Candy, Scorpian, Night, Silver, Odix, Thunder, and Enders all huddled around tiny drawings recently made by Candy.

Her plan was pretty simple if you took a step back and looked at the big picture. And it sounded easy, even if it wasn't going to be. That had to count for something.

The others turned so they could understand each other, squished in the alleyway spot behind the shop. Although Enders remained in his human form. Every time for the first few minutes whenever Candy looked up at her friends, she couldn't help thinking how beautiful they all looked together and how well they complimented each other.

After explaining everything just a little too much, they all finally understood.

Odix shrank down to tell his great-great-grandfather as the others talked it over again.

"So I shall stay in the back for better protection," Kade said, pointing to Odix's drawing of the interior of the building. Candy smoothed out the wrinkles in their communication for the hundredth time.

"Yes. I know you're stronger and quicker than you look and thought it would be the best decision seeing as I can only hold so many people."

The others nodded in agreement, listening closely.

Odix grew into a griffin again. "Enders is gonna stay here to watch over our criminal guy."

"I don't think he'd really be a big help in this case anyway," Silver added, oblivious to Odix's defensive expression.

"He'd do great with us, ancient or not. It's just better planning this way," his feathers looked slightly ruffled. Candy could feel the tension starting to choke the air so she changed the subject as smoothly as possible.

"Do you guys all know the plan?"

She was satisfied with their nods and then brushed a few papers away to reveal the one she wanted. "Let's start with the first step then."

They all ordered outfits from one of the other shops in the area, which delivered them as quickly as possible. After trying their respective disguise on, each shifter was ready.

Candy didn't get an outfit, but that was part of the plan. Quicker than she expected, they were ready. Kade, Night, Silver, Scorpian, and Thunder all wore bulky black guard outfits, and Candy had shoved the uncomfortable band around her snout and a chain around her neck and wings.

Although all she could see of herself was her back and legs, she thought she looked pretty convincing.

They went a long way to find the entrance to the underground tunnels, and even then they had to go a great distance to actually reach the ones connected to the tunnels underneath the labs. It stunk so bad Candy actually worried about suffocating on the smell. It was slightly less bad to them because they were all humans - except Kade, who stayed in his dragon form behind them all.

When they finally reached the entrance to the labs, it was both too soon and had taken forever.

Although they had no time to waste, the six of them took a moment to stand before the entrance in silence, taking it in.

Candy would've taken a deep breath, but she thought better of it. Night and Odix led the group through the giant door. On the other side, they were met with a hallway - one they'd seen on Odix's blueprints - which was mostly just for cleaning supplies and junk.

It was surreal to be inside the building.

The rods of blinding white light overhead stared down at them as they moved through the hallway and into the main hall, which was full of scientists, guards, and other people. Candy didn't know the jobs of all of them, just the ones that were obvious.

She picked up faint scents of other shifters who had been here just a few days ago. She felt sorry for them and hoped (in a twistedly strange way) that they were still there so that she could free them all.

Don't worry, we're coming.

Every glance they got made her shiver with excitement and anxiety. Every stare made her think, We're done for. They all know it's fake. But they all returned to their work after a glance.

Odix and Night were stopped at the door that led to the underground floor, where they suspected the labs were keeping the shifters. Candy would've been sweating if dragons could. She could smell the sweat coming off her friends and assumed one of the reasons was because the suits were so clammy.

Odix and Night chatted a little with the guards, making Candy stand on her toes with anticipation, and where soon let through.

She had to duck so that her horns wouldn't break off the top of the door and squeeze through to get to the other side. Clearly the labs hadn't intended dragons to fit through this part of the building.

She followed whichever why the chains around her were tugged - very gently of course, even by dragon standards. The closer they got to the cells, the faster her heart beat.

Odix pushed the heavy door open after dialing the passcode on a keypad outside of the door. They all held their breath as they went in, one by one.

On the other side was . . . not what Candy expected.

It reminded her of a more modern, cleaner, whiter version of the dungeons under her mother's castle back in the mountains. Back at home. Her stomach twisted into another knot at the thought. I hope mother is okay.

Cells lined the walkway, which stretched for about fifty feet and took an abrupt turn at the end that went both to the left and the right. To their surprise, there weren't any guards. Or shifters.

"We're too late," Candy said, to frustrated and disappointed to remember her friends wouldn't understand. They turned to look at her, just as confused as she was. Then to Odix for an explanation. He squeaked out a few angry things, gesturing around them and using his hands as he spoke. Finally, Kade turned so that he could talk to Candy.

"He's positive they should've been here because Enders promised they would. I do not trust this Enders character, Candy," he looked around the room nervously.

Suddenly the lights all blinked off so abruptly, it whatever-the-opposite-of-blinding-is happened to Candy.

