How Dracano Came To Be Part 9

  Shade went back to his room and grabbed what looked like a modified belt, but that went around his neck, and had several pouches on it. I asked him what it was, and he replied "it's basically the same thing as pockets are for humans, it's just a utility belt, I need a way to carry my cell phone, you know." This was just too surreal, it seemed that dragons lived and acted exactly like people, down to every detail, they just hid in the shadows of society.
  We left the bunker, the sun was below the horizon, but it was already turning the sky red. We flew for nearly an hour, for the first time ever, I was glad almost all of east Tennessee was impassible forested mountains, it let us travel unnoticed. I finally found Alex's house, and there it was, a red piece of cloth, hanging from a tree in his back yard. I flew over to his window and tapped on the glass, just my luck, Andrew answered. "AWW, MAN! It came back!" he shook Alex awake, and after getting dressed, they met me in the back yard, along with Shade.
  He was still a little groggy, right up until he saw the two of us standing there. I could no longer stand on two legs, I was quadrupedal, so both Shade and myself only stood as high as Andrew, but we each still had a substantial size. Shade was about to say hi, but I covered his mouth, then gestured towards Andrew. Alex looked at Andrew and said "you should stay inside."
"Aww, come on, it's a DRA-GON, two dragons, can't I stay out here a little longer?"
  Alex just gave him a death stare, and he started heading back inside…right up until Shade's cell phone rang. He lowered his head, pulled the phone out, and said "Hello, Shade here…yes, I know the sun's up, I'll be home in a few minutes…no…no, we're fine…yes, he's coming back with me…yes…I…I…I…Em, I'm gonna bring him back with me, just stop yelling in my ear!"
  He closed the flip phone and looked at me, if he didn't have scales, he'd be blushing. Andrew ran back and punched Alex in the leg "You said they couldn't talk."
  I walked over to him and said "He didn't want you getting attached to me, I'm gonna be leaving again in a few minutes, and we need to talk in private."
"fine…whatever…"
  He started storming off, I knew how he was feeling, I felt the same thing whenever my brother's friends did stuff without me, I turned to Shade and asked "Could you give him a short ride on your back, so I can talk with Alex?"
"Sure, why not, we're all livestock here, let me just go get my saddle!"
"I'm serious, I don't want Andrew to hear what we need to talk about, and he's very passive aggressive, it's a good idea to make him feel included, if you don't want Polaroid's of us sent to the FBI."
"Fine, but just a short flight, once the sun's above the horizon, we gotta start heading back."
  Andrew, who was listening the whole time, quickly climbed on Shades back, who didn't seem to be enjoying the physical contact. Once they were in the air, I turned to Alex "I saw the flag, what is it?"
"Says the guy who left in the middle of the night."
"Don't even go there, a lot of crap has happened since then."
"Yeah, I can tell, who's the drake?"
"Shade, a friend I met, turns out there's a lot of dragons around here, they hide in plain sight…but, long story short, I need my laptop."
"Aw, man the fed's came by and grabbed that thing yesterday."
"WHAT!?"
He started laughing "no, it's up in my room, but you should've seen the look on your face."
  I felt another urge, this time to slash at Alex, but I quelled it, if this was what all dragons felt when around humans, maybe that's why they distanced themselves from us for so long, our humor is infuriating, plain and simple.
I took a deep breath, then said "well, you hung the flag, so what is it you wanted?"
"I wanted to tell you about the winfall, one of the guys who supposedly ran over you, he was some rich guy, he paid for the funeral, and for your parents to move back up to Michigan."
"No, he didn't, the government did, don't you see? They're severing what ties I had, they're trying to drive me out into the open, for all I know, they already know about me meeting with you, after this, I think that E-mail is the only way we'll be able to keep in touch."
"Sounds like a good idea to me; I'll go get your laptop…nice scales, by the way."
  As he ran back to the house, I looked at myself…I guess I did have nice scales, I hadn't really paid much attention to them, they were dark green, and metallic in color, with a bit of a mirror like shine, my tail blade looked almost nickel in color, and the membranes of my wings were a light, lime color. For a dragon, at least to my eyes, I did have a decent body…more attractive than I looked as a human, anyways, probably why Shade mistook me for a female.
  A moment later, Shade landed next to me and the kid climbed down off his back, Andrew stared straight at me and asked "Why didn't you tell me?!"
"Tell you what?"
"Dracano! Come on, Daniel, I know that's the name you always use on games, and that's your voice, why didn't you tell me you were Daniel?"
"Because I knew you'd react like this."
"How did it happen?"
"I don't know, I have absolutely no clue, and no matter how many times you ask, the answer will be the same, I don't know."
