“Uh oh,” Atacama said. Peaceflyt looked down at the ocean and saw two pairs of flashing scales. He guessed Pelican and the other SeaWing were talking to each other. I hope he's nice.

Peaceflyt faded his scales and tentatively flew towards the two, and he saw Atacama, Sparrow, and Walnut follow. He made sure to look as little like a hybrid as possible by lifting his SeaWing tail out of view, just in case this dragon was on the hybrid-hating side of the war.

As they approached the surface of the water, the SeaWing stopped talking to Pelican and looked at each one of them suspiciously. Peaceflyt tried to not fall out of the air in fear when the SeaWing focused on him. When his eyes finally passed him, he let out an internal sigh of relief. Maybe we'll be in the clear.

Then, suddenly, the dragon's eyes locked on Sparrow. Sparrow instinctively flinched back. But the dragon didn't look away. His eyes stayed there, narrowing menacingly.

A second later, a blue blur flashed in front of Peaceflyt’s eyes as the SeaWing launched himself at Sparrow. Sparrow screamed as his claws latched onto her scales and dragged her underwater.

Atacama and Pyramid both let out an anguished cry and dove in the water immediately, despite not knowing how to swim.

“No! Stop!” Walnut cried. “Peaceflyt, they can't swim! They're gonna drown!”

They are, Peaceflyt thought, not knowing what to do. “I need to get under the water,” he said frantically.

“Good luck,” Walnut said, swallowing. “Don’t die.”

Peaceflyt nodded quickly and dove in.

Underwater, he could see things much better. Pelican was startled off to the side, not sure if he should interfere. Sparrow, Pyramid, and Atacama were trying to attack the SeaWing, but they were losing. The SeaWing was in its natural environment and could easily fight off the three dragonets.

Peaceflyt could tell Atacama and Pyramid were running out of air because their fighting started getting slower. Right when he thought they were going to drown, the SeaWing slapped them both out of the water, and they flew up into the air, gasping for breath.

As soon as Atacama had gotten all of the water out of her throat, she yelled, "PEACEFLYT! STOP HIM! Remember the fighting techniques Clay taught you!" He could barely hear her, though, because one, he was underwater, and two, adrenaline was coursing through his head like it did when Deneb attacked.

"Yeah, I know!" Peaceflyt bellowed back, accidentally swallowing a mouthful of water. He knew she probably couldn't hear him, so he just nodded, hoping she would see it.

Then he heard choking coming from Sparrow's direction. The dragon was choking her. Peaceflyt swiftly swam around the huge SeaWing to get a view of her, but as soon as he saw her face, she slipped into unconsciousness.

Three moons, she's gonna die, Peaceflyt thought hysterically. She's going to die. He floated there, frozen in fear, until he heard Pyramid let out a scream of agony. I need to do something.

‘LET HER GO!’ Peaceflyt flashed as bright as he could at the attacker.

The attacker seemed unfazed. ‘And what will happen if I don't?’ he sneered. Peaceflyt tried to think of a good answer, but came up with nothing. He didn't want to attack the dragon either, as he was practically three times his size.

Suddenly, Pelican appeared at his side. ‘He said, LET HER GO!’

‘Ah, fine, whatever,’ the SeaWing flashed, letting go of Sparrow's neck. 'She looks like she's already dead anyways. Maybe I'll do the same to this feisty SandWing?' He reached up out of the water and grabbed Atacama's tail, pulling her in.

"Get off me!" Atacama shrieked, trying to pull her tail away. When that didn't work, she kicked him as hard as she could in the face. The SeaWing fell back, disoriented, but got back up.

‘This one's trouble,’ he flashed, grinning maliciously. He turned around and smacked Atacama with his tail as hard as he could. She got knocked unconscious, flew out of the water and landed on the surface with a huge splash. Sparrow, who was still floating, got pushed further underwater by the splash, and Pelican immediately came to her aid, rushing her up to the surface.

‘Get out of here!’ Peaceflyt yelled at the attacker. He suddenly realized that by using his fluorescent scales to speak Aquatic, he was revealing himself as a hybrid. He cursed in his head. It's too late now.

‘Why do you care so much about these dragonets?’ the SeaWing sneered again. ‘You know what? Maybe you'll be next, hybrid scum.’

Peaceflyt felt like a sword had pierced his heart. Hybrid scum. He hadn't experienced many derogatory comments about being a hybrid yet, so when someone did insult him, he felt deeply attacked. But he ignored his feelings and acted like nothing had happened.

‘I care about them because they're my friends,’ Peaceflyt flashed, swallowing his fear. ‘And I’m not going to let you kill my friends.’

He closed his eyes and extended his arm out towards the attacker, who was rambling on about murder. ‘What if I don't care- what are you doing?’

‘I said I'm NOT GOING TO LET YOU KILL MY FRIENDS!’ Peaceflyt thrusted his arm forward, and almost immediately, the attacking SeaWing was blown backwards out of the water and up into the clouds. For a second, Peaceflyt was afraid he'd blasted the SeaWing too far up, but luckily, a few seconds later, he heard a faint splash in the distance.

There was a long silence. Then eventually, Peaceflyt, high on adrenaline, decided to swim up to the surface and check on Atacama and Sparrow. He didn't know what to say. “Are they okay?” he asked awkwardly, looking at them.

When no one answered, he realized that everyone was staring at him, wide-eyed. Except for Atacama and Sparrow, who were still unconscious.

