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  “I hope it’s smarter than he is,” Spring grumbled under her breath.

  “I guess we should just go and talks to her,” Phoenix suggested, looking at the others for guidance.

  “Okay, I gets to say hello first,” Amber giggled, turning and shifting.

  “Hey, that’s not fair,” Jade growled, shifting and chasing after her sister.

  “I thinks we should be first,” Alice suggested with a twinkle in her eye. “Holds on to me.”

  Phoenix and Spring both grabbed Alice’s arm. Harvey and Symba both snorted in displeasure when the three girls suddenly disappeared. Harvey glanced at Symba. The other symbiot just shrugged, used to Amber and Jade’s antics.

  Shaking his head, Harvey nipped at Little Bit and Stardust when the two small symbiots poked their heads out of the hole that Spring had dug. With a loud sigh that blew the strands of golden mane back on the two tiny Werecats peeking up at him, Harvey sent a message for them to catch up with Phoenix and Spring.

  Chapter Nine

  Sandy frowned, pausing as she bent to pick up the bag of yarn. She tilted her head, listening. Coco released a startled hiss. She heard her paws thump against the wood of the porch and the swish of the cat door her brother, Chad, had installed in the screen door.

  It was strange, but she swore she could hear the sound of several animals running through the yard. Straightening, she turned and walked over to the edge of the steps. Soft growls echoed through the air, coming closer.

  Sandy started when she sensed more than heard a sound next to her. Her hands tightened on the post and she turned her head. Her lips parted when she saw three fuzzy shapes standing on the porch near her. Sandy turned to face them fully, her hand flying to her throat.

  “Hi!” two childish voices called out breathlessly at the same time.

  “I said it first,” one of the voices said.

  “No, I did!” the other argued.

  “We made it to the house first,” a third stated with a slightly triumphant claim.

  “What... Where did you come from?” Sandy asked, her head feeling like it as about to fly off her shoulders from turning it back and forth so fast. Sandy felt her foot slip off the top step in her distraction. “Oh!”

  “Harvey, help her!” Phoenix cried out.

  She should have taken a nasty fall, but something smooth and silky flowed around her, catching her and steadying her. Her left hand swept over the surface and her fingers sank into it as she tried to brace herself. Warmth surrounded her, reassuring her that she was safe.

  “What is this? Who are you? Where…?” Sandy began again, grasping the support when her feet were back on the porch.

  “I’m Amber.”

  “I’m Jade. We’re twins,” the figure named Jade said.

  “I’m Alice,” a voice behind her stated. “This is Spring and Phoenix.”

  Sandy swallowed and turned to face the first two voices who had spoken. “Amber, Jade....” She turned in a tight circle, retaining her hold on the post. “Alice, Spring, and Phoenix. Who is Harvey?”

  “Harvey is our symbiot,” a different voice stated.

  “Which one are you?” Sandy asked with a frown, trying to recognize each child by her voice.

  “I’m Spring,” Spring replied.

  “I’m Phoenix,” Phoenix greeted in a more reserved tone.

  “What is a symbiot?” Sandy asked.

  Sandy tilted her head when she heard the voices drop to a frantic whisper. She listened, catching pieces of their conversation.

  “What is Harvey made of?”

  “I don’t knows.”

  “Mommy and Daddy never told us what a symbiot is made of.”

  “Why don’t we start over?” Sandy suggested when the whispering stopped. “I’m Sandy Morrison and you are Amber and Jade…”

  “I know the answer to that one!” Jade replied with a small measure of relief.

  “So do I. I’m Amber Reykill and this is my sister Jade. She’s got the same last name as me because we are sisters,” Amber stated.

  “Yes, I imagine she does, especially if you are twins,” Sandy laughed.

  “We’re twins, too. I’m Spring Reykill and this is Phoenix. We’re princesses,” Spring stated.

  “I’m a princess, too. I’m Alice Ha’darra. I’m a Curizan. I can’t shift into a dragon or a tiger like the others, but I can use the energy around me to do things,” Alice said.

