Moonlit Scales [rewriting]

Moonlit Scales: Two

M O O N L I T   S C A L E S :
Chapter Two

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SHE NEVER CAME BACK that night. Luna simply drifted by in the wind like a discarded feather and disappeared just as quickly, swept away in the shadows without looking back. Of course, I don't know why I expected her to stay. I mean, after all, this was Luna, the dreaded woman who bestowed the dragon curse on me in the first place.

This was all I knew: My mother, at some point, betrayed the king. I didn't know who she was, or what she did, but that's what they told me. The king's personal spellcaster (he didn't believe in burning witches as long as they bowed to him) had taken me after my mother died. Because our beloved king just couldn't let it go, his form of punishing the traitor was to punish her child, wherever the logic in that was. So Luna, the witch, enchanted me with the nightly transformation from girl to beast.

For an hour each night, from midnight to one, pearlescent, triangular scales poked through my skin and covered my entire body, overlapping each other in a rapid pace as the rest of me morphed. My torso would widen into the size of a large dragon's, and my arms and legs grew to an alarming length. My webbed feet were tipped with five-inch nails, sharp as anything, while my six fingers had retractable claws. A tail would continue down my spine, long and thin, with a cluster of plumage at the end to keep me balanced in flight. My wings were white, lined with feathers that reached twenty feet. I had a secondary set of wings along my hips that resembled those of a bat, smaller than the feathered pair, used for steering. My neck stretched itself until I towered well above the roof of our little cottage, and my hair grew out and stiffened into a silvery, horned crest that framed my face, with a dorsal mane that ran down my back to my tail.

The biggest change of my face was its shape. Flat and angular features turned into a snout with large, sensitive nostrils and feathered barbels. I had protruding fangs and a forked velvet tongue. On the sides of my head grew webbed ears, hidden in the midst of my ridged scalp.

The only aspect of my face that remained constant day and night was my eyes. This would have been a good thing, if it weren't for the fact that they were always slit; the strangest blue you can imagine, a combination of pearls and sapphires, with a narrow strip of onyx black cutting the center of each pupil existed in both girl and dragon.

Now, as I reached the wooden door to our little hut, I looked up and saw how beautiful the stars were tonight; a thousand glittering diamonds, like God dropped a chandelier in the sky. The expanse of countless shining stars brushed across an inky canvas had always been one of my favorite things to look forward to during the night. While I changed, the sky never did.

The moon resembled a mischievous smile, and I thought of the Cheshire cat with his sliver of teeth suspended in the air. The crescent hid behind a veil of autumn fog, engulfed by puffs of smoke that blurred the filtered moonlight, illuminating the world like a spotlight.

I was smiling as I stepped through the threshold, the sudden warmth a welcoming change from the chilly atmosphere of outside. I shut the door quietly behind me.

"Sky? Is that you?"

My head snapped up to greet the concerned, tired gaze of my older sister. "Piper, why aren't you in bed?"

Her stomach rumbled in response, and I looked away in guilt. "I'll go hunting tomorrow, I promise."

"You didn't bring home any food," she summed up blankly, not wanting to believe it.

"I'm sorry, really. There were some . . . complications," I said vaguely.

"Complications?" Piper studied me with the superiority of a mother, and I knew she wouldn't let it go until I explained everything.

"The prince made an appearance," I clarified reluctantly.

"The prince? Ambrose?" she exclaimed, her eyebrows shooting up.

"Hush, Pipe, or you'll wake up the whole village!" I whispered furiously, grabbing her arm and dragging her with me to the tiny bathroom, closing us inside.

"What did you do? Did he see anything?"

It was probably best if I didn't worry her. "Not even close," I lied. "But he caught the last chance I had at a meal."

"Dread him," Piper cursed, and set her jaw. "You were still a dragon. You could have easily made his death look like a foolish accident on his part, and done this whole dreaded kingdom a favor."

"I know," I mumbled miserably. What was I supposed to say, hearing my sister echo my thoughts? I couldn't kill him because he seemed so vulnerable. And because I didn't, we would go hungry again.

"You didn't pity him?" she chided, with an implied, You better not have. "You know what the Royals have done to us. They have no right to your kind heart."

"I know," I replied again. "I will get something for us tomorrow, I swear it. Even if I have to smuggle—"

"No!" Piper cried, her eyes widening to the size of saucers. "You aren't stealing anything again. Did you hear me? Never again, Sky Fae. Is that clear?"

To calm her worry, I answered, "Crystal." But in my mind I thought, If it's the only way to survive, I will, regardless of what happened last time.

Piper sighed with relief and enveloped me in a brief embrace. "Just stay safe."

"Is that why you waited up for me?" I asked, although I knew the answer.

"Of course, Sky."

"And Papa? Is he faring any better?" I questioned, needing to know, even if I wouldn't like the truth.

"No better, no worse, thank Heavens. I suppose all we can do is hope," she said quietly as I opened the bathroom door and we shuffled out.

"Is he sleeping?"

"He and Addison, both," my sister responded, referring to our younger sister.

"Very well. Thank you, for staying up to assure that I made it home," I told her.

She nodded. "Goodnight," she wished me, and I headed down the narrow hallway, tiptoeing. Creaking the door ajar, I slipped inside as silently as I could manage.

Our tiny house had two bedrooms, which we had to divide among the four of us. I took the room that faced the west, so I could watch the sunset and sneak out at the last light. I'd also not have the bright rays of the morning sun wake me at some unfriendly early hour like Piper's room, on the other side of the cabin.

I shared with Addison, who was luckily a very deep sleeper. Yet, I approached the bed with caution, wincing at every small sound that seemed so much louder to me now that I'd been surrounded by the still silence of night, with only the light, gentle snores of my younger sister humming in the air.

As softly as I could, I wiped my bare feet with the cloth I left hanging on the bedrail, a habit Addison suggested since I had no shoes after the change. It never mattered what I wore before; I'd always be given a thin, silver nightgown afterwards. The hem reached my knees, and it seemed to grow along with me. The size always fit, maybe a bit too loosely, but it was never a major issue since I was a little girl. At least it was some sort of clothing, and I was thankful for that. Especially with the coming of winter, I'd hate to shift and race home without any means of keeping warm.

Slowly, as to not disturb the sleeping form of Addison Flora, I climbed into bed and laid my head on the pillow, blinking at the ceiling. As little rest as I received each night, I knew I'd have to rise early and think up a plan. We needed food soon, preferably before we starved to death. I had to leave before Piper awoke, or she would convince me that we were fine and make me stay home while I watched my family deteriorate.

I turned, the mattress groaning in complaint, and set an alarm on the clock sitting on the nightstand near the bed. Unlike Addison, I was too light a sleeper, and probably wouldn't even end up using an alarm. Either way, I settled back into the sheets and my eyes fluttered closed.

Luna may have abandoned me tonight, but I wouldn't forget that she was back, with the promise that the curse might be lifted soon.