"Are you freaking kidding me?!!"
Janice bolted upright in bed and saw the late hour on her bedside clock. Scrambling to get out, she ended up with the sheets around her ankles and soon found her chin connecting hard with the carpeted floor. Groaning, she freed herself and started rushing to get dressed and ready.
Unsure if there was a school uniform, she kept her clothes modest with a knee long, pleated skirt, a white blouse and red ribbon, knee high stockings and shoes. Foregoing breakfast, she grabbed her backpack and small suitcase before bolting to the door.
She was lucky Cam currently lived in the same apartment building as her. He lived alone for obvious reasons while she lived with her parents, both of whom were already off to work. They had said their heartfelt goodbye's the night before after she assured them she would get up on time and make the train. Now it was leaving in ten minutes and she still had to wake a sleeping dragon.
Literally.
"Cam, you better be ready!" she yelled, banging on the door. She heard a low thump and some scuffling, a loud yawn and the doorknob jiggled a bit before it opened.
"What's the emergency?!" Cam yawned, scratching the back of his head. Janice could see his fingers were formed as dragon claws to get a better scratch.
"We're late!" She yelled, "We're going to miss the train!"
"What train?" Cam muttered, still not with his wits about him. He stared blankly forward and a few seconds later, his eyes went wide, "Oh the train! That Train! Why didn't you wake me earlier?" At his realization, he began stuffing random items into a olive green duffell bag. She has never seen any clothes in his apartment nor knows where he hides them. She assumes it a part of his transformation because when he came out of the room, his shirt was different, his hair combed and he was presentable. Wearing a white silk shirt and black cargo pants with black boots, he dressed modestly as well. Her assumptions about his clothes were confirmed when the shirt seemed to button itself to the top and a black tie appeared around his neck, seeming to materialize out of his chest.
"Is the tie too much?" He casually asked.
"Yes. Yes it is." She confirmed, then as quickly as it had appeared, it seemed to melt back into his silk shirt and the top two buttons let go once more.
"Alright lets go!" he said and they left, locking the door behind him.
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Janice was severely out of breath by the time they made the train station, oddly underground. A single track lay in the middle of the empty expanse where a train should be.
"Um, sir?" Cam asked a nearby man. Janice was too focused on catching her breath to see the Golem talk to Cam and was staring at the floor
"Yes?"
"When will the train be here to go to the Halfblood Palace?" Cam asked, reading off his invitation.
"Seriously?" He asked, "You just missed it. Sorry, kid." Cam's smile dropped and he felt a tad faint. Janice heard what he said but still hadn't bothered to look up.
"What?!" she wheezed.
"Yeah, sorry. Better luck next year, I suppose." he said, turning back to leave, "Oh here, I was giving these out to the students, but I have two left. I guess they were yours. Have them as a souvenir, alright?" Cam accepted the two bracelets and stared blankly at the open track below as dread washed over him.
Now that Janice had caught her breath, she stepped up beside him to join in the futile gaze at the empty monorail below.
"We missed it?"
"Yeah." Cam muttered.
"What are we going to do?" she asked.
"I don't know."
"Is there another train?" Janice asked, hopeful.
"Nope." he replied. His thoughts racing with a solution.
"Cam, you know…" Janice started.
"What?"
"Why don't we catch up to it?"
"How?"
"You are a Dragon. Can't you fly?" she asked. Cam's gaze finally broke from the rail to look at her. His brow raised after a moment…
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"Can you see the train?" Janice yelled over the wind. It was an odd sight to see. Cam had grown white feathery wings from his back and was flying at top speed along a lone rail that began to snake out across the country out from underground. Ahead a speck of something shiny glinted in the distance. In his arms he held a frightened Janice and in her arms she awkwardly clutched her small suitcase. Her book bag with her prized laptop bounced along with Cam's duffell bag on his back between his wings.
Her legs went numb from the cold as they streaked along beside the rail as the speck slowly grew bigger. Soon they could hear the sound of the wheels on the track and Cam leveled out to try and match the speed of it. Still, now the problem was trying to land on the moving target. Not the easiest thing to do.
"How are we going to do this?" Janice yelled over the wind. Cam spotted an access hatch on the roof in a car ahead of what seemed to be the most occupied cabin, after a brief flyby of the windows. From what he could make out, there may be a quarrel or fight inside but he wasn't sure. Angling up, he began gliding over the roof and slowly lowered to touch the cold metal as Janice held on for dear life, her arms around his neck. Cam yanked on a release handle and the hatch swung to the side rather quickly and he tossed Janice's luggage down first, before depositing his friend through the hole and following in after her.
"You jerk! You did that on purpose!" She yelled, standing up. She had landed rather hard on her backside and was holding it as she stood. She collected her things as Cam jumped up to grab the hatch and close it. For once the roar of the wind was gone and they were left with an odd ringing in their ears.
"Sorry. I just wanted to make sure you were safe first." he said, "Anything broken?"
"No, I'm fine." She said, "I can't believe we just did that! That was so unreal! You've never shown me any of that before!"
"The Secret, remember?" He said, "I had to use a spell to bend light around us so we wouldn't be seen while we left the city."
"You can do that?" She asked, astonished, "You can make yourself go invisible?"
"Yeah, sort of." he muttered.
"You haven't used it to do naughty things, have you?" she asked suspiciously, "Like the girls locker room at school?"
"You do know I'm a Holy Dragon, right? Righteousness comes with that."
"Sure." she said, picking up her bags to turn to the door leading to the occupied cabin. Cam caught her arm to stop her.
"Speaking of Secrets, maybe it's best if we switch roles now." he said.
"What do you mean?"
"I think it might be best if we keep the fact that you're Human to ourselves for now." he said, "Others may know from the start, but I'd like to avoid problems."
"I'm not afraid of them." She said defiantly, then hesitantly spoke "Should I be afraid of them?" Cam glanced through the glass at the crowd of odd looking people in the next car. It seems they were finished fighting and some people were consoling another girl.
"Maybe." He finally said, "It's just that if you were surprised by our trip getting here and what I can do, then they can do much, much more. If you can't handle it, then maybe the school may not be a good idea for you." Janice hesitated, staring through the window at the crowd in the next car, then after a moment, back to Cam. She smiled.
"You'll be there, right?" she asked, "I can count on you?" Cam sighed.
"Sure." he said.
The door slid open and they stepped inside, trying to avoid attention and took a seat at the end of the car, Cam forgetting to retract his wings but oddly feeling comfortable for once. Janice tried to busy herself on her phone, but couldn't help but look around the cabin. She looked sympathetically at the girl in the corner who seemed hurt but was crowded by people trying to help. Another boy lay unconscious on the floor. Her eyes drifted around the cabin, lingering for a moment on the long, snake like tail of another boy in the room, her heart in her throat.
"Cam. What's going on?" She whispered. Cam was staring at them from across the car.
"Everything seems fine for now. Let's just keep quiet for now." he replied quietly.
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