CHAPTER 5

I paused the movie to get everyone's attention. Turning to Amber and Jacob, I started talking. "I don't know what your secret is, but I know that you guys aren't completely human." By the shock on their faces, I was right. "The only reason why I know this, is because I'm also not totally human. I'm not asking or forcing you to tell me yours, but I would like to show you mine." When they looked at each other and nodded, I continued.

"I'm a Dual Shifter that can turn into a Dragon and an Ayakashi. Due to my injuries, I can't fully shift for you, but I can do a partial transformation if you would like." When they nodded again, I stood up and went by the TV. The first one I decided to show was Nightmare. Partial shifts aren't like a full shift. We kept our human form, but only a few of our animal traits came out. In my case, my hair went from black, red, and blonde, to black and electric blue like my fur. I had wolf ears on the top of my head, my fingernails turned into claws, and ten soft, bushy tails grew from my tailbone. When I was done, I opened my eyes to look at Amber and Jacob. Instead of my normal blue eyes, the eyes that looked at everyone were bright emerald green. Even though I wasn't in control, I was still aware of what was going on, and I knew Nightmare wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone in this room.

Walking up to Amber and Jacob, Nightmare crouched down and looked at them. "My name is Nightmare and I am a Ten-Tailed Wolf Ayakashi. I am also called the Ayakashi King." As he spoke, his deep, pur-like voice filled the room. Amber was the first to move. She slowly reached out, and, to everyone's surprise, felt his ears.

"They're so soft!" Amber quietly exclaimed. Nightmare's rumbling laugh filled everyone's ears. He let her touch his ears and tails to her content before continuing.

"Andrew's Dragon and I are his biggest, and most dangerous, secret. The only reason why he decided to show us to you, is because we asked him to." Looking down, Nightmare kept talking. "We are also the reason for the scars that cover almost his entire body." He then explained what happened from when I was 6-10 years old. As he told my story, Amber started crying.

"Don't cry, little one." He said as he gently wiped her tears away with his thumbs. "Andrew views you as extremely good friends. He trusts you to keep this secret, which is why he gave me permission to tell you his story." After hearing that, Amber calmed down. Nightmare's personalities were hard to predict sometimes. He had a soft side, like right now, but he was also mischievous, sarcastic, and had anger issues. "How would you like to see his Dragon now?" When he felt like Amber was calm enough, he asked the brother and sister if they wanted to see Magnis. When they said yes, he stood up and went back to the TV.

The partial shift for Magnis was a little different. My hair went back to normal, except that it now had purple mixed in, and the ten tails turned into one with scales and spikes at the end. I did not have wings growing out of my back, but the claws stayed, and instead of green eyes, they were now yellow with a prominent slitted pupil. Again, Magnis walked back to Amber and Jacob and crouched down as well. "My name is Magnis Rex, but people mostly call me Magnis. I am the Dragon King and Andrew's second beast." Magnis Rex was Latin for Big King, and the name fit him perfectly. Even though he wasn't fully grown yet, he was already the size of a fully grown Dragon.

As Amber, Jacob, and Marcus took this time to personally know about both of my beasts, I was pleasantly surprised at how calm they were. I knew Amber and Jacob weren't human, but anyone would be a bit apprehensive about meeting a king from a different species, let alone two in one day. Between Magnis and Nightmare, Magnis was the one with the most calm and patience, but he would also get angry if anything happened to me.

When I finally shifted back to my human form, I sat back down on the couch. Jacob looked like he wanted to say something, so I patiently waited. "Thank you for showing your secret to us. I understand how important it is to you. You're right that Amber and I aren't human." Jacob hesitated at this point. He seemed to appreciate the fact that I wasn't pressuring him to continue, but let him take his time. "My sister and I are werewolves. We come from the Blackstone Pack and our parents are Alpha and Luna. A lot of our pack members go to our school." Jacob explained. He also said that if we were willing, he'd like to introduce us to everyone, and we agreed.

Today was a day of sharing secrets and I felt like it brought us closer as friends. After my next dose of medicine, I was starting to get tired. Donatello purposefully gave me strong medicine to make me tired at night. Wishing everyone a good night, I went upstairs to get ready for bed. After everything that happened tonight, I felt drained of energy.

The next day at school, everything seemed normal until lunch. As I was walking behind the others to our table, a guy named Nathan Wilson knocked me to the ground. Josh and the group turned around as my tray clattered to the floor and I fell. The fall jarred my injuries making it hard to breathe. I kept my head down as I struggled with keeping Nightmare in check while getting air back into my lungs.

