Chapter 1
She rested in the attic of the schoolhouse, watching the children inside learn.
"Today we will learn addition."
She began writing on the board. Unaware of the halfbreed in the attic, watching through a hole. She pointed a long stick at the series of marks.
"Now, when we add, we take one number, and add another number to it. So 1 plus 1 equals two."
The teacher went on and the hybrid listened, intrigued. She loved watching the humans go through their day, though she couldn't go in the sun. After they left, she walked to the corner, curled up on a few old blankets she had found in a dump, and slept.
She woke around noon. She waited by the window for the sun to set. Once it had, she climbed out of it and jumped to a nearby roof. She ran from roof to roof, until she got to a small clearing. Where she noticed a few children playing. Normally children are inside during nightfall. She jumped down and hid in some bushes. The children didn't seem to notice, one of them was covering his eyes and counting, the other children were running around, looking for something. Hiding she realized.
"28, 29, 30 ready or not here I come!" the boy shouted and immediately ran to the hybrid.
"I found you" He said excitedly as he parted the bushes.
She perked up her head, and smiled. The boy screamed and ran away.
"Monster! Monster!" he screamed as he ran, he jumped into the arms of a woman.
"It's okay, you probably just saw a shadow." she said, hugging him.
Many other children came out of their hiding places.
"Where?" one said.
The boy pointed. The hybrid looked around. What was a monster? Where was it? The other children walked to the bush. Along with one of the adults.
"See it's Aaaaaahhhhhhh." She screamed as she saw the hybrid.
She pulled the children away. The hybrid turned and ran. What was so scary? She hadn't seen anything scary. She ran to the schoolhouse and climbed into the attic. She stayed there for what seemed like hours, before she left to get something to eat. She went to a dump, where she found many metal things and old clothes. She ate many of them but kept a few for her bed. Once she returned, she curled up for a nap. She woke to the sound of someone coming.
"No worries Miss Lancer, this hole will be patched up by the end of the week."
The hybrid sat up, and moved to the hole, she heard someone moving, then a door in the floor opened, and a man came through, he began whistling as he came up, he was holding a hammer and a few wooden boards. He saw the hybrid, and stopped whistling. He dropped the hammer and boards, then quickly scampered down the door and closed it.
"There's a demon up there!" he shouted.
"A demon? Are you sure? How long has it been there!" the teacher screamed.
The hybrid looked around. What were they talking about? What was a demon?
"Go! Get the priest to bless the grounds! I'll see what I can do about the demon." he sounded braver.
She saw him get what looked like two metal rods stuck together with many other parts attached that she couldn't make out. He soon came back up, and aimed the thing at her, she jumped as she heard a loud bang. Then the pain came, a massive wave of pain in her right leg. She screamed and began to cry. She ran past the man and down the hole. Was this what a demon does? She ran as quickly as she could, another bang and now her shoulder hurt too, another bang, and her entire arm hurt. She ran through the open door, now she felt weak, she couldn't run, she lay on the ground, crying. Red was pooling around her. Then, she felt arms come around her and lift her as she heard another loud bang. Red splattered on her face. She closed her eyes, too weak to cry. She heard flapping, wind rushed over her. Everything seemed to be fading away, until she couldn't feel or hear anything.
She felt something warm stroke her face. She pressed her face into it, and slowly opened her eyes. A girl was sitting next to her, her face was round, her hairline was in a v shape, her nose was small, her skin was light, her hair was the color of gold. Her right eye was blue and her left was a solid green with a line in the center. She was humming a song.
"Hello, good morning." she said in a soothing voice. "My name is Codiesia, but you can call me Cody. what's your name?"
"Name?" she asked. "What's a name?"
Her eyes were kind.
"A name is something you call someone by. What do people call you."
"I don't know."
"So you don't have a name, would you like one?"
"Yes."
"How about… Jewel?"
She didn't like the name.
"No."
"Okay, what about Dekota."
"No."
Cody cocked her head. After a few seconds, she spoke.
"How do you like, Penelope."
She thought about it, Penelope, she liked the name.
"hmm, I like it."
Cody moved her hand over Penelope's arm, it didn't hurt anymore.
"Okay, Penelope, are you hungry?" Cody picked up a tray covered in cloth and meat, and handed it to her.
Penelope began stuffing the food in her mouth. She looked at Cody, her eyes held nothing but compassion. Then turned her attention back to her food. Once she was done with the cloth and meat, she ate the tray.
"Do you know how old you are?" Cody asked.
"Old? Not Old!"
Cody let out a small giggle. She reached out her hand, Penelope flinched away.
"It's Okay, I won't hurt you."
Penelope relaxed slightly, then moved forward, smelling Cody. She smelled human, but not. Penelope gave her a confused look.
"I know, I'm not completely human. I can almost hide it, though my eye kind of gives me away. Who knew being part swamp dragon could be so difficult to hide?"
Penelope sat up, pain shot up her arm when she tried to prop herself up. She fell back, whimpering.
"I know, I wish I knew how to heal you, but I can't." Cody gave her a sympathetic look. "The most I can do is help with your pain, and let it heal on its own. How's your leg?"
Penelope looked at her leg, it was covered in cloth, stained red in one area. But it didn't hurt.
"It doesn't hurt."
Cody pinched her toe.
"Can you feel this?"
"Nope"
"Can you move it."
Penelope tried.
"No," she said in a small voice.