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Chailyn was a bit worried about the lack of fuss Donny made over his wings. Then again she wondered if maybe he was just trying to make her feel better by not fussing. It must've hurt quite a bit to have his feathers torn.

The stroking of her hair made her feel more at ease. She listened as he began talking about the bad people. She didn't like the way he talked about them. She shivered, chills running down her spine as she scooched closer to him. "I dream about running away from someone else..." she whispered.

As she was collected in his arms, it didn't much matter about the bad people. She was already thinking about getting back to the park once they landed. "We can figure out how to make a statue of you for the park!" she chirped in hopes of making Donny grin.

Running, running, running. He can't remember whether his pursuers are his elders or the others. It doesn't matter. He knows what they will do when they catch him. Catching his foot on a branch, he stumbles and falls. It has been too long, his energy is spent. Blood leaks from scrapes across the bright scales of his legs.

The sounds of pursuit swell as he reaches the river bank. He spends a precious few seconds simply lying there, gasping for breath. The reflection in the water is unfamiliar to his waking self, though colored in the same bright patterns. The colors waver and shift. Now he is human, or appears to be. Not for long.

As Ezra struggles through the river, the people behind catch up at last. Senseless shouts, a struggle, an inhuman hand clutching at his robe -- all this is lost when Ezra wakes with a gasp.

* * *

A fleeting vision, gone before he can make sense of it. Two menacing figures. A grim room. Ezra shook his head to clear it and resumed staring out the train window. He had been gone for too long. Ordinarily a loner, his mom's traveling was okay with him. But maybe the loneliness was getting to him. First the strange, recurring nightmares, and now he was hallucinating? Maybe he was going crazy. Or maybe he had just been falling asleep.

2006 was coming to a close and for once Khia was actually at the Stationary Store; he generally stayed out of there as his outlandish and fierce appearance tended to scare away potential clientele. But this night, something had drawn him back to the place of his 'birth' - the Store, the Study - the Tome.

He'd come because he'd felt called, but once in the tidy building, so many memories and thoughts had come to him that he couldn't help but take a bit of time to pad around the store and the 'house' portion of the building; lost in thought.

When was the last time he'd spoken with Linny? Certainly it had been a very long time ago - the scent he remembered from their childhood was not the scent he now caught permeating everything. Linneas was a man now, he scented that much; had he seen him grown? Had Linny seen him for that matter? No, he didn't think so.

And Aido? They wrote short notes to each other once in a while and gifts were sent between them, but had they really seen each other much? Once, very briefly when she had grown the last time - he thought, but that might have been a dream. Had she grown again? What was she like now? Would she be frightened of the beast-him, or would she still see Khia?

So many of his friends...not forgotten, but not spoken to. Olivia, Nalira - christ how was she? Could she see? Was she still unwell? And worse, he hadn't seen Jiro in quite some time - when had he become so hermit-like and avoidant? Perhaps when the twins had arrived? Wasn't that when the dreams started?

But no, the dreams had stopped.

What then? Khia found himself standing before the Study door as if in a trance, his gem-like red eyes gleaming in the low light of the moon. Linny's scent was here too, mingling with so many others...and a scent he'd long associated with Magic...with the Tome. Not exactly pleasant, but neither was in necessarily unpleasant it was merely a scent among many, and one that he bore faintly as well. All the Tales did.

He reached out one dark-furred hand to touch the door-knob, but when those clawed digits curled around the dull-golden protrusion, something sent a frission down his spine that caused his hackles to raise. At the same time, his vision blurred and faded in and out; Khia staggered into the wall outside the study, his claws leaving scores in the wood and wallpaper. His bulky body shifted into a beastial form and he drifted off to sleep a troubled sleep

***

With slightly shakey, mottled hands the old man brought an image onto the surface of whatever silvery semi-liquid he kept for scrying, far-seeing, and whatever else. Sometimes his assistant was disturbed...she had been working with him for quite an expansive length of time by then, and the man still had so many secrets! The image before them slowly faded in and out, showing each of the 'written' Tales for a moment before swirling and shifting into another. He chuckled and reached down with one hand to stroke a very pale, curly head. "You've done well, children. We will begin soon...once our other 'guest' arrives.

He glanced over at the girl that had wormed her way into his keep, into his magic. She was getting mouthy and balky and that did not please him. She didn't shirk her chores, but she seemed much more inclined to voice her opinions...and that just would not do. Assistants that forced theirselves into one's life had NO voice! No rights! Bah, soon he would be able to get rid of her...once they began, everything would fall into place.