After a moment of frantic scrambling around in the dark, a few large somethings came to life next to her. She yanked off the chains throwing them to the ground and tried to focus in the dark.

An angry and terrifying roar rattled the air and suddenly a light flashed to life. Everyone was drawn to it, and every eye that fell on it quickly realized it was Thunder. The dark fled from his scales like pepper to soap. They all waited there for a second, not knowing what to do when out of the silence a strangled roar shattered the air, turning their heads.

Thunder growled, illuminating his scales even more and reaching the side of the room where the roar came from. It only took a split second for Candy to realize it was Night, fighting against something in the dark. Without thinking, she rushed over in a heartbeat, talons extended to the thing behind him.

Before she could reach it, it pushed Night in front of her talons. She missed him by a hair at the last second, maneuvering to avoid slashing him. The others rushed over, Thunder revealing the thing that tried to drag Night with it. For an adrenaline-filled, horrifying moment Candy thought it was Kade, but she realized rapidly that it wasn't. It was another Ghostfang.

It was hard to make out the shape both because they were trying to free Night from it and because Thunder's light was only so bright, but Candy could make out a more slender shape than Kade (if it was possible) but not skinny. A girl.

Thunder's light caught in her eye, showing its color for less than a second, but it was enough for all of them to see. Purple? Why was that so familiar!?

Worry about it later, Candy. Free Night now.

With one elegant leap into the air, Candy became one with the darkness and her surroundings, flying over Night's head without using her wings, and slamming her full body weight, talons first, into the Ghostfang.

They both tumbled to the hard, smooth ground, each trying to get the upper hand while simultaneously trying to get to their own feet.

Candy got the upper hand, being only bigger by her attacker (more like Night's attacker, really) thanks to her more defined and heavier scales. She lost any trail of reasonable thought and dug her talons into the dragon underneath her, followed by a death-threatening growl. The tiny scales that covered the dragon's body easily gave way to her sharp talons.

"Touch him again," she growled. Her attacker roared in pain, wiggling to get free under her weight. Candy felt her getting loose under her talons and moved with lightning speed, wrapping her talons around the Ghostfang's slender neck.

I could snap it so easily, the thought accidentally slipped into her mind from somewhere dark. For one terrifying and glorifying moment, Candy was sinking her talons deep into the dragon's neck, then she was smacked in the ribs with a tail and thrown aside with surprising strength that knocked the wind out of her.

She gained herself quickly, searching the room for the Ghostfang and caught a glimpse of her flying silently through the air of her friends' heads, aimed at Night.

Candy roared, unfortunately grabbing all of their attention as the dragon landed on Night and fell to the ground, rolling.

Kade was the quickest to react, bolting at the attacker with impossible speed, his talons extended like a very deadly, angry falcon.

But he was too late. The Ghostfang was on top of Night, pinning him to the ground with her long, deadly talons dug into his scales. When Kade reached them in less than a second, she acted faster, grabbing his neck in her jaws and throwing him to the side. Odix and the others made a beeline for her, almost as fast as Kade, but in an annoyingly impressive move, she twisted, taking Night with her, and in a flutter of wings, light, and an explosion of heat, was gone and Night with her.

Candy ran to the spot they'd been not ten seconds ago, searching the air desperately for her friend. When her weary body started to tire (how dare it, by the way) she let out an anguished roar from the depths of her soul and throughout her entire body, letting whatever color she felt and more rush through her scales.

Angry tears leaked out of her eyes onto her cheeks, but she didn't bother to wipe them away as she stormed towards the door. The lights flickered to life, reaching every corner of the level.

Scorpian and Silver were at Kade's side, while Thunder walked over to Candy, not bothering to hide his anger. Where most dragons would have smoke drifting out of their nose - and even, on rare occasions, ears - Thunder was literally smoking all over, mostly from his white stripes.

"What are we waiting for? Why don't we go after her!? Where did she take him!? How-"

A lump formed in her throat threatened to bring more tears, so she stopped talking to make sure no more water leaked out of her eyes. Thunder just shook his head angrily.

"KADE!" All eyes turned to Odix, who was swiftly making his way over to the wounded Ghostfang. "Why didn't you tell us Ghostfangs can TELEPORT!?"

Candy was too angry about losing Night to be angry at Kade. Plus, she felt slightly sorry for him. Seeing the wounds in his neck, maybe a little more than sorry. Despite her feeling so defeated, she rushed over to the group that was now forming around the wounded Ghostfang and put herself between Odix and Kade, along with Scorpian and Thunder.

"Calm down, Odix," Thunder tried, holding his talons out in front of the griffin.

"CALM- don't you- I'm going after that Ghostfang, and no one can stop me. I blame you, Ghostfang," with that he spun around, practically whacking Candy in the face with his tail as he did so. Candy and Thunder exchanged a look before she ran to catch up with the griffin.

