Eighteen-year-old Jack Fallon grumbles as he has to remind himself for the hundredth time not to scratch at the mysterious rash that he broke out in suddenly last week. But it's hard when half his body constantly burns and itches no matter how much Calamine Lotion, Hydrocortisone-10, or CeraVe moisturizer he slathers on.

His entire torso and back, large sections of his arms and legs, the back of his neck, even the tops of his hands and feet have a rash that he'd describe as a cross between eczema and poison ivy after a few hundred Google searches.

Except he didn't get into anything, didn't go hiking lately, didn't eat anything weird - nothing, it just happened one day.

Making his way into the bathroom, Jack finds the extra-large bottle of lotion his mother bought two days ago and strips his shirt off before pumping an entire hand-full and smearing it all over his chest. Quickly following suit with his arms and legs, Jack takes a minute to take a look in the mirror.

Amber eyes, like two golden rings, stare back at him out of a pale face, seeming to glow in the poor lighting next to the medium-length dark auburn hair framing his face.

His time on the high school football team at least made him well-muscled, even if he only joined to burn some energy off once he hit puberty and shot up to a towering six foot six in the space of a few months and he couldn't continue the self-defense courses his mother had him in as he could've seriously hurt the other kids in them. After finishing up his back, being careful to avoid pressing on his shoulder blades as they've been aching for the past two weeks - and his mother said there was a straight line of the mystery rash going up and down his shoulders, more intense than the rest of it, wonderful! - Jack slides his shirt back on and calls out "Mom, I'm going for a run! Be back in an hour!"

Alice Fallon, a petite five foot two woman with mousy brown hair who has to crane her neck to look up at her son now, calls over "Just be careful, honey! Don't-"

Jack calls over "Don't talk to strangers, look where I'm going, don't go into the woods with what's left of my rash still going on! I know!" He told her it was going away so she wouldn't worry, that all the lotion was helping - he lied, lied straight through his teeth, and he doesn't regret it a minute because he hates seeing his mother worry when she's already got enough on her plate.

Bending down, Jack picks his mother up and kisses her cheek as she shrieks in surprise.

Alice plants her hands on her hips when Jack puts her down, and gives him a once-over before saying "At least nobody will be fool enough to try and mess with you. Off you go, have fun. I'm making Ruebens for lunch, if that'll interest your appetite." It will, she knows it will - everything interests Jack's appetite, and Reubens are one of his favorites.

Jack licks his lips, and his stomach apparently decides to agree with the choice of lunch because it lets out a rumble right then and there. Jack grabs an apple from the fridge, and takes a large chunk out of it before he even leaves the door.

About ten minutes into his run, Jack runs into his childhood best friend Taylor. Curly brown hair pulled up into a ponytail, pink glasses slid down the bridge of her nose, she glances up from the Kindle she brought with, and then smiles and says "Fancy seeing you here! Going for a run, to play football, or just taking a walk?" She was headed to the library to read in some peace and quiet - she may work there, but she genuinely enjoys the place nonetheless.

It's calm, quiet, and nobody bothers her when she wants to be alone to read or steals her book or Kindle. Ergo, the library is one of her favorite places in the whole town.

Jack grins, then says "Well, I was on a run…but, seeing as I've just bumped into you, want to cut it short and head back to my place? Mom's making Ruebens for lunch."

Taylor nods, saying "Your mom's Ruebens are the best. C'mon, mine's at work and my brother just does whatever he wants." And, since he usually wants to just drive her up a wall, she'd rather just let him be on his own if at all possible - he's a grown adult and can feed himself, yet always wastes as much time as possible literally begging her to help empty the dishwasher or fold up his laundry instead of just doing it himself. Honestly, he wastes more time getting her to do it than if he would just do it himself.

The walk back to Jack's house is short, and Alice beams as soon as they get inside. "Well, just in time! I'm just putting the Ruebens on the stove now. Give them twenty minutes, and I'll have enough for everyone!"

Taylor grins, and says "Awesome! I love your cooking!"

Four Ruebens, six glasses of juice, and two more apples later, Jack's drying the last of the dishes when Alice says "I've got to run to the store, you two, pick up stuff for dinner. I should be back in an hour or two."

Jack nods, saying "We'll be here, Mom. Could you pick up some more sandwich meat?"

"Again? I just bought four packs…let me guess, Turkey? Ham? Salami?"

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Jack semi-sheepishly says "All three? I made Italians for lunch yesterday."

Taylor raises an eyebrow, trying hard not to laugh at Alice's half-despairing, half-disbelieving expression, and asks "How much lunchmeat did you put on those Italians?"

"I didn't count…"

"A lot?"

"A lot."

The two teens end up sitting on the couch, and Taylor says "Well, in good news…I got accepted into college. With a scholarship."

Jack whistles, and says "Good for you! You'll do great, I know it." He smirks and nudges her in the ribs, saying "Just make sure you tell me if you get a boyfriend at long last."

Taylor rolls her eyes, and says "Very funny, Jack. You know I've never been interested in hooking up with someone."

Jack hums, then says "That's because most all the guys we went to High School with are idiots who couldn't see past their own noses. Maybe you'll meet somebody in college."

"Doubt it. But, if I do, I'll call you up and say you were right."

Jack grins, and says "You call me up and say I'm right on that, I'm driving down there and meeting this guy myself."

