So I’d better enjoy them now, she thought ruefully, since they won’t be my friends for much longer.
“Hey,” Umber said as she approached. Sora and Marsh both kind of flinched and nodded at the same time.
“Hi,” Moon said softly. “Sora, how are you? Are you all right?”
Nothing is all right, nothing, she caught from Sora’s brain. There were fragments of terror and memories of battles and fire jolting through the mud pool in Sora’s mind, and she could tell Sora really would have preferred to be tranquilized again, but she’d forced herself to come down here. Icicle, Moon heard, and guessed that Sora wanted to prove herself to be tougher than her clawmate thought she was.
She slid the rest of Sora’s restless thoughts into a raindrop, conscious of Qibli’s eyes on her back and feeling like an intruder in Sora’s fear. She did the same with Marsh and Umber, although Marsh was mostly surveying the cave and nervously wondering what to eat, while Umber was preoccupied with worrying about his brother and sister.
“She’s doing better,” Umber answered for Sora. “Clay said she even got up and went for a walk for a little while last night.”
“Really?” Moon said, looking at her. Why would she wander around the mountain in the middle of the night? She wondered for a split second whether Sora could be the dragon who’d been scheming with Scarlet, but then she remembered the first night she’d heard the dreamvisitor conversation. Sora had been one of the few dragons still awake at that hour; Moon definitely remembered noticing her mental mud ritual. She hadn’t been asleep and dreaming, so she couldn’t have been the one talking to Scarlet.
Sora glanced anxiously around the cave. Following her gaze, Moon saw Winter and Icicle stalking in from one of the tunnels. She felt like bolting, but she made herself stay put as Winter rapidly scanned the cave and spotted her. His eyes narrowed, and he thought, Only half a day left, NightWing.
She ducked her head. What was she going to tell him at midnight? She couldn’t point to anyone as the culprit yet.
Icicle snatched a fish from the central pile and stormed toward her usual ledge. Winter picked up a fish, too, but hesitated. Moon could hear him debating whether to come over and talk to her.
Please don’t, please don’t, please don’t, she prayed.
“Do you want to go talk to Icicle?” Umber asked Sora, who was still staring at her clawmate. “I’m sure she’s been worried about you.”
Sora didn’t answer, but a flash of contemptuous disbelief broke through Moon’s raindrops, so sharp and fierce that it took her a moment to realize it had come from the quiet MudWing.
She turned and saw Icicle climbing into the alcove. With a disdainful flick of her wings, Icicle turned to look down at the crowd. One of her wings lightly brushed the stalactites over her head.
There was a loud crack, then a splintering sound, and suddenly the sharpest, most wicked-looking stalactite broke off from the ceiling and plummeted down toward Icicle.
Moon shrieked, sure the rock spear would impale the IceWing through the head or neck. The raindrops all vanished in a scream of terror from everyone in the cave.
Then she’ll be dead, dead, dead, sang one voice in the rising tumult in Moon’s head.
But Icicle twisted out of the way at the last moment, and the stalactite shattered against the ground.
There was a frozen minute of shock.
Oh, that’s interesting, Darkstalker mused. In most of the futures I saw, that worked and she died. This changes … many things.
Moon didn’t have time to respond to that; the whole cave had erupted in chaos.
“Icicle!” Winter shouted. He spread his wings and sprang toward her, fighting past the dragons who were all stampeding the other way. Icicle was staring at the spot where it had fallen, her heart pounding. Even above everyone else, Moon could hear her fury and disbelief.
Who DARED attack me?
Still reeling, Moon turned and found that Umber, Marsh, and Sora had fled with most of the other dragons. A few moments later, no one was left in the prey center except the two IceWings, Qibli, Moon, and Clay, who had also rushed to Icicle’s side.
“By all the moons,” Clay cried. “How did that happen? Are you all right?”
“No!” Icicle roared, lashing her tail. “Someone tried to kill me!”
The niece of Queen Glacier! Qibli thought, and then reprimanded himself. Not the time, Qibli.
