Jake woke up with a broad smile on his face. Padding out to the kitchen, he fired up the stovetop for his specialty; scrambled eggs.

Pulling out several of the finest eggs he could find in the package, he placed them on the counter before returning to the fridge for the Tabasco sauce, cheddar cheese, and crumbled bacon. Closing the door firmly behind him, he placed the items next to the eggs. Then he went to the cabinet for a large skillet that he set on the stove.

Humming quietly to himself, he began cracking the eggs into the skillet. He wanted this breakfast to be special, so everything would have to be perfect.

As the eggs began to cook, he pulled out the large toaster oven to make toast. Buttermilk bread was his preferred medium, although wheat would do in a pinch. Fortunately, he had plenty of the first, so he started putting them in four at a time.

"Mmm! Eggs and toast!" Serena groaned in hungry anticipation. "Nacomi must be coming over."

Jake nodded. "She said she'll here by eight. She didn't have class last night so..." he shrugged. The eggs looked just about right to him, and he began pouring in the Tabasco. Just a little, to provide it that extra flavor.

"She she decided to spend it here." Serena finished.

"Guess so."

Serena laughed delightedly. Jake felt his heart, already pretty light that morning, seem to sing in his chest. His sister had been having that effect on people lately.

Jake frowned slightly. He had to be imagining things, but he could almost swear that her laugh sounded much different than it used to be. It had always been clear and robust, but now it seemed more like tones from the silver bells at his church when he was a kid; pure, sweet, and clear as a mountain stream. Whenever she laughed, people would stop, entranced. Jake himself had seen a boy, must have been about six or seven, who had been crying his heart out until she had walked by him, laughing at some joke. Immediately he had stopped crying. Of course, once Serena discovered he had been, she'd immediately gone over to comfort him, soon managing to make him smile and laugh. The boy's father had come up to Jake while he stood there watching and they had fell to talking. It was then that Jake learned that the boy had just watched his dog be put down after being hit by a car the day before. The father was amazed and grateful that Serena had managed to get him to laugh like that again.

Jake mentally shrugged to himself. His sister had always liked helping kids. A bit like he himself really, so perhaps she just knew what to say to the boy. But to make it seem like nothing had been wrong just a few minutes ago!

He glanced at his eggs and nodded to himself, vacating his previous train of thought to concentrate on them. They were nearly done, and in a few minutes he could start finishing them off with the various herbs he liked to use; dill, chives, some red onions that he'd gotten from the store, and a dash of pepper for the robust flavor.

"So. What do you two have planned for tonight?" Serena asked as she helped pull the finished toast from the toaster and buttered them before placing the next batch in.

"Hey! It's supposed to be a full moon tonight. That's pretty romantic. You could take her to the park."

Jake looked up from placing the eggs in several bowls. "Really?" He asked in surprise. He hadn't noticed the moon getting fuller. Usually he was studying by the time it got dark.

Serena gave him her best "what-are-you-a-moron?" look. "Duh. It's only been in, like, every romantic song or story ever?"

Jake felt his cheeks heat as he snapped back. "I'm well aware of that, thank you. What I meant was, is it really a full moon tonight? I haven't been out much at night lately."

She rolled her eyes but nodded.

"Hey! Eggs!" Brian gasped as he came stumbling out of the back, wiping sleep from his eyes. The sounds of frantic movement reached Jake and he knew the others would be out very soon.

"Well, too answer your question," He told Serena as Brian snatched his bowl from the counter (Jake had already served Serena and placed Nacomi's in the microwave to keep warm). "Nacomi is visiting her sister tonight. She just got a job here in town and since they haven't seen each other in a couple of years..." Jake trailed off. There wasn't much else he could add to that statement.

"Oh." Serena gave her own shrug and went back to devouring her meal. Brian had nearly finished his when the others got out.

It wasn't long after everyone had gotten their bowls and plates and sat down to eat when a loud knock at the door came from the front door.

"Come in." Stacey called before anyone else could.

Nacomi walked through the door, waving cheerfully at everyone. She wore a tight red t-shirt that read TRIBAL PRIDE above a shadow Indian on horseback. Her tight red pants showed off her assets very nicely and threatened to distract Jake completely. Until she kissed him good morning and drove every thought about breakfast or good morning clean from his head.

