Qibli and Moon ran through the palace, flying down the levels, leaping over staircases on their way back to Moon’s room. Qibli had a stitch in his side, and Moon’s wound was bleeding again, leaving little smears of blood behind them, but neither of them stopped.

“I’m guessing that wasn’t exactly how you hoped it would go,” Qibli said.

“Well,” Moon answered, “at least now he’s definitely going to be too busy to worry about Turtle escaping.”

“Can we get a message to Jade Mountain?” Qibli asked, panting for breath. “To Sunny?” He shook his head, answering himself. “I can’t think of a way. We have to get there ourselves, as fast as we can.”

“And we have to break the news to Winter,” Moon said with an agonized wince.

“I can do that,” Qibli volunteered. “I can tell him. You don’t have to.”

“No, I’ll do it. You go look for Kinkajou and Turtle,” she said, skidding to a stop outside her door.

“Where are the dungeons?” he asked.

She lifted her wings in a hopeless shrug. “I’m guessing … down?”

“I could end up running around this huge palace for the rest of the night,” he pointed out. “Is there anyone we can safely ask?”

“Yes!” Moon said. “I mean, no, but there’s a scroll with the architectural plans of the palace — I was looking at it in the palace library earlier today. It’ll still be out on the table. Up those stairs, second door on your right.” She pointed at the closest flight of stairs.

Qibli hesitated. “I don’t want to leave you here. I — I don’t want Winter to yell at you again.”

“I’ve heard it all in his thoughts,” she said, “and worse in other dragons’. I can handle it.”

“Does it make you hate everyone?” he blurted. “Knowing what we’re really thinking?”

She tilted her head to the side. “No, Qibli. Just the opposite,” she said, catching one of his talons. “It helps me see what’s really going on inside everyone. It’s why I believe every dragon has good in them.” She squeezed his claws. “Some have so much kindness inside, it gives me hope for the world.”

Does she mean me? he thought wonderingly. Is that what she found in me?

“Find Kinkajou,” she said. “Get back here as quick as you can.”

He raced up the stairs and found the palace library immediately. It was only one room, but a very big one, and more than one of the tables had a scroll unrolled on it. It didn’t take him long to find the one with the blueprints, though. He fumbled to roll through it, leaving a little tear in the paper with his claws by accident.

There were three floors of dungeons at the very bottom of the palace, it turned out, which seemed a bit excessive to Qibli until he tried imagining what else Darkstalker might do with prisoners if he ran out of room to jail them. He studied the little sketches of stairs carefully and figured out that there must be an entrance to the dungeons right next to the royal throne room.

The back of his neck started to prickle, as if his scales were shifting uneasily. That haunted feeling rolled over him slowly, like curling wet fog.

He whirled around.

And to his surprise, someone was actually there.

“Hello,” said the strange NightWing. She stared at him for a moment. “I can’t figure out who you are.” She took a step closer, studying him with eyes that were neither friendly nor entirely unfriendly. Her face was hard to read.

“Just … a friend,” said Qibli. “Of … Moonwatcher’s.”

“Moonwatcher,” she said as if she were tasting the name on her forked tongue. “I see. Are you a friend to Darkstalker?”

The pause was tense, laden with danger, but Qibli wasn’t sure in which direction.

“Moon is his friend,” he said at length. “I would say I have some concerns.”

She flicked her tail. “Such as? Be honest, please.”

“I kind of have to be somewhere,” he said, taking a step backward toward the door.

“Then be honest and brief,” she suggested, in a tone that wasn’t open to argument.

“All right,” he said. “Such as the fact that he killed his father; the fact that his seer girlfriend thought he was so dangerous he had to be hidden under a mountain for eternity; he can enchant dragons to do anything he tells them to, or turn them into other dragons entirely if he wants; the fact that he just tried to kill the entire IceWing tribe with magic; and the fact that he’s so charming and sincere that smart dragons tend to like him even when they’re not enchanted to. Also, I’m not sure there’s anyone who can stop him.” He kept edging toward the door as he spoke, putting more space between him and the stranger. “I’m not sure there’s anyone he cares about enough that he’d listen to them — or anyone who’s willing to try.”