"Guest? Who are you? What's going on here?" Khia found himself 'speaking' in this...dream. It had to be a dream, right? He wasn't really worried as he had some experience with Dream and the dream-world...but this didn't scent quite like a dream - if it wasn't a dream, then who were these two people, why did they have the Twins with them...and - here was the part that really confused him - why did he keep catching Linneas' scent!? Curiouser and curiouser...

No answers were forth coming from either the old sorceror nor his apprentice...at least, not when he first spoke. The old man was much to pleased with himself! "Girl, is everything at the ready!?

When the pair of Tales clasped hands, the old wizard grinned - when their eyes and the markings on their skin began glowing, he started laughing and cackling in that frighteningly sick, crazy way that only true psychotics, super villians on TV and people that have been imprisoned too long can.

Spindly, rune-covered arms were raised over his head in triump - this was the beginning of the end! "Yes my children, YES! At long last!" Oh victorious moment, this beginning; the old man wasn't even paying attention to the woman that had become his assistant - he had eyes only for the twins!

Khia hissed as the twin's touched, as the light shone so brilliantly his very being wanted to flinch away; he was blinded and his sense muted...and yet he was seeing the Tales.

All of them. Even ones he had never seen before -- there were small children with wide eyes suddenly slumping over tiredly, sliding into sleep in the middle of playing or reading; there were the older kids - older, but still he knew them, as with Tybalt and Nalira...but no Linny. Why did he see his mate dropping like that, but not his oldest friend?

The redhead's scent was so strong in his flared nostrils...was he right there? Were they sharing a Dream? Impossible!!

Brighter and brighter the light shone until he must have blacked out from it; a howl not unlike the one that brought Blue into this world brought the shapeshifter back to conciousness. Dark eyelids snapped open and he was disoriented, nauseated.

He very nearly bowled Linny over in his rush to the bathroom - Khia made it to the door outside, and heaved a strangely watery liquid into the bushes. A thought came to him - Aunt Huni and Linny are going to kill me for this... But the thought flitted away as his childhood friend's voice finally burned into his brain.

The black beast straightened, wiped at his mouth and turned to look at Linneas while his mind re-digested what the young man was saying. "Linny? What...did you just...I had a dream that...." He shook his heavy head and leaned against the door, slumping once more - oh, he knew now...whatever had just happened did not bode well for the Tales.

Had Khiarhu truly understood that what had happened was reality and not just a bizarre dream, he would have rushed off...but he was too bewildered and confused and honestly unsettled to think past that precise moment.

As the year had worn thin and passed away, the small household that some of the Preston family called home had only gotten smaller. First it had absorbed a new child, then two Dreams, then an entire family, then another child, and another, and another... If Ambrus didn't spend so much time away, he would have had a psychotic break by now, what with all the kids scampering about underfoot.

Still, it had been a good situation for most of them. Ameretat and Anahita had other children their own relative age to play with, with had blunted the little Tale's curious melancholy at having to spend so much time away from his Author--let alone others of his kind. Not a day went past, though, they he couldn't be found sitting on the bench out in the garden, staring over the plant-infested picket fence that was the boundary of his world (most of the time), wondering at what might be out there.

The last time he'd actually gone outside, he'd nearly killed Father, but somehow the icy lump of guilt in the little bird's chest didn't dull the longing to see something else of the world. He was engaged in this activity as the short winter day crept on toward evening and the house behind him came alive with the sounds of the other children squabbling over dinner--staring over the fence and wondering. Soon enough he'd have to go inside and make himself presentable, and soon enough Father would be home, distracted and smelling of blood, and soon enough he'd go to bed after another raucous dinner, and soon enough he'd dream...

Ame drew in a deep breath and let it out in a low, melancholy whistle. The mockingbird in residence in the old pine tree whistled back, then broke into his rendition of a frog--a sound that made Ame gape his beak a little in amusement. He smiled the wider as Anahita's piercing "NO! MINE! ME!" cut through the chatter inside the house, and shaking himself, got up to go back inside--

But he never got there. As soon as he put a foot on the ground, a curious lightness of head washed over him. He took a step back as if to sit back down on the bench, and his knees buckled, delivering him to the ground. He didn't get up.

The mockingbird in the old pine tree sang on, staccato chattering eventually blending into the happy sounds of the household as Ame's vision went dark.

A cold wind blew through Gambino Island, bringing winter to the usually warm shores of the island. Since Rhea had lived on the island with Elysia, she had yet to see snow, but today was different. It was a special kind of day. Fat snowflakes were falling endlessly from the cloudy, gray sky, building up, one on top of the other to form snowpiles everywhere you looked. Palm trees were coated in a thick layer of white, and one could hardly see the sand on the beach in places.

