A/N-Hope the last chapter was a little more exciting for everyone, though we still have the biggest event yet to come: just a couple more chapters before that.

As always, read and review!

Chapter 26

Aftermath

"May I ask just what you were thinking?"

I was right when I said I was going to have a bad time. When I got home, the second I mentioned the incident of earlier to my mom, she went right into her motherly interrogation of what could prove to be a disastrous idea.

"What do you mean, what was I thinking?" I answered with a question, hoping she'd figure out what I was thinking, what I'd told her before, so I wouldn't have to go into the whole spiel. "I mean," she began as she put a pot on the stove for dinner, "Did you forget about the whole, 'I want to keep this a secret as long as possible or the world would go crazy' thing you went on about? You realize now that is exactly what will happen, yes? The whole world will be on us about it." I sighed and rubbed my forehead, glancing over at the living room where Holly was wisely staying out of the argument.

"Remember what I said when I first told you about all of this, when you found out?" I asked. "I was given this gift, these abilities, not just to use them at my leisure and hang out in Hiccup's world, where this gift has stayed for who knows how long, but in order to lend a helping hand to people in both worlds." I gestured to the back yard, where the faint glow of the portal could barely be seen behind the tree. "That's why the portal opened, why I found it. I'm meant to do something, not just there but here. And besides, we both know I really don't like violence or pain, so the number of injuries or fatalities that I see myself I would like to try keeping to a minimum." I looked back at my mom. "Incidents like that crash today were the reason why I received the gift in the first place."

My mom gave me a hard look before she went back to the counter. "Yes, I remember," she said quietly. "I only hope you're ready for the torrent of attention that is about to flood you." I nodded. "I'll deal with it as best as I can," I replied, before smiling. "Besides, how hard can it be for a dragon to keep a bunch of nosy reporters away from his home?"

Indeed, that evening was very quiet as I ran the scenarios through my mind, what was coming. When I went back to school on Monday, anyone who had heard about the crash, or seen it themselves were going to pound me with questions, and they would tell anyone who hadn't heard about it, that is if the news didn't immediately cross Facebook that evening (another downside of modern technology). After that happened, I'd get contacted by the local police and medical staff, since they had seen me in person, followed by local reporters and journalists. I shrugged, deciding that may not be any worse than the interview that had gotten me and my hobbies on the front page only a week or so before...or maybe not. After the locals had enough, national interest would be had, followed by the rest of the world. the next few weeks would be interesting, to say the least.

The next day was Saturday, obviously, and as promised Leighton showed up for the picnic with the gang, and we headed in through the portal and into the cove. We were a little early, and the rest of the group wasn't there yet, so we waited for a little while for them to show up and prepare for the picnic.

"By the way," Leighton began, leaning up against a nearby rock, "figure out how you're going to deal with all the crowds and attention starting Monday?" I sighed and leaned up against a tree. "There's not much I can do except be honest about it." I grinned and continued, "Though there's nothing that says I can't play total pain-in-the-butt smart alec and annoy everyone into losing interest." We laughed a bit at that, and continued the casual banter for a few more minutes.

Hawken! I stood up and looked up at the sound of my name, and looked in the direction of the village. Just clearing the trees was Hiccup and Toothless, Toothless having already spotted me and Leighton below. Right behind them were the rest of the gang. As always, I spotted Ruffnut and Tuffnut arguing about something pointless, causing their Zippleback to veer off course and nearly hit a tree. With a grumble and a quick snap of the necks he dealt with the two obnoxious teenagers, and glided down.

"About time you guys showed up!" I yelled as they all touched down. Everyone got a few chuckles as Leighton took a couple steps and a stumble backward to make room, but quieted quickly when she glared. They all knew she was fairly unaccustomed to dragons, and a bit shy, though no one would dare call out that observation.

"Sorry about being late," Astrid said, jumping off of Thorn to check the picnic supplies she brought. The rest of the teens did the same. "Snotlout slept in late, like usual, and we had a small incident with the food and Sidewinder over there." As she said this, she gave a pointed glare at the Zippleback. ::What?:: he protested. ::It's not our fault the food was left sitting out in the open, with no sign saying it wasn't begging to be eaten by us.:: Having two heads, Zipplebacks had a tendency to refer to themselves in multiples.