“I see,” she said. “Compelling. One last question. Why was there an angry SeaWing chasing after him?”

This arrested Qibli midstep. “Tsunami?” he said. “Are you the one who stopped her? Where is she?”

“I understand Darkstalker has had some trouble with angry SeaWings before,” she said. “This one was … very shouty. Not terrific at answering polite questions. Confining her seemed like a sensible precaution.”

“Where?” Qibli asked. “Is she here? At the palace?”

“No,” said the NightWing. “I left her in a convenient cave in the rainforest while I assessed her threat level. Upon reflection, I would like to let her go,” she added thoughtfully. “But she’s made some very specific threats. One might call them alarmingly detailed.”

“If you tell me where to find her, I’ll let her out and make sure she understands it was your idea. I can talk her out of any revenge, I promise.”

“That would be very helpful,” she said. She held out a scrap of folded paper. When Qibli unfolded it, he found a sketchy map of the rainforest with a little X marked about halfway between the mountains and the RainWing village.

“Is that why you approached me?” he asked, studying the map for a moment before looking up. “Because you guessed I’d — oh.”

The NightWing had vanished.

Which was weird, since Qibli was standing in front of the door. He peeked under the closest table, glanced around the vast room, and realized there must be another exit at the far end.

Still wondering what had just happened, he hurried to the throne room and searched the corridors around it until he found an appropriately sinister-looking iron door, coated with rust. It wasn’t guarded, which surprised him.

Maybe the guards are in the Great Diamond, listening to Darkstalker call for war.

Or maybe he chose not to post any here because he didn’t want Moon to notice them and ask who was in the dungeon.

Three heavy iron bolts studded the edge of the door, sealing it in place. He threw them back one by one, then seized the handle and pulled as hard as he could. With an outraged, grating shriek, the door swung open.

On the other side was darkness; he could see a few stairs going down, but the rest vanished beyond the edge of the light. He blinked, letting his eyes adjust for a moment, and then something slammed into his chest.

He stumbled backward, feeling wings smack him in the face but unable to see anything of his attacker.

“Ow!” he yelled. “Please be an excited RainWing and not something scarier!”

“Oh, sorry!” said Kinkajou’s voice. She popped into view, disguised as a NightWing in black and silver scales. It was very weird to see Kinkajou’s face on a NightWing. Qibli wasn’t sure any NightWing in history had ever smiled so much.

“We’ve been stuck in there for ages,” Kinkajou said. “All because SOMEONE refused to stay outside the door and make sure it didn’t get locked again.”

“Yes,” said Anemone’s irate voice. The princess poked her head around the door and peeked up and down the hall. “And that SOMEONE is you.”

“No, it isn’t!” Kinkajou yelled. “It’s you! I was talking about you!”

“I got that,” Qibli reassured her.

“All right, it’s safe to come out,” Anemone said over her shoulder.

“I can see more of the hallway than she can and I say it’s safe to come out!” Kinkajou said quickly.

Anemone rolled her eyes elaborately and ascended into the corridor, tucking herself behind the open door. Behind her, slow and blinking, came Turtle.

He looked older and more tired than he had the last time Qibli had seen him. There were tiny little dried trickles of blood all over him — his face, his neck, his sides, his wings, his tail. For a moment Qibli was afraid Darkstalker had tortured him, but then he remembered the fight with Anemone (and he noticed how Anemone was having trouble looking at Turtle).

“You got my message,” he said to Qibli in a wavering voice, his eyes brightening.

“Of course I did,” Qibli said, feeling immensely guilty for how much he’d complained about Turtle’s communication skills. “We came right away.” He stepped forward and wrapped his wings around Turtle.

“Anemone says you made her safe from Darkstalker’s spells,” Turtle said. “Thank you.”

