Stars of Magic: Wings of Power (Book 1)

Part Three: The Lost Crown and the Obsidian Palace; Chapter 22

Everything was happening so fast. First Luna's application to the Wings of Harmony Academy was denied, then her 'parents' wanted to make their own school of peace to get revenge, then some Night Bringer came along with her prophecy, throwing her into a disaster of events, including a goblin attack, a goblin kidnapping, a crazy goblin princess, Luna killing her first person, some kind of secret acid gland, a fireskins mermaid, and everyone was depending on the other magets and herself to save the world? A bunch of magets? Who would listen to a bunch of magets who don't even know what they're doing?

The first few legs of the flight were nauseating. Luna had to fly along with Wind Pilots every time she felt like barfing. Which was every five minutes. Luna couldn't stop to rest on the platform for long before feeling like blowing her chunks.

"Luna, please calm down," Seashell said to Luna during the thirty-seventh time she had to fly(Yes, Luna actually was counting). "If you just relaxed for one minute, then you would be able to rest your wings."

"How am I supposed to calm down," Luna said, beating her wings and whacking the red Wind Pilot next to her in the nose, "when everyone is blocking their minds and keeping secrets from me? You know I don't like secrets. And Edward told me you tell everyone outside of the family I'm adopted! You haven't even told me if you're my real mother or if the lie is the truth!"

The cold silence rang through the air. The sun moved farther through the sky, all the way to the middle of it. Finally, Seashell spoke.

"If I told you the truth, you would hate me for the rest of your life," Seashell said. "And it would break your heart if you didn't understand why the truth happened. It's best that you hear it from someone else."

Luna and Seashell were quiet for a little while. Seashell spread her wings, trying to offer a hug.

"Luna!"

It was Edward. He glared at Seashell before asking, "You okay?"

Luna flew up to the platform and hugged Edward. Seashell snarled at the Griffin and looked away. Luna cleared her mind of all the thoughts of everyone on the platform and just snuggled into Edward's embrace. Slowly, all of the doubt, self-worry, the endless scolding to hide her scales, all melted away. And for the first time in a long time, Luna's mind was peaceful and carefree.

"After we go to . . . where we need to go," Seashell said, "how would you feel about going back to Dragon Mountain?"

Luna snapped her head up at Seashell. "Seashell," Luna said. "You know I can't do that. I have a war to stop. And the others need to meet their families."

Edward nodded and gave Seashell a defensive glare.

Seashell looked north with a determined look on her face. "We'll see."

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The wind was cool on Luna's face. She could feel her scales turning pink, yellow, and purple, but she didn't mind. The sun started to pass the middle of the sky. Luna was sitting near the edge of the platform, taking in the whole view. Luna had never had a view like this before. It was breathtaking. The rolling hills, the mountain peaks that pierced the clouds, the clear skies, the shimmering lakes and rivers. Luna lifted her wings and let the wind rush underneath them. The Night Bringer maget had never felt this light, and she never liked the daytime this much.

There were so many dragons on the platform. So many colors were spread across the whole space, some eating cows and pigs, some reading scrolls, and some taking naps. Shiftscales was wrapping bandages around Rollcall's injured wing. Seashell and Thundercloud were both giving food to the Wind Pilots. Luna looked all around the platform, but she couldn't find Bubble or Lake anywhere. There were hardly any magets on board, except for Luna and her friends.