Peaceflyt woke about half an hour after sunrise the next day. He was still thinking about how Peak had disappeared, and the thought of that kept him up all night. Surprisingly, he felt a bit more awake than he did yesterday, despite the sleep deprivation. Maybe it was just because of Peak.

“‘Morning, Peaceflyt,” said Ridge, reading the same scroll he was reading yesterday. His corner of the cave was noticeably cleaner than Peaceflyt’s, although there were a few of his items scattered across the floor by his bed.

“‘Morning,” he replied. “Did Peak come by and talk to you this morning?”

“Hmm…” A frown formed on Ridge’s face. “No… I don’t remember her coming.”

Oh, great, it wasn’t a dream, Peaceflyt thought glumly. So she actually got captured or whatever. I wonder if Peak came by and Ridge was too into his scroll. Then again, Ridge isn’t the best dragon at remembering things.

Peaceflyt stretched and wandered out into the halls. Tsunami and Clay were the only dragons in the hall as far as he could see, and they were talking about something.

“PEACEFLYT!” A sudden voice pierced through the air behind him. Peaceflyt jumped.

“Atacama!” Peaceflyt said with a hint of annoyance, looking behind him.

“I love making dragons jump,” Atacama said happily. “You seem really jumpy, anyway. I can't believe you're coming to rescue Peak with us.”

I'm coming? To rescue Peak with them? Peaceflyt wondered, surprised. I mean, I guess it’s better than going by myself. And I do want to rescue her.

Atacama raised her venomous tail barb towards him with a mischievous smile. Peaceflyt quickly stepped back with a face that basically said, ‘are you serious?’

“So, you are jumpy,” Atacama said, lowering her tail. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to do that. You’re not on my enemies list, so I have no intention of killing you.”

“O-kay. Good to know.”

Atacama laughed. Then she walked off, probably to find Pyramid and Sparrow.

Should I head to self defense? Peaceflyt wondered, checking the time. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to be earl-

“Hey, Peaceflyt!” Walnut’s voice said. Peaceflyt turned his head to look at her- them. Tiki was with her too.

“Hi, guys,” he replied. “What's up?”

“Um… so... what are you going to do about the Peak situation?” Walnut inquired, a bit hesitantly.

”Uh… I know this might sound a bit weird,” Peaceflyt said slowly, “but I'm apparently going to go out and rescue her."

“Ok, I can see why it's a bit weird,” Tiki said.

Because I could die. And I'm not that brave, Peaceflyt thought sourly.

“If that were me, I'd probably not go,” Tiki said. “I don’t really know Peak that well, anyway.”

“Can I go?” Walnut asked. “If you’re going, I’m coming with you.”

“That’s fine with me,” Peaceflyt said. “I’m sure Atacama will let you come.”

“Atacama?”

“Yeah. She told me that I’m coming with her,” Peaceflyt explained. At least going with someone else is better than going by myself.

“I think Atacama will let me go,” said Walnut confidently. “In the meantime, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. The bell should be ringing soon. Maybe in about a minute or so.”

“Oh. So I’d better get to class, then,” Walnut said cheerfully. “See you at lunch!” The bell rang as she walked off into the halls, and Peaceflyt decided that he’d better get going.

Better get going before there’s a flood in the halls, Peaceflyt thought. Cold scales whipped by to his right, and he saw an IceWing bump into two more dragons before hurrying into the self-defense cave.

Nice one, Frigid, Peaceflyt thought sarcastically.

. . .

“Clay’s late again,” Dragonfly noticed.

“He’s always late,” said Pelican. “But, yeah. It’s been half the class already.”

I hope he’s fine, thought Peaceflyt. I hope HE didn’t get captured.

Luckily, he heard footsteps around the corner, and Clay walked in. His eyes had bags under them, like he hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. His wings dragged across the floor, and there was a frown across his face, which seemed fairly unlike him.

“Are you okay?” Ridge asked, concerned.

“Hm?” Clay looked up at his students, then leapt to his feet. “Oh! I’m sorry. I haven’t gotten anything planned today, I’m such an idiot.” He walked over and checked the sheet of paper on the far wall, which listed the activity for each day in the school year.

