The library was rather cold during that night.
"What in Pyrrhia were you thinking?" Tsunami yelled at the dragonets who had snuck out. Swordfish and the others looked down at their talons, except for Farseer, who glared back at Tsunami. "We were attempting to find the killer." Farseer answered. "THAT'S OUR JOB! NOT YOURS!" Tsunami looked angry and sad at the same time. "AND NOW LOOK. RAINFALL IS DEAD, AND WHAT DID YOU SAY KILLED HIM?" "It was a… thing..." Swordfish stammered. "It was scavenger-like, but super powered. Like, a dragon-huntress." The other dragonets nodded their heads. Tsunami looked skeptical, but Sunny walked up and grabbed Tsunami's arm. Sunny looked stressed and tired. "You go to bed, Tsunami. I'll tell them more."
Tsunami looked both relieved and upset, but went. "Everyone listen carefully." Sunny said shakily. Swordfish looked around. Every dragonet from both the Amber and Amethyst winglets got up and looked at Sunny. Everyone except Rainfall.
"Although we suspect Rainfall was killed by something non-dragon, the killer of Ostrich is most definitely a dragon. It was a dragon's style of killing." Swordfish noticed his talon was shaking. He was tired, worried and scared. Rainfall's words kept echoing through his head. "I think there's something much larger going on here." What did Rainfall want to show him so badly?
"The deaths have begun since we got you dragonets. Our two new winglets." Sunny took a deep breath, she looked at every face around her. Swordfish knew Sunny liked to see the best in dragons, but she looked defeated right now. Like her hopes had been killed. "So, we have come to the conclusion that the killer is among the dragons standing here right now."
The library seemed to get darker. Swordfish heard Cedar breathe heavily. He was scared and so was everyone else. Somebody here was most likely the killer. But does that mean they can turn into a scavenger-thing? No, that's impossible. Unless… it isn't. Rainfall's voice echoed through his head again. "I think there's something much larger going on here, and scavengers are a part of it." Swordfish had to get to Rainfall's studies, they might hold all the answers he needed. But first he had to get out of this lockdown.
Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours before the tension finally cleared up, and Swordfish got the courage to try and talk to someone. "Hey Frigid." He whispered. The strange Icewing looked up from the blank scroll he was staring at to look at Swordfish with a face blanker than the scroll. "What." He said. "Did you ever notice anything… peculiar about Rainfall?" It occurred to Swordfish that maybe he was asking the wrong dragon about what was normal and what wasn't. But surprisingly, Frigid answered. "Yeah, sometimes late at night he would write in a scroll while talking to his scavenger. I think he thought I was asleep at those times. What about it?" "Nothing, I just was wondering if there was anything abnormal about him." Swordfish quickly covered up. Frigid looked at him for a while, and then went back to his scroll. He was so odd. Swordfish thought. He had left the group that had went to see Stonemover and nobody had noticed because-. Wait. Swordfish thought. He seems strange enough. Nobody knows anything about him. I don't think Blizzard even knew of him before the school. Swordfish glanced at Blizzard, who was looking bored and… somewhat sad. Did she know Rainfall? Like, at all? Or is she sad about something else completely? But the fact still remains, Frigid is an enigma.
And he had left us behind before Rainfall was killed.
Was Frigid the killer? And more importantly, if he is, how is he able to become a super-powered scavenger?
Suddenly, Blizzard snapped out of her boredom, jumping Swordfish and interrupting his train of thought.
"Darkseer." She said urgently. "Can you see who the killer is?" "How would he know?" Savanna asked her. "Oh please, can't you tell he's a mind-reader and a prophet? It was obvious the first day. He knew Rattlesnake's name before she even introduced herself, and he knew the material after sleeping through Web's class." Everyone turned and looked at Darkseer, who shrank back into one of the bookshelves. "So, Darkseer, help us and use that power for what you should've used it for as soon as Ostrich was killed. Find the killer, Nightwing." Her last word was dripping with malice.
"Ok, Ok, fine." Darkseer said reluctantly. "But I'm gonna tell you now, I tried before, after Ostrich was killed, and no luck." Darkseer closed his eyes. There was silence as everyone waited in suspense and awe. They waited… and waited… Soon enough, snores were coming from Darkseer.
"USELESS LIZARD." Darkseer was suddenly thrown across the room, now awake and yelling. Swordfish looked up and caught sight of Darkseer's attacker. It was his sister, but now Delta was blocking her from reaching Darkseer again. Darkseer had crashed into a bookshelf and knocked it over. Starflight, who had been listening to all the conversations, jumped up and headed in the direction of the crash. "Scaleslasher, calm down." Delta said, using the name Farseer had made for herself. Darkseer lifted his head up off the ground and glared up at his sister. Savanna also looked at Farseer with anger. Why did he do that?
