Everlynh sat on the edge of her bed, and placed I Am Lycanwing beside her on the bed, along with a few blank pieces of paper, and a rune sheet from Mrs. Envel. She carefully set down a charcoal pencil atop the blank papers, then opened the book.
Moving slowly, and with many pauses, Everlynh began matching up runes with the ones she knew, and writing down the runes she knew on the blank papers.
An hour passed, and she had a good section ready for reading. Her writing hand aching, Everlynh laid I Am Lycanwing back on the bed, and picked up her papers. Slowly and stutteringly, she began to read the chilling tales.
0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0
Pheda clutched the papers as tightly as she could, careful not to rip them in the process, as she and Honest flew back to New Berk. She had the slight feeling that Everlynh was a bigger find than they'd first thought, but that was more gut instinct than anything else. The papers - the map and the Terror Mail - though. . . if they could be deciphered, she felt certain that the locations of everything they sought could be found. The missing New-Berkians, Lindyr, the man behind the whole attack, everything. That was more than she had thought possible, this far from the raid.
New Berk appeared on the horizon, and Honest flew faster. It was growing dark, and while Pheda usually made a point of resting at this time of the evening, this was too urgent to wait.
0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0
Pheda pounded on Zephyr's front door, not caring how loud it was. If she was going to be disturbing her at all, what was the point of being discreet about it?
It was after dark, and the Chieftess would be resting by now after the day's trials. Perhaps she was asleep already - neither Pheda nor Honest had any way of knowing.
Moments later, the door opened, and Zephyr, looking tired, stood in the doorway. She blinked, and the identities of her unexpected guests registered in her mind. In an instant, she was fully awake. "Pheda! Do you have news?"
"I might," Pheda said, gazing into her Chieftess' eager eyes. "May we come inside?"
Zephyr nodded, and stepped aside to let her two guests pass. She seemed giddy with surprise and excitement. Pheda was almost afraid to risk disappointing her.
They went into the middle room, and sat at the large table, which was positioned near the fireplace. Pheda took a seat across from Zephyr, and Honest sat on the floor like a cat, her tail curled around her legs, beside her.
Zephyr leaned forward. "Okay, what did you find?"
"I'm not really sure, to be honest," Pheda said, dumping the things she'd brought onto the middle of the table. She picked up the message, and spread it out. "This, though, is written in some kind of code. If we can decipher it, I'm confident that we'll find out something worth knowing about our opponents. Battle plans perhaps, or prisoner locations and names."
"OH my gosh," Zephyr said softly, "this is. . . I don't know how to say it. I mean. . . years of next to nothing, then Nuffink, nothing again, the girl - Everlynh? - and now something again."
Pheda grinned. "What do you say we get to work then, hm?"
Zephyr nodded. "We'll figure out what we can on our own, and get the New-Berkians who are best with codes in the morning."
Pheda glanced at Honest, and was soon assured by the Night Light's voice in her head that she agreed. She unfolded the map, and Karda, Zephyr's daughter, who had come to see what all the fuss was about, fetched some paper and charcoal pencils at her mother's bidding.
Bent over the papers, minds working, Pheda and Zephyr struggled to identify a single letter, with Honest whispering in her human friend's mind every now and then with ideas, and craning her neck to see the Chieftess' paper every once in a while.
0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0.o.0
Starflinger curled up on her warm slab of stone, covering her body with her wings to trap the heat. She peeked out from her cozy bed with eyes such a bright, light-shaded blue-green that they were startling. Moonshadow lay across the cave from her. His eyes, a stark green, glinted in the dark like a cat's. Onyx sat at the end of the cave, looking off, toward the rest of the Hidden World, which, though it was night, was no darker than it was in the day. Spirit moved past her, slipping inside the cave, and moving to the back.
"I wonder what Pheda and Honest are doing," Starflinger whispered into the blackness. "Do you think they went on any adventures without us?"
Moonshadow snorted. "Do I think? I know, Star. They're grown-ups. Of course they did."
He sighed, angling his eyes downward. "We're rare, the last of our kind. They're not. There are hundreds of Night Lights now. Millions of humans. Night Furies? Just four. Us four. It's hopeless."
Starflinger's brow furrowed, and her wings retreated, folding tightly against her body as she stood. "But something seems awfully fishy about all this. I'm gonna go find Honest and Pheda, and get them to tell me what all this is about."
Onyx whipped around. "What, are you crazy?! You'll get in huge trouble!"
"Do you think I care?" Starflinger snarled, moving toward the door. "Don't you remember that ship? They could be up against something huge, and something tells me that they could probably use some backup right now, or in the near future."
Moonshadow stood too after a moment. "I'm game if you are, I guess."
"Well. . . I guess I'll come," Spirit said after a moment in a defeated tone. "Rotten talons, Star. You need to stop being so convincing."
Onyx joined the last, groaning when she realized that all of her siblings were leaving. "Oh gosh, we are so dead when Honest finds out!" she said, spouting out a barrage of further complaints.
"OH my gosh, we'll camp out in the woods, okay Onyx?!" Starflinger snapped. "We'll keep an eye on things from there, and if we're needed, we go. If not, we return."
She leapt out of the cave entrance, catching herself with her wings, followed by first Spirit, then Moonshadow. Last of all came Onyx, still grumbling.