I do not own Wings of Fire.

Chapter 14

Cerulean woke up the next morning with a distinct feeling that she'd forgotten something extremely important. She couldn't quite recall how she'd gotten to bed, because she was fairly certain that only seconds before, she'd been staring at the face of a familiar - yet somehow unfamiliar dragon, who'd just told her something important.

She kept her eyes closed for a few heartbeats, and then slowly opened them. The pink light of the first rays of sun were creeping hesitantly into her room, as if unsure whether or not they were welcome. Out the window, the sky was painted gold and red, like the color of a SkyWing. The ocean glimmered in the newly born morning. It was a day much like any other, Cerulean mused, still not rising from her bed. Yesterday, she recalled being frightened of the room, waking up to a scream of some sort, but now she couldn't remember if the sound had been real or just a figment of imagination, or whether or not it was really of any importance.

Words swirled around her mind, disembodied and confused. Animus. SkyWing. Me. Orca. Evil? Archipelago. Eddy. Her eyes roved the room, looking unconsciously for something they couldn't see, and then, in the shimmering light from outside, her eyes caught on a glimmer of something.

A small glass figurine.

Oh, not just any statue, she recalled haltingly. That's...that's...kind of odd.

She picked up the small object, which was right on her bedside table. In the light of the rising sun, she examined the crystalline shape in her talons. A fierce snarl marred the glass dragon's snout. Her wings were open defensively. She reared up, talons outstretched. Cerulean had a distinct feeling that she should be much more worried about the fact that the dragon was now a tiny glass figure, but she couldn't remember why there was need to stress. Likely, this small trinket was merely a gift from Orca. Perhaps it was animus touched, like most of the presents she got from the queen.

Cerulean set the figure back down on the table, and then stretched her wings, marveling at the feeling of smooth sheets against her scales. Only a few days ago, she'd be waking up to rocks scratching at her body, the bitter taste of thirst in her mouth and an aching in her wings, which yearned to stretch and take to the sky. Just a few days ago, she'd been trapped on an island prison, faraway from the Kingdom of the Sea for reasons she hadn't, and still didn't, entirely know. She'd been clueless, just a small four-year-old dragonet wondering what in all the sky she'd done to deserve the lock-up. Wondering why she was supposed to be queen when her sisters and everyone else on the small island she'd called home were much more qualified to rule a tribe. Wondering when she'd next see her best and only friend, Eddy.

Her mind stumbled to a halt when she came to Eddy. Beneath her lids, she could see his face, lit eerily by an icy white glow that she couldn't explain, because suddenly there was a twisting feeling in her gut, and a million questions in her mind, like, Does Orca know, was this the reason Eddy was brought to the castle at such a young age, is he related to the royal family then, did he turn Wave into glass, but why? And then. And then there was nothing but darkness and a white hum in her ears. Power surged into her talons, power that shouldn't have belonged to her. There was surprise on the snouts of her friends. Spindrift, his mouth agape, speechless for once. Archipelago, looking at Eddy as though he were the ghost of a dragon resurrected. Chrysocolla, a million different expressions on her snout. And Eddy, his gaze cold and hard.

Then she woke up in bed, and here she was now, trying in vain to recall what had happened next.

The door opened. A maid walked in, holding a tray loaded with delicious smelling foods. It was not Chrysocolla. This struck an odd chord in Cerulean. Where was her friend? Wasn't Chrysocolla assigned to her room or something?

"Good morning, Your Majesty," she said in a courteous and friendly voice. She set about at once, opening drawers and the wardrobe, and laying out an assortment of jewels. "Her Highness wishes that you would join her in the throne room after you've eaten breakfast. She will tell you more when you meet with her. I'll just set your breakfast right over here, ma'am, and if you need anything else, I'll be right outside."

The maid was almost out of the door by the time Cerulean managed to speak. "You aren't Chrysocolla."

The other dragoness gave her a patient smile. "No, my dear," she said, and then swept her wings open with a flair, revealing a large and jagged scar on the side of her left wing. "My name is Pelican."

"What happened to Chrysocolla?" asked the princess.

Pelican snapped her wings shut again, taking another step towards the door. "She was reassigned, Your Majesty."

"Reassigned? Why?"

Now the maid drew herself up. Her snout was drawn down seriously, but her eyes betrayed sympathy for Cerulean. "The details concerning Chrysocolla's reassignment are beyond my knowledge. I believe the Queen is concerned about her influence on you, is all. Now, Her Highness gave me strict orders to have you fed and dressed before the end of dawn. I do realize it's early, but I fear you have another long day ahead of you." With that, Pelican bowed low and stepped outside.