He needed a moment or two to collect his scattered wits when she leaned back to remember where her meal was and to retrieve it.

"Thanks sweetie! I'm starved." She managed around a mouthful of eggs.

"Your welcome." Jake mumbled, pretending to take no notice of Tom's snigger. It was hard not to laugh however when Rachel reached over and smacked him upside the head. Tom gulped and gasped hard before glaring over his bowl at her sweetly smiling face. A moment later and he laughed.

"Well," Jake started when everyone had pushed away their plates and bowls with a groan. "Will you be taking off now, or will you stay a few?"

"Really wish I could." Nacomi said regretfully. "But I'm going to be spending the weekend helping her move in to her new apartment. I really need to be going if I'm going to beat traffic, even if it's a Saturday."

"Okay." Jake said.

She planted another kiss on his cheek which made his head swim. He could feel a dopey grin come to his face but couldn't quite manage to hold it back.

"Thanks for the offer though! See ya!" and just like that she was gone. Only the sound of her feet echoing on the concrete remained and those faded more and more with every passing second.

"Well, anyone else got any big plans today that they want to share?" Brian asked after a minute.

Jake looked at everyone, but to be honest his day was completely open. He didn't have any homework left for the weekend and there didn't happen to be any meetings at his book club or anything like that. He waited to see what everyone else had to say.

Almost as one, everyone shook their heads. Catching themselves, the room exploded with giggles and general laughter.

"Well, if that's the case, why don't we go down to the park? We can play some volley ball and maybe shoot some hoops." Jake suggested. A grin touched his face as he looked at his sister. "Maybe we can watch the moon rise before we call it quits."

Everyone glanced around the table. A couple looked hesitant but the others nodded slowly. It seemed as if they had nothing better to suggest.

"Cool." Jake finished. It would be better than nothing, in his opinion.



Jake sighed as he watched the sun sink ever so slowly to the horizon. The violent pink had faded to a deep purple that rapidly darkened to maroon. It would not be long, perhaps another twenty or thirty minutes that would see the sun vanish and the moon take its place.

As he waited, he took a look around at his friends and the park in general. Brian and Rachel lounged nearby on their towel, her head on his chest as they read a book together. Stacey and Tom were going head to head in a game of chess with a bloodthirsty ferocity that would turn any line admiral gray while Serena watched. Occasionally, she winced whenever a piece got slaughtered, and to Jake's eye it seemed like Stacey's king was busy chasing Tom's around the board. They still had two pieces apiece, but with her rook still in play, Jake felt pretty sure that Stacey had the upper hand. Further beyond the green grass rolled away to a stretch of trees that ran down towards the pond. Past that belt, Jake knew, was a larger section of the park and access to the dock on the pond. The small section they were in was empty besides themselves. Earlier he'd seen an astronomy group wander past with their telescopes slung over shoulders or drug behind on small carts. But he'd seen no one else walk along the path in quite some time. The park seemed empty to him. A feeling of almost desolation swept him for just a moment, before he swept the melancholy away.

Don't be such a baby Jake. He scolded himself. Just because Nacomi isn't here is no reason to go to pieces. He felt surprised at how much he missed her. He'd only been with her a bare month, but already it seemed like he was missing a part of himself without her. Before long, he'd be going to wedding shops at this rate, he thought disgustedly.

He picked up the novel he was reading, detailing the true life adventures of a Colonel in the 7th armored division as it swept through the north section of France. The ferocity of the German resistance was phenomenal in that time, mostly through the Hitler Youth battalion. Every square centimeter of ground seemed to be soaked in blood before the Allies could take it. Shermans were being lost at a ration of six to one against the fearsome Panther tanks, and even worse against the terrible Tiger tanks. Clever tactics and excellent team coordination were often required to take one out with minimal loss, the author claimed. His gripping narrative of how, at one point during the campaign, his gunner had fallen dead asleep after weeks of driving around between checkpoints while chasing pockets of resistance when they'd run into a column of panther tanks, held Jake enthralled. The other shermans around them had opened fire, but the gunner was still snoring. The colonel had kicked him several times to wake him as the turret of the panther across from them turned its long, long barrel towards them. At last the gunner woke up and, upon seeing the panther in his scope, fired a shell that had hit the panther in its engine housing, causing a fire.  

