The next morning, at breakfast, the atmosphere was cold. Shaikh and mom were talking and Brahma and Surish were talking with their children.

I looked at Brahma and said, "I'm sorry if I did something wrong but I don't know... I just went with some students to see the area. They are my first friends here. All the others stayed in France..."

Rosette: "But what's happening to you, my darling... you had nothing to do with it. We were all scared, that's all!"

I felt I had to play more with Ankur and his brother. But there was an age difference. They too had classmates.

Me: "Tomorrow, we fish together?"

They jumped for joy but Brahma didn't like it when we killed fish.

"Rest assured, Brahma, they will release their fish alive. This is to teach them how to survive if one day there is nothing left to eat.

Surish "I see your intentions are good, but I sense danger."

A week passed and I explored the darkness during the night after making sure no one was awake. I also locked my room and closed the curtains.

I was at the cave and it looked out onto an island. I would go out fishing on moonless nights in an area with absolutely no lights.

I would also look for caves and crevices to go in and out and hunt local game.

I had an ogre's appetite, full of mana to recuperate after my transfer and I felt that I was stabilizing, that my magical powers were coming back to me. But, strangely enough, they were abnormally high. Tiamat's powers? No, not possible.

I had to be careful and prepare for their return.

I knew the danger of Moranus and Viseron and I tried not to provoke anything or leave the slightest trace that could attract their attention.

I avoided everything that was muddy and crocodiles were forbidden to me because of that. But not for a magic missile!

CATCH!

I picked them up, dead in mid-air, and ate them on the rocks, washed by the foam.

The bones and carcasses were thrown into the open sea.

At home, no one suspected anything, except that my ogress-like appetite was strangely quiet. Finally if there was a good piece, I jumped on it!

At school, things were going well and I had good grades. On weekends, and Wednesday afternoons, I went out with my friends and often we would discreetly have a drink.

Mom was strict about that. I couldn't go home without being noticed by the neighbors and cousins.

Often, they would come with us to see a movie at the theater and their parents would pick them up while we continued our outings.

Then came the wedding.

We invited almost a thousand people. It cost a bridge, but it was the tradition.

They put henna on my hands and cheeks and a veil and also a red spot on my forehead.

I didn't go near the priests because of their hysteria and I had the excuse of being afraid of snakes. Surish respected my decision since the incident. The village admitted that he had had too many hallucinogens or that a snake had bitten him.

We had rented a palace and dancers were putting on a good show for us and finally the ceremony of exchanging gifts, rooms and introducing distant cousins and friends and family had come from Europe. I was happy to have my grandmother and my paternal grandfather. This would certainly be their last trip given their age.

I whispered to my grandmother, who had stayed in Europe. Can you come and live here with us?

She hesitated, but the hot climate was really taxing her.

"So, I'm a magician, I'll come visit you at night... Okay, it will be our secret."

She laughed, but from time to time she would miss a piece of toast...(means in french missing a case in brain)

Then, the ceremony or the bride and groom, in white and the bride in yellow and both covered with flowers, it was like a flower show.

Their hands were tied with red ribbons, threads of destiny, and then for us, a Catholic priest went up on the dais and blessed the couple and, already married under the Hindu religion, he proceeded to the Christian wedding by blessing the rings.

It was more sober and simple, and after drinking wine and taking the hosts they were declared husband and wife.

As was the tradition, they went on their honeymoon, consummating their marriage.

I was jealous of Mom but my friends were there.

For my part, I had a touch for Dany but I was thinking about dragons and, as long as I hadn't tried everything, I couldn't bring myself to give up my life as a dragon.

I had also tried to contact Bishop to invite him, but the line was gone.

I had to find a way to get to Europe through the darkness but it was dangerous to get close to my former executioner.

I left mom alone with these problems but I was lost, no one to guide me. I was managing to get by in my studies, but I was well aware of my limits. I was still an animal...

I felt a bit down and in my corner, Dany and his friends and my classmates came to find me.

"Are you okay, Sylvia? Don't you look good?"

"Yes, yes, I'm moved for my mama.... I hope she will be happy. "

Dany : "Ah, you're a little jealous?

