A dragon swooped low over my head and I ducked down, not wanting to get hit by its enormous flapping wings. As I stood back up, it glanced at me and snorted, emitting smoke from its gigantic nostrils. I sighed. What had the world come to?

I walked down the once-proud streets of New York City, glancing to the left and right at the demolished buildings. As I walked I hummed a song my mom used to sing to me when I was a girl, before all this started happening. It was a sweet song, filled with wondrous things of my life to come, where I would end up after becoming a woman, how wonderful life would be. But now, I thought, as I watched the dragon scorch an American flag off of one of the crumbling buildings, it will never be like that.

So much has this earth changed in the past 5 years that one would not think it the same place, but for the fact that everyone that knew it before knows it now, and still cannot believe it. Just how this change came about no one quite knew. One day we woke up to find that dragons had burned down the Statue of Liberty and fairies were seen flying around in the cherry blossom trees at the White House.

Since then, I'm afraid, the world has changed for the worse. Once we humans dominated this earth. Now the flying beasts, the terrifying Centaurs, and the illustrious fairies rule it. Now we live where we can, and we are the outcasts. It's almost as if…as if we had invaded their lands and they went in to hiding and returned one day, smarter than they ever were.

I stopped as I came to the burning flag. I looked up at it and felt tears forming in my eyes. So much had our nation lost, we were not standing united anymore. We had fallen, divided, and may never rise again. I just happened to be one of the unlucky few that had to live to see my life in ruins, never being able to go to college and become a writer, like I had always dreamed.

I put my right hand over my heart and said the Pledge of Allegiance, with more meaning behind it than I ever had. I wiped the tears away from my eyes and continued walking down the street.

New York had been my home my entire life, and it pained me dearly to see it like this, so desolate, so wasted, so lost. Just like I felt. No longer were there Starbucks coffeehouses standing at every corner. Never again did the artists draw charcoal drawings of people for $10 in Central Park. Central Park belonged to the centaurs, and no one dared go in there.

I made my way down Broadway, and stepped through a window of cracked glass that used to be a window looking in to a Barnes and Noble, but no more. Now it was just a burned down building, cold and empty. Yet this was where I lived. I went through the main part of the store that surprisingly looked nearly the same as it had 5 years ago, but dark and dirty. My best friends and I lived in the backroom of the old bookstore.

Our parents had all been killed nearly 3 years before. They were all on the Secret Council of New York City, a last attempt at us humans protecting ourselves. They all had a mission they had to fulfill, and that was to go into Central Park and meet with the lord of the Centaurs, to find if a negotiation for our safe keeping could be discussed. They were slain as soon as they stepped foot under the first tree. Since then, we have all left the centaurs to their own doings, and try to do what we can to survive.

After our parents fell, they all moved in with my older brother, Robbie and I. We had been living in the bookstore on Broadway since the Blue Dragons had burnt down our apartment building a few days after the first attack. I loved it there, because the first day we moved there I had gone out and rescued all the books I had ever wanted to read and not gotten to from the grungy front room and put them all in my bedroom, which was the staff's snack room.

That's one of the ups of these times, though. Money is a thing of the past. If you find something you want, you take it before someone else does. Robbie and I had raided nearly every store on Broadway since we moved to the bookstore. As a result, we had wonderful beds, sturdy sleeping bags and pillows, enough food rations for a long, long time, and everything else that we could need. But now there was no electricity, for Edison had closed down quite a long time ago.

I opened my bedroom door and sighed. Leo was asleep on my bed again.

"Leo," I moaned, "Get up! You're on my bed! You have your own!" I rolled m eyes. Leo was my friend Pip's brother. He was 16, a year older than me, and extremely good looking. I had had a crush on him for most of my life, since I had known him for, well, most of my life. Pip was my best friend in kindergarten.

Their sister, Ruby, also lived with us. She was only 14, but she was a wonderful cook, and would cook most of our meals, and she was a great best friend. Her and I would always stay up late together, discussing the books that we were reading, and writing.

Our friend, Angie, lived in the manager's office. We saw little of her, for she was always out with the Secret Council doing something that would probably change our outcome on this endless war with the Blue Dragons. And for that we admired her.

"Leo!" I moaned again. I walked over to my bed and sat on the floor next to it. He was asleep on his back. I blew into his ear and he twitched. I stifled a giggle, and blew harder.

"Stop, Autumn, I'm trying to sleep," he mumbled, turning over so his back was facing me.

"Yes, I realize that, but you're trying to sleep in my bed!" I joked. "Now get up! I've brought some food from the Johnson's. It's your favorite. Macaroni and cheese.." I teased with him.

He turned to face me. "Did you say macaroni and cheese?" he asked hopefully.

I burst out laughing. "Yes, you weirdo, I did! And you can have some if you get up and sit at my desk. No eating on my bed!"

