In Form

The Memory Tree

     Jazz music faded into my hearing and then the bright light faded into a darker light. I was standing on a street. The sun had just set over tall buildings that seemed to surround me. The cars on the street varied in color but most of them were black oldie cars that you see rusty, broken and abandoned on dirt roads. In front of me was a very lit up building that looked to be going down into a basement instead of going up into floors. It was loud in there. Music, laughing, and talking filled out into the street. An iron gate blocked anyone from just marching in.
    This must have been the speakeasy I read about in that hunters book. This was Hex's memory, he must be around here somewhere.
    I searched every persons face and listened to every voice. I couldn't find him for the life of me. Maybe he looked different during this time.
    "Alright then, I'll catch us a cab." I heard a familiar male voice say.
    I spun around to see Hex, his curly hair slicked back under a short top hat, he was wearing a black trench coat and brown pants. I could see a leather holster that looked like it was holding a western style pistol. His arm was linked with Dragolya's.
    Dragolya, unlike the other girls around, had her hair up in a messy bun with a wide rimmed hat on top. She wore a long mossy green coat that was hiding her leather clothing beneath.
    I was now right in front of them.
    She put her hand on his arm that was going to wave down a cab. "Wait." She whispered. "I must get Mistory."
   Hex rolled his eyes and sighed. "Must you?" He asked.
  "Yes." She narrowed her eyes at him.
   I guess those two never got along.
    A women with bobbed red hair walked out through the black gates of the speakeasy. This was the dragon that the hunter was tracking. She looked both ways down the side walk before heading into an alley way behind Hex and Dragolya. Two men, who were just walking past the alley, stopped to check out the lady who had walked down there. They looked at each other, nodded their heads, and followed her down the alleyway.
   That's weird. The book said she had two 'victims'. Not that she was the victim.
   Hex looked down the alleyway. "Dragolya, did you just see that?"
    She looked down the alley way boringly, then shrugged. "Their just humans. She can deal with them."
    They suddenly looked frightened as if someone had announced who and what they were to everyone. They blindly searched the ground with only their eyes.
   "Do you smell it?" Hex whispered to Dragolya.
    I attempted to smell the air when I realized I was still in a memory.
   Dragolya nodded and looked at Hex. "Yes." She warily whispered back.
    Hex looked over his shoulder cautiously. I looked to the black gates where a frantic looking man in suspenders and greasy brown hair stood.
    The hunter.
   Dragolya looked over Hex to see the hunter amongst the crowd. She growled lowly.
    Hex shushed her. "No Dragolya." He whispered. "Not now. We are almost out of here. Now we are leaving without Mistory if she is not here this instant!" He look up and down the street for a cab.
   "She's not here!" Dragolya impatiently said.
   "Well, didn't you try silently talking to her?"
    "Don't you think I've tried that!" She barked back.
   They were starting to sound like an elderly couple.
    Dragolya looked over Hex again to take another peek at the hunter. Her eyes widened and she shook Hex. "Hex! Pocket-watch!" She whispered frantically.
   Hex took one look over his shoulder to see that the hunter had pulled out his gold pocket-watch. I saw nothing suspicious about the hunters pocket-watch, my only thought was that he was checking the time, but his finger was over a peculiar button at the top of the pocket-watch.
    Hex and Dragolya at first casually strolled over to the alleyway behind them, then when out of sight between buildings, Hex picked up Dragolya and he ran with his powerful speed through the alleyway. I was taken with him as the memory flew me through the alley way. Time seemed to slow as Hex maneuvered through the fight that was going on between the two men and the 'red head' dragon who left the speakeasy just a minute ago. In slow motion, ice shot out at us, Hex ducked under it and safely made it to the end of the alley where it cut off three other different ways.
    The dragon spun around and 'sot Hex and Dragolya to be a threat. She shot an ice spike from her hand at them. Hex redirected it into the wall, again, again, and again.
    The dragon seemed worn out as she panted. "Sorry... My mistake..." She said leaning against the brick wall, still panting. Her voice was thick with a northern 3rd-world accent. Her dress was torn on the seem a little up her thigh. Her red wig had slid off her head while she fought the men, exposing her snow white hair. There was no blood on her face or in her mouth as the book had said. Ice was sprayed across the wall.
    "Do you know there's a hunter looking for you?" Hex asked her.
    "Yes, that iz vhy I left." She said. A lock of her hair fell over her face from inside the wig.
   "He's got a pocket watch!" Dragolya proclaimed. The white hair girl widened her eyes. "Hurry now, he's going to use-"
   A loud noise began to ring around the walls, like a dog whistle on steroids getting louder, and louder, and louder. It was so loud I felt like my eardrums would burst and my eyes would start bleeding. The noise was so loud now that it was barely a noise at all. I attempted to cover my ears but still being in the memory I couldn't tell if I was covering my ears or not.
