Chapter One
Kiara walked into the forest and past the small clearing where she usually did her magic. Today she was on a mission to find a certain plant to complete her latest potion. She’d heard that a patch of twayblade orchids grew deep in the forest to the north of the stream. She took out her cell phone to check her progress. She was getting close, but her signal was also getting low.
When she reached the coordinates the online forum had given her, she put her phone away and started searching. The plant usually grew about a foot high and was a tall cluster of smaller blooms, so she kept her gaze low to the ground and moved leaves and other ground debris aside to look. Kiara had to find this plant. It would be used to make a potion that made sure others believed her lies. It was critical to help her keep her secret, and her current supply was getting low.
She brushed a clump of leaves out of the way and her hand banged into something hard. Some sort of stone statue lay there on the ground. She brushed the rest of the dirt and leaves from it and stood it up. The statue was a dragon, three feet high, made of gray and white stone. It was intricately carved with extreme attention to detail. Each scale stuck out to a point, each claw looked sharp enough to cut her. It was incredibly lifelike. Kiara observed it, appreciating the fine quality of the carving. As she wiped the blue gem eye free of mud, the eyelid fell in a quick blink.
She stepped back from the statue and watched. Surely it hadn’t just blinked. As she stood there, watching, it blinked again, this time with both eyes. She took from her pocket the stone she used to find magic artifacts and held it in her palm. She spoke the words of a spell to the stone to reveal magic, and the dragon took on a bluish cast of light.
It was alive and full of magic. She’d read about living statues but had never seen one before. All she could recall was that they could be freed and brought back to life, but that sometimes creatures were made into statues for a reason.
After thinking for some time, she decided she would free the dragon. It was little, after all; maybe just a baby or a child. She took out her wand, pointed it at the statue and cast the spell.
The magic worked slowly. The stone cracked and chipped away, little pieces falling to the ground like rain. She realized that the statue wasn’t just coming back to life, it was also growing. So much for thinking this was a baby. The stone continued to fall away and the dragon continued to expand until he stood before her in all of his ten-foot-tall glory. His scales shone a deep emerald green, his eyes a lively blue, and the spikes on his tail were long and white.
She stepped back, a little fearful of his imposing size.
“You freed me,” the dragon said. The gratitude was obvious in his tone.
Kiara nodded slowly. “And why exactly were you made into stone?”
“It’s a long story that ends in heartache.”
“Can you give me the abbreviated version? I just want to make sure you aren’t some evil dragon that was turned into a statue because you were, I don’t know, killing whole towns of people or something.”
The dragon shook his head slowly. “I am of a peaceful clan. I was cast into stone by another dragon who sought my true love.” He paused then and touched his heart. “It seems too much time has passed. She is gone from this world.” He hung his head and a large, glittering tear fell from his eye.
“I’m sorry.”
“I trust she had a good, long life. What is the year?”
“2016.”
The dragon nodded slowly. “Three hundred years I’ve been sleeping in that stone. I thank you for freeing me. I can give you a great reward, but it comes with great responsibility.”
Kiara’s heart leaped in excitement. Dragons were rumored to be powerful magical beings, capable of great and mighty spells. If you believed they existed. “What’s the reward and what’s the responsibility?”
“I can give you the power to shift into a dragon at will. You will gain the power of flight, and can then access the dragon haven where all our great riches are kept. Your magic will increase in strength. But this great power must be kept hidden at all costs.” The dragon pulled a ring from his finger. “You will wear this at all times. If you tell the secret that you are a dragon shifter, or if someone should discover your secret, that person will become ill and die as the curse is activated. If you take the ring off, you will erase the secret from their mind and die in their place.”
Kiara didn’t take long to consider. She’d been keeping the fact that she was a witch a secret for years. Even her best friend, Erica, didn’t know she was a witch, and aside from the other witches she knew in her senior class at Eastside High, no one in school knew they even existed. It wouldn’t be hard to keep this part of the secret as well, and she definitely wanted the power.
“I accept the responsibility,” she said.
The dragon handed her the ring. It was a band of woven gold vines with a green emerald at the center. She slipped it onto her pointer finger and the ring shrank to fit her perfectly.
The dragon raised his large paw, set it on her head and began casting spells. The air swirled around her and she saw flashes of green and blue and red. She’d thought there would be pain in the transformation, but she hardly felt any sensation at all aside from bursts of heat and cold along her skin. Then everything settled and the air became still again.
Kiara looked down and saw a deep purple belly, round and curving toward the ground. She twisted, seeing her long tail laid out behind her, tipped in pointy black spikes. Her hands and feet were now paws with soft pads and small claws. All of her skin, once smooth and creamy, was now small diamonds of purple layered on top of each other. She reached out and stretched, stepping from side to side to feel her new body move. She felt massive and strong, as if she could knock over a tree with only a swipe or squish an animal with one stomp.
This would take some getting used to, and she had a sudden urgent need to make sure she could get her old body back. She closed her eyes and willed herself back to human, just to make sure that she could. It was much easier to change than she expected. All she did was picture the form she wanted to be in, and then her body shifted to that form. It was painless and quick—more like jumping into the water after picturing being wet than the bone-crunching images of a Hollywood werewolf transition.