“What?” Clay looked up at the other stalactites in the alcove. “But — no — surely that was an accident. How — and who —”
“That was no accident,” Winter said, pointing grimly at the spot where the fallen stalactite had hung. Claw marks were clearly visible in the rock, as if someone had scraped painstakingly through the spire until it had been barely suspended, ready to fall at the lightest touch.
“But who —” Clay said again, searching his brain. She’s unfriendly, but not bad enough to kill….
“I’ll tell you what else,” Icicle spat. “That bomb yesterday was probably meant for me, too. I’m the target. Someone was trying to kill me, and I’m going to find whoever it is and turn them into a glittering ice statue, which I will then beat to smithereens with my tail.”
Icicle was the target all along? Qibli and Moon exchanged looks. If she was right, what did that mean? Qibli’s brain was rapidly organizing the students into possible categories of IceWing enemies — but Moon had an awful, awful sinking feeling that she already knew who this pointed to.
“You can’t do that, and that’s impossible anyway,” Clay said again. “No one could have known who’d be in the cave when the cactus exploded. We think it was set to happen before class started — so there was no guarantee that you’d be in there then. If it was an assassination attempt against you, wouldn’t they have made sure you were there?”
“I was supposed to be,” Icicle hissed. “I’d planned to go early because I needed one of the scrolls. Just by luck, I decided to go by the underground lake first. Otherwise, I would have been in the history cave and I would now be dead.”
“So who knew that?” Winter asked. “That would narrow it down. Did you tell anyone you were planning to go early?”
Icicle snapped her jaw shut and stared at him and Clay, her pale blue eyes glittering.
Only one dragon, she thought. I only told one dragon that.
So I know exactly who to kill.
A freezing shiver rattled down Moon’s spine.
Sora.
Moon turned and bolted out of the cave. I have to find her first.
She didn’t know exactly what she was going to do, but she had very clearly seen what Icicle planned for her clawmate, and Moon knew she couldn’t let that happen.
Even though Sora killed Carnelian and Bigtail. Even though she could have killed any of us. Didn’t she care? What about Umber? She must have delayed him…. She would never hurt him.
Sora, where are you?
Moon raced through the tunnels, checking the library first. Starflight was in there, alone. He lifted his head, startled, as she sprinted through, but she didn’t stop. She didn’t have time to explain or ask for help; she knew Icicle would be on Sora’s trail any second.
In the Great Hall she stopped to catch her breath and reached out with her mind. The music cave? The underground lake? The art cave? What was Sora thinking about?
An image of Tamarin came through. Sora had gone back to the infirmary.
Moon whirled and dashed toward that corridor. At the mouth of the tunnel, she collided hard with a small brown dragon, and for a confused moment she thought she’d found Sora already.
“You’re not safe —” she started to gasp, and then realized it wasn’t Sora. It was Umber.
“I’m not? What?” he said.
“Sorry, not you, I have to —” She stepped around him.
“Wait,” Umber said. “What’s wrong?”
“Moon, you have to tell him.” Moon turned and saw Qibli hurrying across the Great Hall. He’d seen
her run; he knew that she’d figured it out, and one of the three guesses in his head was even right.
But if I tell Umber what his sister did, it’ll destroy him, she thought. If he even believes me.
If Qibli hadn’t been there, she would have kept running — she would have dealt with Sora herself. In his mind, though, she found a lightning-fast list of reasons to tell Umber that she would never have thought of herself. He wasn’t consciously sending them to her, but they were all there on the surface as he struggled with what to do.
He may not understand, but he’ll want to protect her. He can do that better than you can. You need someone to help you if you’re planning to stand in Icicle’s way. He needs to know the truth about her, the way you’d want to know if someone in your family did this. He’s good and loyal; he’s the only one who can help her. And if Sora is still dangerous, he may also be the only one who can stop her.
Moon met Qibli’s eyes. He was right about all of that. “Umber,” she said, “I’m sorry, I have to tell you something awful.”
“Oh, no,” Umber said. His face twisted and it was almost like his heart spoke rather than his mind. Sora? Marsh? Clay?