    One of the men against the wall woke up and tried to pursue the women who was now on the ground covering her ears, as were Dragolya and Hex. He seemed to not notice the noise. He grabbed her shoulders violently. She weakly spun around and enveloped his arm in ice. He flew back against wall making a loud "Oof!" as the ice around his arm clung to the wall. He struggled to get his arm off the wall. She kicked him in the face to knock him out.
    A mans figure stood at the end of the alley. Then the noise suddenly stopped. Hex noticed the figure in the alleyway and zipped Dragolya and himself around the corner.
    The hunter ran down the alleyway then stopped to take in the scene in front of him. He looked at the two men against the wall then looked at the woman with an almost sadistic grin. "I've been waiting a long time for this..." His hand hovering over a gun holster attached to his belt. "Do you know how long I've been tracking you?" He continued.
    Hex mouthed to Dragolya to stay where she was. He took a deep breath and, with his incredible speed, ran through the scene and stopped behind the hunter who didn't notice what just happened. Hex had grabbed the hunters caliber gun from its holster without him knowing. Hex opened the cylinder with a click and paused to see if the hunter heard-which he didn't-then poured all the bullets into his hand. The women was smart not to glance at Hex while he did this.
   "I have done nozing to upzet your people." She said weakly standing.
    "You have no idea..." He mumbled.
    Hex ran back around the alley corner to Dragolya. The gun was back on the hunters side.
    The hunter pulled out his gun and aimed it at the white haired girl. She stepped back. He pulled the trigger but to his surprise the cylinder was empty. In frustration he threw it to the ground.
   Hex and Dragolya knuckle bumped and snickered.
   He pulled out his knife and walked towards the women. She walked backwards away from him but tripped on her heel and landed on her butt. She extended her arm and shot ice at him. The hunter twirled out of the way. By now the hunter could have easily seen Hex and Dragolya if he only turned his head.
    The woman reached out with her legs, wrapped them around his ankles and pulled. The Hunter fell backwards onto the ground. She quickly got up snatched his knife and held it at him. She breathed hard through her nose and her eyes turned red.
    The Hunter glared at her while he held himself up with his elbows. He looked defeated and also looked like he was desperately trying to figure out how to get his knife back. He suddenly realized that Hex and Dragolya were standing there. "Oh thank goodness!" He pleaded to them. "I'm being attacked! This woman is crazy!"
    Hex came out of his slight crouched position. "Of course." He walked up to the woman who looked a little confused. "Please give me the knife." He said with his hand extended. She hesitantly gave him the knife. "Thank you. Is that better?" He asked ending with an amusing smile.
    The Hunter slowly realized what was going on as his face became horrified. He attempted to back up far enough to get up, "Beasts! That's what you-" The Hunter was cut off from the contact of Hex's knee to his face. His head was thrown back so quickly I thought his neck broke. His nose bled everywhere and down his hand as he held his nose.
    Hex stepped back as if the Hunter brought out a new deadly weapon.
    The Hunter laughed lowly. The memory suddenly became faint and the voices became blurred. I could hear them, but the words weren't words anymore, just slurs and noises.
    Hex told the woman to go and she fled the scene. Hex and the Hunter spoke in heated words, then Hex became physically angry. He visibly growled and looked like he was going to tear the Hunter apart. Dragolya ran up to him but not close and yelled something at him.*
    The memory glitched in and out like a broken TV set and the memory began to fade. I heard my name being called. In a flash of bright light I was back to the tree and the woods. Hex had my shoulders and called my name again. I blinked rapidly at him then I glanced at Mistory and Dragolya. I was back.
    "What-what- what!?" I yelled back.
    Hex put a hand to his head in relief. "Oh man..." He sighed out.
    "What?" I demanded.
   "You weren't responding after the memory left your hand." He said stepping away.
    "I did-or, I mean-didn't?" I asked.
    He shook his head.
    "That a bad thing?"
    "I don't know." He replies blankly.
    "Well," Dragolya said stepping forward. "It may have to do something with the fact that you see into people's past as you heal them?"
    Hex looked at Dragolya then back to me in disbelief. "What? Seriously? You can?" He rambled. "That's new." He looked taken aback. He walked over to Dragolya and put his arm around her causing her to blush.
   "But it's not, Mistory and Dragolya said so." I said.
    Hex looked to Dragolya, ignoring Mistory. "Really?"
    "You weren't there." She said waving it off. Hex just nodded.
