Paxton stood in the middle of an atrium surrounded by star students that had turned out to be ANGELS. He was looking into the carriage that had been his ride to the academy, in which Mini was now hiding.

Butterflies were raving in his stomach. Paxton had just brought a demon to an angel trap.

He didn't know what to do.

Looking at Mini, Paxton saw the girl in tears. She was absolutely terrified.

"Look at me," Paxton told her, knowing that there was at least one thing he could do. "Don't look at them, just look at me. Everything's going to be okay, I'll make sure nobody hurts you."

"They're going to kill me!" whined Mini, her eyes filled with tears.

"No, they're not," Paxton promised, "I won't let them."

Looking back at the star students, he noticed the tuition students and recruiter looking at him and Mini.

"Grab onto me," Paxton told Mini, holding an arm out. "Hold on and don't let go."

Mini gripped Paxton's arm, then relinquished her death grip on the arm rest. She practically jumped onto Paxton, wrapping her arms around his neck and her feet around his waist. Her strength almost crippled Paxton, but he worked through the pain and put a hand around Mini.

"I'm sorry," said the lead angel with perfect innocence, "children are not allowed at the academy."

"Oh, this is Mini!" the recruiter cut in. "She was orphaned at a town we passed through, and Paxton... adopted her!"

"Is that so?" Alciel offered with a kind smile. "I'm afraid that the rules are the rules for a reason. We don't have a day-care for children, and she can't run around the halls without supervision."

"I understand," Paxton said, "but I'm not going to abandon her."

The angels all seemed to malfunction, lagging to think of a response. Paxton felt a hand on his shoulder next to Mini's arm, so he turned to see Goddard with a serious expression.

"You should have known we couldn't carry her with us always," Goddard said, a crooked smile on his lips. "It's time to let her go. We can't keep pretending to take care of her."

"I was never pretending!" Paxton declared loudly. He turned to the lead angel and demanded, "Have you no heart? To throw out a child like trash?"

"We would make certain that she is returned to her parents."

"She doesn't have parents; she's and orphan! I may not be a perfect caretaker, but I'm the best she has!"

"You are as much of a child as she is," Alciel stated certainly. "Why are you so keen on keeping her? What do you get out of it?"

"Nothing!" Paxton shouted, then he reeled back and set to control his voice. "You wouldn't understand!"

"Try me," the angel offered.

'Crystal,' Paxton thought as he glanced between parties to buy time, 'how far is my dragon transformation ready?'

'I've got the scales on your right hand,' Crystal answered.

'Can I activate them?'

'If you do this now, it's going to make it harder to complete the process! You won't be able to turn into a dragon when the demons invade!'

'Just get it ready,' Paxton ordered. 'It'll be the last resort. For now, we'll negotiate.'

'You plan to negotiate? With angels? What do you have that they want?'

"Her father was murdered," Paxton offered the angels, "and her uncles are trying to kill her, too. If she leaves, you're sentencing her to die!"

The recruiter and tuition students were taken back by mixed emotions. Goddard was secretly stabbing Paxton to make him stop talking, afraid of offending the star students.

"Can I speak with you in private?" Paxton asked, locking eyes with the lead angel.

"What for?"

"Negotiating keeping MY daughter by MY side."

"I'm afraid this is non-negotiable," the lead angel declared, shutting Paxton down before he had a chance.

The angel leader stepped forward, reaching out to Mini. Mini's arms suddenly crushed Paxton further, desperate to get out of the situation.

'CRYSTAL, NOW!'

With speed that nobody could track, Paxton lashed out and grabbed the angel's wrist to stop him. The angel sneered at the grip, but his expression changed to suprise when he noticed Paxton's hand.

Instead of the rough skin from a well-trained kid, Paxton's hand had hard scales like an armored reptile. His finger joints had small bone spikes coming out of them that could have cut through regular skin. The back of his hand was a mesh of human and dragon, with splotches of biege between the reptilion tiles. His nails were like tacks, pointed at the end for puncturing.

