Colt returned to the station with the blanket in his hand and ran into a few officers.
"Hey Bronco, what' cha got there," an officer said.
"A blanket, it belongs to a thief, I just need to run a DNA sample" Colt replied.
"Are you sure you're not going to have a baby with Laurel" the other officer joked, causing a few chuckles to ring the air. The laughs stopped when Colt glared at them.
"Sorry," the officer cleared his throat.
"Where is the sample room?" Colt asked the officers
One of the officers pointed "Straight ahead to your right"
Then Colt's phone rang. It was a ringtone of Can't Get Enough Of Your Love by Barry White. A few chuckles came from the other officers until he gave them another glare.
"Hello… Hey honey, Someone broke into a store and They left something behind…" Colt said on the phone
"What is it," Laurel asked on the other line.
"It's a blanket, a small one"
"Why would someone leave behind a blanket?
"I don't know, I'm gonna run some DNA test on it to see who it belongs to...I'll be home soon, love you" Colt hung up and went into the sample room. He finds a gnome working the samples.
"Hey, I need a sample on this blanket, It belongs to someone who broke in a store, can you run it"
"I'm on it" The gnome runs the sample on the DNA Machine and typed on his computer
Colt looked on with patience and the gnome looked puzzled
"There's nothing here sir, The blanket doesn't have any fingerprints." the gnome turned to him, "Is there any hair on it"
Colt looked closely at the blanket and saw a small strand of blue hair.
"See who's hair this belongs to.." The gnome went on the DNA machine but this time with the hair. The computer pulled up a picture of Arrow
"This girl….I don't know who she is…." the gnome spoke.
Colt then called over Specter and Gore.
"Who does it belong to?" Specter ashed
Colt points to the computer screen
"We got her…" Gore said with determination
"Yeah but She hasn't been around anywhere," Specter said pointing to the computer
"So you're saying like she's a ghost or something," Gore asked.
"We're not going to sit here and find out, come on, she might be close," Colt said.
"We'll search for her first thing in the morning," Gore replied yawning
Then the police leave for home with Colt taking the blanket with him.
The next morning, Arrow and Shadow peeked through the alley and saw the police station across from them
"That's our objective Shadow, to get my blanket back and we're home free, and there are no sign of the cops
She looked both ways from the street to try to spot any cops and she didn't see any. She puts the burgundy hoodie on her head and she and shadow cross the street toward the station. She jiggled with the door to find that it's locked. She ran toward the back door which was cracked open and she slipped inside with Shadow behind her
She then saw a few cops that were there by the front office, but they didn't see her. She luckily ducked out of their sight and tried to search every room without making noise. Then she came across the DNA room and searched in there. She had the room a complete mess, going through drawers, looking under chairs, even going through a fridge. Alas, there was nothing.
"I don't understand, the cops took it with them when they were at the store" She whispered. Shadow looked at her and whimpered. She sadly leaves but she trips on one of the chairs causing an alarm to go off. She then heard the cops coming toward the room and she closed the door and locked it.
"Hey, it's locked," a cop said. Then there was a bang. She realized they were about to break down the door. Shadow began to bark at the door. She grabbed a chair and tried to climb through the vents but she ended up stuck. She tried to pull herself in farther but she wouldn't budge. She tried to pull herself out and she was still stuck
"You have got to be kidding me" She grumbled. She tried endlessly to get unstuck but to no avail
By the time the officers got inside the room, they were met with a girl's legs and hips which were the cause of her getting stuck. They all gave each other bewildered looks.
Arrow immediately realized that she was caught.
"Hi officers," she said through the vent with a fake cheery voice.
Laurel was copying the T.V. show workout while the boys were eating breakfast.
"Let me hear you say I'm a mighty warrior," said the guy on the T.V.
"I'm a mighty warrior" Laurel sad back
Then Colt began to head for the door.
"Hey, where are you going?" Laurel asked stopping her workout
"You know that girl you told me about the other day" Laurel nods
"A few officers called and said that they caught her going through station looking for something"
"What was she looking for?" She asked. Colt showed her the blanket.
"You took that from her?!" Laurel yelled
"NO, she left it behind" Colt replied about to leave. "She broke into a store and left it behind"
"Okay that doesn't make any sense, why would she leave it behind"
"Well, honey that's why I'm on my way to ask her" Colt said before walking out the door.
Colt walked into the station and ran into the same officers
"Where's the girl?" Colt asked sternly
"GET ME OUT OF HERE" a voice screamed from the room at the end of the hall.
Colt then trotted over to the room to see at least 4 officers trying to pull her out of the vent.
