Jackal wished that his mother hadn't insisted on making all four dragons—including himself, Spectrum, Caldera, and Mallow—on sharing his room upstairs. Yes, it was as big as the whole second floor, but they had to sleep in there too. He had showed Caldera were she could sleep, and purposely gave Spectrum the most uncomfortable spot. No one noticed—expect for Spectrum, of course. He really didn't trust that dragon.

"Where were you going, Spectrum?" Mother asked the NightWing. It was just about sunrise the morning after they came. All the dragons were sitting around a small table. Jackal was squished between should-be-bigwings Mallow and his thick-built mother.

"I believe my sister should be on an island, a big one, close to the mainland." Spectrum replied. She nudged aside the scorpion, who's tail had been plucked off so then no one accidentally (or purposely) stabbed themselves with it.

"We think she's trying to get to the Bay of a Thousand Scales." Caldera added.

"You will need me then." Mother muttered. She chuckled. "Unless the war ends two years early." She seemed pleased at her joke.

"I can fight." Mallow protested. "I just need a little practice."

"No, no, I insist." Mother replied.

"We can take care of ourselves." Jackal said. "I can take care of myself."

His mother just shook her head as if he was joking. His father looked like he could care less at this point. His friends looked just as anxious to get moving as he was. And Spectrum looked like she was either plotting a way to escape or figuring out how to kill them all.

Jackal sighed, and tried to get out of the crowed space. Mallow noticed, and moved aside so then he could get out. "Thanks." He said. She nodded in reply.

Jackal walked back upstairs to the bedroom, and he picked up a puzzle that his parents had bought from a traveling sales-dragon. The pieces weren't smooth; they had little bumps and dents in them, which is probably the reason why that got it for him. He could feel the picture instead of seeing it. His parents never questioned how he simply just looked at it and figured out where the pieces went.

He opened the box and started sorting the pieces. When he heard talons clicking on the wood floor, he saw Mallow and Caldera come up the stairs.

"We need to leave." Mallow said. "Tonight, if possible."

"Did something happen?" Jackal asked. He hadn't been gone for long. Nothing bad could've happened, right?

"A knife came up and almost stabbed your father." Caldera explained. "A second before it touched his scales, it dropped. We think that Spectrum might be an animus, too."

"Is Father all right?" Jackal said.

"He's fine." Mallow assured him. "Terrified, but fine."

That was it. Jackal got up and tried to find something—a bracelet, necklace, something you had to get close to put on and off and wouldn't slip off in battle. He found three clip-on bracelets that were a pain to get off, and he picked them up. They used to belong to his mother, but she could never get them off or they would get dirty whenever she did her work, so she was planning on giving them away. Jackal held all the bracelets. "I enchant these three bracelets to make the wearer's thoughts protected from any mind-reader, and any seer's foresight doesn't recognize them if that future involves the seer getting harmed by the wearers." He muttered. After he was sure the spell was cast, he clipped one on himself and gave the other two to Caldera and Mallow.

"We'll leave at midnight." Jackal said. "We can take Spectrum with us, if she stays quiet."

"What about your parents?" Caldera asked.

"Mother can handle herself, and as long as Father stays with her, so can he." Jackal replied.