Chapter 13: Abnormal Workouts

I was strangely calm when I arrived in the library, despite having been through an immense range of emotions in the past few hours. I felt at peace with myself, with my lack of parental guidance. I did not need a father. I had Sunny and Clay and everyone else to guide me instead. I would be OK.

So instead of freaking out and sobbing like I normally would have, I just stayed calm and flew into the library silently.

I intended my library visit to be a quick one. I would put my notebook and bandana back in the drawer where they belonged, and then I'd leave right after. But as I was putting my things back in the drawer, I noticed that the old, ugly quill that was secretly my favorite quill of all was inside the drawer.

Clay gave me the quill when I'd started my position as the librarian as a present. He'd told me it was a high-quality quill, the highest of qualities. I didn't believe him, and and rightfully so - yesterday, when I actually got to look at the quill, I realized it was a very cheap quill, worn out and downtrodden. Yet over the months I'd used it, I'd come to grow on me. And eventually, it became my favorite quill.

That's weird, I thought. I never put my quill here. I usually just leave it on the left side of the desk. And the quill couldn't have just randomly fallen into the drawer.

So someone must have put it in here. But who? And why?

"Starflight," a voice said from the studying area.

I looked up in front of me and saw Moonwatcher sitting at a table across from another dragon who was craning his neck around to get a look at me. Moon? Why is she here?

And why is she sitting with Turtle?

"Come here," Moon quietly told me. "We need to talk."

"Can we do this tomorrow?" I asked. "I've had a long day, and I need to get some sleep."

"Uh, Starflight…I think you'll wanna hear what she has to say," said Turtle, in a voice that established that I had to hear this.

I sighed, brought my chair over, and sat down next to Turtle.

"OK, what is that about?" I asked Moon. What could she possibly want to talk about that could be so important that it must be talked about at this very moment? Does she want some of the medicine? Did someone find out about the medicine that wasn't supposed to? Did something happen while I was gone?

"Starflight, why didn't you tell anyone that Turtle was an animus?" asked Moon.

I looked at Turtle, my eyes filled with disappointment. Turtle had cracked. He'd told Moon about the whole operation. The fake medicine, his animus powers, everything. He'd been the bringer of his own undoing. And now he was going to suffer the consequences.

"So," I asked Turtle, turning to him, "when did you tell her?"

"I didn't tell anyone anything," Turtle said.

"Liar. You had to have told her, because I sure didn't," I said.

"Turtle didn't tell me anything," said Moon.

I looked at her quizzically. "Of course he did," I said to her. "I didn't tell you anything, and only Turtle and I knew about his animus powers. Therefore, by process of elimination, it has to be Turtle."

"Starflight, you were the one who told me about Turtle's animus powers," she said.

At first, I was confused by her accusation because it was so outrageous. Then my confusion turned to anger, boiling anger. How dare she accuse me of something that was so obviously false and untrue!

"I told you?" I asked her incredulously. "On the moons above, I swear I did not say a single word to you about any of this."

"That may be true," said Moon, "but you still told me."

"What?" I yelped. "How can that be possible? How can I say nothing to you and still tell you? That just isn't possible!"

"Starflight, what I am about to tell you you cannot tell anyone, you promise? Not a soul," said Moon.

"OK, whatever, sure, I promise!" I said. "Just tell me how what I just said was possible."

"I can read minds," said Moon.

"I don't believe you," I immediately responded. It was impossible that she could read minds. The logic behind that conclusion was simple. "There hasn't been a telepathic Nightwing in over a century. Why would you be the first?"

"I was the one who put the quill in your drawer, by the way," Moon said. "It was lying on the floor, so I just put it in the drawer thinking that's where you put your quills because that's where normal dragons put their favorite quills. I didn't know you usually kept it on the left side of the desk. So, just to reiterate, there was no malicious intent in moving your quill around. None."

Moon smugly smiled, knowing that she had just said exactly what she had needed to say to prove to me that she was a telepath. She had responded directly to my thoughts and even used some of the exact language in them in her response. I had also never told anyone that that quill was my favorite quill. There was no other explanation for this other than that Moon could read minds.

Yesterday morning, for the first time in my life, I had fainted. Now, I almost did so again.

Thankfully, my improved mental health helped me keep my consciousness, though it did not lessen the shock that was currently coursing through my brain due to this revelation. So I took a few deep breaths, and indeed, I felt better after. The initial shock I'd felt from her revelation was slowly fading away, but it was replaced by a sense of confusion and a million questions.