He didn't need anymore convincing. He got up and sat my desk, which had many notebooks and pieces of paper scattered around, as well as the book I was in the process of reading: The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I handed him the large Tupperware bowl, saying, "Now don't eat all of it, it was meant for dinner tonight, and possibly breakfast tomorrow. Mrs. Johnson was lucky enough to find some milk yesterday. A lady not far south owns a cow, and is giving it away to anyone that needs it. I think I shall go there next week, It would be wonderful to drink milk again, wouldn't it? I fear I'm getting all weak from lack of calcium."

Leo gave me a look clearly saying, "Yeah right." It was true that I had more muscle than ever I had dreamed of having in my entire life. It was mostly because I was on the cleanup crew on the council, and had the responsibility of lifting up many heavy pieces of fallen buildings and such and depositing them in the ever-growing dump.

I shrugged and handed him a fork. I turned around and slumped down on my bed. I started playing with my hair, which was golden red and being held back by a red handkerchief. I sighed loudly and fell on my back.

"Leo," I said in a low voice.

"Hmm," came his reply behind a mouth full of macaroni and cheese,

"Why did this happen?" I asked, not expecting an answer back, just trying to get the point across that I often wondered. "Where did they come from?"

And then, without warning, I did something I hadn't done since my parents died; I started crying. At first I laid staring at the ceiling with tears trickling down my face , and then I couldn't help myself anymore, and started sobbing uncontrollably.

I heard Leo put down his fork and walk over to me, could feel him sit down next to me and run his fingers through my hair. "Hey, sweets, it'll be alright, don't worry about it. There's a solution for every problem, we just haven't found out what it is yet," he whispered.

But these words were of little comfort to me, "How do you know there is a solution. In one day millions of dragons and mythical beings appear out of thin air, and take over the world. How are we supposed to solve that? There's nothing we can do for the rest of the world, for our continent, for our country." I swallowed, remembering the flag from earlier. "There can't be a solution, there just can't be."

And with that I broke into tears again. Leo managed to raise me into a hug, and I lay in his arms, sobbing into his shoulder for quite some time.

There was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Leo asked for me, still rubbing my back.

"It's me, Ruby. Is Autumn alright?" she asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

I felt bad for having upset her. "Yeah, I'm fine," I tried to say, but it came out as a squeak and a sob.

Ruby slowly opened the door to find me crying openly in Leo's arms, which she had never seen me do, let alone in Leo's arms. She had an expression of sympathy on her innocent face. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Leo answered for me, which was probably a good thing, since I probably wouldn't have been able to. "She's just depressed. She'll be fine, but she can't keep all of her troubles inside of her all the time. None of us can. We have to be there to keep each other standing in these rough times. I say, do you want some macaroni and cheese?"

The last bit made me giggle, and I pulled back from Leo and wiped my eyes. "Thanks an awful lot, Leo," I said, "I really wish I had some Prozac right about now!"

Ruby smiled. "Well, I hope you feel better, Autumn, Now what about macaroni and cheese?"

*********************************

Later that night I was out in back of the store, in a little alley that we had fenced in from the top and the side that had been open to the street. Out there we had put fake grass we had stolen from Sears along with two tents and a set of lawn chairs. I was sitting in one of the lawn chairs, reading, when I became aware of someone watching me.

I put down my book and looked through the window nearest me, which was my window. Ruby's face was there, lit by a candle she was holding. When she saw me look at her, she motioned for me to come inside. So I did.

When I got in to my room, she closed the door behind me and smiled mischievously. "I know something you think I don't know," she said teasingly.

I looked at her like she was crazy, which she was of course, and said, "What are you talking about?"

She just kept on smiling. "Don't you pretend like you don't know, Autumn Morkai, I know you do."

I gave her a "wanna bet?" look and said, "Well why don't you tell me anyway, so I don't have to sit here and think you're crazy. I'll know it for sure!"

That didn't seem to daunt her mood at all, it just inspired her to go further. "Well, let's see, how should I put this…hmmm…you are absolutely totally and completely in love with my brother."

My mouth dropped open. At first because of the claim she made, but then because I realized that it was true. I was in love with him. But I wasn't about to admit that. "No I'm not, now I do know that you're crazy!"

But she just kept on smiling. "And I know something else that you don't know, but I'm not going to tell, I'm going to let you figure it out on your own."

As I tried to protest again she gave me this look of pure knowing and understanding that made me shut up right quick. "Autumn, It's ok, I'm not going to tell anyone. Believe me. I'm glad that you're in love with him. He is a great person. I hope you're recovered from earlier. Good night." And she walked out, leaving me to think about my own newfound feelings.

It was true. I was in love with him, and had been since the day I met him. I laughed a little as I remembered that day. It seemed so long ago, so far away, so lost…

*********************

It was my first day of kindergarten, and I was as excited as could be. I made my mom make me especially pretty for the special occasion. I was wearing a long summer dress with no sleeves and pigtails in my hair. I looked in the mirror and smiled. What a day it was going to be.

I first arrived at the school and made my grand entrance. As I walked in I saw a girl wearing the same dress as me, with dark brown hair, A boy not much older than me was at her side. They were walking hand in hand, towards the kindergarten classrooms. As she passed me, she smiled at me and winked.

