Darkstalker

  I hope I didn’t just make a really terrible enemy, Indigo was thinking.

  Ha ha, Darkstalker thought. Oh, you certainly did.

  “Hey, I promised you a view from the Royal Tower,” he said, nudging Fathom with one of his wings. “You can see almost the whole Night Kingdom from up there. Come on, we’ll have plenty of time for serious talk later.”

  He lifted into the sky, stretching his wings wide and letting the moonlight cascade over him. Nothing to be mad about, he thought to himself. In fact, I learned quite a lot here tonight.

  Poor Fathom, with all his anxiety and self-loathing. I can make it better. I’m going to show him what a gift animus power is. I’ll give him a reason to be happy he’s alive. I’m going to take away all his fear and guilt and replace it with joy.

  And then, once he has something else to live for … that’s when I’ll take care of his Indigo problem.

  “This is such a terrible idea,” Clearsight whispered, tipping her wings to catch the wind. Below them, the school was dark and still, as if all the light and noise had been sucked into the party at the palace next door. Darkstalker was there tonight, again, but that was for the best, since it meant he couldn’t stop her from doing this, or even notice she was doing it.

  “It’s not a terrible idea,” Listener shot back, “or you wouldn’t be letting me do it, because you’d have seen it go wrong and you’d know we were going to be caught. Ipso facto, clearly we’ll be fine, because you’re just grumbling and not actually trying to stop me.”

  “Maybe I see that you’ll learn a valuable lesson from your criminal mistakes,” Clearsight said airily. “Maybe you need to be caught in order for that to happen.”

  Listener shot her a suspicious look. “You wouldn’t do that to me.”

  “Maybe this is the only way to save you from spiraling into a life of crime and infamy.” Clearsight put on her most pious face.

  “Quit freaking me out!” Listener whacked Clearsight with her tail and Clearsight started giggling so hard she nearly lost the air current holding her up.

  “Besides,” Listener said, angling toward the school’s upper entrance, “we’re not criminals, we’re heroes! We’re liberating the oppressed! Righting all wrongs! Saving the day!”

  “Somehow I don’t think that’s how the teachers are going to see it,” Clearsight pointed out. They landed and stepped carefully into the dark spiraling hall that led down to the classrooms. Student projects and artwork lined the walls, sharpening into focus as her night vision adjusted. Here was one student’s research study on RainWing camouflage; over there was a diagram comparing MudWing and SeaWing physiognomy.

  A little farther down was the portrait of her that Darkstalker had painted, with what looked like a spiderweb of fireworks behind her. Only the two of them knew that was supposed to represent the intersecting timelines of the future. Unfortunately his skill at painting was nowhere close to Whiteout’s, and Clearsight looked a bit more like a horse with a hippo butt than she would have liked. She had politely refrained from telling him that.

  Listener sighed. “I tried to do this through official channels, you know. I talked to Truthfinder — I mean, if I can feel what the scavengers are feeling, surely she can, too. But she totally didn’t care! She said it made them fascinating subjects for study, but that we shouldn’t overidentify with them, because ‘they’re not dragons, after all.’ No matter how sad or scared or lonely they get, they’re still just animals, according to her. ‘Big, hairless squirrels who can do a few more tricks than your average monkey.’ Isn’t that crazy?”

  “Darkstalker agrees with you,” Clearsight offered. She didn’t add that he thought Listener’s scavenger obsession was a little kooky. “He says the new one they got for his class is severely depressed. He is all in favor of Operation Scavenger Rescue.”

  “Did you tell him we’re doing this tonight?” Listener asked, stopping abruptly so Clearsight bumped into her.

  “No,” Clearsight said. “He’s at some party at the palace and I didn’t want him to worry. I’ll tell him about it tomorrow when we’re done and the scavengers are all free.”

  “Was there some reason it has to be tonight?” Listener asked, scrutinizing her in the dark. “We’ve been talking about this since the first day I met you, and suddenly you tell me it’s go time. Because tonight is the safest time to do it? Is that why?”

