“Riptide,” Sunny said again. “That’s a funny name.”

“I like it,” Tsunami said. “Fierce and scary, like mine.”

Riptide was pacing the beach, lashing his tail in a long swooshing trail through the sand. His sky-blue scales glinted metallically in the morning light. He had claw-mark scars along his pale underbelly and what looked like an old bite mark on his tail. Tsunami was pretty sure he was only a couple years older than she was. The scratches she’d given his snout had finally stopped bleeding. She hoped those wouldn’t leave scars, too — he had a very handsome snout when it wasn’t all clawed up.

“All right,” he said. “So the Talons of Peace are real.”

“Unfortunately,” Glory muttered.

Riptide glanced at her, and Tsunami felt a weird tingle of jealousy run through her scales. Glory had found a large rock to perch on, spreading her wings open to the sun, and her scales were shimmering silver and rose.

“I thought everyone knew about the Talons,” Sunny said.

“Just rumors and whispers,” said Riptide. “None of the tribe queens would be pleased to find a member of the peace movement in their midst. Conspiring with other tribes? Stealing eggs?” He shook his head. “Queen Coral would kill any dragon she found working with the Talons.” He gave Tsunami a searching look she didn’t understand.

Clay was sitting with his tail in the water. He had muddy sand packed over the spot where Riptide had clawed him. Sunny sat next to him, giving Riptide fierce looks whenever he paced too close to Clay.

“And you’re the dragonets of destiny. For real. The ones in the prophecy. That’s real.” Riptide stopped, inhaled deeply, and blew out again. “And you’re here. In SeaWing territory. Just like —” He glanced at Tsunami again, then went back to pacing.

“I know it’s thrilling,” Tsunami said. “But we’re really looking for somewhere safe to go. The Talons of Peace treated us terribly, and I figured the SeaWings would welcome and protect us.”

“I suppose,” Riptide said not very reassuringly. “So you were all raised in a cave?” He stopped in front of Tsunami. “With no ocean? Never? You never went into the ocean?”

This seemed to be the hardest part for him to believe. “Not until we escaped,” Tsunami said.

“But that’s awful,” said Riptide.

“Thank you,” Tsunami said, flaring her wings. “I know it was. I’ve always said our life was miserable, but these dragons keep arguing with me.”

“Not me,” Glory said.

“I can’t believe the Talons did that to you,” Riptide said, clawing the sand.

“Tell me about it,” Tsunami said. “They really are the worst.”

“Even Webs — Webs didn’t take you to the ocean?” Riptide asked.

“You know about Webs?” Sunny asked.

Riptide ducked his head and frowned at his talons. “He’s pretty infamous in the tribe. We all know he deserted during a battle, and later he came back and stole one of the queen’s eggs. At least, Queen Coral was sure it was him. But nobody knew if he stole it for the Talons of Peace or for his own reasons. We’re not really supposed to talk about the Talons of Peace rumors.”

“Didn’t anyone think he might have stolen the egg to be part of the prophecy?” Starflight asked.

Riptide nodded. “Some of us did. But again, nobody talked about it. Queen Blister doesn’t like hearing about the prophecy, so that’s also been a forbidden topic.”

Tsunami wrinkled her snout. “Blister gets to decide what SeaWings can talk about?”

Riptide shifted uncomfortably and picked up a large conch shell. He twisted it between his talons. “You’ll want to call her Queen Blister when you meet her,” he said.

“Not until we decide she should be queen,” Tsunami said stoutly. “That’s up to us, remember?”

It looked for a moment like Riptide was trying not to smile.

“Well,” Starflight stammered, “she is a pretty good — I mean, she’s the smart one — I think we’ll probably —”

Tsunami tilted her head at him. What was he rattling on about? He snapped his mouth shut and went back to picking sand out of his scales.

“Did you know Webs?” Clay asked Riptide.

The SeaWing dropped his gaze. “Not really. He ran away during a battle when I was only two years old. But I’ve been hearing about his treachery my whole life.” He sighed. “I really can’t believe he never took you to the ocean in all that time.”

“It’s true,” Tsunami said. “And he never taught me Aquatic. I wish I had all the Talons of Peace here so I could bite them.”

“To be fair, the Talons were just keeping us safe,” Sunny interjected. “They needed us to survive to fulfill the prophecy.”

Tsunami snorted, and Sunny gave her an injured look.

“But the prophecy,” Riptide said. He pointed at Glory. “It calls for a SkyWing. She’s not a SkyWing.”

“It’s a little complicated,” Tsunami said as a hint of sea green rippled across Glory’s scales. “Anyway, I’m not sure we really care about the prophecy. But we do care about finding the families we were stolen from.”

“I care about the prophecy!” Sunny protested. She poked Clay’s side, and he nodded agreeably.

Starflight cleared his throat, but Tsunami hurried on before he could start lecturing again. His egg hadn’t been stolen; the NightWings had handed it right over. So maybe he didn’t care about getting home, but she certainly did.

“Only a few days ago, I found out I was stolen from the Royal Hatchery,” Tsunami said. “So . . . so I thought maybe my parents were looking for me. Like in The Missing Princess? Do you know that scroll?”