  “Princesses… dragons… tigers… and you use energy?” Sandy repeated, absently indulging their play-pretend while she reflected on the utterly alien feel of… Harvey. It was still beside her, a warm, living, semi-permeable thing that no matter how she squinted through her fading eyesight, remained a fuzzy shape of indeterminable color. Her other senses were telling her it was like a mammalian jellyfish in the shape of a large dog… and that just wasn’t possible. “I think I need to sit down.”

  “Here,” Phoenix said, reaching up and sliding her hand into Sandy’s.

  Sandy sank down in the rocking chair. Harvey followed, sending her waves of comfort. She pulled her sweater closer around her and sat forward, blinking. This was one of those times when she cursed the condition that had robbed her of her vision. She desperately wanted to see what was going on.

  “Where are your parents? How did you get here?” Sandy asked.

  “They are still sleeping, at least ours are. Phoenix made a mirror so we could come see you,” Spring replied.

  “Yeah, Arilla and Arosa told her that she needed to find you and we came along because that’s what best friends do,” Alice explained.

  “Plus, it’s fun,” Jade added.

  “Your parents will be very worried about you if they wake you and you aren’t there. Who are Arilla and Arosa? Are they supposed to be watching you? There isn’t a house within twenty miles of here unless you are staying at the Grove Ranch, and even that is a fair distance for children to come alone. I’ll call Chad and he can tell them that you are here,” Sandy said with a worried frown.

  “Arilla and Arosa are Goddesses. They live in the Hive back on our world,” Spring said, sitting in the rocking chair beside Sandy.

  Sandy paused, briefly contemplating the impossible. “Goddesses,” Sandy laughed to herself. “You know… I’d think you all had wonderful imaginations – maybe you do – but… your symbiot…. I’ve never felt…. I think I must be dreaming,” she admitted.

  Phoenix glanced at the others, and they all looked at her. Amber gestured for her to say something. Phoenix nodded.

  “I’ll shows you what I know, Sandy. Stardust, comes here,” Phoenix instructed, lifting her hand to her small symbiot. “Connects me to her.”

  Stardust shivered in Phoenix’s palm, glancing back and forth between Phoenix, Sandy, and Harvey as if unsure. Harvey snorted and brushed the tip of his nose against the symbiot for encouragement. Stardust dissolved, forming two bracelets with a long cord between them. One of the bracelets wrapped around Phoenix’s tiny wrist while the other formed around Sandy’s.

  “My name is Phoenix Reykill. Spring is my older sister, but we are twins. We lives on Valdier. It is a planet far away from here. Our Mommy came from here. She lived in this house befores you.”

  Sandy’s breath caught as images began to form in her head. They were so clear, so vivid. A woman with short blonde hair smiled back at her before fading to show a large, dark-haired man who had Sandy sitting back in her seat in fear. His gold eyes flashed with power.

  “Gold eyes…,” she whispered, trembling before she gasped.

  The next image was of an alien world. A shadow passed by her, and in her mind’s eye, she glanced up. Dragons of every shape, size, and color flew overhead. She turned when she heard the sound of laughter. Two small dragons, one white and one black, raced through a field of tall purple grass chased by a large black dragon.

  Sandy’s lips parted on a cry of warning, but it faded when another dragon appeared. It was smaller than the black dragon, but she could fe
el the fierce protectiveness in it and knew immediately it must be the mother of the two babies. The black dragon pounced on her and the two adult dragons rolled in the grass. The scene shifted and when it reappeared, Sandy could see the dark-haired man was kissing the woman with the blonde hair.

  “They likes to kiss each other,” Spring interjected, connected with her sister in a way that only twins could be. “That’s our Mommy and Daddy. He’s a prince and a mighty dragon warrior.”

  “You two… You are both dragon… shifters, as well?” Sandy asked in a trembling voice.

  “Yes,” Phoenix said.

  “How do I know this is real?” Sandy demanded in a desperate voice.

  “Let me shows you,” Phoenix murmured.

  Sandy froze when she felt a brief change in the air around her. Her fingers curled on her lap as the figure in front of her changed shape. Sandy strained to see past the shadows restricting her view, and jerked when she felt the touch of a nose against her knuckles.