  “That’s right,” Clearsight reassured her. “And it’s the best time for the scavengers, too — not too cold outside, a bright night so they can see their way.”

  It was more than that. Clearsight knew tonight’s party at the palace wasn’t just any regular gathering. New dragons were coming into their lives and soon everything would be different. She wasn’t sure exactly how things were going to change — more dragons meant more variables, which was harder to predict — but she wanted to make sure she did this one awesome thing with her best friend while she still could.

  “Here’s the first classroom,” Listener whispered. They crept into the room, a science lab for the seven-year-old senior class. Aquariums and terrariums covered the tables and walls, some of them glowing with little phosphorescent rocks or glow-in-the-dark plankton. Long-finned fighting fish drifted in their separate bowls, dark purple-and-red. A tortoise snoozed under a trailing fern in a glass cage that smelled of bananas and old lettuce.

  A flutter of wings by the window made Clearsight jump, but it was just the two owls, wide-awake and hopping around their cage impatiently. She was sure they would rather be out prowling the night sky, but this was not a mission to rescue all the animals. The scavengers were the ones Listener worried about all the time. The ones with intense, dragonlike emotions, apparently.

  “They’re asleep,” Listener whispered, crouching beside the little warren someone had built for the senior study scavengers. “Should we take the whole cage?”

  “No.” Clearsight shook her head. “We have to make it look like the scavengers escaped on their own.”

  Listener gave her a skeptical look. “All six of them? From four different classrooms?”

  “You’re the one who thinks they’re just like dragons,” Clearsight argued. “If a dragon had to escape a place like this, wouldn’t she rescue the other dragons trapped here along with her, even if she didn’t know them?”

  “You would,” Listener said. “I’m not sure most dragons would risk it. But do you really think scavengers have that much … I don’t know, empathy?”

  “Well, hopefully that’ll be the most plausible explanation tomorrow,” Clearsight said. “Although I should warn you that if you’ve talked to Truthfinder about this, that will probably make you her number one suspect.”

  “I don’t care!” Listener bristled, her neck spikes flaring. “She can expel me if she wants! I don’t need school to become an animal rights activist!”

  “Every NightWing needs school,” Clearsight said, digging in her pack. “Here, I thought we could carry them in these.”

  Listener took one of the burlap sacks between two claws and held it away from her, frowning. “We’re going to toss the scavengers in a sack?”

  “Were you hoping to stick them on your shoulders like baby lemurs?” Clearsight shot back. “They’ll be fine; we won’t leave them in there for long.” She carefully unlatched the cage, moving the levers as quietly as she could, then sliding open the door.

  One scavenger was sleeping under a scrap of blanket; the other was sprawled on a pile of shredded paper. Clearsight grabbed the one with the blanket first, scooping up the fabric along with it.

  The scavenger woke up immediately and started screaming as though its fur was on fire. Clearsight was so startled she nearly dropped it.

  “You’re scaring it!” Listener cried.

  “It’s scaring me!” Clearsight shouted back. She wrestled her thrashing bundle into her sack. “Grab the other one!”

  The second scavenger was awake now and darting around the cage, perhaps looking for a place t
o hide. As Listener reached in, it dodged around her claws and began scrambling up the wire side toward the open door at the top.

  “Stop being annoying!” Listener snapped at it. “We’re rescuing you! If you escape inside the school, you’ll just end up getting eaten tomorrow!”

  The scavenger swung itself onto the inside of the cage roof and kicked at Listener’s talons. She yanked it loose and shoved it quickly into her own sack.

  “They’re more ferocious than I expected,” Clearsight said. Her heart was thumping, and every animal in the lab was awake now. The tamarin monkeys rattled their cage, letting out indignant shrieks. In the biggest terrarium, a crocodile was glaring at her with unpleasant yellow eyes.

  “Let’s hurry up before someone hears us.” Listener ran out of the room and Clearsight followed her. Down to Darkstalker’s classroom, where they scooped up the depressed lone scavenger without any trouble. It flopped sadly in Clearsight’s talons, looking entirely resigned to being eaten.