“We know who set the bomb yesterday,” Qibli said.
“And she just tried to kill Icicle,” Moon said.
Umber took a step back, shaking his head. “No. It’s not true.” But he saw the pieces falling into place and knew it was. Pheasant thought this would be too much for her. But I thought she was stronger than this — I thought we were all better now.
“It was Sora,” Moon said gently. “And Icicle knows it, too. We have to get to her before Icicle finds her, or she’s dead.”
He didn’t argue anymore. He didn’t ask how they knew. He just turned and ran, and they followed.
Up the winding stone tunnel, their claws scraping against the rock, their wings pulled in, their tails hitting the walls as they ran.
Why? Why would she do this? Umber kept thinking, over and over in a jagged rhythm.
Moon didn’t know. All the things she’d learned and all the thoughts she’d read, and she’d still missed it. Quiet Sora had taught herself to bury her thoughts so she couldn’t even hear them herself. So many things scared her that the only way to deal with them was to push them under and stop them from entering her brain in the first place. Whatever she felt about Icicle, it was hidden under all the mud, buried deep along with her nightmares and memories of the war.
They burst into the healing cave. Sora was crouched by Tamarin’s bedside, crying. Kinkajou was not there — but she just left, Moon realized. Sora asked her to leave — so she could apologize to Tamarin. The RainWing was still unconscious, wrapped in white bandages from wings to tail.
Sora looked up and saw it in their eyes. “I’m sorry, Umber,” she sobbed, collapsing forward. “I didn’t mean for anyone else to get hurt.”
“Oh, Sora,” Umber said. He went over and put his wings around her. “Sora. Sora, I love you anyway. But why did you do it?”
She covered her face with her claws. “Don’t you know who she is?” Her words came in gasps, between hiccups and sobs.
The flood of images from Sora’s mind was inescapable. Moon felt them like a waterfall, pounding along her wings; a waterfall she could suddenly see, over an open plain with rivers running through it to the ocean. A battle was raging. Brown dragons and white dragons grappled in the air, shooting fire and frostbreath, roaring with fury and pain.
And there was Sora, darting through the melee. Her face was set grimly; behind her, Marsh was close on her tail, his features wracked with fear. A pair of IceWings lashed out at them with their serrated claws and Sora just managed to pull Marsh out of the way in time. They swooped around to try again.
“Reed!” Sora yelled. “Help us!”
A big MudWing dove toward them, swatting IceWings aside with his tail as he flew. But another MudWing got there first — a thin brown female that Moon had seen in Sora’s mind before. She slashed one IceWing through the neck and then twisted to set the other IceWing on fire. He flapped away, shrieking and batting at the flames along his wings.
“Thank you, Crane,” Marsh called.
Their sister turned to smile at Marsh and Sora. And then an IceWing plummeted out of the sky, out of nowhere, seized Crane in her talons, and slit her throat.
“No!” Sora screamed.
The IceWing turned to give her a malicious, triumphant grin.
It was Icicle.
The memory faded, but the destroyed feeling hung heavily in Moon’s chest.
“She killed Crane,” Sora sobbed into Umber’s shoulder. “I saw her. I saw her. She’s the one who killed our sister.”
“Sora, how can you be sure?” he asked, pulling her close. “It was a terrible battle. There were a hundred IceWings there, and we were all fighting for our lives. Your memory could be playing tricks on you.” She could be finding the enemy of her nightmares in the first IceWing face she saw here, he thought. Or else, if she’s right, we have the worst luck in the world. Ending up in the same cave as Crane’s murderer? I would have lost my mind, too.
Moon didn’t think that was true. Umber’s mind was a lot more resilient than Sora’s. She could see that — and now she could also see that she was not as much like Sora as she’d thought. Perhaps they were both shy, but Sora was also fragile — too fragile for the awful things she’d been through.
I’m afraid there may be awful things ahead for you, too, little Moon, Darkstalker whispered.
But I’m not fragile, Moon said. I won’t be fragile. I refuse.
I think you’re right about that, he agreed.