Oh, no, Peaceflyt thought. Now I have to explain my animus powers to them.

“Uhh… I… never mind,” Peaceflyt stuttered nervously, not knowing what to say. “Don’t talk about it. Uhh… since you know what I can do… just a second.”

With that totally wonderful speech, Peaceflyt decided he should probably heal Atacama and Sparrow. He scanned the water and grabbed a small piece of kelp floating around.

Then, he went through his mental enchanting checklist.

Is it a big spell? No. Is it selfish? No. Is it important? Yes. Is it an emergency? Yes. Peaceflyt thought about how the two of them could die soon if he didn't take action again.

He took a deep breath and looked down at the kelp in his talons. “Enchant this kelp so that it fully heals whatever dragon it touches,” he commanded. There was another silence, and Pyramid, Pelican, and Walnut looked even more dumbfounded.

“Wait…” Walnut breathed, failing to get more words out.

Peaceflyt ignored her and flew over to where Sparrow was floating. I hope this works, he thought. He pressed the enchanted kelp on her scales, and for a second, nothing happened. Did I do this wrong? He started panicking, and right when he thought he was about to break down, Sparrow’s eyes snapped open.

She screamed and started flapping her wings to get herself in the air. But once she noticed her friends near her, her shoulders relaxed, and Pyramid flew into her for a hug.

“What just happened?” Sparrow asked, with a hint of worry in her voice. “All I remember was a SeaWing attacking me… he choked me…”

“I don't know, but you're okay and the SeaWing’s gone now,” Pyramid reassured her, shooting a cautious look at Peaceflyt over her shoulder. “Peaceflyt, do the thing to Atacama now.”

Peaceflyt nodded and went over to where Atacama was. He pressed the kelp onto her like he did to Sparrow, and luckily, it worked. Atacama’s eyes opened, she screamed at the now-gone attacker, and then she looked up in gratitude at Peaceflyt. “Thank you,” she said, smiling. “I was LITERALLY GOING TO DIE. Tell me EVERYTHING that happened.” She started flying towards Atacama and Sparrow when she suddenly stopped in midair. “Wait, how did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Did I wake up that quickly by myself?”

“Uhh…” Peaceflyt awkwardly looked away. Oh no, oh no, oh no. I don't want to tell them. But I have to tell them.

“Peaceflyt, it's okay,” Walnut said reassuringly. “You can tell us anything. Even though I don't know how in the moons you did that.”

Peaceflyt smiled at her. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, was it like some secret SeaWing power?” Atacama asked. “Just joking. That crazy SeaWing would've used it to murder me and Sparrow if it was. Not like I'd ever let that happen, though. Let me take a wild guess… you have animus powers.”

“Uh-” Peaceflyt stopped, shrinking back a little bit and flushing. Just say it, urged his brain. They need to know.

“Yeah,” he said, sighing. “I do.”

For the second time, everyone stared dumbstruck at him.

“You have animus powers?” Pelican asked, astonished.

“Y-yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys.”

“It’s okay! I can't believe it!” Walnut exclaimed. “You’re an animus!”

“And you never told us?” asked Pelican.

“Yeah... I- I keep it a secret. Please don't talk about it, it's weird hearing other dragons talk about it. I don't want anyone to talk about it.” Other than Peak. She's the only one I've told.

“But why?” Atacama asked. “You have infinite power in your talons! Why are you keeping it a secret?”

“I dunno. Just because,” Peaceflyt said, failing to come up with a good answer. BECAUSE I have infinite power in my talons, and I don't know what to do with it. Because I could fix all the world's problems and I don't. Because if any power-hungry dragon found out, I'd be their prisoner.

At the thought of ‘power-hungry dragon’, a picture of Deneb popped into Peaceflyt’s mind. He was about to dismiss the thought when he realized something.

Deneb is power-hungry, and she said she would get revenge on me and Peak, he thought, connecting the dots. I think she already got revenge on me in the cave. Or tried to. But she hasn't gotten revenge on Peak yet, unless… she KIDNAPPED HER! Peaceflyt was starting to freak out. Did Deneb do all this just to get revenge? Probably! But why? And why is she hiding in the middle of the sea? There's NOTHING THERE!

“Peaceflyt, are you okay?” He felt a talon on his shoulder, and he whipped his head around in surprise. Walnut, who was there, flinched backwards.

“Oh! Sorry,” Peaceflyt apologized, noticing he was hyperventilating. “I was just thinking.”

“Yeah, you do that a lot,” Pelican said from nearby.

“Yeah, I do.”

“By the way, we found an island that's really close to here. I think we're gonna rest there.”

“Okay,” Peaceflyt said. “That’s a good idea.”

“Atacama and Pyramid and Sparrow are already ahead of us,” Walnut explained. “So are you ready to go?”

“Uhh… yeah.”

“Then let's go!” Walnut and Pelican flew forward, and Peaceflyt decided to follow. But his head was busy thinking.

Deneb is the kidnapper. I should probably tell them she is so we can prepare. But why did she capture Peril and the other firescales, and how? Does she have an animus working for her? Or is she the animus? Peaceflyt nervously hung on that thought for a moment, when he realized that couldn't be true. If she was an animus, we'd all be dead by now. But STILL! Maybe she has help… that wouldn't be good. I don't like this at all.

He looked around and realized how close they were to Peak, who was probably within fifty miles of where they were now. That means we're also close to Deneb. Why can't I ever avoid her? I need to see Peak again, but the last thing I want is to see Deneb.