   Hex looked between me and Dragolya then took a couple steps toward me and lowered his voice. "So, what else did you see, while you stayed in that memory longer than you were supposed to..." He asked me quietly, although I knew the others could hear. The way he asked me that was quite scary, almost as if he cut off a certain price of the memory on purpose.
    I narrowed my eyes at him. As much as I wanted to question him about it, I decided to let it go, he's bound to spill some time. "Well, by the time the memory ended, your voices began to fade out, like I was on the other side of a wall."
    "Yes but what did you see?" He asked, his voice still low.
    I took a step back from him. "I saw heated words between you and the Hunter, and Dragolya said something...then, I was here." I said with some edge in my voice.
    Hex stood up straight again, but he looked unsure of my answer. He just nodded slowly and moved his eyes from the trees to the ground a back.
    "How come the book lied?" I asked after a moment.
    "That's what they do." Dragolya said. "If their hunt goes wrong and it turns out to hurt their pride or reputation, they change up their stories to make it seem like they are so much cooler."
    "They also make you think that dragons have no souls, or that they just act on instinct." Mistory said rolling her eyes.
    I nodded my head. "And what is this 'pocket watch' thing?"
    Hex snorted and tried to hide a smile.
   Mistory glared at him. "Well- the 'pocket watch' is a hunters tool to weaken us as long as it's on. It looks like a normal watch, but when you click the top button a loud noise that is similar to a dog whistle is produced. Only supernatural beings with sensitive ears can hear its frequency. It is usually times and will not continue forever, but can be stopped when you click the top button again."
    "Why are you laughing?" I asked Hex when I saw that he was still trying to hold back a smile.
    He cleared his throat and tried to be respectful. "During that time when the pocket watch went off, you uh, you covered one ear- because the other hand was holding the memory -and squinted your eyes trying to get away from the noise. It was very amusing." He rolled in his lips to keep from laughing again.
    I glared at him. "Didn't you guys hear it too?"
    "No, you were the one holding the memory." He laughed.
   "So, what happened to the Hunter?"
   "He lived."Dragolya said.
    I nodded. "And why were you guys dressed differently than the other people around you?" I asked.
    "Things change very quickly through the decades... especially clothing. It's just too hard to keep up. And I definitely didn't want to chop off all my hair!" Dragolya said.
    I sighed. "Well, that was quite an experience! Can I see another one?"
    "Well, that was a lot today. Some other time..." Dragolya said.
    I groaned in a spoiled manner. "Okay. I should probably go home anyway..."
    Mistory walked up the tree and put her hand to the tree. The tree exploded in fire for a minimum of a second then it sucked itself it the tree. I gasped. The fire was gone and the tree went back to its naked self and the memories were gone.
    Dragolya turned into form, ready for a fast ride home, but Hex put his hand up. "I got this."
    Dragolya clicked and rumbled at him.
   I found myself in his Hexs arms, cradled like a baby, we faced Dragolya who's ears perked up.
    "Hey, don't worry about it. I'll be back before you can 'black orchid'!"
    I closed my eyes and held my breath, and off we went down the hill. The wind was cold and fast against my face. Once in a while I'd feel water drops splash onto me from branches wet with dew. I could hear branches being pushed and thumps on the ground from his steps, though it only sounded like he was running just like any man would.
    The wind stopped and I was set down. I was able to stand this time, but I was still a bit dizzy. I looked around to see that we were at the end of my driveway. I sighed. "Thanks Hex."
    "No problem. So your gonna be with us tomorrow then? That's how this works?" He asked, about to turn away.
    I nodded. "Yep."
    "Then what happens?" He was looking at the ground as he talked, as if in deep thought.
    "Depends what their going to teach me that day." I shrugged.
    He nodded slowly, still in thought. "Alright then." He then ran off.
   I walked down my driveway to my house.
   Where else would my dad go? Why would you leave where he had gone the first time? I wish this was easier. I just wish he would show up at our door someday and we'd be a real family again, if that was ever a thing. There is still the problem with my mom...the crazy part. Did she really go insane? Just from knowing that dad was a dragon? I should tell her that I'm also what he is. But would that be best?
    I opened the front door and put my bag aside. I went into the kitchen and grabbed a granola bar from the pantry.
    Mom wasn't doing dishes, or peeling potatoes. She must be in the garden then.
    I walked to the back door and peeked out the screen door. Nope, not there. I turned to go upstairs to find her but a crash behind me made me jump and turn around. I look back out the screen door to see that an orange flower pot had fallen from my moms window.
    Frantic, I rushed out the door and stood below her window. "Mom?" I cried. I searched her open window, but no one was there. "Mom!" I yelled again. I waited but there was no answer. I ran to the back door again to see who was upstairs.
     "Amber!"