Willow visited Grey’s new house. He had left her a note tied to one of Sky’s 3 new horns. Sky’s horns had grown a few days ago. They were in a circle on her forehead. They were a light purple. Something else new with Sky was that her previously white membrane was now pale pink.

His house was beautiful. She didn’t know how he did it! He had to have done it himself, as he was a “criminal.” Nobody would want to help a criminal.

It was made of redwood (obviously) and it looked small but cozy. There were pillars supporting an overhang, which was like a grid made of wood. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

There was a couple second wait until Grey opened the door. He was panting and he had some sweat on his forehead. “Oh! Hi Willow! Um, would you like to come in?” He said, wiping sweat off his forehead. He stood to the side to let Willow in.

She smiled slightly and walked past him into his house. His house had one door but about 3 rooms. Grey entered after Willow and asked, “Would you like a tour?”

“Okay.” Willow replied.

“Follow me!” He said, walking forward. Willow followed him. “This is my reading room. I don’t have a lot of books, but I’m not the fastest reader, so they’ll last me a long time.” The room had a redwood bookshelf, filled with around 15 books, and had one chair.

He walked to the left of the house and showed her the kitchen, which had a stool next to an empty counter which she figured was where he ate. Then he showed her his bedroom, the only room with a door. “That’s about it.” He said.

“Nice.” She responded.

“Are you hungry? I’ve got some food.” He said

“No, but I would like to talk to you.”

“Okay.” He shrugged, gesturing for her to follow. They went out onto the back porch that had two chairs facing each other.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” Grey asked.

“I wanted to tell you that we need to find the Devil’s Lair. I believe that he is planning revenge for us at this moment.”

THE DEVIL:

He sighed. His secretary, or person who was supposed to help with his job, was on another break! This was her 3rd in as many weeks! Granted, he would berate her every time something was a little bit off.

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And, she had caught the Devil looking for new secretaries with less pay than her. And, he made her do the most disgusting jobs, so he could kind of see where she was coming from.

He sighed again. And that boy he had hired (for free) had failed him. This was not his month. People were failing him left and right! How would he kill the queen?

He groaned. He might actually have to do work! He loved to make others do his work, but, rarely, he would do it himself. Either by choice or by force. It could be fun killing the queen, getting revenge for when she annoyed his horns off.

He might need a vacation. Yes, he would get a vacation, and he would get it right now! “Scalor!” He called. “Come here!” When Scalor came, he told him, “I am going on vacation. You are in charge of everything. Good riddance!” With that he walked out of the door, leaving the thoroughly confused man behind.

Meanwhile, Willow and Grey were working on a plan for defeating the devil. He was very sneaky, they knew that. They plotted for an hour. Willow headed home once they had a solid plan in mind.

Willow decided it could be fun and useful for her to get on better terms with her dormmates, so she asked them if they would like to do something together. Mabel and Violet seemed reluctant, but Amber didn’t really care. They were going to train their dragons together, and teach them how to hover and fly for extended periods of time, and to get them used to a saddle.

With some dragons, you had to go bareback because they hated the saddle. Violet’s dragon was pink and had 1 horn in the middle of their forehead. His name was Sunbeam. Amber’s was still the purple color. Mabel’s was seafoam. Her name was coral.

While they trained their dragons, it was clear which ones were the best fliers. Mabel’s dragon was in the lead, with Amber’s close behind. Violet’s was the slowest, but she adapted to the saddle the fastest.

Coral was a Swift-touch, a fast breed of dragon. Coral was known as an underwater dragon, or in more scientific terms, a Hydro-glide. Lastly, Sunbeam was a dragon more suited to land, a Quick-paw.

Sky was commonly called a memory dragon, but the actual name was Reminanse-transmit. Willow had a great time and felt she had restored her friendship with the others.

When she put Sky back in the stable, she felt the urge to run. So, she did. She spotted the willow tree in the distance and ran half of the way there before tiring. She then speed-walked the rest of the way there.

When she arrived, she pushed through the canopy of leaves and relaxed as she had the last time she had gone there. She closed her eyes in satisfaction. She realized she got around the same feeling as she did while petting Cedar - relaxation. She felt no need to impress anyone or anything.

She opened her eyes and jumped. There was someone there! He had dark brown wavy hair and deep blue eyes, but something seemed a little… off about him.

“Cool place, huh?” The man said. He wasn’t a child, but she was terrible at guessing ages.

“Uh, yeah. I guess so. Who are you? I mean, what’s your name?” Willow said politely.

“Oh, me? My name is, Jack.” He paused a little before saying Jack, as if it took him a second to remember.

“Nice. My name is Willow.” Willow said. They stood there, staring awkwardly at each other. Willow waved and walked to the other side of the tree. She sighed in relief. That was strange.

She sat down and shook her head, trying to forget about it. She heard a quiet poof and when she looked around the tree to see what it was the boy was gone, and in his place there was a faint red tint in the air. Strange. Willow thought, cocking her head. She shrugged. It didn’t matter. That was his business.