The Heart of the Dragon

“Ugh!” Tammy complained while swatting a mosquito on her arm “Why are there so many damn mosquitos?!”

“It’s a jungle, Tammy” Eli grumbled as they marched through the wilderness “What do you expect?”

She grunted, “I need more bug spray.”

“You already applied bug spray five minutes ago” Jackson recalled.

“Then how come it’s not working?!”

“Tammy!” Mr. Monroe hissed, “Keep your voice down, we don’t wanna attract unwanted attention.”

“Sorry” she sighed while swatting another mosquito on her leg.

“Here” Eli handed her some bug spray as she gratefully took it.

“I hear water” Jackson announced as they followed him to a cliff where they looked down to see the rough flowing river “This must be where Angie fell.”

“Jeez” Eli cringed “It looks hard to survive in.”

“Unless Angie grabbed onto something” Tammy put in.

“If she managed to get herself to shore, then she’s really lucky.”

“Come on” Mr. Monroe ordered, “We’ll follow the river, see if it can take us to Angie, or lead us to clues to where she is.”

Strolling down the jungle with Hayden by her side, Angie couldn’t help but admire the dragon details on his body, from his scales to his wings, he was magnificent.

“Do you want me to stop walking so you can admire my body?” he suddenly spoke.

“Oh,” she replied, feeling herself blush, “Sorry, I uh- I can’t help myself, you have such amazing details.”

He gave a snicker as he stopped walking “Go ahead, admire me.”

She froze “Are you serious?”

“I’ve never had anyone admire my features before” he smirked, “So it’s pretty flattering.”

She giggled “Well, in that case, can I uh, can I touch your scales?”

She felt a bit shy asking him that, but instead of resining, Hayden held out one of his arms towards her. Seeing how he was okay with it, Angie gave a small smile before running her fingers across his scales. They felt hard to the touch but had a smooth surface like glass, the cobalt blue color shined beautifully in the light like stained glass, and if she looked closely, she could almost see her reflection in them.

“They’re so beautiful” she breathed astonished “It’s like I’m touching a giant snakeskin.”

“Well my scales are actually a lot stronger than snake scales” he stated, “But like snakes, we do shed our scales and grow new ones.”

“Wait,” her face lit up “Did you say we?”

“Oh,” he replied while bringing his arm down, now getting timid “I uh...”

“Are you saying there’s more of you?” she gasped.

He hesitated while fidgeting his hands, but decided to give in after seeing that he couldn’t think of an excuse.

“Yes,” he mumbled “This island is our home. But not just hybrids like me, there are also regular dragons.”

Angie couldn’t believe what she was hearing as she stood there full of surprise.

“Can I see them?” she asked.

“Sorry, but no. Humans aren’t allowed to be here exactly. Well, as long as they don’t know about us.”

“Why?”

“Well um, we don’t really trust humans, because we fear what they could do to us.”

She gave a puzzled look “Well if you don’t trust humans, then why are you talking to me? And why are you even gonna help me and my friends?”

“Because I’ve been watching you and your friends since your jet crashed, and I can tell you all can be trusted. Well, for now, that is.”

“Well, don’t worry” she assured with a small smile “You can trust us.”

“I’ll be the judge of that” he smirked, “But I mean it when I say that I can’t show you the rest of my clan, they’ll most likely kill me.”

“Well I won’t ask again” she promised.

Seeing how earnest she was, Hayden gave a small smile as he let his emotions relax, knowing she can be trusted.

“But since you won’t let me see your clan-” Angie put in, “Will you let me touch your wings now?”

He chuckled as he stood still, and with that, he slowly spread out his wings to their full length. Now Angie was more amazed by the display of his wings. Like his scales, they were a cobalt blue but appeared more tranquil. They were about ten feet long each, four feet in height, and they both had some form of a claw on the tip on each wing.

“Whoa,” she gasped amusedly as she went up to one of the wings and gently ran her fingers across the top, feeling smooth like leather “Can your wings do anything else behinds let you fly?”

“I tend to use them like a shield” he answered, “They’re also fireproof and strong against some forces.”

“What happens if your wings get torn?”

“Well-” he sighed, “It’s really hard to fix a broken wing, well depending on how badly it is. But every dragon needs to fly, its flight is very important for survival, even with its powers, they can still be defenseless.”

“Jeez” she breathed “That sounds awful.”

“You have no idea” he mumbled while folding back his wings “Anything else you’d like to admire?”

“Well, since you’re part dragon, does that mean you can breathe fire too?”

He grinned before turning away from her as he inhaled a puff of air before blowing out a small flame from his mouth.

“Oh my God!” Angie jumped “That was awesome!”

“Oh please,” he snickered “I can do more than that, but I won’t cause we’re surrounded by trees and I really don’t wanna set them on fire.”

“I understand, but I do wanna see it someday.”

“Perhaps” he shrugged “Anything else?”

“Well, I would ask you a bunch of questions, but we should really go find my friends.”

“You’re right” he agreed when his ears suddenly caught something that turned his head in a different direction.

“What is it?” Angie asked.

He didn’t answer as he listened to the sounds of familiar voices coming from far away.

“I can hear your friends,” he announced, “They’re looking for you.”

“They are?” she gasped, “Well, can you tell where they are?”

“They’re far, but their heading in this direction.”

“Well, let’s go then, I don’t want them to keep worrying about me.”

“Well um-” he suddenly got shy again, “When we reach them, I should probably stay low until it’s time for them to meet me.”

“Oh um, of course” she replied calmly, “Um, shall we go then?”

He nodded as they started back down the jungle, both of them wondering what will happen when they run into Angie’s friends.