“Tell me the story again!” Isolie bounced beneath her covers, snuggling warm within them, and messing her midnight curls. Her father knelt on the floor beside her bed, leaning his elbows atop the covers.

The only light came from the lily-shaped lamp at her bedside table. The dim light made shadows crawl behind her furniture, but her father would never let them touch her.

He cleared his throat. “Long ago, when the sun still burned low in the sky and the dinosaurs with skin of stone still roamed, the dragons, whose home was the air and whose breath was fire, watched over the earth and everyone in it.

“They kept the people safe from the dinosaurs who roamed the places where people cast their shadows. At night while the people slept, the dragons set walls of fire around their camps. That way the danger could not touch them.

“But one night, the most curious of the children crept away from the camp just before dark. She became lost as darkness fell. All the village people looked frantically for her, but they could not find her.

“When a dinosaur saw the little girl, he was hungry and saw that she would be the perfect snack. He raced toward her, and the little girl screamed, too scared to move.

“Just before the dinosaur got too close, a dragon swooped in and snatched the girl away to safety. Together, they soared high into the sky, higher than any human had ever gone before.

“The dragon took her to the castle in the clouds where all the dragons lived. Before long, they fell in love with the little girl.

“They let her fly with them and showed her moving stories with tongues of fire. They never wanted her to leave, but they heard the tears of her parents fall to the dust. They knew she could not stay forever.

“But before she left, each dragon placed a kiss on her arms so that she might never forget them.

“And now, though no one has seen the guardian dragons for thousands of years, they are not gone. They are in the realm of dreams, and when they meet another who is like that young girl, they kiss her goodbye just the same.”

“Like me?” Isolie asked, running a reverent finger along her arms, tracing the birthmarks there.

He chuckled, tapping her on the nose. “Exactly. Dream well, my darling.”

If only. If only that were the case, Isolie thought, nerves shooting through her body.

She couldn’t stop shaking. She padded down the pristine hallways in silence.

Her eyes were glued on the signs at each junction. She could not afford to make a wrong turn, or she would be late.

And she refused to be late. This was her chance for a new beginning. A new start. She needed to have everyone see her the way she wanted to be seen.

There it was. White numbers that read 327, marked on a plaque beside the next doorway. She breathed in relief and quickened her pace the last several steps.

She pulled the sleeves of her sweater down to her fingers and pulled the door open.

A few heads turned in her direction, but otherwise, she was invisible. She felt giddy as she slipped into a seat toward the back, relishing her obscurity. She could get used to this.

Isolie pulled her phone from her pocket as she filed out of class with the rest of the students. She tapped Peyton’s name in her messages.

Meet me for lunch in the student union? Send.

“Isolie?”

The familiar voice made her head whip up. Her eyes collided with smiling brown ones.

“Alex! What are you doing here?”

He laughed. “College."

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, of course. I mean, I thought you were going to New York.”

“I was… It was a last-minute change.” He grinned at her, shrugging his shoulders as if the news had not entirely turned her world upside-down.

Isolie laughed, disbelief washing over her. College with the two people closest to her.

The two people who knew of her secret and didn’t seem to mind. She didn’t think her day could get much better.

“I just can’t believe you’re here.”

“Hey, I have to go now, but later, I’ll text you. Okay? I want to see you.”

“Yes, okay.”

Alex gave her a fast side hug and left her smiling all the way from the building.