Finding a Fantasy plot arc 1 finale

Chapter VI- Time for some FAQ

"Okay, you'd better start talking." Keira said from her perch in a tree branch, her wings drooping lazily. We decided to take another tip from Maximum Ride and made small slits in the back of our shirts. We just wore sweatshirts whenever we were in public, but since we were officially out of public, (Because apparently nowhere beats a forest that anyone can visit for security!) we just had our sweatshirts around our waists.

"What do you want to know? I'll answer any of your questions," Dusk told us, leaning against a tree. "As long as they're not stupid. Which means no asking anything like, where do babies come from?"

I shut my mouth and frowned.

"How do you know about us?" Faeryn asked, crossing her arms.

"That is something I'm not going to fully explain here. The gist of it is, I was sent here by a couple of people to come and find you before anyone else does."

I managed to think of a real question. "Do you come from a different world, or is there some secret underground city with half-dragons here on Earth?"

"That would be the former."

"Which world is it, then?" Melanthe questioned with wide, excited eyes. Dusk just stared at her. "Is it anything we're familiar with?" She clarified.

Dusk put a hand on his chin in thought, then snapped his fingers. "Ever heard of Spyro?"

"Yes!" We all chorused instantly.

"Then the answer to that would be yes." Dusk said with a satisfied look.

Faeryn took a seat on a random log. "The insomniac games, the legend of Spyro, or Skylanders?"

The teenager seemed clueless, and I nearly face/palmed. Clearly, this boy needed to do his research on our world. "Is there Sparx?"

"Yes."

"Helpful or annoying?"

"I've heard he's annoying."

"That means the legend of Spyro." I gave a small nod and sat down in a patch of grass, picking at it absently. I always liked to do that for some reason.

"Why were you sent to come get us?" Keira finally spoke up again.

"Again, that will be explained a little bit later." Dusk told her. I could hear her mutter a few angry things under her breath.

"Why do we have wings?" Faeryn asked, voicing the thing that was on all of our minds. "Well, most of us." She was hit in the head by a random stick thrown by her sister.

"Well, the basic answer to that would be you're all dragons." We all figured that was the case, but hearing it aloud made it seem ten times cooler, and it felt like it made the fact final.

"The basic answer?" Keira raised an eyebrow.

"All? Then why don't I have wings yet?" There was a small pout in Melanthe's tone.
Dusk sighed. "Well, this is a pretty long explanation, so don't blame me if you fall asleep." He warned us. I hoped he was joking. "Basically, a long time ago, a portal popped up between 'the legend of Spyro' world and this one. Some humans stumbled across it and went into the other world. I'll just say some stuff happened, and some dragons nowadays have human genes in them. I'm not sure how much you've learned about this in school, but being human ended up being a recessive gene. When two dragons like this have a kid, the hatchling is human. It was decided long ago that when that ever happened, the child would be sent off to this world, and the parents basically weren't allowed to have kids with eachother again. No one knew that once the child reaches a certain age, it slowly turns into a dragon. Well, they do. And that's exactly what's happening to most of you. Now, you've all got slightly different stories, but they're for the most part the same."

He pointed to Keira. "You were the normal example of what happens to a human child. Your parents turned you in and went their separate ways." She just stared at him in shock, and I suddenly felt bad for her. She just learned she was given up willingly by her parents just because she was born human. That had to be tough.

I felt Dusk's gaze rest on me, and I stiffened. Was my story just as bad as Keira's? "Your case was slightly more uncommon. Your mom didn't want to turn you in, and your dad just left. She tried to keep you, but her former mate told everyone and you were taken away." All the air seemed to leave my lungs, and I couldn't breathe for a few seconds. So my mom didn't abandon me, but my dad did?

"And then there's you two." Dusk's voice brought me out of my thoughts. "Your parents kept you hidden and stayed together, even having another child, which turned out to be human, as well. But one day you both left your house to go exploring, and that's when you were caught." The two sisters exchanged glances. They didn't seem to remember it, but it sure looked like they wanted to. I wanted to remember my mom, too, but I knew I was probably way too young at the time for that.

"Wait." Melanthe narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "If I'm like them, why don't I have wings?"

Dusk looked up from the stick he was examining. "That is a very good question." He threw the object over his shoulder. "You start changing when you turn a certain age. You're just not old enough. Don't worry; you'll get them soon enough."

"What about your family?" I spoke up. "I mean, you're half dragon like us."

"I don't like giving out personal information, sorry." He shrugged.

Keira swung her legs down, gripping the branch she sat on tightly, just in case. "What did you mean by glowing neon sign above our heads back at the Subway?"

"Even though you were humans before, the dragon side of you gave off faint traces of magic." Dusk explained. "It gets stronger as you get older, especially when you're all together in a group like this. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem. Dragons can rarely track traces of magic. However, half-dragons can. And the ones who want to kill you aren't exactly pure-blood dragons, I'll just say that. It's a lot easier to track in this world than back home, too. The lack of magic doesn't disorient your sense as much. That's why I need to get you four away from here as soon as-"

"What? Going somewhere?" A chilling laugh echoed throughout the forest, and my heart sped up rapidly. The static that we had all felt when Dusk found us, magic, already felt normal, but I could sense that even more of it was close. The air felt like it was vibrating, twitching in anticipation of whatever was coming.

"Yes, we were planning on going somewhere, actually." Dusk answered coolly, and I vaguely wondered how he always appeared to be so calm. "If you don't mind, we should probably just be going now."

"Who ever said we don't mind?" Another, slightly younger, voice snarled from the other direction.

A boy, looking about eighteen or nineteen, stepped out of the trees and into view, a malicious smirk on his face. Faeryn and I, the two closest to him, spun around and backed up, scooting closer to our friends and one random stranger who we'd just met less than an hour prior.

"I'm sorry; I didn't realize I had to ask permission to go back home." Dusk replied, already standing, narrowing his eyes at the newcomer. He merely gave a glance back at the boy who emerged from behind him, who looked about sixteen or so, and he appeared to be just as dangerous as the first person who had arrived.

"You're not even supposed to be here." The older boy frowned and an unamused glint came into his eyes. "Leave now, alone, or we'll kill you along with these four."

"Really, Jacan? Resorting to false threats now?" Dusk took an item out of his back pocket and tossed it up in the air, catching it before I could tell exactly what it was. The boy tsked and shook his head. "You'll have to do better than that, especially with Kadan as your back-up." The younger boy clenched his fists, and I figured that must've been Kadan.

A small flame began to smolder in the palm of Jacan's hand, and it got bigger and bigger by the second. "My threats are anything but false, Dusk." He hissed through clenched teeth.

"Get close to me! Now!" Dusk yelled. My three friends and I, although slightly taken aback, quickly followed his directions out of fear, wondering what was happening. Keira, who had just jumped off her branch, stumbled when she hit the ground, and I reached out to grab her wrist, pulling her into our small group right before a light began to engulf us.

Jacan's eyes widened in shock, and then a scowl of absolute fury came onto his face. "NO!" His scream of rage was so loud my ears started ringing before the light was too bright to see, cradling us all in a bubble of warmth. I'm not sure if it was seconds or hours before it disappeared and we all fell about a foot to the ground. I landed on my hands and knees, letting out a gasp as I made contact with a hard stone floor.

"Well," I heard Dusk's voice say, a tinge of pride in the tone. "Welcome home."