Scales

Chapter Thirty-one

​​Rather unusually, I was the last one to wake up the following morning, with a rather rough awakening by Lily.

"Maverick! Wake up, the day has started!" she said eagerly, shaking and tugging on my arm.

"Ungh," I groaned, blinking and stretching slightly. "Guess I was more tired than I originally thought."

With Lily by my side we walked through the trees down to the clearing by the lake, where there stood one fireball of a surprise. Every single camper in the campground was present, along with four rangers. They all greeted me in unison, so perfect it sounded like a church choir.

"Thank you everybody," I replied loudly and clearly, "for being all so welcoming and accepting of me. I'm truly blessed to be back amongst humans..."

I stopped, realizing I'd reveal my darkest fears if I let the missing word slip. Catching my mouth in the act, I let out the rest of my sentence. "...that love and respect me for who I am."

The rangers caught my eye, and John shot me a shrewd look. "I think you'd better tell us more about you, Maverick."

Back in my "human" days I'd just suck back the ball of saliva in my throat and spill it all out. Here, however, my heart responded very differently. I cowered back and hung my head, wrapping my head with my wings so no one would see my sorrowful, tear-filled face.

"What's wrong, Maverick?" Lily asked, rushing to my side and nudging my wing limbs.

"You don't wanna know," I muttered back, trying not to sound offended.

"What's the matter?" Taylor inquired, sitting down next to me, and John joined too. "Please tell us. Anything."

I shut my eyes and contemplated their words for a while. Sure, I had rescued one member of this caring family, but could I really, truly, trust them with my deepest, darkest secrets? If I refused to tell them, then I'd be contradicting my own unselfish, kind-hearted composure. On the other hand, if I did tell them, word could spread fast – right into the wrong hands. So I folded my wings back up and sealed my fate as the lost child whom everyone deemed dead.

"I am Maverick Johnson, the one child you read about all over the news in the past two weeks. I know it appears like I'm blatantly lying, but...I'm not."

It was as if I'd unraveled the biggest conspiracy in world history. The rangers' faces leaned back with bewilderment, and all the campers' mouths just dropped open, left speechless as I continued to explain the whole story.

"My three friends and I explored a cave once in a quest to unravel the secrets behind an ancient puzzle we previously assembled. While in the cave we were attacked by as yet unknown criminals. Two of my friends were shot, while the third got stabbed, and so did I."

"Some kind people, again unknown, rescued us and took us to hospital. The bleeding was so bad I had to get a large blood transfusion. Afterwards over the course of a few days my body started changing until I became this," I said, pointing to the large chevron-shaped scales on my chest.

"So you transformed into a dragon?!" one of the campers asked in shock, her face as pale as an unripe peach.

"Exactly," I replied. "Of course my friends and I were all just as shocked and frightened as you all. Knowing how the government would most definitely consider me as some unidentified wild beast, my friends lied to their parents, to the cops – they lied to everybody. Finally we all agreed to split, and drove to this forest, purchasing some survival necessities on the way. Under the cover of darkness, I said good-bye to them and snuck into the forest, where I searched for an abandoned cave, found one, and called it home."