Our little metal cart squealed and rattled, the fumbling wheels crunching over gravel. The second we rolled out into the open highway, it seemed to hit Ari that this wasn't really the funnest ride of his entire little life. God must have hit the slow-motion button because all around us the cars seemed to slow to a crawl, and I could watch Ari's expression change, and how he lurched towards my brother and I to grab our hands. Or maybe it was Ari having lightning fast reflexes and the drivers slamming on their brakes trying to avoid us. I could smell burning rubber, and hear the screams. I saw an eighteen-wheeler's trailer swerve to the side as the truck driver burned rubber trying to stop the truck. I stared straight into the headlights, sure the next light I would be seeing would be the angel delivering me from my roadkill body. There was no way it would miss us. I forgot how to breathe. This was it.

I closed my eyes, not wanting to see Ari's stricken face. Not wanting to see the world go spinning, my brother turn into roadkill, not wanting to see what death was like. It doesn't make sense, but it did in that moment. I just wanted to feel that kick- the oh I'm dead kick and be over with it. The squeals of tires and frantic beeping and screams weren't helping though.

VROOM. I could hear the wind around me as the 18-wheeler neared. I could hear my brother scream... and keep screaming as suddenly the whooshing sound of the wind stopped. A weird sensation crept over me, like I was on a roller coaster and had suddenly taken a deep dive straight into a pool of Jello. My stomach churned, my skin shivered. Was this death? But before I had a chance to contemplate that, the wind urged me to open my eyes as I felt our cart awkwardly lurch along. That was weird. Why...

"Kara... Kara you won't believe this," my brother panted. I could feel the little jolt as he stepped off the grocery cart. The pitiful squeaking of the grocery cart was silenced when he pulled it to a stop. Then it resumed after her swung it around, redirecting it towards the parking lot.

"Won't believe what?" I asked after a long minute, slowly opening my eyes and starting to breathe again. Remington looked paler than usual, his forehead dripping with sweat. What? How? I turned to look towards what I thought would be my deathbed. Instead I found the 18-wheeler up ahead, awkwardly beginning to park on the side of the highway. How did we survive that? Not that I'm complaining.

"It was... it was like a glitch in a video game..." my brother panted. "Suddenly we were inside the trailer... like we went right through it..."

Not a car moved. A massive domino-like effect of drivers seeking to escape murder had created a massive collision of smoking, bent, and broken cars. Nobody seemed to notice us-the creators of such chaos- as we squeaked in front of their very eyes. I could spot the Rider having his hands full, using his dragon's powerful jaws to help crush car doors and aid people's safe exits from their vehicles. It didn't seem like any of the cars were too bad off... at least I hope. I was guilty. So guilty. But I couldn't help that horrible feeling of relief washing over. Selfish, selfish relief that I myself hadn't died. I looked towards my brother, finally taking in what he had just said. "You hit your head?" I asked, my voice sounding strained.

"No- I'm serious," he snapped before shaking his head in defeat at my expression. "Grab some bags. We have to get out of here before the Rider remembers us."

I nodded and jumped off, walking beside the cart. Ari snatched his hand out and grabbed my hand. I gasped, realizing I had almost forgotten the poor guy. I looked at him, seeing that there was tear streaks down his dusty cheeks. His green and blue eyes were huge and watery. "I'm sorry Ari, it's okay," I told him quietly, massaging his hand.

Soon as we got to the car, I quickly shoved the bags into the trunk before helping Ari out of the cart and into the backseat. After I strapped him in, I crawled over him to the seat in the middle, pushing the bulky cooler out of the way with a grunt. Fumbling with the buckle, I cursed under my breath as Ari tried to take my hand. "Just a second," I huffed, finally shoving the dang buckle in. I leaned back in my chair, letting out a long breath of tension. My brother glanced back at us before looking back at the road as he began to drive. I could tell he didn't know what to say.

I didn't know what to say.

The enormity of the situation- at having almost been on the grocery ride to hell, suddenly washed over me and I started to cry.

I was sixteen and a half. I was way too old for all this crying. All I could hear in my mind was this song taunting me; 'This is the story of a girl... cried a river and drowned the whole world....'

I was so pathetic! I wished that Remy would slap the sense into me, but he was just quiet as he drove, eyes fixed on the road. I could tell his hands were shaking though as he gripped the wheel until his knuckle bones seemed to emerge from his skin.

Ari was crying as well, his arms around me and his head nuzzling into my shoulder like he wanted to hide behind me.

I inhaled shakily, blinking hard. "H-hey... we gotta be strong alright, Ari?" I whispered, although my voice was as weak and shaky as a plastic Slinky.

