Prologue[]
Shoal paced along the beach. The queen had requested her. Why? It seemed so odd that she would. Neither of her parents had any important jobs, working in the kitchens. Shoal hadn't even thought the queen knew she existed. After all, the only mentions that they might be given around the queen would be if she asked who had made the food.
The sun beat down on Shoal's scales uncomfortably and she wished she could leave then. But if it was actually the queen, and not some of her school friends playing a prank on her, Shoal thought it was a good idea to stay put.
Shoal dug her talons onto the sand of the Island Palace's beach, where she had been told to go. She was alone for the moment. Her parents had exchanged looks when they heard her summons, so they seemed to know what was going on. But that had refused to tell her and just said she'd be back soon.
There were a few splashes on the shore behind her and Shoal whirled around. A few other SeaWing dragonets were pulling themselves out of the water, age ranging from two to five.
A green SeaWing dragonet walked over to her. Shoal recognized him as Algae from her class.
"Shoal, right?" he said.
"You know perfectly well what my name is," she snapped. She was fairly sure that he had a crush on her. But it seemed a rather mean comment for an assumption. Shoal felt consented to apologize. "Sorry," she said, blowing deeply out her snout, digging her talons into the sand again, as though trying to bury her nervousness. "I'm just a little nervous, that's all."
Algae nodded. "I am too," he said. "Were you summoned here also?"
Shoal nodded, glancing around at all the dragonets. Now she recognized a few more from her class. But there were steadily more gathering on the beach.
There were larger splashes and Shoal turned and saw Queen Coral, and Princess Anemone, flanked by servants who were holding, strangely enough, coconuts. The dragonets closest to the water yelped in fear and scrambled away down the beach.
Queen Coral seemed as majestic as always, though Shoal wasn't a very good judge. She had only seen her once or twice.
Queen Coral's tail swept through the sand, leaving deep furrows.
"Everyone get in a line," Anemone ordered, sounding bored.
Shoal ran and joined the line that had been made, accidentally stepping on Algae's talon.
"Sorry!" she whispered hurriedly, jumping away from him. But if he answered, she didn't hear. She darted away to an open spot in the line.
Then she sat down and curled her tail around her talons, struggling not to look at everyone else to see what they were doing, but judging from the silence, everyone was doing exactly what she was.
"Good," Anemone said. She turned to the servants. "Give them each a coconut."
After a few murmured "Yes, Your Majesty,"s, they went out and handed a coconut to each dragonet, much to each dragonets' curiosity.
"Pick up your coconut," Anemone said lazily.
Shoal reached out hesitantly, staring at the coconut before her quizzically. What was this for?
"For those of you who haven't guessed by now," Anemone said. "We are going to be conducting the Talons of Power test."
Shoal gasped and was glad to hear that she was not the only one. It wouldn't be very nice to be singled out before the queen herself.
Anemone smirked slightly. "Yes. And if any of you do turn out to be an animus," she gave a resigned sigh and sent a slight glare to Queen Coral, "I will be your mentor." She turned her attention back to the dragonets. "Now, enchant your coconut to float into the air and then land back in your talons."
There was a silence.
Finally someone spoke. It was Algae.
Of course it was Algae, Shoal thought bitterly. He was always the first to say anything. He hardly had any manners. But then she realized that he wasn't talking to anyone. He was talking to his coconut, which seemed rather odd.
"Coconut," he said boldly. "I enchant you to fly up into the air and then land back in my talons."
Nothing happened. When Shoal glanced around, she saw that everyone else was watching intently.
Turning her attention back to Algae, she saw that he looked slightly put out. Shoal didn't know why. She didn't want a power that took a bit of your soul whenever you used it. It even sounded creepy. Animus magic.
Anemone smirked and sent a look to Queen Coral that looked an awful lot like an "I told you so."
Queen Coral sent a look back that Shoal couldn't quite decipher, and made a gesture with her wing that she thought portrayed "Wait."