Jacob and Amber helped me up while the others formed a wall. Nathan was shouting insults at me while Mrs. Hopper, the teacher on lunch duty, escorted him to the principal's office. Then, with Jacob and Amber's help, we went to the nurse's office. Because of how serious my injuries were, we all wanted to make sure nothing got worse because of this.

Upon entering the office, I was told to lay on the bed while everyone waited outside. The nurse gently lifted my shirt and felt around my ribs. I groaned at the pain, but I didn't smell blood. At least the stitches didn't rip, I thought. As the nurse continued looking, the smell of copper eventually hit my nose. Blood. Sighing, I waited for the nurse to find the source. "The stitches along your left ribs ripped. I'm going to need to call your sister to take you back to the hospital to get them fixed." As the nurse said this, she gently pulled my shirt back down and helped me sit up. I went to tell the others the news while she called Alex.

"That fucker! He blamed you for William and the others getting arrested. Yet, he's just making trouble for himself now. Karma is known as a bitch for a reason." Dominic said after I told them about the ripped stitches. He volunteered to sit with me while I waited for Alex. The others had already gone back to class after hearing the news.

Soon, Alex rushed through the door of the nurse's office and got me. Dominic said that he would get my assignments from our remaining teachers and left for class. When we got to the car and left the school, Alex spoke. "Tell me what happened."

"A guy named Nathan knocked me to the floor at lunch. He blamed me for William and his group of friends for being arrested. Apparently, they were best friends. As he was being escorted out of the cafeteria, he called me a bastard and the son of a bitch who deserved to die." When I told her, Alex's knuckles turned white on the steering wheel.

Turning into the parking lot of the hospital, we made our way to the receptionist. "What brings you in today?" The lady at the desk asked.

"My brother needs to have his stitches replaced. There was an…incident at his school and they ripped." As she told the receptionist lady, I lifted my shirt to show her the white bandage that was quickly turning red. When the receptionist saw this, she quickly called for a wheelchair and for someone to take us back to a room.

About five minutes after we got to the room, Donatello walked in. "Let's take a look and get you out of here, yeah?" Donny said as I took off the shirt. He sucked on his teeth as he saw the red bandage. After taking it off, he started removing the stitches so he could put fresh ones in. "How did this happen?" Donatello asked while he worked. He had me lay on my right side with my arm above my head. I told him what happened, and he was angry. "For a school that claims to have a no bullying policy, they sure as hell don't act like it. First the middle school, and now this."

"There's only so much they can do, Donny. It's not like they can make everyone be friends or refuse them an education because of it." I said as he finished with the stitches. Before putting on a clean bandage, he felt around my ribs. As he felt around, he brushed against a spot that made me yelp in pain.

"That's it. I'm ordering x-rays. Sit tight while I put in the order." Donny left after saying that. I looked at Alex, and she was busy texting. More than likely letting mom and dad know what was happening. When she saw me staring at her, she confirmed that she was filling our parents in on the situation.

"I'm sorry you had to leave your class because of this." I apologized. Alex was going to the local college to major in business management and was minoring in nursing.

"It's not your fault, Andrew. And besides, all of my professors understand that if something happens with the family, I have to go."

As we were talking, a volunteer helper came in with a wheelchair and helped sit in it.

"My name is Hazel, and I'll be the volunteer helping Dr. Donatello Dragonheart today. The only testing that I saw was for four x-rays, correct?" She spoke while opening the door with a key card.

"As far as I know, yeah. Donny wants to make sure that my ribs didn't re-break." I answered her, and she didn't seem surprised at my informal address for my doctor. When she asked what happened out of curiosity, I told her that it was from being bullied.

"Damn! I'm sorry it happened. People don't seem to be taught respect, or any decent manners, now." Hazel talked like she understood, like she had gone through it herself. It helped me relax while she continued pushing me to the x-ray room.

When we got there, she handed the technician my forms and then waited outside. Before standing up, I took off any metal I had on, which consisted of all my jewelry and piercings, and then stood where I was told. Fifteen minutes later, I was being wheeled back into my room and helped back onto the bed. I didn't know that I had fallen asleep until I woke up to the sound of the door opening.

"So I got the results back. Nothing re-broke, which is good. The pain is most likely from a couple bruised bones, which do not show up on x-rays, unfortunately." Donatello said while looking at the papers in his hand. He then looked at me."Are you still taking all the medicines that you need to take?"

"Yes, Donny. I want to say that mom gave me the last morning dose that I had left, though. I truthfully answered. He nodded before taking out a small notepad and wrote on it. Donny gave the note to Alex while saying that it was for more medication.

