The Heart of the Dragon
Chapter 9

After getting packed, everyone made sure they had everything they needed along with their knives, Mr. Monroe’s machete, and now a pistol that was found in the jet.

“It doesn’t have a lot of bullets,” Mr. Monroe noted, “So we better use it wisely.”

“What do you guys think that roar belonged to?” Tammy questioned.

“I have no idea” Jackson breathed, still feeling astonished by the loud roar “I’ve never heard a roar that loud before, even tiger’s roars aren’t as loud as that one.”

“In that case” Eli’s eyes widen “I don’t wanna know what that roar belonged to.”

“You know you still have to come with us right?” Tammy mentioned, “Angie needs our help.”

“Well uh, not wanting to sound like a bad friend, but what if she’s already dead?”

She let out a big sigh, trying not to think whether or not her best friend was dead or not.

“We don’t know, that’s why we gotta look.”

“Well let’s get on it” Mr. Monroe declared, “Now everyone, stay close, we don’t know what we could run into in there.”

The smell of smoke was the first thing that struck her nose, causing her brain to wake up. Still feeling drowsy, Angie didn’t have the power to open her eyes, she just wanted to lay down and sleep. But at the same time, she wondered why she was smelling smoke, and how come she was laying on something soft and moist.

After forcing her eyes to open, the first thing she noticed was that she was laying on a pile of palm leaves and moss, like someone had made a nature bed for her, and it was surprisingly comfortable. She then turned her head and spotted a small fire in front of her that was starting to die out. But seeing the fire is making her wonder, she knew she didn’t make the fire or the bed, then who did? She was about to get up when she suddenly heard a rustle from the side as she turned to see a figure hiding behind a thick tree. For a split second, she knew it was a human, but why was he hiding?

“Who’s there?” she demanded but received no answer “I know you’re hiding behind that tree, don’t think I didn’t see you.”

Once again, there was no answer, that is until a moment passed when the voice of a young male was heard.

“How’s your leg?” he asked in a mumble.

“Oh um-” she replied, trying not to sound surprised from finally hearing him.

She looked down at her leg and saw that her wound had been wrapped up with another cloth.

“It still hurts a bit” she answered.

“It’ll get better soon.”

“Did you do this to me?”

“Yeah, after you ran into that tree branch, something was about to kill you.”

“Wait, what?” her eyes widen “What was about to kill me?”

“Some beast, I took care of it and brought you here.”

“Oh,” she remarked astonished “Well um, thank you.”

“No problem.”

After talking to him, Angie needed to know who was behind the tree and why was he still hiding. So after gaining her confidence, she pushed herself up while slightly limping from her bad leg.

“Hey um-” she began “Why are you hiding behind that tree?”

She heard him sigh “It’s complicated.”

“How so?”

“I really don’t want to explain.”

“Oh come on, I wanna see the face of my rescuer.”

“You really don’t” he replied, his voice sounding downhearted.

“Why not?”

He sighed again “Because if you see me, you’ll scream and run.”

“No I won’t” she assured.

“I beg the differ.”

“Come on” she pleaded “Please, you can trust me.”

“But can you trust me?”

“Well, that depends. Now come on, let me see you.”

She could tell he was too nervous to move, she didn’t even hear movement for a moment. But after hearing him let out one more sigh, he slowly stepped out from behind the tree and into the light. For a second, Angie thought she was seeing things, but after studying him, she realized that it was real. For starters, the boy was about her age, perhaps older, he had short light brown hair, green eyes that showed nervousness, his once pale skin appeared tan from the sun, his arms were muscular and abs popped out on his torso.

But seeing how attractive he was wasn’t what caught Angie’s eyes, what really shocked her to the core was that he wasn’t completely human; blue scales covered parts of his cheeks and forehead along with the upper part of his torso near his neckline, parts of his arms, and down his back. Besides the fact that he wasn’t wearing a shirt, the only clothing he had on was a pair of black pants that were cut to his knee as if they had been slashed off. But what really made him stand out were the pair of blue wings that grew out from his back, and by the looks of them, they appeared dragon-like.

Angie could hardly move and her words were frozen, she has never seen anything like him, it was like he stepped right out of a fantasy novel. She felt her knees began to wobble as she tried to balance herself, not knowing what to say.

“I knew you would freak out” he suddenly sighed “I’ll go.”

“No, wait” she stopped him before he could walk off “I’m not scared, just surprised that’s all.”

“Oh really?” he doubted “You’re not at all afraid of me?”

“That depends, are you gonna kill me?”

He snickered “If I wanted to kill you, I would of let that beast kill you earlier.”

“True,” she agreed “But now let me ask- what are you? Cause by the looks of it, you appear to be part-dragon or something.”

“I am, I’m a hybrid of a human and a dragon.”

“What?” she remarked surprised “But, how is that possible? Dragons aren’t real.”

“Um, you’re kind of looking at one right now, even though I’m not entirely a dragon.”

Now Angie was more stunned than before, it couldn’t possibly be real, a human being part dragon. She felt her knees wobble again as she tried to steady herself.

“If you wanna sit down, go ahead” he offered.

“Right” she replied while sitting on the nature bed “I uh- I just need to put my brain together. I am talking to a hybrid of a human and a dragon, and yet I thought dragons didn’t exist.”

“Small world huh?” he tittered while crossing his arms.

“I’ll say” she shrugged.

She sat there for a minute, still trying to put her brain together while taking glancing at the hybrid. After a moment, she decided now would be a good time to ask him a question.

“Hey um, any chance you can help me with something?”

“Does it have to with the crashed jet on the beach?” he smirked.

“You know about that?”

“I’ve been watching you and your friends since you all crashed, it amazes me how you all are still alive.”

“It still amazes me” she admitted, “But if you’ve been watching us, how come you didn’t help us?”

“Um...” he motioned his body.

“Oh, right.”

“Yeah, sorry. I really did wanted to help, but you know. Although I did allow you to replace those firewoods.”

Her face lit up “Wait, you dropped those branches in front of me?”

“You needed firewood, so I gave you some.”

“Oh,” she remarked “Um, thanks. Also, the other night, were you sneaking around our jet?”

“Yeah...” he confessed while rubbing the back of his neck “I was just checking to make sure you guys were still alive, plus, I haven’t seen humans in a long time.”

The sound of that made her more interested.

“Oh really?” she responded curiously “When was the last time you saw humans?”

“Since I was a kid, but that’s a long story.”

“Well then. Um, is there a chance you can still help us?”

“I can help you live, but getting off the island is gonna be challenging, mainly because I haven’t left the island in years.”

“Oh” she replied sadly.

“But as I said, I can help you stay alive until help comes, well, that is if help comes.”

If, such a strong word. But even though she just met him, Angie could see that he could be trusted, and besides, she really wanted to learn more about him.

“Alright,” she spoke while getting up “So, what’s the first thing to do?”

“Well first, we replace your friends, and allow them to freak out when they meet me.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure Tammy will freak out before fainting, but Eli will most likely jump with excitement.”

He snickered “We’ll see about that.”

She smiled “So um, do you have a name?”

“Hayden.”

“Hayden” she echoed, “Nice to meet you, I’m Angie.”

“Nice to meet you Angie” he smiled back.