'You,' came the leader's voice inside of Paxton's mind, 'you are a dragon?'

'Not yet,' answered Crystal telepathically, 'but he will be!'

The entire star student body shuffled, their first movement since arriving. The tuition students all watched with unease, unaware of the subtext in which Paxton was negotiating.

"You're right," offered the lead student while withdrawing his hand, "this would certainly be a topic for privacy. Perhaps in the library around sundown. For now, feel free to tour the campus and your rooms. Apologies for the intrusion."

All of the star students left with barely a squeak, leaving the once overflowing atrium empty with the original six students, Mini, and the recruiters.

"What the hell was that?" Barrot demanded angrily.

"I don't know," Goddard said, looking at Paxton with reserved curiosity.

"They smelled funny," Liz remarked.

"Don't worry about those children," the head recruiter offered. "The star students have an entirely seperate curriculum from regular students. They learn directly from the principal himself!"

"They seemed nice," Samson offered meekly.

"They were evil!" Christina cursed. "Like golems! All moving in sync and not blinking! They didn't even have pockets."

"It's okay," Paxton soothe Mini, "they aren't coming after you. Everything's ookkaayy."

The little girl still had a death grip around Paxton, which was squeezing him like a vice. It wasn't until Paxton gently hugged her in return that her debelitating hug relaxed. Glad that she wasn't going to squeeze him empty, Mini then started to cry on Paxton's shoulder with heavy, heaving sobs.

"We'll get the things ready," Goddard offered, "just promise to explain later."

"I promise," Paxton swore, then he walked to the edge of the atrium to console his adopted daughter.

The other children grabbed their bags and followed the recruiter through one of the hallways which, despite a lack of obvious light source, was as bright as day. Samson noticed this, so he asked Goddard where the light came from.

"It's actually from the top of the tower!" answered the recruiter with gusto. "This building is made of a material that transitions light like a massive inner mirror. As long as sunlight is touching the tower at all, the insides will glow to provide light. It's why the central spire is so high! The academy is between two mountains, so it had to be built high in order to capture the light."

Samson looked at Goddard, who nodded his agreement.

The group wound its way through a twisting, arcing, climbing set of hallways that eventually let them back out into an open field. There were trees and hedges planted in dirt placed along stone paths. Flower beds with multi-colored blooms were expertly placed in the garden, relaxing the entire entourage on sight. The open garden seemed so far removed from the alien hallways, it was liking walking into another world.

They turned right from there and followed the wall before arriving at an identical hallway. There was only a short way into the hallway that the recruiter arrived at a rectangle ejected from the wall. She placed her palm on the rectangle, which illuminated around her hand.

A section of the wall fell away, revealing a fully furnished room.

"Samson, this one will be yours," said the recruiter, still pressing her palm to the door. "Come over her and put your hand under mine."

The recruiter lifted her hand off, but kept the tip of her index finger on the box. Samson stepped around his peers, hefting his bag over one shoulder to free a hand. He pressed his palm where the recruiter told him, and the light blinked under his palm.

"Speak your name," the recruiter ordered.

The small boy looked at her in confusion.

"Just do it," Barrot urged, impatient to get to his own room.

"S-samson," he stuttered.

When the light became steady, the recruiter said, "Okay, now only YOU can open this door. Settle in for now, I'll come and get you when dinner is ready."

Samson stepped into the strange room, feeling the carpet under his feet and looking at the strange walls with now windows.

The door closed and then Barrot stepped up, repeating the process for each boy until only Paxton was left. Then it was the girl's turn (in a different room, obviously).

The recruiter walked back through the dorm hall, the garden, and the labyrinth halls to the atrium where she saw a chilling scene.

Paxton was sitting to the side, Mini in his arms and blood on his hands.

Lying in the center with viscous blood oozing steadily from his nose was a star student, a beam of light around his forehead and two wings spread out from his shoulders like a dove.