It wasn't what she would've pictured herself doing that night.

Candy held the boy in her talons, keeping him against the base of her neck to hide him along with her. It was strangely satisfying to see the confused faces of the guards when no one could find her, even though she was right above them. The good thing was, the castle was gigantic, with soaring ceilings and plenty of room to roam.

The only two downsides were the doors and the chandeliers.

After a couple of mishaps when the boy gave them away by laughing, they made it (mostly) safely to the guest bedrooms. It was an obvious route to take the front entrance, but there were too many guards, and - although they were big - the doors weren't big enough to fit bot Candy and her escapee.

She knew there would be guards swarming her room, so they couldn't go there, but no one would be in the guest bedrooms, which had long windows and some even had balconies.

She chose a balcony opposite of the direction of Emerald forest, the place she was going to drop him off.

When they reached the guest bedroom, she didn't stop, clutching him tighter to her (maybe a little too tight) and broke through the glass doors that lead out to the balcony.

The cool night air rushed into her lungs and she gladly welcomed it. Sure, the castle had air but it didn't have real nighttime air. She'd snuck out once when she was younger, at night, and had forgotten how much she missed real air. Outside air.

It gave her new energy, encouraging her to climb higher and faster into the sky. She pumped her wings, then turned slowly around, gliding peacefully towards Emerald forest. It took a few minutes before she realized her escapee was trying to speak to her.

She wished she knew what he wanted, but couldn't turn her head to see him, given her long dragon neck. She still kept the color of the night sky, happy to feel the inky black wash over her body. She let her underbelly twinkle in some places like stars.

When they were a fair distance from the castle, she landed as well as she could, keeping him close to her scales as she did.

She landed with a gentle thump on the forest floor. The smell of pine mixed with moist earth floated into her nose and she happily breathed it in. The castle didn't even compare to this. Why hadn't she left before now? Deeper down she wondered, Why haven't my parents let me explore until now?

But she shoved that one down, pretending like she thought they had a good reason. She let the boy fall onto the grass, maybe a little farther than he should've but she thought, he deserved that.

She stepped back to give him room, unwilling to turn back into her human form. It made her dizzy if she did it too much. She was about to fly away, spreading her wings when suddenly there was a dragon next to her. She tripped over a tree in surprise.

"Don't panic, it's me," the prisoner!? He puffed out his chest, flexing the spines that grew from his neck, right behind his horns and ears. She hated how cool he looked, beautiful even. With inky black scales all over his back and wings, along with pearly white scales on his underbelly and his wing membranes, and speckles of Azul blue here and there throughout his black scales.

She noticed a look on his face she'd never seen before, despite his being a dragon.

"You're part dragon too?"

"Uh, well, can I give you a tip?"

She nodded, her excitement dwindling slightly. "We aren't part dragon. We're called dragon shifters, okay?"

She nodded again, unable to shake her joy at not being the only one to have the unusual ability. They both stood there for a moment, secretly admiring each other until she spoke.

"I should . . . probably get back to the castle . . ."

"Oh, yeah, definitely."

She turned towards the castle, ready to take off the ground and end her freedom.

"Wait, princess?"

"It's Candy."

"Oh, okay. Um . . ." she turned her neck around to see him, smiling to herself at how awkward he looked. Such a majestic dragon suddenly all weird. Whatever he was about to say, he must not say much, if at all. "Thank you."

She nodded, leaping off the ground and carrying herself into the sky. She heard him shout one last thing behind her.

"My name is Night-"

There was more to the sentence but the wind carried his words away. She assumed he would've said something like, my name is Night, by the way. She smiled all the way to the castle with a new and strange warmth in her chest.

When they found her, their precious daughter laying peacefully in her bed with silk pajamas, the queen and king demanded answers.

She had too much fun acting innocent, blinking at their questions in confusion.

"Sweetie pie, where have you been!? The whole town has been in an uproar ever since . . ." the queen pouted, letting out little squeaks of annoyance.

"Candy, why did you attack Captain Pine?"

"I didn't attack him, I never would. I thought you knew that," it was the truth in a way. She'd never 'attacked' him. Just pushed him into her room and turned into a dragon when he grabbed her. Apparently her scales had scraped his face, arms, and hands when she'd changed into her dragon form.

Her parents went on, practically begging her for answers. But she kept to as few words as possible. Eventually, they grew tired and went back to their bedroom, but not before ordering that bars be placed over her windows and her doors guarded and locked at all times.

She tried them a few times, eager to get back into the outside world. Although she could've blasted the doors away, she didn't want to hurt the guards outside.

Her parents came in one more time, but she'd curled up in the corner in camouflage so they didn't see her.

The next morning, Candy stayed in her dragon form, stretching on top of her bed, snapping another board underneath as she did. She puffed out a plume of smoke from her nostrils, still angry at her parents.

The door was suddenly flung open as Joey ran in. His eyes went wide as he saw her, but his father had told him a long time ago about Candy's abilities so that he wouldn't be scared. It didn't help. She could tell it bothered him whenever she was a dragon, and for some reason, Night popped into her head.

He didn't care. In fact, he's just like me . . . well, maybe not just like me but . . .

She blinked at him, oblivious to his urgent message. Oh, right. She shrank back into her human form, knowing she'd made him uncomfortable somehow.

"Yes?"

"I - uh," he was a bit shaken at first but he quickly remembered what he was going to say with a start. "Your parents are dead."