Moon Rising (26 page)

Moon felt the rain splattering against her wings. She looked around at her friends, all of their minds humming quietly, closed off. She wasn’t a scared dragonet alone in the rainforest anymore. She was a mind reader and a prophet, and she had a prophecy to fulfill; an IceWing to rescue; a talisman to find; a possible supervillain to release, or not … and a world to save, even though it didn’t know it needed saving yet.

No more hiding.

“Winter,” she said. “There are a few things you need to know about me.”

“Frog spit and goat tongues!” Queen Scarlet cursed. She shook the sapphire in her talons violently. “Why isn’t it working?”

“It probably is,” her companion said smoothly. “The dragon you’re looking for must still be awake.”

Scarlet glared at him. The vast black sky wheeled over their heads, studded with stars like diamonds. The three moons lit up the toothy peaks of the mountains all around them. “It’s the middle of the night. Why wouldn’t she be asleep? I gave her an ultimatum. I need to know what’s happening there.”

He shrugged, tapping something between his front talons.
Tap. Tap.
“So try a different dragon.”

She wrapped her claws around the blue stone again, growling to herself. “Has to be someone I know,” she muttered, “but I don’t want those dragonets to see where I am.” After a moment, she closed her eyes. “All right. An old favorite.”

It only took a minute for her to drop into Peril’s dream; as usual, it was tortured and weird, with several Queen Scarlets chasing her through the Sky Palace while corpses of burnt dragons lurched out of various doorways to attack her. Scarlet snorted. What was the point of being a glorious monster with talons of fire if you were going to agonize over it so much? Peril’s power was absolutely wasted on her.

“Stop!” she roared, planting herself in Peril’s path. Peril skidded to a halt and looked frantically around; she thought Scarlet was another one of the dream queens. She’d always had trouble figuring out when Scarlet was really visiting her, which could be useful, especially at times like this.

“Who died today?” Scarlet demanded. “Tell me! Who is dead?”

“No one!” Peril cried. “I didn’t kill anyone! I swear!”

“Stop blithering,” Scarlet growled. “Someone must have died today at that ludicrous school.”

Peril shook her head wildly. “No. No. No one is dead. Clay is safe, that’s what’s important. No one is dead. Oh, a MudWing and an IceWing are gone, but they’re alive, not dead, no one is dead.”

Scarlet hissed. She yanked the sapphire away from her head, snapping abruptly out of Peril’s dream.

“I’m going to murder that IceWing!” she yelled. “This is not thrilling at all!”

“She failed?” said the other dragon. He shifted from shadow to moonlight, his scales rippling in strange moonlit colors.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
“How surprising. Should I kill your prisoner?”

“Yes,” Scarlet hissed. “Wait. No.” She paced along the ledge, fuming. If she let Hailstorm live, Icicle would stop being frightened of her; her threats would mean nothing. But if she killed him, she’d have lost her only bit of leverage on a very useful pawn.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Of course, Icicle wasn’t the only dragon who wanted this particular prisoner back. There was another brother, wasn’t there? But Scarlet had never seen him. How would she get into his dreams?

Was there another way to get to him?

Or someone else who could kill the dragonets?

“I should do it myself,” she muttered. She knew that. She just — every time she thought about that RainWing: the jaw extending horribly, the fangs pointed straight at her and the venom flying toward her face — it gave her a sick, squashed feeling that reminded her of her melted scales. It wasn’t
fear,
exactly. She would never say that.

But if she could find a way to kill them from a distance … or at least Glory … that would be preferable, certainly.

“STOP THAT INFERNAL TAPPING!” she roared. “What is it, anyhow? What are you fiddling with in your horrid, gloaty way?”

“Oh, this?” The dragon lifted the ancient scroll into the moonlight, looked up at it, and smiled. “Don’t you worry. This is nothing.”

TUI T. SUTHERLAND
is the author of several books for young readers, including the Menagerie trilogy, the Pet Trouble series, and three books in the bestselling Seekers series (as part of the Erin Hunter team)–in addition to the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling Wings of Fire series. In 2009, she was a two-day champion on
Jeopardy!
She lives in Massachusetts with her wonderful husband, two adorable sons, and one very patient dog. To learn more about Tui’s books, visit her online at www.tuibooks.com.

Text copyright © 2015 by Tui T. Sutherland

Map and border design © 2015 by Mike Schley

Dragon illustrations © 2015 by Joy Ang

All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.,
Publishers since 1920
.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Sutherland, Tui, 1978- author.

Moon rising / by Tui T. Sutherland.

pages cm. — (Wings of fire ; book 6)

Summary: When Moonwatcher, a young NightWing with secret powers, begins school at the academy started by the dragonets of destiny after the end of the war, she soon realizes that someone is attacking the students. Moon must choose whether to help or continue to hide her gifts.

ISBN 978-0-545-68534-4(alk. paper)

1. Dragons — Juvenile fiction. 2. Prophecies — Juvenile fiction. 3. Telepathy — Juvenile fiction. 4. Secrecy — Juvenile fiction. 5. Identity (Psychology) — Juvenile fiction. [1. Dragons — Fiction. 2. Prophecies — Fiction. 3. Telepathy — Fiction. 4. Secrets — Fiction. 5. Identity — Fiction. 6. Fantasy.] I. Title. II. Series: Sutherland, Tui, 1978– Wings of fire ; bk. 6.

PZ7.S96694Mp 2015

813.6 — dc23

2014033954

First printing, January 2015

Cover art © 2015 by Joy Ang

Cover design by Phil Falco

e-ISBN 978-0-545-68535-1

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