Feathered ashes.

There once was a book store in the south that not many people outside the realm knew or cared about. There was nothing particularly enchanting of the place that would set it aside from other book stores around the world. Just like any other book store, there were rows and rows of books. Books stacked along the wall, books creating inconspicuous piles on random patches of floor, books creating shelves to house more books. The low lighting and leather-bound chairs gave off a sense that this was more than just a bookstore, but in fact a home. Which in our story, the book store was indeed doubled as a home for one Ms. Jade, who lived on the second-floor apartment. The bookstore belonged to her mother who then passed it onto her daughter after her peaceful passing. Ms. Jade had a brother, he unfortunately wanted very little to do with his family. In fact, you could say, he wanted nothing to do with his family and has lived that way for the past 12 years. Ms. Jade had lived by her lonesome in the bookstore for 11 years. Just her and a horde of books living in solitary. For the first time in what felt like too long, Ms. Jade cried and cried deep. The type of tears that seem to have broken a dam of emotion deep inside and will not relent until the tears have been spent. Aside from interaction from customers and varied acquaintances that sometimes stop for tea, Ms. Jade barely utters a peep to herself. Her loneliness seemed to have swallowed her whole and blanketed her down on her bed. Sobs and all crying silently into a bookstore on a rain hissing night.

               Do you believe in magic? More importantly, do you believe in the magic that a book can bring? This mystical ability that can teleport us, transform us and above all, teach us? Well, in this story Ms. Jade is going to learn about a new type of magic that some special books have. Ms. Jade woke up to a snot and tear stained pillow as she lifted her head to turn off her alarm clock. It was the second Tuesday of the month, new inventory day. The gentleman from the loading company was finishing unloading the order of books Ms. Jade had requested when he realized that there was one book out of place on his truck. "Hey lady," he so eloquently began, "I think that book is part of your order." Ms. Jade looked back to see the red leather-bound book with a lock keeping the book secure from opening. Ms. Jade looked at the book with a quizzical look. "Don't you guys usually wrap these orders with shrink wrap? How'd this one get out?" The gentleman just shook his head, "If you don't want it, I can take it back with me, but it would more than likely be incinerated as unknown." Appalled, Ms. Jade took the book and shoved it in the pocket of her sweater. "That's alright thank you, I will take it as part of my order." If there was one thing Ms. Jade despised it was seeing a book being mistreated or destroyed. As she put her boot on the pivot point of the moving dolley Ms. Jade could've sworn that she felt a sort of kick or beat from the book in her pocket. She immediately shook her head and dismissed it entirely, thinking nothing more of it. She then went about her daily chores completely forgetting about the book she possessed in her sweater. The book liked the attention and was getting to know it's new friend. The book was not particularly happy when it got too hot for Ms. Jade and she took off her sweater to begin making her dinner. It would dampen most anyone’s spirit having to cook for one on a starry filled full moon night. Ms. Jade stared into the twinkling sky as her water came to a boil. She took a deep breath and allowed herself to remember that her mother used to love looking at the stars. Ms. Jade was not a person to always be sad, especially at times like now, where she felt connected to both her mother and brother. Ms. Jade believed her mom was looking down on both her kids. She was enjoying the scenery and cool autumn breeze until what sounded like a muffled knocking coming from inside her house. She looked all around unable to find the source of the sound. As she walked back toward the kitchen she froze in horror as her sweater pocket began to swing as if something alive was in there. Another couple of muffled knocks began to swing her sweater pocket again at which point Ms. Jade screamed and ran to her room grabbing the phone on her way. She slammed to the floor hugging her knees when she realized, "Who am I going to call?" She took a deep breath and calmed herself and began to rationalize. "I'm obviously seeing things. It was the wind, yea the wind. I had the door open and a gust had come by to move my sweater. That had to be it." Feeling more confident in her sanity, Ms. Jade crept out the room slowly. She was tiptoeing back to the kitchen as not to scare whatever could possibly more likely not be there. Her kettle began to whistle, and Ms. Jade gave a short cry when she heard it and was immediately amused at the ridiculousness of it all. She was putting herself in a frenzy and for what? Some nonsense about a breeze moving her sweater. Ms. Jade was beginning to feel a bit foolish. That was until her pocket let out what sounded like, "Help." It wasn't in a desperate plea type of way, nor was it in a way that would alarm someone of any wrong