"Ash?" Dylan asked, panting as he barely managed to keep pace with me.

Several of those shadows were still behind us, and I was afraid that the poor guy would pass out from blood loss before we outran them.

   "Yeah?" I asked back.

   "Should we be trusting an old guy that we've never seen or met in our lives?" He asked.

I thought about that as we turned into a street lined with houses. He had a point, but again, we didn't exactly have a choice.

   "Older means wiser, right? Maybe he knows what those are?" I said, not really answering his question.

I hope, I privately thought. The man stood in front of a house, beckoning us again.

   "Inside!" I said, partially dragging Dylan.

    After we both were in, the elderly man shut the door.

"Put him on the couch." He said, not even looking at us.

I did so, slinging Dylan's intact arm over my shoulders, I helped him walk over to the man's couch, where he practically sank into the cushions.

   "Who are you?" Dylan asked the man, staring at our rescuer as the he came into the room.

"You can call me Jaakuna." He said, with a kind smile, "Or just Jaque, if that's easier." He said

   He walked over to Dylan, and slowly slid his blood soaked jacket off of the sawed off flesh and bone. My stomach tried to force it's way up my throat again, for the fourth time today. What was he doing?

Then, Jaque put a hand over where Dylan's elbow used to be, and Dylan sucked in a breath of pain.

"What are you doing?!" I cried, voicing my thoughts.

Jaque didn't answer. Instead, he started muttering something in a language I had never heard before. It was like a mix of two voices, one human and one that sounded like hissing. The skin of Dylan's arm crawled from the edges where the original flesh had been severed, and enveloped the smoothening bone and muscle that was repairing itself. No longer sharp or torn. Now, instead of a severed limb, it looked like a clean stump.

    Unfortunately for my stomach, that was the last straw. I ran to the nearest bathroom as fast as I could, and promptly emptied the contents of my stomach into the toilet. I flushed it once I was done, gargled some water, then came back into the living room.

   "Sorry" I muttered to Jaque, staring at Dylan's new stump of an arm.

"No need, It's Understandable." He responded.

   Dylan was also staring dumbstruck at his newly not bleeding arm stump.

    "Holy... how'd you do that?" He asked incredulously, probably still woozy from blood loss "that is some straight up voodoo stuff or something!"

  Jaque chuckled.

    "Not voodoo, dear boy, not even close...Magic." He said, removing his sunglasses, which I noticed he had kept on until that point.

   Shining, purple, reptilian eyes, that shone with intelligence stared at him, then at me.

   "What are you?" I asked.

   He looked at me, then at Dylan's jacket which he picked it up.

   "I'll clean this up for you, young man." He said.

   Dylan laughed, no doubt a little delirious from all the blood he lost.

    "You have magic that can get rid of blood stains?" He asked.

   Jaque smiled. "Yes, young man, a wonderful invention you call a 'Washing Machine'. Young Lady, will be so kind as to help me? I'm old, and I sometimes forget how to work it properly."

   I nodded. "Sure" I wouldn't have been so trusting, but I felt like if anything happened, I could take down a crazy old man.

    I followed him into the wash room, and watched as he put Dylan's blood-soaked jacket into the machine. I leaned against the wall, and crossed my arms. Basically trying to look indifferent, and composed. Unlike a few minutes earlier.

   "So, what are you really?" I asked again.

   The old man smiled. "Ah, yes. Right to the point I see. What I am, young one, is something that doesn't usually exist in your plane of existence."

   I looked at him. Great, now he was being cryptic...

     "And that is...?" I pressed.

    "A dragon." He said, finishing his thought.

"You're.... joking right?" I asked, not expecting that in the slightest

"Your school was just attacked by living shadows, was it not?" Jaque pointed out, "is the possibility of Dragons that far out of the question?"

He had a point.

"Alright, So dragons." I said, "what do they have to do with the shadow things that attacked the school?"

"Well, I believe, they were after you."

"What?! Then why did they kill so many people?!" I asked, "why didn't they just kill me then?"

"These 'shadow things' as you call them, are Kage no Akuma. My guess is that they weren't sure who you were yet. That, and they have an almost unquenchable blood lust."

"But why come after me?! What's so special about me that so many people had to die?!"

Jaque looked at me. "There is great power within you. You must be hosting one of the guardian dragons souls."

"Hosting what now?" I asked. In my experience with horror novels and movies, hosting anything was usually a bad thing.

"The soul of one of the six guardians from the realm of dragons."

Oh, just that?

   "Seriously?" I asked, I looked at the doorway leading to where Dylan was sitting on the couch, looking like he was falling asleep. Poor guy was probably tired as hell. Maybe...

