I liked writing this chapter, so I wrote it quite fast... enjoy! :D

After a dramatic scene, played out in the local school assembly hall; there is no longer any doubt about the existence of dragons. They possess several unexplained abilities; the most disturbing of all the ability to shapeshift into human form. Dragons appear highly intelligent, enough so to convincingly mimic human behaviour, though their sentience in comparison to humans has not yet been established.

The dragon in question, formerly known as a human teenager named 'Jake Long', has escaped, but has been located and is under close surveillance.

"You got that right." Fu Dog growled and turned off the radio, looking pointedly at the front of the shop. With the help of Jake and Lao Shi (who had quickly found out the news after being mobbed by reporters whilst sitting and enjoying his favourite tea), they had managed to lock and barricade the doors, cover every window, and light the fireplace.

Still, the dulled chatter from outdoors never died down.

Jake groaned. "This is the worst day of my entire life." He placed his head in his hands.

"Don't be so down, kid. Cheer up!" Fu hopped onto the couch next to Jake. "They may know that dragons exist now, and maybe they are questioning whether to put you guys in a zoo, and there's going to be a worldwide dragonhunt, and the council... oohh, the council..."

"Fu. Not helping." Jake glared at Fu through his fingers.

"-But they don't know about the existence of other magical creatures!" Fu retorted.

"Oh, brilliant." Jake stood up abruptly. "There is still the small problem of everything else!" He paused. "It's only a matter of time before they put us all in cages, and it'll be all my fault."

"Young one," Lao Shi intoned, walking up to Jake. "You have not failed. You were simply outmanoeuvred. We simply must try and continue as normally as we can, and the world will follow our example and see we mean no harm."

"Yo, G..." Jake shrugged. "If you really think that everybody's just gonna roll with the existence of dragons, then why were we hiding it in the first place?"

Lao Shi raised a finger and opened his mouth, but all he did was stutter. "Ay... ya..."

The phone went off, and Fu picked it up.

"Hello? Who is this... Larry? Larry from where- are you a... No. No, we're not interested, goodbye."

"What is it, Fu Dog?" Lao Shi asked.

"The press. They got hold of our number." The phone went off again, and Fu picked it up. "Hello? No. Not interested. Who-who am I? That's none of your bone to chew, buddy!" He slammed it down.

"Yo, why don't we just ignore the phone? Unplug it?" Jake frowned. The phone rang once more.

"Hello? No. Stop calling this number." Fu growled and shoved it back on the hold. "We can't unplug the phone, kid; we're waiting to hear that they've arrived at Hayley's school. Jonathon promised us he'd call the second-" Another brrring brrring sounded from the phone. "Grrrrr... we'll have to take shifts, because I'm not gonna answer five thousand nosy newspapers all by myself."

"This is ridiculous." Jake switched form. "Let me just go to Hayley's school; nobody watches the news until they're, like, grown-ups."

"Jake, we can't go outside!" Lao Shi protested as Jake unfolded his wings. "You'll be completely hounded as a dragon!"

"You're right." Jake switched back in a short blaze of fire. He took off his red jacket and reached for the black hoodie he had left lying around Lao Shi's shop; not much of a disguise, but hopefully not everybody would be as familiar with his human face as his dragon. "I'll go as a human then."

"But..."

"You said it yourself." Jake budged the barricade and unlocked the back door. "Continue as normal, and the world will follow our example."

"Good luck, kid!" Fu waved from the phone. "No, not you! We do not want- I am not a talking dog, thanks. Where are you getting that idea- oh."

Jake, thankfully, managed to slip out the back door of the shop without drawing attention to himself. Adjusting the hoodie so it came a little bit more over his face, Jake hurried into the main street and began walking, blending in with the crowd.

It was a short walk to Hayley's school from the shop, but the sun blazed down on New York, bathing the inhabitants in hot sunlight. Jake felt himself begin to sweat; how he wished that instead of wearing this hot, woollen winter hoodie, he could be in a t-shirt, or better still, scales. Scales would be the best option in this weather.

