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They arrived at Glorieta with no further incidents, much to everyone's relief. Ryan still brooded quietly on what had happened, his encounter with the odd man, but said nothing to further upset his family especially his father. While he loved his father, he was also well aware that his father had far more trouble with him being a dragon than his mother did. He resolved to not think of the man anymore, or to speculate, but that proved to be impossible. The idea that he could have been another dragon refused to let go of his subconscious. He did consider that perhaps the man wanted to hurt him in some way; some of the things his father had said before this happened gave him the idea that perhaps other dragons would hurt him if he were found out, a thought which he found to be very troublesome.In his dreams it was always so nice. In his dreams he found other dragons, perhaps even his parents, and they welcomed him with open arms and wings back into the family. In his dreams his adoptive parents and his biological family got along very well. It was always so nice in his dreams.Yet he knew all to well that dreams were just that and that reality had a far more harsh bite to it at times. What if dragons did want to hurt him? He knew that humans would if they found out, but his own kind? He shook that thought off. His father was probably right, he reasoned, the man was just an odd man and that was it. That's what he believed or so he told himself.But oh, if the man had been a dragon, then it would prove he was not the only one and he wouldn't be so alone! That thought stopped him cold. Yes, he was alone and he was lonely. No matter how much his parents loved him they were not dragons and there were things that they would simply never understand. There were his myriad of instincts that would crop up and cause him to do something odd reminding everyone that he was not human among other things.He quickly put those thoughts out of his head; he was happy enough where he was.They pulled up to the front of  their assigned cabin and Ryan jumped out of the car and ran into the cabin, looking around excitedly. "Ryan, get back here and help with the luggage!" his

mother called"Yes mother!" Ryan said, dashing over to where she was standing. She shook her head and laughed at his antics as he ran around to the back of the car to open the hatch. His father stood there shaking his head, his arms crossed, with a disgusted look on his face. Ryan froze and looked over at his mother, bewildered at what he could have done. His mother looked back at him in confusion."I swear boy, one of these days you're just going to spontaneously combust with all that energy! You know that? And then what will happen? BOOM! Ryan all over the place! And then we would have to clean you up!" he yelled and scooped Ryan up. The boy squirmed, laughing, trying to get away. Beth laughed along with them, glad to see his father had forgiven his outburst in the car.----They settled their luggage in the small cabin and Ryan pulled out the brochures for the area, excitedly pointing out things to do and see. "Let's just walk around the camp grounds for a bit and see what's here," his father suggested."Ok father," Ryan said, putting the brochures away.They walked around the camp grounds, nodding to people as they walked past, exchanging brief greetings. Everyone seemed so friendly which was such a nice change to Ryan, especially as compared to school. He was frequently bullied and picked on at school not only because of his short stature but because he acted differently from the other kids. "That is so very pretty!" Ryan exclaimed, looking at the tall spire of the church building on the grounds. The glass paneled spire reached into the air, reflecting the dark gray clouds in the sky."Yes, very," Beth remarked."Watch how you're speaking, Ryan," Allen said.Ryan sighed.

"Does it really matter so very much?""Yes," Allen said warningly and Beth placed a hand on Ryan's shoulder."Don't argue, Ryan. Just do as you're told.""It just does not seem so very important.""Ryan!" Allen barked and Ryan winced."Ryan, you had better stop it," Beth said quietly. "It's for your safety. Now do we need to go back to the cabin or are you going to stop?"I will stop, mother," Ryan mumbled, looking down."Thank you."They explored the camp grounds, looking at all the various recreational activities that were available, everything from bikes to wall climbing. "I don't know about you two, but I'm getting hungry," Allen said. "Shall we go back and get some lunch?""Sounds good to me!" Beth said.Ryan protested. "But I am enjoying looking around!""We have the next week, Ryan, the camp is not going anywhere," Beth said, patting him on the back."I know mother, it is just..." he trailed off and shrugged. "Food would be nice."Allen looked at his son and then at Beth who shrugged. Normally Ryan was fairly well behaved, even accounting for his instincts, for him to nearly be defiant was unusual. "Probably just the new environment and so much to see," Beth said quietly as they walked along."Probably right."They walked back to the cabin and ate a simple lunch of sandwiches and chips that they had brought with them. "I do hope we will be able to try some of the food here," Ryan said a little wistfully."We will! Just had to eat the sandwiches before they went bad," Beth told him, smiling. "There's time enough Ryan; don't get all flustered.""I am just so very-- I mean I'm so excited to see everything," Ryan said."I know, just take it easy!""We can try out one of the places on the list after church tonight," Allen said.Ryan's head snapped up. Church? That was not part of the bargain! "But we are on vacation!""God doesn't take vacations.""I am sure he would not miss us for one week," Ryan muttered quietly then looked up startled at what he had said, hoping he wouldn't be in trouble.His parents just laughed. "It is a church camp Ryan, so you should expect classes and what not. Cheer up, it'll be fun," Allen said."Easy for you to say; they do not pick on you," Ryan said with a sigh."They don't know you, Ryan. You'll be just fine.""As you say, father."As the hour drew near to go to church, Ryan started to fret. In Sunday School back home, they made fun of

