Princess Anemone stepped regally through the doorway from the balcony, delicately avoiding the puddle of water from the broken vase. She had a new makeshift pouch tied securely to her chest, which Qibli guessed must have the enchanted stick inside.

“Anemone!” Kinkajou snarled in the most un-RainWing-like voice Qibli had ever heard her use. She arched her back, turning an ominous dark red.

“Calm down, fruit eater,” Anemone said snottily. “I’m not here to hurt Moon. I’m here to help.” She turned over her wrist and poked around under the silver-and-sapphire bracelet she was wearing. A moment later, a small, glittering black rock popped out and rolled into her talon.

“Turtle gave me this right before Darkstalker summoned us back here,” Anemone said, holding it up. “But as long as I have Turtle’s stick, Darkstalker can’t read my mind anyway. So I guess Moon can have it.” She tossed it to Moon, who caught it awkwardly between her good talon and her injured talon. “There. Now we’re even.”

“I’m still really mad at you,” Kinkajou said to Anemone. “You know why.”

Anemone arched her eyebrows at the angry RainWing. “I do?”

“Wait, Turtle’s stick?” Moon echoed. “Why do you have it? What do you mean, Darkstalker summoned you back here?”

“It’s … kind of a long story,” Qibli said. “But now you can hear it, as long as you hold on to that skyfire and don’t let Darkstalker know what you know.”

“Make it snappy, though,” said Anemone. “I’m ready to go rescue my brother.”

Qibli hurried through it as fast as he could — the slate with the messages from Turtle, his trip to the Kingdom of Sand and what he’d discovered about Vulture, Typhoon, and the news about the IceWings. Anemone told her part, about the fight with Turtle and the scene in Darkstalker’s throne room, and finally Kinkajou told them the end — about how Darkstalker had decided to put Turtle in his dungeon and then enchanted Kinkajou to forget everything she’d seen in the throne room.

“Except of course it didn’t work,” she concluded, “because brave noble handsome Turtle protected me. And if I sound a little strange about it, that’s because this SEA VIPER over here put a LOVE SPELL ON ME.” She bared her teeth at Anemone.

“Oh, you know about that?” Anemone said. “I can’t believe he told you! Turtle is such a doofus.”

“He’s a HERO! With a REALLY KIND HEART! And I CAN’T EVEN TELL IF I REALLY THINK THAT because of YOU. I am so mad at you I could drown you in venom!”

Anemone edged away from her. “Ahem, if you do that, I won’t be able to rescue him,” she said. “And I’m his only hope.”

“No, I’m his only hope!” Kinkajou flared. “Darkstalker can’t see me in his future either! He thinks I’m completely insignificant. So I’m going to save Turtle.”

“Are you all right?” Qibli asked Moon, who hadn’t spoken in a long time.

“Just thinking about what to do,” she said, wrapping another strip of blanket around her talon. “Anemone, can you take the spell off Kinkajou?”

“I guess, probably,” Anemone said in an annoyed voice. “But I can’t right now because if I cast any new animus spells, Darkstalker will know it, and we’ve already had one horrible hidden animus unveiling. Or, I mean, she could drop her rock from Turtle and maybe the spell would go away, but that’s the same rock with all the other spells on it, so she probably needs to hang on to that.”

Kinkajou growled at her.

“Well, at least you know how I feel,” Winter said to Kinkajou. “Unlike these two.” He waved one of his wings at Qibli and Moon.

“I feel lied to,” Moon said sharply. “I feel like there’s a whole side of Darkstalker he’s been hiding from me. I’m just not sure what we’re going to do about it.”

“Well, I’m going to get Turtle,” Anemone said, sailing toward the door.

“No, I’m going to get Turtle!” Kinkajou cried. She ran after the princess and threw herself in front of the door. “Why should any of us trust you? You’ve been using your magic so much you probably don’t have any soul left!”

Anemone stiffened, her wings snapping back.

“I think you should both go,” Moon said. “It sounds like you’re the only ones who can, at least safely, without Darkstalker realizing what’s happening. And you might need each other’s help.”

“I would eat my tail before I accepted any help from her,” Kinkajou said, scowling at Anemone.

“I don’t mind if she tags along,” Anemone said with a little flick of her wings. “But I think we should go now, before Darkstalker changes his mind and decides to get rid of Turtle.”

