3.

                                    

                                          
Content warning: Discussions of trauma, political tension, and depictions of anxiety 
                          
Shadowhunter
                          
I brush the snow off my scales. Sigh, staring at myself for a while in my golden mirror. 
                          
I brush my claw over Grandma's protection earring. I don't take it off, even when I'm sleeping—which is probably not the best idea, but whatever, I have bigger problems right now.
                          
Every time I try to sleep without it, I just lie awake for hours, worrying about someone attacking me the moment my eyes slip closed. It makes me feel safe, somehow,  like a little piece of my grandmother is watching over me.
                          
I look like a mess. If Permafrost were here, I bet she'd laugh at me.
                          
There's a gentle knock at my door. I open it with a sigh, expecting Mom or Dad, here to give me another lecture about how they see themselves in me, about how wonderful my life will be in ten years, or whatever. I wouldn't mind that, honestly. But instead, I find my little sister.
                          
"Eclipse? What are you doing here?" 
                          
She fidgets with her tail. "I, uh—Mom and Dad are busy, and I just—uh—I'm kinda freaking out, with the streets falling apart, and the storm and..."
                          
"You can stay here," I sigh. "Just don't mess up my stuff." Eclipse is pretty hard to say no to.
                          
"Thank you," she says, letting out a sigh of relief. 
                          
"Yes, we can share the bed," I answer before she can even ask. I roll my eyes. "It's massive, I don't mind. It's kinda awful though, so you'd really be better off sleeping on the floor." 
                          
"Aww, you do care about me!" Eclipse beams, flopping back on my bed. "I knew it! You act all tough and scary, but deep down, you're a total softie." 
                          
"Don't push your luck," I mutter. 
                          
"Right. Sorry." Eclipse wraps her wings around herself, and it takes me a moment to realize, she took me seriously. I'm sorry, I want to tell her. I don't.
                          
"How are you?" Eclipse asks quietly, after a moment of awkward silence. "Have you seen Permafrost of late?"
                          
"What?! No! Why is everyone asking me about Permafrost?! I hate her!"
                          
"No, you don't." Eclipse looks at me all weird. "You have a crush on her, right? Why don't you just... go and ask her out?"
                          
"No way!" I squawk, throwing a pillow at her face. "She's, like, way out of my league. And she might not even like girls."
                          
"So you do like her..."
                          
"Did Mom tell you?" I glower at my little sister. 
                          
"No, of course not." She frowns. "Mom would never do that. Wait, Mom knows?"
                          
I groan, burying my face in my wings. "I didn't tell her. She just, like, had a vision or something and told me about it and it's really embarrassing, please don't tell anyone."
                          
"I won't." I realize, she's probably one of the only dragons in the world I trust to keep that promise.
                          
"It's just..." I stare up at the canopy above my bed, feeling totally ridiculous. "I'm supposed to hate her. I should hate her! She's, like, everything I normally despise. And she's an IceWing. And she's haughty, and cold, and ridiculous—"