The Heart of the Dragon
Chapter 17

Once they were awake and ready for the day, Tammy, Eli, and Jackson met up with Candace outside their huts while already getting glances from the hybrids and dragons.

“How are you guys going?” she asked them.

“I’m okay I guess” Tammy replied with a shrug “I’m surprised I actually slept well.”

“Me too” Eli put in, “Although I did have a dream that a pocket-sized dragon was sleeping on my head.”

“There probably was” Candace smirked, “There are pocket-sized dragons here, we call them Night Minis cause they’re only seen at night.”

“Wait-” he held up a finger, “So there really was a mini dragon on my head last night?”

“Perhaps” she shrugged, still smirking “But don’t worry, they’re harmless. Anyway, I think it’s time for you guys to meet everyone, get them to gain your trust.”

“Are you sure they wanna meet us?” Tammy asked while noticing the looks they were getting from around “Cause I don’t think they’re in the mood for meet and greets.”

“They’re still cautious about you guys, but don’t worry, it just takes time. You just gotta show them that you all can be trusted... right?”

“Of course we can be trusted” she assured with a nod “It just we don’t know if we can trust them.”

“Don’t worry about that, we don’t do any harm unless it’s necessary. The main thing is, don’t piss them off and you’ll be fine.”

“Oh okay.”

“Hey uh-” Jackson suddenly spoke up “Where’s Angie?”

“Oh yeah,” Tammy agreed while turning to the hybrid “Have you seen Angie? When I woke up she wasn’t in the hut.”

“Oh don’t worry, she’s with Hayden.”

“Hayden?” Jackson remarked a bit surprised “Why?”

“He wanted to show her around, introduce him to his friends.”

“Just her?”

“Yeah, I don’t know why, but I’m sure they’ll be fine. Well, come on then, I’ll give you guys a tour, and stay close to me okay?”

As they began to follow her, the humans couldn’t help but wonder why Hayden only wanted to show Angie around, why just her?

Following Hayden down a path in the jungle, Angie admired the much prettier environment with all the wildflowers that blossomed, some of them she didn’t even recognize.

“There’s so many flowers” she breathed amusedly, “Some of them I’ve never even seen before.”

“Yeah this island has a lot of things that don’t exist anywhere else” Hayden stated while pointing to a type of flower that grew out from vines around a tree “This kind would have to be my favorite, we call them the Infinite Poppies, you can pick them, and they’ll never dry out.”

“Whoa” she gasped while taking a closer look at them.

The flowers were about the size of a baseball with flowy petals and have an ombre effect of purple, lavender, and white.

“How do you guys get these flowers?” she asked astonished.

“I guess it has to do with the dragons here” he replied while picking one of the flowers off the vine and handing it to her “You can have on if you like.”

“I can?” she responded a bit surprised as he just smiled and held it up to her as she smiled back “Thanks.”

She could feel her cheeks warming as she accepted the flower, feeling Hayden’s charming gaze on her as she placed the flower on her ear.

“It looks nice on you” he commented while still smiling.

“I bet it’ll look nice on you too” she smirked as he gave a small chuckle.

As they continued down the path, they then came upon a little beach area with a pond filled with crystal clear water that was attached to a river.

“This is where my friends and I like to hang out often” Hayden announced while taking a seat on what appeared to be a stone seat “We like to kick back, relax, and just talk.”

“Well, this does look like a nice place to hang out” Angie agreed while sitting next to him on the stone seat and gazed out at the pond, seeing how blue the water was, kind of like the color of Erin’s scales “Hey uh, is it me, or does your friend Erin not have any wings?”

“She doesn’t.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because she’s haft of a water dragon.”

“Water dragon?” she remarked, now getting interested.

“You see, there are different types of dragons, they come in all shapes and sizes, but they each have their own set of powers regarding a certain element.”

“So like earth, fire, water, and air?”

“Exactly, but there’s also ice and even lightning.”

“Lightning huh?” she replied amused.

“Yeah,” he smiled, “And that’s what Ajax has.”

“Wow,” she breathed, “That amazing.”

“Candace and I are both part of the fire element, and since Erin’s part of the water element, she doesn’t have wings. All water dragons don’t have wings cause they spend most of their time in the water. Although I feel like the hybrids should at least have wings in case of an emergency.”

“I agree. So um, I’m guessing they don’t blow out fire?”

“No they don’t, instead they shoot out water at a fast speed that it can actually kill you if you get hit in a sensitive spot.”

“Damn” she breathed with her eyes widen.

“They’re also fast swimmers, faster then us, and if you look closely, you could see that Erin has fins on her fingers and toes.”

“Whoa really?” she remarked surprised “I didn’t notice.”

“Well she does have them, she also has fins on her backs and even gills.”

“So, she’s like a mermaid, but without the tail.”

“Exactly” he nodded, “Except she can’t actually sing.”

“Oh.”

“So yeah, that’s what she is. And as for Brett, he’s part of the earth element, did you notice how his scales had a crusty consistency?”

“I did notice” she nodded.

“Well, all dragons of the earth element have crusty scales. And like the fire element, they breathe fire too, but they’re more like fireballs.”

“And what about Jayce and Savannah?”

“Well, you may think that they’re part of the fire element because of their orange scales, but they’re not, they’re part of the air element.”

“Oh, so it doesn’t matter what color the scales are of what element?”

“Not really, it mainly depends on their scales and wings.”

“Huh,” she replied interested, “And what powers do the air elements have?”

“When they flap their wings with a certain force, it can create strong winds that can knock down whatever they can. And they can blow out strong air that pretty much has the same effect as their wings.”

“And I’m guessing the lightning element can control lightning.”

“Correct” he smirked, “The same thing with ice.”

“Wow” Angie smiled with a small laugh “This is so amazing, it feels like I’m in a superhero movie.”

“Yeah” he nodded in agreement “I felt the same way when I first came here.”

“So has there always been hybrids on this island?”

“Nope, it was just dragons first. They’ve been here for many years, that is until the very first hybrid was created, and that’s Ajax.”

“Really?” she gasped amazed “How did it happen?”

He was about to reply when his senses suddenly caught something that made him freeze.

“What?” Angie asked, now getting uneasy by his sudden change “Is there danger nearby?”

“I’m not sure” he responded confused when he turned and spotted what had caught his senses.

Slithering up the stone seat next to Angie was a small snake that was making its way towards her thigh. She didn’t have time to notice it when Hayden reached out quickly and grabbed onto the reptile as she gave a shriek while leaning back with shock.

“There it is” he sneered while clutching the snake near its head and using his other hand to hold the body “Thankfully this kind of snake isn’t poisonous, but their bites do hurt like hell.”

He then set the snake down onto the sand as it slithered off into a bush.

“Come on” he ordered while getting up “I’ll tell you the story on the way.”

Not wanting to see any more snakes, Angie got up and followed the hybrid down another path. With him around, she knew that no danger will come to her.