Emerald

Chapter Seven- Dragons

Sitting back, lying in the moonlight. It was perfect, calming and I loved it. A small patch of soft moss was a pillow and there was soft grass below me. I was so comfortable, it was almost like I couldn't bring myself to move. My eyes began to slowly close, but they opened back up at the sound of a low rustling behind me.

Slowly, I sat up and turned to where the noise was coming from. There was a small row of bushes behind me. I looked at them to see one of the small bushes shake and rustle. My eyes widened and I took a small step back in fear. I didn't know what was behind the small bush, but I was terrified of finding out.

After mustering up some courage along with my curiosity, I walked towards the bush. I tentatively reached out to it and parted the top to see what was on the other side. My eyes widened yet again when I discovered a baby dragon hiding in the bush. A smile then lit up my face. It was only a little baby. Well...he was little anyway.

He was absolutely beautiful, like something straight out of a fantasy movie. He had little turquoise scales, long wings with white skin, and cute little white claws decorating each of his four stubby feet. He had a few little stubby horns on the top of his little head and going down his spine. His long tail had a little bit of white fur at the end of it. Now, his eyes were my favorite part. They had a long pupil, similar to that of a cat's, and a beautiful iris. It was green, kind of similar to mine, and had noticeable swirls of blue and gold. No white could be seen, which made them even more mysterious and beautiful.

"Is it alright if I pet you?" I asked him. The answer I was expecting was either backing away or coming closer, but that's not what I got.

"Of course you can! I am yours, Emmy!" he said as he jumped on top of me. I fell back and laughed. He was so sweet.

As I got him off of me and reached out to pet him, I noticed that I still had the odd mark from when I first met Shadow. I looked at it and he noticed it, too.

"Can I see that?"

I nodded and held my hand out for him. He looked at it and nuzzled up against it. When he pulled away, he breathed steam, probably from on it. It was so warm and refreshing. I breathed in and out a sigh of relief and relaxation. It felt nice. Once the heat died down, I looked at my hand and saw that the mark was no longer there. I gasped and began to pet my sweet little dragon.

"Do you think you could tell me your name, little guy?" I giggled.

"Of course. The name you had given me was Sweetie," he smiled. His teeth we like tiny white daggers, but were still cute.

Well, that definitely seems like a name that I would pick.

Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in my head.

"Oh, I remember you! I met you a few weeks ago! That had to have been one of my favorite dreams, ever. Aw, I missed you, little guy," I said as I held him close. And there we remained for the remainder of my memory of that dream...

***

I could tell that I was gently leaning on the surface unknown to me at the time. But, of course, the truck had to come to a sudden, abrupt stop and jolt me awake. I sat up, quick as lightning, and stared at the front seats. Ari and Rose looked back at me and Matt and began to laugh.

"What the heck are you laughing at?" I asked, cranky. They kept on laughing, but Rose pointed to me and Matt. I began to get even more cranky. Then, Ari pulled out her smartphone and showed us a picture. I lost my cranky look and it changed to a bright red one of embarrassment.

Matt and I were both asleep. I was leaning against his shoulder, his head was resting, gently on top of mine with his arm around my waist. Our other two hands were resting on my lap, his on top of mine. I looked back at Matt. His face was a little pink, but he was scratching the back of his neck.

Quickly, I took the phone from Ari's hands and deleting the many, many, many pictures that he took. Then, I gave it back to her.

"Aw, you're no fun. You guys wouldn't make a bad couple if my brother weren't in the picture," she laughed. I growled under my breath as I proceeded to look out the window. I gasped in awe of the sight. We were about to enter New York City. Of course, that meant going through the Holland Tunnel, which was my favorite part of the ride.

"Hey, you know what? Thanks for waking me up. You guys know I love this part of the ride," said in thanks, but my voice held excitement, very noticeable. Whenever we entered the tunnel, I loved looking at the beautiful, small, round lights as we drove past them. I sat like that for the longest time until we entered exactly where we were going; New York City. It was sunset by the time we got there, so all the lights were shining brightly. Before I knew it, we were past Times Square and in front of the Grand Hotel. It was a beautiful building at the very edge of the city and almost reminded me of a large, Victorian style home. Boy, I loved it.

Rose pulled the truck into the little parking lot beside the hotel. We all got out and began to walk towards the large wooden doors to the main hall of the beautiful building. When they were opened, the four of us were finally able to see the inside of the hotel. I stood in awe of the beautiful hall.

The floor was made of beautiful deep yellow marble with two staircases made of the same material with iron railings. On either side, there were small sitting areas with fancy couches, coffee tables, and chairs. In between the two staircases was a large window overlooking a beautiful pool and garden. Just in front of the window was a large, front desk with a nice looking lady behind it. We slowly walked to the front desk.