Farseer attempted to lunge past Delta, but Delta used her strong Mudwing forearm to knock her back. "Why are YOU the one to have powers?" Farseer roared at Darkseer. "Why did Mother have to do her silly superstitions on YOUR egg? Lifting you up past the volcano's smog every night, exposing your egg to the moons every night until hatching? YOU ARE THE MOST USELESS NIGHTWING TO EVER LIVE. You never even told Morrowseer, or our queen about your powers. THEY COULD HAVE HELPED US WIN THE WAR! IF YOU HAD JUST HELPED US, BLISTER WOULD BE QUEEN RIGHT NOW!" Farseer snarled with anger, her snout leaking smoke. "No fire in the library, and never use the names of the queens in this school." Starflight reminded her. "YOU SHUT IT, YOU USELESS PROPHECY DRAGONET, YOU DON'T THINK THE TRIBE FINDS YOU A FAILURE TOO?" Starflight reeled back, obviously stung.
"Well, at least I don't KILL DRAGONS to gain praise." Darkseer shot back at his sister. "Did you ever think being a good dragon didn't mean doing awful things to support whatever corrupt thing your tribe thinks is good? You've pushed many dragons under that lava, and held them there with those spears, just to gain recognition in the eyes of Morrowseer." Farseer lunged forward, hate gleaming in her eyes. Only to get blocked by Clay and Fatespeaker, who had come to investigate the crash. Clay grabbed Farseer by the arm. "You're coming with me now." He said innocently, smiling at her. He led her out of the library, and Fatespeaker went to help Starflight and Darkseer out of the bookshelf.
"Well that was… interesting." Cedar said nervously. But Swordfish was too busy with something else. While Farseer and Darkseer had been fighting, Savanna had started to try and comfort Rattlesnake, who hated the conflict. Of course it was rather petty of Swordfish to get jealous like this. He never got jealous of anyone, except his brother, who had all the praise and liking of the family. And of course it would make sense Rattlesnake and Savanna would do this stuff, they were both Sandwings and both Outclaws.
Yet it pained Swordfish's heart to even think of a future without her in it. She had been like a light in the dark hole Swordfish's sub-par life had been. Her warm scales, melting away the cold feeling of his ocean house. Her bright laugh, cutting through all the anger and failure he had felt around him his whole life. With every conversation, she fixed the hole Swordfish's mother had left.
Suddenly, Savanna got up and stood in front of the two winglets. He cleared his throat. "If we want to get out of this library and go home, we are going to need to find this killer." Savanna looked around the library. "And the killer is one of us. We cannot just sit here for much longer." He looked right at Swordfish and something horrible occurred to Swordfish. He suspects me? "We can't trust each other anymore. Anyone determined to find the liar, please come forward.
The deaths end now."
Swordfish had fallen asleep for a short while, when the dreams started again.
Swordfish was laying on the ground, staring at Rainfall's lifeless body. The arrow was sticking out of Rainfall's arm. Blood slightly staining its head. Rainfall stared at Swordfish, his eyes shining with a strange light. "His name is Sloth and he is friend, not food." Rainfall said, reciting what he had said to Typhoon when she tried to eat Sloth. Rainfall heard a strange noise and turned to his right. He was back at the ledge where Rainfall had died, but now there was another dragon there too. A small Icewing was laying there, dying as well. Only she didn't have an arrow in her. Simply a black spot where her heart would be. She coughed miserably, and then started screaming. Her wings began to shrink, her talons becoming the clever paws of a scavenger. She screamed again, but this time, shadows poured out of her mouth, completely enveloping Swordfish. He stumbled around in the dark, and fell off the ledge.
He attempted to fly, but his wings wouldn't work. Suddenly, from the shadows where the Icewing had been, the huntress appeared again. It aimed its bow and arrow and fired, hitting Swordfish square in the chest. Suddenly, about a thousand different scenes flashed into Swordfish's vision.
A dead Sandwing, lying on a bed of mud.
A large group of Nightwings, cowering in front of a dragonet, who was speaking to an Icewing.
A Sandwing in a hood, giving a speech in front of other hooded dragons, talking about a bright future.
A strange green and brown dragon, smiling at him.
Turtle, getting hit with a large stone, yet surviving.
A dark, strange room with two pieces of strange furniture.
A copper bracelet on a Nightwing's arm.
A young Skywing dragonet watching another Skywing on trial.
The most enormous dragon Swordfish had ever seen, standing almost as tall as Jade Mountain, killing scavengers dressed in bizarre coverings.
A purple dragon standing in front of a stone tower.
Delta, asking somebody, "Where did you come from?"
Starflight singing to a familiar tune, while chained to a tower.
A dead Icewing and a strange looking Icewing dragonet, crying next to him.
Rattlesnake smiling at him.
A Rainwing, running through the ruins of a building.
Swordfish's father, staring at something.
A strange mechanism, giving off light with unfamiliar signs and symbols on it, and a strong presence behind it.
Swordfish fell into the talons of something huge and unrecognizable. He stared at where the thing's head should be, but he became so filled with horror and a crushing hopelessness, he crumpled inside its enormous palm.
Swordfish shot up from his sleep and his dream ended.