"I know no one can stop you, but reality might."

He came to a stop, smoke practically spilling out of his beak and ears. He let out an angry snort, which sounded different coming from a griffin, turning to look at Candy.

"I know you're angry. I've never been angrier in my life," he inhaled to say something she knew he'd regret, and hurried on to stop him, "But we have to think this through if we're going to get him back. First of all, find out where they teleported to, next, how to help him, and third how to get there."

"I already know how we're going to get there," he glared over at Kade. It took a moment for Candy to register what he was meaning.

"Kade? But how? I don't even know if he can teleport himself, much less anyone else," she would've furrowed her eyebrows together if she still had them.

"He'll find a way," Odix growled.

"Stop, Odix," she caught him right as he was taking an aggressive step towards Kade, "Stop blaming yourself and being angry at yourself and taking out on others."

The griffin stood as still as a statue for a second, and then his wings sagged.

"I should've known, Candy. Trust me, I'm not all angry at myself. I still do blame him, but . . . I know where the plan went wrong."

"Do you mean the blackout or the mysterious Ghostfang that came out of nowhere?"

She felt a piece of her anger break free and melt away when a smile cracked at his beak.

"I mean Enders. You didn't hear because you were a dragon, but when we came down here and there weren't any shifters, I was telling the others, well, mostly saying my thoughts out loud, I guess, that Enders had told me that they would be here. I should've been smart enough to ask how he got all the information about the labs in the first place."

"It isn't about smarts. No one blames you but yourself, Odix. It wouldn't be normal if you had been suspicious about your relative or questioned him. What I mean to say is, he raised you. You . . . trusted him."

"Yeah, trusted. And now I'm getting answers."

A sound came from the exit ahead of them, drawing everyone's heads to it. Candy hadn't realized it had been going on for a few minutes now.

"Someone's trying to get in," she and Odix realized it at the same time, sharing a look.

"The scientist. I bet the light show was part of our attacker's plan. I bet she got Ebony to somehow do that for her," Thunder said.

"But what would she give them is the real question," Scorpian said, sitting next to Kade, who was unconscious. They all realized it at the same time. "Us," the five of them said simultaneously.

"We have to get out of here."

"And then find Night," Odix added, shooting Candy a nod as they rushed over to the others.

"Even if Kade can teleport, there are a lot of obstacles that make that currently impossible so what's the plan?" Odix raised his . . . were they eyebrows?

"Why don't we just blast our way out of here?" Scorpian asked, drawing Kade close to her to get a good grip on him.

"These guys deal with dragons every day. They're definitely prepared for us," Candy pointed out.

"Plan B?" Silver asked, looking at his friends' faces for answers. The sound outside thumped against the door again.

"Wait, what's even keeping them locked out in the first place?" Scorpian turned everyone's attention to the exit. Crammed under the heavy door, like a seemingly impossible doorstop, were the chains Candy had thrown off in the dark earlier. Nice going, Candy. She patted herself on the back.

"We don't have much time, no one ever does in these situations, so let's go with plan hallway," Odix nodded towards the hall at the other end of the level. Scorpian gently but firmly pressed the arch of her talon against Kade's side, but he didn't shrink back. She made a clicking noise with her tongue.

"Darn. His wounds are too bad."

"Odix, you carry Kade. I'll take you guys," Candy spoke with more confidence than she felt. Time seemed to be running like a river now, on its way to the waterfall where they lost Night forever and the scientists found them and experimented on them forever.

"No. Why don't I take you guys this time?" Scorpian asked defensively.

"Because I can't turn. It'll be easier this way. Don't argue, come on," Without any more objections, one by one they all shrank and Candy helped them onto her back. But after Silver and Scorpian climbed on, Thunder just stood there, wide-eyed. Guilt crushed Candy like a boulder. She hadn't even considered that he might have a hard time back here, with the threat of being caught by evil scientists for a second time. Oh, Thunder, why didn't you say anything!?

Candy walked over to him and stared him dead in the eyes with a gentle fire.

"Thunder, it's alright. We're going to get out of here but you have to turn, okay?" He made a barely visible nod. She pressed her head against his with her eyes closed so that their foreheads and noses touched. She felt him relax slightly, press against her just to tell her 'thank you', and then melted into a human.

Scorpian and Silver helped him onto Candy's back as Odix secured Kade on his own, feathered back. Candy felt sorry the dragon was so big on Odix, who looked like a little griffin now more than ever, but they didn't have another choice.

"Ready?"

"How can we be sure this will really work? We don't even-" Odix was cut off by the banging on the other side of the heavy door, which was getting scarily close to being pushed open. They nodded to each other, then took off towards their only escape, or their end.