him with sly little jokes and little tricks, even though Ryan figured that at church, of all places, they probably ought not be doing that. It didn't seem to matter much. He was different and therefore he was doomed to be ostracized.No matter how much he tried to act like everyone else it simply didn't work. There was always something that would "give him away" or something he would do unintentionally do draw attention to himself and make himself a target. He often thought that if you lined up 50 people and asked a group who they wanted to pick on that they would all point right at him."Alright, time for church," his father said and Ryan gave a huge sigh. "Don't give me any trouble about it Ryan. I mean it," Allen warned."I will not father, it is just..." he sighed again and shrugged his shoulders.His mother patted him on the back as they walked out of the cabin into the warm night air heading for the conference center to go to their respective classes. Allen went into the adult classroom leaving Beth to take Ryan to his class. As they drew closer to the classroom they could hear the sounds of children laughing and playing. Ryan started to drag his feet and Beth practically had to pull him the rest of the way to the door. He peered in nervously. "Looks like a lot of fun, Ryan," his mother said encouragingly."Yes, a lot of fun. Can we go?" Ryan pled."Ryan, you need to go to class. You can't come into class with your father and I and I don't want to miss class to stay with you." She knelt down and hugged him. "You'll be just fine Ryan," she said quietly. "It's not as if they can see your wings or anything. Just go and have fun, alright?""Yes mother," Ryan said quietly."And watch how you speak."Ryan nodded glumly and slowly walked into the classroom. Beth watched him go, heart aching, wishing there were some way to make life easier on him.

Ryan looked around the room nervously, looking at all the kids playing with blocks, board games, or just running around. The room was brightly colored in reds, purples, and yellows and Ryan thought it would give him a headache if he were in here too long. He looked around for something to do, anything to do to keep his mind off how nervous he was, about how they were going to start mocking him and making fun of him at any moment.He wandered over to the wall where toys were stored in various cupboards and cubbies. He spotted one of those "full armor of God" play sets that let you dress up in plastic representations of the breast plate of righteousness, sword of the spirit, and so on. He grinned to himself, wondering what Paul would have thought of his words being turned into a children's toy.He picked up the sword and swung it a few times just for fun. Another kid ran up and picked up the other sword. "Hey, let's pretend we're knights!" Ryan nodded. That sounded kind of fun and maybe they would ignore him if he were playing. It did briefly occur to him that he was a dragon acting like a knight who, usually, tried to slay dragons. He almost laughed at the thought.They ran around doing knight type things, rescuing damsels in distress, protecting the castle, stopping bandits, and so on. Ryan was actually having fun until one of the workers grabbed a blanket and draped it over his shoulders. "I'm a dragon and you had better run, puny knights!" he yelled."Come on, let's slay him!" the other kid shouted and ran towards him waving his sword in the air.Ryan reluctantly followed, a fear gripping his heart like none he had ever felt before. The other kids joined in the game, shouting for them to kill the dragon, to slay the filthy beast, to cut off its head! Ryan stopped, just standing there looking on miserably as

