He had done it again; let her get away. He knew he was in it deep with the boss now, and that this time, the consequences would be worse than ever before, considering he let the child go, too. He knew his mistake; he had struck out two times already, this was his third. A second chance is a blessing, and the third chance was just pure luck; the boss was in a rare good mood then.

     He and his men stormed out of the manor, down the disintegrating steps, and to the sleek black SUV awaiting in the old circle driveway. The windows were tinted black, reflecting the skeletal trees. His stressed mind strayed as the wind picked up, making the barren trees sway. The image of his lifeless body hanging from the branches as crow food filled his imagination. He shivered, and opened the back door of the SUV, the other men walking towards the front.

     His most trusted friend and hit man, Tiberius, took the driver seat, his short-cropped blonde hair grazing the high ceiling of the vehicle. He was a tall, muscular brute, and a great resource to cause mayhem when needed. The other man, a shorter guy with short, high-cropped black hair, Samuel, took the passenger seat, immediately pulling out a disposable Blackberry, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

     Samuel looked back at the man with the scar, and frowned.

     "Yeah boss?" His gruff voice grunted.

     The man in the back seat smiled grimly at the title Samuel unconsciously called him.

     "I'll call him. It's my skin at risk, not yours." He said gravelly. Samuel looked to Tiberius, who nodded, then back at his superior.

     "Alright boss. Whatever you want." With that, he set his phone down, and turned back to the front, staring out of the windshield. The tension in the spacious vehicle was thick enough to make even Tiberius, who was used to cramped spaces, shift in unease.

     The man sighed, and took out his own Blackberry, pulling up his contacts and hovering his finger over the only number besides Tiberius and Samuel. He hesitated, and sighed again, knowing this was not going to go over well as he pressed his finger against the contact, the screen signaled that it was dialing. He placed the phone against his ear, and waited as the dull tone of the operator connected to his boss.

     It rang a few times before a nasally, yet, sinister voice picked up on the other end.

     "Mr. Bush, so glad to finally hear from you." The voice drawled out, no hint of any sort of happiness from it at all. Bush swallowed a lump in his throat, and grunted.

     "Sorry it took so long boss. Things went very-"

     "I don't want excuses, Bush." The voice growled, causing a terrified shiver to travel down his spine.

     "Yes sir." He answered quietly.

     "Good Now, tell me, is the boy dead?"

     Bush closed his eyes and sighed through his nose, but no words left his tongue. The voice on the other end sighed also, though, with evident malice.

     "I take your silence as a negative, am I correct?"

     Bush nodded, but caught himself, knowing the boss couldn't see him.

     "Yes sir. We didn't kill him."

     "And by the boy still being alive, I assume the dragon and its rider are alive as well?"

     "Yes sir." Bush wiped a bead of sweat off of the bridge of his nose, staring out the window and at the passing houses. This was probably the last time he would ever see the sky, the trees, the flowers...

     "At least you did something right then."

     Now that he thought about it, it was probably the last time he would ever even think about these things, having witnessed the chaos his boss could cause. He'd seen one of his men get so completely brain washed, he didn't even know his own name; his hazel eyes had been devoured in the darkest black Bush had ever seen. He didn't say anything to anyone, and when he did, it was in a strange dialect, and Bush couldn't do anything about it. It was-

     "Bush!" The voice yelled angrily, ripping Bush out of his thoughts.

     "S-sorry boss."

     "I said, and dare I repeat myself again after this, did you at least injure the boy?"

     Bush swallowed again, and stuck a finger under the collar of his button-up shirt, pulling it away from his neck, which was sticky with nervous sweat.

     "Um... I-I'm not sure sir."

     "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT SURE? GRAA!" Bush flinched and held the phone away from his ear as the sound of tables turning over and something shattering slammed against his ears. When he put the phone back to his ear, his boss's breath was ragged and heavy. He was even more afraid now.

     "W-we shot at him, but I'm not sure if the bullet got him or not. They were moving too fast." He mumbled, sweat pouring down his forehead.

