When the bell rang, the teacher walked to the front of the room. He raised his hands to try and get the kids' attention but it didn't work. Then they yelled, "Okay! That's enough. You can talk with your friends after my class. Moving on, we have three new students," He looked at the clock above the door, "I would say to introduce yourselves but this class is already a few weeks behind in their work. You can call me Alec, no need for Mr. or Mrs. or any of that nonsense."

They directed their attention back to the class, "Okay, you know what to do. You need to work on your short stories that were due last week. If you finish that, you can start on the packet that was due yesterday."

He went back to their desk and sat down with a sigh, "New kids, please come here for a minute."

They made their way to him. He started explaining, "Okay so, what are your names?"

Ash pointed as he was telling them their names, "I'm Ash, this is Eclipse, and then Astrid."

"Well welcome to the class. Wish I had more notice of y'all joining my class but that's on the district, not you. Anyways, for now you can write about yourself and turn it in at the end of class."

With that, the kids went back to their seats. Eclipse looked through her bag and took out a notebook along with a mechanical pencil. She opened the notebook to the first page and then thought about what to write. Madi told them not to mention anything about the kingdom, being dragonkin, their age, or about them being hunted down.

It took her a while to start writing. She just chose to stick with what her favorite subjects were and what she did in her free time, of course not mentioning flying nor running for her life. When she was done, she passed it over to Madi to read.

Madi scanned over the paper and then looked at Eclipse, "Really? History is your favorite subject?"

Eclipse nodded, "Where I'm from, the history is quite fascinating."

Madi kept reading, "And you jog in your free time? Along with camping?"

"Been doing those things quite a bit recently so it felt fitting. But see, I also put nature watching. That's normal, isn't it?"

Madi grinned and nodded before handing the notebook back. Eclipse tore the paper out and then looked at the next blank page. She looked around the room at some kids writing but the majority just talking. She looked back at Madi, "What do you need to write a short story about?"

Madi shrugged, "It could be about anything. The only requirements are that it needs to be school appropriate and of course it needs to be fiction. It also needs to be two pages."

Eclipse nodded then started writing. She was writing of a local legend that she grew up hearing from the elders of the clan. It was about a young dragonkin who led a group of stranded soldiers to safety during war. In doing so, he lost his life but was able to save everyone in the group. The legend was passed down for generations, no one even knew who started it. Eclipse has always wanted to be like the young dragonkin, so she tries to be fearless and help others, not that she always achieves this.

Once she was done rewriting the legend, she had five full pages written front and back. She tore each page out carefully and then wrote her name on the first page along with the title 'The Noble Warrior'. She dug through her bag again and found some paper clips, she grabbed one and put it at the corner of her papers. She talked with Madi for the rest of class. When the bell rang, she went to Alec and handed them her papers.

He did a double take at her story, "You didn't have to do this. We usually take a week to write these, well this class takes a few weeks to get them done. I won't grade it since I didn't assign it to you but I'll read it."

Eclipse smiled and waved goodbye before catching up with her group just outside the classroom. Ash was complaining about how the class was boring and that there wasn't anything to do. Astrid on the other hand said she liked the class since she made friends with the girl sitting next to her. Eclipse thought the class was fun, she liked telling stories. The best thing about the story being fiction meant that she could tell the truth while it was only being seen as her imagination.

Their next class was only down the hall and it didn't take them too long to get there. They were the first kids in the room so they sat in a back corner together with Ash and Eclipse in the back and Madi and Astrid in front of them. The teacher wasn't even in the room yet.

It took about five minutes before all the seats were taken by students and yet there was still no teacher. The students were taking advantage of the moment and goofing off. After another ten minutes an adult walked into the room and immediately the kids stopped yelling and sat in their seats. Madi turned around and whispered, "That's Mr. Walker. He's the principal."

Eclipse nodded her head in understandment before looking at Ash and shushing him. Mr. Walker walked to the front of the room and faced the class without saying anything. He crossed his arms and just watched the children squirm uncomfortably. Eclipse looked down at the desk.

The principal's voice filled the room, "This is the third time this year you were able to drive one of my teachers away. I have no one willing to teach full time for this class. Therefore I will be the sub until we hire someone to teach you."

There were groans from multiple kids and the principal snapped his fingers, "Get your textbooks out and start working on page one thirty-seven."

Madi took her textbook out of her bag while the other three just looked at each other while shrugging. The room is quiet while everyone is working on their textbooks. Well besides for the three dragonkin. The principal who was sitting at the desk glanced up. At the same time, Ash was risking a glance at Mr. Walker. They made eye contact and almost immediately, Mr. Walker stood up and started walking towards their corner.