"Fine whatever, Shade is more fun anyways."
  Shade winced when he said this, and I wondered if he was suppressing the same instincts I kept feeling. I didn't have to wonder for long, as Alex returned with my laptop case, which I hoped had all my gear and disks in it, as the last person to pack it was a federal agent.
  He handed me the case, I slung it over my shoulder, and got ready to take off, but he stopped me and asked "where are you staying?"
Shade shot me a look, and I said "I can't tell you, it wouldn't be safe, I don't think you could overpower sodium pentothal."
  All three of them gave me a confused look "oh, for crissakes, it's truth serum, like they use in interrogations? Am I the only one here who studies chemistry?"
Andrew started heading back to the house, and Shade took off into the sky, both I and Alex lingered there for a moment, until he looked at me and said "so, this is it, huh?"
"yep, we probably won't see each other again…don't be surprised if I suddenly stop replying to my e-mails, I don't know if I'll have to completely change my identity or not."
"Yeah, well, it was fun while it lasted…see ya."
  To avoid an awkward silence, I flew away, trying hard to catch up with Shade, he was a very fast flyer, as soon as I caught up with him I sheepishly said "Sorry about that, but I had to get him out of the way."
"You owe me big for that…I'm gonna have to shower twice to get that smell off me…do all human kids smell like that?"
"well…not all of them, but, yes, a few…well, I've got my laptop again…but I still don't have any clear objective, both of my parents just left to Michigan, the only family I still have in this state is my eldest brother, and his mother in law is a religious zealot with guns, if she saw a dragon…"
"She'd shoot you on sight…believe me, I know…well…you could always get to know my family…who knows, maybe you could stay with us long term."
"yeah, like that would work, the truth would come out eventually, and Granite hits hard…speaking of which…are all dragon names one word, I mean, do you have last names?"
"well…yes, but we aren't supposed to say our family name out loud, except to elders."
"I see…well, either way, I don't think that would work over the long term, I should try to…ugh…get a job, and get a place of my own, at least then I'd have objectives."
"Man, you're depressing even me, you're talking about getting a job, how old are you, twenty nine? Thirty five?"
"nineteen."
"oh, yeah, humans age faster, I forgot about that…if it weren't for the fact you guys reach maturity at such a young age, you realize, it'd be you guys hiding from us."
"Yeah…probably…"
  For once, I was the one that was saying the bare minimum in a conversation; my thoughts were on Scales, if he really was a dragon, what kind? Was he a conventional dragon, a phoenix dragon, like his profile, or a dragontaur, one of the profile pictures he made…and for that matter, snip3rifle and noomahk too? What twisted world had I been living in this whole time?
  We arrived back at the hidden house as sunlight was beginning to soak the area, immediately after I stepped through the inner door, I was tackled by a green dragon, slightly smaller than myself, apparently it was Emerald. She grinned and said "So you must be Dracano…"
"Yes…could you please get off me?"
  She let me up, and I took off the shoulder strap of the laptop case as she turned to face Shade "why is it uncle Greywing lets you guys go out during the day?"
Shade grinned and replied "I dunno, why is it that you keep sneaking out to meet your boyfriend?"
  I stared, they began arguing, but I wasn't even listening to the words, it was just siblings, arguing, nothing special about it, they were exactly like people in every mental dimension. But, why was it, then, that I kept having these bestial urges, surly if they had them too, it would affect them a little when they interacted, but, they behaved just like humans, just with scales and wings.
  I was completely entranced, until Emerald looked at me and said "do you think he qualifies as a boyfriend?"
"Huh, what?"
"Ugh, boys…"
She stormed off, and Shade said "nice one."
"Nice one? I don't even know what you guys were talking about, I was…thinking."
"Yeah, well, it doesn't stop the fact that you had perfect timing."
  We went to his room and I opened my laptop, I had a Wi-Fi signal, five bars, T1, I was impressed, well, not really, Greywing traded stocks, so of course he had a fast connection, but, you know, dragons and all.
  After I checked my e-mail, and replied to comments on deviant art like nothing had happened, I sent messages to my three friends, veiled hints at me asking them about their non-human nature, and I included some subtle phrases that Shade told me to include.
  About an hour later, Shade yawned "well, I'm tired, I've been up all night, treating your chemical burns…giving a human a tour of the sky…and arguing with Emerald, I'd say I had a full night."
  He laid down on the bed, and before I could ask, he pointed to his oversized beanie chair with his tail, and said "You can sleep there for now, if my mom gets the spare bed out of storage, that means she plans on you staying for a while, but even if she does, it won't happen until tonight, so that's what you got."
  I stayed up for a short while afterward, but soon fell asleep myself.