As he was approaching the school, a hand landed on his shoulder and dragged him to the side. Jake gasped and got ready to fight, but who he saw surprised him.

"Professor... Rotwood?"

"Yes, Mr. Long." There was a strange, wistful smile on his face. "It is me."

Jake frowned. "I'm busy getting my sister out of school before they find out and, I don't know what will happen to Hayley if they do. What do you want?"

"Mr. Long- Jake, I want to say zat I am sorry. Really, really sorry, you know?" Rotwood rubbed the back of his neck. "It wasn't... It wasn't meant to be like zis."

"Say what?" Jake crossed his arms, almost literally breathing fire in anger; his nose was smoking a little. "Sorry doesn't quite cut it. Maybe you shouldn't have revealed the entire dragon secret in the first place! Huh? Then you might not have had to be so sorry."

People were beginning to stare. "Mr. Long-"

"No. You've done enough, Rotwood." Jake turned and began to walk away. "I don't want to see you again! So, peace out. Enjoy your fame as the 'greatest scientist ever' and all that."

"But-" Rotwood trailed off. Pulling a face, he made reluctantly for the opposite direction. The greatest day of his life wasn't as great as he had dreamt it would be.

Jake walked up the school steps. It was so surreal; here was the spot that he dropped Hayley off every morning. He had made sure that his little sister was safe on her walk to school, and now the danger was from the inside.

Danger. That was what Jake called it, but in reality it could be anything. His mind imagined the worst, though; Hayley getting outed as a dragon – or at least the sister of a dragon - and being carted off to who knows where. She'd be scared, all right.

Jake's fists clenched, and he forced himself to breathe. In all reality, Hayley and her classmates could be completely oblivious. He pushed open the doors to the reception.

"Why, hello there!" The receptionist, a bubbly blonde lady, smiled at him over the counter. "What's a nice young man like yourself doing, wearing a hoodie out in the blazing sun?"

"Oh!" Jake quickly took down the hood. "I'm sorry."

"Can I just say, you look very familiar..." She peered at Jake over the top of her glasses.

"Uh..."

"Nevermind! What can I do you for?"

"My sister... Hayley..." Jake rubbed the back of his neck. "My mom sent me to get her out of school- she, um, isn't feeling too well."

"Really?" The receptionist raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah... I can-" Jake remembered that he had lost his phone. "I can't call my mom, but this is kind of really urgent, yo!"

"I'll call the teacher." The receptionist spoke slowly, picking up the phone. Jake sat himself down on a couch.

"What do you know," The receptionist put the phone down. "Poor Hayley was feeling a little poorly. They've sent her to the front office; she won't be long."

"Thanks." Jake yawned, tired.

"I'm sorry, but you really do look familiar." The receptionist looked him up and down. "Are you in the local news or something?"

Jake stood up. "Errr... you could say that."

"Huh. Let me just see if I can find you..." She tapped on her keyboard. Jake opened his mouth to say something, but there wasn't really much he could do.

The doors opened, making Jake turn and see his sister. "Hayley!"

Hayley did look quite awful. She was deathly pale, had blotchy skin and was on the verge of tears.

Jake got down on his knees and opened his arms, and Hayley ran into his hug.

"I heard the news..." Hayley sniffed. "The rest of the class hadn't... but I was so worried-"

"Shhhh, shhh," Jake stood up, carrying Hayley in his embrace. "It's alright. You're safe now."

"Wait a moment..." The receptionist frowned. "You're that dragon boy?"

Jake could feel Hayley's breath catch. "Uh... no?"

"What are you talking about? It's an exact picture of you!" She tapped some more on her keyboard. "You made national news... are you really a dra-"

She stopped talking, because she had looked up and it had occurred to her that the dragon in question – and his sister – were gone.