Julie quickly realized that her eyes were fine. If she really tried, which hurt her head even more, she could make out dark shapes. The freezing room she was in was dark. She moaned again. The sound echoed within the space. Her suitcase was gone. Bloody punk kid had run off with her clothes. What the hell was she going to do now? Where was she? She rubbed a hand on the floor. It was smooth and cold. It was also clean and had a buffed feel. She wasn’t outside. The last thing she remembered was hitting her head against the side of the pavement.

“You’re awake,” a woman said. There was a high pitched edge to her voice. “She’s awake.” The same person added.

“Oh good.” Someone close by, another woman, sighed out the words.

“Where am I? What happened?” Her voice was a croak. Her lips were dry, her throat and mouth felt the same. “How long have I been here?”

“Not long.” The nervous sounding woman said. “Maybe a half an hour or so.”

“Where am I?” Julie hugged herself. She rubbed her arms to try and generate some warmth. She felt the heavy weight of her backpack as she moved to a sitting position. Thank god she still had that. It was truly all she had left. Her toiletry bag, a few bucks and some snacks. The thought of the bottle of water and cereal bar within it had her mouth watering. A wave of nausea rolled through her almost in the same breath. Damn, she must have a concussion. It had been a hard fall and it sounded like she’d been out for some time, so it made sense.

“I have no idea where we are.” The woman definitely sounded afraid. Her voice quivered and she sniffed. It sounded like she might be crying. “Oh god. Oh god.” She chanted. There was more sniffing. She was definitely crying.

“Calm down.” The woman closest to her said. “It’s going to be okay.” Thing was, she didn’t sound like she believed that herself. “I’m sure it was all a dream. They must’ve given us something. There must be some logical—”

The other woman made a sound of frustration. “Logical explanation…” She’d gone from upset to hysterical. “You were picked up by a dragon. A freaking dragon. I experienced the same thing as you. How could we both have dreamed up the same thing? I had his clawed feet around my body. I could feel the scales.”

Say what.

These women were nutters. Julie heard the woman closest to her swallow hard. The tempo of her breathing increased. She sounded like she was trying to calm herself down. “It can’t be though. It doesn’t make sense.” Her voice had lost its calm tone. “There has to be an explanation.” Yup, any calm was long gone. Her own included!