“It looks like we’ll be doing… sparring again. Sorry again. We’ll be doing something different tomorrow.”

Peaceflyt sighed. Sparring two days in a row?

It might help in rescuing Peak, a corner of his brain thought. If you have to battle anyon- Oh, no, I might have to battle someone. Maybe I shouldn’t go. But Atacama and Pyramid are going, and they’re good at battle. And I really want to rescue Peak… I’ll go.

“Peaceflyt?” Pelican asked, ending his train of thought. “Spar?”

“Umm… talk first, spar later?” Peaceflyt said quietly.

Pelican thought for a second. “Sure. What’s up?”

“Are you going to come rescue Peak with me- us?” Peaceflyt asked.

“Us? Who’s going?”

“Um… me, Atacama, and probably Walnut, Pyramid, and Sparrow,” Peaceflyt said, counting on his claws. “I’m actually not completely sure if Pyramid and Sparrow are coming, but I’m guessing since Atacama hangs out with them all day and since they’re some of Peak’s best friends, they’re coming.”

“Okay.” Pelican paused. “I guess I can come. It’s not like I know Peak well, but as far as I know, they’re not teaching anything important in the next week. And I kind of want to go somewhere. Coral barely ever lets me go to new places. Since I’m her youngest son, she has the urge to protect me more than my older brothers. I guess I just have to hope she doesn’t find out I left.”

Oh yeah, Peaceflyt thought. Why did I forget he was the son of the SeaWing queen? “That’s definitely going to make it harder for you to come.”

“Well, I’m going to go anyways,” Pelican said. “When are you leaving?”

“I dunno. Probably soon.”

“Okay.”

“Wait, you do know what happened to Peak, right?" Peaceflyt asked.

“Didn’t she get captured or something? I thought the whole school knew that,” Pelican said. “Unless she didn’t get captured…”

“No, she got captured,” replied Peaceflyt. He paused. “The whole SCHOOL already knows that?”

“I think so,” Pelican said.

“Do the teachers know?” Peaceflyt asked hurriedly.

“No,” replied Pelican. “Probably not. I think if they did, they’d say something about it, right?”

“Yeah,” said Peaceflyt. I hope no one tells them. They’ve had enough drama in their lives. And then they’re going to try and save Peak if someone breaks the news to them.

“Pelican? Peaceflyt?” Clay called out. He sounded a bit more sad and tired, like he was faking his happiness.

“Sorry,” Peaceflyt said. “I guess we have to spar now, then.”

Pelican nodded, and ran at Peaceflyt. They started sparring, and nothing interesting happened. By the end of class, they both had small scratches along their bodies.

“Wonder why Clay’s so down,” Ridge muttered as they walked in the halls. “Guess I can’t talk to him now.” He turned down the hallway toward the sleeping caves.

. . .

Peaceflyt ran into Nightlight as he was rounding a corner toward the group discussion cave. She jumped. Peaceflyt knew that she’d always been jumpy, and he didn’t blame her, having Deneb as her sister. She waved at him awkwardly, and he waved back.

“Just… going to self-defense,” Nightlight muttered, and walked off.

Is it just me, or has she been acting weirder lately? Peaceflyt thought. Or maybe it’s just because she nearly saw me get killed by her murderous sister. That could be it.

“Hey,” a familiar, slightly deep voice said from behind him.

“Hi, Ridge,” Peaceflyt said.

“So, are you really going to rescue Peak?” questioned Ridge.

Peaceflyt paused. “Yeah. How did you know?”

“I’m your clawmate,” Ridge told him.

“Yeah, I know. But how did you know?”

“I overheard you and Atacama talking about it while I was walking to self-defense earlier,” the SkyWing admitted. “I swear I wasn’t eavesdropping, I just overheard you.”

“Ok. Try not to talk about it until after we go-” Peaceflyt stopped. “Actually, try not to talk about it at all, but mostly try not to talk about it until after we go.”

Ridge nodded. “Sure. If the founders freak out about it, can I tell them?”

“Hmm… only if they’re sending dragons out to go find us, or if they’re going to try to find us themselves,” Peaceflyt said.

“Okay,” Ridge said. A loud ringing echoed through the halls, which meant the bell had rang and the next class was starting.