Walker stopped beside Astrid and looked at the three kids. When he talked, his voice filled the room causing everyone to look at the group, "What are you doing? Are you deaf? I said to do your work. Where are your textbooks?"

Madi looked back and noticed Eclipse beginning to have tears build up in her eyes from the amount of attention. She looked back to the principal with a frown, "They're new here and don't have any textbooks. I can take them to the library and see if they have any extra books for them."

Walker's face softened a bit and he sighed, "I'm sorry. Yeah, you should go to the library. Here, I'll write you some hall passes."

He went back to the teacher's desk and wrote on a sticky note. He walked back to the group and handed the paper to Madi. They got out of the room quickly. Once out in the empty hallway, Madi gave Astrid and Ash directions to the library and told them that she and Eclipse would be right there.

Once Ash and Astrid were out of ear shot, Madi turned to Eclipse and put her hand on her shoulder. She bent down slightly to be eye level with Eclipse, "Hey, are you okay?"

Eclipse wiped at a tear as it slid down her face, "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I guess being the king and queen's daughter had something to do with it. I've never been talked to like that from someone who isn't my parents."

Madi rubbed her back, "It's okay. Humans tend to act this way. They're not the nicest. And the principal is just stressed out. When you're ready to go, just let me know."

Eclipse nodded her head while wiping away the rest of her tears. Madi kept a comforting hand on Eclipse's shoulder. Eclipse was surprised when she saw the library. It was even smaller than the castle's library but there were kids sitting around and reading books. The castle's library didn't allow kids to go in and take books to read. When she wanted to get a book from the library, she had to get one of the castle workers to get it.

Madi walked up to the librarian and explained the situation. The librarian went into a back room and returned a few minutes later with a stack of books. Eclipse, Ash, and Astrid each received a math textbook, a science textbook, and a history textbook.

As they were walking out the library, the intercom came on. There was the voice of a lady, "Ash, Astrid, and Eclipse White please come to the front office, you're leaving."

The kids stopped and looked at each other. Madi waved her hands at the kids, "Okay, I think we're done for today. C'mon, I know where there's another exit."

Madi led them to one of the exits that couldn't be seen from the office. They just walked out the door like it was a normal thing to do. It was especially easy since all the teachers were teaching classes, or at least trying to. Madi led the way back to the cabin.

She turned around once closing the door behind them. She went into her bedroom and called out, "Okay, well, we gotta get back on the move. Let me just pack up and reach my contact."

Eclipse went into the kitchen and made a cup of orange juice. She went back into the living room and flipped the television onto a random channel. They could hear Madi talking to someone on the phone in her room. She sounded pretty upset.

When Madi walked back to the living room, she was frowning, "We don't have anywhere to go. My contact said that they can only get us a place to stay in the next few weeks. So we can either leave and travel somewhere else and just rent a hotel or something. Or we can stay here and just lie low."

Eclipse looked to the other kids to try and see if they wanted to leave. Astrid slightly nodded her head, "I think it's best if we leave. Thanks for letting us stay here. Sorry for any trouble we may have caused."

Madi frowned more, "I'm coming with you. I couldn't live with myself if I just let you leave. It's really no problem at all," She went back to her room and returned with a bag. She went out the front door and waited for them.

Ash went to the kitchen and grabbed a few cans of food. He went outside to Madi and handed her the cans to put in the bag. The girls came out shortly after walking through the cabin once more.

Madi looked around at the kids, "Anywhere specific you want to go?"

They each shook their heads. Eclipse thought for a moment before asking, "Hey, Madi. Could I use your phone to call my sister?"

Madi shrugged before handing her the phone. Eclipse dialed the long phone number and waited. Star answered the phone after several rings, "Hello? Who is this?"

Eclipse smiled, "Hey Star."

"Where are you? Nite called the other leaders and said that your group was having an extended survival trip. What's that about?"

"I should've been honest with you in the first place. Nite and Cole are hunting us down and trying to kidnap us."

"Us? Who are you with?"

"Ash and Astrid. More specifically, they're hunting Astrid and me. Do you think you could send your coordinates so we can try to get back to the group?"

There was a pause on the other line, "Okay, I texted the coordinates. Call me if anything happens."

With that, Eclipse hung up and handed the phone back to Madi. Madi put the coordinates into the GPS on her phone. She looked at the group and flipped her phone around so they could see, "We have a while before we get there. I think the quickest way is to go to Meade and try to catch a bus there."

They came to the conclusion that it was the best plan of action. They started walking since it was too dangerous to fly when Nite and Cole were so close. They continued walking until it started getting dark outside. They stopped to rest a bit just outside the town limit of Meade.