After that, he gave me my discharge papers and we left. Walking through the front door of our house, we could tell that dad was beyond angry.

"Enough is enough! The bullying at the middle school was bad enough, but now he's been to the hospital twice within the past two weeks! The police chief and I will be going to the school tomorrow to talk to the students. The situation at your school is out of hand, and apparently you can't take care of it!" My dad hung up his cellphone before he noticed that we were back. "What did the x-rays say?" The concern in his eyes was noticeable.

"Nothing's broken again, so Donatello thinks it's some bruised bones. He gave me a new prescription for my pain medicine and we already got them." I filled dad in on what happened before we left the hospital. He breathed a sigh of relief, but I could tell that he was still angry that it happened in the first place. That night at dinner, I barely ate anything. Mom then gave me my night dose of medication and I went to my room.

My AP World History homework was simple: all I had to do was watch a video on Native Americans and answer questions on a worksheet. Apparently, the English settlers caused mass genocide by fighting wars against them, putting the Natives on the Trail of Tears to reservations, and putting the children into boarding schools where they either died because of the living conditions or because of suicide. The video made me feel sick to my stomach.

Algebra was looking through Chapter 8 of the textbook and answering the questions at the end. Art was my favorite. The new concept was using our imagination to create the picture. We also had to write a story to go with it. I chose to draw Nightmare, with his black and blue fur, fangs, and glowing emerald green eyes. His fur looked like it was covered in black fire that was forming a skull above him. The way he uses his power over Darkness is that he can make people see their worst nightmares, hence how he got his name. I also drew ice coming out of his paws to form spikes.

For the story, I decided to write it like it was actually Nightmare speaking. "My name is Nightmare and I am the Ten-Tailed Wolf Ayakashi King. I enjoy hunting, sleeping, and making my enemies live their worst nightmares in their head. Darkness and Ice are the elements that I control, and I'm very versatile at using them. Here's a warning for everyone: Never make a shifter of any kind your enemy. They will never forget about it. Sincerely, Nightmare."

When I was done, the picture looked like it was alive. The fur and fire looked like they were actually moving in the wind, and his eyes looked like they could see into your soul. It even gave me goosebumps. I then changed for bed and went to sleep. The first thing the next morning, we had an assembly before classes started. As the students were filing into the auditorium, they kept asking others what was going on. My brothers and I knew, but we didn't tell anyone what the reason for this assembly was.

"Thank you all for coming. I understand that it's early, but the topic being discussed today is important. Now, Let me introduce the two people that will be talking to you today. Please welcome Police Chief Antonio Deus and Officer Mark." As the principal introduced Mr. Deus and my dad, everyone politely clapped.

"Thank you Principal Gray." Saying this, Mr. Deus turned to the gathered teachers and students. "It has come to our attention that bullying has gotten horrible at this school. We looked at the Student Handbook and it says that absolutely no form of bullying will be tolerated. If someone is caught bullying someone else, they will first be suspended and then expelled if it's continued. However, assault and battery will lead to automatic arrests. A student here has already been to the hospital twice in the past two weeks." Turning to the principal, he continued talking. "If you and the teachers do not get this situation under control, then we will step in and do it for you." Turning back to the crowd, he finished his speech. "Thank you all for taking time out of your morning for this. Now, go back to your classes and have a good day."

Everyone walked back to their classes, talking about the assembly with the officers. It was safe to say that it was going to be a quiet day. The students didn't want a suspension, expulsion, or heaven forbid, an arrest charge on their records. And the teachers didn't want to risk getting fired for not doing their jobs. School passed by quickly, and because of the assembly, we had no homework.

Getting home, I went to the music room. It's where the guys and I practice since it's been soundproofed. Plugging in my phone, I went straight to my Favorites Playlist and clicked on Avenged Sevenfold. With or without broken and bruised ribs, I wanted to sing. I then put on the headphones so that I wouldn't get distracted. Welcome to the Family was the first song to come on. Then it was Afterlife, Nightmare, Judgement Day, Acid Rain, and then Set Me Free was the last song I sang. Taking off the headphones, I jumped at seeing Amber, Jacob, and my family, including all four of my godfathers, standing and watching me.

"Hey?" I said lamely waving at them. Apparently mom told my aunt Mary, Uncle Richard, and all my godfathers that we had formed a band. My parents came to tell me that they invited all of us, as well as Amber and Jacob, to go over to their place for a week-long visit. Aunt Mary had called the school and told them that I needed time to rest and fully recover, and that I would feel more comfortable if everyone else went with me. I didn't mind being used as an excuse, but Jacob and Amber didn't know that my aunt and uncle were the current King and Queen. This was going to be interesting.

