The Mark of the Dragon [BEING REWRITTEN]

Not a Dream

Natalie wakes up exactly 12 hours after she faints. When she walks out of the guest room I almost can't contain my laughter. Her hair doesn't seem to be able to retain it's silky appearance after a good nights sleep. It looks like a dragon slept in it all night. She lifts a hand up to her hair and winces when she touches it.

"How long was I asleep?" she asks, trying to unknot her hair.

"12 hours." I answer.

"Feels more like 12 days."

I laugh as I make my way downstairs and Natalie follows me mumbling incoherently. Once we reach the bottom I can clearly smell food cooking. A stew if I had to guess. Probably chicken.

Natalie yawns and pulls a strange rectangular device out of her pocket and looks at it.

"Dammit, my battery's dead." She notices my confused expression."Oh no.. please tell me you know what a cellphone is." I shake my head "Internet?" Again. She looks down at her feet, depressed. "I'm going to die." I panic thinking that somehow this 'internet' is keeping her alive and that without it she'll die. She quickly corrects my thinking though and explains that she won't literally die, she just means that she will feel like she's dead because she misses the internet so much.

"Are you really going to be okay?" She turns to me as soon as the words leave my mouth.

"Pinch me." She demands.

"Why?"

"... Uh... Please?" I sigh, go over to her and give her a solid pinch.

"Ow! You didn't need to pinch me that hard!" she says, vigorously rubbing her arm.

"You wanted to make sure that this isn't a dream right?" I state plainly. " I don't want there to be any room for doubt." I grin cheekily. She chuckles.

"Well there goes that theory!" she giggles. Suddenly I hear a loud growling noise and Natalie's face falls. "Huuuungrrryyyy!"

I blink before saying "How does some dinner sound?"

"Wonderful!!" she jumps in the air, all previous signs of exhaustion seemingly gone. The, now hyperactive, girl runs to... somewhere in the house before I can stop her.

"Ah! Wait you don't..." my words hang in the empty air with none other than me there to hear them. Little over 12 seconds later, Natalie creeps back around a corner she turned and slowly creeps back towards me.

"Uh... Where would that be exactly?" she inquires. I smile and gesture for her to follow me. I lead her in the exact opposite direction which she left and she sighs.

When we eventually reach the kitchen we see my mom cooking some chicken stew (Nailed it!) and Greg sitting in the corner reading a book called 'A Second Chance'. His brown eyes, the same as our mothers, look up at us as we arrive in the room.

"You two got here just in time, dinner's ready!" my mom smiles. She looks over at me "Erika, can you set the table please?" I would ask her why Greg can't set the table, because he never does, but I think that's a bad idea. She'd just give me extra chores, as if I don't have enough already.

"Okay mom." I get the required dishes and cutlery from various cupboards and set them at their respective spots on the table. My mom fills each bowl with the appropriate amount of stew and we all start to eat.

"So..." Natalie starts after a few minutes of awkward silence "Do you think these 'dragon council' guys will be able to help me get back home?"

I stand quickly causing my chair to fall over ("Erika!" "Sorry mom!") "Of course! They're the smartest and most talented people I know!" I shout. My brother huffs and gives me a death glare. While, under most circumstances, my brother is just a normal spoiled brother, when you suggest that anyone is stronger than him he becomes hostile. Although, even if he is annoying, I hate him but I love him anyways. After all, in the end, he's my only brother. No matter how irritating he can be.

"Well..." Natalie continues "I would like to go with you tomorrow!"

"That's fine by me!" I grin happily. Natalie smiles as well and gives me a hug. It takes me a second to realize what's happening and hug her back.

"Thank you!!" she cries excitedly.

"Oh, by the way, I've been meaning to ask you about your necklace."

"This?" She asks me pulling out said necklace. I nod recognizing the amber stone. "I got this from my dad when I was young. He said that it would always protect me from the bad people in the world. It's my good-luck charm!" She looks at the stone and clenches it in her hand. "Now that I think about it... maybe it really is magical... If magic actually exists." There is a small plop in the direction of my brother where the book he was previously reading is now on the floor.

'This is going to take a lot of explanation'

Hello readers! Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out but life happened. Anyhow, I hope you guys like this!

TheWatermelonWarrior