Another long day ahead of you. Cerulean sighed. She got the feeling that yesterday had also been an exceedingly long day. No, it had been a long day. She could remember that. Why was yesterday so blurry? Okay, Cerulean, go over the facts. You are a SkyWing animus who can only cast magic at certain times, for some reason that you have yet to figure out. Eddy told you something, but you don't know what it is because you can't remember. And you don't know why you can't remember. But now that you're awake, you can find your friends and together you can piece together what happened.

Feeling newly resolved, Cerulean sat up, and was immediately bombarded by pain in her head so excruciating she couldn't even think to scream. She clutched her head in her talons and briefly wondered if her brain had exploded, or if she was dead, or if she had too much going on and she finally couldn't take it anymore. But then, as suddenly as it had come, the pain was gone, as fleet as a dragon taking off, as quickly as a shattering egg.

"Right this way, Your Majesty," said Pelican, heaving open the doors to Cerulean's room so that the princess could leave. "I shall escort you to the throne room."

"Oh, there's no need," Cerulean assured the maid. "I know my way by now."

Pelican gave her an understanding smile. "I'm sorry, but you must understand - the Queen gave me very strict orders."

Cerulean slumped. She'd been planning on a quick visit up to Archipelago and Spindrift's room, just a brief drop in to see if they remembered what happened last night so her curiosity might be sated at least temporarily. But if Pelican was with her - well, the maid seemed nice, but she didn't want anyone else to get involved with everything that was happening.

She let Pelican lead her to the throne room in silence.

They'd almost made it there without mishap when Cerulean heard her name called.

It was Storm. She looked distressed, but there she was, hurrying towards the other SeaWing (SkyWing) as quickly as she could. "Cerulean!" she called again. "Last night," she continued before she actually was by the other's side, "what, what happened? Spindrift tried me - or tried to tell me - he can't really remember - and of course I missed it - I always miss the important things - and - "

Before she could finish her ramblings, the door to the throne room opened. There stood Queen Orca in all her glory. She regarded Storm with a cold and calmly curious look. "Princess Storm," she said, her voice slippery smooth and icy. "What might you be doing here when I clearly gave orders for you to be in the library with Tetra?"

Storm looked flustered. "Yes, of course, Your Highness, but, I just wanted to talk with Cerulean quickly and - "

"That's Her Majesty to you," Orca corrected. "You may be a Princess, Storm, but Cerulean is your superior and you shall address her as such. I was unaware that you were on name terms. You are not friends. You are allies."

"Oh, but Queen Orca, Storm and I are friends," Cerulean clarified. She expected Storm to give her a warm smile, but instead the other princess just looked horrified and shook her head frantically at Orca.

"No, we're not, of course, my mistake, I'll go right back to the library and wait for, uh, Tetra..." Storm mumbled.

"Good," Orca said. "Have fun."

"What about our lessons in the library?" Cerulean tried once more. "And her being my advisor?"

Storm stared at the princess as though she were a dragon from the lost continent, and then said, her voice unusually cold, "Your Majesty, you'll find that in the royal world, things are very fleeting. Don't get used to one routine. Good day."

Shocked, the purple dragonet watched as Storm walked away as quickly as she could in the opposite direction, vanishing down the corridor. Then she whirled back around to face Orca, opening her snout to protest, or perhaps ask a few questions as to why the other princess had been sent away. But Orca was smiling widely, beckoning her into the opened doors of the throne room, and a swelling feeling filled inside her, replacing her curiosity and doubts and confusion. Suddenly, Storm didn't really matter. Neither did figuring out what had happened last night. It wouldn't matter, because even if something dangerous was going on, the Queen would be there to protect her. Cerulean matched Orca's smile, and swept after the dragoness into the throne room.

The throne room at the palace was smaller and less grand than the one in the Deep Palace. Many years ago, after everything had passed with Darkstalker and the NightWing and IceWings, the destroyed Summer Palace had been rebuilt. It was less grandiose than the one that proceeded it, as halfway through production, Princess Anemone and Queen Coral had turned their attention to building another palace, in a less remote location, so that other queens could come and visit. After it had been finished, it had been quite popular; the Summer Palace was all but abandoned in favor of living in the newer, bigger palace. But then Anemone and Auklet were killed there, and when the murderer could not be found, dragons began panicking about a murder on the loose in the new palace, and some of the more paranoid fled back to the hidden and unfinished Summer Palace. The new palace was completely deserted two years ago, for reasons Cerulean did not know. The Summer Palace was finished, but Orca demanded that they simply complete the things that had been left undone.