  “Don’t be afraid. Phoenix is different from us, but she won’t hurts you,” Spring assured her.

  “Spring, you change too so Sandy can feels what you are like,” Alice suggested.

  “Okay,” Spring replied.

  Once again, Sandy felt the slight shift in the air before she felt another nudge, this time against her left hand. Raising both of her hands, she reached out with a tentative touch. Her hands jerked back when she felt the unfamiliar touch of feathers against the fingers of her right hand while smooth, warm, scales touched her left.

  “I…. Oh my,” Sandy whispered in awe, allowing her fingers to explore each small head. “Can I trace your faces with my fingers?”

  Phoenix licked Sandy’s fingers to show her that it was okay to touch her. Sandy couldn’t contain the shaky laugh that escaped her. Cupping her hands around the small girl’s head, Sandy used her fingers to lightly trace Phoenix’s features. Warmth flooded her and a brilliant image of a tiny, black-feathered dragon appeared in her mind. Fascinated, Sandy stroked the feathers, memorizing the feel of them, even as the image solidified in her mind.

  Her hands ran down along Phoenix’s head to her shoulders. Sandy paused when Phoenix opened her wings. A breathless gasp escaped Sandy. This was incredible! How could it be possible? This was… magical.

  She chuckled when she felt another nose impatiently nudge at her. Turning in the seat, Sandy ran her fingers over Spring’s head, noting the differences between them. Spring was the perfect recreation of what Sandy had imagined a dragon would look and feel like.

  “Why are you here?” Sandy murmured with a shake of her head, reluctantly pulling her hand away and sitting back in the chair.

  “Because we need your help,” Amber said.

  “Yeah, you gots to help the dragon warrior,” Jade added.

  An image of the huge, black-haired man flashed through Sandy’s mind before it was replaced with the that of a dragon. She swallowed. Surely, the children didn’t really mean an actual dragon warrior.

  “How could I possibly help a drag… a dragon warrior?” Sandy asked in a faint voice.

  “You gots to make him fall in love with you so you can heal his heart,” Amber explained in an urgent voice.

  “He’s grouchy, and so is his dragon,” Jade added.

  “But, if you love him, you can heal his heart,” Alice said.

  “And make him whole again,” Spring interjected.

  “Just like our Mommy did to our Daddy,” Phoenix finished.

  Sandy sat back in her seat, stunned. There was no other way she could describe it. Lifting a trembling hand to her forehead, she shook her head.

  “You came from a far away world without your parents’ permission to help me fall in love?” Sandy asked in disbelief, before she rose out of the rocking chair.

  “Where are you going?” Alice asked, watching Sandy turn toward the door of the house.

  Sandy glanced over her shoulder. “I’m going to call my brother and give him a piece of my mind,” she said with a scowl. “Then, I’m going to find out who your parents are and send you home."

  Chapter Ten

  “Grandpa Paul says they know about us,” Bálint said.

  “I knows my daddy said that warriors come here,” Zohar said with a skeptical expression.

  “We’s warriors, aren’t we, Jabir? Plus, I smell food!” Roam said.

  “Roam, wait!” Zohar started to call out before he released an exasperated growl. “He’s going to gets us in trouble.”

  Jabir turned to look at Zohar with a trembling lower lip. “But, I’s hungry, too, Zohar. I remembers Grandpa telling us abouts this place. Bálint’s right. They do knows about us,” Jabir said.

  “It does smells good, and we did promises to bring the girls back some foods,” Bálint added hesitantly.

  Zohar grimaced when his stomach growled. The smell of something good was filling the air from the big, two-story house. A low groan escaped him when he saw Roam wiggling through a small, square door.

  “We’d better goes with him. He mights get in trouble otherwise,” Zohar finally agreed.

  “Yay! Precious, I needs my little symbiot, please,” Jabir stated, shifting into a small sapphire blue dragon.

  Precious shimmered. From the long, golden mane, a small symbiot peeked out. The moment it saw Jabir shift, it flowed through the air, forming armor around him. Jabir grinned before turning and taking off across the yard toward the house.

  Bálint watched from the back of the barn as Jabir bounded across to the door that Roam had disappeared through. He turned to Zohar and shrugged.