Rhea had already hopped out of bed, excited to see her first snow. She was ready to build a snowman almost immediately. Munich, on the other hand, followed along behind her, rubbing sleepy eyes as she pretended to be enthusiastic about the cold, white stuff outside. "I wanna sleep more kid," she mumbled, her voice full of irritation.

"Not today Mun. We're gonna play in the snow!" Maya's voice was high-pitched, almost a shriek. Anyone could tell that she was excited.

Elysia was in the kitchen, making hot cocoa for the kids, when Rhea skipped in, practically tripping over her own feet. "Hey you! Are you guys ready to hit the slopes?" Elysia asked them, turning from the stove to see what Rhea had decided to wear. It was quite a sight:
A long nightgown and a jacket covered the important parts, and on her feet, she wore a comical pair of yellow rubber rain boots.

"I'm SO ready Mama!" she exclaimed, running for the door. "Let's go Mun!!"

"Rhea! Wait a sec. You've got to get warmer clothes on than that. I don't know if you've noticed, but it's COLD outside. Come here!" Elysia tried to grab her, but it was too late...she was already out the door, ready to fall back into the snow for her first snow angel.

Rhea tromped out into the snow, and for a second, felt euphoric. The air was crisp and clear, and the flakes had begun to become lazy now, floating silently to the ground. The ebony-haired girl took a deep breath and began to fall. Halfway to the ground, the world began to spin. And by the time she landed, the world had gone dark.

The last thing she remembered was hearing Munich shouting at her. "Hey! Rhea! Rhea, wake up! Are you okay!?"

And then, all there was was darkness...

As luck would have it, Ezra was all alone when the wave of dizziness struck him. He was balancing on his tail in the middle of an icy stream, sifting the sandy bottom for shark teeth. The results so far were satisfactory. His first worry was for the fossils. Ezra moved quickly to the bank, holding one hand out to catch himself should he fall. It took a surprisingly great effort to haul himself up onto the bank. The boy sighed, wiping one damp hand across his forehead. What was wrong with him? Maybe he had eaten something bad. Ezra glanced accusingly at the crumpled paper bundle which had contained his picnic lunch.

The little tray full of shark teeth and small animal bones rattled as he set it down. There were so many! It would be an excellent challenge trying to catalogue them all. Ezra reached down and picked out his favorite. He held the wicked-looking tooth up to his face with increasingly unsteady fingers. That's a good one. See how it's raked backwards, too, to hold onto prey... that shark musta been a real heavyweight. Mustn't lose it. It took all Ezra's concentration to careful lay the tooth down on top of the others.

Maybe a short nap would fix him. The sun really was rather strong, and he had been working hard. Ezra lay down on the streambank, curling his tail protectively around the pan full of fossils. His last thought was of the paper bag full of trash. Got to remember to take it out of here afterwards. I hope it doesn't blow away. Maybe I should...

And then, to all intents and purposes, Ezra was gone.

It had been such a busy holiday. The boy had been there and back again, so to speak, and brought back many souvenirs. This brisk night, however, he was simply enjoying his old comforting habit of flying with his pegasi in the cold winter air. He flew of his own accord this night, while the pegasi soared beside him. The two were silent, just watching the little dots of bright light below as they winked and skittered about playfully. The only sound they could hear was the whistle of wind as it sped through and by them. Donny turned and smiled at Frey, a gentle smile shared between friends. The pegasi would have returned the favor, but smiling was difficult for a horse, especially at such heights. Instead he just eyed the boy for a moment, before returning his sights to the ground.

The whistle of wind changed, and Frey's ear perked in recognition of it. He turned to look at the boy once more, this time offering a semblence of a smile, but he wasn't there.

Frey tilted his head upward, but the boy had not soared higher. He strained to look further in the direction he flew, but the boy had not sped ahead. He slowed and hovered in mid-air, flapping his wings tilted to see behind him; no, he had not fallen behind. Where had the boy gotten off to?

Frey answered his own question when he looked straight down, and caught a glimpse of the boy diving towards the ground. His eyes were closed, but Frey couldn't tell much else, besides the fact that he wasn't flying anymore. Instinctually, Frey tightened his wings to his body and divebombed downward, using his weight to his advantage instead of against it by streamlining his body as much as he could. Soon he had passed the boy like a rocket, and his wings spread out regally to stop his dive. He flew downward, just under the falling Donny, in an attempt to slowly catch the boy. The move wasn't as graceful as he'd hoped, and Donny's unconscious body slammed against the pegasi's frame.

"Little pet? Little pet, wake up. Why have you fallen asleep?" Frey asked, his voice as fond as the first day he'd met the stumbling toddler who'd wandered into his life. Donny couldn't answer, as he'd blacked out, with no signs of returning to consciousness.

With a sigh of resignation, Frey turned in mid-flight, heading back home with the boy flopping against his body.