    "What about Dylan?" I asked.

   It should have taken me a lot longer to believe him, it would have if not for the situation, but again, my school got attacked by shadows, I was talking to a dragon in disguise, and Dylan had somehow survived after having everything from the elbow down on his arm chopped thanks to dragon magic. I think it was a little to late for doubts.

   Jaque shook his head, glancing

    "No, I'm afraid Dylan is not the host of a dragon spirit. Though he's got plenty spirit of his own."

   Oh, I thought. I nodded, kind of glad, and maybe a little disappointed.

   "So, what do I have to do?" I asked, "who sent those shadow things to my school?"

   He didn't say anything at first, unloading Dylan's jacket from the washing machine, and put it in the dryer before saying.

  "My best guess would be find the others who host the spirits of the other guardians, and search out whoever or whatever sent the Akuma to find you" Jaque said, "There is strength in numbers."

   I nodded. Then I remembered something I had seen briefly when me and my friends had been running for our lives. That older boy protecting himself and other students with walls that seemed to come from the earth itself. He had powers, like what I had done with the wind, though I was still confused about that. Hell, my mind was so frazzled from everything that had happened, I was surprised I could still make coherent sentences.

   "I think I have an idea of where to start..." I said.

   Jaque nodded, smiling.

    "Good" he nodded, "A start is always good."

"But, um...do you have an idea as to where the others are?"

   Jaque thought for a moment. "I would imagine that they are spread across the country."

I sighed, "great" I muttered.

That narrowed it down. I sighed.

"I'll figure it out." I said, "Thank you Jaque."

He nodded. "I hope you do."

After Dylan's jacket was out of the dryer, I took it and walked back to the living room. Dylan himself had passed out on the couch. He looked so peaceful and calm, I didn't want to wake him up. Still, his mom was probably worried about him. He had to go home.

   "Come on, Sleeping Beauty, up and at 'em!" I said, shaking him awake before grabbing his good arm and pulling him to his feet. We said our goodbyes to Jaque and left. My head swirling with so many crazy things.

When we reached his apartment complex, we stood outside on the street in front of stone building for several moments staring out.

"You gonna be ok?" Dylan asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm a badass. I'll be fine."

He chuckled weakly, and nodded. "I...I keep wishing we'll wake up any minute. Everything that happened is too crazy and too... horrible to be real."

"Yeah..." I agreed, "Yeah, I know."

"I don't know how I'm going to explain this to her." He said, gesturing to his stump, "I don't even know how I'm alive... but I'm not complaining."

"I'm glad you are.." I said. At least I had one living friend.

There was a pause, both of us in thought. Then, Dylan said:

"I should probably go in. I don't want Mom to worry any more than she already has."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." I said, "Bye Dylan."

"Bye Ashley," He said with a smile, "I'll see you around."

   I nodded, but also... knew that I wouldn't. As I walked home, I finalized my decision. Those things were after me. I was putting my family and Dylan's lives in danger by staying. I'd already lost Maya... I didn't want to hurt anyone else.  I turned into my street, and entered my house. Everything was quiet. My parents were probably at work, maybe even at the school right now, and my brother was off at college. First, I went to the bathroom to wash the blood off my hands. I took off my jacket to clean it the best I could with a sink, putting my full arm tattoo with roses and a snake that curled up to my neck, under my T-shirt, and cut off at my right wrist on display. That had been fun to explain to my parents, got me grounded for several months. I put my jacket back on, and walked up to my room and sat on my bed. I knew it would hurt them, if I let them believe I was dead, but... I didn't want to get them killed like I had with Maya. I sighed. Everything was so damn crazy and stressful. I went to my closet, stood on a stool and shuffled some stuff around on the shelf above my clothes. I came back with a lighter and a box of cigarettes. Dylan and Maya had tried getting me to quit about a month or so ago, but I needed to relieve stress without breaking something. Then, I looted my stash of cash I'd been saving ever since I was 10 and dreamed of moving to Alabama with my best friend.
Obviously that hadn't worked out. There was a couple hundred bucks, but honestly it wasn't that much. I couldn't live on it for long. Still, it was good enough. I grabbed a charger, and my little MP3 player From my desk, put them in my jacket, and said goodbye to my house. I couldn't even leave a note for my parents. I hated this. I hated not being able to say goodbye to them, but I knew it was the right thing to do. To keep them, and everyone around me safe. I sighed, and walked out the door. The cloudy New York sky was turning dark gray. There were several hours before nightfall. I said one final goodbye to my home, my parents, everything I was leaving, and walked away towards the park.