  Then to their old third-year classroom, to the two scavengers Clearsight had admired on her first day. These two were awake — perhaps awakened by the noise coming from other parts of the school — and it took several minutes to capture them. By the end of it, Clearsight was almost willing to wager that Listener was right about them being like dragons. These two seemed to work together, collaborating to trick or distract the dragons. It was kind of adorable and kind of unsettling at the same time.

  The last scavenger had recently been acquired by a first-year teacher as a class pet to entertain the youngest dragonets. Listener took one of the naptime blankets and carefully wrapped the scavenger, who watched her with bright, curious eyes instead of fighting back.

  “This one still has hope,” Listener explained to Clearsight. “I think she kind of gets the idea that we’re rescuing her.”

  “These others don’t,” Clearsight said, lifting her wriggling sack. “I’m not a mind reader, but I’m getting a definite ‘we’re about to be eaten’ vibe over here.”

  “I think it’s your creepy sacks,” Listener said. “They look like something Darkstalker’s scary father might drown tigers in.”

  “Just because Darkstalker’s father is an IceWing doesn’t mean he’s scary,” Clearsight argued. “Besides, I’m sure whoever’s in charge of acquiring tiger skins has a better method than drowning them in sacks.”

  “Darkstalker’s dad is absolutely scary,” Listener said, shaking her head. “I ran into him at school once and he demanded directions to the principal’s office. His entire head was, like, vibrating with all his thoughts about hating everything and everyone here.”

  She froze suddenly, pricking up her ears. Clearsight’s heart sped up. She put one talon on her sack, trying to muffle its squeaking.

  “Someone’s here,” Listener whispered. “He just landed at the upper entrance. He’s wondering what all the noise in the animal lab is about.”

  “Let’s go, quick,” Clearsight whispered back.

  They fled swiftly through the courtyard, along the hall, and out to the atrium entrance. Clearsight checked the sky — clear as far as she could see — while Listener pressed her talons to her head.

  “He’s just getting to the lab now,” she said.

  Together they spread their wings and flung themselves aloft, clutching the sacks of scavengers in their claws. Their weight made Clearsight’s flying a little lopsided, especially when the little creatures kept thrashing around. But exhilaration swept through her whole body as she soared away from the school with Listener. They’d done it! They’d freed the scavengers!

  “Where are we taking them?” she called to her friend.

  “I thought you had a plan!” Listener called back.

  “Me? This was your crazy idea! In all your years of planning, you never figured out where to let them go?”

  “All right, all right.” Listener swerved to head north. “It’s not safe for them in the Night Kingdom. We’ll have to hope they can find a scavenger den in the desert somewhere.”

  “Wait.” Clearsight beat her wings to catch up. “We can’t cross the border. It’s a battlefield out there.” So far the war with the IceWings had stayed outside the walls, consisting mostly of skirmishes in the skies over the Kingdom of Sand. The NightWings couldn’t get past the Great Ice Cliff that guarded the Ice Kingdom, and the IceWings couldn’t break through the NightWings’ air defense. Every few months there was a cease-fire while Queen Diamond and Queen Vigilance “negotiated.” According to Darkstalker, that meant they exchanged increasingly furious letters accusing each other of treachery, until one of them snapped and sent her troops to attack again.

  So, inside the Night Kingdom: safe. Across the border: war zone. Not exactly something Clearsight wanted to risk to help out a few scavengers.

  “No way,” Listener agreed. “We drop them as far north as we can, that’s all.”

  “North Beach,” Clearsight suggested. “That’s not too far from here, and maybe they can swim across to the Kingdom of Sand. Can scavengers swim?”

  “I doubt it,” said Listener. “Their paws would make useless flippers, and they have barely any blubber to keep them afloat. But yeah, let’s take them to North Beach and they can fend for themselves from there.”