"Ooh!" Serena's voice pulled him from his book (thank goodness he'd had that booklight!) and he looked up to see the moon just peeking over the trees.

"Well, ain't that pretty?" he asked as the huge white face slowly drew into view. It looks bigger than normal tonight. I wonder if that's because of atmospherics, or because it's closer in its orbit this time.

"I'll say." Rachel replied.

"Yeah. Looks big." Tom nodded.

"I was just thinking that." Brian laughed.

"Same here." Jake agreed.

"Probably something in the atmosphere." Serena said. "I'm not sure what cycle the moon is at, but, argh!"

Startled at the cry, Jake turned quickly to see his sister hunched over her hand, her face beaded with sweat.

"What is..." He started to ask, but cut off as sudden heat filled his stomach, like he'd swallowed pure Tabasco sauce. It spread through his body like molten rock poured into a cavity. He was burning up! He needed water, soda, anything to stop the burning and quench his terrible thirst. Yet all his efforts availed him naught. He couldn't gain his feet. He rolled over onto his stomach; if he couldn't walk he'd crawl, damn it!; but his arms refused to budge. Dimly he could hear the worried voices of the others; they seemed to be panicking, he heard Rachel saying something about no service, how she couldn't get a signal. Then someone screamed, there came shouting, but his hearing and vision faded. He felt stretched, like rubber being pulled between two strongmen in a circus. He felt a great weight settle on him, but as it grew so did his feeling of strength. It was as if he'd visited the gym every day in his life but the results were coming all at once instead of gradually. No other description presented itself. At long last it came to a stop. All the feelings went away, leaving him feeling drained.

"That's it." He muttered to himself as he lay there panting, refusing to open his eyes. "No more hot dogs off the cart. I'll bring them from home!"

Once he felt certain the world had stopped spinning around him, he finally opened his eyes. It seemed awfully bright out, but it was probably the moon finishing coming up above the trees. Yet, where were the trees? They had been only be a short distance away, but now he couldn't see them at all. He must be looking too high...yep, there they are. He was just looking above them, that was all. They seemed a little shorter to him for some reason. There was one thing missing from his view, and that was his friend's faces. Surely the should be trying to help him, unless...Serena! They must be clustered around Serena! If he hadn't looked so bad (and that was saying something, what with how he felt) that they had chosen instead to help her, what must she look like?

"SERENA!" he thundered loudly, scrabbling to his feet. Something felt off. Maybe it was because he seemed to still be on his hands and knees, though he'd tried to get to his feet? He tried to stand all the way up, but he couldn't seem to get there before he had to fall forward again. Each time he did so there was a rumble as if of thunder. What the hell was he stuck on that forced him to remain on all fours? He looked down, trying to figure out what was wrong with his arms when he saw great scaly paws below him and there, underfoot, was a blanket the same color as the one he'd been sitting on earlier.

The sight didn't process well. He kept looking at the golden scales on the leg where his arm should be in a detached sort of wonder. The limb looked so magnificent, so perfect! The dazzling armor that sheathed his muscles shimmered in the bright light like a freshly polished sculpture. The scales shaped like a cross between a alligator and a snake, with thousands of huge scales overlapping so tightly as to seem almost solid, yet able to move and flex like normal skin. Beautiful. He briefly wondered if they would be as tough as they looked.

Tougher. A proud voice whispered in his mind.

"Wha--?" he asked stupidly. Who or what was that voice? And why did the moon seem to be so bright in this clearing?

As he began to focus on the clearing (he realized his entire head was moving separate from the rest of his body, and he wondered how that could be, but the pure light in the clearing made him more curious and he discovered a figure shining in the dark.. Turning towards it, he turned numb in shock. A white unicorn stood in the clearing, the light from her shining coat seemingly enhancing the silvered light of the moon into a dazzling effect.

Jake couldn't believe his eyes. This has to be a dream, his fevered mind chanted over and over to him. There was no way a unicorn could be standing in a city park in front of him. He had to have hit his head on something and was dreaming, or the hot dogs were causing him to hallucinate. That was hit, those hot dogs! They had to be the cause of all this! He'd gotten food poisoning or something. He swore grimly to himself that he would find that vendor and make him pay dearly for daring to make him sick like this! A brief thought of forcing all the gold out of the man made him smile in eager anticipation. But...gold?