“No, you did that,” Qibli said, pulling back and grabbing Turtle’s shoulders. “You’re a hero, Turtle! You saved her and Queen Thorn and everyone at Jade Mountain and the whole IceWing tribe!”

Turtle squinted at him. “Um … I’m pretty sure I’d remember that.”

“It’s true!” Qibli pointed to his ear and then Anemone’s. “Look familiar? The spell you used to protect me — it’s the same one protecting her. And Sunny and Clay and Starflight and Winter and Moon and all the IceWings. Your spell. Darkstalker sent a plague to kill the entire IceWing tribe and your spell saved them.”

“What?” said Turtle, looking dizzy. “It did?”

“Told you you were a hero,” Kinkajou said proudly. She scrunched her snout and rubbed her face with her talons. “Arrrrrgh, I think I’m making a stupid love spell face. ANEMONE.”

“Pretty sure your face always looks that stupid, KINKAJOU,” the princess snarked back.

“All right, stop it,” Qibli said, grabbing Kinkajou before she could tackle Anemone. “I have bad news. Those IceWings Turtle saved? They’re pretty mad about what Darkstalker tried to do. They’re on their way to Jade Mountain, looking for a fight, and Darkstalker is about to lead the NightWings there to give them one.”

“Over Jade Mountain?” Kinkajou cried. “Like —”

“Yes. Just like in Moon’s vision,” Qibli said.

“But we found the lost city of night!” Kinkajou said frantically. “That should have stopped the prophecy!”

“Well, it hasn’t yet,” said Qibli. “But maybe if we can get to Jade Mountain first, we can do something. With your magic or your magic, if we have to,” he said to Anemone and Turtle.

Turtle’s wings drooped. “I don’t have any magic anymore,” he said. “Darkstalker took it away from me.”

“Oh, Turtle,” Kinkajou said sympathetically. She reached over and twined her tail around his, then shot a glare at Anemone as if to say I’d be doing this even without your spell.

Qibli was horrified. To have animus magic and then lose it must be the worst thing that could happen to someone. Maybe even worse than never having animus magic at all.

Like holding a scroll with infinite power in your talons, and then watching it burn to ashes a moment later.

“The earring should fix that,” he said quickly. “It’ll remove any spells Darkstalker ever put on you. You’ll be an animus again.” He dug in his pouch, realizing he was almost out of earrings and needed to make more.

“I’m not sure I deserve to be,” Turtle said sadly.

“Well, that’s irrelevant,” Anemone barked. “We’re fixing you whether you like it or mope about it.”

“She’s right,” Qibli said. “Sorry, but we need all the animus magic we can get on our side if we’re going to defeat Darkstalker.” He held out the earring and Turtle took it, his eyes wide and a little blurry, like he was holding back tears.

“Except none of our magic will work on him,” Anemone pointed out. “So don’t get too excited. Are we going to stand around feeling sorry for each other all day, or can we go to Jade Mountain now?”

“Oh, very compassionate,” Kinkajou said to her. “It’s so comforting to think you might be running a kingdom one day.”

“Come on, this way,” Qibli said. They saw no NightWings as they ran through the palace. It was eerily deserted, as if the tribe had vanished again. But when Qibli glanced out one of the windows, he saw the Great Diamond below swarming with black wings and flickering torches. The tribe wasn’t going to run away this time. They were going to fight, and dragons were going to die.

He had the map of the palace clear in his head, so it didn’t take long to lead the others back through the winding halls and stairs to Moon’s room, where Winter looked about ready to explode.

“Hello, nice to see you, glad you’re safe, let’s go let’s go,” Winter said, herding them toward the window with his wings. He was the first one to leap into the sky, and then the others followed, one by one. They soared toward the mountains, catching the strange twisting currents of the wind and beating their wings as fast as they could.

Beware the darkness of dragons.

The prophecy ran through Qibli’s mind like a drumbeat, pounding darkly alongside his heart.

Something is coming to shake the earth.

Moon’s vision was about to come true.

Jade Mountain will fall beneath thunder and ice.

And he had no idea how to stop it.