"Ah, well, I hope at least everyone has everything we need now, then?" Affirmative nods came from everyone , and they started to turn back toward the dragons. "Oh, and by the way," I began, looking toward Leighton, "Hiccup, Astrid, could I borrow you two for a moment?" They both looked over at me questioningly, then walked over. I gestured for them and Leighton to come over by the tree I had been leaning against beforehand. "Leighton here had something she was wanting to ask."

Leighton shot me a slightly embarrassed, but slightly thankful, glare and turned to the other teens. Hiccup and Astrid focused on her. "Uh, well, the uh, last time I saw you guys, I, uh, made a sort of bet with Ruffnut," Leighton stammered. "I kind of, uh, need your permission in order to win the bet." "Well, what is it?" Astrid asked, never what you could call the "flawlessly patient" type. "Well, Ruff bet me that I would never be able to ride Toothless, since she never has, and she's known you for longer, and I am a bit of an, uh, outsider." Hiccup gave a snort of laughter. Though not around all the time like I was, Leighton had become good friends with some of the teens. She continued talking. "Second, she said that I wouldn't be able to get a ride, because you're with Hiccup, Astrid, and it would make you jealous since I'd have to ride with Hiccup." Astrid raised an eyebrow and looked in Ruff's direction, as I hid laughter of my own. I had no doubt Astrid wouldn't have objections now, since she always wanted to prove her friend wrong. "I don't have a problem with it," she said, confirming my suspicions, "especially since I trust you and Hiccup plenty well enough, and everyone knows Hiccup's with me." Leighton nodded, and turned to Hiccup, who raised his hands up in surrender. "Hey, if Astrid's fine with it, I don't have a problem either, but I think we're all forgetting one very important person you need to ask." he glanced over at the scaly black reptile laying in the sun, clearly impatient to get moving.

Hiccup waved his hand at the Night Fury, who everyone knew was extremely selective about who rode on him, and so far, only Astrid and I had that privilege. Fishlegs couldn't for weight reasons (no one had figured out how, or bothered to ask why, Horrorcow continued to carry him around), and the twins and Snotlout occasionally still got tail slaps from Toothless, let alone were they ever going to get rides.

We wandered over to Toothless, who saw us and got up. ::Finally, are we leaving or not?:: he asked. "Actually Toothless," I began, "Leighton was wanting to know if you'd be willing to let her ride this once. Hiccup and Astrid don't have a problem, and Ruffnut made a bet with her." Toothless let out a draconic version of a laugh, and "grinned" mischievously in Ruffnut's direction. ::What, a kind friend of yours and Hiccups, as well as a chance to get back at Miss Destruction?:: he queried sarcastically. ::I don't see why not.:: With that, he knelt down and motioned Hiccup and Leighton to get on. I grinned. "That would be a most definite yes."

The trip to the picnic site was rather entertaining, what with the fuming Ruffnut, who had started going off the second she noticed who Leighton was riding with, as well as the fact that neither dragon nor rider had put up any resistance to the idea. Everyone knew about her not-so-secret crush on Hiccup, and her envy at his riding the infamous Night Fury, so the irony of one of the shyest girls I know getting a ride instead was not lost on any of us. Once we got to the site, a peaceful meadow on the other end of the mountains from Berk, Leighton got the promised silver coin, one of the forms of trade in the northern regions here and not something you'd ever find in our world, and we all got an enjoyable picnic with a great view of the ocean.

"Oh, by the way guys," I began as I munched on an apple, "I have some extremely big news I forgot to tell you." I waited for a minute as everyone sat up, most of the dragons not included. "What happened?" Hiccup asked. "Yesterday my world finally got their first big glimpse of who and what I really am now." Astrid, who was taking a sip of water from a canteen, immediately drenched Snotlout at that. While the twins laughed as the teen turned bright red, Astrid turned back to me, eyes wide. "What happened?" she exclaimed. "Where was all of the 'keep it a big secret and no one can know' stuff?" Everyone knew about the precautions I had been trying to take to keep those who knew about my secret quiet and down to a minimum. "Was there a fight or something?" Fishlegs asked. I shook my head. "More serious. There was car crash." More gasps followed, as I had explained to everyone there what cars were and how dangerous they could be previously.