"Yes and no... well... They're gone and... and ... and ... when she's not there... I'm lost...I can't organize myself.... "

"But your whole family's here, right?"

"Yes, but in 15 days, they will be returned to Europe... Grandpa and Grandmother... I miss them too. They were so nice to me. And, and they are so old...I'm afraid to lose them..."

Jasmine took me by the hands.

"You know we all love you here, Sylvia.... Come and comfort yourself at the buffet."

"But they're eating grass!"

Teenagers are laughing! "Sylvia... aren't you ashamed to treat them like this? "

Rudy: "MMMhhhh sniff sniff, I smell like a pork-butchery buffet!!!!"

Suddenly, I stood up, held out my nostrils and immediately knew it wasn't a joke.

We threw ourselves in the direction of the buffet. They had just put it on later so that the meat wouldn't turn or attract flies with the heat!

A braised pig, a buffet of pork, sausages from Provence with herbs, andouillettes, canut brains, marrow bone Bocuse style with its jelly and hammer to dislodge the nectar. and the barbecue.

I was full with my hunt at night but here I had a parallel stomach!

You could clearly see the Hindus eating vegan food and the Europeans eating local food.

Argh... the good jams....

My morale instantly went up.

Then, after visiting my friends the following days, I returned to my passion for fantasy.

Philippe and Dany had a mystery club!

I was inducted as a new member and we shared the same passions.

We went to a disused student hall that Dany rented and there were all kinds of trinkets, statues, castings of dragon claws, pictures of sea dragons, ships, and then a whole series of mysteries and legends about catalclysm, pieces of meteorites, the Aegis conspiracy, the plot of the masters of time and a plethora of books and binders, a picture of Bishop, then totems, a statue with broken ears, theories on dwarves and their disappearance, the Mayan calendar and also Ouija boards and a complete wall of books on ghosts and on rock constructions on Atlantis and underwater pillars. "

Whoaahh I cried!

Then I saw figurines and game tables with card and dice cabinets and also a figurine painting workshop.

I cried with joy, with friends and also the heavy secret that I could not reveal. It was hard.

It was my only chance. Why did this happen to me? I should never have known... Knowing sometimes made me unhappy. And I regretted my innocence.

Dany: "You still have that sad look on your face..."

Without him realizing it, I jumped on his neck.... and started to cry, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. The worst thing is that I was a giant for a girl.

Dany???? Rudy?? Philippe? The Three Boys wondered why.

Dany crouches while holding my hands to look at my face, and suddenly, embarrassed, I smile to him.

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"I have hard... Dany...and I have regrets... I'm homesick and I've got a lot of stuff I didn't finish in Europe... Family stuff and I can't say anything not to make mom and my father-in-law unhappy...and ... I'm not that smart..."

Dany : "It's not true! School is one of the hardest on the continent and you're doing well, aren't you?"

Wiping away the tears, "Is it true what you say?"

"Besides, I'm afraid of losing everything, as if I don't have a right to happiness..."

Jasmine had come to accompany me to their lair but didn't give a damn. She loved Dany but especially Rudy...

She took me aside. "You can tell me everything, Sylvia... we are between girls and I know that you have a secret that is eating you up..."

Stuck, and not wanting to hurt my friends. Here, real friends,...I found a lie that wasn't too big but close...

"My daddy... I....I have a half-sister..., a baby....and I'm sick with sadness that we're separated... mom didn't know.... And I fell down crying: "Victoria... my darling...."

They had their hand over their mouth so dramatic for me. Of course, I couldn't tell them it was my egg... Anyway, it was impossible for them to help me.

They realized why my mind was elsewhere... And for me, it was a relief to be able to share some of the burden.

They also realized themselves that there was nothing they could do and they avoided the subject.

We were just students with a little pocket money and even if we managed to negotiate a trip. What to do there? What to do here? How to raise it...

I still had two and a half years to get my certificate and I had to find a way to be independent.

Living in the wild again... Alone???? It was monstrous. I was scared and, frankly, I wasn't smart enough to find solutions.

