Amara went back to New Chicago, despite her continued anger. She hoped to salvage what was left of Maiyara’s dream. Atone for all the dragons she had killed without knowing the truth. Things had to be made right on both sides. She managed to avoid Emery since being back. Joslyn was harder to avoid since they lived together and she made Amara beg her way back into the house. The Sacred Scales were planning more missions and Amara knew they would require her presence. Amara no longer wanted to help them but if she wanted to make any sort of difference, she would have to. 

She made her way outside since Joslyn was making it far too uncomfortable to remain in the house for the day. When she opened the door, Emery was there, poised to knock. Amara frowned in disgust, pushing past him. 

“Amara, wait,” he called after her.

She kept walking and ignored his plea. She had nothing else to say to him, as far as she was concerned, he no longer existed. 

Emery followed her, “You have to understand. In the beginning I did want to study you but after I got to know you, everything changed.” 

Amara rolled her eyes but did not turn to face him. 

“You can’t give me the silent treatment forever Amara. I understand I should not have lied to you but I did what I thought I had to do. If it weren’t for me, you’d be dead right now.” He grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop walking

Amara yanked her arm away from him, grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. 

“The next time you touch me, I will rip your arm off and make a bullet wound feel like a scratch.” She shoved him away.

Emery winced but stood his ground. 

“Rest assured Emery, I would have survived without your help. Hell, I would have preferred death to being your little science experiment–your prisoner. You destroyed my home, watched me kill our siblings, and you manipulated me into believing that you were different. Did you forget I also saved your life? Sure, you did what you thought you had to, and now I am going to do what I have to do.” Amara stormed off.

Emery did not follow her, and Amara relaxed her defensive posture slightly as he disappeared behind her. She walked and walked until she reached the perimeter of New Chicago. She had not been out that far on her own yet but she had nowhere else to escape to. She could go back to the cave but what use would that be? Maiyara was most likely there and Amara wanted to be alone. She sat in the grass, crossed her legs, and raised her face to the sun. The followers of the Sacred Scales needed to know the truth. The real truth, not the one Joslyn and others like her had been feeding them all these years. 

What Amara really wanted to know was what Joslyn’s end game was. She was clearly powerful in her own right. Powers she had yet to explain to Amara or anyone else. Was her allegiance to the dragons rooted in the gifts she had? Maiyara had said something about bestowing women with magic for protection, perhaps Joslyn was one of the lucky few. Amara considered that Joslyn could be like Emery–a Daughter abdicated. 

Amara’s body hummed from the energy of the Earth beneath her. It had been a bit since she had accepted the vibrations of the things around her. After what happened with Allora and Irissa, she was afraid something like that would happen again. Whatever took her over was so strong it made her afraid of herself. Everything around her became so vivid and clear; she could even see the air as it moved. Amara felt like she was inside of the dragons, like she was not just a small part of them but was one of them. Amara now understood that Emery wanted to know about it, and she was glad that she lied about what she found in the lab notes. She made sure to hide the book so he could not snoop any time she was away from her room, just in case. She did not want to be anyone’s experiment anymore. 

She stood up and breached the outside of the perimeter of New Chicago’s main settlement. At this point, she did not care if they killed her. Amara strolled towards the hills in the distance. They had formed over the past eighty years since no one built anything outside of Athena, allowing the land to flourish. Illinois had become a beautiful paradise, void of any semblance of industrialism except inside Athena. The government had planned to rebuild eventually but only after the dragons had been eradicated. Until that happened, they believed everyone would be safer if they were crammed into well-guarded areas. The problem was there was not enough space to truly accommodate everyone. 

There were constant food shortages, people living on the streets, and the government did not have the resources to change such a thing. People were forced to suffer because of a lie. Amara lived a better life than most of them but even she did not have everything she needed all the time. The government created her, but they did not shell out the resources to care for her. They did enough to keep her alive, healthy, and slaying dragons for them; that was it. To them, she was just another number, another piece of property. Yet she stayed devoted to them, so blindly that she was angry with herself. 

When she reached the hills, she hiked up them, climbing when she needed to but not slowing down. She wanted to investigate whether the vibrations on the other side of the hills were something. Her climb was longer than she expected it to be, particularly since her strength still had not fully returned. Once she reached the peak, she rested to take in the magnificent scene. Beyond the hills there were dragons nesting. She blinked several times to make sure her eyes were not betraying her. They had built structures large enough to sleep in, places to store their food, and seemed to be at peace. It was gorgeous. 