***
When she saw that her clothing was all still there, she was relieved. Those movies always had wolves shifting back and ending up naked somewhere in the woods. That would be miserable. But that was Hollywood and this was real magic. Magic could do things like keeping your clothing for you while you became a dragon, apparently.
“Powerful magic,” she said. She made a small bow to the dragon. “Thank you for this gift.”
“Use it wisely.”
“I will. Will you tell me your name?”
The dragon considered. According to legend, if he told her his name she would be able to summon him. Their names alone were powerful.
After a long while he said, “I am Sindri.”
“Thank you.” She bowed again, overwhelmed by all he’d given her.
“Would you like me to show you the way to the haven?”
“Yes! Please.” She closed her eyes, letting her body change back into a dragon. Already the transition was becoming effortless. She felt like she’d done it a hundred times. Sindri took to the air and Kiara watched for a moment. Then she extended her long wings, raised them and pushed down hard. Her body lifted several feet off the ground. She broke into a grin and raised and pushed down her wings again, flying into the air for the first time.
The two dragons soared gracefully side by side, and she loved this new feeling of the air pushing against her as she glided through it. She would have a hard time staying on the ground.
“The magic that exists naturally in the atmosphere keeps us hidden above the tree line,” Sindri explained. “But on the ground, we are visible to humans who should come across our paths. You would be wise to quickly learn a cloaking spell.”
Kiara tucked away this information. It was the first thing she’d work on when she got back. In fact she had been working on such a spell, but as a human witch she was limited. Her dragon magic, however, would likely allow her to cast the spell with ease.
They flew over expanses of blue water until, up ahead, she saw a small, very green island. It appeared to be shimmering, which meant it was hidden from plain sight. Likely only those with dragon magic could see it. She followed Sindri to the ground and landed softly beside him in a patch of plush grass.
“You’re a natural flyer,” he said. “You will learn the dragon life quickly.”
“Thank you.” She lowered her dragon head a few inches to reverence him, gleeful that she was taking to this form so readily.
The island was thick with vegetation. She recognized many plants as rare magical plants. Here, they grew in abundance. There was a large patch of the twayblade orchids she’d been searching for back in her forest.
He led her along several paths through the trees, showing her all of the magical elements available there. It was something like a magical super store. She could fly here, get everything she needed in one place, and fly back.
They stopped before a large cave, the opening carved into a small mountain of stone.
“This is our treasure collection.” He stepped inside and she followed. Inside was a large, damp cavern in roughly an oval shape, with a pathway circling its perimeter. They followed it deeper into the cave until they reached another opening, this one much smaller than the cave’s main entrance.
Another dragon was there, keeping guard over the entrance. He stepped aside when they came near and nodded at them. Kiara followed Sindri into a room that glittered with gold and colorful gems. Piles of treasure sat high in all corners. Gold coins, jewelry, crowns. Like something straight out of a movie.
“Like all things on this island, as a dragon you are free to take what you need. But know this: the island knows your heart. If you become greedy or use the resources of this land for ill purposes, the island will shut off its magic to you.” He picked up a thick gold necklace. “To live in the human world, you need human currency.” He handed her the necklace. “This should buy you plenty.”
She took the necklace and slipped it onto her arm like a bracelet. It shrunk to fit her as the ring had back in the clearing near her house. Good, she thought. She wouldn’t have to worry about losing it on the flight back.
“May I gather some plants as well before we fly back?” she asked.
“Take what you need.”
They returned to the place where they’d landed, and she carefully bit the stems of several twayblade orchids.
“Return home now, young dragon. You will need time to rest after such a journey until you are more experienced.”
She held the orchids in her paw. “Thank you, Sindri, for everything.”
“Use your gift wisely.” He nodded at her, then leaped into the sky and flew off.
Kiara put the plants carefully into her mouth and took off, too. She’d have to get some sort of pouch for her trips here to carry things back. She returned to her forest, guided by the scent, which was easy to pick up with her heightened sense of smell. This was why animals were so good at finding things and could always get home, she thought. The smell was like a map leading her home. She landed in the place where she’d found Sindri, and changed back to human form.
Again, she was relieved to find all her clothes intact. Not like those werewolf books she read where their clothing burst every time they changed. Life was much better when you had magic to take care of that sort of thing. She ran her hands down her body, feeling her thick waist and thighs. Every inch of her curvy body was still there, though it felt like maybe she’d grown even more curves. Her muscles seemed to be stronger and bigger, making her arms and thighs even thicker and fuller than usual. Her breasts, too, seemed to have become more voluptuous with her increased chest muscles. She smiled at that. Now she had even more of herself to love.
Kiara started the long walk home, and as Sindri had said she was feeling rather tired. But she had the plants she needed and a gold necklace which would fetch a nice sum when she sold it. She put the necklace on, letting it fall between her full breasts. Her step gained a bounce as she wound through the trees and brush, and she felt happier than she could ever remember feeling in her life.