Taylor rolls her eyes, and mutters "So overprotective…" He's always been that way, and she's not complaining about it when he scared off all the people that liked to tease her because of her glasses or how her hair insists on frizzing up thanks to the humidity.

Jack grins, and says "You're like a little sister to me, of course I'm protective of you."

Taylor rolls her eyes, and says "I'm the older one! My birthday's in February, yours is in April!"

"And yet…" he puts an arm around her, "I've had you beat height and muscle-wise since sixth grade." Taylor huffs but doesn't push his arm off. And then Jack slaps the back of his neck with a muffled curse, the spot where he's broken out there suddenly burning like it's on fire.

Taylor frowns at once, asking "Jack? What's wrong?"

Jack grits his teeth, telling himself not to scratch like it's a mantra, and says "It's this weird rash thing I started up with last week. And no matter how much Cortisone cream or other stuff I put on it, it just keeps getting worse."

Taylor tries to pry Jack's hand away from his neck, saying "Let me take a look. Have you thought of going to the doctor? Told your mom, even?"

Jack shakes his head, saying "No, and no. In that order. Mom's busy enough with work, so I told her it went away after a few days, said it was probably poison ivy. I've been getting by under about a pound of lotion, I'll be fine."

Taylor finally succeeds in sliding Jack's hand off the area, and sees the area is bright red. "Does it hurt if you touch it?"

Jack shrugs slightly, saying "It itches either way. Does that count?"

Taylor rolls her eyes, then says "Mind if I poke at it? It looks…Jack, the skin looks raised for some reason."

Jack frowns, asking "Raised? Raised how?"

"Raised. As in, there's something under the top layer of skin."

Jack frowns even harder, and asks "You think getting the top layer off will make it stop?" He's willing to try it, and it couldn't possibly make it itch any worse!

Taylor deadpans "Jack, this is not like when your skin peels after a sunburn, alright?"

Jack shrugs, saying "Well, it's the only clue we've got! If it's too gross for you, I'll go into the bathroom, alright?"

Taylor sighs and shakes her head, saying "No…at least I can see the spot on your neck. Let me grab your mom's tweezers…and a disinfectant wipe for afterwards, just in case."

Five minutes later, Jack's hunched over in a chair and facing the floor as Taylor starts picking at the back of his neck with his mom's tweezers. "Alright," she mutters, "just hold still, alright?"

Jack feels a slight pulling sensation at the back of his neck, and then hears a faint tearing sound…and then Taylor sucks a sharp breath in through her teeth. "Taylor? What is it?" The itching feeling hasn't gone away…but it hasn't gotten worse either, at least.

Taylor breathes out "Oh my gods…Jack, don't freak, alright?"

Jack frowns at once, asking "What's wrong?"

"I don't…I'm gonna take a picture and show you, alright? Just don't move." She grabs her cell phone and quickly snaps a few pictures, and says "Just don't freak, Jack."

Jack deadpans "I'm starting to worry more and more every time you say 'don't freak' you know."

Taylor swallows, then hands him her phone - when he pulls up the pictures, though…he instantly understands why she said not to freak out. Because he's looking at a dark red patch the exact color of his hair in the middle of his skin. And it isn't skin, it isn't skin by far. Jack picks his jaw up off the floor after a moment, and says "Ok…definitely not the rash…"

Taylor nods, and says "I was trying to get the loose skin off…it came off. And this was underneath."

Jack zooms in on the patch, one hand moving to feel it as he does - it feels…hard. Rough-ish, almost like sandpaper, and with sharp edges when he rubs his thumb over it in one direction.

Ok, like Taylor said, don't freak out, Jack thinks. This is probably perfectly normal, everyone breaks out in a rash that turns into…scales now and again…

He apparently does a crap job of not freaking out, because Taylor suddenly says "Jack! No, no, don't freak out! Remember?"

Jack nods, trying to remember to breathe, and takes a moment before asking "Any ideas what this is?"

Taylor bites her bottom lip, and says "Ideas? A few. Realistic ideas…no. Can I use your computer?"

Jack nods, and Taylor heads straight to his room while Jack takes a detour to the bathroom for the bottle of lotion. When he gets to his room, Taylor's already rapid-fire typing into a google search engine.

Taylor waits until he's next to her, and says "Ok, so, 'scales on skin' pulls up…not psoriasis, not fish-scale disease, you don't have eczema and it doesn't look right anyway, it isn't like ringworm…"

Jack holds the phone up to the screen after she clicks on 'images' and…nothing remotely matches. Jack sighs, saying "Well, that's a bust…you said you had ideas?"

Taylor shakes her head, saying "Not…not possible ones! You know as well as I do that my imagination gets the best of me sometimes."

Jack shrugs, saying "Well, the internet isn't coming close, so I'm all ears. Seeing as you're the smartest girl I know, your imagination has to have something."

Taylor looks at the picture again, then sighs and says "This is crazy…" Still, she types 'dragon scale images' into the search bar.

What comes up is…not too far off from the picture she has of his neck. His are a little more rounded than the pointy ones that come up at first, and they don't look all metallic or shiny like on the pictures…but he can't deny the resemblance.

Yes, Jack decides, this is crazy. This is absolutely insane...

Despite all logic, common sense, and the detail that dragons don't exist, he's…sprouting dragon scales.