Ari looked at me, immediately stopping his whimpering. He studied me before nodding slowly. Did he understand me?

I sighed after a moment and realized we were hurtling beyond other cars. Helen was really kicking butt! "Woah," I whispered, looking out the window. I could see my brother was constantly scoping, looking for police cars so he wouldn't be arrested for his reckless driving. He was a really good eye for police- even if he was a stickler for abiding by the rules. He could spot police cars from just about anywhere even without his glasses; he could tell when one is around the bend, see the almost invisible Swoopers (super fast dragons which actually landed on your car to stop you), spot speed cameras, and even identify undercover police by antennae's and small flashing lights in their cars. He's always said that it was his superpower, but he's never really put it into real use until now.

"What's the plan, Remy?" I asked softly.

"I'm working on it," Remy said, drumming the leopard patterned wheel cover. "But for now I'm thinking get as far away as possible. I'm going to Rendville."

Huh? "Wait- where's that?" I sputtered. Ari looked between us, wiggling in his seat from excitement.

"It's in Ohio. We'll stay there for a night or two. Small town- so small that it doesn't even have a Mestari, and really only one police for that matter." He informed me.

"How do you know of this town?" I asked. We lived in Virginia, which wasn't that far from Ohio, but far enough for me to question why he'd want to go to a random little town- or know of it for that matter. Our extended family lived way out in South Dakota, where they seldom did more than poke us on Facebook for interaction. Nobody we knew lived in Ohio.

He let out a long sigh. "Well it's just a place I learned about in history- its known for its contribution for civil rights and labor movements." Wow, I always knew my brother is a huge nerd but sometimes he outdoes himself. "And... I have a friend there." He added, mostly under his breath.

He flinched when I let out a barking laugh. "You have... a friend?"

"Yeah... is that so surprising?" He said, dimples showing on his cheeks as he clenched his jaw.

"Where'd you meet this friend from?" I asked, offhandedly stroking Ari's hair, which he really seemed to enjoy.

He let out a groan. "Nevermind that, but he told me we could hang at his house for a few days until we come up with something. It'll be safe."

I had a strong suspicion he knew this person from Minecraft, but I decided not to tease him for once. "Alright." Not like I had a better plan.

Remington tapped the GPS. "We'll be there in about six hours. If I were you, I'd get some sleep."

"Alright." I sighed, but I didn't go to sleep. Instead I started to try teaching Ari some words, pointing to things around the highway and saying them. He eventually could say a few words. Car. Bike. Truck. Meat. Hungry. Road. Remy. Goldfish. Well, he hadn't really mastered the last one. He has this really unique accent, where his 'r's are rolled like the purr of a lion, and his voice was so deep and had such a strange shivery drawl that I just wanted to listen to him mispronounce words all day. When I got him to say my name (He killed the 'k' in my name, pronouncing it instead with a 'ch' sound) that drawl made me flash a look to Remington, who was staring distrustfully at the dragon in the rearview mirror.

I moved on.

Eventually we ran out of things to memorize and I just fell into silence, leaning against Ari with a sigh. I could tell Remington was getting agitated with that so I groaned and sat up straight. "Remy- he's just a baby," I reminded him.

"Yeah, but he looks like a full grown man so I don't like you cuddling with him," Remington narrowed his eyes as he flashed a glance at me.

"I was not cuddling with him!" I snapped at him. Ari looked a bit alarmed, before he growled. "Rrremy no!" As childish as the words were, they sounded a bit funny in that manly voice of his.

Remington blinked. "Did he just say no to me?"

"Yeah," my mood turned and I just laughed a little.

"He really learns fast," Remington whistled.

I grinned proudly. "Yeah, he's really smart." Ari looked completely bewildered at our reaction to his statement. His brows pinched, his mind straining to comprehend what had happened.

Remington took the exit. "Good news, the rest of the way will be scenic. Keep teaching him words, Kara." He approved. "Maybe within a week or two we'll be able to communicate with him."

"Alright, let's see," I tapped my lip before pointing to a tree. "Tree." I stated.

"Trrree," He purred.

After a few minutes: "River."

"Rrrrirr," he tried. Then tried again a few times until it sounded a little bit like the real thing.

I continued telling him names of different things before we saw our first deer staring at us with perked ears on the edge of the forest. "That's a Deer," I said.

"Duh-eerrrr," He pronounced slowly, before gasping in excitement when the deer began to run parallel to the car as if it were racing us. The bounding grace of the creature must have entranced him. He sucked in wind, pointing frantically at it, wiggling so much in his seat that the car was getting a little jostled.