     "Bush I gave you, one job... One job. After two other strikes, you decide to rebel against me, for a third time. Two times was more than enough, but three?" The man was so mad, his voice was nothing more than a strangled growl.

     Bush swallowed in angst, knowing there was no point in arguing. He suddenly flinched in pain and looked at his free hand. He had been digging his nails into his palms so hard, blood was slowly flowing onto his black pants.

     "What am I supposed to tell my master, huh? You know what, forget it. Im done giving you chances, Bush"

     He was suddenly stricken in fear, and he froze, words of protest fighting to flow from his lips, but that would just get him into even more trouble.

     "Yes sir." Bush said after a moment of silence. He didn't know what else to say, besides that his boss was an a-hole who could go and find another man to do his job. Then again, his life was on the line. It didn't help that he couldn't even think straight due to the pounding of his racing heart in his ears.

     "You had better be in my office in 30 minutes; you, and your two prodigies."

     Bush spluttered, those words of protest now changed to sentences of beseeching. This was going worse than he had imagined. "But sir! They have done nothing wrong! Merely followed my orders! Sir they have fami-"

     "Are you arguing with me? Because that, Bush, is the problem precisely. They have followed YOUR orders, not mine. Therefore, they are both in the same place you are, though, you have it worse." The voice chuckled darkly, making Bush shiver.

     "You have 30 minutes. You'd be lucky if I didn't incinerate you and your men the moment you set foot into this office. Oh, and don't keep me waiting. I have somewhere to be." With that, the line went dead. Bush slowly lowered the phone from his ear, staring at the blank screen, his blood rushing in his ears as fear kept his heart racing.

     "Boss? You ok?" Tiberius asked with concern. Bush didn't answer, but merely stared back outside of the SUV, his heart trembling harder with every foot that brought him closer to his fuming supervisor. He then found his eyes travelling to his two hit-men; they deserved so much better than this, but they were pulled in to this life like he was. There was no choice when a threat hung over your family's head...

     "We're in it deep, aren't we?" Samuel asked grimly. Bush sighed, and placed his hand on Samuel's shoulder.

     "It's been great knowing you both... I advise you to call your families, tell them to expect the worst." Tiberius and Samuel nodded in solemn understanding, and took out their phones, dialing up their loved ones. So faithful his two companions were Bush sighed, and looked back out of the window; the houses were now replaced with rows and rows of pine trees and endless forest. He reminded himself to call the school before he got to his destination to file his resignation.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

     Will gasped for air as the blinding light faded with a whiz and pop, but the light was no better here, and he had to cover his eyes as blaring sunlight blinded him. The accompanying throb of pain in his head did little to assist the matter.

     Aronsdall immediately slid down from the saddle, setting Buddy on the ground while mumbling, "No, no, no, no" to herself, walking around Emerald, and checking for the possible thing that had her severely worried. She rubbed her hand against Emerald's scales, but he turned his head and looked at his rider in worry.

     "Aron, I am fine. I wasn't hit, and neither were you, but I'm more worried about young Will right now." Emerald said, staring at Will, though, not directly at him. Aronsdall grumbled to herself again, and held a hand up to Will, who took it gratefully while shielding his eyes (why was the sun so dang bright?!). He slid unsteadily to the ground, which, Will realized, was covered in thick ankle-high yellow grass.

     He could barely see that there were numerous patches of the yellow grass sticking up through cracks in ancient stone, but the light was still too bright for him to make anything else out. Buddy seemed to enjoy it though, and was already sniffing around, attempting to find a patch that looked rather delectable.

     Will stared at it in wonder, until a soft hand took him by the chin, and lifted his face up towards the sky, blinding him again. He could have sworn he saw two suns; then again, he might just be falling further and further into the abyss of madness.

     "Hmm. It looks like they weren't focused on us." Aronsdall mumbled, slightly lifting her other hand towards Wills left ear. He hadn't realized how tall she was; she towered a good foot or two over him, and he considered himself a pretty tall guy at 5'4".

