“Oh no,” Turtle breathed.

“Me?” Anemone echoed, sounding as young as she was and heartbreakingly delighted. She flicked her claws to make the lightning flash again, now illuminating her face. “You were looking for me?”

And you made it more than easy for him to find you, Turtle thought. Not to mention announcing your power to everyone else who didn’t know the SeaWings have an animus. Now every tribe in Pyrrhia would know about Anemone’s magic. Apart from all the dragons outside, he could see faces watching from nearly every window in the school — students roused from their beds either by the commotion outside or by the panicked IceWings.

Oh, Anemone. Why would anyone ever draw so much attention to themselves?

Tsunami snapped her tail, hissing. “What is she doing?” she cried.

Before Turtle could answer — not that he had any sort of answer, unless maybe losing her mind counted — Tsunami was out the window and flying up toward Anemone.

“One moment, big sister,” Anemone said, holding out her talons. The wind spiraled up and around, spinning Tsunami away from her. Below them, Clay and Sunny both started forward with a gasp, but Tsunami caught herself on the second spin and hovered where she was.

“Why were you looking for me?” Anemone asked Darkstalker.

“Because I sensed a kindred spirit,” he said, gesturing at the storm rising around her. “I’ve been listening to your mind since you arrived at Jade Mountain and I saw instantly how special you are. A dragon as smart and practical as I am. And, of course, a fellow animus.”

Did he know about me before I hid myself? Turtle wondered. Only Winter, Qibli, Peril, and Moon knew about his animus power … but neither Peril nor Moon wore skyfire to protect their thoughts. Darkstalker could have lifted that information from either of their minds. Or he could have seen it in a vision of the future, if there was a crazy future where Turtle used magic in front of him.

“That’s me,” Anemone said, lifting her front claws into the air. Lightning sizzled down from the clouds and gathered in her webbed talons like deadly trapped moons. The light gave her face an eerie glow, shining over her scales like an Aquatic birthmark, making sure everyone could see how different she was. “Finally. Someone who understands me.”

“Anemone,” Tsunami said, her voice cracking.

“Oh, I know you love me,” Anemone said to her. “Plenty of dragons love me. But understanding me … see, that takes another animus.”

I’m not sure it does, Turtle thought. He’d never felt further from understanding her than he did right this moment.

I did this all wrong. Like I always do. I should have told her the truth about me, or I should have lied about Darkstalker. I should have come up with something that could have stopped this from happening.

“I’m very impressed, Anemone,” Darkstalker said, spreading his wings at the churning, stone-colored sky. “You know, I’ve never tried controlling the weather. What a clever idea. What did you enchant?” Dark clouds now blotted out the sunrise, bloated with rain that was forbidden to fall. Small flickers of lightning curled in the depths of the clouds like the breath of newly hatched SkyWings. The air smelled like the sea was hiding overhead, ready to drown everyone.

“These,” Anemone said, displaying two beaten copper armbands on her wrists, the metal rippling like waves of fire. “I wanted you to see what I could do,” she said proudly.

“But Anemone,” Tsunami choked out. “Your soul —”

“I feel fine, Tsunami,” Anemone said, flicking her tail. “I mean, we are supposed to use our powers sometimes, right?” she asked Darkstalker. “Like when it’s really important? And couldn’t these be totally useful?” She reached up again and opened a small hole in the clouds for the sun to pour through.

“Absolutely,” Darkstalker agreed. “They’re brilliant. Don’t worry, Tsunami; Anemone is many spells away from massacring anyone. And now I’m here to help her with that soul problem. Come on down, Princess, and let’s talk.”

Anemone soared down to him with no hesitation. Turtle watched her go with the same sick, sinking feeling that had hit him the day he heard his father had been captured by Queen Scarlet’s troops.

There’s nothing I can do.

He could feel Peril watching him, but he couldn’t meet her eyes.

Don’t wait for me to fix this. I can’t. I don’t know where to start and I don’t have any good ideas and whatever I tried, I’d do it wrong anyway.

As Anemone and Darkstalker stepped into the main entrance cave, Anemone looked back up at her sister and the other dragons still outside.

She smiled, and the rain began to fall.

Heavy droplets pelted Turtle’s wings as he flew up to where his friends were gathered in the sky.

“I’m sorry,” he said as soon as he was close enough to speak. “I did try to warn the school, but I guess it didn’t make any difference.”

“Warn the school about what?” Winter asked.

“The … giant two-thousand-year-old superdragon that just climbed out of a mountain?” Turtle answered.

“Oh, he’s not here to hurt anyone,” said Winter. “I know, I was worried at first, too, but Darkstalker’s not a monster. He just wants to make friends and start over.”

