1: Where It All Began

I am Ivy, and I am telling you the brilliant story of my young life. I will admit I was born into a very boring life, had a very average childhood, and grew into a poor jobless young adult, but that is when things got interesting. Now let me begin my story.

"Vinny, can you bring me a pop?!" I yelled up the stairs to my brother.

"I will bring you a pop when you get a job!" He yelled down the stairs.

Being unemployed sucks. My ten year high school graduation is in five months, and I am going to live up to my "Least Likely to Succeed" title. I walked up the stairs from my brother's basement, in which I lived. My brother was on the couch watching a football game with my eight year old nephew; while his heavily pregnant wife, Marsha, cooked dinner. I walked to the fridge, grabbed a pop, and was ready to go back downstairs when my brother stopped me.

"Hey Ivy, you actually got mail today." He threw an envelope at me, and I managed to catch it.

I opened the letter and read out loud. "I am sorry to inform you that your great aunt Edna passed away on Saturday." I looked at my brother and asked, "Do we have a great aunt Edna?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well we certainly don't now." he replied sarcastically.

I continued reading, "I am writing to inform you that as her great niece, you have been given an inheritance of a great size." I raised my eyes enthusiastically "Well it sounds like our dear aunt Edna liked me." I joked, then continued "Edna Marie Jenkins has left to her great niece, Ivy Rose Jenkins, her entire estate consisting of: her house, her goose farm, 80,000 acres of land, and all of her savings. A lawyer will meet you at 123 Vanderbelt ST in XX Township, on February 13th. At 9:00am." I finished reading.

I was shocked in less than a minute I had become a home owner (in an unknown place), an owner of an unknown business, and at least slightly more wealthy.

"Umm Vinny....What do I do?" I asked, a though I was a little scared.

He was smiling, so was his wife, and son.

"Well you move out, and start your new job." Vincent said happily.

"Vinny, I just received mail from an unknown person saying: an unknown relative died, I am to move to an unknown place, and become a goose farmer. Don't you think it sounds suspicious? Maybe a little dangerous?" I asked.

His wife clapped her hands "Well we better start packing, looks like you will be moving tomorrow."

I looked at my brother for help, but he was on board as well.

"Are you guys really that eager to get me out of your house?" I asked.

Vincent, his wife, and their son all looked at me. "Honey you have been here for a year, and have never paid us a dime." Marsha said.

"You are my sister and I love you, but you are taking up space we need for the new baby." Vincent said while rubbing his wife's swollen stomach.

I began to feel guilty for being such a burden then I heard, "We don't like big smelly girls who take away our play room." My nephew, Zeke, said.

"You are all really okay with this?" I asked. They all nodded in unison. They hurried to the basement to pack up my things.

Within an hour everything I owned was in boxes. Did I really have so few things, or maybe they were really just that motivated to get me out of their house. I laid down on my bare mattress wondering how tomorrow would go. Who is this lawyer? Thinking back on the letter, I realized how vague the person was about themself. Were they male or female, their name, some information, any. I guess I will figure it out tomorrow.

The next day after six hours of driving, my brother and I came to the address that was given with the letter; the address that would soon be my own. You could see a barn in the distance. A man stood at the door. He was short and stout, and had a comb-over with the least amount of hair possible.

"You must be Ms. Jenkins. I am your aunt's lawyer. This is now your home and property. And that is now your farm/business." he said pointing to the barn in the distance. "Here is the banking information for the money left to you by your aunt. My condolences goodbye." the proclaimed lawyer said, then promptly speed walking away.

