Hello, and I'm back with another chapter of The New Universal.

I don't own the Companion Quartet.

Enjoy!

The first thing Abby saw when she walked past the front desk of the headquarters was a large dragon.

Wait, backtrack! Just kidding.

Abby's eyes grew wide as she noticed a girl her age leaning against the dragon, reading a book.

"Huh?" the girl said, looking up at Abby, then she rolled her eyes. "You look like you've never seen a dragon before. Newbie?"

"Y-Yeah," Abby said, still looking at the dragon.

With a chuckle, Ryoko put her hand on Abby's shoulder. "You'll get used to seeing dragons, trust me." She looked at the girl. "Emily, this is Abby. This is her first day-just brought her here after her assessment, actually."

Emily raised an eyebrow. "That fast?"

Ryoko nodded, then gestured at Austin-the entire Jones family, save Connie, was staring at the dragon with wide eyes. "Austin here is a fellow dragon companion-I believe that you two will be training together from time to time."

Emily gave the whole family a strange look. "None of you have seen a dragon before?! But you're all at least teenagers-people usually know about their gifts by the time they're thirteen. And there's seven of you?"

"Luna here already knew," Ryoko said, gesturing at Connie. "She found the Jones, and that's how we ended up discovering their talents."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I bet that they're all gonna learn slow." She stood up, then walked away.

Ryoko looked at the Jones family. "Don't worry about what Emily says. She'll eat those words before you know it. But for now, you must meet the heads here-we don't have the Trustees-they mostly stay in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Not here much, but we don't mind. After all, there's a few secrets we need to keep. Now, let's keep going." Ryoko kept walking, and the Jones family followed her. After a few minutes, they came to an important-looking door. Ryoko opened it and ushered the Jones family inside.

Inside the room, four people-two men, two women-were sitting in chairs, their companions behind them.

"Hello," one of the women said, standing up and smiling. "You must be the Jones family." She frowned at Connie. "And you must be Luna, the shapeshifter."

"I don't have any goals in common with Kullervo," Connie said-wow, she was going to have to say that a lot. "I promise."

"Alright," one of the men said. "Then welcome. My name is Derek. My companion is Rylisian-he's a sylph, so you won't see him easily unless he wants you to. I'm part of the Elemental Company."

"My name is Jasmine," the first woman said. "Companion to Flame-she's a phoenix. Part of the Company of the Winged Beasts."

"I'm Ryan, companion to Dragons, like Quinn here," the second man said, gesturing at the dragon behind him. "Company of Reptiles and Sea Creatures."

"And I'm Piper, companion to the Unicorns, like Cleo here," the second woman said, gesturing at the snake behind her. "Company of the two-fours."

Ryan looked at Austin. "You're part of my company, I see. Come here."

Austin hesitated, but Ryoko nudged him forward, so Austin went and sat by Ryan.

Piper smiled at Jenny and Ariel. "You're part of my Company-come here."

Jenny and Ariel walked over to Piper and sat down.

Jasmine looked at Steve and Jay. "You two are part of my Company."

Steve and Jay walked over to Jasmine and sat down. Then, all of then looked at Abby.

"She's from ours," Jasmine said.

"You're mistaken-she's from ours," Piper said.

"No, she's ours," Derek said.

"You're all wrong," Ryan said, then all of them gave each other a confused look, then they all looked at Abby.

"Y-You're a…" Piper started.

"Universal," they all said at the same time.

Connie stepped forward. "The assessment said so, too."

They all looked at Connie.

"So, I'm guessing that she's your companion?" Derek asked.

Connie nodded. "Although it might be best to keep that detail from the Trustees."

"We shouldn't tell them about our universal, either," Ryan said. They all looked at him. "Officially, we can have a stand-in companion species to hide what you really are-I suggest something that one of your family members already has."

Abby looked at her family members, then at the creatures in the room, before she sheepishly said, "Um...can I choose...dragons?"

"Why dragons?" Piper asked.

"Um…" Abby said, clearly uncomfortable.

Connie decided that Abby needed some help, so she stepped forward and pulled a pin out of Abby's hair, showing it to the heads. It was a dragon pin.

"Abby loves dragon," Connie said. "Her whole room is full of them."

"Luna!" Abby protested, snatching the pin back and sticking it back in her hair.

Connie shrugged. "I'm just stating why you'd choose dragons."

"Then you'll get a dragon companion, and unless the Trustees learn the truth for some reason, you'll be placed under dragon companion training-although we will find a way to train you as a universal as well," Jasmine said. She looked at Connie. "Somehow, we'll have to hide you as well. Should we have you as a dragon companion as well?"

Connie shrugged. "Whatever you guys think is best."

"Then we'll place you as a dragon companion as well," Jasmine said. "Now, personally, I think that you seven should all stay here in Minneapolis, but I'm well aware that you likely have lives back in your hometown. However," she added, looking at Abby and Connie, "we would like to keep an eye on the two of you here. What way can we convince people that you transferred here for a specific reason while your family stayed behind?"

"I could say that I found some relatives," Connie said.

"Um...I don't know," Abby said.

Connie glanced at Abby, then thought for a few seconds. "You could tell people that you entered in some kind of writing program-after all, you like to write stories."

"Luna!" Abby protested.

"You like to write?" Derek asked.

Abby sighed, then nodded sheepishly.

"Then we can enter you into one of the schools here with a writing program-a Society member actually runs the program," Derek said. "That way, we can keep an eye on you two, and you can continue to write these stories."

Abby looked really happy. "Sweet! This'll be fun!"

All of them laughed.

"Well, we'll have to get arrangements made for all this," Ryoko said when the laughter was done. They all looked at her as she looked at Abby and Connie. "The two of you can stay with me for at least a few days-I'm afraid that my house is rather small, but it shouldn't be long before another Society member can look after you. Plan?"

"Plan," they all said.

And that's it for this chapter! What did you think?

I should be updating before too long, but I'm going to have to pause before too long because of one of the activities I'm in.

Until next time!

Lunetheart out.