doing. In fact, it was almost polite. Ms. Jade didn't know, she was too much in shock to decipher the tone of the "Help." Ms. Jade grabbed her broom that stayed next to the refrigerator and aimed the top of handle at her pocket. "What?" She began, a bit hysterically, "Why did you just talk?" After a couple heartbeats and no answer, Ms. Jade was beginning to ask herself is she was going crazy. A daring side of Ms. Jade was edging her to take the book in the pocket and open it as another part of her was thinking it was some sort of witchcraft. She looked around, didn't really feel in danger. Didn't feel any negative auras or anything of the like. In fact, Ms. Jade was beginning to feel quite calm. She reaches into her sweater pocket and lays the book on the table. As she sits down, she picks up the book and begins inspecting it. It was a rather odd-looking book. The leather bounding was beautifully done with gold Corinthian scrolls within the spaces of the three-ridged spine. In the middle spine there was the title, "Unequal Magic." Ms. Jade thought the title was a bit odd, just like the book itself. It was especially odd that there was no author listed anywhere outside of the book. "Well that's weird." She thought. Looking at the lock and realizing she had no key, she began to investigate to see any other way to open the book. There was a convenient latch on the side and a small 'tick' alerted Ms. Jade that the book had been unlocked. Sitting down she opened to the middle of the book and found the page to be empty. "Weird." She said to herself and set the book on the table open, getting up to fix her tea. Unknown to Ms. Jade, the pages of the blank leather-bound book slowly turned fire red. It looked as if a fire were being lit in between the pages. Ms. Jade looked back in fright dropping her tea as what appeared to be molten lava spuming onto her table. She stared in shock as what appeared to be a bat wing emerge from the oozing of lava immediately followed by a snake like head screeching as the bat wing appendage desperately grasps for any holding. The creature coming forth finds its way out of the book. Ms. Jade stares at what appears to be a dragon. A dragon that just came from some magic lava coming from her book. Trying to process all of it was simply too much. What drove her to passing out was the fact that the dragon faced her and without moving its lips or mouth, she could hear it say, "Thanks."

               Ms. Jade came to a couple hours later. As her eyes fluttered open she could see she was in her kitchen, but a faint glow of a fire could be seen coming from downstairs in the bookshop. Immediately thinking her mother’s legacy was burning Ms. Jade sprinted down the stairs ready to face any danger she may face. To her shock, there was no danger at all. The fire burning was one lit in the fireplace roaring rather healthy one would say. The thing Ms. Jade was attempting to blink away was the appearance of a dragon the size of a chihuahua with wings holding a book as if it were reading in her favorite reading chair. She heard a voice in her head, "I am not merely looking at the barbaric squiggles, I am indeed reading this rather tasteful treat." Ms. Jade went slack jawed. " I'm telepathic, which is why I can talk to you in your language and in your head." The tiny dog sized mythical creature said as it moved its head to look at Ms. Jade. "Can you talk normal? Like, move your mouth so I'm not as freaked out?" She asked out loud. Not moving its mouth, the dragon said telepathically, "I'm not here to make you feel any sort of comfort. And I certainly don't take orders from a human, no matter how big they are." Ms. Jade was appalled at the creatures’ rudeness. She set her ego aside, she needed answers. "So, you were the one knocking from inside the book?" The dragon gave what seemed to be a droll stare, "Wow, a human that can put two and two together. We have a genius. Wonderful." Even telepathically Ms. Jade did not care for the dragons’ disposition. And she told it as much. "I don't like your disposition. Remember it is my home that you are in, whatever it is I call you." Seemingly annoyed the dragon huffed blowing out a small puff of smoke, closed the book and turned to Ms. Jade. "Listen human, you opened the book giving me permission to stay in this seedy construction you call home." Ms. Jade was at the point in her life where she cared little for rudeness, she was also at an age where she had no fear of voicing her distaste for it. "Curiosity opened the book for one so no consent was given. Two, if this is the type of guest you are to be, then I ask for you to kindly leave and find yourself a new home." The dragon cocked its head slightly to the side. If it was out of adoration or disgust Ms. Jade could not tell. What she could tell however, was that her point was made clear to the dragon. After another huff and cloud of smoke from the dragon, it moved its mouth to say, "Very well then. Happy? Are you now amused that the tiny dragon is moving what you perceive to be my mouth and talking? The last person I talked to was not so uneasy about telepathic communication. Then again, I believe I read that the female of your race is much more demanding." Although insulted, Ms. Jade kept her emotions in check. "We