Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry about such a long delay for this chapter, school started and I was superbusy. But we're back on track now...(hopefully)

Over the next few weeks, my mother seemed tense. One night, I tried to ask her again about what Moon had said.

"I can't tell you here," she said anxiously. "Please, don't say anything about this, to anyone."

"Okay, but-" She hurried away before I could finish. I watched her go, wondering what all of this meant.

My two siblings, Onyx and Eclipse, were growing fast. Soon they would be as big as me, even though I was a month older.

"How come I don't get a cool name like Onyx?" I'd asked my mother.

She paused in licking Eclipse. "Nótt is a good name," she said. "She was the grandmother of Thor."

I flattened my ears. "Yes, grand MOTHER. As in, she was a girl. And I'm a boy."

I paused. "Can't you just rename me? Ink sounds cool."

She looked almost scandalized. "You can't just-" Suddenly she focused on a point just to my left. "Oh, Moon! What are you doing here?"

Moon looked serious. "We need to talk, Jet." My mother stood. "About the…?"

"Yes." They both started walking away toward the caves. Immediately, I stood and started to follow them.

"Hey, where are you going?" Eclipse asked as I ran by. I didn't answer.

I followed them to a small cave near the edge of the island. Hiding inside a small crevice in the rock outside, I settled down to listen.

"It's clearly him. It has to be him. How would this happen otherwise?" my mother said tensely.

"Not necessarily," Moon offered calmly. "Ignis was born in the nest of the Red Death too. The prophecy could mean him."

My mother turned around. "How likely is that, Moon? Nótt made a six-foot crater, and at the age of a month and a half, no less. Ignis isn't special at all."

"Not in his parents' eyes he isn't," Moon snorted. "His parents think he's the strongest dragon to ever set foot here."

"What are you saying, Moon?"

Moon sighed. "I mean, if Ignis finds out about the prophecy, his parents are going to think it's him. And then you know how unpredictable Monstrous Nightmares are." Suddenly, there was a roar from the other side of the island.

Jet looked up. "Dinner. They'll be expecting me." She jumped out of the cave and back to our nest. Moon was silent for a few seconds.

Then she said, "Nótt, I know you're here. Were you listening?" I crept out of the crevice.

"Yes…"

She flicked her ear. "Good. Jet doesn't want to tell you these things, but I think you should know at least a bit." She turned to go.

"Wait!" I said. "Ignis was born in the nest of the Red Death?"

She nodded. "His father was carrying him to Hatchling Island, but he was careless and dropped the egg. It cracked, and Ignis hatched there."

"Does that mean he's the dragon in the prophecy?" I asked.

She stopped. "Maybe," she said tersely. She left the cave.

I watched her go, still thinking about what she'd said. When I at last went back to the nest, my mother had just finished throwing up some trout for Eclipse and Onyx. Eclipse sat up straight when she saw me.

"Where have you been? We had to eat all the cod you usually eat!"

"Oh, just had to go." I muttered in what I hoped was an offhand tone of voice.

My mother looked at me suspiciously, but the others seemed to accept that as I settled down. We talked for a bit, with Onyx talking excitedly about how he'd tackled Eclispse while Eclipse told loudly about how she'd pinned down Onyx. Their endless chatter sent both my mother and father to sleep early. As I kept the two company, I managed to keep the prophecy out of my thoughts.

Sleep, however, was another story.

Smoky craters full of Gronckle lava surrounded me. My mother stood at the edge, watching the moon, which grew and grew until it morphed into Moon.

"The Alpha approaches…" She laughed harshly and turned into a gigantic Ignis, who pounced on top of me, pinning me to the rock.

"Where's your prophecy now?" he mocked as his parents appeared by his side. "You will never become the Alpha…" I startled awake, jumping to my feet.

Eclipse lifted her head sleepily. "What?" I shook my head. "Nothing," I said as I settled down nervously. I'd never had a dream so vivid before. I had just started to curl up again, when I heard a noise outside. I got up and poked my head outside the cave. It was Ignis, he was climbing back into his cave.

I frowned, wondering why he would be out so late…

When I woke up, I had an uneasy feeling that I had forgotten something. Maybe involving another dragon? I shook it off. Whatever it was couldn't be that important. I joined my family at breakfast.

Eclipse, always the more excitable one, gave out a squeal. "Nótt! Can you teach us how to fish today? Please? Pretty please? With a salmon on top?"

I put out my tail and ruffled her ear flaps with it."Of course."

She immediately boasted, "I'm going to catch a salmon!"

"No you're not!" Onyx snorted, "You'll be lucky if you catch cod!"

"No, you'll be the one catching cod! And if you do, you have to eat it!"

"Deal!"

"Deal!" Eclipse hurried away, her tail flapping in the wind.

It's strange how we're in the same litter, and yet they seem so much littler. I roused myself and bounded over to the water's edge to see…two small Night Furies staring resolutely at the water.

"Do you think we're doing this wrong?" came Eclipse's whisper. "We haven't caught, or even seen, any fish." Then came Onyx's harsher tones.

"No way. I mean, what else can we do? Besides, this makes sense. We wait until we see fish, then we pounce!"

"Are you sure? Maybe we should go to other side of the bay. Or maybe-"

"You should stop talking," I said behind them. "That's what's scaring all the fish away. And don't lean forward too much. If the fish see your shadow on the surface of the water, they'll swim away."

"Oh," Eclipse said. I sat there quietly as the two of them sat at the beach, staring silently at the water. Then, a wiggling little gray line swam up from the deep. Onyx spotted it first. He dived sloppily into the water, with his tail waving above the water as he thrashed around underwater, and finally came up for air, only to be thrown backwards by Eclipse's splash, when she jumped into the water as an effort catch the little gray line that had wiggled away from Onyx's grasp. There was a lot of splashing and thrashing and wiggling and wriggling, but eventually Eclipse collapsed onto the beach and spat out the little gray worm.

I just stared.

"I have never seen such a dramatic example of fishing. Seriously, I think that dragons would pay to watch you do that."

They both glared back at me. "Yeah, but I caught a fish," Eclipse said. I turned over the slimy gray shape with my paw.

"That's a worm."

Onyx sniffed at it uncertainly. "Is not."

I snorted. "You think? And by the way, to catch the really good stuff, you're going to have to dive down there instead of waiting for it to come up. Hold your breath." I left them there as they stared at the water with wide eyes and walked over to Firewing by the edge of the bay.

"Have they caught anything yet?" he greeted me.

"Just a worm. They probably won't think of using it as bait," I replied.

Firewing gave a wheezy sort of chuckle. "Probably not."

"So…what do you want to do?" I asked.

"Well…" He said thoughtfully, " We could alway-"

Eclipse bounded over and aggressively brandished a yellow fish.

She crowed, "I caught the biggest fish in the world!"

She leaped up and shot a couple of sparks, coupled with a lone burst of white fire, into the evening sky. I looked closely at the fish and sniffed.

"That's a minnow."

A/N: Couldn't resist putting that in! I know that's just leaving you guys hanging, so I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible.