FSE

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Chapter 2

It started when Chris woke up with beads of sweat all across his forehead, and a searing pain in his left leg.

He literally threw his blanket off himself in a panic, and searched his pockets for whatever could be causing such pain.

His hand found the stone, radiating heat like a fire, and hastily brought it out, letting it drop to the carpet.

Chris crawled over to the side of his bed and watched the stone, with both fear and interest, the beckoning thoughts had returned, drawing him to the stone.

The stone was almost the size of a grown man's fist, with streaks of blue running down its deep green surface, although Chris could swear it looked like an ordinary, grey rock when he picked it up.

While Chris was filling up with questions, he barely had any time to notice the cracks forming on the stone, before it shattered, pulling Chris back to reality.

Standing among shards of what Chris originally thought was a stone, was a tiny wet dragon looking back at Chris with as much interest as he was being given himself.

For about ten seconds they both just sat there, staring at each-other.

'Hello.'

It was truly the scariest thing Chris had ever experienced. He heard a thought that did not belong to him. He drew back in fear and shock, though a part of him was eager to try to talk back.

Temptation won. "Wuh- what are you?" Chris asked, only managing a whisper in his state, and struggling to pronounce words in his fear.

'What are you?' Chris could "hear" a touch of humor in the thought.

"I'm, well, h-human."

'I am a dragon. Is something wrong? You sound afraid' The tiny, winged creature gave Chris a look which could quite easily be interpreted as confused.

Of course, this wasn't a surprise to Chris. "N-not at all. Do you have a name?"

'Do you have a name?'

"Umm, Chris." He answered, already getting slightly annoyed with the mimicry.

'My name is Talek.'

"How would you know that?"

The dragon gave Chris another look that would seem to be thoughtful.

'It is the name I was given.' He answered simply.

Chris chose not to pursue the topic.

'I'm hungry.' Talek thought, licking the egg material off his tiny green scales.

"I'll get something"

Chris got off his bed, slowly walked around Talek, and backed out of the bedroom as quietly as he could.

Once he got to the kitchen, he quietly walked over the wooden floor to the fridge to retrieve the bag of steak that Nara had "cooked" the night before.

On the way back to his room, Chris saw the house phone out the corner of his eye, and a disturbing thought crossed his mind.

He had a dragon in his house. Nearly every story with dragons involves them being evil, and bent on stealing everything from gold to live people.

He could call someone, he could call anyone for that matter, and have Talek taken away, probably to a research laboratory who-knows-where.

Chris shook the thought from his head, 'You've been watching too many movies.' He thought, Talek had shown no sign of malice. And besides, he was curious to learn more about the dragon in his bedroom.

'Hurry uuup, I'm starving!' Talek nagged.

Chris hurriedly returned to his room to find Talek glaring at him with wide eyes.

"Calm down, I brought something." Chris said while closing the door. He kneeled down, and took the smallest piece of steak from the bag.

'Please don't bite me.' Chris thought to himself, offering the slice to the dragon.

In what seemed like an instant, Talek grabbed the meat with his tiny jaws, and tore it from Chris's grip with more force than one would ever expect.

Chris just sat dumbstruck from Talek's voraciousness, watching the newborn quickly devour the slice.

'I'm still hungry.'

Chris had to offer over another two small slices of meat before the dragon was finally satisfied.

As Chris left his room to return the bag of meat to the fridge, he heard Talek make a growling sound which he guessed was something like a yawn.

Hoping nobody else would hear him, Chris hurried down the hallway back to the kitchen, ran across the wooden kitchen floor once again, returned the bag to the fridge, and made a dash back to his room without so much as a single sound.

'Why were you running?' The dragon asked as he closed the door firmly behind him.

"No reason." He responded quickly. "Umm, well I don't know about you, but I need to sleep."

As Chris got comfortable in his bed, he watched Talek lie down, steadily breathing as he began to rest cozily on the floor.

Right before sleep swept over him, in the flash of a moment that seemed to be forever, Chris very mind expanded to see, hear, and feel, all the young dragon's thoughts. It was incredible, yet unexplainable. Chris, for that moment, fully understood what had happened that night. A mental link had formed between him and the hatchling. Talek would be forever bound to protect Chris at all costs, and weather he wanted it or not, it would go the other way as well.

And as suddenly as it started, it ended, leaving Chris hot headed and out of breath.

'It has happened.' Talek thought, looking up at Chris. The dragon seemed to be just as surprised by this as the boy was.

