Julian looked so comfortable there in his kitchen, cooking and talking as though this was something they did together all the time. It was nice, but in a way, it only made her feel more uncertain about their future together. He was confident that everything would be alright; he exuded it like cologne.

But she wasn’t as certain.

Earth wasn’t quite the same as she had remembered it. Naomi had never felt as though she completely belonged there, but she had never felt such a sense of impending danger before. Now, it was like she could do nothing but look over her shoulder. Julian had noticed, she was sure. How could he not after she had thrown him out of Autumn’s house? But he hadn’t brought it up, and she was content to let the subject go for the time being.

There at Julian’s, she knew she should have no reason to be scared. She pulled in a deep breath and focused on the sound of his voice, if not the words. Naomi felt that she needed something to keep her rooted there; something that would keep her from feeling as though she might float away if she didn’t hold on just right.

“You should have seen Beau change a diaper for the first time. He was sure he could do it without any issues, but it didn’t go so well for him.” Julian laughed as he plated up a steak and turned around. His smile instantly faded. “What’s wrong?”

Naomi’s spine felt stiff. The apparition was back again. She hadn’t seen it, but she could feel it. It lurked somewhere nearby, so close and yet so hard to see. Was it in her mind? Had she been seeing things? Reality was impossible for her to grasp right now. “It’s here.”

“What?” Julian’s green eyes, which looked so much like Kaylee’s, searched the room. “I don’t see anything.”

Her breathing was ragged now, as though the air had become too thick for her lungs. “I don’t really know. I think something came through with me when Summer pulled me over from the Otherworld.”

“What kind of something?”

“Something evil. Julian, it was in Autumn’s house earlier today, and now it’s here. You and Kaylee have got to leave!” With a sudden realization that nearly knocked her off her stool, Naomi remembered that she wasn’t completely helpless in this situation. There had been long periods of doing nothing in the Otherworld, but she had also learned a few tricks to keep the shadow creatures at bay. She wasn’t certain if they would even work there on Earth, but maybe she could try them.

“Now, hold on. I’m not going to leave this time, no matter what you say.” Julian flicked off the stove with an angry gesture. “If there’s some sort of danger here, then we’re in it together.”

“But you don’t understand!” Naomi was on her feet now, a sense of panic expanding in her chest like a balloon. “Whatever this is, I brought it here. It’s my fault, and I need to take care of it.”

Julian came around the counter and took her by the shoulders, his eyes intense as he stared into hers. “You were alone for a long time. I get it. I know it’s going to be hard for you to get used to it, but you aren’t alone here. You’ve got me. You’ve got Autumn, Summer and Leah. Even though you haven’t met them yet, you also have Holden, Beau and Xander. We’re all here for you and for each other. If there’s something going on, then we’ll get everyone together and figure out how to handle it.”

“I…I don’t know if we can.” The sense of dread that had been tingling against her spine was now a crushing pressure. Naomi turned to face it.

There was a small triangle of a shadow in the far corner of the dining room. To ordinary eyes, it probably seemed like an innocent enough space where the light from the fixture in the center of the room couldn’t quite get past the china cabinet. But to Naomi, she knew it was more. As if she were willing it to life, the shadow began to take on a new shape. It bulged in the center, pushing upward and out into the light. It grew larger, the top of it forming into a head with wide shoulders. Soon enough, it reached all the way to the ceiling, a shadow so dark, it absorbed the light that attempted to bounce off it.

Naomi caught her breath as she took in the long, pointed horns that curled down on either side of its face and its slitted eyes. They were barely distinguishable from the rest of the form, only a slightly different hue of murkiness from the rest of him. He had less of a form as the shadow reached the floor, as though he had wrapped himself in a cloak of darkness.

“You see it now, don’t you?” She pressed her back against the breakfast bar, putting her arm out to keep Julian from getting any closer to the creature.

But Julian showed no signs of seeing anything. “Naomi, we’re completely alone. There’s nothing here.”

That deep rumble she had heard in Autumn’s house was now a deafening thunder in her ears. “He’s been here too long, and he no longer knows how to see things that aren’t in physical forms.”

“Who are you?” Naomi demanded. She had to get to the bottom of this.

“Who is who?” Julian sounded desperate.

The demon moved forward, sending a blast of cold air through the room. “I am the reason that there are no more of your kind on Charok. And I will be the reason that there are no more of your kind on Earth.” His voice was heavy and low, like the sound of an avalanche.

“What do you mean?” But Naomi thought she already understood what he meant, she just hoped she was wrong.

“I am Tazarre!” the creature roared. “I paid the ultimate sacrifice when I cast the spell that killed all the dragons on Charok, and now I’m here to finish the job.”