Shoal sighed, turning back to her coconut and deciding to get it over with. Some of the other dragonets had already gone in the few moments after Algae had. And so far, nothing had happened. What were the chances that anything would?
"Coconut," she said, staring at it and just feeling all in all rather stupid. "I enchant you to fly up into the air and then land back in my talons."
To her horror and everyone else's amazement, her coconut slowly lifted out of her talons. It hovered in the air for a moment, then slowly landed back in her talons.
It seemed as though everything had frozen. Nobody on the beach moved. The only sound Shoal could hear was the pounding of her heart, the small waves lapping at the sandy shore, and the thud of her coconut on the sand as she dropped it in horror.
Finally everyone rushed over and Shoal flinched away. Although, it wasn't actually everyone. Only all the dragonets from her class, which was only about half a dozen dragonets. But it seemed like so much more.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she heard Algae exclaimed, though she couldn't tell him apart in the crowd of blue and green dragonets.
Shoal opened her mouth to reply, blinking furiously. But she couldn't make herself say anything. She was just staring at her coconut in horror.
"Give the dragonet some space, sheesh."
Shoal looked up to see Anemone working her way through the crowd of dragonets who all parted before the princess.
If Shoal looked past Anemone, she could see Queen Coral surveying everything, looking as calm as ever, as though an animus hadn't just appeared out of nowhere and been dropped at her talons.
Anemone lowered herself to be eye level with Shoal. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.
Shoal went to answer but she didn't trust herself to speak. Instead she just shook her head, looking down at her talons and the sand.
Anemone turned to Queen Coral. "Mother, could I talk to the dragonet?" she asked. "Alone," she added, giving the dragons around them furious stares as they still gaped at Shoal. She might not have been able to see them, but she could feel their gazes, her scales prickling.
Queen Coral nodded and swept off the beach, beckoning with her wings to the servants.
Shoal looked up and watched everyone leave though she noticed Algae did so rather reluctantly. He gave her one last glance before he dove into the water, disappearing without another ripple.
Shoal looked up at Anemone, but she was still staring firmly at the water.
"Um, Princess Anemone?" she said quietly, touching her talon lightly. But Anemone stubbornly kept her eyes on the water.
Shoal turned her eyes to her coconut, picking it up and staring at it. She didn't think she'd ever be able to eat coconut again. Shoal threw it away from her, where it rolled to a slow stop on the sand a bit away.
"Do they still teach about the massacre?" Anemone asked suddenly, making Shoal jump.
She blinked at Anemone, trying to interpret what she had said. "Yes," she said slowly.
Anemone gave a nod of approval. "I hadn't heard the story when I got my magic and I was terrified when I heard for the first time. It's probably better that you heard it in advance."
Shoal almost wanted to disagree. "Why me?" she asked softly instead.
Anemone hesitated, looking lost.
"Why did the magic choose me, over all the others who wanted it so badly?"
Anemone gave a small smile. "Animus magic is not something that is gifted. It's genetic."
Shoal blinked, startled. "So my parents could be animuses?" she asked. "A – animi?"
Anemone shook her head, her smile getting the smallest bit bigger. "They had animus blood in them but they were tested for it when they were probably about your age. And speaking of your parents, where do they work?" she asked randomly.
"K – kitchens," Shoal answered, startled into telling her, though she would've either way.
Anemone nodded. "So you're used to blending into the background?"
"I – I guess so," Shoal said.
"Listen, that will change from this moment forward." Anemone grabbed Shoal's shoulders. "You will be the center of attention. But they won't like you for who you actually are. They'll be super nice and ask for magic favors later. Believe me, I know."
Shoal stopped herself from taking a step back in fear. But even if she had wanted to, she couldn't have; not with the sharp grip Anemone had on her.
"And before you do any sort of spell, think through possible outcomes. I did something I can never forgive myself for. Please don't make the same mistake I did."
Shoal was scared. Anemone always looked so regal on her throne. Now she looked haunted.