Kinkajou let out a little squeak of fury. “You just try to keep up with me!” Her scales abruptly switched to camouflage and she vanished against the backdrop of the wall. The air around the door blurred as her camouflaged talons opened it and she whisked out into the hall.

Anemone rolled her eyes. “So mature. Like you know where the dungeon is.” She stomped out after Kinkajou.

“Look for Tsunami while you’re down there!” Qibli called as the door swung closed. “Yeah, that’s definitely going to go well.”

He realized awkwardly that he and Moon and Winter were alone. Do they wish I would leave? So they can finish fighting and forgive each other with a big romantic scene?

Winter didn’t look as though he was feeling very romantic. He paced the length of the room, winding between the two beds, the chests on the floor, and the little side tables piled with scrolls.

“Please don’t break anything else,” Moon said to him. “Qibli, come with me.”

“Me?” he said. “Where are we going?”

“To talk to Darkstalker. You stay here,” she said to Winter.

“What? No!” Winter said. “That’s a terrible idea!”

“See, that’s why you’re staying here,” she said, going to the door. “Qibli?”

Qibli gave Winter an apologetic shrug and hurried after her.

“He could kill you!” Winter protested. “Or he could take your earring and cast a spell to make you kill us! You have no idea what he’s capable of, Moon.”

“I do now,” she said. “But he won’t kill me. There are some true things about him, and that’s one of them.”

“You still think you can trust him, after all the evidence,” Winter said wearily. “At least let me come with you to protect you.”

“I’m afraid you’ll ‘protect’ me by attacking him as soon as you see him,” she said. “Trust me, stay here, and think about the prophecy. We’ll be back soon.” She held the door open for Qibli.

Winter flung himself down on one of the beds, his face an icy mask that hid his feelings. He didn’t meet Qibli’s eyes or respond to his wave good-bye.

Qibli waited until they were at the other end of the corridor before he said quietly to Moon, “I have to admit, I don’t not think this is a terrible idea.”

“Talking to Darkstalker?” Moon said. “It’s the right thing to do. I want to see what he says when he’s confronted with his lies. And I want to hear how he’s justified the IceWing plague to himself. I think I’m one of the few dragons left he’ll at least try to be honest with — I mean, about himself and his reasons for what he does — unless I’m completely delusional about our friendship. But I think he wants me to agree with him so he can feel like he’s doing the right thing.”

“I think that’s true,” said Qibli. “But if you don’t agree with him, I’m not sure how long you’ll stay his favorite dragon.”

“The other thing is,” Moon said, “I’m hoping this will distract him long enough for Kinkajou to get Turtle out of the dungeons. If he’s arguing with me, he won’t be studying the future and seeing it change.”

She froze suddenly midstep and crumpled forward, clutching her head. Her wings pressed close around her like a scarab shell.

“Moon, what’s wrong?” Qibli crouched beside her, stretching one wing over her back. “What’s happening?”

She didn’t answer for a long moment, and then she grimaced and sat up, rubbing the spot on her forehead between her horns. “Speaking of visions of the future,” she said.

“What did you see?” he asked.

“The same thing as always.” She sighed. “Lightning flashing, an avalanche crushing dragons, Jade Mountain cracking and falling. Everybody dying. I’ve been having it a lot in the last few days, awake or asleep. With the words of the prophecy repeating over and over again.”

“Does that mean it’s going to happen soon?” Qibli asked.

“All I know is it means we definitely haven’t stopped it yet,” she said. “Even though we found the lost city. That’s something else I want to talk to Darkstalker about. I worry he might be the thing that destroys Jade Mountain, but I don’t understand how or why.”

They were walking again now, down yet another black marble corridor. Qibli wondered if Moon had already memorized the layout of this confusing place.

“His room is just up here,” she said, picking up the pace.

But when they knocked on the door, nobody answered.

“I hope he’s not in the dungeon,” Qibli whispered.

“Let’s check the throne room,” she said. “He’s got natural NightWing tendencies — he prefers to stay up all night and sleep during the day, if he sleeps at all. Maybe he’s working on something.”

The throne room was also empty, as was the courtyard where the feast had been held earlier that night. They kept walking through the quiet palace and Qibli, oddly, felt his hope returning. There was something about being alongside Moon — it reminded him of the days they had spent, just the two of them, in Possibility, looking for clues about the old Night Kingdom and waiting for Kinkajou to get better or Winter to return. They’d walked the streets together then, too; they’d tossed ideas back and forth and studied maps and taken turns reading to their unconscious friend.

