this damned life journey with."
"Who?"
"My mom and dad." He looked up at her.
"Dragons?"
"Dragons. Swooped down during the family picnic and took them. Ricky and I were lucky to escape."
"Jared tells me you have another brother.what's his name?"
"Hm? Oh.Derek. Derek, Ricky, and I barely escaped. It's been so long, I can't believe I forgot." Quinn smiled.
"I do that all the time.When I was twelve, I lost my mum.to the first dragon. The construction workers that she worked with uncovered some kind of void, and it was the dragon.I got out.no one else did. My mum protected me." Kes saw the pain in his eyes as he told this to her, so she stepped closer and put her arms around him.
"Aw, Quinn." He placed his head against her shoulder.
"I know you miss her. Everybody misses their parents, whether or not they loved them." Quinn nodded. Jared stepped into the room.
"Kes? I think something's wrong with Zene." Kes looked at Quinn.
"You alright now?" He nodded, and they headed outside. Zene stood beside the garage, his hands folded against his chest. Kes ran up, and kneeled in front of him.
"Zene?" She placed her hands on his shoulders, looking into his eyes.
"Zene? Are you alright?" she asked. He nodded, but did not speak. Quinn and Jared stood behind her.
"Why are your hands like that?" He slowly lowered one hand, and she looked down. A pair of big dark eyes looked back at her.
"Whoa!" She stumbled back, and looked at Quinn.
"What is this?" she asked. Zene didn't answer. "Can I hold it?" Zene shook his head.
"Why not? I'll be careful." Zene smiled, and handed it to her. At first, she thought it was a cat. But, before she made the comment, she saw the scales. And the wings. Her eyes lifted up to Quinn and Jared.
"A baby dragon."
"What type?" Kes lifted it up, and checked.
"Female." She closed her eyes.
"We have to get rid of it," Quinn said.
"Wait.listen." Her hand slid down the dragon's head. It made a sound, purring. She smiled. "It's too young to know that we are the enemy. It thinks we're friendly. It won't hurt us." Zene nodded.
"But you've seen how big the male's can get."
"Exactly why I think we should keep it. It can help. If it grows under us, it can help us."
"But how do we know that it will go against her own kind?" Kes sighed.
"Good point." She kneeled down in front of Zene.
"You have to put it back where you got it, Zene. I'm sorry."
"But listen to it!" he whined. It's stomach rumbled. She looked at Quinn.
"It feeds on ash, right?" He nodded. She walked inside, and picked up a couple pieces of rotten fruit from the garbage. Coming back out, she set them down in front of the dragon. Zene set him on the ground. It walked over, pulled its head back, and burned the fruit. Kes put the fire out, leaving the ash. The dragon ate it, all of it, leaving nothing there.
"Now, I am going to take you and the dragon back to wherever you found her, and you'll put her back, alright?" Zene started to pout.
"Please, Zene, don't pout. You've got the trip to spend time with it." He sighed.
"Alright, Kes." Zene picked up the little dragon.
"Come on, let's go."
"Oh, no you don't. You aren't going alone. Jared, keep an eye on everyone.and if Eddie tries anything funny, then.find a way to get him not to." Jared nodded. Quinn, Kes, and Zene started off, going through the gates.
Kes followed Zene, and Quinn stood beside her.
"Kes, let me ask you something."
"Sure."
"How come you never told me before?"
"Told you what?"
"That you had a brother." She shrugged.
"You never asked, so I never told you. How come you never told me about your mom?"
"You never asked. What about you?"
"Again."
"Then why now? How come everything has been coming out the past couple days?"
"Because it seems necessary."
"But no one asked." She looked at him.
"You did.." Kes reached out and took his hand.
"And I'm glad you did." He smiled. Zene stopped.
"Zene? What is it?" she asked. He didn't respond.
"Zene?" Quinn asked. They looked up. Smoke rose from an opening before them. As Kes peeked in, she saw the millions of dragons beneath her.
"Holy Christ." She looked at Quinn. Then Zene.
"This is where you got her from?" she whispered.
"Right here, actually." Kes sighed.
"You can't just leave her there.what if she falls?" Zene nodded.
Kes laid on her stomach, and, holding tightly onto Zene's left hand, lowered him to an opening in the wall. Zene set it down, and waved.
"Goodbye, Jess." he whispered. Kes smiled. She lifted Zene, and they started back.
She sat in her room, looking through her trunk, and pulled out her black sweatshirt. A knock came at the door.
"Come in!" she called. Quinn walked in.
"What's up?" He held out the tooth.
"You dropped this." She looked up.
"Thank you, Quinn." He slid it over her head, and she smiled. Jared looked in.
"Quinn?"
"Yea?"
"We've got a problem."
"Hello, Jared."
"Quinn wants to know if you were planning to come down for dinner." She shrugged.
"I don't really know. I'm not really hungry. But tell him thanks for asking." Jared smiled.