Anemone tore her eyes away and pulled her gray pink talons back, setting them down in the sand in front of her. "I'm going to give you an option that I never had. Leave."
Shoal took a step back. "L – leave?" she stuttered.
Anemone nodded. "Go somewhere else and start over where no one knows you. I can tell my mother that you ran away. And you could go to the Ice Kingdom or something." Then she paused. "No, not the Ice Kingdom. Too cold," she mused. After thinking for a moment, she snapped her head back up. "You could go to Jade Mountain Academy!" she said. "I went there when I was a dragonet and I loved it!"
"B – but what about my family?" Shoal asked, her voice shaking. "I can just leave them!"
"They'll be scared of you. And even they won't see you for who you really are." Anemone shook her head sadly. "So what about it? Do you want to go to Jade Mountain?" Her eyes were glimmering.
Shoal's mind was whirling. She couldn't just leave. But Anemone was a princess. She couldn't say no to the princess. Her parents could be put in prison. She didn't want to get them put in prison on her account.
"I – I – I don't know!" Shoal cried, and she dove into the water with Anemone calling her name.
Chapter 1[]
Everything was silent. Yet the dragonet inside the egg wanted out. She didn't know why yet but something called her. And she wanted to know what that something was as much as the urge to answer the call was.
The dragonet reached out blindly into the darkness around her and her talons hit a surface. She pushed slightly and there was a small but satisfying cracking noise.
Then the dragonet began pushing with her back talons, bracing her small wings on the same surface that was behind her. Something gave out beneath her back talons and she peeked out the hole. Light filtered in but the dragonet couldn't see the source of it. She had to know what made it. What made the beautiful silvery light that shone on what little of the world the dragonet could see.
The small dragonet pushed as hard as she could and the egg shattered around her. She stumbled out onto the sand and looked out. At the horizon, there were three moons, two of which were full, the other one a barely visible sliver. They were what made the light. What made the light that was shining onto the sand beneath her talons and the ocean before her.
The small dragonet tried to reach out and grab them but fell on her face and got sand up her snout. She pushed herself onto her talons and sneezed, knocking herself over again. Then she giggled.
Suddenly there was a loud crashing sound, one that hadn't penetrated the egg's shell, and the dragonet spun around, tripping on her own talons as she did so.
A wave of water was pulling back to a large expanse of it, stretching as far as the dragonet could see. The dragonet got up and approached it cautiously.
It crashed again and rushed towards the dragonet. She yelped and jumped back, the water barely brushing her claws.
Then she followed the wave as it pulled out. And as it crashed in again, she leapt back. But before the wave went out fully, the dragonet pounced on the water. She looked into her talons but there was nothing in them. The dragonet frowned, peering at them closely, but they only had a few globs of sticky wet sand.
There was another crash and the dragonet didn't have enough time to move before the wave doused her in water. She yelped and was pushed farther up onto the beach.
The wave pulled out, leaving her on the shore, and the dragonet giggled, sand splattered across her midnight black scales.
Suddenly there was a dull thump on the sand behind her. She turned around to see a pale yellow dragon running towards her. There was a basket lying on the sand behind her that she had obviously dropped.
When the dragon reached her, the dragonet was scooped up into warm arms.
Everything about that moment felt right, from the way she was positioned in the dragon's arms to the infinite gentleness of her claws as she held her.
What the dragonet caught from the older dragon's mind was worry. There were words, but she didn't understand them yet.
The dragon looked out to the horizon where it was brighter, opposite of the silvery moons that were hanging in the sky, and suddenly there was a word in her mind. Just one. The dragonet didn't know what it meant, but she liked how it sounded. "Dusk," the older dragon said. "I think I'll name you Dusk."
The dragonet snuggled close to the dragon's warm scales and grabbed their snout lightly.
The dragon smiled, a tear slipping down her snout. She laughed softly, wiping the tear tracks off her snout and nuzzling the dragonet. "Come on, Dusk," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "Let me take you to my home."