Jake shook his head to clear it. No one had much gold on them these days. Why was he wanting it so much though? It seemed almost a physical need; from the moment he thought of it, he wanted it.

Movement in front of the unicorn pulled him from his reverie and he saw the others standing in a loose circle. Some looked at Serena, the rest at him. All had bulging eyes and open mouths, staring unblinking at the incredible sight. They looked rather comic, and Jake couldn't restrain the chuckle that escaped him. It seemed strange at how normal their tiny appearance now seemed. As if they'd always been smaller than him.

You've grown. Came the voice from before.

Who are you? Jake demanded silently. There was no answer. Jake grimaced. Great. Now I'm talking to myself. I'm definitely on my way to losing it. Jake wondered if perhaps he already hadn't. Certainly, no normal person would be looking down at a foreleg with enormous, yet dexterous hands with talons for fingernails.

Well, the discussion of whether he'd gone mad would have to wait. There were more important things to worry about, he felt.

"Serena? Is that you?" His voice had changed as well, he noticed. Never very high on the scale, it had dropped almost to the floor, making the air vibrate. Also, it had acquired a slight hiss, he noticed.

The unicorn stood there looking at him in bewilderment. Finally, his sister's voice sounded, although Jake could see she wasn't moving her lips.

"Jake? Is that you?" her voice quavered slightly. It sounded, if possible, more melodious and sweet than before, a delight that sent shivers up his spine and made him want to stay still and quite, just for the slightest chance he could hear it again.

"Yeah." He managed to say hoarsely.

"What happened?"

"I don't know." Jake responded more firmly. He looked at the others to see if they'd manage to call for help, but noticed something different about them. Stacey and Tom looked to be much shorter than Rachel and Brian, though in point of fact, they had all been very close in size with each other. Rachel and Brian looked thinner as well, more stretched somehow. It seemed very confusing, and Jake felt bewildered. What the heck was happening to them all? He asked them, but almost immediately wished he hadn't from their immediate reactions.

"Yaah!" Stacy yelped, looking down at herself then at the others. Tom too cried out in horror. Rachel and Brian didn't panic, though they looked startled. Their demeanor was more of interested curiosity rather than surprise and fear.

"Ah. Yes. I think I have it." Rachel exclaimed.

"You do?!" Everyone cried, looking at her. Jake wondered at the change in her tone. It began to sound more and more as if she were standing in a classroom lecturing them. Very unusual for her.

"Yes. It's simple. We're being transfigured into the very creatures spoken about in Roland's shop a month ago. You, Jake, are clearly a young dragon. Serena is a unicorn, Stacey and Tom are becoming Fairies, while Brian and I are going to be centaurs."

"But...I don't want to be a fairy!" Tom protested.

"We don't seem to have a choice in the matter." Rachel said dryly. "The transformations seem to be driven to the moon. The higher it rises, the more complete the process."

"Will we change back as it goes down?" Stacey asked. She'd already shrunk to just under two feet now, and delicate fairy wings were starting to emerge from her back.

"I do not know." Rachel replied gently.

"Well, why were mine and Serena's turns so sudden and painful, while yours are much slower and obviously pain-free?" Jake asked.

"Not exactly pain-free, but more of an itching sensation." Brian piped up thoughtfully. "As for you, you both had your items actually puncture your dermis layer rather than simply bruise it. Perhaps the power that transferred was more complete, or was able to come into your bloodstream that much quicker. That allowed instant transformation rather than gradual, like ours. I would think that we will not be complete until the moon reaches zenith at two-forty-five tomorrow morning, or in about three hours."

Rachel nodded in appreciation of Brian's succinct explanation. Every one else just looked at each other. No one knew exactly what to say to that, but Jake spoke again.

"What do you suggest we do then?" He asked.

"I'm not sure." Rachel replied. "Obviously, we should get help, but where will we get it? Modern medicine won't cope with magical afflictions. Our only hope in that direction is finding Roland's shop, but it hasn't been seen since that night.If we search for it while we are changing, or after, I would think that we'd be shot at as monsters or arrested as freaks by the police. Frankly, I'm surprised those astronomers haven't run screaming yet. Perhaps they are supremely focused. Or it might be a side effect of the magic pulse. Regardless, it is a lucky break."

Her face pensive face turned grave. She looked levelly at everyone, then at Jake. "There is only one good choice open to us right now." Her eyes locked onto his. "You must carry us, unseen if possible, to the National Forest outside the city. There we can begin planning our next step."

They all protested a little, but the horror of needles and men in white lab coats or in uniform shooting at them with machine guns and tanks and planes loomed large in Jake's mind and frightened him. The others fears may have run along similar lines, for the arguments were spoken barely above a whisper and with no force at all behind them.

Jake bent out one elbow so that everyone could start climbing up. He became alarmed when Serena pointed her horn at him, making it shimmer and flash repeatedly. Jake had a crazy fear that she would attack him, but that fear turned to terror for her when she simply vanished without a trace instead. A heavy weight abruptly settled onto his back in awkward fashion, and he breathed a sigh of relief as cries of surprise filled the night.

How. The. Hell. He wondered. The others were asking her the same question, but he didn't wait to hear the answer. A thrill of danger shot through him and he realized they had overstayed their welcome. Crouching low, he sprang heavily into the air, his wings booming out on either side.

Jake felt a completely different person. If staying a dragon was the price of flying like this, then it was a debt he would pay! The ground fell rapidly away from him and, despite the heavy weight of his passengers, he soared nearly effortlessly more than a hundred feet into the air. Below he could clearly see the astronomers filing back towards the parking lot, mere moments from discovering the discarded towels and remains of their afternoon. If they'd stayed any longer they would have been discovered. Jake didn't worry about that now, however. He concentrated instead on the feeling of home he found while flying. The excitement at staying above the world and able to lord over it as master.

His sight was phenomenal. Despite being more than two hundred feet high, he could see nearly every detail of objects on the ground as if they were in front of his nose. This fantastic vision let him see the distant line of trees peeking between two of the city's skyscrapers. Those trees, he knew, marked the beginning of the National Park. By car, it would take him two or three hours to reach, but he flew quickly, gaining altitude before locking his wings and gliding for a bit and then starting the whole process over.

As he flew he looked down for any sign that his presence had been noticed. To his surprise, life in the city continued uninterrupted by his passing. It was as if he had become a ghost, which made him a little uncomfortable. He couldn't really look at himself very well because ever turn of his head changed flight in wild or unpredictable ways, so he shelved the question until he could safely learn the answer.

Before he knew it, he was over the outer edge of the forest. Adjusting his course for the center of the park, he began to glide ever lower over the tall trees below. Jake blessed the moon's light, for he had plenty of illumination to steer by, and he soon located a clearing deep in a canyon that seemed perfect for their use. Looping around again, he slowed down and strained his wings. The weight on his back had increased enormously since take-off and he had to work much harder to stay aloft.

His rough landing jolted him severely, and her heard his friends curse on his back as they struggled to hold on.

Once on the ground Jake folded his exhausted wings and let his legs collapse under him while the others fell, slid, jumped or flew off. Then Jake stretched his neck on the ground, glancing around to check on his friends before letting sleep overtake him.

Tom and Stacey were tiny now, even to Jake's sharp eyes. They stood barely four inches tall, with veiny, delicate wings almost as large as them coming from their backs. Rachel and Brian stood uncertainly on four legs, balancing precariously as the front two were still much shorter than the rear legs, though they were rapidly lengthening. A coat of fur covered them, but it was still clear to him that they were somewhat embarrassed to be caught in mid-change. Serena stood but a short distance apart, her shining horn casting a comforting light bright enough to see the clearing in detail.

It was bigger than Jake had originally thought, with towering pines and maple ringing a flat meadow about the length of a football field. In the light he could see flowers exploding in a riot of color around them, some blooming even as he watched, others growing tall and strait before their buds burst into existence.

The magic of the Unicorn, he marveled.

Yet he didn't want to stay up. Every muscle in his body started to complain about the abuse it had undergone. Jake moved his head side to side until he got comfortable and promptly drifted off to sleep.