Jacob and Amber called their parents asking for permission. They said yes, as long as my parents, godfathers, brothers, and I came over for the next weekend. We all agreed and proceeded to pack. The brother and sister combination went home to get their things and would meet us in an hour and a half. We all packed for a week and my mom made sure to pack all of my medications. Soon an hour and a half passed and Amber and Jacob returned.

They followed my parents in Jacob's car. Mom and dad were driving dad's red Ford 4X4 truck, my brothers in Josh's Ford F-150 truck, and I drove my motorcycle. Even though I was under 18 years old, I had still passed all the necessary testing needed to get one. I loved the freedom it gave me. Although we had our own cars, we rode with Alex since her college was just past the high school. As we drove, my phone started ringing. Answering my phone via my Bluetooth helmet, I waited for the person to speak.

"Hey honey. We're going to pull over at the next gas station. It's almost time for your next dose as well." My mom explained what the plan was as three sets of turn signals flashed right. I told her I understood and followed the three vehicles in front of me. When we got to the gas station, we all went inside. We grabbed drinks and a quick snack. As we got back to the vehicles, we ate our snacks while refueling our rides. By the time my motorcycle was refilled, my mom walked up with my pills.

"We still have another two hours until we get there. Will you be okay, or do we need to put your bike in the back of Josh's truck?" The reason she was asking was not just because it was a bit of a drive, but also because it wasn't the smoothest in some areas.

"I'll be okay, mom. If anything changes, I'll call you. I promise." As I said this, I put on my helmet, got back on the motorcycle, and turned it on. Listening to the engine roar to life, I felt relaxed. My motorcycle was a black 2024 Breakout 117 Harley-Davidson. It had a Milwaukee-Eight 117 engine, a Heavy Breather intake, chrome appeal, 21-inch front tires and 18-inch rear tires, Two-Into-Two exhaust, and a Soft-tail Chassis. This was the one I picked out for my 15th birthday and I loved it.

Two hours later, we pulled up to the castle's wrought iron gates. Mom and dad talked to the guards before they let us all through. The driveway was five miles through the forest that surrounded the property. Besides home, this was the only other place I can be myself and shift freely. Except right now with the way my ribs are.

Getting off my bike, I stretched. It was a total of four hours, and I was beginning to feel it now. However, my last dose of pain medicine wasn't for another four hours. Walking up to the others, we all walked to the front doors of the castle. It was a massive red brick masterpiece, with golden accents, bullet-proof windows and doors, and a beautifully decorated interior. Reaching the door, my mother used the golden knocker to announce our presence.

"Princess Lillian! Duke Mark! And the entire family is here! Welcome! Please, come in." The butler that answered the door was originally hired by the late King and Queen, but Mary and Richard kept him since he was a kind and gentle soul. He was also one of the few original members of staff that still called her Princess. The newer staff members were trained to call her that, but she kept insisting that they didn't need to do it. "The King and Queen are in the Drawing Room. I'll lead you there first. Afterwards, I'll show you to the rooms that you'll be staying in." The butler, who's name was Harvey, now that I remembered it, said as we walked.

I felt like someone was watching me, so I looked around. Amber was giving me a playful glare. "You failed to mention that you were related to the Royal Family!" She whispered to me. I was about to answer when someone jumped at me from behind. Yelling in pain and shock, I instinctively threw them off. A high pitched yelp filled my ears as the assailant landed on the floor.

Holding my ribs, I yelled at the person laying on the tile floor. "Alice! Damn it! What have I told you about doing that?! You know that you have no scent to me, so you have to announce you're there!" My cousin, Alice, was one of the few people that are naturally born without a scent. You can be trained to hide it, but it's difficult.

"You're finally here, Andy! I haven't seen you in so long, and this is how you greet me?" She said while pouting. Then she noticed me holding my ribs. "Are you okay?" While she was talking, she stood back up. Andy was her nickname for me.

"My ribs are broken right now. And Alice, you saw us last December, remember? We came to the Christmas Gala." I said while I kept walking, trying to catch up to the others.

"Who is this beautiful girl?" Amber asked when we caught back up with them.

"This is Alice, and she's my annoying brat of a cousin." I grumbled, still irritated about her antics.

"Come on, Andrew, I already said sorry.!" She whined.

"No, you haven't actually apologized yet. And your mom and dad have been trying to stop you from acting like this. You are a Princess! It's time you start acting like one, for everyone's sanity." I was one of the few people Alice actually listened to, so Aunt Mary and Uncle Richard told me to stop watching my words around her. Tough family love, is what they called it.