The dragonet caught so much sadness from the older dragon's mind. She nuzzled up into the crook of the older dragon's neck and chirped softly, wanting to make her feel better.
In response to the dragonet's action, the older dragon pulled her even closer to her scales and cried softly. In her mind, the dragonet kept seeing flashes of a dragon that looked like the older dragon, though much younger. He had a mischievous grin on his face and the dragonet wondered who he was and why the dragon was so sad about him. She was also dismayed that the action she had hoped would cheer up the older dragon had had such an opposite effect.
The dragon started walking along the sand toward a hut that was visible nearby. The walk was long and awkward for the dragon, as she was being infinitely gentle for the dragonet in her claws and the sand kept sinking underneath her pale yellow talons.
The dragonet's eyelids were drooping as they walked, but as they walked into the hut, they shot open again, taking in every bit of it.
There were pictures hanging on every wall, though the dragonet didn't understand most of them. But her eyes caught on one of them: a portrait of the dragon she had seen in the older dragon's mind. He had his head tilted curiously but was grinning.
The dragonet chirped slightly and wriggled slightly against the older dragon's claws.
She gave a soft laugh and set her on the floor. "This is your new home for now, Dusk," the older dragon said. She smiled at the dragonet. "Until I find someone better suited to take care of you."
The dragonet scrambled over the carpeted sand back over to the yellow dragon and climbed slightly up her leg in her eagerness.
The dragon laughed and picked her up, taking her to another room. "I think it's best we go to bed, Dusk."
The dragonet looked around curiously as they entered the new room. It was set up mostly the same, though there was a large space set apart with two blankets set on top of each other.
The dragon headed toward them and pulled the first layer of blankets back before lying down.
She made sure the dragonet was comfortable, then tented one of her wings over her.
The dragonet walked over to the dragon's side and snuggled close to the warmth. All her curiosity faded as her eyelids drooped and she fell asleep.
Chapter 2[]
Dusk pulled herself out of the water and onto the sand with two fish in her mouth, ignoring the waves crashing behind her, getting her black talons splashed, though they were already wet. Dusk started to make her way back to her hut. As she was walking along the hot sand, she saw a lizard sitting on a rock, eating a desert grasshopper. It stopped, tensed to run away, so she stopped.
Dusk slowly pulled the fish out of her mouth and hid them under her wing, camouflaging her deep black scales to the colors around her. Then she crept closer.
The lizard turned its head from side to side, staring quizzically at the spot where Dusk had been, but apparently it didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so it turned back to its half-eaten insect.
Dusk barely kept from snorting. It really was stupid. It wasn't even worried that a dragon that had been there seconds before wasn't anymore. Dusk sometimes wondered how animals like that had survived so long.
So she pounced. She had killed it before it knew what was happening.
Dusk pulled out the fish from where she'd had them tucked under her wing and put them back in her mouth, continuing back to the hut with a lizard now too.
Once she made it, she took the fish out of her mouth. "Mother," Dusk called once inside, "I'm back!" She set down her fish on the sandstone table that sat in the middle of the hut, glancing at the paintings hung on the walls, the only decorations in the small hut other than the carpets that sat on the sand.
Dusk walked over to one of the ocean that was quite bad compared to the rest, touching the paint strokes lightly. She was hoping to get better. Maybe even better than her mother. But that was still a long time coming. Dusk could hardly make out what the painting was.
The amount of times she had gotten into trouble with the paint. It was too many to count. There was one time Dusk had accidentally tipped a jar of blue paint onto her. It had taken a lot of scrubbing to get it all off. It had actually made her look like a normal SeaWing for once. A very plain, very blue, SeaWing.
Dusk's adopted mother, Silica the SandWing, came out from her room, holding a paintbrush that was covered in light orange paint. "From where?" she asked curiously.
Dusk held up the lizard that she still had impaled on her claw. "Hunting," she said.
Silica gave her a smile, her tail skittering along the carpets behind her. "Dusk, you didn't have to."