“See, I feel like that’s true,” said Qibli, “but then Winter, of all dragons, says something like that, and I get nervous.”

“Call off the exploding-guts plan, Turtle!” Peril called cheerfully, swooping around them with her wings carving paths of steam through the pelting rain. “He’s not evil after all!”

“Wait, really?” Turtle tried to blink away the rain that kept pooling on his snout. “Are we sure? What happened to change your mind so fast?”

“Well, he’s been super nice to me,” said Peril. “Which kind of never happens, so he’s obviously more awesome than the average dragon. And he pointed out that animus powers and firescales are the same, because other dragons are always scared of us, but they shouldn’t be. Totally true, right? I mean, I wouldn’t want MY insides exploded by magic just because someone thinks I’M scary.”

“You are scary,” Qibli said to her. “But I’m also in favor of you staying in one piece.”

“Why, thank you,” she said, pleased. “So it makes sense, right, Turtle? If we deserve a chance to prove ourselves good, then why doesn’t Darkstalker?”

“That’s right,” said Qibli. “That’s a good point.”

“But didn’t he already have that chance?” Turtle asked. “And didn’t it end with killing his own father?”

“Oh, that’s a good point, too.” Qibli scrunched his eyes shut as though his head hurt. “My brain feels like it’s trying to swim through honey.”

“That father business is ancient history,” said Winter. “We don’t know exactly what happened. I’m sure he has a good explanation.”

“Me too,” said Peril.

“So we’re all … we’re not worried anymore?” said Turtle. “Welcome back, Darkstalker, carry on, do all the magic you’d like?”

“You just need to spend a little time with him and you’ll see,” Winter said. “Are we done with this boring conversation? I’d like to go get dry, if you please.” He shook off his wings and dove toward the caves without waiting for an answer.

“Never tell him I said this,” said Peril, “but I agree with the chilly prince. Off with your hiding spell, Turtle, and onward with your face!”

She gestured toward Turtle’s pouch and he shied away from her, covering it with his talons.

“Or you can keep skulking around,” she said with a shrug. “Whatever you want. I’m going to go say hi to Clay! I mean, to uh, him and his friends. So I can tell him what I did to Scarlet! I mean, tell all of them. What Ruby did, technically. But with my help! He’s going to be so excited. Don’t you think? So excited? I mean, not that it’s any big deal. Well, I guess it’s kind of a big deal that I stopped his, like, super worst enemy from coming after him. He’ll be happy about that. Right? Not that it matters. Why am I nervous? I’m not! STOP BEING NERVOUS, PERIL. Ha ha! That’ll work.”

“Three moons, just go talk to him, you unexpected flutterhead,” Qibli said with a laugh.

“I will! I’m going!” Peril said. “Don’t wish me luck because I don’t even need it because why would I because who cares!” She shook herself from horns to tail, wiped raindrops off her snout, and spiraled down to the school.

“Wow,” said Qibli. “Am I like that around Moon?”

“Are you?” Turtle asked, only half-listening. Peril did seem like the kind of dragon who could change her mind about someone at a moment’s notice. So maybe this was normal, and maybe Darkstalker was as great as they all thought and Turtle was wrong to be so anxious. But something didn’t feel right.

“Just kidding,” Qibli said quickly. “Forget I said that. Um, Turtle … I think, actually, don’t unhide yourself yet.”

“Really?” Turtle twisted toward him in the air. Raindrops kept splashing in his eyes and making it hard to see. It felt as if the clouds were gathering lower and lower, as though they might all pile on top of his wings at any moment.

“My instincts tell me I can trust Darkstalker,” Qibli said, tilting his claws to watch the raindrops slide in different directions. “But my head says to be more careful. So maybe it’s smart to have one dragon who can watch him without being seen for a little while. Can you do that? Watch him and then tell me what you see?”

“I guess.” Turtle tugged the webs between his talons nervously. “But like what? What if I miss something? What am I looking for?”

“I don’t know,” Qibli admitted. “But whatever you see, come talk to me about it, all right? We’ll figure it out together.”

“All right,” Turtle said uncomfortably.

He stayed in the air for a moment as Qibli flew away. At least I’m not the only one who’s worried.

But he couldn’t shake the dread that crept along his wings. It was a lot of pressure, being the one who had to keep an eye on Darkstalker. Being the only one who could, really. He didn’t like the feeling that Qibli was relying on him.

I don’t want to be the spy. In all the stories, spies are competent and quick-thinking and clever, and I’m none of those things. Or else they’re incompetent, and then they get caught, and their part of the story ends in a dungeon or a quick death.

Not exactly the character arc I was hoping for.

I’m not the right dragon for this.

He followed his friends slowly, listening to the thunder roll overhead, and wondering where the lightning would strike.