the beggining

chapter 4

When his eyes finally opened he loked around, not quite nervously but like he was trying to figure out the best way to escape was if he needed to. I didnt know what kind of situation he would've been in to wake up in a strange room with new people and immediatly escape. He was good at hiding his expression too. Clearly this had happened to him before. I could just read his thoughts. His eyes continued to dart around the room pausing slightly at windows and doors, even possible weapins I guessed. I just looked at him amused that he hadnt noticed me, Jake, or Numaria, just sitting normally in the room.

"hello" i said in the same tone as when we first met.

It startled him but he quickly recovered and looked at me making sure i wanst going to hurt him or move. Jake, who was resting his head on the floor while wacking the boy, lifted his head ears forward completely focused on him. Numaria started to purr from the corner were she had recently come to see him wake up. He glanced back and forth between us. I wondered to myself what he might be thinking and figured he is probably realising that he had next to no chance of escaping.

I smiled kindly "don't be nervous young human, we wont hurt you. We're friends" i said not breaking my smile. It was suposed to make him relax but what happened was the opposite. He looked even more scared and jumpy.

"look, i- i dont want any trouble. I wont say anything if you let me go"

He was trying to not sound scared but his voice shook slightly when he spoke.

"whats your name human? Mine is Sakina, this is Jacob, and Numaria" I gestured to the apropriate monsters.

"Im Toby" he said reluctantly. i stood and gave him the plate of food that Artemis had made. Toby eyed it carefully not tursting us as easliy as i had hoped.

"toby" i said, "were not going to hurt you, if anything we want to help you. You dont needto be nervous". I guessed that he sensed the honesty in my words.

"your not going to kill me? Ypur not after me likr the others? I can trust you?"

" give you my word Toby that we will not kill you, we will need to talk about who the others are but no we arent like them, and yes you can trust us"

I kept my eyes on his but gently. I didnt want him to get uncomfortable. He relaxed and began to eat.

He ate like a wild animal. He was finished the whole platter in less than 10 minutes. I waited quietly and patiently for him to finish but i didnt need to wait very long. When he was done he asked me as casually as if he was asking the time

"so what are you exactly?"

"what?"

"well from last night, you went from how you look now to having wings, and a tail n stuff. so what are you?"

i looked at him dumbfounded.

"what kind of shapeshifter are you?"

my jaw fell but i closed it before he saw, Jake stared at him in disbelief standing up to tower over toby withput realising it. numaria also gave him a look of shock with her inteligent eyes and sat up. She was no longer purring. Toby looked at me for help, at least he trusted me more.

"its okay" i looked between Numaria and Jake, then Toby "were just not used to humans asking about monsters. Humans arent even suposed to know about us". He paused eyeing Jake and glancing at Numaria.

"Toby," his attention turned towards me

"calm down Jake is a friend" i told Jake to be friendly, he answered with an annoyed look. 'Hell no' he shot back into my mind, 'please, we dont wnt him to be afraid of us, especially if he'll be living here for a while'

Jake rolled his eyes knowing that it was true. He shrunk into a cute little german shepard puppy and hopped onto Tobys lap, and layed down to rest but continued to glare at me unentertained. I smiled 'thank you Jake' he snorted in response. I looked at Numaria to relax, she starred purring before i even finished my thought, she stayed standing and alert.

"so do you not want to tell me or should i not ask anymore questions like that anymore?"

i looked back at him

"um you can ask if you like, we just didn't realize that you knew about us and what we are. I apologize if we made you uncomfortable". He shifted

"no not really. I just really dont want to upset a room full of creatures that could kill me on the spot"

"we wouldnt"

"i trust that you wont" he corrected "but you could if it came to it"

anxious to change the subject i asked "what was it that you asked me again? I seem to have forgotten"

"what are you?"

i sighed "i am a dragon shapeshifter, and i think the last of my kind"

"what are they?" Toby asked innocently eyeing Numaria and Jacob

"Numaria" i pointed "is a mixture of all large hunting felines. Very powerful and stealthy. she can change the regular colour of her fur to any regular cat fur, but her original colour is black. She is a mutant expirament that escaped, a cleche i know but its true Artemis found her when she was a kitten and brought her here shes known him longer than all of us". i let him gaze at her in amazement

"why is she so big?"

"we dont know, i think its a side affect from the mutation"

"what about this one?" Toby asked looking down at Jake on his lap who apparently saw an escape and hopped off Tobys lap and grew to his favourite shape.

"Jake, is the same but different." Tobys eyebrows pulled together

"He is a K9 shapeshifter, he can change into any dog, wild or tame, aswell as change his fur colour like Numaria can. He can also mix breeds together and change the size of a breeds, as you can see now."

"how do you mean?"

"about what?"

"the size thing?"

i looked at Jake to show him. He change into a regular sized Chiuaua for a few seconds the grew to be 6 feet tall as a Chiuaua. Tobys jaw dropped, Jakes eyes were happy as he started to bark a laugh that shook the room a bit.

we all calmed down once Jake changed back into a wolf and layed down on the floor.

"So this is were you live? Like all the time?"

"yes, but its not just the room, theres more house outside that door" i looked at the door and Toby did the same.

Jake and Numaria trotted over to the door. I offered my hand to Toby to help him stand.

It was like a jolt of electricity went up my arm when our skin touched. He must have gotten the same sensation because he dropped my hand in disbelief. 'this can't be right' i tried to think silently but i knew both Numaria and Jake could hear my thought, maybe even Artemis downstairs but i hoped not. After the shock wave had passed ideas started to form in my head naturally. I immediatly pushed them away from both reaction and embarrasment. Thoughts like that have been banned from my memory since i first found out what i was.

Only a few seconds had passed since our skin made contact but everyone was looking at me. Now and then one would glance at another but i was the main focus. I looked in the wall mirror beside me, my expression was like that of an intelegent human that had just been given a dificult math question. Very focused, but with a hint of pain, like a bad memory or flashback. I wiped the look off my faceand looked around

"what?" i asked casually, like nothing had happened

"why dont you use Jacob to balance okay?"

I avoided what just happened like a dodged bullet.