Being with Moon felt to him like a concentrated version of being an Outclaw — like being on a team with someone who really cared about you, who worked with you and made your own brain work better.

Finally they heard a voice coming from one of the smaller council rooms on the top floor of the palace. They crept toward it, listening. It was Darkstalker.

“No, no, no,” he said. “That’s not right. Back up.” They heard his claws scraping the marble and the slither of tails on the cold stone. “Start over. All memories intact up to the day before she took off the earrings.”

“Hey, you,” said Clearsight’s voice. “Have you seen Fathom anywhere?”

“Stop,” said Darkstalker. “That’s worse.”

They were close enough to peek into the room now. It was empty except for Darkstalker and Clearsight, with a wall of open windows overlooking the city below. A scroll was laid out on the floor; Darkstalker stepped over to it and made a note in green ink. Clearsight stood watching him with a patient expression.

“The memories are the tricky part,” Darkstalker said, half to himself. “But no memories at all is useless. OK.” He went over to Clearsight and placed one talon on the top of her head. “Be Clearsight with all her memories up until the day after she met me. But with no powers. Completely in love with me. No worries about the future at all.”

She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again and smiled at him adoringly. “Whoa, are we in the palace? How did we get here? By all the moons, what happened to you?” she asked, blinking at his size. She went on without waiting for a response. “You know what’s weird? My visions don’t seem to be working. Isn’t that funny? It’s very relaxing. Maybe we should go to the beach today.” She glanced out one of the windows. “Hmm. There seems to be something wrong with the city. Did you notice? Oh, well, I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Clearsight,” said Darkstalker. “Will you marry me? I’m going to rule the NightWings and I want you to be my queen.”

She laughed. “You can’t rule the NightWings. We have a queen, remember? Her name is Vigilance. But sure, I’ll marry you. If it makes any difference to the future, I can’t tell! Such a weird feeling!”

“Rrrrrgh,” Darkstalker growled. “Freeze.”

Clearsight stopped moving, frozen in the middle of a laugh.

“Maybe it’s not the memories,” Darkstalker said, leaving a smudge of green ink on his face as he tapped his snout thoughtfully. “Maybe … maybe your power was one of the things I loved about you. Even if it was spectacularly annoying sometimes.” He sighed. “Fine, be Clearsight, with all her memories and an understanding of what’s happening now, but only able to see the good futures, where everything turns out perfectly. Unfreeze.”

Clearsight didn’t move for a moment. She stared out the window, reaching toward the ruins visible below.

“Darkstalker,” she whispered. “What happened?”

“It doesn’t matter!” he said. “It’s all in the past. We’re together now. We can be happy.”

“Ruling the NightWings?” she said disbelievingly. “After everything you did, they —”

“Stop,” said Darkstalker, and she froze again.

“This is awful,” Moon whispered to Qibli.

“I don’t even understand,” Qibli whispered back. “It’s like she’s not real. He’s — he’s rewriting her, over and over again.”

“She isn’t real,” Moon agreed, “or at least, she’s not really Clearsight. He must have … made her somehow.”

“Be Clearsight,” Darkstalker said, now visibly frustrated, “exactly as I knew her but without any nagging or worrying or pessimism or telling me what to do and what’s wrong with me all the time! By all the shining moons!” He seized the scroll and ripped it into shreds. “Go on, be her!”

“Oh, poor Darkstalker,” Clearsight said soothingly. “Don’t you fret so much, darling. You’re just perfect. You’ll be a wonderful king.”

“Why isn’t this working?” Darkstalker said to her. “Why does being with you feel so wrong and weird?” He slumped to the floor and buried his face in his talons. “I really miss you, Clearsight.”

“I’m right here,” she said gently.

“Not you. Freeze.” She stopped with one wing around him. “The real you,” he said miserably to the floor. “What am I doing all this for, if I never get to be with you again?”

“That’s the dragon I see,” Moon whispered to Qibli. “Underneath the other dragon.”

“You’re right,” Qibli said to her. “Underneath the brainwashing genocidal murderer is a very lonely brainwashing genocidal murderer.”

“All right, I know, I get it,” she said. “But this is the right time to talk to him. Stay close?”

“I’ll be right here,” he said, brushing her wing with his. “I’ll always be close, if you need me.”

She took a deep breath and stepped into the room.