Arrow heard the steps of Colt and sighed, "Great I have a show everyone"
Then Shadow barked. One of the officers tried to grab the dragon but Shadow whimpered and dodged his moves
"Hey, Don't touch Shadow" Arrow yelled through the vent.
Colt then approached the vent "Okay, I'm gonna pull you out, give me your legs"
"Finally cause none of them can get me out" Arrow replied with sarcasm while giving Colt her feet. After a few good tugs, Arrow was free and fell into Colt's arms. She jumped down, grabbed shadow and her navy blue backpack, and crossed her arms
"Well…." Arrow looks up at the brown centaur
"Well what?" she said.
"A thank you would be nice"
Arrow rolled her eyes and looked away from him. She grumbled thanks quietly
"Sorry Can't hear you"
"I said thanks" she grumbled this time but louder.
Then all of a sudden, Arrow gets tackled by a faun officer making the girl drop shadow who ran under colt's legs
"HAHA, gotcha," Gore said about to put handcuffs on Arrow's wrists.
"Hey!" Arrow yelled on the ground
Specter immediately ran into the scene and stops Gore before taking a good look at Arrow. She looked very youthful and She was too short to be an adult, except for fauns and satyrs. To Specter, the girl looked familiar to her.
"How old are you?" Specter asked her
"What?" Arrow asked still smushed
"Listen, Spec, she's-" Gore started to speak
"I just wanna know how old she is," Specter said stopping Gore
"Uh, I'm thirteen" Arrow replied
Specter, Gore, and Colt look at each other and back at her with surprise
"You're what?!" Gore asked now getting off of the teen
"Read my lips, THIR-TEEN" Arrow repeated moving her lips exaggeratedly
"We get it, kid," Gore said rolling her eyes
Later on, they were in the interrogation room, Arrow had handcuffs on her wrists and the three officers were on the other side of her. Specter gave Gore a look
"What," Gore said
"You really had to put handcuffs on the little girl like that" Specter asked pointing to the teen
Gore rolled her eyes and took the handcuffs off her. Arrow rubbed her wrists from the cuffs, then Shadow jumped into her arms and snuggled on her lap making the teen smile slightly
"So what's your name?" Gore asked her
"Um…. Arrow" The girl slowly answered
"So Arrow is the dragon-"
"Shadow" Arrow corrected her petting her dragon not looking at the cops.
"Is Shadow like an emotional support animal?" Specter asked.
Arrow gave it some thought "I-I don't know, I just had him since I was eight."
"Well, what about your parents" Colt questioned her.
Arrow was silent and she didn't look at them. She puts the burgundy hoodie on her head
"Answer me when I'm talking to you," Colt said getting stern with her
Arrow still didn't answer him. Colt was about to get up toward the child but Specter stopped him seeing how uncomfortable she was with the question.
"Can you tell us why you were here, at the police station?" Specter asked
Arrow then slightly softened a little. "I was just here for my blanket"
Colt then looked at the pink, yellow and, white cloth and back to her. "You mean this one"
She looked at the blanket in his hands and suddenly jumped up "That's the one" She said excitedly. She began to reach for the blanket but the centaur cop pulled it away from her grasp.
"Did you steal this blanket?" he asked her
Arrow had a look of bewilderment. "NO, I've always had it"
"For how long?"
"Since I was a baby!"
Specter looked at the kid and she gave Colt a look to give the baby blanket back to her. Colt had a look of guilt on his face and he obliged and gave Arrow back her blanket which the girl took and she snuggled it tightly. Specter also saw that the girl had a few tears brimming her eyes but the girl tried to hide it by roughly wiping them away and putting away her blanket and looking away from the trio.
"Sorry about that kid…" Colt said out of remorse. The girl didn't say anything else
"Were you alone with the dragon" the girl nodded her head
"Same time I had Shadow" the girl mumbled
Gore rolled her eyes "Speak up kid, can't hear that mumble jumble"
"It was the same time I had shadow okay, is that mumbling for you" Arrow fought back, crossing her arms annoyed.
"Geez, temper much" Arrow rolled her eyes
"You've been alone since you were eight" Colt said
"Yes, didn't hear me the first time," Arrow said miffed
Specter then slammed her fists down, having enough with the teen's sass "Don't get smart with us" Arrow sank and crossed her arms
Things were silent for a minute and finally, Specter broke the silence.
"Listen, Arrow, could you give Colt, Gore, and I a minute, we just need to discuss something."
Colt and Gore exit the room and Specter followed behind
"It's about me isn't it" Arrow spoke meekly
"Yes" Specter was about to leave then "I like your hair by the way" then she left. Arrow then looked at her half blonde half blue hair and a small grin appeared.