She shrugged. "I was getting a few fish for myself and found a lizard on the way back." Dusk shook the lizard off her talon and onto the table.
Silica frowned slightly, setting the paintbrush down on the table next to Dusk's fish. "I thought I told you not to go in the ocean without me," she said.
Dusk avoided her mother's eyes. "Well, you were busy and I didn't want to bother you," she said softly.
"Come here, Dusk."
Dusk stepped forwards to her mother but instead of punishment, Silica pulled her into a hug, like always. "You know I have these rules to keep you safe, right?" she whispered softly in Dusk's ear.
Dusk nodded into her mother's embrace. "I know," she whispered.
Dusk knew this was true but she could also see that Silica wanted to make amends for what had happened to her dragonet. She had seen in Silica's mind that she had had a dragonet quite a few years ago and he had drowned. Silica had no idea how. She had a portrait of him hanging in her room that she had painted soon after he had died. Dusk always liked how he looked. Kind, mischievous, caring. Dusk had always wondered what it'd have been like if she could've met him.
Silica pulled away from Dusk. "Do you want me to cook your fish for you?" she asked.
Dusk nodded. "Please," she said, standing back so Silica could reach the table. They had discovered that even though Dusk was part NightWing, she had no fire. Neither of them knew why. They just assumed that, as both SeaWings and RainWings didn't have fire, it had just been something she didn't hatch with.
Silica moved her paintbrush out of the way and breathed a plume of fire onto the two fish and left them warm and charred, just how Dusk usually liked them.
"Thank you," Dusk said. She reached out to grab them but Silica stopped her. "You have to wait five seconds, remember? So you don't get burned?"
Dusk looked down and nodded embarrassedly. She hated it when she forgot something important. Thankfully, it only happened occasionally, and Silica always gently reminded Dusk.
Silica pulled her into another hug and Dusk leaned into it gratefully.
When Dusk snuggled closer, she caught a mix of emotions from her mother's mind. Happiness and guilt.
Silica felt so happy that she could give Dusk a home and a mother, but also guilt that she hadn't held her dragonet, Sandstone, Dusk caught for the first time, as much as she should've. And some more guilt that Dusk wouldn't be held like that by her actual parents.
Dusk didn't know why she hadn't told Silica about her mind-reading, but to make her feel better, she said, "I would rather be with you than even my actual parents."
Silica started but didn't pull away. "Oh, Dusk. You wouldn't say that if you had been with your parents from the beginning," she said softly.
"I would," Dusk said, pulling back to look at Silica. "I promise I would." She nuzzled Silica softly but she turned away from her.
I wish I believed her, she thought quietly.
"When can Aunt Brush come again?" Dusk asked, changing the subject.
Brush was Silica's sister but Dusk thought she was the best dragon in the world other than Silica herself. So that was a pretty high honor. Granted Dusk hadn't met many dragons. To be exact, she had met zero other dragons. Silica and Dusk had everything they needed there. Living by the ocean, Dusk could catch fish whenever she wanted. And Silica had no trouble finding a lizard or two. And there was even a freshwater stream nearby. They had no need to leave so they never did.
Silica turned around and faced Dusk. "She said to tell you sorry and that she couldn't come for a while," she said with a smile.
Dusk's wings drooped a fraction of an inch.
"Aw, cheer up, Dusk. You just saw her a few weeks ago. And you saw her on your second hatching day," Silica reminded her.
"My second hatching day was three million months ago," Dusk pouted.
Silica wrinkled her snout at her playfully. "It was only eleven months ago, silly."
"Well it felt like three million months ago," she said.
Silica laughed. "We'll see her again soon, Dusk. I'm sure of it."
When she still didn't cheer up, Silica picked Dusk's fish up off the table and held them out for her. "Come on. Let's eat and then go rinse off in the river."
Dusk smiled slightly and took the fish from her mother, silently wondering about her second power. She hadn't had any visions lately and yet there seemed to be an alarm bell tinkling in her head. Dusk wondered if it was just anxiety or if something bad truly would happen.