are more demanding," she began as she folded her arms across her chest, "because we are fiercer than the males of our species." She finished giving the dragon a serious look. The dragon squinted its little eyes at her for a moment and then went back to reading. Ms. Jade knew the dragon wanted the conversation to be over, however she had more questions. Before she could ask anything, the dragon began, "I am a book dragon. I will not give out my name because you will never have that power over me. I am older than what you call history. You think dragons no longer exist, but we exist alright. We exist thanks to magic. I popped into your world because I knew you were a book collector of some kind and I'm looking for a new book to call my home. I cannot do that now, as I am too weak and need substance. Once I devour your library I should have enough strength for another hibernation incantation to be locked inside another book of my choosing. Either that or wait a couple of months, witness the rising sun and immediately mature to my adult size." So much information came to Ms. Jade at once that she only took note of the last part. "So, if you witness the rising sun, you turn into a big dragon and then what?" The dragon threw the book on the ground, "Well if I were to witness it this morning I would die a terrible death by incineration because I don't have enough magic to protect me through the metamorphosis process." Intrigued Ms. Jade then asked, "Do you mind if I sit with you?" The dragon nodded in agreement. As she took a seat Ms. Jade decided to talk to the dragon as a friend and began asking questions that a friend would ask. They talked long into the night and with several cups of tea in their systems the talking became very cordial and Ms. Jade began to know more about the dragon. She learned that dragons still existed in the world since there was still magic. Instead of eggs that were magical cocoons made for dragons by wizards, dragons made their cocoons in books of their choosing. "There is strong magic in between the pages of book." The dragon explained. Ms. Jade also learned that by opening the book, it gave her some power over the dragon, knowing its name would give her even more power, power the dragon was not willing to give away freely. "I learned the wickedness of man in the pages of a book. Experiencing it was a different conundrum altogether." Said the dragon. Ms. Jade also learned that if the dragon was to stay out of its cocoon and gain magical armor produced in the scales after a period out then the dragon could witness the sunrise and transform into a full dragon. "Is that what you want?" Asked Ms. Jade, "To be a full-grown dragon I mean?" After the question had left her lips the dragon got very quiet indeed and stared at the fire that was beginning to burn low. Staring at the embers the dragon said, "It is very late, I am getting tired. If it's alright with you I will retire now." Without waiting for a response, the dragon circles around the cushion of the sofa as a dog would, plops itself into a comfortable curl and closes its eyes. Ms. Jade then takes that as a sign and retires to her upstairs bedroom. "Goodnight." She whispers at the top of the stairs unaware that the dragon can hear her. The dragon began to feel a warmth inside that was both similar and different to the warmth of the fire.

               Ms. Jade awoke to something pushing on her shoulder. As she opened her eyes she saw the dragon staring at her with its intense eyes. "I would like to see the sunrise if you would like to join me." She got up on one arm alarmed. "Won't you die if you go out and see the sun before you are a couple of months?" The dragon then walked to the edge of the bed and stared at Ms. Jade. "I have devoured your entire library. Humans have come a long way since last I was roaming the earth. You put so much beauty and art in your stories, the imagery the explanation of feelings and thoughts are simply amazing. I have never been awake for such literature. I wish to see the sunrise, I am ready." Ms. Jade got up and got dressed and carried the dragon in the crook of her arm to the door. When she opened the door, they were immediately greeted to a dark blue almost purple sky carrying pink cotton candy colored clouds. The air was cool and smelled of fresh mountain air. The river valley in front of Ms. Jade and the dragon was a picture-perfect scene of serenity and the unmatched beauty the world has to offer. Each minute that passed shed more light on the coming day. The dragon looked upon the scene and drank every moment in. "I've never seen the sun rise. In all my years of existence I was afraid to grow up. You get bigger, but your fear of dying increases tenfold. Everyone I knew that accepted the fire discs' blessing ended up dead. I am ready to meet them again." Ms. Jade was taken aback by the dragons’ confession. The last thing she said to it was, "Whatever this magic does to you, I thank you. Perhaps there is some growing I need to do myself." With that the sun broke over the horizon in a spectacular blaze. The dragon looked the sun head on as its scales began to glow and slowly dissipate with the breeze. When the sun fully came Ms. Jade looked behind her to see a trail of feathered ashes never to be seen again.