((Hey, there! Thank you to all of you lovely people for adding this to your favorites and/or alerts, and for commenting! I'm glad you're enjoying this. I know I am.

Somehow, these characters just won't leave me alone. As you can probably tell by my sudden frequent updates.

I am going to try to keep this pattern up, as it's probably better for the story - I'm not going to make any promises as to regular updates. I'm currently working two jobs as well as trying to maintain some semblance of a life. But I am definitely going to keep hacking away at this, and you should see more frequent updates. Especially on the weekends.

Alright, that's enough of my rambling. Enjoy Chapter 9! You might even see Chapter 10 by tonight. But I'm not really sure. ; ) ))

The grounds were more or less abandoned, but for a few ambling Keepers, watching over the dragons by night. In the dens, the Welsh Green was watching Shay with curious eyes.

You're back? They seemed to say.

"So, how is this going to work?" Charlie asked.

"Take my hand and open the barrier," Shay replied, holding out her hand. Charlie folded it in his, her small hand all but disappearing in his. She could feel the rough pads of callouses, the ridges of scars. "Once the barrier is open, stay silent, stay calm. I'll take care of it from there."
Charlie nodded, though he looked apprehensive, and cast the spell that opened the barrier. The Welsh Green watched the proceedings with cautious eyes.

"Hello again," Shay whispered. "No surprises this time, I promise. Okay?"

The ripples of the dragon's consciousness were calm, accepting. He was sleepy, and this wasn't new anymore. He could take it in stride.

"I need you to wait for any exploration of this, okay?" Shay whispered, trying to focus her intentions into something the dragon would understand. "Just for a little while. Stay right where you are for now." She thought of waiting, of patience, translating her human language. The dragon seemed to understand, and remained still.

"This is going to feel strange," Shay warned Charlie. "Just don't let go of my hand."

"Have you ever done this before?" Charlie asked suddenly.

Shay grinned sheepishly. "Not really," she said. "But I've had it done to me, and I've seen it happen. Trust me."

Charlie didn't respond, which Shay took as a good thing. Slowly, she began to channel some of the magic. It was all in her head, this channeling. She knew that. It was not a physical magic. Their skin would not jump with gold sparks, their connected hands would not glow. No threads of magic light would weave their minds together. But the magic would – and did – pulse in her mind and flow along her veins. She could feel it reaching her fingers and then nudging at the skin. It was a warm, pleasant feeling, mildly electric. Almost humming. And then she could feel it move from her hand to Charlie's.

He stiffened, the fingers of his hand tightening on hers, though not enough to hurt. The first step in their little experiment had worked. The magic was flowing freely from Shay to Charlie.

"Alright," Shay whispered. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah," Charlie whispered in return. "This is…strange."

"I know. You'll get used to it."

She reconnected herself to the presence of the dragon, feeling his curiosity swelling.

"He's like me, for now," she told the creature. "Don't be afraid."

At the thought of fear the dragon snorted. It knew no such thing, and it made this very clear to Shay.

"Ow," Shay whispered, as the pride the dragon felt played with the magic – it caused a twinge of pain in her head. "Alright, alright, I get it – no fear."

The discomfort subsided, and then, in delay, Charlie winced. The communication would be delayed as it passed from Shay to Charlie. It was something Shay hadn't remembered. It would take a few seconds for Shay to understand and respond before what happened could move on to Charlie.

"You can continue what you were doing earlier," Shay told the dragon. "Before he interrupted. It's okay, now . He understands."

The dragon was skeptical, and the rattle in his throat began again. Shay could feel Charlie tense next to her. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"What are you trying to do?" She whispered, more to herself than to the dragon. It lowered its head again, eyes level with Shay's. Still rattling. Still, Shay could feel nothing but curiosity, the desire to learn. And so she wasn't afraid. When Charlie got these signals, she felt him relax. But only slightly.

Shay's gaze was once more locked with that of the Welsh Green. Charlie seemed to disappear from beside her.

.You

Every bone, every muscle in Shay's body, went rigid, her grasp on Charlie's hand became vice-like. She broke the connection quickly, murmuring apologies that made no sense, and stumbled backward. She didn't realize she'd let go of Charlie's hand until she was leaning against the wall, looking at the dragon through a barrier of magic.

The dragon looked highly amused.

"Did you…did that just…? I'm going crazy. Crazy. This isn't possible, it can't be. How…?"

"What happened?"

Charlie stood in front of her, concerned and confused. Shay didn't need magic to read human emotions, especially Charlie's. His were displayed right across his face.

"I don't…I mean didn't you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"I must have broken the connection too quickly," Shay muttered, pressing a hand to her forehead. "Merlin."

"Look, if you don't explain to me what's going on, I'm…"

"Not…not here. He's watching me, and he's laughing, and – "

"The dragon is laughing."

Shay looked up at Charlie.

"Look," she said sharply. "I sound crazy. I sound absolutely damn insane, I know. But if you want to know what happened, we need to go elsewhere. Alright?"

"Fine, fine. Don't hyperventilate one me, yeah?"

Shay hadn't even realized how fast her breathing had become. She closed her eyes and began to slow it, taking deep breaths.

"You okay?" Charlie asked.

"Fine. I think."

"C'mon. Let's get you out of here."

He took her hand again with more purpose than he had before, and led her back to the staircase. "You're shaking like a leaf," he said. "You know that?"

"Just a little…perturbed. I'll be okay."

"Must be one hell of a story."

"You have no idea."

The two emerged from the dens, stepping into cool nighttime air.

"What time is it?" Shay asked suddenly.

"Just passed midnight," Charlie replied. "Why?"

"We were down there longer than I thought, that's all. Where should we go?"

"My cabinmate works as night-Keeper," Charlie said. "We could go over there and stay away from Claire, for now."

Shay gave Charlie an odd look.

"She doesn't mean to be, but she's rather a gossip," Charlie said. "Says things she doesn't mean to and all that."

"Then we'll definitely want to avoid her, for now."

Charlie led the way through the mostly-deserted grounds and stopped in front of a cabin. He unlocked the door and held it open for Shay, casting a spell to turn the lights on as he closed the door.

The cabin was cluttered, unlike the one Shay shared with Ana and Claire. There was a pile of boots by the door in varying states of muddiness, books and papers were scattered on every surface, and several mugs sat empty by the sink. It was by no means a disgrace, but one could immediately tell that there were other things on the residents' minds than cleanliness.

"Sorry for the mess," Charlie said almost cheerfully, noticing that Shay was taking in the state of the cabin. "It's kind of difficult to keep clean with the schedules. Here, take a seat – I promise there's nothing worse than paper on those chairs."

He cleared a chair off for her, stacking the papers haphazardly on the end of the table, instead.

"Tea?"

"Please."

A kettle poured tea into two large mugs, one of which he passed to Shay. "Cream or sugar?'

"No, thanks."

Charlie shrugged and added hearty doses of both to his own mug.

"So," he said. "Start at the beginning. What'd the beast do?"

Shay looked at Charlie with a level gaze.

"You won't believe me."

Charlie returned her look, raising an eyebrow as well.

"Try me," he challenged.

And so, she began.