My friends said, "Look, Sylvia, you're brave and you'll need more, but all is not lost. First you have to get back on your feet and have confidence in yourself! When you are strong, we are sure that you will be reunited again."

Then he presented me with mysterious images and the list of haunted places here in India.

Unfortunately, information was scarce and everything came from the internet and here in India it was difficult to get this kind of information. Much had been collected in Europe and brought back here.

Then I talked about hunting with dad and that I loved to fish and I would like to have my gun and hunt too.

(I had a magic missile... but I couldn't use it...)

"During the summer vacations, when it's too hot, we'll go hunting in the mangroves. My father knows the governor and you will have a hunting license" says Dany.

I'll get one too and we'll have 4 guns!

YAY!

I returned home happy, but I refrained from telling Brahma and his children about our vacation plans.

In the meantime, I was sharpening knives and I had kept Dad's kit with his shoulder strap of different hunting knives for skinning and preparing meat.

The leather was shiny and my boots were always ready and I had a game box always ready and the kit to light the fire. Of course useless when I'm alone...

I had saved up to buy a kit piece by piece, a superb folding compound bow with which a license was not required for possession.

But in my hands, it was a fearsome weapon, more devastating than a rifle because the points were hollowed out, sharp and did more damage than a normal bullet,

Then my parents came back after a month of honeymoon in Dubai and they brought back a lot of souvenirs for us.

I had a laser sight for when I could inherit dad's rifle.

But I wanted to have my own rifle and keep it as a relic of the wonderful times we had together.

Mom knew I was looking forward to it... being able to go hunting. But Brahma was against keeping guns at home with his two children.

That's why she wanted me to join a hunting club to store the guns outside the house.

As the mid-year exams approached, we often studied together either at my home or at Jasmine's, but often at the club or on the terrace of a café run by the parents of another student.

I was not too hard and I often studied out of time in the dark and rested there to recuperate.

I was in good shape all the time, which gave me time to go big game fishing and to occasionally munch some good game. I had the reflex to keep the skins and to want to tan them but I was out of time, evolved. It was an animal instinct but I was more than that. As the last one, the dragon's life was over for me. I had to survive and get used to the idea that I had to continue to be Sylvia. God only knows what would happen to me if I was discovered.

I was scared to death every time I turned, every time I was seen, found, and hunted.

The problem was that I was a 100% dragon and I used a form of enhanced illusion to be human like before. Not the other way around and physically, I had to be a normal dragon... It was still dangerous.

You don't see any traces of the predator at night and after weeks and also after having the place sniffed by dogs, everyone was reassured. Obviously the dogs jumped on me to party and nobody made the connection...

Then came the day of the test.

Then came the day of the test. We could hear the flies flying and the bees scratching the paper.

The test was hard but I managed to get through it. I was stressed and so was everyone at home.

Brahma had already yelled to confiscate the game consoles in case of failure and Ankur was taking the threat very seriously.

As soon as the tests were over, we rushed downtown for refreshments and compared our answers.

Dany:" See? You have to get your confidence back! We all answered pretty much the same thing and I checked the answers on my tablet."

Suddenly I was more relaxed, a beer in hand and, without realizing it, I leaned my head on Dany's shoulder, still in my thoughts. I fell asleep without realizing that I was leaning on him. The others smiled and he smiled... too.

I believe that for a long time I had been good and I was regaining some happiness.

But in my sleep, I mumbled... Oriharukon...sorry... Dany heard it and the name meant something to him... The next day, I saw mom packing some luggage.

"Ehhh??? what's going on?"

We're going to see Grandma in Europe!... we're going to stay there one month. You can stay 2 months if you want!

I saw my report card on the table and it was beautiful with good comments from the teachers.

On the other hand, Brahma's place was a mess...

I saw the game console fly for a moment, I had the reflex to run after it but it landed in the pool before I could do anything.

Between the cries of adults and the tears of children, I asked "Mom, when do we leave?".

Rosette: "Aren't you going to open it?"

"What?" I asked, all confused...

"Your present! You did well in your exams and you pass in fifth! without repechage!"

And, slowly, I approached a wooden box all lengthened, out of wood.

