It felt strange to be so close to an unfamiliar NightWing. For the first six years of her life, Sunny had known exactly seven dragons: Clay, Tsunami, Starflight, Glory, and their three guardians, Webs, Dune, and Kestrel.
Two of those seven dragons were dead now. She knew the guardians had never been particularly kind to the dragonets, but they were still the only parents she’d ever had, and she missed them. Her friends had never stopped to grieve for Dune and Kestrel — she wasn’t even sure they were sad about their deaths at all. She’d tried not to show how it upset her, but at night, curled up beside Clay, when she was sure he’d sleep through it, sometimes she’d let herself cry for them.
She reached toward the sliver of obsidian, but before she even touched it, Preyhunter whimpered in his sleep, and she snatched her talons back.
None of the dragons moved for a long moment.
Maybe this is a bad idea. I could make things worse if I get myself caught.
But if she could get the mirror away from them, that would be one less weapon in their claws. They’d be flying blind, with no idea what Glory was planning and no way to know if Burn would receive them with open wings. Not to mention Sunny could probably use that mirror herself.
She reached out again and noticed the trembling that shuddered through Preyhunter’s scales. Maybe he wasn’t cold. Maybe it was a nightmare.
Maybe he’s dreaming about the terrible things he’s done. Or perhaps he’s dreaming about the volcano exploding.
She hesitated, and then unfolded one of her wings, spreading it gently over his back. She was too small to cover him completely, but the warmth that radiated from her scales spread as far over him as she could reach. She held her breath, trying not to touch him.
Preyhunter let out a long, shuddering sigh, and then the shivering stopped. He took another deep breath, and Sunny saw the tension in his snout, jaws, and neck relax. A ripple went through his wings and his claws unclenched. He stopped muttering, and even his closed eyes seemed to smooth over, as if he were shifting into a deeper, calmer sleep.
Sunny waited a long moment, feeling sorry for this dragon even though she really didn’t want to. She couldn’t help wondering what she herself might have been like if she’d grown up on the NightWing island. Desperate and sad? Mean and hungry?
She reached for the mirror again, and suddenly Preyhunter spoke.
“Please.”
Sunny froze. His eyes were still closed. Across the clearing, Fierceteeth shifted her wings and coughed.
“Please don’t make me,” Preyhunter said, more softly. “Mother, it’s awful.”
A stab of sympathy shot through Sunny, and she curled her tail in closer. Remember what he’s planning and what he said and what he’s done. But it was hard not to imagine herself in his scales.
Gently she used her front talons to slide the mirror out from under his wing. Her warmth had relaxed his grip on it, so he wasn’t clutching it so tightly, and it only took a moment until it was resting coldly between her claws. The obsidian felt thin, like a layer of ice, and the edges were sharp as teeth. Sunny could see her distorted reflection in the dark glass.
She took a careful step back, then another, and folded her wings back in. Preyhunter made a lost, mournful noise, and his claws twitched as if he were trying to pull the warmth back into him.
Will they guess I’m the one who stole it? What if they come looking for me?
She glanced around the clearing. A large, flat gray boulder took up most of the ground between the three dragons, with bright yellow dandelions dotting the edges like topaz gemstones around a pendant.
I’ll leave them a message…. Something that won’t sound like me. Maybe something that’ll scare them.
Her own heart was drumming frantically against her ribs like a caged bird. She wanted to get out of there before any of them woke up. But she had a strong feeling that there was something to this idea.
She dipped a claw in the dark red mud that lined the river and wrote on the boulder, in tall, jagged letters:
TURN BACK. YOU FLY TOWARD YOUR DEATH.
Totally spooky, she thought with satisfaction. It even looked like maybe it could have been written in blood. That should at least creep them out, even if it doesn’t send them scurrying back to the rainforest.
Sunny took a step back, and then suddenly Strongwings let out the loudest snore yet, and Fierceteeth rolled over to swat him with her wing.
“Shut your noisy snout or so help me I will rip it off with my claws!” she hollered.
Sunny bolted into the sky and didn’t stop flying until she reached the dense green canopy of the jungle again.
When she finally glanced back, there was no movement from the NightWings’ copse of trees. Strongwings had even started snoring again.
I guess she was yelling at him in her sleep. Or she went right back to sleep and didn’t notice me there.