Tears streamed down her face, but Naomi barely felt them. How could this have happened?

“Naomi? What’s going on?” Julian was at her side, his thumb wiping a tear from her jaw. “Whatever it is, we’ll get everyone together and figure it out.”

“No!” She shoved him away. That was exactly what Tazarre wanted. If all the dragons were together in one room, and with the bonus of a couple of witches and a psychic, then it would be a walk in the park for this evil wizard to finish what he had started on the other side of the universe.

“You knew I was there,” it growled. “You could sense me the entire time we were in the Otherworld. You should have done something about it then. But you were a weakling, just as you are now. Just as all your friends are. It will be simple enough.”

No. It couldn’t have been him; surely, she would have known if there was something that terrible with her. Everything in the Otherworld was jumbled and nonsensical, and it was nearly impossible to straighten it out and force it into the organization that Earth life demanded. And now that this thing was there and even Julian couldn’t see it, she wasn’t sure exactly how she was going to fight it off.

“Naomi? Please talk to me. Tell me what’s happening.”

“You’re only going to think I’m crazy,” she whispered. Naomi moved slowly away from Julian, testing the beast. It followed her with its eyes, barely even noticing that Julian was still in the room. She headed for the sliding glass door just off the back of the house, never turning away from Tazarre as she grasped the handle and pushed it open.

“Where do you think you’re going, little dragon? My fingers have been itching to wrap around your throat ever since I came to the Otherworld.” It glided forward on its shadowy, imperceptible feet.

“Then why didn’t you do it then?” she challenged. “You were there. You know how it was. You could have killed me several times over.” More than once, Naomi had seen figures of light fall to those of shadow. It was a distant, abstract thing, but still she had known what was happening. Such events sent a shiver of fear that made its rounds through all the innocents in the ether. Naomi stepped out onto the back porch, the warm air wrapping around her like a thick, suffocating blanket.

Tazarre laughed as he slid along in her wake. “You already know the answer to that. If I had taken you then, I never would have had the chance to come here with you. I bided my time, waiting until the very last moment to attach myself to you as you went sliding back to Earth. Tell me, do your friends know what you’ve done for them?”

“Naomi!” Julian still stood by the breakfast bar, a desperate look on his face.

For a moment, she was terrified that he would try to follow her. The demon stood between the two dragons, his dark form taking up the entire doorway out onto the porch. She didn’t want to know what would happen if Julian got too close to Tazarre. “Just stay there, Julian.”

“I don’t know why you’re trying so hard to protect your little friend,” the demon grumbled. “I’ll come back and get him when I’m ready. But right now, my mouth is watering for you. I want to have your bones crunching between my teeth and your blood running down my throat.” Tazarre was out of the house now, the two of them standing in the back yard.

If anyone was watching from their windows, they would see nothing more than Naomi slowly walking backwards down the path that led from the covered back porch to the main area of the backyard. They might wonder who she was, never having seen her at Julian’s house before. They might even wonder why she was walking backwards instead of looking where she was going, especially in the dark, but they wouldn’t see that she was trying to evade a demon. Even Naomi had a difficult time seeing him in the dim light. Julian insisted that Naomi wasn’t alone anymore, but he was so wrong.

Part of her wanted to just fall to the ground in tears and give up. She had suffered for so long, constantly evading the darkness in the Otherworld and wondering if her presence there would ever end. It had, but she was no closer to being okay.

The other part of her, however, knew that she couldn’t do that. She was responsible for Tazarre being there. She was the one who had endangered her friends and other dragons. At the very least, she could lead the phantom away from them. “If you want me, then come and get me.”

Naomi finally turned her back to Tazarre. She felt the spread of her wings as her feet flew forward, lifting off the ground before she managed to complete her shift. Her partially-human body was heavy and awkward, and the absence of a tail threatened to send her headfirst back to the ground. But her legs grew shorter and thicker, her toes curling into claws. She felt the extension of her spine as her tail regenerated, swiftly compensating for the fact that she was already in the air. By the time she turned to look at the demon, she was not just turning her head, but snaking it around on her long, elegant neck.

Unwilling to let his victim get away so easily, Tazarre did exactly what she hoped he would do. Great dark wings expanded from behind him, filling up the yard as their feathered tips reached into the sky. He ascended with ease as he flew after her, a single wing stroke sending him rocketing through the air.

Naomi hadn’t flown in a long time, not since before she had gotten ill on Charok. Earth had healed her body, as Varhan had promised, but now she could only hope that the new body she had been given would keep up with her demands. She faced forward once again, stretching her neck and tail and tucking her legs beneath her as her wings forcefully pumped through the air. “I’ll sacrifice myself if it keeps him away from the others,” she whispered to herself.