The Scaly Boy (G #3)

The Truth Hurts

It had only been a few days. Icie was released, but was mostly resting anyway. She insisted on walking around anyway, though everyone would get all possessive if she tried anything too strenuous. Especially Dylan, they were together a lot. I think they were dating. I mean...they weren't exactly subtle about it, Dylan got flustered a lot, and very easily. He was also a lot happier these days, I can't say he doesn't deserve it.

    Anne Marie also stayed in touch this time, she insisted we exchange phone numbers. Texting her was fun because she was a grammar freak and used big words. Half the time I had to pause the conversation and open up google just to understand what she was trying to tell me. It was mostly about books. She really liked books, no surprise there. I had a list of the ones she recommended, even though I never really liked reading. I don't know what I did it.

    Anyway, back to our grand plan. We were relying on James and Lucy now. They weren't allowed to come here, but Mr. Wales often to trips to go see them. So far, our plan to cripple them financially was working somewhat. The Lab wasn't making any new mutants. They only Modified Humans who weren't on our side were Dragonfire and...Casey? We hadn't Dragonfire in a while either. There was this itch in the back of my mind that tole me something was going on. Something was gonna go wrong.

I barely saw Theo these days either. I barely saw him before too, so it wasn't all that different.

"What do you think he does all day?" Tui asked me over lunch, as we watched Theo from a few seats down, chatting with Gecko.

I shrugged. Tyler the verbal magician strikes again. My phone buzzed and Anne Marie was texting me again, this time about bees, they were endangered or something.

"Do you think he feels bad?" Hayami inquired. "Cause back at Camp he was leader, and now, well he's just a student again."

"Well he's not moping." Tui pointed out. "He's just gone all the time."

"With your friend Gecko." Hayami added. "They're obviously planning something."

"Or maybe..." Tui raised and eyebrow at Hayami, who snorted and laughed at the same time. You know that thing girls do.

My phone buzzed again and it wasn't Anne Marie. It was an unknown number. My throat dropped into my stomach and I dropped my sandwich as I realized it was video. The thumbnail was a picture of Alex.

"Tui." I spoke, my voice wavering in fear.

Their happy-go-lucky demeanor dropped when they heard my tone, the two of them stood and leaned over my shoulder to see what I was looking.

"Oh my God." Tui breathed as flipped my phone sideways. "Play it."

I hesitated before I pressed play. Tui was already stressed over her dad, and this life she was suddenly thrust into, what if this video only made it worse? My fingers brushed against the screen.

Alex was in an empty room, his wrists were tied behind him and to the wall so he couldn't walk away. He was wearing a suit of sorts that seemed familiar. A slow anger started building up in me. He was saying something.

"Please don't." He begged, over and over again.

My grip on the phone tightened. Then all of of a sudden he cried out and twisted back and forth in the spot he was standing in. His arms got darker, weird. I caught sight of a mouth full of sharp teeth and I suddenly realized where I recognized the suit. It was the same Dragonfire wore whenever he came after us.

    Before our eyes Alex slowly turned into the creature that hunted us persistently this whole time.

    Alex was Dragonfire.

    The video ended and the three of us sat there in silence. Then Tui let out a dry sob, her hand flying in front of her mouth. I wrapped an arm around her, feeling numb. This was a lot to process.

    "What's going on?" Sabine walked by and noticed our distress.

    Tui started crying harder. Hayami opened her mouth and tried to explain but eventually just showed Sabine the video. Her eyes widened at she watched the her brow furrowed into a deep-set expression of someone who wanted to kill.

    "Mr. Wales needs to know about this." She said coldly.

    Genny suddenly burst into the room, looking pale. "Tui! Have you- oh. I assume you've seen it."

    She sat down on the other side and patted her back gently. "I'm so sorry. I promise we'll do whatever it takes to get him back."

    "Has everyone seen it?" I asked, finding my voice again.

    Genny nodded. "It was sent to all of us, we're probably gonna have to wipe our phones now."

    It didn't take for Icie to show up as well, all the girls were here with Tui, who's fists were shaking as she wiped her face.

    "I'm gonna kill whoever did that to him." She muttered under her breath, through tears.

    "What's going on?" Will asked.

    "Dragonfire is Alex." Genny told him.

    He stopped in his tracks. "Oh, how did you-?"

    "There was a video." Icie explained to him.

    "Oh geeze." Will frowned, looking deeply disturbed. "Tyler, Tui, I'm so sorry."

    I frowned. "I'm a little more concerned for Tui right now Will, but thanks."

    Will paled again, suddenly looking visibly uncomfortable. Like he just remembered he had left the stove on.

    "Oh...oh I messed up." He sighed shakily. "I really messed up."

    "What do you mean?" Genny frowned. "This isn't your fault."

    Will sucked in a deep breath. "I know, this isn't a really a good time either but..."

    "What?" Tui asked, almost viciously.

    Will looked terrified. "A while ago, way before you came here, Alex called me and told me he found a picture of you guys as babies."

    Tui just looked pissed off. "Yeah I know about that picture. Mom said we used to have a brother but he died right after we were born. Why would you bring that up?"

    Will slowly got more and more uncomfortable looking as the conversation continued.

    "She lied." He squeaked.

    Tui blinked. "How would you know that?"

    "Before Casey sacrificed herself she gave me a backpack with two files in it, mine and Tyler's. Tyler's had the same picture in it, and his last name."

Everyone turned to me. I reeled as I took in this information. My heart was pounding in my ears. The door I unlocked with my fingerprint, it said my name. My full name. Tyler Santos. Why hadn't I seen it before?

Tyler Santos.