"So what are we going to do with her?" Colt asked outside of the interrogation room. The trio were currently in a huddle
Arrow slightly eavesdropped on the conversation by hovering near the door
"I say we put her in jail and be rid of her" Gore said smashing her right fist in her other palm
"Gore" Colt scolded lightly
"Come on, She's a juvenile delinquent, She can't be trusted, especially if she's Little Miss Sticky Fingers"
Arrow was taken aback and she started to walk away until…
"Gore, that girl is a child, she doesn't belong in jail," Specter said
Arrow was stuck in this trance remembering the similar thing being said. Her eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly trying to remember
Shadow's whimpering cuts her off of her stillness. She looked back at Shadow and she quickly sat back down as soon as she heard the door open and the cops entering back in
"So are you going to arrest me?" Arrow said offering her wrists to them
Specter walked up to her, the teen anticipated on the cuffs being put on her but to Arrow's surprise, Specter lowers her arms down
"No, we're gonna give you something better" Arrow felt nervous about this.
"Have you ever heard about fostering"
"Huh," Arrow said confused
"Read our lips FOS-TER-ING," Gore said using the same thing the girl used. The girl rolled her eyes and frowned seeing that the thing she did was now used against her.
"What fostering means is that a child with no parents gets put into another family temporarily" Specter explained.
"Um...okay, so who will be my foster family," Arrow asked getting a little interested. She knew that it was better than being in jail for stealing.
Colt stepped up and reached for her hand. Arrow immediately realized what this meant
"I don't know," Arrow said with distrust in her voice.
"Well, it's either this or jail kid, what's it going to be?" Gore asked with impatience.
Arrow looked at Shadow, who gave her a whine as if to tell her to trust them. Her face fell because she knew that she couldn't say no to Shadow. She looked back at Colt.
Then She was in the front seat next to Colt driving home in the police car. Her navy blue backpack was on the floor and Shadow was on her lap the whole time but her feet didn't touch the ground and she was in a curled position. Colt was on a phone call with Laurel discussing the girl
"Look honey I know it sounds crazy but that girl, she's actually a kid and Me and a couple of officers talked and one of them said that she doesn't belong in jail, and well-"
As the conversation went on, Arrow rolled her eyes and looked out of the window of the car. She's never seen that many people before, considering she lived on her own and she was told to stay away from people. Then a loud rumbling sound came out of nowhere
"Hungry aren't we," Colt asked looking at her while looking at the road
"I'm not hungry" Arrow grumbled. The rumbling sound came again and she covered her stomach. Colt then looked at her stomach. She was so skinny, her ribs were showing every now and then.
"Geez kid, how were you supposed to eat while you were by yourself"
"Why do you think I stole from the grocery store?" Arrow replied back
Colt then spots Fry Fortress from a few blocks away. Then he started to pull up there. He parked nearby the place.
"Why did we stop?" Arrow asked
"To get you some food" Colt said getting out of the car. He struggled a bit due to his horse half
"I told you, I'm fine" then her rumbling stomach contradicted her statement
"Come on," Arrow then begrudgingly gets out of the car with Shadow following.
"Oh, and the dragon needs to wait in the car,"
"Yeah I can't do that, you see, wherever I go, Shadow goes with me" Arrow replied
"That's the law, dragons shouldn't be allowed unless they are service dragons" Colt argued
"Well, Shadow is my service dragon...I guess"
"Geez, stubborn girl" Colt thought. He knew that she was going to be a lot of work and he thought that Ian and Barley were bad enough.
"Listen, kid, the dragon needs to stay in the car whether you like it or not," Colt said about to clop toward the restaurant
Arrow rolled her eyes. She was not used to rules that living alone and being hidden didn't apply. So she went and put Shadow back in the vehicle. He began to whine. The young teen then placed her hand on the window feeling horrible for her dragon
"Are you coming?" Colt asked. Arrow looked at Shadow one last time before going into the restaurant with Colt.
The four men in the black suit then returned to the boss' office. They were sometimes afraid to face him because of how intimidating he was toward them and everyone else who knew about him and his gang
"So have you got my ruby"
"N-No sir, the kid, she got away before we could get her"
"BLAST, Well what about Axol and Smith"
They had their heads down. The faun knew what this meant. He then gave a look of anger that the henchmen didn't like, scaring them.
"Find this kid and bring her to me" the boss growled. The men bowed and ran out of the office to find her.
"See now don't you feel better" Colt asked her with his mouth full of fries.
They left the restaurant for home. Colt got Arrow a large order of fries because she has never been there before. Some of the fries were a lot for her, so she ended up sharing with Shadow.
