Inside the main entrance cave, Turtle crept around the small groups of gathered dragons until he was huddled behind the bronze gong. Nobody noticed him. He’d perfected the art of moving slowly, of being boring and forgettable and ordinary.

And it certainly helped that everyone had a much bigger, flashier dragon on their minds at the moment.

“It’s such a vague threat,” Darkstalker was saying to Anemone as Turtle curled into his hiding spot. “I mean, what is a soul? How do you really know if someone’s losing theirs or it’s going bad or whatever the big danger is supposed to be?”

“Right!” Anemone said, as though she were pouncing on a scuttling crab. “I mean, there haven’t been that many animus dragons in history, have there? What if Albatross was already bad and it had nothing to do with his magic at all?”

Turtle shivered. He’d had these thoughts himself, many times, but it was unsettling to hear them spoken aloud. He wanted to believe that his soul would be fine no matter what he did. He would still be the one making all the choices, good or bad, wouldn’t he? And he was a good dragon — a perfectly nice, harmless dragon with no reason to hurt anyone.

A plume of blood flickered through his memory. Was it only two days ago? Or three? He remembered the clammy feeling of mud between his talons as they confronted that dragon, Peril’s father — Soar or Chameleon or Shapeshifter, the one with many names. He’d been holding Darkstalker’s scroll, and Turtle had used animus magic to take it from him.

The truth was, he hadn’t just taken the scroll; he’d attacked Chameleon with it, bashing him in the face and probably breaking his nose. It was the only violent spell he’d ever cast.

Once more, he noticed his talons were clenched against his will, and he had to force them straight. Deep breaths. I am in control of my own self. I am not a bad dragon.

He’d never done anything like that before in his life. He certainly wouldn’t be able to do it with his own claws. But with magic it was different. It didn’t feel like he was really hurting someone else. Except for now, in his memories, where the screaming dragon kept appearing over and over again.

But he hurt Kinkajou, Turtle reminded himself. He put her in a coma. He also tricked Peril and put a spell on her to make her work for Scarlet again.

He deserved it.

He brushed his front talons together as though he were wiping off wet sand. Was this what it felt like to lose part of his soul? Was this the first step toward darkness? He still felt like himself … but maybe a slightly more powerful version of himself. Was that bad?

“I know what you did,” Darkstalker rumbled softly, and for a moment Turtle’s heart stopped. “I know what you worry about.”

“You do?” Anemone whispered.

Turtle peeked out and saw that the cave was almost empty now. Only Darkstalker, Anemone, Tsunami, and Moon remained.

“She was protecting us,” Tsunami said quickly. “She was saving us.”

Turtle felt a flash of panic. What did Anemone do? Something terrible? When? How did he miss it?

“I agree,” said Darkstalker. “You shouldn’t feel guilty, Princess.”

“I don’t,” Anemone said, lifting her chin. “He deserved it.”

Turtle heard the echo of his own thought and winced. Who was she talking about?

“But did it change you?” Tsunami asked. “Do you feel …”

“Soulless?” Anemone laughed a little too brightly. “No way. I think I have a pretty normal soul for a dragon.”

“But you won’t ever have to worry again if we protect that soul, like I protected mine.” Darkstalker flicked his tail. “With a different spell this time, though. We’re going to need something to enchant. None of my talismans survived the two thousand years underground with me.”

“I can find us something!” Anemone said, jumping to her feet. “I have some great treasure! Mother always gives me the best jewels.”

“It doesn’t have to be fancy,” Darkstalker said. “It just has to be sturdy, so our souls will be safe forever.” He smiled at Moon. “I know that would make certain dragons here a lot happier.”

“I don’t know,” said Moon, studying him with a wary expression. “Your soul was ‘protected’ before and you still killed your father.”

“Oh, by all the moons,” Darkstalker said crossly. He reared up, filling the cavern with his giant wings. “Listen, Arctic was about to betray the whole tribe. He was trying to sell my sister to the IceWings in exchange for his own safety. He would have made her marry an IceWing and live in their kingdom forever, and he was mind-controlling her. If I hadn’t stopped him, Sunny wouldn’t even exist! And maybe the NightWings wouldn’t either, because Arctic was going to help the IceWings wipe us out. He was a traitor who had to die.” Darkstalker pointed at Moon. “I was protecting you and all the tribe’s future descendants. I’m shocked that everyone has completely forgotten about that.”

“Well,” said Moon, “watching a dragon disembowel himself probably has kind of a traumatizing effect on one’s memory.”

“Wait, WHAT?” said Tsunami. “Disem-what now?”

“Did you really do that?” Anemone said, looking up at Darkstalker. But Turtle didn’t like her expression. There wasn’t nearly enough disgust or horror there. He didn’t like it at all.

“Did I say disembowel?” Darkstalker waved one talon. “I was exaggerating. It was a simple honor suicide. Even he knew he deserved it.”

Moon crossed her front talons, arching her brows at him skeptically.

“Wow,” said Darkstalker. “Are we sure Clearsight didn’t have dragonets after I was gone? Because you do an uncanny impression of my true love’s disapproving face.”

“I’m only trying to make sure you don’t overuse your power, go crazy, and hurt someone,” Moon said.

“Moon,” Darkstalker said reproachfully. “I can see the future, remember? I know how to stop myself from doing that. Do you want me to show you where our paths are going?” He held out one of his talons to her. “I can take you along the whole timeline for the next hundred years, if you like.” His tail nudged her mischievously. “Want to see which one of them you should choose? I can show you what the future looks like with both options. Although, frankly, I think neither of them are good enough for you.”