She descended the hill into the open space, careful not to scare the dragons that resided there. None of them seemed to mind her presence, which unsettled her. There were dragons of all sizes, and some even looked as though they were recently born. Here they were, prospering in secret on Earth and all Amara had done was murder them. One dragon in particular stood out to her. She was on the edge of the dragon encampment, resting. Orange scales sparkled in the sun. Shades of orange that varied from dark to light made the dragon look like pure sunset. Her spikes were a shade of deep blue which flowed from the top of her neck to the end of her tail. 

She was slightly smaller than Maiyara, but not by much. Amara ignored everything around her and strode towards this dragon whose vibrations called to her very soul. As if the dragon felt the same thing, she awoke from her slumber and watched quizzically as Amara approached. The dragon stretched out, stood, and flapped her massive wings a few times. They were slightly translucent but matched the shades of orange in her scales. 

“Ah, you must be Amara. I am Zaiyena. I have been waiting to meet you.”  Zaiyena bowed her head in Amara’s direction. 

Without thinking, Amara bowed back. “What is this place?” 

Zaiyena surveyed the surroundings, “It does not have a name. We hope for this to be a temporary settlement. We usually do not allow humans to enter this place but since you are our sister, you are more than welcome.” 

A sigh of relief escaped Amara’s lips. Finally, a place where someone or something did not want her dead. 

“I know there are still a lot of unanswered questions, for all of us really. Yet none of us have the answers we seek.” She paused. “That sounded like the start of a riddle and I hate riddles.”

Amara laughed, the first time she had done so in a long while. Though she had an affinity with Maiyara, Zaiyena felt far more familiar to her. The energy that surrounded her felt comfortable and warm. 

“You are welcome to stay here. We know of your troubles with the Sacred Scales and Maiyara speaks highly of you. The truth is we need you. We never wanted to destroy this world. We never wanted Athena to fall but the Sacred Scales are too deeply ingrained in their own beliefs to even try and find a new truth–a different course. Honestly, they are as much a menace as the new government turned out to be.” Zaiyena lied back down. 

Amara would have been happy for the rest of her life if she never had to hear about the Sacred Scales or Athena ever again. All they had done was ruin the lives of humans and dragons in the name of their own heretical beliefs. 

“Why do you need me?” Amara broke from her thoughts.

“You are the link between us and them, the link between humankind and dragons. You have been taught to hate us, to destroy us, but now you know we are not your enemy. Truthfully, we are no one's enemy. At least we try not to be. We cannot communicate with them but we can communicate with you.” 

“Wait, so no one from the Sacred Scales has even spoken with you? I thought at the very least Joslyn had some kind of connection with Maiyara.” Amara had been led to believe something much different. 

Zaiyena shook her head side to side, mimicking the human gesture for no. “Their minds do not possess the capability to communicate with our kind. Your mind is different from theirs somehow. I assume that most of the dragons you slayed never uttered a thought to you. Most likely to protect the rest of us.” 

Amara was baffled, the Sacred Scales had built their entire organization based on conjecture. They were not even able to ask the dragons what they wanted or what they were here for. 

“So how did you communicate with humans when you came to this planet before?” 

“Minds were much more open back then. Ancient times were the days when magic and mysticism were rampant. There were a few we could communicate with because they were open to our gifts. As time went on, those gifts faded away. People stopped believing,” Zaiyena huffed, adjusting her position on the ground. 

Amara nodded. It was not difficult to believe that humankind had become less open minded over the years. Even though she had not been alive long, it was not hard to see in Athena. The age of free thinking had disappeared not long before the attack. High leaders had gained a tight hold on all its citizens and those citizens slowly started to trust only in what the government had to say. When the dragons emerged and then attacked, it only furthered the government's initial agenda. The Daughters of Athena were just another set of pawns for their game. She could not believe it took her this long to see it. Fear of war and devastation worked out in their favor; something else became the only thing to blame–dragons. The Sacred Scales only furthered that fear by destroying cities in the name of dragons. Something the government needed them to do. 

The fight was no longer about choosing sides. Amara knew that now. It was not about her allegiance to Athena or to the Sacred Scales. Even though the dragons were her sisters, it was not about being on their side either. Everything needed to change. Athena had to fall, that much was true, but the Sacred Scales had to fall too. Earth needed to be rebuilt and Drakalia needed to be saved. Amara now knew what her true mission and purpose had to be. She just did not know where to start.