PART ONE
COPPER

Chapter 1

I maneuver through the crowd of dragons, careful to tuck in my wings and look out for tails and claws. Of course, my whole appearance screams GET AWAY- with copper scales and dark blue eyes, with brown scales inside my wings, I look like no dragon I've ever seen.

Maybe there's a reason for my having a lone cave, other than the, "OH NO, FIRESCALES! She's here to kill us all!" thing. Maybe it's best that I'm not near anyone else. Otherwise I would suffer a lot of teasing, because of the hybrid thing. Being the first hybrid at Jade Mountain is no party. They gave me the SkyWing spot, but I suspect I wouldn't have gotten in if my dad weren't one of the dragonets of destiny.

There's my cave, right in front of me. I slip in, hoping to avoid any dragonets looking for trouble. My cave is small, only meant to hold one dragon. Colorful lanterns are strung from the stalactites. There's a ledge on the left side of the wall, just large enough for me to sleep in. If I were any bigger, I would have trouble, but because of my small size, it seems large enough. Your size is probably a result of your being a hybrid, the SkyWing doctors said. Hybrids are often born with flaws.

The ledge looks uncomfortable, but I'm used to it. Anything else would burn right through.

Though the ledge may not be paradise, it is evident that someone tried to make this cave right for me. There's a stack of scrolls by my ledge, and when I touch it it DOESN'T burst into flame! Which feels WEIRD but also so COOL. They must be those fireproof scrolls Starflight made. Mom requested them a few years back.

And, even better, some dragon- probably Dad- left a small pot of mud for me. I dip two claws into the mud and run it down my aching back quickly. The pain disappears, but a moment later the mud dissolves into ashes. The downside is that I can't relax in mud, but the upside is that at least it has enough time to heal pain before it burns up.

I'm tired after a long day of flying. The guard who escorted me was grumpy and rude, and he whapped me with his spear when I was flying at a pace too slow for him. The eventual result was a melted spear and my aching back. Most SkyWings are fast, but as a result of my being half MudWing, I'm not. I could hear him making stinging comments about my 'flying at a snail's pace'.

I stretch out my wings, exhausted. Crawling onto my ledge, I can finally rest.

A dragon bursts into my cave. I sit up, startled, and my wings brush against the pot of mud. The pot spills over. I desperately try to tip it back up, but it just burns up, and the mud is now a pile of cinders. "TALONS AND TAILS," I screech. She RUINED my mud!

"Oops, sorry," says the dragon, a nervous-looking RainWing. "Looking for my sleeping cave." Her eyes glance from me to the cinders and her eyes are clearly making the connection cinders-copper scales- firescales dragonet. She tries to sidle out of the cave, clearly not interested in talking to the weird hybrid firescales.

"Oookay," I say awkwardly, "but next time, don't startle me like that."

"Okay," the dragonet squeaks, even though she's two times my size and clearly a few years older. I sigh as she walks out of the cave. My first acquaintance at Jade Mountain Academy. I have a feeling it'll go all downhill from here, and now I don't have any more mud. I scoop up the ashes in my talons and gather them into a little pile. I also pick up the hunk of metal that used to be the pot and squeeze it until it burns into ashes, too.

I sit on my ledge for about half an hour (okay, maybe it was more like five minutes) until I can't bear it anymore. I squeeze out of my sleeping cave and find the entrance hall, where I quickly exit the school. The sky is blue and my wings are screaming FLY FLY FLY! I spread my wings and flap into the air.

The sky is where I feel I truly belong. Nothing to burn. Just the air and my wings. I look down at Jade Mountain, which is quite a scene. It takes me a moment to realize that another dragon is flapping towards me. I hope it's not a student. I try swerving away, but then I realize that the dragon's scales are an unusual gold color, and only one dragon I know has scales like that.

"Copper?" Sunny calls. "Are you okay?"

"Just flying," I say irritably, allowing Sunny to catch up with me. For some reason her voice is like listening to claws scraping on stone. "But I had an encounter with a RainWing student."

"Oh, no!" Sunny cries. "Is anyone hurt?!"

"No, no, nothing like that," I say, annoyed. "She just startled me, and I knocked over my pot of mud. It kiiiinda burned up, so I was wondering if I could maaaybe get some more?" I wonder if I'm being impudent. Am I being impudent?

"Of course," says Sunny warmly. "Clay put that pot there for you. He knew you'd be exhausted after a long day of flying." I look for any signs of mockery or meanness in that statement, but she looks kind. She probably didn't realize she was insulting me.

"It helped. I mean, before it burned up," I say. "Let him know that, okay?"

"I will," says Sunny. "But we don't want to lose you on your first day here. Will you come back to Jade Mountain with me?" A flash of irritation crosses my face, and I know immediately that she came just to lure me back inside. I think about saying no, but Sunny is Dad's friend.

"Okay," I sigh. "I might as well go to the prey center anyway." Maybe they have COWS!

Sunny guides me back, and I can see that she is carefully keeping her distance. I swoop to the ground and enter the entrance hall. Sunny walks off, probably to the art cave, and so we go our separate ways. I'm pleased to see that Dad is there.

"Copper!" He says affectionately, giving me a small hug. His scales burn and sizzle for a moment, and I wince, but they heal instantly.

Turns out there are no cows today, but there are chickens, which are almost as good. I bite into a chicken leg, and heavenly juice drips from my mouth. "Thith ith tho good!" I said, my voice muffled. Chicken tastes much better than the seagulls I had in the Sky Kingdom. I've only ever tasted chicken and cows when I've come to visit Jade Mountain. Now that I'm here I can have them every day! My mouth waters at the thought.

Clay smiles. "There's my little dragonet."

I laugh. Everyone knows about Clay's love of food, which I have clearly inherited. But despite all I eat, I am still way to small for my age (three). "Cows are my favorite because of their flavor. It's like someone took peace and love and wonder and stuffed it into one cow's leg!" I say, wishing I had a cow right now. But I take the second leg of chicken, bite down into the scorched leg, and I know that I'm lucky to be eating it instead of bland seagull.

When I finish the second leg I pick ash out of my teeth. "Made any friends yet?" Clay asks. This remark stings because though I know he's trying to be friendly, he knows my lone cave isn't exactly the perfect social area.

"Yeah, sure," I fib, trying to act dismissive. "I'm gonna go back to my cave now. Bye!" I take another piece of chicken to bring back to my cave and walk back. On my way there I pass a haughty-looking IceWing, a nervous SeaWing, and a SandWing and SkyWing arguing.

"Hey, hey, break it up!" I say.

"Oh yeah, you think you're the boss of me?" Says the SkyWing crudely, and I REALLY want to set him on fire, but I know Dad wouldn't approve.

"I'm just trying to make peace," I say defensively, ignoring the dragonets in the hallway who are whispering about the hybrid firescales and how they think she's going to attack the innocent SkyWing.

"Too late," says the SkyWing. The SandWing looks regretful, but the SkyWing continues: "No one was talking to you. So get your weird little copper scales away from me and my tribe."

"I'm half SkyWing, you know," I bristle.

The SkyWing snorts. "You will never be one of us."

I snarl at him and just walk away. It's not worth it, anyway. Everyone will think that I'm the bad guy here. I enter my cave and sit down on the ledge, looking down at the scorched chicken. It doesn't seem so appetizing now. I toss it aside and curl up on my ledge.

As I try in vain to fall asleep, the SkyWing's words echo in my head: "you'll never be one of us."