I had never ridden a bus, and certainly not by myself like this. I hated going anywhere without someone. Usually Dad, when we would go down to the trails. I hoped we would get at least one trip in while I was home. Hikes in the cold weren't my favorite, but I would take a cold hike over none at all.

But this wasn't my first ride on my own. I'd ridden alone when I first arrived at school. No faces were familiar, no idea what had been laying ahead of me. Would I have still gone if I'd known?

It was funny to think I'd been dreading being picked by Dragon Tower the last time I was here. I'd been so afraid of standing out. Of not being able to blend in. I should have known it was doomed from the start.

I kept my focus on the trees on the outside of the cart. The sky above me infinite and clear except for a small cluster of birds with green and purple feathers. No sign of wildlife on the ground, just plants moving past at about thirty miles per hour. Probably. According to what I'd been told.

There were a lot of things I'd been told since school started. I looked down at my left wrist, a dark grey glove and the aventurine bracelet covering the curse mark and scars. I was different now. But how much? I wasn't the Serafina that had left home, she believed magic would forever be beyond her. As out of reach as the fiery balls of gas in the night sky.

Now it was more like reaching as the top of Mount Everest.

I was never going to be like Mom. I probably would never be able to glare at something so hard it literally caught fire. But…maybe that was okay. Besides, she was a Sylphid, I was a Dragon. The universe itself was telling me we were too different.

And being a copy of either of my parents wasn't something I wanted. Not that it was possible, I wasn't some clone or extension of them. I was me.

For better and for worse.

No one knew what I could be capable of, just what I wasn't. And who knows, they could all be wrong. I could be wrong about my limits, wouldn't be a first time.

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Finally Tyor's station came into view. An overhead ceiling of wooden trellis' wrapped in vines flowering in purple and white blooms. A small series of metal benches twisted out of more flowers.

Mom was waiting for me by one of them. She wasn't sitting, because asking her to sit while waiting was too much for her. No she was pacing back and forth. Suddenly stopping as we began to slow down. She broke out into a massive grin when she saw me and started waving wildly.

I did not wave back.

The Oktos cart finally stopped and I took a deep breath. Almost home Serafina. Just have to go grab your bag then nearly get suffocated by Mom.

I ignored her as I stepped off the cart and went around the end to grab my suitcase. The carts used by Tyor were actually smaller than the ones the school would use for their field trips. This one had only three pairs of large wheels. At the back end of the large cart was a covered wagon being manned by a four foot tall humanoid stone creature with two sets of arms and a head with no face. Lines glowed a milk chocolate like brown from the runes engraved on it. Probably making it function. It handed me my suitcase and I made as hasty an exit as possible without actually running.

Mom was still waving like I hadn't seen her and a handful of other people weren't giving her a wide berth.

I sighed as I was almost in striking range. "Hi Mom."

"Sweetie!"

Gods save me.

I had about one second between hearing her and being surrounded by a surge of heat followed by my airway getting blocked. My vision drowned in my mother's black hair.

"Mom…" I complained as the last of my oxygen left my body. "You saw me just last month…"

"Shush." She kept crushing me without an ounce of shame of sympathy. I was entirely at her mercy without Dad to run interference.

"Can we please just go home already?"

She sighed like I'd just burdened her with the entire world and stepped back. Her hands gripped the top of my shoulders tightly. Not painful, but firm. Her expression was strange. Soft and serious at the same time. "Yeah. We can go home."

Then the world was encased in yellow. The familiar pale yellow that something inside me always relaxed around. I closed my eyes and when I opened them I was standing in our living room.

Finally. I was home. A wave of exhaustion hit me from seemingly nowhere.

"Welcome home." The sound of my Dad's voice was a relief. I pulled away from Mom, leaving my suitcase at her feet to throw my arms around his waist.

"Hi Dad," I mumbled into him.

I felt his hand pat between my shoulder blades. It was familiar and us in a way that made my chest hurt. I hugged him tighter. I was home.

I missed this.

"Welcome home," Dad repeated. The hint of warmness only we could hear made me want to cry like Mom.

"I missed you both," I admitted.

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