"Were you in the crash?" Astrid asked. "Yeah, I don't see any bruises or anything," Tuffnut said. "Yeah, that would have made bragging rights around here," Ruffnut echoed. I shook my head. "No, I wasn't in the crash, but there were some people who were badly injured," I explained. "Did you use your super strength to save them r something?" Fishlegs asked, goofy smile on his face. I shook my head and smiled. "Only to get the doors opened, they were damaged real badly. Problem is, while three of the people there were mostly fine, one guy could have died, so I ended up flying him to the hospital." "The what?" "Hospital. It's like a much larger version of your healer's home." "Well, is he okay?" Astrid asked. "The guy, I mean." I shrugged. "Don't know. I haven't heard anything since the crash. I intend to find out when I get back though." "Hah! I doubt it was that hard," Snotlout boasted. "I could have saved him easy. With one hand behind my back."

There was a loud CRACK! as Astrid turned and socked Snotlout across the jaw. "Ow! Hey, it's true," Snotlout complained. "Yeah, and I'm a Terrible Terror," Astrid shot back. She finished the problem with a roasted fish flying at Snotlout's face. Leighton turned to me. "Is he always this big of a showoff?" she asked. "Worse than this, usually," Hiccup muttered, and we chuckled, breaking out into actual laughter as Fireworm wandered over to clean the fish off of Snotlout's face.

"Anyway," Astrid said as we calmed down, "What're you planning on doing about the situation now?" I shrugged. "Not much I can really do, except deal with it as it rolls out. I'll probably end up showing everyone eventually, but I'm planning on making finding out more about me as big of a pain as I possibly can. They know I can turn into a dragon, but the less they know, the better, I think."

The banter continued for a couple of hours, then we ended our time with some games of tag and a Viking version of 'Truth and Dare', though more dare than anything else. We had to calm things down with a group strategy game after things got out of hand though, what with Tuffnut daring Snotlout to tackle Toothless. I doubted he'd be comfortable sitting down for a while. Eventually, the sun started going down, and in Berk, that means it gets cold, fast, so Leighton and I headed back to our own world, with only a few minutes to spare before she had to leave. Pretty good timing, if you ask me.

Sunday morning brought with it, however, the first real signs of public announcements about my endeavor: an article on the front page of the local newspaper about me and the rescue:

Strange Occurrences: Reports of Boy Helper at Rescue with an Impossible Secret

On Friday afternoon, an average roadside crash in front of a local school took a turn for the strange and impossible when eyewitness reports appeared about who-and in some ways, what- was involved in helping rescue the injured passengers in the cars involved.

Medics and officers arriving on the scene were confronted with a sight strange enough, as the less injured passengers had already been helped out of the cars by a teenage boy from the nearby school, a feat that should have been impossible without heavy machinery, as the doors on both cars were crushed together by the crash. What's more, every opened door appeared to have strange puncture marks along the edges, where they had been wrenched free. One car showed signs of a conflagration, but instead of fire, only a thick layer of ice was present, unusual for such a warm day.

The teen present had explained that he had helped the crash victims out of the cars, one unharmed, one unconscious but unhurt, and one young girl with what was later to be found a hairline fracture along her leg. The fourth passenger was left in the car, according to the boy, because of the severity of his injuries, and the teen did not wish to risk further injury moving him. Medics later confirmed that the man's internal injuries were severe enough to warrant death, and no vehicle would have gotten him to a hospital fast enough.

As of 5:00 pm on Saturday, Thomas Arnold was at the hospital in critical, but improving, condition. When medics at the hospital and the officers present at the crash site were interviewed, they were hesitant to explain how they could have transported the man so rapidly. When pressed, however, they gave a story impossible to believe, were it not for the nearly 1,000 reports through the city confirming it: they took him to the hospital by dragon.

Through ways nobody understands yet, as he has not been seen since, the boy at the crash somehow gained the ability to transform into what has been previously thought to be a mythical creature, a dragon, and persuaded the crew to let him carry Thomas to the hospital site. After this extraordinary feat, he returned to the site and left without any more information to be given. As of yet, we have no leads as to who this boy is, or where he is from, but if the reports given can be believed (and with so many there is very little doubt that this happened), who is this strange teen, and how could he have possibly acquire such an impossible ability?