Riptide definitely squashed a smile this time. “I do,” he said. “It’s required reading in school.”

“School,” Starflight said in the wistful tones Clay used to talk about food.

“Required reading?” Tsunami echoed. That was odd. It was a fairy tale, not a historical document. And not, perhaps, the best-written scroll she’d ever read, although it was still one of her favorites because of the story.

“But I can’t take you to the palace,” Riptide said firmly. “Not with him along.” He jerked his head at Clay.

“Weren’t you listening?” Tsunami said, exasperated. “He’s not a regular MudWing. He’s certainly not allied with Burn or the SkyWings. You can trust him.”

“Perhaps you should stay here,” Riptide suggested, “and I’ll bring Queen Coral back to you.” He glanced across the water at the other island, where he’d met the green dragon with the black spiral patterns. Tsunami wondered if he was wishing for reinforcements.

“Nope,” she said. “We’re all coming with you.”

“I’m in enough trouble with Queen Coral,” Riptide protested. “That’s why I’m stuck patrolling all the way out here. If I bring a MudWing back to the palace, I might as well pull out my own teeth.”

“Ew!” Sunny cried. “That’s not a real punishment, is it?”

Tsunami didn’t want to know the answer to that. She wanted to meet her mother without images of horrible things in her head. “Think of it this way,” she said quickly. “What happens if Queen Coral finds out you met her missing daughter and didn’t bring her back to the palace?”

Riptide squirmed and wrinkled his snout. “Can’t I bring you and leave the others?” he asked. “At least until Queen Coral gives her permission?”

“No,” she said stoutly. “We all go together. She’ll understand once she realizes we’re the dragonets of destiny.”

Riptide sighed. “All right, but he has to be blindfolded.” He looked at the other three, rubbing his chin. “It’d be better if they could all be blindfolded.”

“What am I going to do?” Glory asked. “Round up some scary RainWings to come sleep on your roof? I thought no one was afraid of my tribe.”

“We’re not,” Riptide objected. “Afraid of RainWings. Pffft. What a thing to say.”

More streaks of pale green appeared along Glory’s scales and then faded away. “Wonderful,” she said. “So no blindfold for me, then.” She tossed her head and turned back to the ocean.

Riptide looked doubtfully at Starflight and Sunny.

“The NightWings know every thing,” Starflight said loftily. “It’s no use trying to keep secrets from them. I mean, us. I could just use my powers to figure out where your palace is.”

Tsunami rolled her eyes. Starflight had no powers whatsoever, as far as any of the dragonets knew. But if he wanted the SeaWings to think he did, maybe that could be useful eventually.

“Please don’t argue with him,” Tsunami said to Riptide. “Once he starts yammering on about how amazing NightWings are, we’ll never get him to shut up.”

Starflight ruffled his wings in outrage. Riptide muttered something under his breath and started poking around in the shallow water below the rocks.

“You can blindfold me,” Sunny offered. “I don’t mind.”

“If you do that, she can ride on my back,” Tsunami suggested. She missed having the little SandWing come lean against her trustingly. Sunny was still acting jumpy and ner vous around her, four whole days after her fight with the SkyWing soldier, as if Tsunami might suddenly attack someone out of nowhere, for no reason.

“Or my back,” Starflight jumped in quickly. Tsunami frowned at him. Why was he trying so hard to take her place?

“You think you’re strong enough?” she challenged.

“Sure he is,” Sunny said. “I’ll ride with him, and you can lead Clay.”

Well, fine, then, Tsunami thought. I guess everyone’s giving the orders now.

Riptide came stomping back with several long strands of thick black seaweed. Sunny immediately looked like she was regretting her offer. But she let the big SeaWing wrap the seaweed tightly around her head, covering her closed eyes.

“Ew,” she said, shivering. “It’s all wet and slimy.”

“I like wet and slimy,” Clay said, ducking his head to make it easier for Riptide to blindfold him.

“That’s weird, Clay,” said Glory.

Riptide’s attention was focused on plastering seaweed all over Clay’s broad head. When he was done, it looked more like an octopus trying to eat Clay’s brain than a blindfold. But of course, Clay didn’t complain. He never complained about anything except being hungry. It was one of the things Tsunami loved about him.

Tsunami helped Sunny climb awkwardly onto Starflight’s back, balancing in the narrow space between his wings. The SandWing was small, but Starflight wasn’t as burly as Tsunami or Clay.

“If you can’t handle it, tell me and I’ll take her,” Tsunami said to him.

Starflight nodded, breathing deeply. His wings curled in, and he shivered as Sunny lay down, rested her head on his neck, and clasped her forearms trustingly around his shoulders.

Tsunami turned to Clay and brushed one of his wing tips with hers.

“Can you feel that?” she asked. “If I do that in the air, can you stay with me?”

“I think so,” Clay said doubtfully.

“I’ll fly on your other side,” Glory said, hopping down from her rock. She reached up and nudged his other wing. “That way we can steer you together.”