"Yeah it's pretty isn't it," I smiled at his excitement as he kept looking back to make sure I was seeing this.

After the deer was gone, Ari settled down again. Remy put on the radio on low, listening to his favorite band- Switchfoot. Ari seemed to be getting a bit tired , his face smooshing against the glass.

I saw another deer- except it was on the side of the road with a bloated gut and buggy eyes. I was a bit surprised a dragon or vultures hadn't got to it. "Look!" I pointed to it. "What's that?"

He blinked and looked at it. I waited for him to remember what it was. "Duh..." Then he stared at it closer and changed his mind. "Muh-meetuh."

"Meat?" I echoed, frowning. I decided to let the game go, letting Ari take a break as well as myself.

I listened to the music, thankful that my brother wasn't listening to the country station I hated. My mind drifted, trying to sift through all my studies on dragons to know if there was any case like mine, but I couldn't think of anything. I couldn't believe I was starting to get tired- it was only three in the afternoon. I looked over to Ari and I realized he was already knocked out, his mouth open and his face against the glass. For being such a model figure, Ari didn't exactly sleep beautifully.

I closed my eyes as well as a vastly overplayed song came on. I still couldn't help but sing along though. "It's our time to make a move... It's our time to make amends.. its our time to break the rules, let's begin." I whispered, but Remington seemed to hear my singing because he continued. "And I say hey, hey hey hey living like we're renegades.." He sang the last three 'hey hey hey's in a Fat Albert voice that made me laugh and I put my hand over my mouth so I wouldn't wake Ari with my witch cackle. Remington smiled and turned over to the gas station to refuel.

And as the old song 'Apologize' by One Republic came on, I finally succumbed to sleep.

I was dreaming about reciting basic dragon nutrition facts to a pack of wolves when Remington shook me awake. "Hey we made it here," he whispered. I blinked blearily at him, barely making out the crescent shape of light on the side of his face. It was dark already? How long have I been sleeping? I sluggishly looked over at Ari, who now had his head leaned up against the back of the seat, chin up, and mouth wide. I could see the moonlight filter in and make his hair shimmer a strange green.

Remington was clearly excited. "You know, I barely made an escape earlier. I can't believe you didn't wake up- a Swooper was perched in a tree, only ten yards away from us! But I got around him." He seemed high on the adrenaline. I would have wondered why my law-abiding brother would find this so exhilarating, but my mind was a muddle.

"Okay." I said bluntly.

He reached out a hand and helped me out of the car. "Bring in some clothes," he nodded towards the bags. "Should we wake Ari up or let him sleep in the car?"

I frowned. Ari would be frightened if he woke up alone... but I hadn't forgotten my training. "No. If you want to live long on this earth don't wake a sleeping dragon."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well.." then he remembered getting savagely kicked by an angry Ari. "You're right. So car it is?"

I sighed. "Maybe I should stay out here with him for the night."

"No." Remington said so fast that I flinched.

He sat back in the car and rolled down the windows. "He'll be fine," he told me. "He knows how to open the door, right?"

I nodded slowly, even though I wasn't too sure. He knew how to say 'door' anyway (even though it sounded more like 'duh-urrr'), so how would opening it be any harder? Well that's at least what my sluggish brain reasoned.

"Soon as he opens these doors, an alarm will sound and you can come out and fetch him, alright?" He said. I didn't think sounded very rational, but I just nodded, stifling a yawn behind my hand.

"Alright," he turned his gaze towards the house.

It was a simple one-story, with bland brick walls, shaped like a rectangle. Houses of similar shape and size flanked it, but this house was easily distinguishable. While the neighbors' lawns boasted green grass, the occasional garden gnome and pleasant shrubbery, this lawn had grass that crunched under your feet as you stepped upon it. Instead of a bird bath, it had a sort of pond in the front lawn. It looked like it had been dug out by a few guys with a shovel, then filled with water from a hose. Unnatural and a little creepy, the actual contents of the hole were mostly veiled by thick bunches of reeds and cattails that slowly swayed in an imaginary wind.

"What?" I whispered, eyeing the lake nervously as I stepped onto the sidewalk- if you could call it that. The lack of grass and the well hardened dust only showed that it was a path often walked upon.

"I don't know," Remington mumbled, sounding like he was having regrets already. But he urged me on. "Let's just go."

I flinched as some of the reeds moved and scooted a little faster towards the front door. The plain red door, shielded by a glass door, was the same color as the houses' shutters and roof. The small lantern by the door wasn't lit. The sole source of light from the house was barely filtered through the blinds. I shifted my weight. This seemed sketch. Very sketch.