I sighed and looked over at my mom, who was making herself breakfast, and held up the paper. "I take it you saw the article then?" I asked. My mom nodded and moved the eggs she was cooking to a plate, and walked over to the table. "It's hard to miss a front-page article about my own son, especially when it features an image, admittedly blurry and reptilian, but a picture nonetheless of him flying over half the city." She took a bite of her eggs, and looked at the paper, seeming to contemplate her next question.

"I really hope you know exactly what you're doing," she said, "and what you're getting yourself into." I groaned. "Mom, we've been over this like a hundred times this weekend. Yes, I know exactly what's going to happen, as well as what could happen, and I think I'm prepared enough for it."

BRRIIINNNNGG! BRRRIIINNGG!

I jumped up and ran over to the phone to see who was calling. Luckily, the name on the caller ID was familiar. I picked it up.

"Hey Leighton." "Hey Hawken. Did you see the article this morning?" I sighed. "Yeah, I saw. It's begun officially now I guess." "You sure you can handle this?" I stayed quiet for a moment, thinking. "Well, if you're offering to help," I drawled, "then any way you can think of to keep people at a distance is greatly appreciated." "Well, I, uh, I'm not sure what I can really do. I'm not all that outspoken around strangers, you know that. I'll see what I can do to help at school tomorrow." "Alright," I said, "I'll see you tomo-" I stopped as a realization struck me. "Hold on a minute." I walked over to the calendar and looked at Monday. A wave of relief flooded over me. "Actually, Leighton, we don't have school tomorrow, remember?" "Wait, what? I'm sure we did." "No, it's a day off. I have another day to plan before all this blows up." "Well, great then! I'll see you on Tuesday in that case." "Alright, talk to you later."

I hung up the phone and let out a long, drawn out sigh. Holly, who had just gotten up, walked in and gave me a confused look. I shrugged and turned to my room. "Time to think hard about this."

I visited Hiccup and the gang on the day we had off to help me clear my mind so I could think straight. Unfortunately, the three most "Vikingly" of them just wanted to focus on nothing but how it could all go wrong. So for about half an hour, my mind instead got muddier and muddier. The only thing that helped was after I couldn't take listening to Snotlout and Tuffnut try to top their "worst case scenario" contest, I dumped them and Ruffnut into the pond in the cove. Hiccup was a little more helpful, suggesting a race around the village ( using the dragons, of course). That was helpful, but eventually I had to head home and brood about it all.

Tuesday. Just realizing what day it was gave me a headache, and I wanted nothing more than to bury my head under the covers and scream. Unfortunately, much like my parents, I was of the mindset right then that if I got myself into this mess, I would have to dig myself back out again. The day before, I had discussed with my mom and dad about what I was planning, and after some hesitation, I managed to convince my dad to drive me to school in the morning. I would be taking a very different route home. Arriving at school, I braced myself and stepped out of the car, heading for art class.

"Hawken!" I whirled around, ready to scare the heck out of whoever it was and shut them up for the day. Who I found was not expected, however. "Leighton? But you never get to school on time, let alone early." Leighton shrugged as she walked ahead and pulled the door open. "I thought this one day might be the one where it would be for the best, you know?" I nodded. "By the way, don't scare me like that, I'm really on edge. It's never a good idea to get a dragon on edge, even a half-dragon." Leighton shrugged again. "Sorry. Come on, let's get to class."

Luckily class was only right around the corner from the entrance there, though I have to say, school starting at 7:35 in the morning really puts a damper on my mood anyways. Doesn't help matters when kids walk into class giving me strange glances and whispering about who knows what. I decided not to use my enhanced hearing, as I knew it would only frustrate me more to know what they said. On the other hand, throughout the morning that was all I got: strange glances and occasional whispers. I smiled as I went to lunch. No one was brave (or dumb?) enough to actually try and confront me about it just yet. I was glad, as I was almost certain someone would ask just one question, or give me some ridiculous nickname, and the flood would begin. But, sooner or later it was bound to happen.

"Hey, Hawken!" I growled under my breath and turned around from my path toward one of the science rooms where I always ate lunch. At least I can say Gareth isn't dumb enough to be unable to eventually put two and two together. "Is that how you suddenly got so good at fighting?" he asked as he walked up to me, a stern look on his face. I wasn't impressed, naturally, and shrugged it off. "Maybe, maybe not. Depends on two things: what are you referring to, and what's it to you?" Gareth crossed his arms. "You know exactly what I'm referring to. And I'm guessing that's how you were able to give me that Indian rug burn without actually doing anything either."