"Alright, my dear," Orca said, sweeping her wings. "Today is a big, big day for you. I've decided that it's time that you get a real taste of everything I do as queen. I'm sure the teaching is completely unneeded, because you, Cerulean, are a natural at being ruler." She smiled widely, showing her long and white teeth. Her expression suggested pride and trust in her heir, but somehow, in the few days Cerulean had begun living in the palace, her instincts told her not to pay attention to the face of a dragon - especially Orca, who had a million different emotions on her at once. The eyes betrayed much more of the inner workings of a dragon.

And Orca's eyes were not proud or trusting. They were calculating and sure of what they were doing. Like a queen should be, Cerulean thought. But her admiration of the Queen had fallen flat suddenly and her worries and questions flooded back into her mind. She wondered what was going on in the mysterious dragoness's mind.

"All the responsibilities of the queen," Orca continued abruptly, snapping her head away from the dragonet. "Council meetings. The sword and the staff. All my other animus presents to the tribe. Taking care of your tribe. The works. We're off to the Deep Palace, and now that we've solved your little water problem, we'll be staying there for a good long while." She smiled again. "Why don't you go up to your room very, very quickly and pack up some stuff to take with you? Don't expect to come back to the Summer Palace for several weeks."

A stone dropped in Cerulean's stomach. Several weeks? If she was gone that long, she wouldn't get to talk to her friends. There would be almost no way to figure out what Eddy had tried to tell her, or why she was a SkyWing SeaWing princess, or an animus, or who the strange Spire dragon was. Or possibly she could try to, on her own - the Deep Palace held some of the SeaWing's more treasured scrolls, about animus dragons and the limits of the power, and was rumored to contain the manuscript for Turtle's autobiography, something the infamous SeaWing prince had been working on before his sisters were murdered. But even if she could find out any more, there was no way to talk to her friends, and she needed them to help her figure things out. Storm, with the brilliant mind, Chrysocolla, with her reassuring and curious presence, Eddy, with his secrets, Archipelago, misunderstood but wanting to help, Spindrift, with his sense of humor, Freakwave, so lovably crazy, and Azure, always nervous, much like Cerulean herself. And Wave. She needed to figure out what had happened to her. Figuring out everything was too much for her.

"What can I bring?" asked Cerulean.

Orca smiled again. "Anything you wish, my dear."

"I have one request," the heir began.

"Go ahead," the Queen said, her smile still on her snout.

Cerulean took a deep breath. She knew Orca would likely refuse to comply at first. The purple dragonet was trying to reach within herself, to summon some of her queenly confidence that Orca was so sure she had. "I want Eddy to come with me."

On the other dragon's snout, the smile wavered, but she managed to keep it on. "There are already many guards escorting us to the Deep Palace, Cerulean. There's no need for him to come as well."

"Please," Cerulean tried again. But the very limited amount of confidence had faded and died before it even made itself present. She needed her SkyWing voice, the calm and confident one she had when she donned red scales. She knew she'd lost the brief battle to bring Eddy with her. Orca was already turning away from her to sit on her throne.

"No, Cerulean, and that is final," the dragoness snapped, her smile completely gone. "Eddy will not be coming with us."

"But why?"

Orca had thought she had won the battle. Cerulean could see that. The Queen had not expected her small and timid heir to speak again. Her head turned slowly in the direction of the oddly colored dragonet. "Why?" she repeated. "Because I said so. And my word is law."

"But he's one of your most trusted advisors," Cerulean persisted.

"Cerulean." There was warning in Orca's voice now. "I'll bring Wave along instead. Oh, no, she's currently indisposed. We'll bring Gar and Aquamarine along, and I'll have Gail bring his daughter, too. There. Now, hurry along and pack up, or I won't let you bring anything."

Pelican was outside the doors when Cerulean pushed out of the throne room. The maid gave her a sympathetic smile. "Being queen is difficult, isn't it?" she said by way of conversation, starting forward so as to lead the way back to the princess's room.

Cerulean nodded, but said nothing else. She was trying to think of some way where she could escape to talk to the princes and Chrysocolla and Eddy again. She didn't see a way out of leaving for the Deep Palace, so she had to see them one last time before she left. She didn't know when she'd see them again. But the problem was Pelican. The maid followed her orders diligently, and Cerulean needed a way to shake the maid off. No wonderful plan came to her mind as they weaved through the halls of the palace. They arrived to her room, and Pelican said that she would wait outside for Cerulean to pack.

