flying after Tsunami and the others.
“I’m probably wrong,” Qibli said, “but I think my clawmate just made a joke. Is that possible?” Inside he was thinking, Yes! I knew that dragon was in there, if I can just drag him out.
Moon returned his smile.
“You were totally hallucinating,” Kinkajou agreed. “Too many smokeberries.”
“Are you all right?” Qibli asked Moon.
She nodded. She was more all right than she’d been in months. Mind reading was one thing — one awful thing — when you were surrounded by dragons who hated you, as she had been in the NightWing village. But when you were with dragons who actually liked you, or wanted to like you, for whatever mysterious reason … well, she didn’t expect it to last ( What happens if they find out the truth about me? ), but for now, it was kind of great.
“What’s a smokeberry?” Qibli asked Kinkajou as they started toward the ledge.
“Oh, they’re crazy,” Kinkajou said. “I had some while the RainWing healers were working on my wing injury. They gave me the wildest hallucinations — flying panthers, quetzals the size of dragons, scavengers with superpowers. You name it, I saw everything.”
They soared into the sky. Moon started to follow them, but stopped on the ledge, feeling the wind whip around her. Up in the clear, cloudless sky, her new friends were diving and whirling like flower petals in a rainforest storm, gold and scarlet and green and pale blue.
Don’t get too comfortable, little Moon, said the whispering voice softly. Even mind readers can be taken by surprise when they think they know whom to trust.
The dragons who like you now are the ones most likely to betray you.
Believe me. I know.
Moon rose through the sky, feeling the paper-soft brush of thin clouds parting around her dark wings. It was quieter up here, but not quiet enough. She wondered how high she’d have to get before she couldn’t hear anyone anymore. She wondered if it was possible to get high enough that even her mystery friend couldn’t reach her mind.
A furry smell caught her attention, and she spun to study the ground. There — a mountain goat clambering between two rocks, behind a screen of straggly bushes.
Moon glanced around, but Tsunami and most of the others were circling over a glassy lake, looking for fish. The closest dragon to Moon was Qibli, who was trying extremely hard to seem as if he wasn’t watching her. Carnelian was within shouting distance, drifting on her vast wings, but Moon wasn’t about to do any shouting, and certainly not to get the grumpy SkyWing’s attention.
Guess that means this goat is mine, she thought with a tiny bit of glee.
Swooping suddenly into a dive, Moon plummeted down toward the ground. Below her, the goat saw her shadow coming and let out a bleating scream of fear. It scrambled quickly up the rocks and tried to leap into a narrow ravine, where dragons would not be able to follow.
But it wasn’t fast enough. Moon twisted in a quick spiral and snatched the goat in midair, whisking it back up into the sky and killing it in one motion with a squeeze of her claws.
“Wow!” Qibli shouted from above her. “How did you do that? Carnelian, did you see that?”
The SkyWing flew closer, eyeing the dead goat jealously. “I thought NightWings didn’t know how to hunt.”
“I thought so, too,” Kinkajou chimed in. The RainWing sailed up from a bramble-covered slope. Her snout was stained with dark purple blackberry juice. “Starflight told me they do this thing where they bite their prey and then wait for it to die of infection and then they sniff it out and eat the dead things. It sounds super horrible, like, even worse than regular hunting.”
“Gross,” Qibli agreed.
“They’re not supposed to do that anymore,” Moon said. “Glory and Deathbringer are teaching them how to hunt properly. And I just, I, um — taught myself to hunt in the rainforest…. Mother was always leaving me alone, so … I
“I’m probably wrong,” Qibli said, “but I think my clawmate just made a joke. Is that possible?” Inside he was thinking, Yes! I knew that dragon was in there, if I can just drag him out.
Moon returned his smile.
“You were totally hallucinating,” Kinkajou agreed. “Too many smokeberries.”
“Are you all right?” Qibli asked Moon.
She nodded. She was more all right than she’d been in months. Mind reading was one thing — one awful thing — when you were surrounded by dragons who hated you, as she had been in the NightWing village. But when you were with dragons who actually liked you, or wanted to like you, for whatever mysterious reason … well, she didn’t expect it to last ( What happens if they find out the truth about me? ), but for now, it was kind of great.
“What’s a smokeberry?” Qibli asked Kinkajou as they started toward the ledge.
“Oh, they’re crazy,” Kinkajou said. “I had some while the RainWing healers were working on my wing injury. They gave me the wildest hallucinations — flying panthers, quetzals the size of dragons, scavengers with superpowers. You name it, I saw everything.”
They soared into the sky. Moon started to follow them, but stopped on the ledge, feeling the wind whip around her. Up in the clear, cloudless sky, her new friends were diving and whirling like flower petals in a rainforest storm, gold and scarlet and green and pale blue.
Don’t get too comfortable, little Moon, said the whispering voice softly. Even mind readers can be taken by surprise when they think they know whom to trust.
The dragons who like you now are the ones most likely to betray you.
Believe me. I know.
Moon rose through the sky, feeling the paper-soft brush of thin clouds parting around her dark wings. It was quieter up here, but not quiet enough. She wondered how high she’d have to get before she couldn’t hear anyone anymore. She wondered if it was possible to get high enough that even her mystery friend couldn’t reach her mind.
A furry smell caught her attention, and she spun to study the ground. There — a mountain goat clambering between two rocks, behind a screen of straggly bushes.
Moon glanced around, but Tsunami and most of the others were circling over a glassy lake, looking for fish. The closest dragon to Moon was Qibli, who was trying extremely hard to seem as if he wasn’t watching her. Carnelian was within shouting distance, drifting on her vast wings, but Moon wasn’t about to do any shouting, and certainly not to get the grumpy SkyWing’s attention.
Guess that means this goat is mine, she thought with a tiny bit of glee.
Swooping suddenly into a dive, Moon plummeted down toward the ground. Below her, the goat saw her shadow coming and let out a bleating scream of fear. It scrambled quickly up the rocks and tried to leap into a narrow ravine, where dragons would not be able to follow.
But it wasn’t fast enough. Moon twisted in a quick spiral and snatched the goat in midair, whisking it back up into the sky and killing it in one motion with a squeeze of her claws.
“Wow!” Qibli shouted from above her. “How did you do that? Carnelian, did you see that?”
The SkyWing flew closer, eyeing the dead goat jealously. “I thought NightWings didn’t know how to hunt.”
“I thought so, too,” Kinkajou chimed in. The RainWing sailed up from a bramble-covered slope. Her snout was stained with dark purple blackberry juice. “Starflight told me they do this thing where they bite their prey and then wait for it to die of infection and then they sniff it out and eat the dead things. It sounds super horrible, like, even worse than regular hunting.”
“Gross,” Qibli agreed.
“They’re not supposed to do that anymore,” Moon said. “Glory and Deathbringer are teaching them how to hunt properly. And I just, I, um — taught myself to hunt in the rainforest…. Mother was always leaving me alone, so … I
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