I smirked as I started walking off, reaching into my bag and pulling out a scrap of paper. "Hey!" Gareth yelled as he walked up next to me again. "You didn't answer my quest-" his words died on his tongue as I held up my hand with the paper resting on it. I heated up my hand in an instant, causing the paper to not only burst into flames, but literally vaporize into a puff of smoke in front of Gareth's face. I grinned as I let my hand drop, and glared directly at him. "Does that answer your question?" I asked, faking innocence. I turned more serious then. "Look, I don't like being interrogated about things, and we all know you and I don't get along. Plus, I can do a lot more than just burn things, so unless you want to end up without any of your required assignments for the day, frostbitten arms and an entirely new hairdo, please don't patronize me." That shut him up, and I started walking away again, but my little paper stunt had caught the eyes of a few people.

A girl named Savannah walked up to me, though she stayed on nearly the other side of the hallway. "Hey Hawken, what was that?" she asked. "I thought I saw fire." I stayed silent, but Gareth took the liberty of answering. "Did you read the newspaper article on Sunday? The front page one?" Savannah laughed. "Everyone read that article. Such a ridiculous story. But I don't see what that has to-" "Hawken here is the dragon boy." Savannah quieted for a minute, looking at me, then started laughing again. "Oh, come on, nobody's going to believe that!" she gestured toward me. "Do you really think the plant boy would be capable of doing something like that?"

As she said that, she turned to look over at me. As she did so, my eyes melted to match a Night Fury's, slit pupils and all. Savannah choked on her laugh and gasped. "Oh. My. God," she whispered. I nodded. "Yes, everyone might as well know now. Unfortunately and for once, Gareth is telling the truth. But can I ask one thing?" Savannah slowly nodded. "Can you keep the questions down to a minimum? Please?"

And so began the first truly hectic day. Every single passing period, every single class, someone caught the story about my stunt in the hallway, or had seen it, and the questions, comments, and accusations started pouring in like Niagara Falls, with me barely holding an umbrella up to the flood. However, being the natural pain in the neck that I am, the best and clearest answers anyone got went along the lines of: "Yes, I can become a dragon," "Yes, I can breathe fire," "Yes, I carried that man to the hospital, and no, you're not getting a ride," and so on. After school, I found out some of my friends had been getting hammered with question too, like how long they had known, what else they knew, yadda, yadda, yadda. But my friends are my friends for important reasons: many of them think like me, or know me well enough, and weren't any more helpful in telling people what they wanted to know. However, that didn't stop a flood of people from following me to the science room, where I hang out after school.

"Will you people cut it OUT!" I snapped as I reached the door and opened it as the mob began volleying questions off again. At least I was able to gain some satisfaction out of watching everyone cringe for a moment, expecting some fiery outburst. "The information you know now is all you're going to get, unless I myself decided someone should know more. And that will be when I am good and ready to share it, so GET OFF MY BACK!"

I spun around and headed inside the science room, going straight to the back corner to get out the corn snakes that were there. The science teacher, a good friend of mine, watched for a minute as I stormed across the room. "Hawken?" he began, "Is everything alright? What was all that yelling about?" I waved my hand around in the air. "Oh, I just became an instant reluctant celebrity, and nobody will leave me alone now." "By what do you mean?" I sighed and turned toward him, cringing as the door opened to the room, but sighing in relief again as Cameron walked in. "You read the article in the paper on Sunday, right?" The teacher nodded and chuckled. "Hard to miss something like that. Amazing what reporters will try to publish to get good ratings. I mean, no evidence has ever been found to suggest dragons existed, now or ever, and metamorphosis like that is physically impossible."

"Actually, the story is true," Cameron said as he walked over. My teacher just shook his head. "It's not possible. There's no scientific evidence-" "Science doesn't explain quite everything," I said, "though I have some theories on how this all works. Indeed, science didn't create the boy, or his gift. I should know, because I am that boy." The teacher gave a short bark of laughter. "That's a bit of a tale to tell, Hawken. There's no way you're….." He trailed off as he watched scales as black as night ripple up my arms, and claws appear where I once had normal fingers a second before. I stopped there, and reversed the changes.