Now, standing in her big and much to flamboyant room, Cerulean wondered what on earth she had to pack. She had no prized possession. Those had all been left behind when she'd gone with Orca to become the next queen. Her enchanted jewelry was all on her, so she had no need to take it off and lug it around in a separate bag. She fidgeted with the Orca necklace momentarily, still trying to figure out a way to escape Pelican's watchful eyes. She examined the window of her bedroom. She hadn't paid much attention to the balcony attached to it, so caught up with watching the sunrises and sunsets and the moons and the sky through the glass. But now, she figured it was her one chance to escape.

Quietly, she checked to make sure the doors were shut tight. They were. Apprehension biting away at her insides and her heart thumping annoyingly loud in her chest, Cerulean crept over to the window. She examined it, frightened into thinking there was no possible way to open it, despite the obvious. In her rush to escape - there was only so long she could take to pack, after all, before Pelican might get suspicious of what was actually happening - her talons were tumbling over each other. Seconds before closing the balcony door and locking herself out of her room, her gaze fell on the figurine of Wave on her bedside table, looking so helpless and fragile despite her fierce expression.

And then something occurred to Cerulean - something Orca had said to her in the throne room.

"I'll bring wave along instead. Oh, no, she's currently indisposed."

The Queen's voice echoed in Cerulean's mind like a tolling bell. The princess darted back into her room and grabbed the statue, praying it wouldn't break in her talons, just as Pelican called from outside. "Your Majesty? Is everything all right? Anything I can help you with?"

Heart beating in her throat a million miles per hour, Cerulean called out in her calmest, most yes-I'm-definitely-packing-the-many-valuables-I-own-in-my-bag voice, "Uh...yes, thank you, Pelican. I can't decide which...uh...of the many CROWNS to take with me to the palace..."

She held her breath, expecting the maid to burst into the room and see the open window and say, "AHA! I KNEW YOU WERE ESCAPING WITH MY SPECIAL MAID INTUITION!" Pelican just laughed from outside. "Alright, Your Majesty. Just don't be too long, the Queen is expecting us very soon."

The next heartbeat, Cerulean was out of the room and window was locked. Her wings beat in a rhythm to match her heart. She flew in the direction she believed Spindrift's room to be, clutching a glass Wave tightly in her talons.

"I'll bring wave along instead. Oh, no, she's currently indisposed."

How in Pyrrhia had Orca known about Wave?

Author's Note: Hello, everyone, be proud of me, I updated! Sorry about the real long wait! I've been off of fanfiction for a very long time, but I'm hoping that I'll be back for at least a little bit. Hopefully y'all enjoyed this chapter!

Anyway, I finished reading the Darkness of Dragons! WHEEEE! Although now I feel like my life is empty 'cause I finished the series and SPOILER Moonbli is officially canon. END OF SPOILER

SPOILER ALERT YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED At least they're doing another series with the lost continent! We'll see how that goes.

END OF SPOILER

Thank you all for all of your amazing support and patience, and to my amazing betas for proof reading all of my mistakes and making this story better! A lot of answers will (hopefully) be coming to light, and I'm praying to the moons that all explanations make sense.

Additionally - and yes, this is only Chapter 14 of hopefully 22, I'm thinking that I will be doing a sequel with Eddy and Archipelago. I have possible title options, but most of the titles spoil what hasn't been revealed yet. Yay! This is also debatably a spoiler of sorts for this story, but Part Three of the story will be called Wings of Fire, following the pattern of Wings of Sea and Wings of Sky. See if that tells you anything! ;)

Again thank you for everything, to all my readers and reviewers! Keep being amazing, which you all are without me asking you to be!

InsertNameHere: Do not apologize for a late review! That is okay! I am happy you reviewed. I should be apologizing for such a late update. Please do not sue me. And I'm so thrilled about your reincarnation! I read the first chapter of your rewrite and it's fabulous. I must leave a review as myself though because I was not logged in upon reading it. Oh no, but you are the awesomest-est-est! So there! Thank you for the congratulations, I have lived a long life (a millenia wow!). My spirit animal would probably be a fox...although my Patronus is a hippogriff, so I wonder what that means...Thank you for reading and reviewing!

