He hesitated. “I am?”
“I mean, if what Morrowseer said is true.” She opened her eyes again and looked at him. “If you have no powers. I’ve always been so excited about being a NightWing. I thought my powers must be the most amazing thing. But clearly they’re totally useless, if they couldn’t even warn me about what was going to happen to my friends.” She curled her wings and tail in close. “All my visions were of walruses and welcome-home parties and parents who were happy to meet me. So much for that.”
“Have you —” Starflight started. “I mean … do you know who your parents are? Do any of you?”
“Squid’s dad is the leader of the Talons of Peace,” she said. “All of their parents are in the Talons. That’s why Morrowseer picked us … them. Because we were convenient.” She frowned. “I guess you were the only NightWing dragonet who hatched on the brightest night. My egg hatched a couple of months later, here, actually. I have this really vague memory of fire and rough scales rubbing my back. I didn’t remember that until I smelled this place.” She paused for a moment, then sighed. “But Morrowseer took me to the Talons when I was still newly hatched.”
“I bet that was when they’d decided they needed a backup plan,” Starflight said. “Another set of dragonets who were close enough, just in case they didn’t like how we turned out.” He shifted his wings. “Which they sure don’t.”
“I like how you turned out,” Fatespeaker said softly.
Starflight took her front talons in his and squeezed them. “You too,” he said. “I like you much better than all the other NightWings I’ve met who were raised ‘properly.’ I think we’re actually lucky, in a way, that we didn’t have to grow up here.”
She nodded, but she still looked sad.
And I’m even luckier, growing up with dragonets like my friends. The cruelty of their guardians had been far outweighed by Clay’s protective caring, Tsunami’s fierce loyalty, Glory’s insight and humor, and Sunny’s … everything about Sunny.
Feeling suddenly awkward and guilty, he let go of Fatespeaker’s talons.
“You have the face you get when you’re missing your friends,” she said.
He nodded, surprised that he was that transparent. “Sometimes I think there might be no other dragons like them in all of Pyrrhia.”
“You’re probably right,” she said with a sigh.
Well. There’s Fatespeaker.
He touched her shoulder lightly. “Get some sleep.”
She obediently closed her eyes, and he moved back to his own side of the dormitory, waiting until he was sure she was asleep. After a few moments, her breathing evened out, and he reached for the hole where he’d hidden the dreamvisitor.
“Starflight?”
Starflight was so startled he nearly hit the ceiling. He whirled around and saw Mastermind standing in the doorway, staring curiously around the room.
“I haven’t been back here in a while,” Mastermind said with a chuckle. “Morrowseer said this was where I’d probably find you. I’m in a bit of a conundrum, and I was hoping you could help me.”
Starflight edged toward the wall, trying not to look at his hiding spot. He didn’t have time for a chat with his sociopathic father. He needed to contact Glory, or someone who could tell her to put a guard on Sunny.
But Mastermind held out one wing and Starflight realized that saying no wasn’t an option — not without a lot of very convincing explanations.
“Walk with me,” insisted the older NightWing. “Have you seen our marvelous library?”
Starflight reluctantly trailed after him, casting a longing glance back at his bed.
Soon, Sunny. I’ll make sure you’re safe, I promise.
Mastermind took a deep breath as they stepped into the library.
“There’s something about the smell of scrolls that always calms me,” he said, waving one talon at the walls.
“Me too,” Starflight admitted reluctantly. He didn’t want to believe he had anything in common with his father.
It frightened him to think of how he might have turned out if he’d been raised on the NightWing island. Would Mastermind have taken him under his wing? Would Starflight be helping him torture RainWings without any guilt or remorse? Would he be inventing new horrible experiments to try on them, never thinking about how they were real dragons he was harming?
He’d be eating rotting animals and studying with the other NightWings and arguing with Fierceteeth, and he’d believe, like the rest of them did, that he was superior to all other dragons in the world.
Except that Starflight had no powers, so he’d have been an outcast eventually, even if he had grown up here. He never would have belonged.