"Yeah." Chris said. The knowledge had dissipated along with the thoughts and feelings, and only a few fragments of the memory he would ever remember. He tried to settle down again, and saw Talek trying to do the same. Both failed.

Whether Chris fainted or fell asleep naturally, he would never know.

Chris awoke the next morning fuzzy minded. He willed himself to sit up when he remembered the events of the night before.

His eyes instantly went to the floor, but Talek wasn't there.

'So it was just a dream.' Chris thought to himself while getting out of bed. He was even a bit disappointed.

'That's too bad.' A familiar voice sounded in his head.

Chris was caught off guard and nearly screamed in his fright.

"Don't do that!" He said, looking around.

He saw Talek's head poking out from under the bed.

'What?' He asked innocently.

"You scared me!" Chris said a lot more aggressively than he intended.

'Sorry.'

For the first time, Chris "felt" that he had upset the dragon.

"Listen, I'm just a little overwhelmed with all that's happening." Chris tried to reason.

Chris felt Talek's mood brighten, and then suddenly change entirely.

'Someone's coming.' He warned, his eyes wide with alarm.

Chris instantly started searching for a way for the dragon to hide.

"Don't move." Chris said as he yanked the blanket off his bed and over the dragon.

"Chris, are you awake?" Daniel's voice went through the door.

Chris walked over to answer the door, and as he did so, he stepped on several of the shards of Talek's egg which he forgot to pick up.

He swore silently when his foot landed on a particularly sharp piece, but continued on his way to the door.

"Morning Dad." Chris said as he opened it to face him.

"Morning." Daniel responded. "Just checking to see if you're awake, but now that I have a good look at you, you're awfully pale. Are you okay?"

"I'm just tired." Chris lied, beginning to close the door on him.

Daniel put his hand out to stop him. "I'd hate to sound like your mother, but you need to go outside more often."

"Fine, I'll get dressed and see Dave."

"That's a good start, but don't play all those games he has at his house as soon as you get there. And make your bed too." He added, pointing at the blanket on the floor.

Chris was relieved to see his father walk away as he closed the door. He had a lot of planning to do.

"You can come out now." Chris said as he started picking up the bits of egg from the floor.

'What are you going to do?' Talek asked, struggling to crawl his way out from under the blanket.

"Well, first we are going to see Dave, and hope he can keep a secret, and we'll see from there how I can take care of you while keeping you hidden."

'Chris?'

"Yeah?"

'I'm hungry.'

"Okay, okay, I'll feed you in a minute, just let me get ready."

It took much more than a minute for Chris to clean up the floor and make his bed, and once he did, he began to wonder how Talek would get around unseen.

"Ok this may not be the best idea, but it's the only way I can think of." He said while holding up an empty backpack. "I'll be careful." He promised as he held it open in front of the tiny dragon.

He was surprised to hear Talek calmly think 'fine' and crawl into the pack without so much as hesitating for a moment.

'It's warm here.' Talek reasoned, answering Chris' question before he could ask.

Chris carefully picked up the bag, zipped it closed, and left the room holding it over his right shoulder.

He stopped in the kitchen before leaving the house, placing the pack carefully down on the floor.

He checked to see that nobody was around, and was relieved for the first time to hear his parents arguing in their room about whatever.

Quickly he hurried over to the fridge to retrieve the bag of steak and place it in the pack next to the tiny dragon.

'Don't eat it yet.' Chris thought, hoping Talek would hear the silent request.

He looked at the meat longingly.

'I'll feed you really soon, just wait.'

He was relieved to hear that he could hear his thoughts too. 'Fine.'

Chris zipped the bag, carefully put it on again, and left for the front door.

"Bye Dad, I'm going to see Dave!" Chris called, holding the door open.

He didn't wait for anyone to answer, and was already outside, running to get to Dave's when his father gave him one.

'Slow down!' Talek thought with a force that made Chris' pace slow to a walk.

'Sorry.' He thought as he walked up to his friend's door.

He knocked on the front door once again. This time he was answered by Dave.

"Hey Chris!" He said with his usual wide grin smeared across his face from ear to ear.

"Hey, is your dad home?" Chris asked.

"No, he left with Annie to go shopping. Why-"

"Good, I need to show you something."

"Umm, alright, lets talk in my room."

"That will work."

"So, what do you want to show me?" Dave asked as Chris hurried to get inside.

"I'll tell you in a minute." He responded quickly

"Hey, what's up with you?"

"You won't believe it till I show you."

Chris cautiously took the bag off his shoulder as he entered his friend's room. "Please, just try not to scream." He warned as he slowly laid it flat on the floor.

"Whatever you have in that bag couldn't possibly be that scary." Dave said, jumping up onto his bed.

Chris grinned, "Yeah, that's what they say in all the stories huh?" 'You can come out.' He thought to the dragon as he quickly unzipped the bag.

Dave jumped back in shock the moment he spotted the tiny dragon.

"Well, umm, Dave, this is Talek." He said awkwardly as the dragon crawled out to show himself.

"Woah, how did you find it?" Dave asked, now leaning forward in interest.

"Hey, don't call him an it!" Chris snapped. "He has feelings you know!"

'I also get hungry!' Talek complained.

"Sorry, I'll feed you now."

"Who are you talking to?" Dave asked, confused.

Chris looked up at Dave. "Talek of course." He reached inside the pack and took out the bag of meat. "He can send and hear thoughts, or something like that, so you might want to watch what you think."

Dave was silent for a long moment before speaking again. "So, umm, how do you plan to care for him, because he's only going to get bigger right?"

"That is why I introduced you to him." Chris said as he retrieved a slice of meat from the bag. "For now I think I'll just need you to help take care of him as he gets older, but honestly I don't know what we'll do when he does." He offered the slice to the dragon, who instantly snatched it with his tiny teeth, and ate it as quickly and hungrily as he had the night before.

"Hey, can I try feeding him?" Dave asked while getting off his bed to further examine the dragon.

"Sure, why not?" Chris paused for a moment, silent, "Talek says it's ok."

Dave grinned. "Your face went all funny for a second."

"Here." Chris said as he handed a slice of meat to Dave. "You just need to simply hold it out to him, I haven't lost any fingers yet."

"Alright." Dave said uncertainly. He offered the slice to Talek just as Chris did, and jumped when it was snatched from his hand.

Suddenly Dave's hands shot to his head, and his expression turned to one of panic. A few seconds passed and his expression calmed. "Umm, you're welcome Talek."

While the two boys fed Talek, they didn't hear the sound of the car being parked, nor did they hear the door open and close.

Talek had just finished his fourth slice when Annie stormed into Dave's room. "Dave you ne-" That was all she managed to say before she saw the tiny dragon on the carpet. She just stood there for what seemed like an eternity before moving again. When she did, she simply raised her arm and pointed at the dragon.

"Just, w-why?" She managed to say.

"Well, I don't know any better way to put this, but Annie, this is Talek. We would appreciate it if you kept him a secret, are we cool?" Chris asked.

Annie nodded awkwardly, lowering her arm.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be." Dave remarked.

"Annie, I need you over here." Mr. Rinen's voice carried through the hallway.

"Just a minute." Annie called back, suddenly snapping back to her usual self. She whipped around to face Chris. "You had better think of a good excuse for whatever's going on." She said threateningly.

Chris was left speechless as Annie ran out of the room.

"You probably should start thinking." Dave suggested.

"Probably." He agreed.

"How did this happen anyway?"

"Well, I thought I found a rock yesterday, and found out it was actually an egg this morning, you should be able to guess how." Chris said, holding out his hand out next to Talek's head.

Talek looked at Chris' hand with a hint of interest, thought about it for a moment, and rubbed against Chris' hand while rumbling with delight at the feeling of being pet.

Chris was surprised how warm Talek was. As his hand brushed against Talek's scales, he could feel several of the muscles in his neck tense and relax.

"So where did you find the egg?" Dave asked.

"Under the dead tree outside."

"Do you think-"

'No.' Talek interrupted. Chris could tell Dave heard the thought by the disappointed expression on his face.

"Well, that's sad." Dave said, "Anyway, how-"

"Okay, I'm back. Tell me your excuse, now." Annie said as she burst into the room again.

Dave sat silently as Chris described the events that led up to the present.

"-and here we are." Chris finished.

"You can't possibly think you can take care of a dragon." Annie said.

"I plan to try." Chris put the steak back in the backpack, and continued to stroke Talek's scaly hide.

"Then you may want to take care of him somewhere a little more secret, cause I will not be responsible when you do something stupid." And on that note, she quickly left, never showing the slightest interest in the dragon.

"Well, Dad told me to stay outside anyway." Chris reasoned. "Talek, if you would." He gave the dragon a soft nudge toward the the open backpack.

Talek was annoyed at having to get up from his comfortable position on the floor. He made a soft warble in protest, but decided against it and somewhat glumly crawled back into the backpack.

"I'll come with you." Dave spoke up as he closed the pack once again.

"That's fine with me." He carefully put the pack on. "But you'll probably get bored."

Dave dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small mobile phone. "I don't get bored."

