The Moon Dragon

Chapter Nine

If she thought flying was amazing last time, it was nothing compared to this.

Her soul was soaring.

After days cooped up inside a room, it was like the very ceiling of the sky had opened up to her, and she could fly all the way to the moon if she so felt the desire.

Her wings were stretched as far as she could reach, the extra limbs feeling so natural as if she had been born with them. They caught the warm updrafts like sails, propelling her faster, higher, higher as she flapped, and she never grew tired. The moonlight was on her scales. The winds were at her call. Nothing could stop her. She laughed.

She ducked and weaved over smokey threads of clouds. The forest was mottled dark green far, far below her. She looked behind her, and in the distance she could see the massive plot of cleared land that was reached by a lone road, veering off the highway that ran through the hills. The plot of land held a high, barbed fence illuminated by floodlights and patrolled by guards. The building inside the fence seemed mild and pointless in comparison. It wasn't too big, and it was simple and relatively old-looking from the outside, compared to the high-tech interior Sylvia knew was there.

It was incredibly satisfying to watch her prison slowly shrink in the distance.

She flew for a long, beautiful night, reveling in the final glimpses of moonlight before it set in the west. It had been exactly two weeks since she had been taken from her home, she knew that somehow, just by looking at the moon. Seeing it, finally, after days with a ceiling pinning her down, was like taking a huge breath of fresh air after suffocating. She looked at it, and she knew how long it had been, she knew exactly where she was, and she knew how to get home. She looked at it, and it didn't taunt her anymore, it welcomed her. She drank it all in.

When the sky began to lighten once more, she dove to the ground, enjoying the sensation of tucking in her wings and diving as wind whistled past her face.

Landing on the ground, she focused for a long moment before drawing on her human form. It was getting easier, shifting between the two, like a muscle that needed to be trained and practiced. She had even figured out how to transform and absorb her clothes with her, rather than tearing through them, which was very useful. The HAZMAT suit was warm, but she didn't find that the cold bothered her muh at all, anyway. She found a big tree with a network of roots and fallen leaves that she was able to burrow into to wait out the day.

Her shoulders ached with phantom pain from flying non-stop all night, but it wasn't really an unpleasant feeling. Her wings wanted to be used. She leant up against the tree and closed her eyes. This time, though, she couldn't sleep.

The euphoria from her midnight flight was completely gone. Unpleasant thoughts kept rattling around in her brain, and despite the distance she'd put between her and the laboratory, she was acutely aware of where it was. She felt like any moment she would hear the chopping of helicopter blades, the crackle of radios, the stomping of boots on the foliage. The scientists with their tests and white lab-coats. She thought of the Doctor. She wondered if she was still alive.

Sylvia sighed to herself. She wrapped her arms around herself and waited for sleep to come.

x+x+x

It didn't.

Sylvia was very tired by the time she picked herself up off the ground, despite hours of rest. She hadn't seen any helicopters that day. She wondered if that meant she was far enough away to be outside their search, or if they had stopped looking. Something told her the latter was very unlikely.

The sun had set once again, and the stars were coming out, blinking and so bright this far away from city lights. She looked up at them, and wondered where, in all of that space in space, where had the Star Matter come from? There was no moon, she realized. A New Moon tonight, none of its light reaching earth. Fifteen days since the full moon that she had looked up at when she became a dragon. It felt like so much longer.

The lack of moonlight was off-putting, and it took a good deal of effort to turn back into a dragon. Although it felt like swimming through mud, she managed it, and ran for momentum before launching into flight, breaking through the canopy of the trees.

It was a lot less enjoyable flying now there was no moonlight, but she managed.

It was several hours before she caught a glimpse of light glowing from between the hills; the lights from street-lamps, houses, buildings with lights still on, even in the early hours of the morning. It was her home, the town glimmering in the distance. She was almost there. She was so close!

She flew harder, adrenaline building at the thought of seeing all her favorite people again. At going home, at seeing her parents, and sleeping in her own bed for the first time in two weeks. She could say hi to Atlan, she could hug Grace and tell her everything that happened. God, she couldn't wait.

It seemed to take forever until she was finally flapping over farmland, then, finally the houses at the outskirts of the township. She circled over roads, distant rooftops, spotting school, Grace's house, her house! There it was, she was almost there!

There were no people out that night, no cars on the road that she could see. It was eerily quiet.

She was passing over the oval near her house back where everything started. With a start, she realized there was a lone figure standing there. Head tipped back, eyes to the sky, watching her as she flew overhead. Even high above, Sylvia recognised her.

It was Grace! Grace was there, waiting for her!

Sylvia circled back around, veering away from her house and instead diving down to the oval. Her talons hit damp grass and she broke into a run, eating the distance between them in a few long strides. She transformed as she ran, almost tripping over in the transition between four and two legs. But then Grace was there and Sylvia's heart was practically leaping out of her chest as she lunged and wrapped her arms around her best friend, almost sending them both to the ground.

Grace stumbled but rightened them, and after a long moment of just pressing herself into her friend's warmth, fighting tears, Sylvia finally noticed that Grace never returned the hug. Was she alright? Sylvia pulled herself back, then stumbled backwards a step as she noticed the dark look that always lingered in Grace's eyes was consuming her. What was wrong?

"You weren't meant to make it out." Was what Grace said simply. Sylvia's heart stopped.

"What?"

The feeling of wrong that had been nagging at Sylvia since she escaped reached a crescendo, alarms wailing in her mind. What?

Grace just stared at her, and being under the crushing weight of that dark look was terrifying. Sylvia stared back into very familiar hazel eyes.

Everything was falling into place, and Sylvia was fairly certain her heart was going to tear.

There, in Grace's hand, glowing softly, eerily, was a simple, familiar glass vial. It was Star Matter.

Grace shrugged a little. "Guess I have to finish off the job myself."