"How?" I asked. "How do you…"

"I don't know," said Moon. "Darkstalker thinks it's because I hatched under the light of two moons, but-"

"WOAH WOAH WOAH," I interrupted. "Did you say Darkstalker?"

"Yeah, Darkstalker. The monster of Nightwing legend. That one. He's currently talking to me in my mind," Moon said.

"Moon, I've believed everything you've told me so far," I said. "But this - this is going too far."

"Who's Darkstalker?" asked Turtle.

"Only the most powerful animus dragon in history, and the worst nightmare of every Nightwing dragonet," I told him. "But he's been dead for two thousand years. Moon, how can he be speaking to you if he's been dead for two thousand years?"

"I know what you're thinking," said Moon. "I'm going crazy, all this telepathy is driving me insane."

"Of course you know what I'm thinking - you're telepathic," I said.

"Yes, but my point is, I thought I was going crazy too," said Moon. "But then…he helped me. See, before Darkstalker, I had no way to block out anyone's thoughts. I was constantly subject to the messes of everyone's mind."

"Is that bad, though?" asked Turtle. "I mean, I would love to always hear what everyone is thinking."

"Turtle, telepathy is good, but only when used in moderation," Moon said to him. "It's like exercise - you do it the right amount, you feel great, but if you do too much, you end up hurting yourself."

"Oh," said Turtle. "So telepathy is a workout for you."

"No," said Moon. "It's just…I don't do it too much, OK?"

"OK," said Turtle. "But how does Darkstalker-"

"Let me finish," said Moon. "Darkstalker taught me a technique where I could block out everyone's voices, and it worked perfectly. It's been a life-saver. So I don't think he's a hallucination, because I don't think my imagination could come up with his technique on my own. And no, I am not lying about all this, how dare you even think that Starflight, you backstabbing little baby!"

"Sorry, but I have to consider the possibility," I said truthfully.

"So you think I'm lying about Darkstalker," said Moon.

"I never said that," I told her. "I'm just saying it's a possibility."

There was a brief moment of tension between me and Moon. I think she was using the moment to comb through my thoughts, but I was currently thinking about Moon combing through my thoughts, so she would see that I was thinking about thinking about her combing through my thoughts. "Is Darkstalker, like, annoying?" Turtle asked Moon, breaking both the tension between us and my repetitive thought chain.

"He's actually a pretty funny guy when he's not trying to persuade me to betray everyone I love and resurrect him," said Moon.

"Moon, whatever you do," I said, "please don't do that. No matter what he offers you, no matter how convincing his reasoning is, don't. The last thing we want is to have the most dangerous dragon in Pyrrhian history be revived as a zombie."

"I wasn't going to," said Moon.

"I bet you've at least thought about it, though," I said. "Darkstalker was known for being a master manipulator. If he really is in your mind, then he's probably using some of his master manipulation skills on you. To be quite frank, I'm worried that you'll fall prey to his schemes and revive him."

"I won't," said Moon. "Especially not if he's going to keep yelling at me,"

"Yelling?" asked Turtle.

"In my mind," said Moon. "He's been yelling at me in my mind for the past five minutes, and it's driving me insane. Moons, I really wish I could just block his voice out too, but unfortunately I can't do that. "

"Want me to block him out for you?" suggested Turtle.

Moon turned to face him. "What?" she asked.

"I could just block him from your mind," said Turtle. "Make sure he can't manipulate you anymore."

"That would be great if you could," said Moon, "but I don't know if you can."

"I'm an animus, Moon. I can do anything," Turtle falsely proclaimed.

"If you can, I would definitely support using your magic to do that," I said. "Seems like pretty good use of it, considering what may happen if you don't."

"OK, let me try," said Turtle. He took a deep breath, then began his spell. "I enchant Moon's brain to-"

"Cast a soul protection spell first," interrupted Moon. "If you haven't already."

"What?" asked Turtle. "What is that?"

"Not sure," said Moon. "But Darkstalker just joked that you probably didn't do it yet, so just do it."

"Moon, you might have just saved Turtle's soul," I said. It was true: I'd forgotten to make him cast a soul protection spell! How had I forgotten? I had read in numerous books that that was the first spell most animuses cast, and yet I'd forgotten to tell Turtle this. I mentally slapped myself for my mistake.