Jaysong: YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW HAPPY I AM WHEN I SEE REVIEWS FROM YOU - SO DON'T WORRY ABOUT MULTIPLE REVIEWS! I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU! Hope you liked the next chapter and I'm starting the next one already (we'll see when it comes out though). QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED IN THE NEAR FUTURE! Yes to mass slumber parties! And yes, poor Wave! You are completely right. And your welcome! That's so cool you got to see Hamilton! I love psychics - I'm a bit psychic if I do say so myself. Ah yes, the joys of biology. Luckily I'm off to chemistry next year, so I'm done with that until possibly later, we'll see. All right, hit me with a question! No matter how random!
Me: Eddy and Cerulean, Whisper and Spindrift -
Spindrift: Oh no, don't drag me into this!
Me: Are wondering how you feel about being shipped together by the two of them?
Cerulean and Eddy are confused.
Eddy: Shipped? Like those things scavengers sail in?
Cerulean: No Eddy, she means shipped as in 'relationship' so romantically.
Eddy: Oh. I thought we were just friends?
Cerulean: Me too?
Me: Right now you're just friends. But in the future...
Whisper: Wait, are you saying -
Me: I don't know, we'll have to see how this goes.
And you should probably continue planning for the funeral because of my extreme delay in updating...:( I'll try to make chapters longer, as well. See ya! THank you for the review!

jadewolf334: YAY! It's so fabulous to know that you thought so, and thank you! Glad you liked Cerulean's secret being revealed to her closest friends! I must say, that was fun to write. Is Eddy going to be turned into glass? OR DID HE TURN WAVE INTO GLASS? WE DON'T KNOW! WE'LL NEVER KNOW! *dramatic music* Well, about speculations on Orca, there was a bit more stuff on her and her relationship with Cerulean. Definitely expect a big thing about her in either the next chapter or the one after that - I'm not quite sure how long Cerulean's going to be trying to find the princes and Chrysocolla and Storm. We'll see! Thank you! That compliment means a lot, and I hope this chapter was up to par! Sorry about not updating in ages, and glad you feel the same way. Indeed, writer's block has taken many a poor soul. I did take a break from fanfiction for a bit, but now that I'm back, I'm hoping to add a few chapters to some of my stories, and I see you've updated Cascavel! I am going to make a point of sitting down and rereading every chapter of that story and reading your newer installments! You are a fabulously talented writer! And I understand what you mean...Thank YOU so much for all of your support! You are also one of the best people I know (even though...yeah, what you said)! Thank you for reading and reviewing!

MysticFire101: No need to worry! Haha, I love my talent so much. That actually might be a useful and strangely discreet super power - like, the ability to torture someone with suspense. Yes, I like that. That is my super power. Thank you! I hope this chapter was also awesome! Got a lot to live up to and I don't want to disappoint anyone! Suspense, mystery and crime and horror are all my middle names - wait, what? Oh, Spindrift wants to inform you that those are in fact his middle names, and...and now Puddle's telling him to shut up. I'M SO GLAD YOU LOVE IT! IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME TO KNOW THAT. Sorry for not updating for ages! Hope you're still interested in the story! I feel so bad about taking forever to post. Anyway...I'm hoping all the characters don't get too confusing. I think that, for the most part, I've separated the main, main characters apart from the background characters, but I'm thinking that Puddle will get a bit of a bigger role in the future...here, I've got an oxygen mask and a gag and an oxygen tank so you do not need to worry about running out of breath...we'll pretend that that's scientifically accurate...anyway, thank you for reading and reviewing!

Thepickduck: That is actually probably accurate. Sorry. I just am so appreciative of all the feedback and want people to know...and I fail at cutting back responses. Hopefully next chapter responses will be shorter...heehee...Thank you for reading and reviewing.

PIEisPOSSIBLE6421: YAAAAAAAAAY! Finally! Another chapter, that took several months to post. Haha. Sorry about delays. I'm terrible at scheduling and updating and life. Glad you liked the chapter! Hopefully this is also equally awesome! Yes for convincing friends to read Wings of Fire! It is not immature! XD Capitals are fun and exciting. It's okay, don't fret about not reviewing, I'm just glad you're reading this! Sorry about not updating in forever! I'll try to update more frequently, though! Thank you for reading and reviewing!

SageKitty: Here's another update! Sorry about not updating in so long! I'm glad you really like the story, though, it means a lot. Oh my moons, enough of talking - I must save you! With my epic powers of suspense - oh wait that's probably not helpful...XD Thank you for reading and reviewing!