"Say what now?!" she yelled at the phone in her hand. "What are you doing there?"

"I just had to know more," he said calmly. "I sneaked in through Drake's window when he left for the night, but then he came back earlier than I expected, and now I am stuck in the bathroom with no way out."

Sora let a curse escape her lips. She really wanted to yell at him, but she realized that wouldn't help the situation. If Drake found him hiding in his bathroom, there was no telling what he would do. She would rather not find out. "I am coming to get you," she said sounding more confident than she felt.

"I just need you to get Drake out of his room, then I can climb out the window. Nothing big."

"Yeah, nothing big," she repeated sarcastically, but a wave of fear hit and she dropped the sarcasm. "Ok, get ready to leave in a few minutes." She crept out of her room and headed to the one place she would rather not be in the middle of the night; Drake's house.

At least not under these circumstances, she thought. Shocked by her own thoughts she shook her head fiercely. Not under any circumstances.

"What will you do?" Mo asked, still waiting on the other side of the phone.

"I have no idea," she replied honestly. "But I will figure something out."

"I am sure you will."

She smiled at his words and was about to hang up when she heard Mo calling her name. "Yeah," she muttered back.

"Thank you," he said before disconnecting.

Sora turned her attention to Kiba who was standing in front of her, his tail swishing happily from one side to the other. "How do you feel about helping Mo?" she asked and he barked in reply.

***

She knocked on the door first, hoping to avoid waking the entire house, but when no reply came, she had no choice but to ring the bell. At last, she heard heavy footsteps, and after a few seconds, the door creaked open, and a half asleep Drake scowled out at her. "What?" he said, his voice barely recognizable.

That was easy , she thought but then realized he was expecting her to give him a reason for waking him at this late hour. She bit her lower lip awkwardly before explaining. "Kiba got loose again. I must have left the door open or something and he ran away," she hurriedly spat out the lie.

Drake kept staring, a blank expression on his face. "So?"

"I want you to help me find him," she said expectantly.

"You want me to find a dragon for you, so you helping me find my dog is more than a fair trade."

Drake's eyes flew open at that comment, he was suddenly wide awake. Before he could answer, more footsteps sounded behind him.

"What's the matter, son?" Sora heard a man call out. Drake turned, and in the dim lighting, Sora glimpsed Drake's parents behind him.

His mother looked even more beautiful up close, and Drake was practically the spitting image of his father, except for the eyes. His father's eyes were a warm honey color, unlike the cold calculating black of Drake's eyes.

"Who is this?" his mom inquired pleasantly, despite it being the middle of the night, her voice as peaceful as Sora remembered, and there was no indication that she had just been jogged out of her sleep.

"Sora lives next door," explained Drake. "I think her dog ran away."

Everybody turned their attention to Sora. With three pairs of eyes trained on her, she felt like she needed to say something. "Hi," was the only thing she could utter.

A warm, wide smile was her reward from Mrs. Harrison. She glided to the door and extended her hand to Sora. "I am Drake's mom, Patricia," she said, her words smooth and sweet like a melody.

Sora shied away from her handshake, worried about the telltale jolt of electricity, but Drake gave her an encouraging nod. Sora reached out and grasped her hand.

She was relieved when there was no static electricity, or anything else running up her hand. "I'm Sora," she said giving a weak smile.

Mr. Harrison slid in next to his wife, and introduced himself as well. "I'm Ian, and I assume you already know Drake, right? Are you two in the same class?"

Sora nodded confused that the Harrisons didn't seem to know anything about her. "We should look for your dog," said Drake before anyone could say anything else.

"Yes," agreed Sora eager to get away from the awkwardness of the situation.

Drake joined her and as they turned to leave Patricia stopped them. "Wait," she said halting them in their tracks. Sora's breath stuck in her throat. "Is your dog a German Shepherd?" she asked raising her hand to point into the darkness.

Everyone turned to look where she was pointing, and sure enough Sora saw Kiba behind a tree right across the street. She had turned Kiba loose expecting him to run further away than right across the street. With a fake smile plastered on her face, Sora turned and thanked Mrs. Harrison.

"That was easy enough," commented Ian as he led his wife back inside.

Sora called Kiba who happily ran over to her panting and wagging his tail. She dropped down to pet his head, mainly so she could avoid Drake's suspicious stare.

"Well, thanks for your help," she said and started to walk away.

He seemed to be thinking over everything, but then he gave her a dismissive shrug and said, "I have no idea what just happened but it's too late to ask for an explanation."

Sora could only hope that her missing dog charade had bought Mo enough time to sneak out of Drake's house.

***

The next morning she was awakened by a loud knock on her door.

"We are going to leave for the restaurant in a few minutes," her grandmother said, popping her head inside. "Do you want us to bring you dinner?"

Sora nodded, and when the door closed again, she glanced over at her clock. It was almost noon, but after the night she had it was only natural for her to sleep in.

The events of last night came flooding back, causing her to jump from her bed and search for her phone. She snatched it up and flicked through all the previous calls until she found Mo's number and punched it in.

After a single ring, he picked up. Of course he is already awake, she thought as she mentally rolled her eyes.

"Thanks for last night," was what he said instead of 'hello'.

"I'm just glad you're okay," she said and immediately bit her lip. She hesitated, not wanting to give him a front row seat to her feelings.

She could feel him smile on the other side of the call, if that was even possible. "Whatever you did was enough for me to sneak out and do a little extra."