Remington gulped hard and seemed to gather his wits before raising a hand and knocking once on the door. Then twice. He inhaled slowly, as if he were preparing for a speech.

Suddenly the door flung open and a boy appeared grinning up at us from the other side of the glass door. "Hello!" He said brightly. I stared sleepily, trying to figure out this weird kid in front of me. He looked to be about eight... maybe? Or ten, I wasn't sure. He had lightly tan skin (which made me guess he was Hispanic), brown hair so dark it almost looked black, and a fit build. He looked like one of those kids you'd see playing junior league soccer. But that wasn't the strange thing about him. It was his eyes. And coming from me, that's huge. They were yellow, like a cat's and just as calculating. Of course, there were some dragons that had yellow eyes. Like electric dragons- but their eyes glowed. His did not. And he had his hair spiked so well it looked as if it were sharp.. a style that was really in in the 90s maybe? It made him look like a little hedgehog.

Remington just blinked at him before looking behind him, moving his head side to side trying to spot any adults around. "Uh... I'm here to meet a friend... uhh.." I could tell he was really trying to avoid looking at me when he said. "Chase... I think his username is TollanNinjaWolfRoxx."

Oh. So my worst fears were confirmed. This really was a video game friend.

"GingerVamp96?" His grin only got wider.

"Uh yeah." Remington said, a bit surprised. "Could you tell him that I'm here?"

GingerVamp96? Oho, that was bad. I was going to tease him about that one forever.

He giggled, looking up at us. "You're looking right at him."

Remington paled so much every vein on his face was showing. I frowned. Wait... so now we were having a sleepover at a ten year old's place? This was about to be really really awkward.

I looked at Remington, raising a brow. "Hotel?" I murmured.

"No money," he whispered back between his teeth. "And that's a surefire way to get caught."

The boy opened the door. "You know.. I pictured you a bit more...muscly." He said thoughtfully. "You have a lot of freckles. Is this your sister?"

Remington slowly stepped inside with resignation. "Yes... Chase, you told me you were twenty."

The boy shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. "Well, people take you more seriously if you're twenty. The trick is good spelling."

"Okay." Remington said awkwardly as I walked over to stand by him, looking at Chase as well.

"Wow... you've got different colored eyes!" The boy finally realized. "Oh.. Rem was right! You really are a Rider! That's cool. I only saw those a few times. One time we went on a school field trip and we got to see a Massabi."

I really wanted to correct him, but it was too much effort. I was swaying where I stood.

"He wasn't as big as I thought he'd be. I thought dragons would be bigger you know- like mountains and all! "

"Uh..." Remington said slowly. "Where's.. your parents... Chase?"

"Oh. My parents went on vacation... they kind of forgot me," Chase shrugged. "Don't worry. I'm used to it. I get lost everywhere. The library, the school,"-he started counting off his fingers-" the pool, parties, and once my parents forgot me at the grocery store. True story." He grimly nodded.

"How long have they been gone?" Remington asked, sounding concerned. What kind of parents would leave their kids?

"About a month now." Chase told us as he towards a shady hallway. "I've been alright though. Want some fish sticks?"

"Wait. How would they not know they forgot you if it's been a month?" Remington sputtered.

"Well probably because I've got fifteen brothers and sisters and I'm the quiet one," he replied nonchalantly, his form getting swallowed up in the hallway. Remington and I started to follow, and as our eyes adjusted to the darkness, we found that we were treading on a labyrinth of dolls, decorations, legos, and books. I was thankful I had some shoes on, or the lego minefield would have probably taken me victim.

Suddenly a loud squeal split the air.

I forgot how to breathe. My hands raised to protect myself and my blood froze. Slowly the squeal faded, before the sound of a sharp inhale filled my panicked ears.

Chase giggled. "That was Nala's chew toy," he said. "Your faces were hilarious."

I jumped at the sound of his voice, realizing he was right beside me. But wasn't he just in front of me? Remington grabbed my hand and held it tightly. He seemed just as scared as I was in this creepy hoarder house.

"You guys look like frightened catfish. Want me to show you the guest bedroom?" He asked.

"Yes," Remington breathed out the word and our blood began to unfreeze. Now I wasn't so sure if I could get back to sleep. I wanted to ask if there was a light in this darn house other than the creepy aquarium at the end of the hall, but I was too shy and creeped out to attempt to.

Somehow we managed to get to the other side of the hallway without triggering another squeaky scare, and I was able to see what was inside that fish tank. Several jellyfish were floating peacefully in the six foot tall tank. Their mindless movements were illuminated in artificial blue from a light slanting upwards from the ground. The jellyfish slowly changed color as the light show transitioned from blue to red, lending them an almost bloody appearance.