She took a few bites. They didn't taste too bad. Not that she was complaining. It definitely wasn't the same as feeding off of cereal boxes, beef jerky, and hot dogs. Shadow loved the food that was given to him.
The vehicle then turned to a street and Arrow saw a bunch of kids playing basketball, a few of them were riding their bikes and she even spotted a mermaid taking as she looked out of the window.
"Maybe I can find a few kids your age for you to hang out with" Colt spoke up.
Arrow then looked away from the window and just stared ahead.
Colt turned to a mushroom house. It had the numbers 313 on the front door, the mushroom top was white and red and it had a satellite on the roof. The basketball hoop was nearby where a lime green car was parked and he parked right next to it. Arrow watched the centaur get out of the car again. She grabbed Shadow and put her bag on her back.
"Alright, we're here," Colt said walking toward the front door
Arrow gave a neutral look at the house. She knew it looked bigger than where she originally stayed. She looked at Shadow and she reluctantly followed behind the centaur.
He opened the door and he was met with Ian studying at the dining room table and Laurel cooking dinner and Barley was nowhere to be seen
"Where's Barley?" Colt asked
Then Arrow screamed as she was put in a chokehold by the familiar elf
"Doth thou bring an intruder in the house" Barley spoke in his medieval voice
"What did this marshmellow say?" Arrow asked in a choked voice
"The intruder speaks" Barley spoke again.
Having enough, Arrow bites Barley's arm that was choking her causing him to release her on the ground
"OW" Barley yelped, clutching onto his left arm. "You bit me" he whimpered
"Be lucky, it's my teeth and not my dagger" Arrow growled before getting up. Shadow ran up to his owner to check on her
"Aw you have a dragon too" Barley tried to pet shadow but Arrow pulled him away from the burly elf's grasp
"You're not touching him," The girl said firmly, making Barley back off
"That's enough Arrow," Colt said sternly pointing at her.
Arrow rolled her eyes angrily and crossed her arms.
"Barley, this is Arrow, she is your foster-sister"
"Foster sister?" Ian asked now walking over to them
"Didn't you hear-" she was interrupted by seeing Shadow and a green and yellow dragon with a red collar sniffing each other.
"Shadow, get away from him" Arrow called. But Shadow didn't listen to her as he was only interested in the dragon he was sniffing.
Arrow was about to go over and fetch Shadow but Barley stopped her
"Let him mingle with Blazey," Barley told her.
"And Blazey is a girl, not a boy" Ian added.
Blazey gave a few good sniffs and he bent down and he began to run around Shadow and wagged her tail, bending her back. Shadow then looked at Arrow as if to ask if he can play with her.
"No," Arrow said. Shadow then whined "I said NO"
Shadow then lied down. Blazey started to whine too. Both dragons walk up to the stubborn teen and gave her the begging eyes.
"Come on, don't make me feel guilty," Arrow said looking away from
"Come on, Arrow, you should let them play, besides, It's been a while since Blazey had a friend," Laurel said now coming over
Arrow looked from the elf matriarch and back down at the dragons, who were now tilting their heads.
"Fine, you can go" Arrow begrudgingly said. The dragons were happy to play and they ran around the house, chasing each other.
"Has shadow ever had anyone to play with?" Laurel asked
"Only me"
"Oh I get it, your lonely without Shadow," Ian said
"I'm sorry, what did the little one just say?"
"Ian here said you're lonely without Shadow" Barley remarked.
"That's not true" Arrow combatted. Barley and Ian gave her a look.
"It's not true" Arrow rose her voice and walked away from them, crossing her arms
"Geez, what's with the temper?" Barley asked
"I don't have a temper"
"Yes you do"
"If you annoy me further then I will have a temper"
"Hey, watch it," Laurel said strictly
Arrow huffed angrily.
"So you're the one that stole at the grocery store," Laurel said
"Oh wonderful, now everyone knows my business" Arrow replied with sarcasm
"Hey, She didn't say anything about your business" Colt said defending his wife.
"Okay, Okay, how about a little Quests of Yore just to calm things down," Barley said trying to defuse the situation between the two adults and the young girl
"You know kid, from living on your own for too long, you need to learn some manners" Colt remarked.
"So you just said all of my business in front of these people" the teen huffed
"You were living by yourself?!" Laurel and Ian say together
"Great, you might as well shout it to the whole neighborhood now," Arrow said, throwing her arms in the air.
Colt pointed his finger toward her. He's had enough of her attitude
"You want to go to jail, one call and I can make that happen" Colt declared.