“I’m sure it was her,” Sora said. “I’m not crazy, Umber. I got a scroll to look up IceWing physiognomy; I made sure she’d been on the front lines. I couldn’t ask more specific questions without making her suspicious. But I knew what she did, and I couldn’t let her live.”
“The war is over, Sora,” Umber protested.
“This had nothing to do with the war,” she said.
“But what about everyone else?” Qibli asked. “Didn’t you care if the rest of us died?”
Sora couldn’t meet his eyes. “I thought she’d be the only one in there. I’ve never used a dragonflame cactus before — I expected it to go off sooner. And she should have been in there. I can’t believe I failed twice.” She gave Tamarin an anguished look. “And then the other two dragons — and poor Tamarin — but it’s just collateral damage, isn’t it, Umber? We learned about that from the SkyWing generals.”
He shook his head, unable to speak.
“And then everyone was looking at me,” Sora whispered. “Everyone was thinking about me and how awful I am and how much they hate me. They could see right through me, I know they could.”
“No, Sora,” Moon said, “they weren’t, truly. Dragons think mostly about themselves. Everyone is so worried about what other dragons think of them, they hardly stop to decide what they think of everyone else. Believe me, no one is thinking about you as much as you think they are.” She’d finally realized how reassuring that was. All her self-doubt and nerves and feeling like an outsider — once she paid attention to what she could hear around her, it turned out those were the things that made her the most normal. It turned out that was how everyone felt. “And certainly no one is thinking about you as much as you are thinking about you.”
“Except maybe Icicle,” Qibli said abruptly. “Who is coming to kill you right now.” Moon jumped; she’d almost forgotten about that. “We need to get you to Sunny and Tsunami so you can confess and they can keep you safe.”
“We can’t,” Umber said. “I’m sorry, but if we do that, Sora ends up dead. Either Icicle will find a way to kill her, or Queen Ruby will demand an eye for an eye for Carnelian.”
He’s right, Darkstalker said. Handing her over leads to very few paths where Sora is alive two months from now. But otherwise you’re letting a killer go free.
You hinted at this once, didn??
?t you? Moon thought, remembering. Send a friend to her death, or help a killer escape. You meant Sora.
“We’ll leave now,” Umber said. “I’ll go with her. I’ll keep her safe.” And keep everyone else safe from her, his mind finished the thought.
“But then you’ll be a fugitive, too,” Sora said. “And what about Marsh?”
“Clay will get him back to Reed and Pheasant,” Umber said. He turned to Qibli. “Please tell Clay everything — tell him we’re sorry — I know he’ll understand. But if we involve him, the queens will shut down the school. We have to leave without saying good-bye.” Umber blinked back tears.
Should we stop them? Qibli was thinking. What’s the right thing to do? What would Thorn do? Sora’s not well and I don’t want her to be killed — but she did kill Carnelian and Bigtail — and tried to kill Icicle. But she needs to be taken care of — and where does the cycle end? If Icicle kills Sora, wouldn’t Umber or Marsh be justified in killing her? And then wouldn’t Winter want to kill them? Isn’t the whole point that the war is supposed to be over? Replacing it with a series of vengeance killings is not going to make the world any better or safer.
And then Moon heard Icicle’s thoughts, coming closer and closer.
She made up her mind. “Go,” she said, stepping toward the window, a tall open hole big enough for a dragonet Sora’s size to squeeze through. “As fast and as far as you can.”
“Thank you,” Sora whispered. She squeezed Umber’s talons and darted toward the window. At the edge, she turned to look back at Moon. “It was self-defense, too. Beware of Icicle, Moon. She talks about killing all the time, even in her sleep.”
“What does she say?” Moon asked.
“Our very first night here,” Sora said, “when I still wasn’t sure — I was almost sure it was her, but I thought I must be mad, and I couldn’t let myself sleep because what if she did the same thing to me that she did to Crane? And then in her sleep, she muttered, ‘Killing is easy enough.’ That’s when I knew. She’s a murderer and she won’t stop until someone does what I failed to do.”
“Let’s go, Sora,” Umber said sadly.