Clay shook his head a little and a loose flap of seaweed went glop flop against his neck. “This is really strange,” he said. “It’s as dark as the underground river. Only with breathing, so, better. I’m in favor of breathing. Definitely better than not breathing.”

“Just don’t go too fast. And listen to me,” Tsunami ordered.

“To us,” Glory chimed in. “And we promise not to drown you.” She gave Tsunami an arch look.

If I do decide to drown somebody, I know who’s at the top of my list, Tsunami thought, shooting a glare back at her. “All right, let’s go,” she said to Riptide.

The sky-blue SeaWing waved his talons in front of Clay’s face to make sure there was no reaction. Finally he sprang into the sky with the dragonets close behind him.

Tsunami forgot to be mad at Glory and Starflight as they flew over the bay. Green-and-white islands glowed like scattered jewels in the ocean below them. Several of them were shaped like claws, curving neatly through the water. From up by the clouds, she could see part of the spiral pattern in the archipelago. And when they swooped down close to the sea, she saw pearlescent pink dolphins leaping in the clear water.

Glory told Clay about the dolphins, and his head went up hopefully. “Can we eat them?” he asked.

“No,” Riptide called back over his shoulder. “Queen Coral has forbidden it. She thinks they might be distantly related to us.”

Tsunami glanced down at the sleek darting shapes. Related to dragons? What a bizarre idea. It didn’t really fit with how she’d imagined her mother.

Well, I can stop imagining soon, she thought.

She had no idea how the SeaWings had managed to hide a palace on one of these islands. From the air, it seemed like you could see every thing — the white sand below the azure waters around the islands, every hole in the twisting rock formations, every palm tree and cormorant nest and scraggly bush on every cliff. There were a lot of small islands, but surely the enemy had searched every one by now, after eigh teen years of war.

“Here comes our welcoming committee,” Riptide said, just loud enough for Tsunami to hear.

She spotted a formation of blue and green dragons flying toward them — fifteen or more, with huge wings and bared teeth. She could hear them hissing from a distance.

“Uh-oh,” Riptide muttered.

“Clay, stop and hover,” Tsunami instructed. He paused in the air, with Glory close beside him.

“What’s happening?” Sunny asked, lifting her head from Starflight’s shoulder as they caught up. Starflight, for once, didn’t say anything. His jaw was set, and it looked like he was using all his energy to stay aloft with Sunny.

“The advance guard,” Riptide said. He swung in a slow circle around the group and stopped in front again, facing the incoming dragons. “They make sure no one even gets close to the Summer Palace.”

A few moments later, they were surrounded. The flapping wingbeats filled their ears and pushed the air currents around.

“Rrrriptide,” growled the dragon in the lead. His scales were a green so dull it was almost gray, like stone where moss had been scraped away. He had tiny bone-pale eyes that never seemed to blink under a knobbly protruding forehead, and his horns twisted strangely toward each other. Tsunami noticed that, unlike Riptide, the new dragon had no battle scars. Which either meant he stayed away from the fighting — or he was a very skilled fighter.

“What are you dragging home now?” he snarled.

Riptide looked him straight in the eyes. “I’ve found the missing princess.”

That’s not how I would have put it, Tsunami thought. I was the one doing all the finding out there.

A ripple of shock went through the other SeaWings. Tsunami’s scales felt like insects were crawling under them as the guards all stared at her. She lifted her snout and tried to look regal and imposing.

“Oh, really?” said the leader. “You, Riptide? Of all dragons? What an unusual coincidence.” His unsettling eyes scanned Tsunami from wing tips to claws, as if she were a dead eel someone had left half-eaten on the beach. Tsunami wanted to shred the skeptical, arrogant look right off his face.

“And who are you?” Tsunami demanded.

Riptide winced. “This is Shark,” he said. “Commander of palace defense and brother to the queen.”

“Oh, really,” Tsunami said, deliberately making her tone even more insolent and challenging than Shark’s. She was not about to start her life with the SeaWings by kowtowing to every soldier dragon who came along. Even if he was her uncle.

Shark narrowed his eyes until they nearly disappeared into his scales. “What makes you believe this snip of a dragon comes from the stolen royal egg?” he asked Riptide.

“Why, do you lose a lot of eggs?” Tsunami jumped in. “Maybe whoever’s in charge of defense isn’t doing such a good job, then. Oh, wait, that’s you, isn’t it?”

“Her story makes sense,” Riptide said desperately. “She knew about — about Webs. He raised her. And look at the glow patterns under her wings.”

All of the SeaWings craned their necks to stare at Tsunami’s wings. She snapped at a couple who got too close, then peered around to see what they were seeing.

Under her wings, when she lit them up, the luminescent stripes formed spirals around the outer edges. Starbursts shaped like webbed dragon footprints branched away from the lines in the middle. Was that weird? She glanced at the other SeaWings. Most of them had smaller starbursts and no spirals. Only Shark’s patterns matched her own.

Because we’re both royal. She lifted her head and met his gaze triumphantly. But one day I shall be queen, and you will always be nothing but a soldier.

Shark let out a long hissing breath. “Very well,” he said. “Kill the other four and bring her.”