Page 107 of Escape from the Green

"The eye thing."

"what eye thing?"

"Those flecks in their eyes," she started, nodding at those around her. "They match the color of their dragon. Which means you are going to be red," she declared, nodding with certainty at me.

A memory of the red-capped gnome flashed before my eyes, knowing my Draca color because the knobby old thing had likely been around back when we had flown freely, when our secrets weren't secrets.

"Yeah," I agreed, reaching to start removing my coat, reminding myself of how many times I had done this in the past, how it had never been a problem before.

My body would remember.

Kieran's tail whipped the back of one of my legs, spurring me on, reassuring me.

"Amy's waiting," Smoky told me, chin defiantly lifted, almost daring me to Change.

And, well, she was the only one using the right ammunition, the type strong enough to pierce through my insecurity.

Amy.

This was the only way to save Amy.

I could feel the buzzing sensation on my skin, a prickling that grew stronger, that forced my body forward, my hands hitting the dirt even as I felt the plates start breaking through my skin, achy like unused muscles, but doing what they were designed to do regardless.

I felt the stretch as my body elongated, widened, became what it always was underneath it all.

And with one last surge of energy, every last bit of my fae form was gone.

Draca.

Something deep within me thrilled at the word, at the realization of my true form, at the power to be found in my talons, in my teeth, in the impenetrable plates covering me. In the heat that burned a literal fire deep inside.

"Shit," Sal said, nodding as my head swiveled to find him watching me. A Changing fae himself, he shouldn't have been impressed, but it wasn't every day that you saw a myth come to life.

My foot pounded the ground as a roar erupted from me, heat - but no fire - filling the air around me.

There were no words.

Not in Draca form.

Just feelings and connections.

My tribe could sense my intentions.

But Sal and Smoky were in the dark.

My head whacked into the side of Raisa, swinging to indicate Sal.

As she bent low for him, Tsar moved to Smoky's side as well, bending low, letting her climb on, tentatively grabbing the larger plates covering his shoulders, digging in when he started to run.

Confident she was in good hands, that Tsar would take care of her, and Raisa Sal, I charged ahead of them all at a run that thundered the ground, made small babes fall on their diapered bums, clapping and squealing with joy.

It wasn't until we neared the veil that the urge overtook me, my wings starting to rustle against my back, begging to be stretched.

There was a momentary surge of uncertainty that I would be able to fly before I simply... did.

We burst through the veil as a flock instead of a pack, all of us swooping up at a steep incline to rise up over the trees, something that made Smoky shriek and Sal let out a string of panicked curses, making me crane my neck back to make sure they had a good grip, only to find Smoky had hooked her legs under Tsar's wings for stability, and Raisa's tail had curled up to clamp over Sal's back.

Safe.