"What do you mean by a little extra?" Now she was annoyed and extremely curious at the same time, wanting to know exactly what he had done last night at Drake's house.

"We should meet," he said. "All of us."

"Even Drake?" she wondered surprised.

"Yes, especially Drake."

***

Sora hung up and immediately dialed in Katie's number to invite her over. Then she headed over to knock on the Harrison's door, at a decent hour this time.

Mrs. Harrison opened the door with a warm smile. She looked as perfect as ever in a simple lavender dress that skimmed right below her knees. Her small waist was accentuated with a black velvet belt. "Good morning Sora," she said. Her lovely smile reminded Sora of the rare big smiles that she occasionally saw on Drake.

"Good morning Mrs. Harrison. Is Drake here?"

"Please, call me Patricia," she said, and then called Drake to the door. He appeared a few moments later and looked suspiciously at Sora. "I will leave you two alone," Patricia said as she slipped back inside.

Drake moved out on the porch, snapping the door shut behind him. "We are meeting at my house. Mo has something to say to all of us," she said.

"Seriously? After last night's weird incident, that's what you're here to tell me? No explanation?"

"I hoped you wouldn't need one." She bit her lip and stared at her feet. "If you come with me, you will find out what happened, but you have to promise me you won't get mad."

He dwelled on her proposition before finally nodding his head in agreement. "Let's go," he said, and they headed over to Sora's house.

They settled in the kitchen, and Sora immediately began brewing a huge pot of coffee to help perk them up after last night's escapades. Drake and Sora sat in companionable silence for awhile, sipping from the hot mugs cupped in their hands.

Finally, Sora broke the silence. "Haven't you mentioned me to your parents yet?" She had been thinking on it ever since she returned home the previous night.

Drake looked up at her and opened his mouth to say something, but before he could offer an explanation, the doorbell chimed. Sora opened the door to find both Mo and Katie on her door step.

Sora hustled the pair into the kitchen and handed each of them a steaming mug of coffee. Then she turned her attention back to Drake and repeated her question, before they were sidetracked.

Sora stared at Drake who remained mysteriously quiet. Mo finally broke the silence. "Maybe it's for the best," he remarked. Four pairs of eyes swiveled to him confused.

"How would you know that?" asked Drake, and Sora could feel the tension in the room. He was on edge, ready for a fight.

"I paid your house a visit last night," answered Mo calmly and then turned his attention back to Sora. Big mistake.

Drake bolted from his chair and dragged Mo to his feet by his shirt collar. He pulled him close, to the point where their faces were almost touching, before blurting out, "You sneaked into my house?"

Sora was on her feet trying to pull them apart. "Drake, you said you wouldn't get mad!" she reminded him.

"I needed to know if you were dangerous," Mo said surprisingly calm, considering his was practically nose to nose with Drake.

"Well, you are about to find out. Lucky you." Drake's eyes burned with anger, but Mo kept his composure and refused to back down.

Sora moved in between them, placing her hand on Drake's arm. Immediately a jolt of electricity charged up her arm. "Let him go, and we will explain everything," she said, her voice quavering, revealing her nervousness. She began to fear that this meeting had not been such a good idea after all.

Drake turned his wrath on her. She bit her lip and retreated a few steps. "Is this why you came to my house last night?" Drake seemed both angry and hurt. Feelings of guilt stabbed at Sora.

"Can someone please explain to me what is going on?" Katie's normally quiet voice cracked through the tension, and everyone stopped and stared at her.

Drake reluctantly released Mo's shirt, and everyone shuffled back to their seats. Once they were all seated, Mo reached in his bag and began to explain, "Last night, I sneaked into Drake's room to see if I could find something that would reveal whether he was a threat to us," Mo said while rummaged through his bag. "And I did," he smirked triumphantly as he flopped an enormous leather bound book onto the table.

Everyone's eyes locked on it.

Sora was terrified of the old book in front of her. The red leather cover had an intricate design with a black leather strap to hinge it closed. Are we in danger? she wondered staring back at Mo, wishing fervently that she could hear his thoughts.

"How did you get that?" asked Drake, and Sora noticed the anger had fled his face to be replaced with worry. For some reason, the anxious look on his face was worse. "This wasn't even in my room."

"While Sora distracted you and your parents, I took the opportunity to sneak into the library and found it," explained Mo. Katie shot Sora a questioning look, she would certainly have a great deal of explaining to do later.

"Let's skip the how and why," Sora said ready to face the truth hidden in the book that she couldn't tear her eyes away from. "What's it about?"

"Dragoncallers," Drake and Mo remarked in unison.

Sora felt a shiver crawling up her spine, finally resting at the base of her head and wondered if she was about to have a stroke.

"That's what you are," exclaimed Katie, which earned her a frustrated look from Mo. He was easily irritated by people who pointed at the obvious, and Katie was no exception.

"So, this voluminous book is all about me? Okay." Sora's voice quavered as she struggled to maintain her composure. Her eyes darted around the table, and in each of her friends' eyes, Sora found the courage she needed to stay focused. "Keep talking," she said, afraid that the information she was about to hear would drastically change her life, even more than the knowledge that she was a Dragoncaller.

Drake turned pale and remained inexplicably quiet, so Mo took the lead and started to explain. "Do you know what they do to Dragoncallers?" His gaze reflected a smug satisfaction as he spilled out the news that made Sora's stomach turn cold with fear. "They hunt them down and kill them."