The smell of food woke me up and I stretched lazily, curling my lips back over pointy fangs as I yawned. I wasn't in the pocket anymore; I was draped over Mr. Tiny's knee. I snapped at him when he set me on the seat but his transgressions were momentarily forgotten when a plate of food was set in front of me loaded with chicken and potatoes. Next to it was a vial of Mr. Tinys blood. I chirped at Harkat and started using my tongue as a shovel to scoop up the potatoes. The train started to move and I lifted my head to stare out the window. The parking lot was slowly receding behind us and I turned to watch it go until the chicken called me back and I tore it into with my teeth.

When I was done Mr. Tiny picked me up much to my displeasure, pinched one wing gently between his finger tips and spread it out while keeping me wedged between his knees so I couldn't get away. I growled and dug my claws into the seat but there was no getting out. Mr. Tiny uncapped a bottle of something and started spreading the salve on my wing. It was cold and I strained my neck around to try and bite him but I was too small. The other wing was done the same way and he rubbed it in. He let me go and I sprang to the other side of the train room hissing loudly.

"What is that?" Harkat asked curiously.

"A salve to keep his wings knitted together. He may have healed them by magic but in case that comes undone I am doing some extra insurance. Only a few more applications and it won't matter if his magic on the wings fails," Mr. Tiny explained and sighed at me. "Come here Shadow you have food on you."

No way. I hunkered on Harkats bed and growled dangerously.

Mr. Tiny tugged on the leash and I went flying into his lap. With deft movements he used the napkin to get shreds of chicken off my chin and held up the vial of blood. "If you want to go without this…?" He teased.

I turned my head away. I was hungry for it but Mr. Tinys bottled blood was much easier to resist. It just didn't smell that good after it had been sitting in there for a couple hours.

Mr. Tiny picked up a butter knife and before I could panic he drew a thin line on his arm that welled with blood. "Drink," he said sternly.

I swallowed and shuffled my feet around, trying to deny my hunger but when red started to drip down his arm I leapt forward and lapped at the cut. With each lick of my sand paper tongue the hunger started to fade away.

Harkat watched with disgusted fascination. "He is going to be so mad at you in the morning."

Mr. Tiny shrugged and the movement shifted his arm. I wrapped my paws around him, digging my claws in just a bit to keep him still. "I do not care." He looked down at me and I could feel his eyes on where I fed.

"What if he leaves again?" Harkat pressed.

"He will not," Mr. Tiny said surely.

"How do you know?" Harkat asked.

"Shadow wants his sword and if he runs he will never get it."

I took a couple more licks and released Mr. Tiny to clamber up on the window sill. Their conversation didn't mean as much to me in dragon form. The scenery rushing by kept my head turning and mind busy as my heat seeking eyes scoped out deer in the shrubbery.

"Bathroom," Harkat muttered and sat up. He held out his hand for my harness. "If you expect him to sleep he needs exercise."

I took offense to that. I wasn't some dog that needed to go for a walk! Humans saw me as a cat anyway.

Mr. Tiny frowned but handed over the leash. "Be careful." He brought out a book from nowhere and my head turned to look at him as Harkat led me out of the compartment. Mr. Tiny reading? He hadn't done that for awhile.

"I think we need to get dessert on our way back," Harkat said. The train car we were in next had a little bar full of cookies and other snacks.

I chirped my agreement from my place on his shoulder. A scent wafted in from the next passenger car and I tilted my head, craning my neck out to get more of it. When I did I reared back and snarled. I flipped head over paws and tore backwards, dragging Harkat down when the leash ran out of line. I pulled him along the dessert car and back into ours, banging headfirst against the door until Mr. Tiny opened it and let us in. I hid under the cot and mewled loudly.

"Ow," Harkat said and sat up rubbing his head. "Shadow?" He leaned down and looked under the bed. "What's the matter?"

Mr. Tiny sighed. "That didn't last long."

"He smelled something coming from the passenger car and freaked," Harkat said.

"It was probably some old lady with a cat," Mr. Tiny grumbled.

I snarled and yowled trying to make them understand. I crawled out and lightly bit Harkats arm where his stitches had been replaced. I yowled again and stared at him with wide eyes. Please, please get it.

Harkat got it. His face went white as a sheet and then very, very green.

Mr. Tiny lifted me up in his two hands. He looked furious but luckily it was steered at something else. "How could they find us?" He muttered angrily. He ran a hand along my neck, probably searching for another tracker. Finding nothing he set me down on his lap and ran his fingers along my tail, sides legs and stomach. All of a sudden he flipped me over and rested his thumb on one of my ribs. "Aha." He numbed the area and his finger glowed red. A small metal disc shot out from my skin and the area healed instantly. Between his forefinger and thumb he crushed the stupid thing. "All clean," he said and did the same with Harkat, also turning up one behind his left ear.