"Hello, I believe there was a room reserved for a Shawn Solace, correct?" I asked in my most formal voice. She looked up and smiled a perfect white smile. Her dark skin and black hair complimented each other perfectly. Her suit fit snug, but still looked absolutely beautiful and her eyes were a stunning blue; almost like Rose's.

"Yes, I believe so. I remember him saying that he was reserving the room for a party of four. Would that be you lovely teenagers?" she asked, politely.

"What were the four names he reserved?" asked Matt. The lady typed something in on the computer that was in front of her.

"Um, Rose Williams, Matthew Deere, Ariana Solace, and Emerald Kennedy," she answered.

"That's us," I said as I blew a piece of hair out of my face. She smiled at us and gave us a room key. I thanked her as we began to leave to get our things out of the truck. Once we unloaded, we walked back into the building and to the glass elevators. They almost reminded me of the one from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" or the ones you'd see in a mall. We stepped in as I looked at the key to see what floor we were on.

Room 1513.

"Fifteen, guys," I said to them. I went to press the button when I noticed that "15" was the topmost floor and I smiled as I pushed the button. He knew I liked the top floors.

The elevator made a lovely humming sound as it took us straight to our destination. Once we were at the fifteenth floor, the door opened to reveal a long hallway with double doors at the end of it. We walked down the hall, with Ari leading the way, looking left and right for our room number. Not seeing it, we looked to the double doors at the end of the hall.

"No way," Ari breathed to herself as we all ran to the doors. I looked to the white doors with golden flower designs bordering them. I smiled as I noticed the old-fashioned keyhole in one of the golden doorknobs. Taking the fancy, golden key in hand, I slid it into the keyhole and turned it. It made a small clicking noise and I opened the doors.

I'm pretty sure my mouth was hanging open in shock and awe of the room. There was another hallway inside. I slowly walked around and saw two doors, one on the left and one on the right. I opened the one on the right first. It opened to reveal the most beautiful bedroom I'd ever seen.

The large bed had beautiful white sheets, a deep maple headboard, and a small canopy. The pillows and comforter were a beautiful grey with silver swirls as a design. The canopy seemed to be made of the same material and there was a nightstand on either side of the bed. The nightstands were also made of deep maple, had a lamp on top of it and had a few drawers present, just enough to fit our clothes in. There was a small table with two chairs in the corner by a large window to the left of the bed. Opposite the bed, on the wall was a giant flat screen TV and the walls were a beautiful, pure white with shiny, dark hardwood floors.

I left that room and looked into the one on the left. It was even more beautiful than the other. While the room on the right seemed to have a grey theme, the one on the left had a turquoise theme. There was a large bed left of the door with golden sheets and a deep maple headboard. There was a large canopy that was made of turquoise cloth with golden swirled designs in it. The pillows on the bed seemed to be made out of the same material. Again, there were nightstands on either side of the bed and seemed to be the same ones from the other room. There was a large window to the right of the bed with curtains made of the same material as the canopy. There was another small table by the window with two, soft chairs. Just opposite the bed, there was another flat screen TV on the wall. The walls were a beautiful cream color with small golden stripes and the carpet was a lighter turquoise but had small golden flower designs.

I had to leave that room or else I would have been there all day. I then noticed that there were two, smaller white doors beside each of the bedroom doors. I opened one and it let to a beautiful bathroom. It was a golden, cream color with white details on the furnishings. There was a large, stand-in shower on the left. It had the same tile pattern that was all over the room and the doors were made of crystal, clear glass. On the right side, there was a beautiful bowl-shaped sink with two shelves underneath that held toiletries and towels and, of course, straight ahead was the most beautiful bathtub I'd ever seen. There were small shelves to the side of it and a small light above it. The tub itself was a porcelain white with a golden wood exterior and it was already full of warm water with rose petals floating in it. I discovered that the room across from it was the same.

I left the room and entered the end of the small hallway. There was a beautiful living room that had glass windows going all around the border and a small balcony straight ahead. It was overlooking the beautiful garden and pool below. There was a beautiful cream colored carpet with silver designs covering the floor and stunning white walls, where there were any. To the right, there were two white couches with cream and grey pillows facing each other with a small, wooden coffee table in between. The table had a few travel books for New York and a small pamphlet that turned out to be room service. We didn't have a kitchen so room service was how we were to get our food and drinks.

To the left, there was shiny, black grand piano complimented with a black seat covered in a cream-colored cushion. The room was absolutely beautiful. I walked up to the piano and noticed a small letter on the lid of the keys...