"I will." He closed the door, and Kes stood up. Wandering to the end of her bed, she pulled the lid open on her fireproof safekeeping box. She reached inside, and pulled out a book, small in size, bigger in weight. She leaned against the box, and flipped through the pages. She looked at pictures of a woman, a little older than her, beside a man, holding a little child. Pictures of Ricky, very little, wrestling with a boy. Then a picture of a family: a mother and father, two sons, and a daughter. The caption beneath made her sniffle:
A family of Van Zan's: Melissa and David, and the children-Ricky, Denton, and Kessie. May happiness and love find them all.
Her family photo. The only one that had ever been taken her whole life before the dragons took over, and burned the world. She sighed as she remembered the last day she'd had with her brothers.
"Kessie! Come on! The parade isn't going to wait for you!" Ricky called. She ran from her room, down the hallway, and passed Ricky.
"Let's go! If we don't hurry, we'll miss Denton!" They raced each other down the sidewalk, to the street the parade was on. A little boy, with short blonde hair, rode about on a unicycle.
"Yea!!! Go, Denton!!" Kes called, cheering. He waved, and kept going. He made his way down the street, Kes and Ricky watching from their original standpoint. The parade turned a corner, but Denton didn't realize it. Turning too late, he skidded. The unicycle flipped out from under him, and he slid down the road.
"Denton!" Kes cried, and ran down the street. Ricky was ahead of her, and when he saw the fire truck, he pushed harder. The truck driver didn't see Denton on the ground. Ricky slid into the road, and pulled Denton out of the way, up into the grass. Kes made her way between the trucks, and sat beside her him.
"Denton?" she asked.
"My knee hurts!" he cried. Then they noticed the blood flowing from the wound. She pulled off her sweater, and tore the arm into pieces. She strattled over his leg, and applied pressure to the wound with her sleeve.
"Where are mom and dad?"
"Kes? Kes, wake up." a voice said, gently shaking her. She dropped the photo book, and shoved him off her.
"No!!" she cried, jumping up. Quinn sat on the floor, shocked. Kes looked around. She was in her room, in the castle. Ricky was outside, Jared was in the doorway.
"No what?" Jared asked. Kes took a breath.
"Sorry.bad dream."
"Are you alright? This is the first time you haven't come down for dinner."
"Yea...I'm fine.sorry." She turned around, and picked up the book of pictures.
"Well, if you need anything, you know where we are." She nodded, and they left the room. Kes sighed, and placed the book back in her box.
It was almost one in the morning, but Kes couldn't sleep. She was wide-awake, flipping through the album again. A knock came at her door.
"Who is it?"
"Jared."
"Come on in." He walked in.
"I thought you were sleeping," she said.
"I could say the same about you.but I saw your light on, so I thought I'd stop in, see how you are."
"Alright, I guess." Jared eyed the leather book in her hands.
"Come here." He walked over, and sat beside her.
"I want to show you my family." She flipped through the notebook. She showed him pictures from birthday's, anniversaries, parades, her family photo, random pictures of her with her brothers.everything.
"Kes?" he asked.
"Hm?"
"Who is this?" he asked, pointing to one picture. Kes looked down.
"This was my oldest brother.Denton."
"Denton?"
"Yea."
"Wait. Wasn't Van Zan's first name.?"
"Mmm-hmm."
"So that means, he's."
"My brother. The morning before he started to London, he gave me the dragon tooth he wore.the last thing I'd ever gotten from him. Denton was a great guy, and I was his only weakness. That's why you heard us screaming at each other before we went to London. He didn't want me to get hurt." Jared nodded. He dropped his head against her shoulder, and she continued to show him pictures.
"And this was Ricky, when he was five, with his pupp." She looked down. Jared had fallen asleep. She smiled, laid him down, and covered him up. Carefully, and quietly, she put the book back in the chest, locked it, and headed out of the room, turning off her light.
Kes found herself in Jared's bed the next morning, Quinn looking down at her.
"Where's Jared?" he asked.
"He fell asleep in my bed last night." She got up, yawning, and walked passed him, into the hallway. She only got halfway to her room when Jared walked over.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" he asked.
"You looked too cozy. Didn't wanna risk wakin' you and finding out that you couldn't go back to sleep." He nodded.
Kes headed down to the kitchen, for something to drink. Quinn followed her.
"Quinn, what is it with you? You follow me like I'm one of them, someone you don't trust." He shrugged.
"I trust you, Kes, really, I do.It's just."
"Just what?" she asked. He shrugged.
"You've been acting strange lately." Kes shrugged.
"It's not everyday my brother comes with news of another male." Quinn nodded.
"I guess your right." She turned and looked at him.
"How about you? How are you doing?" she asked.
"Fine, why?" She looked at the calendar she'd made, sitting upon the wall.
"It's been about two years now, hasn't it?" Quinn still seemed confused. "Creedy.and Barlow," she said. He looked away.
"Aw, Quinn, I'm sorry." He didn't answer. Kes walked over, and put her hands on his shoulders.