“No, no, no, thank you,” Moon said quickly, covering her ears. “I don’t want to hear it. I have no idea who you’re talking about — I mean, what you’re talking about — stop thinking about them! LA LA LA ignoring you.”

“Hey, what about me?” Anemone interjected. “I want to see the future! Will you show me what’s going to happen to me?”

Tsunami looked from her sister to Darkstalker, her expression wavering between concern and curiosity.

A vision could show us that Anemone turns out all right, Turtle thought. We wouldn’t have to worry about her soul anymore if we saw a peaceful future ahead for her.

“Anything you want,” Darkstalker said, expanding his wings to their full width. “You both have so many possible amazing futures. And now that I’m here, if you trust me, we can make sure you get exactly the right future for you.”

Anemone’s eyes were shining like the skyfire comet. Even Turtle couldn’t help thinking It would be nice to know my future … to have someone who could tell me the right steps to follow to make sure my life turns out all right. Which spells are safe to cast, how to protect myself and my soul. What I’m here for.

Darkstalker raised one of his talons and Turtle nearly ducked behind the gong again, out of sight. But he managed to stay put, sinking into a crouch, and so he was watching as Darkstalker lifted a claw to gently touch the earring in his ear, pale against the black scales.

An earring …

Had that been there before? Turtle tried to think back, to remember what Darkstalker had looked like when he rose from the earth. He thought he remembered no jewelry … and didn’t Darkstalker just say that nothing had survived the two thousand years underground with him?

But now he was wearing an earring — a plain white half-loop stabbed through his earlobe.

Turtle squinted at it. It looked as though it was made of bone.

Like a bone one might get from one’s prey after hunting.

Could Darkstalker have made the bone earring and enchanted it today, while Turtle was flying to Jade Mountain to warn the school?

And more important: If it was animus-touched … what was the spell?

A short while later, Tsunami and Moon went off to separate parts of the school. Turtle crouched in the shadows, watching them leave. He felt like stalagmites were growing through his talons, pinning him to the floor. He didn’t want to be left alone here, the only one keeping an eye on Darkstalker.

Who would ever think that was a good idea? He couldn’t be trusted to do anything right.

Maybe I need to enchant someone else to be hidden with me. Someone who could be a better observer, a better spy. A real hero.

He thought about that while Anemone brought Darkstalker several pieces of treasure from her travel chest. Turtle remembered that chest, because he’d had to help carry it here from the Kingdom of the Sea, and it was ridiculously heavy. Now, seeing the ropes of pearls, bulky silver neckbands, and sapphire-laden tiaras she laid out on the cave floor, Turtle could understand why.

Although he still wasn’t entirely clear on why she needed any of this for history lessons and math classes.

Together, Darkstalker and Anemone picked through the jewels, discussing the merits of each. It was difficult to find anything that fit Darkstalker’s enormous size, but they eventually settled on a piece that was supposed to be a metal breastplate for Anemone, fitting around her entire chest to protect her from attacks. It clicked neatly around one of Darkstalker’s wrists.

“Mother is always giving me ridiculous things like that,” Anemone said. “As if I need armor to protect me when I have magic like ours.”

“She has no idea what it’s like to be an animus,” Darkstalker said sympathetically. He passed Anemone a necklace. “Maybe this one for you? If you think you’d be happy wearing it all the time.”

“Oh … sure,” said Anemone, taking the heavy silver band in her talons. “I mean, I never liked it before, but if you think it would work, then I like it, too.”

“It’s up to you,” said Darkstalker. “It should be something you love.”

“I love this,” Anemone said emphatically. She snapped it around her neck with a sound like eggs cracking. Turtle’s stomach twisted as though it were full of rotten shrimp.

“Now the enchantment,” Darkstalker said. He touched his wristband with one claw, gazing thoughtfully up at the vines draped between the stalactites. In a slightly deeper voice, he intoned, “I enchant this bracelet to protect my soul from the effects of animus magic forever.”

There was a pause.

“Is that it?” Anemone asked. “Seriously? It’s that simple?”

Surely not, thought Turtle. It can’t be.

“I don’t know.” Darkstalker twitched his wings back and held out his arm to study the bracelet. “I guess we’ll have to see if it works.” He squinted. “My visions of the future seem to indicate that it does. Yup. Yup. I’m still a pretty awesome dragon fifty years from now.”

“All right,” said Anemone with a giggle. “Well, three moons, I can do that! I could have done that months ago. Why hasn’t every animus done something like this?”

“They haven’t always known to worry about these things,” Darkstalker observed. “Or perhaps they did have objects like this, and we just don’t know about them.”

“Hmm.” Anemone touched her necklace with one claw, mirroring Darkstalker’s movement.

“Wait,” said Darkstalker. “My soul is safe now. Let me use my magic to enchant yours, so you don’t have to waste any more of your soul.”

No! Turtle thought. Don’t let him! Anemone, don’t trust him!

“Great idea!” Anemone said happily.

Should he stop this? Could he stop this? What can I do? I have to do something, don’t I? Like what? I need more time to think!

But Turtle couldn’t think of anything he could do without Darkstalker noticing, and it was already too late.

“I enchant this necklace to protect Anemone’s soul from the effects of animus magic forever,” said Darkstalker, tapping the silver collar lightly with his claws.

It sounded safe. It sounded exactly like the spell on Darkstalker’s own talisman. But Turtle knew all too well that spells could be cast without speaking. Had Darkstalker added anything to the spell with his mind?

Oh, Anemone. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.

“This is so cool,” said Anemone. “Now we can do anything we want!”

“That,” said Darkstalker with a grin, “is the whole idea.”