Chapter 7. coils in its wings

Once night fell I was just glad to have a warm bed again. I'd been sleeping on rocks, dirt, even lab floors for the past few weeks. But as I was sleeping in bed, I felt something scaled on my chin. When I opened my eyes I saw that same snake that I did when I was there.

She covered my mouth as she said: "so, we meet again. No need to be scared, all you need to worry about is that your home. Now when I uncover your mouth you better not scream ok?"

I nodded yes in compliance. at this point, I could care less if she was an actual snake. After she uncovered my mouth I whispered to her: "what brought you here?" She then hugged me and that's when I knew she came for me.

"Remember those nights we were together. You felt like the perfect match," she whispered in my ear.

"Let's just get some sleep. You might as well nick me with your fang, as you did back in Dimension X if you're staying the night," I whispered to her.

Our dreams were interconnected as I was on that same couch with her right next to me. "Feels familiar, doesn't it." She said to me, trying to get me to cuddle up with her.

"Yeah, it sure does," I replied as I coiled up around her, but as I did I heard a voice.

"Sleep well Nathan, Xavier will want to see you at some sort of camp his parents signed him up for," It said to me.

"Nathan I think those black colored creatures linked you when you were there," She told me.

"Here or back at that lab, I went too?" I asked her.

"You have them here too?" She replied in confusion.

After about 30 minutes, she slithered out from under me. I was able to turn into my other forms, she wasn't completely controlling the dream. So I turned partly human and as I did a white snake came on top of me, coiling around my chest and laid her head near my left wing. "Don't worry, it's me," It said to me.

That's when something woke us both up.

"What was that?" I said to her. I look down the hallway from the bed and see my grandma in the kitchen taking a nausea pill.

"Just your grandma, back to bed kiddo," she said to me.

"You know that's my grandma how exactly?" I whispered to her.

"Just get down before she sees me," she replied. The rest of the night went without any problems, she seemed nice. Though she did talk about 4 children she took care of.

When I woke up the next day my grandma told me something that seemed a bit coincidental to what I heard last night. "Nathan, I know this is coming so sudden but seeing that you now have that dragon form. We thought it'd be a new experience for you too got to this dragon-shifter camp and get used to your new abilities," She said to me, handing me the flyer for the camp.

I've heard about the camps before. I had a friend in grade school that went to one. He was a dragon shifter from birth but before he left for the camp a Symbiote latched onto him. he freaked out at first, but he calmed down before it went crazy on him. When I first met him I thought his ability was, unique, but I wasn't one to want to be away from home for so long at that age. The black dragon though at that time made me feel safe whenever I was with it since it comforted me all these years.

"And this is supposed to be when?" I said to her.

"Two days from now," she replied. That's when something was set into my mind, Xavier wanted to see me.

"Carol, I'm going to meet up with Xavier I'll be back in a few," I said to her.

"Just don't get too relaxed OK. At least Xavier knows when you need to head home," She replied.

Xavier seemed to conflict with what that hive queen was telling him and what his humanity was telling him, but it's nearly impossible to cut that link and it seemed like something was wrong with me as well. Because I could hear Xavier's voice without needing any of that odd crystal.

"You know he has instincts of both. I don't know if him being unlinked is a good idea, even if it is possible," I heard something say to me. It must have been that dark-colored creature again, I knew I was hearing something other than that hive queen.

Once I met up with him he was laying outside the entrance of the hive in his dragon form. He directed me to lay next to him and as I did I felt oddly warm, mentally that is.

"Good to see you again Nathan. I'm glad you came the first time," He said to me.

"Hey if it meant making a new friend over the summer; I would still go even if they had special powers" I replied.

then I felt that same draw from outside. "She's trying to call me again," I told him. Then we saw 2 armed men in the vicinity, their helmets saying exactly who they were.

"Who are those guys" Xavier asked.

"I think I know and it doesn't look good, hard to believe after 10 years their Leader isn't locked up, he's a slippery one" I replied. That's when they spotted us

"Okay, better get inside!" Xavier shouted.

As we ran into the hive we heard gunshots ring out. When they entered I felt something grow on me. It was that odd crystal from that creature. A bullet would have been lodged in my arm if the crystal didn't absorb the impact and repair itself. When that happened something came over me to stomp my foot and as I did the same crystal came flowing in lines on the ground to them. Suddenly it encased them both, the dark crystal shining in the sun. I was in shock, did I do that? Did the creature? I wasn't sure but all that mattered is that I save us both and anything nearby. When the crystal shattered they both collapsed, knocked out from what I did.

As I walked over I saw something sticking out of one of the bags, it looked like a sword.

"You sure you want to grab that? You have no idea what that could be" Xavier said to me. As I looked around some cops showed up, checking the troops I had just knocked out.

"Did you just do that?" He said to me sounding confused. As I told him what occurred he put on a glove and grabbed the sword and then quickly let go, nearly passed out from it.

That's when his coworker said to the others "careful with the sword we may need a robot" He stopped there as I hovered it with my crystal. "Is that yours?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I bought it at a yard sale 2 years ago because it looked like something from Legend Of Zelda and I had no clue it was a magical item. I brought it out when I got home from Dimension X to show it to some friends before I went to visit someone and I end up getting mugged by 2 people with shotguns," I replied.

"Well, these kinds of folk are always heavily armed. Any other magical things at home?" he asked me.

"I've got that computer anomaly on my phone right now and it can hop to just about any electronic, but typically it's on my watch. I've hidden that thing for years from these people," I replied.

"Wow, you must have heavy compassion for a lot of creatures," He told me.

"Well, it is discriminatory to lock up something with the only reason being what it is," I replied. I then used my crystal and some pen ink to copy the fingerprints onto some paper. "Here, it's the least I can do if you can't fingerprint the sword without passing out," I told him.

"Smart move, but we can always fingerprint their guns," He replied.

When night fell she was in the bed with me again, her scales a bit rough on my skin. "Oh come here you," she said to me, wrapping her arms around me. I got used to her pretty quickly, so I faced her and hugged her back.

"Why do you always come for me?" I asked her.

"You'll find out soon enough" she replied.

"Well, you seem very comforting to be around. I guess I've been around reptiles for a while and I got used to sleeping near them, especially you," I replied.

"You'll be gone how long now?" She asked me.

"It's supposed to be a 3-day camp," I replied.

When morning came I got ready to go to the camp. As we were in the car I stayed partly human in the back soaking up any sun from the rear window. When we got there the campground seemed pretty well set for dragons sleeping under the stars. "Well this is a surprise, didn't expect you," The counselor said to us. As I turned to my dragon form he put a lanyard with a tag around my neck. "OK follow me Nathan let me introduce you to the other campers," He said to me. Once we got there he told, me: "I'll call you all in half an hour." After a few minutes of looking around, I saw Xavier looking towards the lake.

"Hey Xavier," I said to him.

"Oh Nathan, I figured you'd be here" He replied.

As we talked I took note of who was here. "OK campers lets start with a meal," she said to us. The counselors were a boy and 2 girls, one of whom was a dragon shifter. When we made it to the meals there were fish, seaweed, and veggies, not much but it's what most kids claimed they ate in dimension X. Xavier and I went to the fish, munching on some of the catfish.

"It's sometimes hard to believe that I'd get used to eating raw fish," I said to him. After I ate the fish I went to the veggies, the greens still appetizing to me.

"Is there a reason he's going for the veggies?" One counselor said to the other.

"It can vary on preference" she replied. I was just glad to be with Xavier, hoping to bring him more to his human side. But what if he was perfectly in touch with both. If he was fine and I was the one being affected by something. That, I wasn't sure of yet.