All through the first part of the day we talked together, and became instant best friends. Little did we know we'd be living together as orphans 8 years into the future. We played with the blocks together, and I learned that her name was Pip, since it was very easy to spell.

At lunch she introduced me to the boy that had walked her to our class; her brother Leonen (Leo for short). He was in the first grade and turned out the he was already friends with my brother Robbie, who was in the second grade then. All through lunch we sat there talking with each other, about birds and beetles and flowers and all the other things kids talk about, all the innocent things.

And then, as we were saying goodbye, a fifth grader came up to me and said, "Ew, a little kindergartner, I think I'll have to hit it out of my way!" And he tried to hit me! Though he didn't get to, since Leo hit him first.

All I remember after that is proclaiming him my hero and kissing him on the cheek. That was a terrific day.

*********************

And now, I finally realized, that the reason why I hadn't been on a date before, though I had been asked out tons of times, why I would sit and stare at Leo all day long and feel a weird desire at the back of my heart, why my heart skipped a beat every time I saw his smiling face, every time I walked in to find him sleeping in my bed, every time I pictured kissing him in my mind., was that I was totally completely, helplessly in love with him.

The question was, what was I supposed to do now that I knew. Nothing? Something? Anything? I had no clue.

I sighed, and opened my door to walk out. I nearly screamed when I saw someone standing there, ready to knock. I looked closer into the darkness. It was Pip. "Hey there, neighbor. What's going on?"

She was hugging her teddy bear. "I want to tell you something," she said in a serious tone. "No, I need to tell you something. You should know. Or someone should, but I don't know who else to tell."

The sound of her voice combined with the look on her face was making me worried. "Come on in and tell me," I said in a rush, "You're freaking me out."

She came inside my room, closing and locking the door behind her. She looked nervously around, as if she was dreading to tell me whatever she was going to tell me. "Um, first of all," she said slowly. "I just want you to know that I'm sorry I didn't tell you this sooner, but Angie made me swear not to tell anybody. But after what happened today, I have to break my word to her. I'm really scared for her, I…oh Autumn I don't know what we're going to do!" Suddenly she burst into tears, sobbing into her teddy bear.

I ran to her and hugged her tight, "It's ok, there's no use in crying unless you have a definite reason to, and I might be able to help. Tell me first. Don't start crying just yet."

She sniffled. "Thanks Autumn," She took a long breath to relax, and then started again.

"Um, it's about Angie. She's been considering for some time now whether or not she's going to join the Council's army. When she asked me what I thought I told her no way, that she had to stay here, and I would never let her go into that kind of danger. She wouldn't listen. She thought it would be better if no one else knew, because she wanted to join but she wanted to do it alone. Until today I was sure she was just talking about it, and wasn't ever going to actually do it. But then she told me that she already had, a long time ago. And, and she said that she's leaving tomorrow, and we can't stop her. She's going to go fight the Blue Dragons at their lair, and she may never come back. Autumn, she might die!" And with that she burst into another fit of tears.

I didn't know what I was going to do. She was waiting for me to give her the solution and tell her everything was alright, and that Angie wouldn't leave. But I couldn't. Because I didn't have a solution and everything wasn't going to be alright and Angie was going to leave. With all these negative thoughts chasing each other around inside my head, and poor Pip sobbing in front of me, I broke down too.

Of course, the sound of us both crying attracted some attention. Ruby and Leo, my neighbors on either side of my room, were knocking on the door, trying to get in to help us, but we were beyond help. Finally, Leo wedged the door open, a trick he had learned once when I was fighting with him and had locked him out.

Pip and I were both sitting on my bed. Pip was still full out crying, while I was racked with silent sobs. Leo looked at us from one, to the other, a look of concern on his beautiful face. "What's wrong with you two?"

I looked uncertainly at Pip. She just kept on crying, shaking her head no. Then I looked at Ruby, who looked scared to death, and that made me want to cry even harder, but I restrained myself.

As Pip abruptly stopped crying and looked at me, I heard a loud bang, like the sound of a door slamming. I looked at Pip, and we both stared for a horrible second, knowing who had made the noise. Then we both got up and ran to Angie's room.

There was no one there. All of her stuff was gone, and there was a note on the desk:

Dear All,

I am extremely sorry for leaving you all this way, but you must understand it was the only way. As Pip can tell you, I have left to go with the Council's Army to fight the Blue Dragons. Please don't come after me, I really want to do this alone. If you somehow find out that help is badly needed, or by some misfortune I have died, rush to the Battle and help, no questions asked. Right now we have enough soldiers to last us a while, but if too many of us fall, you all need to come through for the Council. Once again I am extremely sorry. Hope to see you after the Battle.

With Love,

Angela Black

We all just stood there for a while, not daring to believe what had just happened. All of a sudden Robbie came in, startling everyone from their silent thoughts.

He looked slowly around the room, from Pip's tear stained face to Leo's look of shock. "Alright, what did I miss?"