“Papaya,” Glory said. “Star fruit, tangelo, clawmentine, kumbu, dragonberry, mango, fire pear, and that one’s a trick that only looks like a fruit, but is actually a poorly designed snail.” She poked the purple snail shell with one claw and its ner vous antennae vanished again.

The sun was high above them, and the morning rain had stopped, although the leaves kept showering the dragons every time someone bounced through and shook the trees. All the toucans and parrots and lorikeets that had disappeared during the rainfall were back, perched on the highest branches and hollering joyfully at the sun as if they’d never expected to see it again.

And now Glory could identify all the birds in sight, after studying with Mangrove and Kinkajou all morning. Birds, insects, flowers, fruit — anything Magnificent might test her on, she would memorize. Whenever she felt her brain getting tired, she’d think of the smoky air choking the caves of the RainWings, and that would snap her back into focus.

“Wow,” said Kinkajou. She blinked large dark eyes at Glory. “How did you learn all of that so fast?”

“You’ve really never had any of these before?” Mangrove asked, surveying the forty or so fruits arranged around the platform.

“One or two, maybe,” said Glory. “I should taste them all, too, right? Just in case she chooses a blind taste test?”

“I don’t think anyone’s ever thought of that before,” said Mangrove. “But you never know.” He peeled the banana with a few swipes of his claws and tossed it to her.

“Clay would dominate a blind taste test,” Sunny offered from her perch in the trees above them. Sunlight danced on her golden scales. A small orange monkey with a black face was playing with her tail, but Sunny either didn’t notice or didn’t mind.

“I would,” Clay said wistfully. “Are you going to eat that whole thing?”

Glory took another bite and then lobbed the rest of it at him. Clay fumbled to catch it and ended up with banana smeared all over his talons. He licked it off with a contented expression.

“You can practice your camouflage at the same time,” Mangrove said. “See if you can match this mango.” He rolled it to her with his nose.

Glory studied the outside of the mango and let her scales slowly turn a dull green with black speckles, shading to warm red around her wings and tail.

“So cool,” said Sunny.

“Are you going to eat that whole thing?” Clay asked.

Glory laughed. “Clay, let me at least try it.” She tried slicing it open as neatly as Mangrove had opened the banana and made a terrific mess. Cheerful orange-yellow pulp squirted all over her scales, and Silver scrambled down Glory’s arm to lick it up.

Stop wasting time, she scolded herself as she helped the sloth balance. The day’s half gone and you still need to practice venom targeting and tree gliding and camouflage.

“I’m not sure this is the right time to tell you this,” Sunny said, “but you’re being watched.”

Glory and Mangrove looked up sharply. She’d asked him to choose a spot where they could practice without attracting too much attention. It was unsettling to keep finding RainWing eyes on her every time she turned around. The whole tribe must know she wasn’t a normal RainWing, but they didn’t need to see all of her mistakes the day before she tried to become their queen.

But Sunny was right. Even though they were in a secluded corner of the village, Glory could see dragon heads peering around tree trunks and poking out of hammocks, staring her way. As she whipped her head around to look at them, most of them quickly changed color and disappeared. But if she’d spotted those few, she could imagine how many more might be out there, camouflaged and curious about the challenger for the throne.

Well, take me or leave me, Glory thought. I’m not a typical RainWing, but maybe that’s what you need for a queen.

“All right, what can we do next?” she asked, popping berries in her mouth. Raspberries are sharper than cloud berries. Figs taste like desert winds. Guavas are the ones I could eat every day for the rest of time. “Venom practice?”

“Next is sun time,” Kinkajou said, and Mangrove nodded with a glance at the sky.

“Are you crazy?” Glory said. She seized a papaya and accidently crushed it between her front talons. “I have one day to prepare for this. I’m not going to spend it snoozing like a slug.”

“Sun time isn’t about snoozing,” Mangrove said sternly. “It’s about recharging.”

“Hrrrble frrrble,” agreed Glory’s sloth, climbing up to tug on Glory’s ears.

“I’d rather study,” Glory said. She saw Kinkajou’s crestfallen face and added, “You two can go ahead. I’ll practice on my own.”

“You will not,” said Mangrove. “You need this energy to win. You will sleep if we all have to sit on you to make it happen.”

“I volunteer,” Clay said. “I’m a world champion at sitting on my friends.”

“Clay!” Glory said over Sunny’s giggling. “This isn’t a joke! I don’t have time to be lazy!”

“Glory has some issues with the word ‘lazy,’ ” Sunny announced. “Our guardians used to call her that all the time, so she feels like she needs to prove something by showing she doesn’t need to sleep.”

Glory flared her ruff and glared at Sunny. “Excuse me. Are you explaining me?”

Sunny shifted her wings in a friendly shrug. “Well, that’s what Starflight said,” she offered. “But it makes sense to me.”

“Sleeping when you need to is not lazy,” said Mangrove. “That is a crazy dragon’s way of thinking. Sleeping is as important as breathing. You wouldn’t skip that because there’s no time for it.”

“Or food,” Clay agreed. “You can’t skip sleeping or food.” The MudWing dragonet hopped off his branch and thudded down next to her, squashing a mango under his big claws. He crouched so his brown eyes were directly even with Glory’s. Silver leaned over Glory’s head and tried to poke at his horns.

“Glory,” he said. “Stop panicking for one moment and think about how you feel right now. And I don’t mean mad; I mean, physically.”

“I’m not panicking,” Glory said, ruffled. “I am pretty close to mad, though.”

“And?” he prompted.

“And getting closer,” she shot back. He gave her a patient look.

And . . . exhausted, Glory realized, as she took a deep breath. She hadn’t really slept in a . . . well, in a really long time, not properly. She thought about the brush of sunlight on her scales.

“Fine,” she snapped. “But wake me up in one hour, understand?”

“We’ll see,” Clay said.

“Rrrrrrrlleee!” cheered the sloth.

“Come on,” Kinkajou said excitedly. “I know the best spot!”

As Glory, Kinkajou, and Mangrove took off, there was a flurry of wingbeats throughout the trees around them as camouflaged RainWings none-too-subtly followed them. Kinkajou led the way to a platform that was built right above the treetops, with no leaves between it and the blue arc of the sky. The surface dipped in the center and was lined with cloud-soft pink blossoms, growing along the vines that were woven around the wood.

“You take this spot,” Kinkajou said, pointing to the hollow in the middle. Glory reluctantly curled up in the vines and immediately felt warmth soaking into her bones. Silver flopped happily into her spot on Glory’s shoulder and snuggled in. Glory jumped as Kinkajou nestled on one side of her and Mangrove settled on the other. That answered that question — other RainWings didn’t mind touching one another, so it was just her who had a problem with it.

“Um —” she started to say, but the two RainWings were already breathing deeply.

Glory closed her eyes, certain she’d never fall asleep like this.

A moment later she opened them and found herself looking into the amber eyes of Queen Scarlet.