"Like I said, science as we know it doesn't explain everything," I remarked. "I am now a perfect living example." My teacher just stood there for a minute, flabbergasted. "But how… what… how in the world did you end up like that?" he asked, stammering and tripping over his words. "I've known you for seven years, and nothing like this has ever happened!" I gave a quiet laugh and looked around. Seeing as nobody else was in the room save for Cameron, as I had scared them all out, I decided I might as well tell him.

"You're one of the few people I feel I can trust with this,' I said. "I'll give you a rough rundown of how this all happened." I sat down in a chair nearby with the corn snakes. "This ability isn't originally from our world at all. There's… a sort of, uh, portal that I found, and it permanently connects our own world to one where the events in my favorite movie, How to Train Your Dragon, actually happened." I saw my teacher gaining a smirk on his face, and I pulled out one of Hiccup's charcoal pencils. "If you don't believe me, here's one of Hiccup's pencils. Anyway, I ran into a dragon when I found the portal, and she gave me this gift, which she said had come from God, and passed down for generations. Over the past year or so, I've been learning about how to use it and what this ability can do." I smiled. "I'll admit, becoming a dragon is the least of my tricks right now."

The conversation continued for about 15 minutes, before some younger kids finally got brave enough to walk into the room, following, not surprisingly, my sister. I wrapped up my story quickly and went back to dealing with the animals, until 4:00, when everyone had to head home. I smiled as I walked out the door into the hallway, followed by Cameron and my sister. It felt somewhat good knowing there was another adult who I had entrusted my biggest secret with, but I also still felt, naturally, a little shaky about the whole ordeal.

Outside, I prepared for one last show for the day. As the kids and adults started heading my way to flood me with questions again, black scales began spreading across my body again. "Hawken, what are you doing?" Cameron asked. "I thought you wanted to keep from exposing yourself too much." I smiled as I halted the transformation for a moment. "everyone already knows I can turn into a dragon," I explained, "so it's not giving them anything more. And besides, going home this way will be a lot more fun!" I looked around at the crowd that had gathered around me. "People, if you want to see anything, I would advise everyone to step back!" I cautioned. Nearly everyone did, save for one bonehead in my class. As my long, black tail sprouted out and lengthened, I used it to push him back out of the way. He wasn't the nicest person, but I didn't feel like running anyone over as I transformed.

As I grew in size, I looked over at my sister. "Holly, you have everything you need, right?" I asked. "Yeah." "Then get on." I bent down, now at full size, and my sister climbed on, bags and backpack and all, and grabbed onto the row of crests along my spine. I was almost completely Night Fury now, except for one important detail: currently I looked like a big black lizard, as I had no wings. I grinned as I completed that last change, the skin on my sides appearing to sag and peel away, only to reveal nothing wrong underneath. Everyone around me gasped as I flared open all four of my wings, a full 48 feet of span. "See you tomorrow!" Cameron yelled. I grinned. "See you later!" I replied, and, gently because of the little sister on my back, I lifted up into the air catching a thermal over the parking lot and soaring upward, and over the city in the direction of my house.

No matter what part of the world you are in, or what world, for that matter, a dragon's eye view is an amazing sight. I watched houses and cars pass by beneath me, as Holly quietly commented to herself about everything she saw below. Looking down, I saw people in their yards and on the sidewalks, looking and pointing upward and scrambling around, probably trying to find a camera or something. It was almost certainly exciting to see a dragon fly overhead, especially when in our world such creatures only exist in books and movies. However, there's an extra level of weird added, when said dragon is carrying a backpack and book bag as well.

The flight ended relatively quickly, as flying is a whole lot faster than driving, as you don't have to follow roads when you know where you are going, and as soon as I landed on our driveway, Holly slipped off and I rapidly changed back. We slipped inside and waited for my mom to get home. As we waited, Holly suddenly realized something.

"Hey Hawken?" she began. "Hmm?" I replied. "What happens to stuff in your pockets when you change, since your clothes change with you?" That caught me off guard, as I had never thought about it. I reached down into my pocket, where my wallet and phone was, and found they were still there. "Don't know," I said. "Maybe it all just changes. Why are you asking this?" "Because I'm random, and I was just curious," she replied. I nodded and went to go do my homework.