"Turtle, a soul protection spell is basically a spell that prevents your soul from being destroyed by your animus magic. It doesn't completely work, but it helps," I told him.

"Wow. That seems like something you maybe should have told me a while ago," he annoyingly said.

"Sorry. I forgot," I said. "Anyway, just repeat after me: 'I enchant my soul to never be affected in any way, shape, or form by my animus magic until the day I die.'" That was the standard wording that most animuses used for a soul protection spell, I remembered.

"I enchant my soul to never be affected in any way, shape, or form by my animus magic until the day I die," repeated Turtle. "OK, now can I cast my spell?"

"Now I think you're good," said Moon. "Unless I'm missing something, Darkstalker?" She smiled, presumably in response to Darkstalker's reply that only she could know. "I don't think you're gonna be able to do that. Not after what Turtle's about to do. He just threatened to kill me and my mom, by the way."

"Um," said Turtle, clearly weirded out by Moon's conversation with a two-thousand-year-old dead dragon, "here I go. I enchant Moon's brain to never-"

"Wait," I said to Turtle. "Make it so that Darkstalker can't telepathically communicate with anyone. In case they're another telepath we don't know about that he tries to communicate with."

"Fine," said Turtle. "Now can I cast my spell?"

"Now you can," I told Turtle.

"Finally," he said. He took another deep breath, then began. "I enchant Darkstalker to not be able to telepathically communicate with Moonwatcher nor any other dragon forever," he said.

The room was silent for a bit after the spell was cast.

"Is he still in your head, Moon?" asked Turtle.

"Nope. Your spell worked, Turtle. It worked perfectly," she said.

"HA! Take that, Darkstalker!" he said. "Who's the most powerful animus now?"

"Darkstalker is," I said, "but yeah, nice job. How do you feel?"

"I feel alive," said Turtle. "I feel more alive than ever!"

"No, how does your soul feel?" I asked. "Does it feel like it's falling apart?" I asked.

Turtle shook his head. "Not yet," he said.

I turned to Moon. "Any other world-changing secrets you have to tell me?" I asked her.

"As a matter of a fact, I do have one more," she said playfully.

"Really?" I asked, egging her on. "Tell me, then."

"Are you sure you want to know?" she asked.

"I'm sure," I said with a smile.

"OK, but don't say I didn't warn you," she said. She waited a second for dramatic effect, then said, "Fatespeaker loves you and she's jealous of Sunny and she wants to start a family and have dragonets with you."

I confess, I did not expect Moon to tell me an actual secret. I expected her to tell me a secret that was obviously fake. Instead, she bombarded me with this revelation.

Fatespeaker loves me? I mean, I liked Fatespeaker, but to be honest, she could be pretty annoying. And how do I tell her that I don't love her without hurting her feelings? She's probably take it the wrong way and start bawling—

Moon, who seemed to be holding her breath while I internally freaked out, couldn't hold it in anymore and let out a big belly laugh.

"Oh my gosh, Starflight, your reaction was hilarious, HAHA! I can't believe you fell for that! Turtle, I wish you could have heard his thoughts! They were so funny! You were all like, Fatespeaker's annoying and how do I not hurt her feelings and—"

Moon couldn't finish her sentence and resumed her belly laugh. Turtle was laughing too. I was not laughing, as one could imagine.

"Moons, Moon, that is not funny," I told her.

"Yes, it was," said Moon. "Come on, admit it, I got you good."

"I'm not kidding, Moon," I said, my voice deadly serious. "You're a mind reader. You have access to everyone's thoughts, and you can't abuse that power by lying and joking around with it. I get that you've probably been waiting to tell a joke like that for a long time, but I need to be able to trust what you tell me about everyone's thoughts without wondering if you're joking or not. OK?"

"It was pretty funny, though," said Turtle.

"Shut up," I told Turtle.

"Geez," said Moon. "Sorry."

"Good," I said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I am tired, and I need some sleep. Good night."

I left the library and walked my way right to the caves, remembering the directions that Sunny gave me. Everyone else there was sleeping already, so no one was there to congratulate me on spending my first night in the caves. I was glad that no one was, because I always got annoyed by things like that. Undeserved praise: one of the things I hated most in this world. I found a spot next to Sunny and fell asleep thinking of the things that we would do now that we were cousins.