"Well, I'm going to the park we went by yesterday." Chris said as he and Dave walked out into the hallway.

"That's a good idea, I'm sure there's a tree or two we can hide behind."

Before they left, they stopped in the kitchen and found Mr. Rinen, busy stuffing the fridge with groceries.

"Morning Dave, I see you've got Chris with you." He said, looking over. "I've got some sandwiches if you want a couple."

"Thanks Dad." Dave said. He found them on the table, and was quick to get a few plastic bags to put them in. He was much slower and more careful when he put it into the backpack next to Talek.

"We're gonna walk to the park and hang out there for the next few hours." Dave called as he and Chris left the kitchen.

"That's the first time I've ever heard you say that. Well, have fun while you're out there."

"I'm sure we will Dad." He said as they left.

At the front door, the two boys were surprised to find Annie waiting for them.

"I'm coming with you." She said.

"Aww, that sucks." Dave whined.

Annie gave her brother a glare cold enough to force him to look away.

'She is scary.' Talek commented.

"Yeah." Chris responded, aloud.

Annie turned to face Chris. "I changed my mind, alright? Do you have a problem with that?"

It took a moment for Chris to realize what happened. Once he did he could only say "of course not" under Annie's stare.

"Why don't we get going?" Dave suggested, obviously trying to avoid an argument.

To the boys relief, she agreed, and they could leave without a fight.

Luckily, they didn't encounter anyone on the way to the park, nor did they find anyone there when they arrived. Dave led the group to a small area by a river out of sight to the occasional hikers.

Together they sat on the dead leaves and pine needles that covered the ground, and once again, Chris carefully placed the backpack on the ground, and let Talek out to see the sun for the first time.

'It is a nice day outside today.' Talek thought, as if this was something he had seen thousands of times before. 'Far better than ones I have looked at in your memories. Did I forget to mention that?'

'Well, that explains how he learned English.' Chris thought to himself.

'Being outside feels nice.' Talek thought. He curled up and enjoyed all the little sensations he picked up as he rested.

For the next few hours, Dave played his game while Chris watched, and Annie talked about what Chris should do with Talek, not that either of the boys were listening.

When they decided to have lunch, Chris had grown interested in the dragon, who was now clearly asleep.

"I've wondered before what a dragon actually looks like." Chris said as he retrieved the sandwiches from the backpack.

"I guess that makes sense, since there are so many variations of them in stories." Dave answered as he took a sandwich from him.

"Honestly, I think he looks cute." Annie said, taking her own sandwich as well.

"I wonder what he's dreaming about."

As they ate, Chris observed Talek while he slept. The dragon had tiny dark green and blue teardrop-shaped scales covering his entire body, except for his underside, which had much larger, yellow-green, square scales leading down to the tip of the long tail that made up about a third of his length. At the very end, there was a small, sharp, arrowhead-like point. He had a row of small bumps from the many segments of his spine, and two finlike ears on his head. But it was the turquoise eyes that caught the most attention. Even though Chris had only looked into them a couple times, he remembered how deep they were, as if he could see into the dragon's very soul through them, or perhaps the dragon was looking into his own...

"Look at that!" Dave said, pulling Chris from his thoughts. "His wing twitched again."

"Maybe he's dreaming about flight." Chris mused, bringing himself back to thoughtfulness once again.

Flight! He hadn't thought of that yet. He wondered what it would be like to see the world from the back of a dragon. Sure he had looked out of a plane before, but this seemed much more incredible, not simply because of the excitement, but because of...something else.

They spent a few more hours before leaving with a very drowsy Talek for home. When they finally got back to Dave's house, he was wide awake, and complaining about how he was hungry once again.

'Just wait a minute ok?' Chris thought. 'I can't stand the thought of what might happen if you were to be found.'

'Why?' The dragon asked.

'Because there are people, a lot of people, who are scared of things like you, and if they see you...' Chris began to feel a bit depressed. 'Well, they will do whatever they can to understand what you... mean, and they simply won't care what you want.' Chris' eyes started to water, and he himself couldn't understand why, he had only just met Talek and suddenly he had become very emotional about him. 'Other people may even...' He couldn't say kill, 'harm you, because they will think you are dangerous or something of the sort.'

'Why would they think that?'

Chris tried to pull himself together. 'Well... some people are stupid, let's leave it at that.' For the moment, this was not something he wanted to talk about.

'Why do you not think like that?'

'Like what?'

'Like I am dangerous?'

'Well, I guess it's simply because I trust you now that I kinda know you, a bit.'

