“Did you not hear me?” Queen Toucan exclaimed, “I told you not to say a word.”

Shrek looked down at his talons. “I wish you hadn’t done that. Queen Redwood won’t be very happy.”

“Queen Redwood can go shove bananas up her snout if she wants to mourn this wretched creature.”

Galaxycatcher stared at Venus’ corpse, flabber- gasted at the events that just occurred. “Queen Toucan… What did you do?”

“Don’t you have eyes, NightWing? I just killed a full-of-herself LeafWing”

Kiwi and Hail exchanged looks of surprise. Hail’s talons covering his snout. “Did you see that?” He whispered, “She just killed Venus! I had a feeling something was going to happen to her, but I wasn’t truly expecting her to actually die.”

“Hey, at least we won’t have to deal with boring history class for a little while,” Kiwi joked hesitantly.

Shrek returned his gaze to Queen Toucan, “Let’s continue this in our office. The dragonets are going to be coming in here for breakfast soon.”

A hint of guilt flashed across Queen Toucan’s face for a second, then it faded. “If you wish, but I believe we are done here.”

Shrek put his right talons on Galaxycatcher’s shoulder, “Help us carry her body?” He asked kindly, although clearly upset over the death of Venus.

Galaxycatcher nodded, taking the front end, while Shrek moved to the back end. They lifted her lifeless body, and began to leave the prey center. Hail waited a few moments after they had left before coming out from behind the rock.

Hail noticed nobody in the prey center, and motioned to Kiwi to also come out from behind the rock.

“Talons and tails, that was intense,” Kiwi said.

“I kind of feel bad for Venus. I’m not sure what she did to Queen Toucan, but I don’t think she deserved to die like that.” Hail shook his head, then landed on the floor, moving towards the exit.

“Wait, where are you going?” Kiwi asked, landing as Hail was about to leave.

“I’m going back to the class. We can tell them everything that happened.”

“Fair enough. You should probably leave out the part where Venus died, though.”

“How come?”

Kiwi looked at him as though it was obvious, "Expulsion? Hello? What if the leaders find out we were spying on them? Where would you go if that happened?”

“Maybe to Sanctuary. I hear that’s not such a bad place to live, especially for hybrids.”

“Hmmm,” Kiwi replied unconvincingly.

“Fine, I’ll leave it out, If it makes you feel better.”

They walked back to the history cave, where you could hear everybody having different conversations. As they returned to their seats, everybody stared at them. Nobody said anything until Reed spoke up. Reed was the MudWing in their winglet, the silver winglet. His underbelly and wings had a light beige color to it. His scales had a reddish color to them, but they were still brown. Closer to a darker burnt sienna color. His eyes were a deep brown that spoke of deep curiosity.

“What happened?” He asked, “did she die? Did Queen Toucan kill her?”

“Not exactly,” Hail said, looking at Kiwi. His heart was pumping. Nobody had ever found him important, but today was an exception. Today he was the one who had all the knowledge, he was the–

“Kiwi, what happened?” Reed asked again.

Oh, so he wasn’t important. Why would I ever think that somebody would find me interesting? Why would anybody want to talk to me? I’m just another stupid hybrid.

He looked down at his armband again. That could change in just a few seconds. Dragons would find him interesting, dragons would want to be friends with him. But what about my soul? What if I go crazy and Kiwi has to stop me the same way Kinkajou stopped Darkstalker? Killed by a fruit. Wouldn’t that be fun? But it felt horrible to be invisible to every dragon he ever met. Sure, it has been peaceful for two centuries, but most dragons still weren’t accepting of hybrids. There were many dragons who made friends with dragons from other tribes, but inter-tribal relationships caused a lot of drama.

“...and then she let her go. Queen Toucan set her free, and she got fired from Jade Mountain Academy.” That was Kiwi’s voice. Hail shook his head, realizing that he had zoned out of the story.

Beetle the HiveWing narrowed her eyes at them. “Are you sure? She didn’t die?” She was part of the jade winglet. Her red and black scales shined in the light of the flamesilk globe. She turned her head towards her clawmate, Specter the NightWing. “Is he lying?”

Specter closed his eyes and put his talons to his forehead. That’s when Hail realized. Oh no. He’s a mind reader isn’t he? He’s going to find it in Kiwi’s mind and we’re going to be in some deep trouble.

Just as Hail was about to drag Kiwi out of the cave, the gong went off. “Breakfast everyone, breakfast!” That was Honeylocust.

Specter immediately looked up, opening his eyes. “I’m going to go eat”, he said to Beetle, who was twitching now.

“But what about…”

“I think Kiwi’s telling the truth. Let’s go!”

Hail let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding in. He looked Kiwi in the eyes as everyone left the cave. Once everyone had left, he began:

“That was close.”

Kiwi nodded, “I know. I tried to think up if that scenario really happened, and it worked! Wouldn’t you know it!”

Hail smirked, “I’m proud of you. Good job.”

Kiwi returned the smile with a hiss, “I can maybe do smart things sometimes!”

“Never said you couldn’t”

“Whatever, let’s go.”

They began out the door and walked to the prey center again. I hope Queen Toucan didn’t just start a war. It could even start conflicts at the school, and I don’t want to be in a battlefield. I came here for a safe place to learn. Although ‘safe’ isn’t exactly the best word.

 “Kiwi, can I ask you something?” Hail asked after a minute.

“Sure,” Kiwi replied.

“What are you going to do once school is over?”

Kiwi thought about that for a moment. “Probably back to the rainforest with my family.” He realized Hail’s look, then said, “you could come with me, too! If you want. You can still go to Sanctuary if that’s your wish.”

“I appreciate your offer, but I might wait for my parents. They’re out on a… a mission right now. They said they didn’t know when they’d be back, but they would let the school know so I have a heads up.”

“Oh, that’s… nice.”

There was an awkward moment of silence as they turned the corner. By now you could hear the bustle of conversation coming from the prey center. Almost everyone was in there, from what Hail could see. Dragons stuck mostly to their winglet instead of sticking to their tribe, but sometimes they would mingle with dragons from other winglets, too.

Hail’s only other friend was another hybrid who went to Jade Mountain Academy. He looked around for her, but couldn’t see her anywhere. Hmmm. Wonder what she’s up to right now. I didn’t see her in history class, either.

Hail nudged Kiwi, “What do you want to eat, Kiwi? I was thinking we have some fruit or something.”

Kiwi nodded, “Hail, I’m a vegetarian. You know this. What else would I eat?”

Hail snorted, “Yeah, you’re right. I guess I’m thinking aloud. What do I want to eat for breakfast?”

A pained noise could be heard towards Hail’s right. It was the NightWing from history class, Specter. His HiveWing acquaintance quickly rushed over to catch him as he fell to the ground. She stood him up as his eyes shot open.

But they weren’t his eyes, they were pale white pearls, and although Hail hadn’t spent very much time with Specter, he could tell the voice that came out wasn’t the same.

“Returning to Pyrrhia, glowing a-bright

Thought gone by one smashed candlelight

The tribes at war, far worse than before

Over something small, soon known by more

Without a spell it can’t be right

Thought gone by one smashed candlelight”

His eyes flickered back to normal and he fell into Beetle’s talons. He shook his head, then scanned the room. He’s looking for somebody, Hail realized who he was looking for. The prophecy made perfect sense, clear as day. He’s looking for me.

Specter’s gaze fell onto Hail and Kiwi.