A Remington! A shotgun of hunting caliber! With a quick-reload lever and a cartridge belt!

How happy I was! It was the most beautiful gift I could ever receive. It was the same model as Dad's, but the latest version and with a tapered stock for my hands and a spring in the anti-recoil stock!

Then I went to get my laser viewfinder and it fitted on it, compatible. I didn't need it but it was stylish.

Rosette: "I hope you like it but don't get us in trouble with it. Promise?"

Yes, mama!

I was so happy, but Mommy added. "Ammunition is forbidden here! You know, Brahma...."

You just have to make arrangements with Shaikh who will give you some outside when you leave together. And I always want an adult with you!

The rifle smelled like sewing machine oil and since it had certainly been stored for some time, I immediately set to work greasing it with the tools provided in the kit.

It was stored in a wooden box, itself in a padlocked iron case. Shaikh kept the key to it and it was indisputable. I was also forbidden to show it to friends and to point it at even a target.

Being obedient and kind, I obeyed these rules, which were, in themselves, a test of trust.

I had to grow up and be a capable adult. And they were right if one day I wanted to bring Victoria back or go with her.

But I was secretly preparing stones infused with darkness and I was arranging, as my late late Tiamat had explained to me, rooms in the labyrinth. Usually, it was Octahedron who managed that, but he was out of order, I didn't know why, well, a little... Without Marc, without Tiamat... It was a dead space. And so much the better... I remember the punishments that the labyrinth was capable of when I was still monstrous. And again, I was shot before I had served all my sentence, by the grace of my friend Marc.

That's also why I didn't dare to venture too far into the heart of the system. For fear of awakening these torments.

I was dying of fear and, in the end, I was a coward. Fortunately, I had Dany who supported me and helped me become whole again.

Hunting was perhaps also a façade to prove to me that I was strong when I was not.

In the eyes of a dragon, I must have been a wreck...But Dany helped me to prove me the opposite. And that's also why I realized that I loved him. I loved Oriharukon but they were no longer with us. So much for dead.

Sylvia wanted Dany and Poisse wanted Ori and the others. I also missed the ritual...

Rosette: "Are you okay? Did you go to the moon again?"

"Oh, sorry mom..."

"Come and help us pack. We travel light..."

Then, by laziness, I closed the light in my room and all waltzed in the darkness...

I took a suitcase with underwear...

Rosette, after a few minutes: "That's all you take?"

"There's everything you need on the spot! I still have a lot of stuff there"

"Don't come crying to me afterwards, okay?"

"Yes, Ma!"

The next day, I greeted my friends who were also leaving for Europe, to see their families back in the old continent.

Just before leaving, I had to activate tracer stones in the labyrinth and once in the plane, I activated the reference stones. They were mounted as jewels and their role was to trace symbols for the route to be followed in the labyrinth and to open windows along the path that the plane was flying over. It was a twisted trick but it allowed me to find my way and to be able to cover huge distances quickly inside the labyrinth.

But what I did have was the address and potential places to find Bishop, marc's cousin, and my egg. I wanted to hold him so badly between my paws.

Of course, she didn't know me and I was a complete stranger, even a potential enemy. And as a dragon, I don't know whether or not she would recognize me.

The trip lasted 7 hours with a 2 hour stopover in New Delhi before.

I was not claustrophobic, but I wanted to fly behind and push to make it go faster but it was a way of speaking... the plane flew much faster than I could.

After hours of torture, we arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport and after collecting our luggage, we went to break the crust in a Burger.

"Sylvia, you know I'm jealous of you sometimes? "Mommy asked me.

"????"

"You can eat and eat and eat, I don't know where everything goes but I have to diet and watch myself or I'd be as fat as a French fry."

Me: "I love French fries, mmm."

Then we took the TGV and we arrived one hour later at the station of Lyon and we took a cab to granny's house.

"Mom... aren't we coming home?"

She looked down... "I sold it last year..."

A tear fell from my eyes... So many memories...

But I didn't care... If I really wanted to, I could use my powers but this idea was quickly swept away... Too dangerous! And I wasn't brave enough to do that.

