Yet another long string of days passed where no developments happened. Nobody had seen Sloth, who Swordfish suspected of knowing the code to Rainfall's chest. But in those days, Swordfish felt more at home than he had ever felt in his whole life. He and Cedar tried making their cave a little nicer, and in Cedar's case, making Swordfish's side a little neater. But they had fun together. "How do you even manage to sleep on this mess?" Cedar asked Swordfish, staring at the mess of seaweed, seashells and rocks that had once been neat that Swordfish slept on. Swordfish shrugged. "I don't know. I guess home was always such a mess I'm used to it."

There had been no murders, no strange things happening. No scavenger monsters or hooded dragons. But for once in his life Swordfish had dragons he knew he could trust. Cedar, Rattlesnake, Darkseer, Vulture, Delta and Savanna.

Although there were no killings, Rattlesnake and Savanna created a list of suspects if Sunny and the other teachers were right, and the killer was one of the students in the two new winglets. "Frigid, Scaleslasher and Scorch." Read Rattlesnake to Swordfish and the others inside the prey center. "Frigid is just plain weird, Scaleslasher is violent, as we saw in the library," Darkseer nodded. "And Scorch is a Scarlet supporter."

There was a small silence before Cedar said, "Well, why would she be killing dragons for Scarlet? Isn't Scarlet dead?"

Now there was more silence in the prey center, Cedar had said that a bit loud and now dragons were looking at them. Then a voice replied. "Oh yeah she's dead." Swordfish turned around to see Blizzard. The strangely quiet Icewing. The only dragon in his winglet that had stayed a complete stranger. "All of you see me after our next class. By the uppermost classroom with the leaf ceiling." She turned swiftly and walked away. Her expression cold, yet looking very forced.

"What kind of Icewing says 'Oh yeah?'" Cedar asked. Swordfish stared after her, puzzled. Everything else had been so pressing, Swordfish had stopped paying attention to Blizzard. He had only heard her talk three times. When she introduced herself on the first day so pretentiously, when she got Darkseer to try and find the killer when they were locked in the library, and now.

After the class Swordfish's winglet had with Sunny in the uppermost classroom, Blizzard walked up to the rest of the winglet. The first time she had ever willingly done something with the rest of her winglet. There was a dragon from every tribe outside the classroom. Except a Rainwing. Swordfish thought, and then caught Blizzard looking at him oddly. Her eyes seemed curious, yet Swordfish caught a flicker of something else. Fear?

His thoughts were interrupted by Delta and Savanna arriving. "Alright Blizzard, why did you wanna see us?" Savanna asked, stopping Delta from talking first and attracting attention with her loud voice. Blizzard simply waited for Sunny to exit the classroom, and then went in herself. The dragonets followed her in, confused. She turned around, another blank expression forced on her face. "Scarlet is dead. I know she is. I was in the hunt for Prince Winter." Swordfish sighed mentally. Great. Another retelling of the Tragedy of Prince Winter.

"It all started a few hours before The Diamond Trial. Prince Winter and Prince Hailstorm were going to enter the cave, and only one would emerge. It was an honor thing." Blizzard paused, and then added, "Something you wouldn't understand, and something I shouldn't be telling a Nightwing about." Once again, appearing forced. Like she was really trying to be one of those snobby Icewing aristocrats. But nobody batted an eye, even Darkseer, who she had been addressing. Odd. Swordfish thought.

"Anyhow, Winter and Hailstorm's parents went to retrieve Winter from his room, but he was not there. Lookouts then alerted Queen Glacier that a Nightwing was spotted running away with the prince. Then the chase began. The Nightwings were going to steal another Icewing prince."

Swordfish remembered the story of Darkstalker's parents, Prince Arctic and Foeslayer. How there were notable contradictions in the various versions. The Icewings still claimed that Foeslayer stole Arctic away for his power, while Nightwing scrolls claim Foeslayer and Arctic fell in love, and Arctic willingly abandoned his tribe.

"We later found out that Moonwatcher had entered and escaped by simply hopping across icebergs in the water to go around our protective barrier." Blizzard continued. "Glacier ordered an attack on the Nightwing villages in the Rainforest. I was part of that attack."

Darkseer for once lived up to his name, glaring darkly out the window. He must remember it. Swordfish realized. It must have been a scary sight, your tribe's 2,000 year old enemy suddenly descending on your new, exposed home.

"We attempted to scare Moonwatcher out of where we thought she was hiding. Glacier herself was leading this attack. We blew frostbreath over homes, threatened to kill dragonets. We knew it seemed too much, but a few dragonets dying might be worth stopping another Darkstalker." Savanna made a small, snorting noise. "We continued to scare the Nightwings, but Moonwatcher never revealed herself. It was then, a helpful Nightwing named Obsidian told us the truth. Moonwatcher had gone to Jade Mountain Academy. We went to leave, when a lone dragon attempted to stop us. It was Moonwatcher's mother, Secretkeeper. 'You're not going to hurt my diamond.' She told us, tears in her eyes. 'She is not a bad dragon.' Glacier told her to step aside, but she refused."