I looked away as Chase spoke up again. "You can take my parent's room. It's the nicest." I heard a creak as he opened a door, then a flick of the light switch.

"Where's your dragon anyway?" Chase asked as the round ball of light burned in our retinas, making us both flinch. Remington ambled forwards, setting his Walmart bags down at the corner of the room and shuffling towards the center of the room a bit blindly.

"He's outside," I sighed, blinking fast. "You'll see him tomorrow... alright.. Chase?" I really wasn't in the talking mood. In fact, I wasn't very happy with either of them- Chase for laughing at me when I was scared out of my skin, and Remington, for taking us to a ten year old's house he met on Minecraft. What if this was actually... a fifty year old creep who just wanted to sell our organs on craigslist? You never know with the internet. Figures that it was my brother who gave me my internet safety lessons.

But Remington didn't seem to be making plans to get out of this creepy place. Instead, he was pulling out two blankets from the Walmart bags and putting them over the sheets of the King sized bed. "This family must really like fish," he noted, pointing to the tropical fish pictures around the room.

I looked around, surprised to find this room was clean. Actually, the room was almost empty. A dresser stood beside a desk with a mirror as the sole decoration. I opened one of the drawers, curious, but it had nothing in it. I opened a few more with the same results. "They really cleared out." I said softly. "You think..."

"I don't know what to think," Remington said, plopping onto the bed with a sigh. "But these parents should get arrested for leaving their kid here."

I walked over to the bed, turning on the lamp on my side of the bed. "What are we going to do with Chase though, when we leave?" I'd feel like a terrible person if I just left Chase here to fend for himself for who knows how long. "If we call the cops, we could get caught. Maybe we could drop him off at an orphanage?" That word came up like bile and I immediately flinched as I said it.

I could have very well ended up at an orphanage if it wasn't for Remy.

"I'm sorry Remy, I didn't mean that." I sat down on the bed and was silent for a moment before I called his name again. When he didn't reply, I turned and found he was fast asleep, his face pressed to the white pillow.

I sighed and walked over to turn off the light. "Goodnight, Remy," I said softly before crawling into my own dinosaur blanket and curling up with it, back towards my brother.

I'm not sure when I went to sleep, but I know that I felt like I stayed up long enough to think I'd be up forever. I went from contemplating about what to do with Chase, to wondering if I should go outside to see if Ari was okay, to musing if bagels would taste like doughnuts if I put sprinkles on them.

I woke up too early. My body felt like it was made of lead, my mind still fuzzy with sleep. If I just... didn't think too hard- maybe I would be able to fall back to sleep.

But I couldn't when Remington was squirming on the blankets like a worm struggling from the jaws of a hungry finch.

"Remy!" I hissed, kicking in his general direction. "I'm trying to sleep!"

"Why'd you kick me?" His voice was even groggier than mine. I would have looked over at him to glare, but the effort was too much.

"Because you're moving too much on the bed," I said sourly, closing my eyes to attempt to fade back into that blissful dream of winning limitless Chipotle. I snuggled into my pillow. This was going to be good.

"I'm not moving." Remington mumbled. "You're the one who's moving." He sounded distinctly irritated.

You ever heard those stupid paranormal stories? In sixth grade, when you're young and innocent and gullible? I remembered one right about then. And it was coming true.There was a killer between us, ready to gut us the second we turned to look. Blood would spatter all over the walls and the lights would fade from our eyes as maniacal laughing became our funerary chorus.

And that's when something cold, hard and... wet flopped into my face.

I screamed to raise Hades, propelling myself off the bed and headlong into a stack of sheets. The thing went flying too, smacking against the wall to land beside me. I saw huge buggy eyes staring lifelessly into my very soul.

Another banshee squeal later, I ran fast as I could to the other side of the room before Remington's hand shot out and grabbed my elbow. He had his head down and seemed to be breathing heavily.

"Remington!" I tried to get him to his senses, pulling on my hand. I panted, adrenaline coursing through my veins. Fight or Flight- I was choosing Flight.

Then I realized Remington was laughing so hard he couldn't even speak. He pointed soundlessly at where the creature had assaulted me. I frowned when I saw Ari's mess of black hair, his head dipped as he looked down at something.

"Ari?"I breathed, slowly creeping forwards. He made a sniffing sound, his muscular body defined by the Spongebob PJs which I realized were probably a bit too small for him. In his lap was a casualty- a orange-splotched white koi, which I had recently become acquainted to. He had a sorrowful expression as he looked at me, then the fish. Then he lifted it and took a big bite out of it.