This wasn't right, what was up with that lawer, I thought. I turned to ask my brother questions, but he had already begun to drive away. I walked into my new house it was obviously decorated in the 70s. Beige wallpaper with dark red stripes. a plain wooden table and chairs in the dining room, along with multiple framed pictures of landscapes. The attached kitchen was like a picture from a 1970s home decoration magazine. I walked into the living room that had an old flower patterned couch, though the fabric was faded with age. An old box TV with a built in VHS player sat across from the couch, on a small wooden cabinet. I walked into the bathroom that had a toilet with a furry seat cover, a claw foot tub, and a sink with a gold colored faucet. I walked up stairs, to what I thought would be a second floor, but it was simply one bedroom that took up the whole floor. It had one queen size bed on a wooden frame, with a wooden dresser next to it. There was yellow shagg carpeting covering the floors, and the smell of moth balls lingered in the air. To make my new home livable, I would need to make more than a few changes. I decided to start my renovations in the living room; where I would most likely sleep until the bedroom no longer smelt of moth balls. I decided that in the meantime I could at least rearrange the living room, so it would match my taste even a little. As I moved the ugly couch, I noticed a change in the wooden floor. There was a small square about the size of your average coffee table; where the grain of the wood flooring was set differently from the rest of the floor. There was a small hole near one of the corners. The inner child of me instantly poked my finger through it. As I pushed my finger through the hole, I felt a button press under my finger. I could feel the spot I was sitting start to move, causing me instantly to pull back my finger. I watched as the square of mismatched flooring slid completely to the right, revealing a small dark elevator. Everything in me told me to stay away from this, but still curiosity got the best of me, and I hopped in. I could feel the elevator going down. It was near pitch black, the only light was coming from the screen of my phone. The door finally opened to what appeared to be a combination of a delux kitchen and a stone cave. There was LED tube lighting above head. I saw stainless steel counters a gigantic sink, over witch was ample cabinet space. Opposite of the counter a sleu of extra large kitchen appliances stood. A massive fridge and freezer stood side by side, and a stove with eight burners and massive oven space stood at the end. This place was more like a giant luxurious kitchen than some underground bunker. At the end of the kitchen however the room began to look like a cave that had been hollowed out with a shovel or pickaxe. I explored into the cavelike area, and found what looked to be a large nest made of stones and pebbles, it had a heater underneath that was putting off so much heat it made me instantly sweaty. In the nest were eight eggs all the size of softballs. Were these the goose eggs that made this place a goose farm? At this temperature they surely would have cracked and died, if they were indeed goose eggs. So why were these eggs in perfect condition, and why the secrecy of a hidden underground kitchen cave?

I was crouched near the eggs deep in thought when I heard a crack. I didn't know much about birds, but I knew that the process of hatching didn't include such loud and prominent cracks to the eggs. Then the egg cracked again. The egg split in two revealing...a small brown lizard? It looked at me then quickly ran to my lap. I had no idea what had just happened. I stared at this creature in my lap, and suddenly it yawned, doing so it stretched out two tiny wings; that had been unoticed and pressed firmly against it's body previously.

"When did lizards get wings? It must be some kind of rare species. Yeah that's it, just something I have never heard of... right?" I said to myself.

Then I heard two cracks. I took my gaze off of the creature in my lap and looked at the nest again. Two eggs were cracking at the same time. The next crack I heard came along with a small squeak. I looked closely at the squeaking egg to see a small white creature come out. It jumped out of the egg with two strong back legs and it ran to me. It had two strong black legs which supported its body, it had no arms, and it's tail was nearly as thin as yarn. This lizard too had wings. From the other cracked egg rolled out four clawed feet. It shook off the egg revealing two more feet, a fish like tail, and a thin wide body. It looked at me with it's large eyes, with it's pupils dilated incredibly large, that even in my shocked state I couldn't help but say "aww". It ran to my lap curling up with the other creatures. This one had no wings, this gave me hope that, maybe these are just rare lizard species.

I heard another crack and a little blue four winged creature popped out. It looked at me and flapped it's wings trying to fly to me, but it obviously couldn't, it flapped and jumped until it reached me. It hopped around with it's four wings. This one must have four wings to justify the last one having none, just to crush my thoughts of this being any type of normal. The next crack came and chipped the shell away revealing another four winged creature, the difference was this one was a shade of neon orange. It tried its best to keep low to the ground, and slowly get to me shyly, but once it got to the edge of the nest he toppled over and fell. I caught the creature, before it could hit the ground, and put him on my shoulder. It seemed just as scared as I was in this moment, and with that I could relate.

Next came a ball yellow of feathers, which I almost believed could finally be a goose. Then the feathers straightened down its back. I realized that it was still one of these odd creatures, just one with feathers. This one like the others, ran to me. It had feathers down its spine as well as on its wings, and the tip of its tail. The next hatchling came out looking like a flower blooming. Its body was slick and all green, but it had a pink and yellow frill that made it resemble a flower.

There was one egg left. Myself and all of the tiny creatures were watching it. It's egg suddenly shattered into pieces. It burped, and a little flurry of snow came out. It seemed white upon first glance, but it was actually iridescent, and it reflected every color you could imagine. It ran to my lap, and the other creatures avoided it, slinking back. It climbed up to my empty shoulder, and I knew why. This one was freezing.

