He flinched but he gently took Pucks hand he had put out and gently traced his fingers over one of the major cracks. "I should explain something,better safe than sorry the second time. So,I'm half dragon. The thing is,dragons...feel emotions a lot stronger than other beings. I mean, hate to the death and ripping apart the body to love..to the point of risking it all...but if their heart is broken,if they get a broken heart." He swallowed,the cracks rippling faintly and clinking softly with their glass edges. "You know how some brake down and sob or become depressed when they get their heart broken? Well...dragons literally fall apart,they...shatter. All of them turns to glass and they fall apart,cracking and ripping open deeper and deeper. Until finally they're a frozen glass statue before practically....exploding. Heart brake rips them apart." He said,pointing to the cracks on his jaw,cheeks and neck.He then gestured toward his whole body up and down. "I'm half dragon,and so I'm subject to that emotional risk. I...ended up falling to far to reverse if though,farther than i usually let myself." He shook his head with a glassy sound. "I can usually stop it but I...couldn't...I just couldn't. I barely survived."

"Ash," he growled. "He did this to you. Of course he did. Let me apologize for him, then, since he's obviously not man enough to do it himself." Rain hissed through the branches of the trees, a cold, gray rain that leeched color from everything it touched. Even Pucks bright auburn hair turned dull and colorless in the misty deluge. Hed rake his fingers through it, streaking his hair with red, only to have the rain soak through it once more, bleaching away the color. Grimalkin was nearly invisible; not even his eyes glimmered in the gloom.

Jason sighed,gently squeezing Pucks hand in between his own,the glass of the exposed one making a soft sound and the bound one hurting a bit. "It's fine.I shouldn't have let myself feel anything,knowing the risks and not knowing about love enough to understand how much it hurts." He said softly,not caring about how the strange rain soaked out the faint pink and blue in his freckles and underwings,but strangely...those soft white glowing marks and letters and swirls...they stayed glowing softly. "Oh,by the way." he pointed to his markings. "Soul. I have half a dragon soul and half a human soul,that's why I can use the power from the dragon half. Not as well as pure bred dragons but I still can."

He nodded. "Do the markings say the same things every time?" Above them, the massive wall of black thorns rose into the air, tendrils creaking and curling about. Some of the thorns were longer than Jason, waving about like the spines of a sea urchin, and the whole thing bristled with eerie menace.

Puck pulled Jason closer Ironhorse and the smoldering heat radiating from him. The Iron faery steamed in the rain, surrounded by writhing smoke, as the water struck his hot metal skin and sizzled away. Ironhorse gazed up at the wall of thorns, craning his neck to stare at it, billowing like a small geyser in the storm.

"No.They don't. So...um..." He then lit them up as he spoke again. "They spell out what I say. They'll light up the letters in order quickly as I say something. Like. Puck." He then paused and they letters slowed and the ones other than the dragonic P-U-C and K dulled. He grit his teeth to keep them from matching his next words. "That's your name in dragon." He smiled brightly to him and felt the feeling of pink flood his freckles and underwings as Puck pulled him closer,and despite better judgement he let him,leaning a little into him tentatively.

"Wow. My dragon name looks waaay...different than my English name. Do you ever try to hide that?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the wall shifted. Branches creaked and moaned as they peeled away to reveal a narrow, spiky corridor through the thorns. Mist curled out of the hallway, and the space beyond was choked in shadow. Puck crossed his arms. "Looks like we're expected." He looked down at Grimalkin, a gray ghost in the mist, calmly washing his front paws. "You sure you can get us through, cat?"


Grimalkin gave one paw a few more licks before standing up. Shaking himself so that water flew everywhere, he yawned, stretched and trotted forward without looking back.

Jason felt a little bad as Puck asked him if he ever tried to hide them but he didn't show it as he watched Grim go in. "I do,that's why you didn't see them before. I usually refuse to use my dragon half of my soul ever because of the markings and...well I don't really like my royal features.Besides,we should follow huh..."

Holding out his hand, he gave Jason an encouraging smile. "Come on, Jason Don't want to get separated in here."

Jason looked at him and nodded,shakily placing his hand into Puck's. His body shook with the memory of how he'd held hands with Ash and it hurt,but he shook his head and held firmly onto Pucks hand. "I refuse to think of him." He muttered,referring to how he refused to think any more of Ash. He made sure that the little ice creatures where safe in his hoodie and smiled gently back to Puck,though it was tentative.

"Its okay, you won't be able to think of anything more than self-preservation in here. Rusty can take up the rear. That way, if were jumped from behind, we wont lose anything important."

Ironhorses indignant snort was audible as they entered the tunnel, and Puck pulled Jason closer as the shadows closed in on them like grasping fingers. Around them, the corridor pulsed with life, slithering, creaking, unfurling with faint hissing sounds. Whispers and strange voices drifted down the hallway, murmuring words he couldnt quite understand. As they stepped in farther, the hole behind them shut with a quiet hiss, trapping us within the Briars.