Tonight. Entrance. Ten thirty. 

Well, there I was. Waiting for him. The entrance was closed, guarded by Warriors. I knelt before a bush. I heard a rustle and turned around. River came over. 

      "You came," he noted softly. I dipped my head. We watched the marching guard. 

     "Climb or talk?" he whispered. I never understood people whom I didn't know well, and I mean very well, like my family. But I understood his simple words and they seemed much deeper. They seemed to be asking me what kind of person I was. 

     "Climb," I whispered firmly and he nodded briefly. As the moonlight caught his eye, I saw something gleam in them. Approval. We snuck towards the wall and when the guard wasn't looking, we jumped up and climbed over. It would have been almost impossible for someone who didn't know the walls properly or how to climb but we managed easily. We then jogged along the field and into the forest. The walk towards the pass was quiet and eerie. Owls hooted, hunting for food. Crickets chirped. We reached the pass. It was dark. 

     "Wow. I never knew this place existed," whispered River. I nodded. I didn't want to go into the dark pass. Shadows jumped around everywhere. River looked at me. 

     "Ladies first," he whispered. I sighed and took a step into the darkness. We walked in silent fear. I didn't even know what I was scared of. It was dark, eerie, quiet and I didn't know this place very well. We finally reached the big boulder and River hesitated. 

     "Climb this and we're there," I breathed. He nodded and we climbed the rock together. The clearing was lit brightly by the moonlight. We slowly jumped onto the grass and River looked around, gaping. 

     "Wow," breathed River. I know, I thought, I know. He looked around, turning in circles. We walked to the shimmering lake and I looked over to the opposite rock wall. 

     "There's no snow here," remarked River. 

     "Hey boy....," I said softly, "You there? Don't need to be scared. This is River. My friend." The ground trembled slightly. River looked at me in panic but I shrugged. He looked back at the rock wall. Then in front of us, a big mound of grass slowly lifted. The Dragon's scales turned from grass into hard scales and facing us was the Dragon. River's eyes went wide. He gaped at the Dragon and fell to his knees. We watched the Dragon move forward nervously. 

     "It's ok. River's a friend," I said reassuringly. The Dragon held my gaze and then shook his head and moved forward. 

     "He can understand you," stammered River. 

     "Yes," I replied. 

     "But, but..., the stories. They say that Dragons love blood, war...., it was all a lie," sputtered River. 

     "Yeah," I said then added, "But maybe not. Maybe he's different. Maybe other Dragons were evil. Maybe he's evil."

     "It's a he?" asked River. 

     "Yeah."

     "How do you know?" questioned River. 

     "His eyes." The Dragon was now very close and I knew River was holding his breath. 

     "What's his name?" he asked. 

     "He's a Secret," I answered, not really listening to River's question. River raised his eyebrow. 

     "I mean, what's his name?" repeated River. 

     "Oh, I hadn't thought about that...," I admitted. 

     "But I guess his name is Secret, right?" River said. 

    "I guess," I agreed. Secret came nearer and brought his tail to us. We didn't know what to do so he swept us with his tail and we clung on. When we had successfully got proper hold of his tail, he swept it around and we were lifted high in the air. The wind blew on our faces and we could see above the rock walls. Secret brought us back down gently and gurgled softly, closing his eyes. 

     "I think he's gurgling with happiness or love," giggled River. I agreed. We got to our feet and watched the creature shake himself. He then returned to his corner and his scales seemed to disappear and he blinked a few times and the Dragon was gone. A slight hill now faced us. 

     "Why did he leave?" asked River. 

     "He heard something," I whispered. We both turned around and ran to the pass. We heard voices echoing through the pass and crept along the way. The dark did not sway us. 

     "This is not the way," snarled a deep voice from the entrance of the pass. We stood right at the entrance in the corner hidden in the shadows and saw a pair of people with an axe each. 

      "I'm sure it's this way. Evebridge should be a few more kilometres away," growled the other voice. 

     "I feel like someone's watching," the other said, lowering his voice. 

     "Of course not. Now come on. Daron didn't send us in the dead of night for no reason. Let's go," spat the second person. We watched as they headed towards Evebridge. 

