"Jake," Hayley started as they rode on their brother's back above New York City, turning thousands of heads. "Don't you think we should have just walked out of there rather than… this? It doesn't seem as safe."

"What? No, Hayley, don't worry." The red dragon's wings snapped out to a glide. "The Am-Drag has this covered, I promise."

"Really?"

If Jake had sweat glands at that moment, they would be going into overdrive. "Y-yeah. Don't worry about it, everything is fine, yo."

"You're lying, Jake." Hayley crossed their arms. "You don't have to be a genius like me to figure that out."

"Yeah? Well it doesn't take a genius either to figure out this is all my fault!" Jake growled. "All because I couldn't take being wet for some stupid picnic. Now everyone's in danger!"

Hayley blinked. "So what does this have to do with lying?"

The American Dragon jerked. "Hayley-! Ugh, forget it. I was just lying to make you feel better, but I can't even get that right."

There was a short moment of silence as Jake switched to flapping their wings.

"And yes, Hayley, I know that's stupid and all, but I'm really not in the mood for a lecture."

"I wasn't going to say that." Hayley frowned. "Although you are right, it was stupid."

Jake sighed deeply. "Yeah, so what do you wanna say?" They were suddenly aware of two little arms wrapped halfway around their neck.

"I just want you to know you're a really great brother." Hayley's warm hug made Jake freeze in surprise.

"Oh, well, haha, ahem…" Jake stuttered. "That's really sweet of you, Hayley… thanks-"

"Building! Look out for the building!" The red dragon shook themselves out of their trance just in time to narrowly avoid a collision with concrete. Hayley's embrace became something more of a stranglehold as the girl hung on for dear life.

"Sorry, sis!"

"Jake, be more careful next time!" Hayley grumbled. "Ugh, I wish I could be flying right now."

"Yeah, I know it sucks but the less dragons revealed, the better." Jake spotted their house coming up… surrounded by a crowd of people. "I hope Mom and Dad are alright."

The two entered through an open window in Jake's room and the boy immediately switched to human form. "Mom! Dad! We're, uh, home!"

Susan threw the door open. "You're okay!" They ran over and hugged the two, followed closely by Jonathon. "We tried to call, but my father's phone kept saying it was too busy!"

"Yeah," Jake scratched the back of their head. "We were having some technical issues, but I got Hayley back safe."

Jonathon smiled. "And as long as my family's safe, that's all that matters, right?"

"But what were you thinking, flying over here!" Susan interrupted. "Haven't you been hearing how the news has been covering this? You could have been shot out of the sky!"

Jake rubbed the back of their head, grinning apologetically. "I… panicked?"

"Well… nevermind. But we've got to be much more careful." They ruffled their son's hair. "I'm just glad you're safe."

"And," Hayley started. "I didn't reveal my dragon identity. Isn't that great!"

Jonathon grinned and picked their daughter up. "That's great, Princess. Now why don't we come downstairs, play a few games to take our mind off of this? After all, the press can't hound us in our own house!"

"That's a great idea, honey." Susan began walking after their husband. "Are you coming, Jake?"

Jake walked up to their window and leaned a little out, feeling a breeze on their face. They looked up at the sunny sky, remembering how smooth the flight over had been.

There was a flash of light, which brought their attention to a man with a camera standing on the opposite building. With a groan of disgust Jake slammed their window shut and drew the curtains.

"Coming, Mom."

~Line Break~

It was the middle of the night when Rose's laptop began lighting up with breaking news of the dragons. They rubbed their eyes, pinched their arm, but there it was. A picture of Jake underneath the heading 'Dragons Hiding in Our Midst?'

Rose's blood running cold, they clicked the link which led to an article:

Dragons hiding in our midst?

In New York, a city situated on the east coast of the United States, existence of dragons has been undoubtedly proven by a man named Hans Rotwood. What's more, they appear to possess a trait far scarier than any fire-breathing or flying ever was: the ability to disguise themselves as regular humans.

No dragon has yet been discovered besides one formerly known as the human teenager Jake Long, but researchers across the world are attempting to replicate the substance named Rotium which was able to reveal them.

Currently the story is very early in development, but much more details are expected soon. Click here for 24-hour news coverage of Jake Long's house.

Rose shut down the laptop, plunging their room into complete darkness as they breathed heavily. Jake was in trouble; the girl knew more than anybody else what happened to fearful humans when they discovered dragons. They needed to get to New York, but how? What were they going to do?

The girl took a deep breath and sat up, trying to steady their heartbeat. This was all so sudden; they'd planned to tell their parents in case Jake needed them again, but there'd never been a good moment. How were you supposed to even begin? And now at three o'clock in the morning, it was too late, too late…

Rose steeled themselves; panicking was not going to help. What options did they have? They could wait until tomorrow when their parents watched the news and saw Jake wasn't crazy, but it was unlikely they would still let Rose go. They could sneak out and go alone… but they didn't have money to fly.

At least, not by human transport. Rose put their laptop down, reached under their bed and drew out the Huntsclan spear they had acquired after fighting the Dark Dragon. They turned it on and began flipping through various buttons on the small screen until they got to it: a map of the various magical hotspots detected in Hong Kong. The magical community had rather welcomed Rose after their help defeating the Dark Dragon, so there was bound to be somebody willing to help.

Perfect. Rose got up and dressed, then quickly packed a bag full of clothes. They opened the window into the night air… and paused, looking back at their bed with a twinge of guilt.

Their family would be so worried. Rose lay down their bag, turned on a light and quickly wrote out a note: 'Check the news. Jake wasn't lying. Will be back soon with full explanation, love Rose.' It wasn't great, but at least their family would have some sort of answer when they checked in the next morning.

Without any further ado, Rose turned off the light and left.