"So I see you actually did decide to fly home today," my mom commented as she walked in the door. "I also heard some snippets on the radio and in the news about more dragon sightings." She smiled, knowing the explanation why, of course. I stood up from where I was doing homework (truly, the bane of a schoolboy's life, I tell you) and headed to the fridge to grab a drink. "Well, it's only just begun, mind you," I said as I poured a glass of milk. "Most of the kids at school know for certain that the dragon boy is me, especially courtesy of my flight home with Holly." My mom finished putting her things away and turned to look at me. "So what can we expect next?" she queried. "Reporters at our front door? Police stopping by to make sure you're not some great threat to our city? Government attention?" "Yes," I replied simply. My mom frowned at me. "Yes what?" "Yes to all of those, unfortunately. We'll probably get reporters and journalists here, though a bunch will probably also show up at my school trying to find me, and I'm certain the police will stop by 'just in case' at least once. I can tell you this though: I am going to make it as hard as possible to get anything about it out of me, and very few people are going to find out about Berk. That is not really a risk I can take with anyone besides those who already know."

Sure as shooting, the next day as Holly and I headed to school (after my first flight we decided this was less costly and far more enjoyable), there were people everywhere, on the sidewalks, outside their houses, or looking out car windows, trying to see if they could catch a glimpse of the "dragon boy" as we flew by, and in the school yard a huge crowd of kids had gathered, watching and pointing as I glided down to ready for landing. I had decided to stick with my Night Fury form to keep the chatter down a bit and keep things simpler for me ( the differently shaped crests and swept-back tailfins still set me apart though). As I neared, I saw some of my friends, like Leighton and Josh, moving the crowd back and out of the way as best they could so I could land without squishing a bunch of kids. Truth be told, though, there were a few I wouldn't have minded landing on, a few of the more obnoxious teens down there. Of course, they got a helping hand as everyone wised up and scrambled out of the way as my massive wings flared out to land.

Afterward, school was pretty much the same as the day before, except with a higher number of questions and pokes and prods (resulting in singed fingers when someone didn't get the message the first time; I do so love the Fireworm's ability). Unfortunately, however, now that everyone knew who I was, or better yet what I was, even the teachers began asking questions about this, that, and the other. Even though I'm better friends with them, the science teachers were the worst. I can't blame them though, as scientists naturally like to know how things work.

What's more, after the brief respite in the science room after school, when I went outside with my sister and friends at 4:00 I found a news van parked outside, waiting. Holly and I got flooded with people thrusting microphones in or faces and firing off question after question about everything. The only answer they got was an icy blue Frost dragon glare, and a good video clip of me turning into the usual Night fury form, launching off into the air and back toward home with Holly. That particular crew never bothered me again.

The next week passed with the same results, though everyone at school finally started quieting down and going back to normal as they finally got it through their heads that I wasn't exactly open to talk about the subject in detail. No, the attention now came from the news people that predictably became infected with interrogation fever. It was the biggest story since the presidential election, so everyone wanted a piece of the action. Every morning, every afternoon, I would find a news or radio station van parked near the school, waiting for their chance at something new. Some of them were smart enough to stay calm and keep back when I came around, so I was nice and answered a few questions, but most were pushy and nosy, and were answered with a retreating back or flash of wings as I removed myself from the scene, disappearing into school or sky. At home, I ended up simply posting a handmade sign warning that all reporters or journalists or whatever should be smart and stay away, or else risk damaged equipment. It is my house, so anyone there without me or my parent's permission was trespassing anyway. only one news crew didn't heed the warning after it was put up, and received a roll of brand new film thoroughly coated in a beautiful pattern of ice crystals. It may have looked nice hanging from the camera, but not so nice when it came to them explaining to their superiors their mistake about approaching me.

The only other worry I really had was the one day the police did stop by to check things out and make sure I was safe. Being police and, due to the fact that the station was smart enough to send a kinder pair of officers, they received a pleasant conversation and a strong reassurance that I was here to help, not hurt, anyone. I have to say this though: an officer's questions cover things way too thoroughly for my liking, so I'm sure some of the answers they received were a little too vague for their liking. Nothing they can do, though, as I have a right to withhold whatever information I need to, and eventually they left me in peace.