"Colt!" Barley called
Arrow was angry with what he just said. She huffed and walked past everyone, even the dragons, and slammed the back door.
"She'll calm down," Colt said leaving from the front door.
Arrow slouched down on the back door and stared at the ground. She roughly wiped any angry tears from her eyes. She looked at the sky and saw that the sun was about to set and she places her hoodie on her head. Then a whine came from the back door. She realized that it was Shadow. She opened the door slightly just to let him out to comfort her.
"Can you believe that guy, Shadow...one call and he can make that happen" Arrow huffed
Shadow whined. Arrow held him in her lap. His brown eyes locked with her hazel green ones
"I know, I know he gave me a chance, I just- I have to remember was Mr. said, Never trust anyone, especially the cops,"
"Who's Mr." asked Barley. He and Ian decided to check up on her since Colt blew up on her.
"Who said that you can listen to me and Shadow's conversation?" Arrow replied with sass.
"No one said anything about you and Shadow, you're the one that was talking about him," Ian told her.
Arrow looked away from them
"Well, aren't you going to answer my question: Who's Mr." Barley coaxed
"He's somebody, nobody" Arrow let out
"Somebody or Nobody" Ian fired
"He was arrested a long time ago along with Ms."
"Are they like your parents?" Barley asked
"Why do you ask so many questions, Geez" Arrow snapped.
Ian and Barley then sit next to Arrow. They were both silent for a minute.
"Listen, sorry I snapped, I just-I just" Arrow started before more tears began to slip from her face
"Don't like talking about them" Barley said looking at the young teen cry
She roughly wiped her tears away and looked away from them. She never cried to strangers and she certainly wasn't going to do it now.
"Geez, Don't wipe your eyes so hard, your gonna make your eyes bleed," Ian said placing his hands near her which she swatted away.
Barley looked up to the sky seeing that now it was night.
"Wanna go inside and play Quests of Yore," Barley asked the 13-year-old
"I...don't know how," Arrow said slowly
"Well, you've come to the right Quest Master" Barley replied in his medieval voice
"Okay what's with the voice…" the prepubescent girl asked going inside with the others
"It's his thing" Ian replied.
After going inside, Barley taught Arrow how to play Quests of Yore and she began to loosen up a little while she played with the brothers. Laurel came in and she was glad that she saw that the teen wasn't angry anymore. She gave the boys and Arrow dinner which was pasta with mushrooms, which she seemed to enjoy.
That was until Colt came back from his run out, did Arrow grimaced at him.
"Listen, kid, I-I know you're still mad at me, I just want to say that I'm sorry...could we have a truce" Colt said holding his hand out
Arrow looked at his hand and back at him. She still was a little mad at him for what he said and she was especially angry at Gore for calling her a juvenile delinquent for stealing. It was for her and Shadow to survive. She reluctantly shook his hand
"Fine, truce, but I'm still mad at what you said"
Colt held his hand up. "I swear, I take it back"
Arrow then had a small smile
"There's that smile," Barley said. He began to tickle her sides. "Are you ticklish?"
Arrow responded by jumping up and down giggling. "Stop it, hahaha STOP"
"Barley, Let her go," Ian said chuckling.
Then Arrow began to yawn and rub her eyes before saying, "Come on, let's keep going
"I don't think so sleepy head..you need to get some rest," Ian said ushering Arrow toward the couch to sleep
"That's cause I was up all last night following horse man here to get my blanket back"
"Hey, it's Colt" the officer corrected. Barley and Ian chuckled at the teen's roast
"Still, sweetie you need some rest" Laurel added
"I'm fine, really"
This time, Laurel and the boys didn't push it. Arrow then took her navy backpack at sat on the couch. She unzipped it and took out her baby blanket. Barley was busy putting away his board and putting it in his room, while Ian went upstairs to finish studying
By the time Barley came back, He saw Arrow has fallen asleep on the couch snuggling her blanket close to her
"Well, I guess Miss Stubborn fell into the spell of sleep" Barley whispered. He ran into his room and got one of his Quests of Yore shirts and he changed her out of her clothes. He removed her hoodie and shirt while putting the large shirt on her before removing her jeans and boots.
Laurel passed Barley over a large blanket to cover the child and he tucked the child in. Her baby blanket fell out of her arms and Barley luckily gave it to her, which she took and smiled
"Good night Arrow" He whispered
He directed his attention to Shadow, who slept happily next to Blazey. The cutest part is that they were holding tails.
Then Barley departed to his room to get his rest too. Part of him wondered why Arrow had such a cold heart. Maybe it was the way "Mr. and Ms." treated her or it was the way that living alone did to her. Now he was glad that she wasn't lonely anymore