I noticed a book leaning by the wall near the nest. I leaned towards it, trying my best not to drop any of these weird hatchlings. I read out loud, as if the tiny lizards could understand;

"Dear, Ivy. I know you are very confused right now, especially because you found a secret room in a strange old dead lady's house, but these are dragon eggs. You may not believe me, but these eggs were laid about fifty years ago, so they are almost ready to hatch. Though I have been thinking that for about forty-nine years. I am sure this sounds like a prank, but these really are dragon eggs. I have raised two clutches in my life, the first batch my mother was given to raise. I helped her raise them, and she taught me everything I know. This has been taught from daughter to daughter for centuries, I however never had a daughter, and you are my closest living female relative. I am sorry that you had to start with such a large clutch, the largest one in history in fact. The largest dragon clutch that was raised by humans at once was four eggs."

I rolled my eyes "Can you guys believe this?" I asked the 'dragons' sarcastically, then continued reading.

"We never know what dragons are in our clutch, though usually all but one are the same."

I looked around at my various hatchlings, knowing only two of them looked the same.

"In this book is everything you will need to know on any type of dragon. Sincerely your great aunt Edna."

"Uhh What?!" I yelled. All of the hatchlings squeaked and curled down at my voice "Oh I am sorry guys. Don't be scared. You know I should figure out what kind of dragons you are and probably name you." I opened the book skimming through the pages "Ooh look I found you guys first. I held the picture out for the dragons to see. Inside was a pencil sketch of a four winged dragon. "Okay looks like you guys are called Gull Wings." The blue Gull Wing was hopping up and down, while the orange one tried to hide under my hair. "Okay looks like you can fly, but you are going to have to wait a few months. Oof it is a good thing I got two of you looks like you literrally can't live without eachother." After saying that the blue Gull Wing jumped to my shoulder to be with the orange one. Ooh you can spray mist and steam. Looks like I have to weigh you all regularly."

I flipped through several more pages. "Oh look here you are." I showed the small brown dragon the book page, but he just curled up and went back to sleep. "Okay dragon babies your drowsy sibling here is called a Toxic Snap. It has a venomous bite that gets more lethal the older it gets, and once his bumps come in it will be able to shoot out a deadly poisonous powder. Guys let's not mess with that one." I warned in a joking manner.

I flipped to the next page and found our two footed friend. "Yay we got another one you are a Deer Chaser. You can run up to 80mph at top speed, when you get older your tail will be so strong you can use it as a whip." The little Deer Chaser looked excited, and was flapping its tail all around. "Here we are baby eyes. A Creek Creeper you like water, you have no defenses." It seemed upset at it's assessment. Well I guess you will just have to continue being adorable." I said and tickled its chin, though it still didn't seemed pleased.

"Alright next is you." I pointed at the little dragon covered in feathers. "You are a Fowl Feller. Ooh your feathers can change colors to blend in with other birds. So you can kill them of course. When you get bigger you can eat an entire flock of birds." The little dragon puffed out its chest and fanned its wing feathers, someday it would be mighty; right now though; it looked like a baby duck." Then it occurred to me. Edna must have had a batch of these little guys last time, that is why there aren't any geese at this goose farm. "Okay flower face You are a Flower Frill. You like to eat bees. You use your beautiful frill and slim green body to blend in as a flower. Look at that little one, it is your destiny to be beautiful." I said with a smile.

"Okay you little ice cube let's find you last..." I said as I flipped through the books pages looking for it's picture. "There you are! A Prism Scale you thrive in cold environments, can breathe freezing breath you give off a cold aura, and you only eat fish and rabbits."

"Wow you guys are pretty cool, this will make for a great entry in my dream journal. I stood up putting all of the tiny creatures on the ground." I will be passed out on that ugly couch.....now!" I yelled. All of the little hatchlings stared at me confused. "No no it will happen...Now!" Why is nothing happening? I pinched my arm "Ow." I looked at the little dragons "This isn't a dream is it?" The little blue Gull Wing ran to me and sat on my foot. The Toxic Snap went back into the hot firey nest. "I sat on the ground and stared at the scene in front of me in total shock. In less than twenty-four hours I had gone from the mooch in my brother's basement, to the secret mother of eight dragons. I sat on the cold ground in shock. I couldn't say or do anything. Baby dragons climbed all over me, and I finally passed out.