My hands went to my mouth. "Ari!" I squeaked.

"I think..haha... he was trying to offer it for you for breakfast," Remington chuckled, looking over at him, freckles bunching in a grin.

"That's disgusting." I had to look away from the bloodfest.

"N-no muh-meat?" I heard his tremulous voice behind me.

"Yes it's meat. It's fine, eat it," Remington urged him.

I shook my head, hiding my eyes with a hand. Those buggy eyes were burned into my vision. That poor fish...

"Hey," Remington said gently as I heard the disgusting sounds of fish being torn apart. "You've been ready for this. That's why we had the mice in the freezer, remember?"

I nodded, stifling a sigh. Finally I spoke. "I didn't expect him to look like... this when he eats it."

I could just tell Remington was rolling his eyes by his tone. "Regular people eat fish too, Kara. No need to be dramatic, Mrs. Bacon is Life."

I winced as I heard a bone snap and a shiver crawled down my spine. "Bacon is life though," I said quietly.

"So quit pretending you're a vegan." Remington slapped my shoulder. "I think the bigger thing we should be worrying about- actually two bigger things- is how Ari got the fish, and how he got in here." He walked over to the window and looked out. "If he'd have opened the doors the alarms should have sounded, and there wasn't enough room for him to squeeze out the windows." He squinted.

"Maybe..." but as soon as I said that, Ari unleashed a colossal burp that demanded my attention. I looked at him and he smiled at me, flesh between his pointed teeth and his mouth slick with grease. He lifted the koi, and all that was left of it was the head and that googly eye. My eye twitched. "Yes?"

"Nuh-ach-em?" His eyebrows scrunched in concentration as he pointed furiously at the mangled koi. I bit my lip, trying to understand what he was saying but Remington piped up first. "He's asking what the name of it is."

"Oh yeah- I know that," I waved him off, not wanting him to take credit for understanding Ari's linguistic endeavor. I looked around before grabbing the corner of the sheets. I heard a sound of protest from Remington as I wiped Ari's face clean with it. "That's a fish. F-i-sh," I told him, eyebrows raising.

"Fuh-ishhh," He purred, giving me what looked like a smirk. He raised the fish head. "No no.. drop it.. drop it.." I said sternly, raising a hand to threaten him that I was going to smack his nose if he tried anything.

He smirked as he booped my nose with the fishes' darn slimy sticky gaping lips!

"Yuck!" I bit back another scream as I jumped away, wiping my nose firmly on my forearm, trying not to think of that sensation.

"I don't think that's in his vocabulary," Remington snorted, for one siding with Ari. The dragon-boy's chest shivered as he made that deep huffing sound that I recognized as laughter. So he thought that was funny, huh? I pointed at him. "Bad. Bad bad bad."

He immediately stopped laughing and seemed to shrink under my finger.

"Aw come on, he thinks it funny." Remington intercepted. "Come on, let the guy think that being funny is alright sometimes. He didn't hurt you, did he?" He spread his arms.

"Alright alright," I sighed. "It's okay, Ari," I told him.

Ari stared at me for a long moment before he started laughing again, his eyes crinkling in merriment and his toes curling in in those built in slippers.

Remington smiled a little at Ari. He was finally warming up to him. "Maybe Chase saw him come in." He said. "I'll get him changed, how about you go see if Chase is up?"

I paused. "You mean you want me to go out there in this creepy house and see if Chase is up? Who might kidnap me or something?"

Both Remington and Ari stared at me. "Kara- he's at least a foot shorter than you, and if he did try to kidnap you, he'd return you pretty darn quick." He snorted in amusement.

Ari looked between us, before deciding it was funny and laughed again. I don't think he understood a word of it. "Traitor," I said under his breath as I walked to the door.

"Go." Remington said, holding Ari back from trying to crawl towards me.

I rolled my eyes before opening the door and forcing myself to go through. The house was quiet, except for the blup blup of bubbles in the jellyfish tank next to me. I looked down at the mess of books and toys on the floor and slowly crouched, my eyes darting down the hall to look for threats. Slowly, I picked up a fake toy arrow and ripped off the foam arrowhead. If it came down to worst, I would not be unprepared.

Carefully, with the agility of a panther on the hunt, I maneuvered around the mass of dog toys, dolls, books, and newspapers. These people should not have children. They were obviously hoarders. And where was this dog? I didn't really like dogs, and I wouldn't particularly want one slobbering all over me or trying to knock me down with their friendliness. I gripped my arrow shaft a bit tighter.