“Oop, there’s the bell,” Peaceflyt muttered. He speed-walked down the hall and turned in to the group discussion cave, where Tsunami was sitting with Dragonfly and Atacama.

“Hi, Peaceflyt,” Tsunami said as Peaceflyt sat down. “And Ridge.” Ridge came through the door. “And Pelican,” she said as Pelican hurried into the classroom.

“Who’re we missing?” Tsunami muttered to herself as she counted on her talons. Frigid walked in. “Frigid… wait… he just came in, never mind," the SeaWing said, glancing up at Frigid. So we’re only missing Peak.”

Peaceflyt’s eyes opened a bit in surprise. Oh, right. The teachers don’t know about Peak yet, he thought. He shot a glance at Frigid, and was hoping he either didn’t know, or would keep quiet and not tell the founders. Peaceflyt noticed that he did look a bit happier today. Maybe he does know. Unless he’s happy about something else. I’m just hoping he won’t tell anyone.

“I guess I’ll just have to mark Peak late for now,” Tsunami said. “Anyways, has anything exciting happened to any of you guys since our last group discussion?”

YES, Peaceflyt wanted to shout out. Although my best friend getting captured isn’t really exciting. More just like eventful. He looked over at Atacama and saw that she was staring into space. Maybe thinking about Peak. She was sitting in the dark corner she usually sat in with Peak, although she looked much more lonely sitting by herself.

When no one answered, Tsunami continued. “Okay, someone share SOMETHING. I don’t want to sit in silence here all day.”

Please don’t talk about Peak… Peaceflyt prayed. When no one said anything AGAIN, it was likely that Tsunami would randomly call on someone and make them share. In fact, Peaceflyt could already see her lashing her tail in annoyance, and he decided he should probably talk so Tsunami wouldn’t call on anyone.

“I-” Peaceflyt said, but got cut off by Tsunami. “Ridge,” she said, pointing at the SkyWing.

Phew, Peaceflyt’s mind said. At least I told him to not tell the founders about Peak.

“Umm… I found a pretty cool scroll yesterday,” said Ridge. “It was about scavengers- like, if scavengers were in the place of dragons.” He settled back, indicating that he was finished.

“Nice,” Tsunami said, then turned around to call on Dragonfly, who was raising her talons.

“Why are they doing construction by my sleeping cave?” she asked quietly. “I just remembered about it, and I was wondering how long they were going to do it."

“Oh! That!” Tsunami exclaimed, wings opening. “They’re going to finish working on them tomorrow. I'm supposed to tell you why they're doing that during the lunch break.” She smiled, seeming like she was trying hard not to spill whatever exciting secret she was thinking of.

“Can you tell us now?” Frigid asked.

“No,” Tsunami said sharply, but her face clearly said ‘I WANT TO TELL YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.’

“Peaceflyt?” A soft voice whispered next to him. He turned and saw Pelican looking at him.

“Yeah?” he whispered back.

“I’ve been thinking a little bit,” he said, “and I think I know why Clay’s so sad.”

“Really?” Peaceflyt’s ears perked up a little.

“So you know about Peril and Clay,” Pelican said. “And how Peril’s always said that she hadn’t missed a day at the school for… twenty years or something, right?”

“Yeah,” Peaceflyt replied. He hadn’t seen Peril every day since he got admitted into the academy, but he’d seen glimpses of her walking by in the halls every so often. The SkyWing had even showed up at lunch one time.

“Well, I didn't see Peril anywhere yesterday. And I pass the founder's private cave- you know, the cave where they talk in private, every morning when I walk around the school,” Pelican told him. “And I've seen Peril in there every day since I started walking around the school. But I glanced in there yesterday and didn't see her.”

“Maybe she was… late,” Peaceflyt hoped, not liking the thought that was coming on. “Maybe she didn't come in the morning.”

“Maybe,” Pelican said. “But that was the same day Clay started acting sad. And I know that Clay liked Peril to come best in the early morning before he had to deal with the school.”

“Oh, no…” Peaceflyt’s head was filling of thoughts on where Peak was and what had happened to her. “Do you think…”

“Yeah,” Pelican said grimly. “I think someone is trying to capture all the firescales on Pyrrhia.”