"I'm sorry for bringing it up, but last year." He turned around.
"They were my best friends, Kes. If you lost the two people you started a journey with, how would you feel?"
"I did, Quinn."
"What?"
"When I was twelve. I did lose the two people I started this damned life journey with."
"Who?"
"My mom and dad." He looked up at her.
"Dragons?"
"Dragons. Swooped down during the family picnic and took them. Ricky and I were lucky to escape."
"Jared tells me you have another brother.what's his name?"
"Hm? Oh.Derek. Derek, Ricky, and I barely escaped. It's been so long, I can't believe I forgot." Quinn smiled.
"I do that all the time.When I was twelve, I lost my mum.to the first dragon. The construction workers that she worked with uncovered some kind of void, and it was the dragon.I got out.no one else did. My mum protected me." Kes saw the pain in his eyes as he told this to her, so she stepped closer and put her arms around him.
"Aw, Quinn." He placed his head against her shoulder.
"I know you miss her. Everybody misses their parents, whether or not they loved them." Quinn nodded. Jared stepped into the room.
"Kes? I think something's wrong with Zene." Kes looked at Quinn.
"You alright now?" He nodded, and they headed outside. Zene stood beside the garage, his hands folded against his chest. Kes ran up, and kneeled in front of him.
"Zene?" She placed her hands on his shoulders, looking into his eyes.
"Zene? Are you alright?" she asked. He nodded, but did not speak. Quinn and Jared stood behind her.
"Why are your hands like that?" He slowly lowered one hand, and she looked down. A pair of big dark eyes looked back at her.
"Whoa!" She stumbled back, and looked at Quinn.
"What is this?" she asked. Zene didn't answer. "Can I hold it?" Zene shook his head.
"Why not? I'll be careful." Zene smiled, and handed it to her. At first, she thought it was a cat. But, before she made the comment, she saw the scales. And the wings. Her eyes lifted up to Quinn and Jared.
"A baby dragon."
"What type?" Kes lifted it up, and checked.
"Female." She closed her eyes.
"We have to get rid of it," Quinn said.
"Wait.listen." Her hand slid down the dragon's head. It made a sound, purring. She smiled. "It's too young to know that we are the enemy. It thinks we're friendly. It won't hurt us." Zene nodded.
"But you've seen how big the male's can get."
"Exactly why I think we should keep it. It can help. If it grows under us, it can help us."
"But how do we know that it will go against her own kind?" Kes sighed.
"Good point." She kneeled down in front of Zene.
"You have to put it back where you got it, Zene. I'm sorry."
"But listen to it!" he whined. It's stomach rumbled. She looked at Quinn.
"It feeds on ash, right?" He nodded. She walked inside, and picked up a couple pieces of rotten fruit from the garbage. Coming back out, she set them down in front of the dragon. Zene set him on the ground. It walked over, pulled its head back, and burned the fruit. Kes put the fire out, leaving the ash. The dragon ate it, all of it, leaving nothing there.
"Now, I am going to take you and the dragon back to wherever you found her, and you'll put her back, alright?" Zene started to pout.
"Please, Zene, don't pout. You've got the trip to spend time with it." He sighed.
"Alright, Kes." Zene picked up the little dragon.
"Come on, let's go."
"Oh, no you don't. You aren't going alone. Jared, keep an eye on everyone.and if Eddie tries anything funny, then.find a way to get him not to." Jared nodded. Quinn, Kes, and Zene started off, going through the gates.
Kes followed Zene, and Quinn stood beside her.
"Kes, let me ask you something."
"Sure."
"How come you never told me before?"
"Told you what?"
"That you had a brother." She shrugged.
"You never asked, so I never told you. How come you never told me about your mom?"
"You never asked. What about you?"
"Again."
"Then why now? How come everything has been coming out the past couple days?"
"Because it seems necessary."
"But no one asked." She looked at him.
"You did.." Kes reached out and took his hand.
"And I'm glad you did." He smiled. Zene stopped.
"Zene? What is it?" she asked. He didn't respond.
"Zene?" Quinn asked. They looked up. Smoke rose from an opening before them. As Kes peeked in, she saw the millions of dragons beneath her.
"Holy Christ." She looked at Quinn. Then Zene.
"This is where you got her from?" she whispered.
"Right here, actually." Kes sighed.
"You can't just leave her there.what if she falls?" Zene nodded.
Kes laid on her stomach, and, holding tightly onto Zene's left hand, lowered him to an opening in the wall. Zene set it down, and waved.
"Goodbye, Jess." he whispered. Kes smiled. She lifted Zene, and they started back.
She sat in her room, looking through her trunk, and pulled out her black sweatshirt. A knock came at the door.
"Come in!" she called. Quinn walked in.
"What's up?" He held out the tooth.
"You dropped this." She looked up.
"Thank you, Quinn." He slid it over her head, and she smiled. Jared looked in.
"Quinn?"
"Yea?"
"We've got a problem."