     "Who are they?" I said softly. 

     "Trouble, we need to get back before them and warn the guards or somebody," replied River and I knew he was right. We crept out of our dark hiding place and into the woods. We followed them through the woods till we came to the edge of the forest. 

     "How do we get past them now?" I asked in a hushed tone. We peered through the bushes as the two men crouched low and started making their way down the grassy field. 

     "We run past them and scream for the guards," replied River. I didn't know if he was being serious but I did as he said. Without looking at him, I jumped up and ran past the people and towards the village. I started yelling as I ran. I hollered loudly, saying random things. I could see guards starting to pour out of the village and surveying me. I reached the gates and started panting hard. One of the guards questioned me. 

     "What are you doing here?" He demanded. 

     "There are two men...," I took a deep breath. "They're coming. They've got axes. I don't know what they want." River came behind me. The guard nodded and whispered something to the person next to him. She nodded and escorted us back into he village. We were led back to the Mansion and where asked to wait in the library. I slouched onto the couch. 

     "What were we doing out there?" said River. 

     "I was showing you Secret," I protested. 

     "No, I mean, if they ask us what we were doing out there, what would we say?" River clarified. 

     "Oh," I suggested. "I don't know. We wanted to go for a walk?"

     "That is the lamest excuse in the world. No, the universe," laughed River. 

     "Have you got a better one?" I shot back. 

     "No," shrugged River. I raised my eyebrow. "I don't have one but that doesn't mean your excuse isn't lame. It is very lame but I have nothing against it. We can use it I guess. But stick to it, don't go changing the reason."

     "Fine," I agreed. We waited in the room until the door opened and my father walked in. 

     "January," he said severely, sitting opposite of me and River. 

     "Papa?" I stated unsurely so it sounded like a question. 

     "And River," added my father. "River Robin North."

     "Yes sir," saluted River with a straight face.

     "What were you doing in the forest?" interrogated my father. 

     "We went for a walk," I stated. 

     "In the middle of the night? With-," my father eyed River and waved a hand in his direction. "Him." 

     "Yes," I agreed firmly. "Him. Actually named River."

     "I know that," my father said dryly. 

     "Of course," I muttered. 

     "You were going for a walk? Why?" growled my father. 

     "We met at the library today and Mis January was reading a book about wildflowers. I just noticed it and told her I had seen one of the flowers. Midnight flowers they're called," River replied smoothly. I knew about Midnight flowers, they only bloomed at midnight but I had never seen any. Not many people had seen any. "I told Miss January that I had seen Midnight flowers. In the forest, hidden underneath some dead bark. I offered to let her see tonight. It is entirely my fault Sir."  

     "No! It's not," I exclaimed. "I asked him to bring me. I ordered him to show me the flowers. So it is my fault." My father raised his eyebrow and River glared at me and I stuck my tongue out a bit at him. 

     "I do not care who's fault it is. You are both in the wrong. River, you will not be returning here for carpenter work anymore. January, you are grounded for three weeks. Make that a month," my father declared firmly. I tried to protest but he held his hand out to silence me. 

     "And just for your information, those two men were from Salisburgh. They have been sent here to warn us of danger. Something about monsters and they said the creatures could have been following them. They also said that your noise probably alerted the creatures right to where we were. SO great job kids. Now go," my father dismissed us. I sighed and hung my head. 

     "And by any chance, were those creatures, Dragons?" I added. My father looked in my eyes and did not reply for a moment before giving a slight nod. I turned around and headed down the hall with River. 

     "I'm sorry," I apologised. "I took your job away."

     "It is ok, my tutor will give me other jobs. He is sick anyway so he will be assigning me some of his jobs which will give me more pay," River shrugged. 

     "You saw my father," I said. "Dragons."

     "I know. But I thought they were gone. I thought Secret was the only one left," River whispered. 

     "Well obviously not. Salisburgh is pretty far away from Evebridge too, it must have been great danger for them to sent men here," I added. 

     "But it doesn't matter. I want to see Secret again," River murmured. 

     "Me too," I whispered back. River passed me a note. I realised he had scribbled in green ink onto it. 

     "He's our Secret," River grinned. Yeah, I told myself, he's our Secret.