Slowly, I peeked around the corner. The living room was clear. I could spot several bags of chips making a greasy pile on one of the cushions and a bunch of video game junk piling on the cushion on the other side. The only place where the top of the cushion was even visible was in the middle, where the junk was parted like the Red Sea. I'm pretty sure Chase fit in there like a missing puzzle piece.

By the front door I could see a huge stack of mail. So the parents had been gone for quite a while. This reminded me of the movie Home Alone but this took it even farther. This was the extended edition.

"Hey." Chase's voice made me jump.

"Hi!" I said a bit too brightly, looking at him with a huge smile. He just stared back at me, his yellow eyes like that of a bored cat. I suddenly felt really awkward. "Uh... so..."

"I have breakfast," he said an excruciatingly long moment later. He looked down at my hand. "What's that for?" He looked up at me innocently, but I could see a smirk pulling at his lips.

"Uh nothing." I dropped my 'weapon' quickly before wiping my hand on my jeans. "Uh... food?" I tried to pretend I hadn't been ready to stab him just a minute earlier.

He nodded, leading me inside, circumventing a leaning tower of boxes. I eyed it nervously as I followed him, afraid it would fall and crush me at any second

If anything, the kitchen was even worse. Piles and piles of dishes emerged from the sink in an ugly array of food stains. It smelled... like fish and garbage. I tried not to gag as I walked to one of the tall chairs tucked under the island, shoving off a fluffy pink bunny with quick flicks of my fingers. Slowly I slid onto it, letting out a slow breath to try to calm myself down.

I may not be completely on the OCD side, but I'd like to say I kept things tidy. My room had been always neatly ordered (which was probably helped by the lack of toys and other decorations), my homework neatly filed and always kept tidily away when I wasn't working on them. My few books were stacked by the author's name, and Helen the car's floors were never soiled with trash or other things. This... pigsty was making me very very uncomfortable. And this poor little guy had to live in this. It couldn't be healthy.

"Do you like Star Wars?" He asked me as he shuffled around in the kitchen, just out of eyesight. I could hear something- probably cereal- being poured into a bowl.

Since me and Remy had an old-school TV that only took VCRs, we only watched older movies. At least it was in color, but it still felt like a fossil. "Remington is more into it, but I think it's cool." Which was kind of a lie- the only thing I liked about the movies was Princess Leia.

"Isn't it stupid how easy it was to get the Death Star to explode? I mean, all Hans Solo had to do was-" After the list of maneuvers started to make me fade out, I nodded and said "yeah" a few times to make him think I was interested. But my terrible acting didn't phase him. He talked at light speed before finally passing me a bowl and a plate. I peeked in the bowl to find a mixture of Goldfish, Cheezits, and Cheese Puffs. I guess that was his form of Chex mix.

I wrinkled my nose when I saw the contents of the plate. Three shrimp stared at me with beady black eyes, their body curled up tightly and in the formation of a windmill- head to head- Chase's attempt at art in food. I hated seafood. It smells, it tastes fishy, and it stares.

Luckily, Ari and Remington came in to save me. Ari was dressed in something I guess Remington bought for him. A white polo shirt and khaki pants with his black hair brushed made him look like the offspring of a lawyer. But he was barefoot.

"The shoes didn't fit him," Remington explained when he saw my glance. "He's walking a bit better today." He seemed grateful he wasn't covered in scratches this time.

Ari was indeed walking better, and was scoping out the kitchen with keen awareness. His eyes fixated on Chase and a forked tongue escaped his lips, flitting in and out like lightning. His nose crinkled and he bared his teeth at the boy.

"Who's he?" Chase asked.

I slowly began to pick out the goldfish and eat them. "He's... my friend. Doesn't know much English." I said, not knowing what else to say about him.

Remington helped Ari into the chair. The first thing he did when he was situated was point to Chase. He pointed vigorously, but no sound came out. He bit his lip finally in frustration before grabbing one of my shrimp and crunching on it, glaring at Chase.

Remington chuckled. "Don't mind him." He told Chase.

I couldn't hear their conversation because suddenly I was hit by a crushing headache. Pressure built up behind my eyes as I closed them tightly, clamping my hands to either side of my head. Then as soon as it came, it left, and I sighed in relief, lowering my hands.

"Are you okay?" Remington asked softly.

"Yeah, just headache," I said softly, eating a Cheez-it.

Ari looked distressed. He opened his mouth to talk to me, but then just looked frustrated again. After stroking my face with a greasy thumb, he grabbed another shrimp and chowed down on it, the crunches bothering me immensely.