  “Bio, stays here. If I needs you, I’ll call,” Bálint instructed.

  Zohar patted Goldie. “You too, Goldie,” he ordered, shifting into a dark brown dragonling.

  Bálint and Zohar hurried across the yard. They were halfway to the house when a truck came around the back. Both boys froze in the middle of the driveway. The driver of the truck slammed on his brakes, staring in disbelief at the two small dragons staring back at him.

  “What the hell?” Chad exclaimed, blinking when the dragons turned and hurried across the yard to the house.

  His gaze followed them as they bounded up the steps and disappeared through the dog door. He started to open the driver’s door to follow them when the truck rolled forward, reminding him that it was still in gear and running. Smothering another curse, he quickly shifted it into park and turned it off.

  Throwing the door open, he reached the top step at the same time as a terrified scream ripped through the air. Chad cringed when he heard the loud crash of a pan and what sounded like a pissed off cat. The sound of another male voice rose above the clatter.

  “What the hell?!”

  Chad pushed the back door to the mud room open. He winced when the high pitched barking of Pippy, Ann Marie’s Terrier mix joined in the fray.

  “Hold on! Ouch! Ann Marie, grab Pippy,” Mason was yelling when Chad crossed the mud room and pushed open the back door to the house.

  “What the…?” Chad started to say, staring in disbelief around the kitchen.

  He bent down and grabbed Pippy when the Terrier went to run by him. On the table, there was a small tiger cub and… a dragon covered in gold. Another one was in the corner, and a fourth creature was peering out from under the table.

  He turned, opened the door, and dropped Pippy out into the mud room. He engaged the lock on the doggy door so she couldn’t get back in. Mason stood near the stove, holding Ann Marie. Ann Marie was holding a mixer with dripping batter and a wooden spoon.

  He returned his gaze to the table. The tiger cub gazed back at him for a second before bending to snatch a biscuit off the plate in the center of the table. Chad shook his head and rubbed his eyes. The creatures were still there, only this time the chubby blue dragon was sitting with a biscuit in each hand.

  “What… What are they?” Ann Marie asked in a stunned voice. “I was preparing breakfast and the next thing I know, Pippy is going
crazy and these two were climbing up onto the table to get away from her.”

  “I’s Zohar,” a little boy stated, climbing out from under the table.

  “I’m Bálint. Our Grandpa Paul and my mommy used to live here,” Bálint said, standing up near the corner.

  “I’m hungry…. I mean, I’m Jabir. My mommy lived near here. She and Aunt Carmen are sisters,” Jabir said with a grin. “Do you have honey? I likes honey on biscuits.”

  “Who is that one?” Mason asked, waving at Roam, who was walking around the table, sniffing the different covered dishes.

  “That’s Roam. He’s a Sarafin,” Zohar said. “They’s cat-shifters.”

  Roam shifted. “I smell meat,” Roam announced as he lifted the lid off of a plate. “Yummy!”

  “Oh, dear,” Ann Marie whispered, staring at the small group.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Where are your parents?” Chad asked.

  “They at home,” Jabir said around a mouthful of biscuits.

  “We’s came alone. Well, sort of alones, the girls are talkings to the lonely woman. We’s were hungry, so we came here,” Roam explained. “Do you has some eggs? Aunt Tina’s chicken has eggs and they tastes good.”

  “I… yes, I was just making some pancakes,” Ann Marie murmured, suddenly realizing that she was dripping batter on the floor. “Mason, get this cleaned up. I’ll finish breakfast. Roam, only one more piece of bacon until breakfast, and you and Jabir get off the table.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Roam replied, grabbing two pieces of bacon and shoving one in his mouth as he climbed onto one of the chairs.

  “Can I have chocolate chip pancakes? Auntie Cara learned how to programs the replicator to makes chocolate. I likes chocolate chip pancakes and hot chocolates and chocolate cookies,” Jabir asked with with a hopeful smile.

  “I… Yes, Chad, get me the chocolate chips out of the freezer,” Ann Marie ordered. “Now, everyone out while I get breakfast finished.”