     He grimaced in pain as she touched the side of his head, a stinging sensation of discomfort erupting and spreading from his ear and across his head. The throbbing from earlier increased as well, but tenfold.

     "Ow! What did you do?" Will shouted, bringing his hand up to his ear, but he grimaced again as he grazed it, and pulled his hand away. He was surprised to see it covered in his blood.

     "W-what happened?" He asked, staring at the crimson fluid on his hands. He looked down at himself and saw that his blue T-shirt was covered in drying blood. Will could feel the stickiness on his neck and through his clothes. Aronsdall lifted his chin again, making him stare into her golden eye, and grunted as she took in the damage.

     "It looks like the bullet was able to hit your ear. We moved just in time to avoid a kill shot. They were aiming to end you boy." She growled, the white of her glassy eye shining with her frustration, and released his chin, making her way back over to the saddlebag.

     So, it was HIM who had screamed like a girl? Well.. That's not embarrassing.

     "H-how did I not feel it?" Will asked, perplexed by the fact that he hadn't felt the pain of the bullet graze him at all, at least, not until now. He had assumed the throbbing in his head was from the blasted sunlight.

     "It was the adrenaline. You were so stressed over the current situation your brain didn't register the pain until everything calmed down." Emerald stated whilst keeping his eyes on Aronsdall, who was still mumbling to herself.

     She nearly tripped over Buddy, who was oblivious of the world, having found a delicious patch of golden grass to munch on. Aronsdall cursed to herself, saying some non-to friendly things about the dog and his eating habits.

     "I don't have the proper materials right now to stitch it up. All I can do is stop the bleeding and bandage it, but you'll most likely have a scar when it heals." She said, but it was more of a whisper, so it seemed like she said it more to herself than she did to Will.

     Will grunted as she came back, her arms laden in bandages, and lifted his chin again towards the blinding sun- no, suns. There was definitely more than one. He kept his eyes squeezed closed as she tended to his wound. The sound of trickling water reached his ears as she poured the cool liquid out of a canister, and onto a white bandage, her brow furrowed in concentration as she cleaned the injury, the cloth coming away with dried flakes of blood, and some still fresh.

     She frowned at the sight of the new blood coming from the wound; the bullet had taken out a good chunk of his ear; most of the cartilage at the top of it, and some of the flesh around his hairline was completely gone. It was worse than she thought. It was just to close. He shouldn't have survived that

     Aronsdall finished cleaning the wound, Emerald assessing quietly over her shoulder, and wrapped a clean bandage around Wills head to hold another clean cloth in place over his ear. She grunted again, and examined her work, tightening the knot in the binding she finished, which made Will grimace and bare his teeth.

     "It's better covered than exposed. The damage is worse than I thought. We need to try and get it stitched the moment we get to the Academy." Aronsdall said while she cleaned up her supplies.

     "For now, however, we will rest. I need to make sure they don't follow us in through the portal. It'll be a while so just in case we need to make a quick escape, you need to be well rested."

     Will now had even more questions at the mention of an Academy. Could they possibly answer all of his questions, unlike the stubborn woman who basically kidnapped him? But, as much as he wanted to ask his full load of questions, fatigue got the best of him, and Will found himself sinking down into the soft, honey-colored grass. He laid on his right side, resting his head in the slightly swaying sward, thankful for the cool breeze that accompanied him.

     A wet object touched him on the forehead, followed by the breeze of Buddy's breath as he sniffed Will. Will squinted open an eye, blinded once again by the sunlight, and grabbed Buddy in his arms, cuddling the pug into his chest. The dog immediately laid down, and closed his eyes, sighing in content.

     "Crazy dog." He heard Aronsdall mumble.

    Will smiled to himself, and let his mind wander, but not to much as the bizarre events of the day played over in his mind; sleep began to claim him, pulling him into the blissful darkness of slumber.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~