Even when I was a monster, I was too cowardly and stupid. Othar exploited me for that. I did his dirty work without question. Everything was thought out and calculated for me in advance... I was just a nasty and stupid beast, just an infernal animal.

Marc, actually saved us. And I owe him everything. Otherwise I would have ended up in limbo, as a larva in the bottom of the goddess' stomach.

But what a horror, just thinking about it makes me want to vomit...

And my sisters? Sanguinem? and Carnivore, what happened to them? And Othar?? the gray man... ?? I know that he hated us after Marc ran away 1300 years ago...

In fact, as long as I think about it... It is he who killed me... Brrrr... I don't remember but I stuck Mark as if it was our only salvation and it was true... Possessing his children, had really not been a good idea on the part of Sanguinem. We were ghosts and Othar had lied to us again and again, promising us eternal life like him by becoming dracolyches.

Tiamat had been merciful to us... by giving us a second chance and Marc, his generous heart... Oriharukon... how I miss them. how I miss them...

I can never say enough forgiveness to him...

The cab stopped in the Lyonnais, the countryside and I threw myself out, and ran at full speed towards the gate and I rushed first to kiss my grandmother Simone who I missed so much. Grandpa was there too, his cigarette he had just rolled. his cap on his head and his immortal brown sweater with holes in it, but mostly from cigarette burns.

Their dog, Bijou, a butterfly dog, jumped on me and I was relaved!

A good old French cooking smell reigned in the house and I missed it.

Grandpa also used to go duck hunting with his dog but he was too old for the marshes and he resigned himself to fishing...full of old people. A kind of club for the elderly...

I also missed the coolness and the horrible heat almost equatorial was stifling.

Here, it was good to breathe.

We had thousands of things to tell each other and we spent our evenings in front of a projector showing our photos, our adventures and also our projects.

We regularly spoke to each other on video over the internet, but their equipment was old-fashioned and taking something else from them was only going to complicate them. The holographic projectors required certain obvious manipulations for the young people but for the old people, it was another world. I was also from that other world, although with my buddies, I was Sylvia and young again. I even had the hormones too.

We ended the evening with good coffee, chocolate cake from grandma, in front of the fireplace and with Bijou asleep at my feet.

Everybody was falling asleep, and Shaikh woke mom up: "We have to go to bed!".

I helped grandpa and grandma get up from the weight of years and they went to their room on the ground floor.

I went to the kitchen door and stole the dog's meat, a big chunk of heart that she would dice and mix with cereal and blood for the dog. With healthy food, she saved her dogs from dying of cancer and they all died of old age.

Rah! blood... But I was surprised by mom.

"Sylvia! Are you out of your mind? You're eating the dog's food now? "She wanted to laugh, but not this time. I was out of line...

"Go brush your teeth! You stink...We'll sort it out tomorrow... No... but!"

I had like instinctive spikes of snake dragon instinct and, those were the most dangerous moments. The blood rising to my head, I sometimes did stupid things. And it was that kind of stuff that made me unhappy.

"I'm sorry mom, but it looked so good...I started with one end, and the rest followed..."

Then, in a reflex that I didn't see coming, she opened my mouth and saw my set of canines. I had at least twelve while a human has only four.

"No wonder with what you eat that your teeth have become canines. I swear the day you have a toothache, you're not going to the dentist, you're going to the vet! You have as many teeth as Bijou...(dog name)"

Then...she grinned and laughed.

"Sylvia... WOW WOW WOW!...come on! do the beautiful..SIT ! .HAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

I was dead embarrassed!

I ran up the steep stairs to the second floor and jumped on my bed. I wanted to hide there...

Then the night grew stronger and, after barricading my room with all my childhood memories and toys, I literally sank into the depths of my blanket, like quicksand, and arrived in front of the furnished rooms. The circuit had been well laid out and I put the black stone in the cubicle above the frames and the room was connected with the rest.

I had other stones to install for afterwards.

The next day, the butcher passed by and grandma had to buy some guts and heart for the dog.

Mom looked at me and laughed. Shaikh didn't understand why we were consoling the dog... was he hungry?