The prison cave was high on the cliff wall, not far from the canopy, overlooking the pavilion below. Tsunami hadn’t paid much attention to it before, except to notice that Riptide and Webs had been taken there. But as the guards flew them up to the cave, she realized that it glowed with a weird blue light, and she could hear strange crackling sounds coming from inside.

Sharp spears prodded her into the cave entrance, and she felt damp stone under her claws. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she saw a path winding into the huge cavern ahead of them.

This wasn’t the underwater prison Lagoon and Shark had been sent to. This was where Queen Coral kept the real threats. Including, Tsunami realized as she was shoved along the stone floor, several prisoners of war. She saw at least three SkyWings, hissing short blasts of flame at their captors. An IceWing lay with his wings spread out, gasping faintly from the heat he wasn’t used to. Two SandWings were caged together, one of them curled in a ball with his eyes pressed shut, the other pacing and snarling.

There was even a giant MudWing with chains around her ankles like the ones that had been on Clay. She tilted her head curiously at Clay as he went by.

But the strangest thing about the prison wasn’t the dragon prisoners, or even the staggeringly large size of the cavern.

It was the cages.

There were no bars, no doors. Instead, a channel of water as wide as two dragons encircled each prisoner, trapping them on islands of stone — some large enough for multiple dragons, some with barely room for one. More water poured from grooves in the ceiling down to the channels, creating cascading walls around the islands.

And all the water walls and all the moats glowed the same bright blue and gave off the same fizzing, crackling sound. The imprisoned dragons flinched away from any stray droplets that splashed toward them, and they kept their tails carefully tucked up on dry land.

The path wound around and between the islands like a long bridge. The ceiling above was covered in glowworms, casting an eerie light over all the strange prison cells.

Tsunami twisted to peer into the moats. What were the prisoners so afraid of?

Iridescent purple jellyfish pulsed here and there, adding their light to the glowworms up above. Tsunami knew that their tentacles could sting, but surely not badly enough to keep the prisoners in. If it were her (and soon it will be, she thought), she’d leap right through the water wall, splash through the moat, and fight her way out, no matter how many jellyfish were in her way.

Suddenly she caught sight of a dark green shape swimming in one of the channels. It was as long as a scavenger and as thick around as a dragon tail, with no legs or arms or wings. As she squinted at it, another one surfaced not far away, and she caught a glimpse of a flat head with sunken, dead eyes. Nostrils flared at the end of its snout, and then it sank into the water again. Bubbles fizzed and snapped for a long moment where it had been.

Sunny pressed close against Clay, her gray-green eyes enormous and terrified. Tsunami glanced around at Starflight and saw him studying the cages as well. Maybe he would understand what was going on.

She didn’t spot Webs or Riptide, but the dragonets were pushed along so fast, and the water blurred the features of the prisoners so it was hard to distinguish between the few imprisoned SeaWings she could see.

The guards finally stopped at one of the largest prison islands. There was the same moat around it, but no water came from the ceiling here. Tsunami couldn’t see anything swimming in the moat either.

“Hop over,” growled one of the guards. “All of you.”

“What if we don’t?” Tsunami asked.

“Then you’ll be dragged off to separate cages, instead of getting to share one,” he answered.

Clay jumped over the moat immediately. His talons scraped against the hard rock floor as he landed with a heavy thud. He turned and reached out to catch Sunny as she leaped after him. Starflight followed, and then Glory, and finally, reluctantly, Tsunami flapped her wings to lift herself over the chasm and land beside her friends.

Another guard pulled on a chain that hung along the wall. Something clanked and groaned from within the stone as she drew the links through her claws. Tsunami leaned forward and saw a small door opening in the underwater wall of the moat. Three of the thick green creatures wriggled through it, their dead eyes staring creepily up at her.

A whoosh sounded from above, and talons yanked her back from the edge just as water came sluicing down. Tsunami looked up at the cave roof, then around to see that it was Starflight who had pulled her back. He let her go and twisted to watch the waterfall that now surrounded them. His claws tapped ner vously against one another.

“What are those creepy things in the water?” Tsunami asked him.

“I think — I think they’re electric eels,” he said.

“Oh, brrrr,” Glory said, shaking out her wings as if they were covered in bugs. “The scrolls about them gave me nightmares for months.”

Sunny twined her tail around one of Clay’s forelegs as if she was trying to get even closer to him. “What’s an electric eel?” she asked.

“They give off a kind of shock,” Starflight explained. Behind him, a blue fizzing light sparked up the waterfall and vanished again, making them all jump.

“It would feel like getting hit by lightning,” Glory added.

“And it can be strong enough to kill a dragon,” said Starflight. “Especially in salt water, and when the eels are as big as the ones down there.”

“So all this water around us —” Tsunami started.

“Could be charged with deadly force at any time,” Starflight said. “Not all the time — it’s not a constant current. But if they’re mad or hungry, they’re probably giving off shocks pretty frequently, and then just touching the water could transfer that to you. Even if it only stunned you, it would hurt a lot.”

Tsunami frowned at the cascade. Through it she could see the blurry outline of the guards slithering away. Evidently they trusted their nasty prison setup to keep the dragonets in.

“I can’t believe we’re prisoners again,” Clay said with a sigh. “Why does this keep happening to us?”

“I know!” Sunny agreed. “Doesn’t anyone trust the prophecy? If they believe in it, can’t they have faith that we’ll do the right thing?”

