Eve was on her way to her dad’s house for this summer. After her grandmother died and left her house to Eve, along with the entrance to the dragon realm, her mother had decided it was best for her not to visit this year, instead her mom sent her to visit her dad...and the person she hadn’t seen since she was five.

As the yellow jeep turned on to the dirt road that led to her father’s house, she stared out at the passing trees, dreading the visit. Her mom promised she would come get her if Eve called, but she had also made her promise not to call unless she was dying and promises in her family were kept with severe consequences if not, and even more this year since her mother was going to be all the way in America, across the sea. She wouldn’t be able to just jump in the car and drive an hour or two to come get her, like she was able to do when Eve was with her grandmother. So it meant a whole summer with the person she knew least in the world. It was terrible.

The house came into view, but it was dark. As Eve stared at it fiercely, hoping it was somehow abandoned and that she could stay with her mom, but instead the grey shadow of what seemed like a tail...a dragon’s tail passed over the window shade. Eve jumped in her seat, causing the old car to squeal.

“What are you doing back there!” Her mom called from the front, looking at the rearview mirror, “We're here, grab your stuff and go, I need to be at the airport in two hours.” She said more calmly as the car came to a bumpy stop.

Eve slid sideways and out of the car, walking to the trunk and pulling out her suitcases. She turned to look back at the house, about to ask her mother to walk in with her, something she hadn’t asked since she was two. She had always had her magical grandmother to protect her, but she had clearly been mistaken about the dark shadow of the tail passing over the blank window, lights were shining and a man was waiting on the front porch for her. Her dad.

As she walked closer she noticed that his once sandy brown hair was a faint white and his eyes seemed dull. His hands moved out to take her bags almost automatically. And when he said hello his voice was too deep and also automatic. She had imagined him with his eyes barely able to meet hers and him saying sorry for leaving her and her mom. Although he could have changed a lot in the eight years they had been apart, her grandmother had always taught her to expect the worst. The tail in the window, the automatic reactions, the house dark one minute then bright the next, it all pointed to dragon reenacting.

Most dragons had fiery breath that could kill in seconds, but the breath of a select few could slowly kill a victim, first turning them dull and soulless, allowing them to be used for a while, then came the screams and the lifelessness. Eve only knew of two dragons at the time who had the ability of white breath, the current dragon king and sea dragon, Bardemus, who was vile. Bardemus had been deeply injured last month though, so she highly doubted it was him. Either some new dragon had come to light or the king had something to do with what was happening here.

The man who was her father stepped behind her and walked her inside, she had no choice but to move towards the open door of the house, if her father was touched by white breath and if he touched her, she would become deeply sick in mere minutes.

Once inside, the lights from the house were no longer there, she was left in complete darkness. A simple illumination spell. Two red eyes, flames licking at the soles, appeared in the darkness and a great dragon stepped into light.

“Welcome Eve Kenderson. Are you ready to meet your doom?”

Barb slammed the mouse-like girl roughly up against the brick wall in the crumbly alley and spit in her face. “Give it back rat, I know you took my lucky stone.” Barb hissed. “Don’t make me punish you.”

“I...I didn’t take your lucky stone Barb. Please put me down.”

Barb stared at the girl, acting thoughtful for a moment. The girl had raven black hair cut to her shoulder, creamy skin, and hazel eyes. Nothing about her matched, she was the type who everyone ignored. She was perfect bait for what Barb had coming for the girl.

“What did you say?” Barb asked, coming to look thoughtful.

“P-p-please?”

“Oh did you want me to put you down so you could go running to your mommy?”

“Y-yes.”

“NO,” Dropping the act, Barb roared, spit flying. The girl whimpered and raised her hands over her head. “SINCE YOU WON’T GIVE ME MY LUCKY STONE I WILL HAVE TO PUNISH YOU!” Barb slapped the girl in the side and threw her to the ground. Her goonies quickly tied her hands behind her back and picked her up, carrying her down the alley and towards the woods as she screamed. Barb quickly followed.

They dashed through the woods, the girl bouncing roughly as Barb’s goonies josled her around, and headed towards Fate’s hill.

The hill had been named Fate’s hill for one reason and one reason only. It was where a wooden house once stood, surrounded by trees, but one night in the late spring a girl went to visit her father there and never came back. Her fate was sealed in the wood, claimed an elder and since the house had been burnt down, the one who started the fire was never found. It was a hill where multiple deaths had happened, and the person who caused them was never found. Children were warned not to go there, they always listened, Barb on the other hand, loved the old hill, it was perfect for torturing people who had gotten on her bad side, no one ever came there.

The girl’s eyes noticeably widened when she saw the hill and she struggled more but didn’t get anywhere. Barb had plans and those plans weren’t going to be ruined by fear.

Barb’s brother had been annoying her with him claiming dragons were real, doing projects on them and leaving toy dragons all over the floor where she would hurt her feet on them. She was going to prove to him dragons weren’t real, by using the girl as dragon bait.

Barb would watch the hill through the night, after covering the girl in barbecue sauce, and wait for nothing to happen. It was a fool proof plan even though it was dumb, her brother wouldn’t know the difference when she told him she had proof they weren’t real and he would probably break out in tears, getting Barb grounded for a week by her parents. At least the dragon feet pains would be gone and he would stop annoying her.

...

Faint crying came from the raven haired girl as she sat on the top of Fate’s hill, staring off into the darkness, but otherwise the night was silent. The full moon glowed brightly, illuminating the moist grass, but not Barb’s face, which had been covered in mud.

Just after eight, she had sent her goonies home and settled down in the bushes, a couple feet away from the girl, She was planning on getting her proof alone, if something did happen, which it wouldn’t, her goonies couldn’t go against her. She had smeared mud across her face because she had read that in the army, if you did that, your face wouldn’t glow by moonlight. She didn’t want anyone or anything to see anything but the bait that was sitting on the hill top.

Around midnight, the moon was at its highest point, Barb knew from reading more army books, there was the sound of something landing in the grass and shifting from something moving, it woke Barb up and she chastised herself for falling asleep on duty.

She peered around in the darkness but saw nothing right away then she caught the glint of the moon shining off of something... scaley. She gasped in fear. The fear was overpowering, it was sucking her in, she couldn’t move, and could barely think, that was when a face appeared in the darkness.