After a couple of weeks, finally, everyone at school and in the news and protection departments finally laid off me, giving me a chance to breathe again and focus on finishing up school work. I also, unexpectedly, got to meet the victims of the crash a few weeks after the incident. Claire and her friend, who was named Vanessa, were relatively easy to deal with when I met them again, as they were naturally calm people, and didn't press any topic I didn't want to talk about. They also gave plenty of thanks for helping them out, to which I replied it was nothing. The other two victims on the other hand...

Jessica was an energetic young woman, even with her leg cast on, and wanted to know just how I did everything. It's hard to answer some questions when you don't even know the answers yourself. To slow her down was nearly impossible and every question I managed to answer was rapidly followed by yet another 30 related inquiries, most of which, of course, when unanswered. A guy can only say so much. Thomas was better, probably partly because he was still covered in bandages and mostly stayed in a chair the whole time, but he was still a man who wanted to know things.

"How exactly did you manage to transport me to the hospital in time?" We were at their house (Jessica and Thomas were related, so I guess curiosity runs in the family), where Thomas had been staying after finally being released from the hospital only 5 days before. I smiled. "That one I think I can answer," I replied. "I turned into a dragon large enough to carry the weight of more than one person, you and the rescuers holding the stretcher in place, and flew across town to cut down on time. With the condition you were in, you wouldn't have made it there in time otherwise." Thomas looked outside.

" What's it like being able to fly on your own power, and not need anything else to do so?" he asked. I laughed. "It's wonderful, that's for sure. Not having to follow roads or worry about really being late, and no gas or insurance costs either." I smirked at that. "Truthfully, there's nothing that feels more free than gliding on your own through the sky." Thomas sat there for a minute, looking thoughtful.

"If... if it's not too much to ask, would it be possible to show me the dragon you became? I'd like to know exactly how my life was saved." There was a pause for a minute, and he continued, "Wow, that sounded really cheesy." I laughed and looked outside, in his back yard, and decided it couldn't hurt anything. I nodded. "Alright, but I can't give any free rides. It's almost time for me to leave anyway, so this'll have to be the last thing I do."

I stepped outside, followed by Jessica and Thomas. Even though Jessica had seen me do this at the crash site, she had seen it through pained eyes and hadn't really paid attention to much and wanted so see what happened clearly. I stepped out onto the grass, looked around to make sure I didn't hit anything, and focused on the same image.

Like someone had dumped a bucket of paint on me, I changed color completely, and the scales appeared, running across my body. My arms flared out and became webbed, and a long tail and the spine crests appeared behind me. I expanded to full size and finished, looking down at the two, who had looks of awe on their faces. "That's... quite an impressive mode of rescue," Thomas commented quietly. "Where did the stretcher go?" I knelt down and flattened the double row of spines, showing the flat spot where the stretcher had sat. "Right in the middle of my back. the police and medics who kept you from slipping off sat on either side." Thomas nodded, and was quiet for a moment again before speaking up. "Well, I really don't know how I could repay you, but I have to say it again: thank you for saving my life." I laughed as I shrank back to normal. "No payment necessary of any sort, my friend," I replied. "The gift itself was payment enough for anything I do." He nodded. We headed back inside and continued to talk for a couple minutes, then he thanked me again and I left.

Unfortunately, there's another few problems that come along with the price of being a new unorthodox celebrity: one, of course, is the attention I got, the other is the result of all that attention. Into mid May, I kept getting calls, emails, and letters from random people wanting me to do talk shows or movie stunts, radio calls, and so on. I'm not that kind of person, at all. Those who know me say I'm open around my friends, but other than that I stay with my own little things. I'm not majorly social, so ended up refusing the offers one after the other as they came in, with only short answers as to why, however vague I may have been. Another result of all the attention was my own form of paparazzi, people with expensive cameras and video recorders trying to get shots of me anywhere they could: at school, at home, around town, flying to or from somewhere, so on, so forth. Anyone stupid enough to actually group up and flash me blind with camera lights ended up with frozen or slightly crisped equipment and film, so I got some satisfaction out of ruining their day as they ruined mine. After what seemed like forever, though, most people (unfortunately not all) got the idea finally that I just wanted to be left alone unless you were in big trouble, or actually kind and the opposite of obnoxious and rude. Even then, though, you had better hope I was in a good mood or you'd simply receive a frosty glare and a flash of retreating wings as I left the area.

Luckily, most everything calmed down as school neared quitting time, and the best time of the year approached: the end of school, and the wide open spaces of summer break!