"So... I wonder if these shrimp are from your tank?" Remington awkwardly asked, trying to get Chase to stop staring at Ari. He pointed at a tank I had failed to notice. Little shrimp skittered across the multicolored rock floor.

"Yeah," Chase drawled. "They're real tasty, aren't they?"

Remington laughed a little. "I bet they are." He hadn't touched his. He opened his mouth to say more, but Chase pointed at Ari. Ari's eyes narrowed, as if challenging him. "They... they have the same weird eyes."

I stiffened a little, chewing my goldfish a bit slower. Ari's chest thrummed with the beginning of a growl.

"You both Riders to the same kinda dragon?" Chase asked finally.

I nodded. "Exactly. But our dragons are in flight training right now so they won't be around until later."

"Oh. I thought you were running away from the other Riders?" Chase frowned and shifted his weight.

I flashed an angry glance at Remington, who gave a shrug with a sheepish expression. "We are," I sighed.

"Well then, we better start moving soon." Chase crawled onto the seat next to me and set a slick black iPad to the countertop. Unlike the rest of the house, the device was clearly handled with care, the leather case not even showing any signs of wear. He turned it on to show a lengthy list of Clash of Clans notifications interrupted by the occasional Minecraft symbol. Punching in the 17 digit password, he pulled up an app I've never heard of. Immediately a brown expanse was shown, with a pin in the center and red dots slowly moving around it spontaneously. He pointed to the ones closest to the pin. "These two are Swoopers. See the T19 symbol? That means Swoopers. Usually at this part of the day they are stationed here," he pointed to a thin blue line that I guess meant the roads. "They're traffic birds as I guess you all know. They're try'na find you. Your van would be an instant red flag, and they'd be on you like flies to poop."

Remington and I squinted at the picture. "What's that?" I pointed to a tight cluster of four dots in V formation just east of us.

"That is the bigger problem," He whistled. "See the P90 symbols? That means that one of them is a Imperator."

"Imperator? How can you be sure?" I demanded, feeling my pale face turn from pasty to ghostly.

He pointed to the number floating by it. "This never lies. He's coming with three Mastaris, and I'm guessing they're looking for business. You musta done something bad." With a sweep of his fingers, the map zoomed out. "I've never seen dragons at so many locations. Most of the time half of them at least are off duty. Now? Almost everyone's circling somewhere close to here."

I hoped he was wrong. "How did you get this on your iPad? I've never heard of something like this."

"It's not legal of course. My pa made the app himself. At a certain frequency, we can pick up every dragon's location across the state. The chip the dragons have on their chests make it real easy for us."

I flashed a look to him. "So you're not the only one who can do this, right?"

"Well, of course the imperator can as well," Chase said.

I held myself back from quickly patting Ari's chest to see if there was a chip in his. I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not- the Rider Training Facility had never told me about chips, but now I wasn't so sure I trusted them.

"Why would your family need to know where the dragons are?" Remington asked suspiciously.

"To not get speeding tickets," Chase said sarcastically. Then he shook his head. "You're not the only ones who don't want to be seen by the Riders, guys."

"Why not?" Remington asked, leaning back in his chair.

He shook his head and sighed. "You guys don't understand. You're Riders. High end. People kiss the ground you walk on," he remarked dryly.

I thought that was hardly the case, but I let him speak. Ari just crunched grumpily on his shrimp.

"Then there's the undesirables. People who are different. They don't like different." He said simply. We waited for him to elaborate but he just pushed a knapsack on the table. "That's why I'm going with you."

"Wait, what?" Remington said, words garbled by a mouth full of goldfish.

"We'll go together. It'll be an adventure. I've got lots of churros, portable wifi, and I know lots of tricks," Chase said brightly, giving us a Colgate-white smile. "I spent a few years in a ghetto, I can make it where you gringos can't."

"Gringos?" Remington echoed.

"Yes, you," he looked to me, and I noticed dimples on his cute little tan cheeks. "I can help, see?"

I sighed. We couldn't just leave him here in this place. "What about your fish? Who's going to take care of them?"

"I left a note at the pet store for them to come pick them up today." Chase put the iPad into his bag reverently.

"Wait- have you been planning this ever since I messaged you?" Remington asked suspiciously.

Chase shrugged and gave that little smirk. This little ten year old seemed like a real troublemaker. Remington and I shared a glance as Ari chewed noisily between us. "Come on let's go," Remington sighed, getting up from his chair.

"Yes!" He pumped his fists in the air. "But wait- we can't go in your van. We'll be caught in less than an hour. I got a better plan."