  The expanse of beach at the north end of the Night Kingdom peninsula was rocky and pebbled, unlike the smooth sandy beaches of the southern shores. It faced a bay with the Kingdom of Sand on the far side, just out of dragon eyesight but close enough that most NightWings avoided the area. Clearsight was afraid there might be a few intrepid swimmers practicing at midnight, but when they got there, the moonlit beach was deserted.

  They landed among the giant boulders that were strewn across the beach. Clearsight carefully set down her back talons first, holding the sack up so the scavengers wouldn’t get smashed.

  “This is so exciting,” Listener said, her eyes shining. “We’re really doing it! Clearsight! You’re my best friend ever!”

  Clearsight smiled back at her, wondering how long that would last this time. She could see at least three possible arguments that might explode in the next few months, sending Listener into a rage where she wouldn’t talk to Clearsight for a while.

  Stop living in the future, Darkstalker’s voice echoed in her mind. Be here now.

  He was right. Because now, here, she had a best friend, and they were doing something wild and wonderful together.

  “Ready?” she said. Listener nodded, grinning.

  Clearsight set down her sack and held open the mouth of it. There was a surprisingly long pause, as if the scavengers inside had to first figure out how to stand up, and then decide whether this was a trick.

  Finally one of them crept to the opening and peeked out. Seeing the two dragons staring down at it, it let out a little yelp, and then bolted toward the ocean. After a moment, another scavenger burst out of the sack and went racing after the first one.

  Clearsight waited a moment, then shook the burlap until the third scavenger — the sad one from Darkstalker’s classroom — came tumbling out. It curled up on the sand, covering its shaggy head with its paws. She lowered her snout and nudged it gently, but it only whimpered. Finally she used her talons to slide it into the lee of a boulder, where at least hopefully it wouldn’t get too wet when the tide came in. Maybe it would feel better in the morning, when the dragons were gone.

  She glanced over at Listener, who was arranging her sack the same way, open side toward the ocean. Suddenly all three of Listener’s scavengers shot out of the sack at the same time, grabbed the nearest pebbles they could lift, and started flinging them at the two NightWings.

  “Hey!” Listener yelped, jumping back. “Ouch! Rude! We’re your saviors, you stunted gorillas!”

  Two of the scavengers took off running, zigzagging along the beach and waving their paws at the two scavengers from Clearsight’s sack. The scavenger with the bright eyes started to follow them, then noticed the one that was curled up on the sand. S
he ran over to it, poked it, grabbed it, and hauled it up until it was running with her, leaning across her back.

  “Did you see that?” Clearsight said excitedly. She jabbed Listener’s side. “Your scavenger took my scavenger with her! Come on, didn’t that look like empathy to you?”

  “It did,” Listener said, rubbing her neck where a rock had gotten her. “Although, sheesh, a little gratitude would have been nice, too. Where’s the empathy for their heroic dragon rescuers? I ask you.”

  Clearsight folded her wings, watching the scavengers run away with a pleased sense of accomplishment.

  But then …

  Something tugging at the threads … a knot in the timelines …

  Danger was coming. Danger that could end her life and Listener’s right now, here, tonight.

  “Get down!” she cried, throwing herself at Listener. She knocked her friend to the ground and spread her wings over her, melting them both into the lumps and shadows of the boulders.

  “What the — ?” Listener started.

  “Shhhh,” Clearsight whispered. “Don’t move.”

  Her friend lay still, although Clearsight could feel her heart pounding through their scales. Sand tickled her snout. Cautiously she peeked out with one eye. Where was the danger coming from?

  The ocean.

  An unnatural ripple moved across the waves, sliding in toward the sand.

  And then, all at once, a pale white head lunged out of the water and snapped its jaws shut around one of the fleeing scavengers.

  Clearsight bit her tongue trying not to hiss. The remaining five scavengers screamed and changed course. She saw the sad one let go of the bright-eyed one and run on its own, jolted into action by new terror.

  We should save them, she thought. But it was too late for the one in the IceWing’s jaws. And the dragon seemed uninterested in chasing the others. He settled into the rushing waves with his catch.

  Moreover, it was worth noting that the IceWing was much, much bigger than her or Listener.