“Everyone is trying to make sure the prophecy turns out the way they want it to,” Tsunami said. She turned in a circle, but there wasn’t enough room to pace without brushing her wings or tail into the water. She sat back down with a growl. “It would be helpful if the stupid prophecy had been a little more clear about what was supposed to happen.”

“Why didn’t you use your venom when they grabbed us?” Starflight asked Glory.

“Believe me, I will,” the RainWing said fiercely. “I’m waiting for the right moment.”

“I think that’s smart,” Tsunami said. “Even with Glory’s magical death spit, we probably couldn’t have fought off the whole palace, and it would have given away our best secret weapon.”

Glory looked surprised. “Well, thank you,” she said. “Although I’m going to vote against calling it ‘magical death spit,’ please.”

“Maybe tonight,” Tsunami said, lowering her voice. “When most of the palace is sleeping. Maybe we can fight our way out then.”

“Past the water with the shocks that might kill us?” Sunny asked. “What good is magical death spit against lightning eels?”

“Electric eels,” Starflight corrected her.

“We are NOT CALLING IT MAGICAL DEATH SPIT,” Glory said.

“Or —” Tsunami remembered the guards who had given her the key. “Maybe we can convince someone to let us go.”

“I like that plan,” Clay said, bobbing his head.

“I like the one where we melt everyone’s eyeballs on our way out the door,” Glory said.

“With magical death spit,” Sunny said, then buried her head in Clay’s wings to hide her giggles as Glory glared at her.

“Three moons, Glory,” said Tsunami. “That’s horrible.”

“Who are you?” Glory asked. “What happened to the SeaWing who’d fight her way out of anything?”

“I’ll still fight,” Tsunami said. An image of Gill flashed in her mind and she shivered. “I’m just saying, there are a lot of these guards who are really on our side. I bet we can find someone to help us.”

Sunny lifted her snout. “Did you hear something?”

“Like what?” Starflight asked.

The little SandWing hesitated. “It’s hard to be sure over the water sounds.”

“Probably nothing,” Tsunami said. “Nothing helpful anyway.” Sunny frowned at her.

“Someone’s coming,” Glory observed. They could see a pale shape flitting along the path toward them, although it was blurred by the waterfall.

“Is that what you heard?” Starflight asked Sunny.

She shook her head, looking perplexed.

As the dragon came closer, Tsunami thought she recognized her coloring. But surely it couldn’t be —

“Anemone?” she called.

“There you are!” Anemone hurried over to their cage. She stood as close as she could get to the moat and the crackling water. Tsunami wished she could reach over and wrap her wings around her little sister.

“You’re unharnessed!” she cried.

“I know, isn’t it wonderful?” Anemone stretched her wings wide and beamed. “It’s only for a little while.” She tugged at the web that was still fitted closely around her chest. “I’ll be snapped in again later. But Queen Coral said I could go fly around while she has Auklet fitted for her harness, as long as I don’t leave the Summer Palace. This would be the happiest day of my life if I weren’t so worried about you.”

“Can you set us free?” Clay asked hopefully.

“And then come with us,” Tsunami suggested. “We’ll never make you use your powers, I promise.”

Anemone shook her head. “I wish I could. But Coral and Blister will be furious enough about losing the dragonets of destiny. Think about it — if their secret weapon disappears, too, they’ll hunt you down like sharks after prey.”

“That’s a good point,” Starflight agreed in his let’s-all-be-sensible voice.

“I don’t care,” Tsunami said. “I don’t care if every dragon in Pyrrhia is searching for us. We’ll keep you safe, a lot safer than you are here.”

Anemone shifted her wings. Even through the water, Tsunami could see the mournful expression on her snout. “I just — I just don’t think I’m ready to live my life like Webs did, never able to return home,” she said. “I’d miss Auklet. And I think the SeaWings need me here. I think Mother needs me, so she’s hearing another voice besides Blister’s.”

Tsunami knew that was all very logical, but it still made her scales itch to think she’d have to abandon her sister when she’d only just met her.

“All right,” Clay said. “You could still set us free, though, right?”

“They’d know it was her,” Glory pointed out.

“That’s true,” Tsunami agreed. “It’s too dangerous.”

“But there’s something else I wanted to do for you,” Anemone said. She lifted something in her front talons, and Tsunami realized she was holding a pure white narwhal spear.

“Spear,” Anemone said solemnly, “find the dragon who attacked Tsunami in the entrance tunnel and bring him or her to us.” She let go, and the spear flew up the path out of the cave.

The other dragonets stared at her in awe.

“Is that really possible?” Clay asked. “That’ll actually work?”

“We’ll see,” Anemone said, pressing her claws together.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Tsunami said, worried. “Do you feel all right?”

“Just a little cold,” Anemone answered. She rubbed her tail between her talons with a rough scraping sound.

They waited. And waited.

And finally they saw someone stumbling down the path toward them. The spear seemed to glow in the dark as it jabbed the dragon in the back and wings and tail, driv ing it along.

“Ow!” a voice echoed through the cavern. “What is the meaning of — why am I — ow! what — ow! Stop! Ow! I will report you to the — OW!”

“Well, that’s not Coral,” said Glory.

“And it’s not Shark,” said Tsunami. She scratched her horns, confused. She’d been so sure it had to be Shark.

“Not Moray either.” Anemone stood up as he approached.

The spear prodded the dragon into place beside Anemone, on the edge of the electric moat.

It was Whirlpool.