Blizzard paused, and then continued, her voice quieter. "Lots of dragons at this school hate me for what happened, but I was only following my orders. I had been hiding behind a tree, ready to strike anyone who may try to escape, and now Secretkeeper was in front of the tree. The general whistled a command. The kill was clean cut."

Swordfish now felt more in danger around Blizzard. She had killed somebody. The mother of Moonwatcher's blood was on Blizzard's claws. Then a realization struck Swordfish. He turned to see Rattlesnake was looking at him with a worrisome expression. Was she thinking the same as him? Was Blizzard the killer? She didn't strike him as 'evil,' but would she kill for someone else?

Blizzard continued. "We went to Jade Mountain, but the Dragonets of Destiny quickly informed us that Moonwatcher and the rest of the Jade Winglet except for Turtle of the Seawings and Peril of the Skywings had left school. Thus began our hunt for the Jade Winglet. But unknown to us, others were hunting them as well. Ex-Queen Scarlet and her Rainwing ally, Chameleon. We eventually went to Possibility. A town on the border of the Sandwing and Skywing kingdoms."

Everyone knew what came next, but Blizzard still recited it. "We arrived at Possibility to find Prince Winter waiting for us. He told us everything. Moonwatcher had revealed to him that she had mind reading and prophecy, and she was dangerous. She had also been communicating with Darkstalker and was hoping to free him from wherever he was. He had promised justice, security and peace and had gained her support. Winter told us with tears in his eyes. He had loved her, but she was evil. He begged for forgiveness."

"He had killed her."

Everyone knew the story, yet it still was shocking. Winter had loved her so much, yet he found her too dangerous. He killed her because he thought it would protect Pyrrhia.

"He told us that his friend Qibli was still around, but we never found him. At that same time, many dragons crossed paths. Peril and Turtle had come, but so had Scarlet and Chameleon. Chameleon used his scroll parts to become his Nightwing form and attacked Winter. Winter did not survive. Peril attacked Scarlet by setting off many dragonflame cacti. Scarlet did not survive that. Neither did Chameleon. Turtle nearly died. Nobody ever saw Qibli again. Many, many innocent dragons died, and all the information about Darkstalker was released to the public. But I know for a fact, Scarlet is dead. I saw her charred body. Limp. Lifeless."

Blizzard stood up. "That is all. Scorch can't be killing for Scarlet because Scarlet is dead." There was a long pause. "Well, that was it. Go on ahead." Blizzard said briskly.

One by one, the dragonets left the room, but Blizzard stayed behind. Swordfish was the last to go. He was almost out the door when Blizzard said "Hold on Swordfish." Swordfish turned around to see her. She relaxed her face, scrapping the forced snobby look. "Do you know why I told you that story?" Swordfish looked at her. "No." He replied. She sat back down. "You seem more observant than most. I told you that story because I myself was too curious. I volunteered to go on that attack because of my curiosity. Now I wish I had never gone. Never taken a life." She looked back at Swordfish. She didn't look like a snobby aristocratic Icewing anymore. The forced look was gone. Her eyes were rather soft and had a kindness to them. "Don't go digging too deep Swordfish."

Swordfish nodded. Why is she telling me this? He thought. Swordfish left the room, and snuck a quick look back to see that she was still looking at him. But there was something else on his mind. If it can't be Scorch, then Frigid or Farseer. He went back to his room to see Cedar already trying to go to sleep. Swordfish lay down on his new, neat bed and tried to go to sleep, but all he could think about was unanswered questions. Where did Qibli go? How did Darkstalker get Moon's full support? Where even is Darkstalker? Who is the killer? Will somebody die tonight? What is Blizzard's story? WHAT ABOUT RAINFALL'S CHEST? WHO IS VINE? Swordfish worried himself to sleep.

Long time, no see. Let's change perspectives, shall we?

Scorch lay in her bed of rocks. Her father's death still echoing through her mind. It was years ago, when Scarlet had her father killed, but it still resonated through her. Scarlet was a good queen. Her brain told her. Your father was a traitor. He had done something to make Scarlet mad. Scorch's mother tried to tell her, but Scorch had been too young to understand, and she still didn't. "Your father joined a cult." Her mother's voice echoed through her head. "Like the Talons of Peace?" She had asked. "No. Something worse." Her father's death had been just. He was evil.

Scorch then heard a scraping noise. She looked around. Typhoon was still asleep. But there was a strange shadow being cast across the room. That of a dragon. "Hello?" Scorch called out quietly. "Shhhhhhh." A voice whispered back. "Do not be afraid. I have come to free you." The dragonet stepped forward. "You don't have to worry about anything anymore." The dragon was upon her.

Scorch felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She looked down to see a silver blade.

Then she was gone.