they called for the dragons destruction. Each call to hurt the dragon hit him like a physical blow.  The other knight scored a killing blow and the "dragon" fell to the ground, twitching and fluttering the blanket as if they were wings, sending a wave of terror over Ryan. He watched, horrified, as the dragon flopped on the ground, dying."Leave him alone!" a voice shouted.The voice was his.He ran in front of the dying dragon, arms held out. "Leave him alone!" he yelled again.The other knight looked confused. "But it's a dragon! We're knights, we're supposed to kill dragons!"Ryan flinched. "You never asked him if he wanted to fight! He probably just wanted to be left alone!""That's stupid! Dragons are evil! They deserve to die!"Ryan took a step back as if slapped. "Dragons are not evil!" he screamed."Yes they are! The bible says they are!""Well maybe the bible is wrong about that!" The whole room went silent at this. The worker playing the dragon stood up and put a hand on Ryan's shoulder. "Hey, it's just a game. I'm not really dead you know." Ryan couldn't say anything, just looking at the ground with his fists clinched tight. "Come on, lets go talk about this.""I do not wish to talk about it!" Ryan yelled, taking several steps back. The other kids started to laugh at him, just like he knew they would. Something had happened, just like it always did, and now they were laughing at him!"Ryan, what's wrong?" he heard from the doorway. He looked up to see his mother standing there and he ran to her, babbling about dragons and how they hated them and wanted them dead, slamming into her legs with a huge sob. She stroked his hair and looked up at the workers. "I have him," she said and ushered him away to the outside.She guided him outside of the building and went to a small garden that was set up next to it, sitting him down on one of the benches, taking his head into her lap, stroking his hair until he was calm enough to talk. "So what happened son?" she asked softly."We...we were pretending to be knights and then one of the workers said he was a dragon," Ryan said with a shudder. "Mother...mother they wanted to kill me! They hate me! They wanted me dead! They said that dragons are so very evil!"She sighed. "Ryan, they don't know that you're a dragon and it's highly unlikely that they even believe that dragons exist. They hate a mythological creature Ryan, not you."He shuddered. "They said that the bible says I am evil," he said in a voice so quiet that she barely heard him.She cuddled him closer and sighed deeply, wishing this moment had never come, or at least that maybe it would have been later when he was older and better able to deal with it. "Ryan... the men who wrote the bible were using the dragon as a symbol. Dragons represented power and might in ancient babylon from what I understand. It was that and nothing more. I doubt they even believed there were real dragons.""But there are," Ryan protested, "I mean, at least there is me. Why would...I mean..." he trailed off for a moment. "Dragons are real. Why would God use a symbol for something that is real?"Beth hesitated, unsure of the answer. "All I can say is that I know you're not evil Ryan. The bible used other symbols, jars, fig trees, and so on and none of them are evil though they could represent such things.""I suppose you are right," Ryan said hopefully."I'm sure that I am, Ryan."He settled down for a moment. "Mother...I am the only dragon we know of. What if there are other dragons out there that are evil? What if I am different because you raised me? Different..." Different, he thought. What if he were so different that not even other dragons would accept him? Was there anyone who would accept him for what he was?"Ryan I can't deny that you may be a little different because we raised you, but I don't think that is as big a deal as you make it out to be. Dragons aren't evil Ryan, please just trust me."He looked at her, trembling. "You mean my parents were not evil."She looked down, silent for a long moment. "No Ryan, they weren't"He jerked back. "You knew my parents?""Ryan, you know you're not supposed to be asking such questions," his father said quietly from where he was standing. Ryan flinched back from him, not even aware that he had come up. His father smiled sadly at him and Ryan threw himself into his arms, crying once more. Allen sat down with him and rubbed his back until the weeping stopped.Ryan stood up in front of them. He looked at his father for a long moment, wondering if he dared to ask more. But he had seemed kind, not angry like he usually was when Ryan asked the wrong questions. "You knew my parents," he said quietly.Beth and Allen looked at each other for a long moment and Allen finally sighed. "Yes Ryan, we did."Ryan blinked. "How long did you know them?" He asked, suddenly eager for any information."Long enough.""But father--" "Long enough, Ryan," he said, quietly, firmly."Long enough to learn the basics of caring for you," Beth said, patting him on the arm."Dear," Allen said, quietly rebuking.Ryan sat down, hard, stunned at this news. They had never spoken about his parents before and now he found out that they knew them? He shook his head, feeling bewildered. "Father, may I ask one more question?" he asked tentatively. "Ryan--" "Father, please!" Ryan said, desperation making his voice harsh.Allen sighed. "Alright. One more question and only if I choose to answer."Ryan steeled himself. "Are they still alive?"Allen looked up at the stars for a long time and Ryan didn't think he was going to answer. He finally said. "As far as I know they are, Ryan.""Then why did they--" "Ryan, you said one more question and you asked it."Ryan looked at his mother who shook her head. He sighed and stood with his parents as they started their way back to the cabin. He leaned against his mother as they walked. "Be happy you know more than you did, love," she told him quietly."I am, mother, I just wish I knew more.""Perhaps in time."