THE NEXT CHAPTER IS HERE! Sorry, Crystal isn't exactly doing a lot lately, I will give her time to shine as soon as I can! Read and Review, please! Oh, and don't forget to read the notes at the bottom of the page after you're done reading!

The rainforest loomed ahead of the four dragonets as they soared through the cloudless sky. Turquoise glided in the lead, eager to meet her kin in the beautiful territory of the RainWings. She could already hear the strange and yet magnificent songs of the birds that lived in the region, and the vividly colored flowers and fruits were already visible dotting the wall of trees.

Yellow and gold rippled across Turquoise's scales as she watched the huge trees grow steadily closer, but she was still nowhere near as excited as Nish. The larger, but not decidedly stronger dragonet was wide-eyed with anticipation as he struggled to keep up with Wildfire and Crystal while simultaneously stopping to thoroughly examine every tree he passed. And though all three of his fellow travelers were all becoming annoyed by his antics, Crystal, or course, appeared to be affected the most.

The short-tempered IceWing was flashing her teeth and curling her talons to keep from injuring the obnoxious mix-breed.

Turquoise laughed softly as she watched her friends all react to the world in their own, predictable ways.

"I'm tired!" Nish groaned, throwing his head back to whine. Crystal clawed at her ears with her talons.

"Three moons! Just shut up!" she snapped, irritated beyond words. Nish paused to stare at her hatefully before soaring up to Turquoise.

"Can we rest...?" He begged, fixing his fellow prophecy dragonet with a pleading stare. Turquoise hesitated, taking a moment to check everyone's conditions. Aside from Nish, Crystal looked mainly annoyed, not a surprise to anyone, and Wildfire was just….Wildfire, but Turquoise could see that his eyes were drooping almost shut with exhaustion.

"uh, yeah." She surveyed the ground below them and picked out a small, cave-like structure in a hill. "Let's rest there for a while." She angled her wings down and began gliding towards the marshy-looking grass.

"A while…?" Nish's tired voice whimpered from behind her. "Why not all night?" Turquoise heard a faint slapping noise and a muffled squeak from Nish and figured Wildfire had given him a silent message telling him to stop complaining and do what he had been told. He's taking my job, she thought jokingly, remembering how she had pushed Nish around when they had lived in the caves. I wonder what Glory, Sunny, Tsunami, and Clay are doing…she thought, knowing they would be looking for the two runaway's soon enough.

Glory soared high in the clouds, squinting at the ground as she searched for any sign of the two dragonets. There had been word of hybrid dragons at the Sky Palace that had escaped recently, and Glory had a pretty good idea of where they had gone. The Rainforest…she thought, her shoulders drooping as she remembered how she had been forced to leave behind her tribes and newly hatched daughter to protect the prophecy. They are in good care…she reassured herself. Her loyal friend Kinkajou had been willing to take over her duties as queen temporarily, and Glory was sure that she would be a fine leader as long as Deathbringer were there to help her. She winced as memories played behind her eyes, painfully vivid.

"Mamma?" her daughter's squeaky voice hammered in her skull. "Where are you going?" Glory watched as her talons reached out to stroke the hatchling's small wings.

"I'm going to go help a lot of dragons." Her voice rumbled calmly. The brightly colored dragonet gazed up at her with big sad eyes.

"Why can't I come with you?" she whimpered.

"Because, you need to stay to keep your father safe. What would he do without you?" she chuckled. She saw herself turn to leave.

"Mamma, wait!" Exotic squeaked, bounding towards her unsteadily. "Don't leave me!" she begged, wrapping her tail around Glory's talons. "I need you…" she whispered.

"I'll be back soon." Glory said to her daughter as she pulled away.

"Promise?" the dragonet's scales shimmered different colors as she stared up at the queen of the RainWings and NightWings.

"I promise, my little RightWing." Her voice edged with laughter as she called her little daughter by her nickname…RainWing and NightWing combined. Exotic smiled up at her, satisfied but with tear-filled eyes as her mother turned and soared away. I was a fool! How could I lie to her! Glory thought, scolding herself. Why did I never go back! She lashed her tail angrily. I could have gone to visit her….but I was too busy thinking about the stupid prophecy!

Glory hung her head as the Rainforest came into view and sighed, slowly gliding down to the ground. She stood on the border where the trees began to grow and shook her wings out nervously. She took out hesitant step forward but recoiled as something sharp pricked her foot. "Ow!" she hissed softly, crouching down to get a better look at the object she had stepped on. It was a scale. Too small to belong to a full grown dragon. It's smooth surface was burnt along the edges, but still recognizable as a RainWing's scale, seeing as it was half purple and half blue. "Turquoise flew this way…" she mumbled under her breath, racing forward to observe a trail of footprints leading further into the forest. "And she isn't alone…" Glory shook her head, puzzled, as she counted four distinct lines of prints. Dread began to grow in her stomach as she followed the trail, keeping her scales camouflaged to stay hidden from possible threats.

"This is it! Now is the time!" Turquoise announced, sitting bolt upright and waking her friends from a deep sleep.

"Now is the time for wha?" Nish murmured sleepily, raising his head and blinking the sleep from his clouded eyes. Crystal opened her jaws in an enormous yawn.

"We're in the rainforest, you idiot…..we're obviously going deeper into RainWing territory…" she groaned. Wildfire shook out his huge wings tiredly.

"Woohoo…..fun…" he breathed, standing up and stretching. Without saying a word, Turquoise flew away, leaving the three sleepy dragonets confused and alone below her.

Glory's narrowed eyes scanned the trees, looking for any sign of the two hybrids and the other dragonets travelling with them.

"Nish! Wake up you lazy lump!" Turquoise's excited voice echoed from somewhere deeper in the thick woods.

"Turquoise…quiet down…..I'm reaaaaallly tiiiired…" Nish groaned sleepily, his voice coming from the same unknown location. Glory's nostrils flared as her camouflaged scales shimmered with golden bubbles.

"They're here…." She muttered silently, staying hidden.

"Stop complaining…" an unfamiliar male voice piped up.

"Shut up….all of you!" another unrecognizable voice whispered urgently, this one female. "I think something's watching us…"

"You bet I am!" Glory barked, leaping out from her cover and grabbing Turquoise and Nish as soon as she caught sight of them. They both squeaked in surprise and tried to jump away, but her grip was strong and she had no plans of letting them go. Turquoise's eyes widened in horror and Glory realized she must have looked pretty threatening, and to their surprise, she wrapped her wings around them and embraced them, paying no notice to the SkyWing and IceWing sitting in shock nearby. "Where have you been?" Glory demanded, struggling to hold back tears as she held to two squirming dragonets. "Why did you leave….? We were so worried!"

"It was my fault!" Turquoise wailed, trying hard to keep from sobbing. "I just wanted to meet Exotic and you guys were always so protective and I just wanted to meet the world that we're supposed to save from the war!" she explained, then froze. "But, Glory…..where's the war we're supposed to save someone from?" she asked, puzzled. Glory stiffened. I have to tell them now….she realized. No more waiting…..the truth has to come out now…. She took a deep breath and her shoulders slumped.

"There is no war because….." she cringed as she pulled back from the two dragonets. "You are not the dragonets from the prophecy…." Two pairs of eyes gazed at her blankly in horror. The truth had come out….and it had hurt as much as the secret that Glory had kept from them….and her friends…

DUN DUN DUNNNNNN! This is the second to last chapter! Yeah! You heard me right! Well…at least before book two is written! What did you guys think? Review!