"Shadow I know you are terrified and I am too but this is a chance to get some more payback," Harkat said.

I stared at him, tail whipping from side to side. Finally I nudged the strap that tied the harness closed against Mr. Tinys leg. Mr Tiny obliged and I stretched, snapping my jaws closed with a loud click. I led the other two back up our car and into the dessert one. I sniffed again with my eyes closed. It seemed that Harrison had bought up one entire car for his minions. I fluffed up my feathers and barreled headfirst into the door. It crumpled under me and Harkat came right behind shouting a war cry.

The men seemed to have been expecting us and though they didn't have guns, stun batons sparked into life all over the train car.

I zipped from man to man, knocking feet out from under people and biting exposed skin.

Mr. Tiny was standing at the entrance, watching and doing absolutely nothing as Harkat and I came dangerously close to being shocked repeatedly.

When Harkat was about to be grabbed my little dragon body flowed back into a human one and I grabbed the man, yanking him backwards and tossing him into a wall. I was only human long enough to notice my appalling lack of clothes before I twisted back into a tiny dragon and attacked someone else. I bounced all over the cabin sometimes boy sometimes dragon and together Harkat and I fought. Until I swapped to human form and a prod hit me right in the ribs. It sparked and I went down howling and twitching. I struggled to go back to dragon form and the prod hit me in the armpit. I rolled over onto my back and crawled up the train car isle, the man advancing on me with a leering grin. The prod hit me again and again, foot, leg, ribs again and back. Then over the wild sounds of Harkat shouting and the men laughing came a soft voice that was still easily heard.

"Enough."

I panted and groaned with effort but I made it back to dragon form and crawled under a seat.

Mr. Tiny snapped his fingers. All of Harrisons men were thrown against the wall and they were pulled onto the ceiling where they stayed stuck. His eyes were glowing crimson red along with his hands and he snapped his fingers a second time. Every single cattle prod in the room floated higher and higher and rotated until they pointed at the men. There was a moment's pause and then the prods drove home, embedding themselves into their chests. The third snap made all the men vanish leaving holes in the ceiling. Only then did his hands and eyes return to normal.

The harness appeared on me and I was pulled out from under the seat and into Mr. Tinys grasp. I was still twitching and electrical burns decorated me but Mr. Tiny soothed the wounds by running a glowing finger over each of them. "You aren't strong enough to take them on," he said to me and pulled Harkat up. Before I could growl a protest he shushed me. "If you had used any magic besides shifting back and forth like a pinball those men would have been obliterated. Why didn't you?" He left me to think about that and carried me back to our car, waving his hand at the last second to seal the holes. Nobody in the dessert car seemed to have noticed the giant fight.

I was thinking more about how I was going to sue Mr. Tiny for not including my clothes when I changed back and forth. But before I could bite him I completely forgot why I was going to because the dragon form took over completely.

Harkat slumped on his bed and rubbed his face. "We were idiots for charging in like that."

"Yes you were," Mr. Tiny said blandly. "If they had come with guns? Nets? Explosives? They were merely cannon fodder to draw you in." He patted me on the head like I was a toddler.

I sank my fangs into his hand and wriggled under the blankets sullenly. I knew I was angry at Mr. Tiny for something but I couldn't quite remember the details of it. I missed the farm, Bea and the kittens so much my heart ached. Were the swords truly worth it? I could live with Pandora and be at peace. The fear that constantly accompanied me in human form was like a suffocating cloud as a dragon.

I jumped when Mr. Tiny stuck his bare, webbed feet under the blankets and shot out. There was no way I was sleeping next to them! But before I could leap off the bed completely he grabbed me.

"Cease your infernal biting," he reprimanded me when I snapped at his fingers. "Go to bed." He stuck me half in his armpit and pulled the blankets over us.

Harkat laid down on the other bed and rolled over to face the wall. His closed off expression meant he was probably going to spend a long time thinking over what had happened before he got any sleep.

I would have been awake all night thinking too, but being a dragon meant things were muddled. So, with all hope of escaping the fate of sleeping in an armpit I curled up and closed my eyes, trying to sleep. It didn't escape me that Mr. Tiny wasn't even trying to fake it. He was just staring at the ceiling. The only upside was that Mr. Tiny was naturally really warm and his body heat was half comforting Eventually the rocking of the train lulled me into sleep.