By then, the group had already returned to Dave's home. Dave hopped onto his bed and continued his game, and Annie left to watch TV.

Chris let Talek out of the backpack, and let him eat the small amount of remaining steak.

The rest of the evening was spent in Dave's room until Mr. Rinen called them to the dinner table. Chris was quite thankful that he had been allowed to have dinner somewhere else other than his own home, but by the time they finished, he had to head back.

At home, he was yelled at by his mother like he often was, and was quick to retire to his room for the night.

As he settled down under his blanket, he saw Talek curl up on the floor and shiver.

'Hey, you look cold, climb up here.' He thought.

The dragon was more than eager to jump up onto his bed and lie down only a few inches away from Chris' face.

'Goodnight Chris.' He thought softly.

'Goodnight Talek.'

Chris took one last glance out his window before sleep caught him.

A full moon.

***

'Wake up.'

Chris was soaring through an infinite sky. The ground could not be seen, only sky reaching on to forever in every direction.

'Wake up.'

The thought of being in the air was amazing, how he was flying, he didn't care. The sky belonged to him!

'Chris, wake up.'

But he was alone, he was without company. He was falling, the sky was getting darker, he-

'Wake up!'

Chris shot upright to find himself in his bed. It was still night outside, and the dream was still fresh in his mind. He turned his attention to Talek who was sitting on the windowsill looking down at him.

'We need to go.' Talek thought.

'What-'

'Quickly!'

With that he jumped out of bed and got himself dressed as fast as he could manage.

'We must go, now!' He jumped down from the window, and bounced off Chris' bed, landing next to him quite catlike. He ran to the door, and waited, clearly expecting Chris to open it.

'Follow me, we do not have much time!' Talek said when the door was finally opened. He dashed down the hall, and led Chris to the front door.

'Talek why are you-'

'Not now!' Talek interrupted once again.

Chris quietly opened the front door and followed Talek out into the cold. Outside, he realized that the street was dead silent. The only sounds he heard were his own footsteps, and the soft tapping sound of Talek's tiny paws on the pavement. As he listened, the sound of his breathing and his heart beating became increasingly loud. He was anxious about something and didn't even know it, how does that make sense?

The dragon led him across the street to Dave's house, and stopped and sat by the dead tree in his yard.

'Wait for the others.' He said.

'Who-'

"Chris!" Dave yelled, running out from his house being followed by Annie, who luckily didn't look as angry as usual for the occasion. "What is it? I heard Talek and he said it was important."

"I have no idea." Chris said. "All I know is that-"

'Quiet!' Talek commanded. 'Wait and watch.'

They took the opportunity to look around. There were far more stars than usual tonight, and they were extremely bright in the sky. The moon too was brighter than before, and cast a silver haze on the street.

Yet they had no time to observe more than that when the ground beneath them began to shake as something seemed to move beneath them.

"Chris, look! The tree!" Dave yelled over the earth's rumbling.

Chris turned just in time to see the roots of the tree rising from the ground, revealing a gaping hole underneath. Once the hole had been completely uncovered, the shaking stopped, and the silence continued.

"What was that?" Chris asked, turning to Talek for answers.

'Magic, what did you think it was?' He answered calmly.

"What now?" Annie wondered, just as confused as the rest of them.

"We go in of course." Dave assumed. He peered down into the pit, which didn't go for more than a couple inches before it reached complete darkness."Right?"

'Correct.' Talek thought, and promptly walked over to the edge and jumped right in.

All three of the kids were completely silent for a long moment, dumbstruck by the dragon's sudden action.

"Well, I'm going." Dave announced, walking closer to the edge. He over-dramatically stepped over the hole, and fell in as well.

Annie wasn't sure what to do. She spent a good long while looking at Chris, then the hole, and back to Chris again. "Oh what the heck!" She finally said. She rushed over, and jumped into the hole after Dave.

And Chris was alone, like he was in his dream. He walked over to the edge of the hole and looked inside. 'Yep, definitely pretty dark.' He thought to himself. But the edge of the hole looked rough. What if he jumped in and was scraped to death rubbing against the side? The thought horrified him, but looking closer, he thought he could see a light, but it was faint. He focused on it. Yes, there was definitely a light. He leaned over. Suddenly, his foot slipped, and the next thing he knew, he was falling head first into the abyss.

The light grew brighter as he fell, brighter and brighter until Chris' eyes began to water and he had to close them tight.

And then everything went dark.

Outside the roots of the tree slowly sunk back into the ground, covering the hole once again. And if one looked carefully, they would see in the darkness, a single leaf on the farthest branch.