Nightbound: Curse of Shadows

5

  I ducked into a side hall and let a black and purple sky dragon pass before going after. It was strange being able to blend into the darkness so easily without even changing my color. It was night now, but even though I wasn’t too different from what I would be, it felt so final. I was like I would be at night but with no purple. I’d never be blue again. Unless there was some way to reverse being a Shadow, but nowhere in the library I’d just searched so meticulously was there a single book with a cure. Only ways to destroy or crystallize them, neither of which I liked at all.

  Nobody else came after the other dragon, so it was easy to go unnoticed into the cavern that served as a meeting room. I first noticed that nearly every sky dragon was there. Then I saw the glowing phoenixes, about twenty or thirty of them, scattered around. With them were the heavyset stone griffins, some with ice on their fur and feathers, and sea wolves with their fin-like wings and turquoise and sea green fur that rippled like water with a breeze. They worked with the phoenixes and uninjured sky dragons to heal the wounded. All four groups were finally together after twenty-three years. I couldn’t even be among them for that.

  I recognized a couple of the visiting Light Guardians. The phoenix Luxra, Garru, or Devlin as many of them called him, kept looking around at the edges of the room nervously. I worried he’d see me, but he hadn’t noticed me yet. Anyone else would think he was just looking for more Shadow Guardians, but I knew better. He was looking for me. He’d seen me when I ended up in Gartaiu, the fire realm. I couldn’t even place his reaction at that moment. It was something like horror, recognition, maybe even the slightest bit of relief, confusion, and fear.

  “I- Z- Alvara- I didn’t tell anyone!” he’d gasped out after stuttering for a moment. He’d known my name. The Fire Luxra had known my name. Then he flew away as fast as he could. I could have caught him easily, since sky dragons are like falcons among songbirds compared to a fiery hawk like him, but I didn’t. I watched him go with the grass that looked like it was burning tickling my feet.

  Back in the present, the Water Luxra was talking with a sky dragon, Delania, close enough for me to hear snippets of their conversation.

  “A dragon was captured, too… Cloudstrike-”
  “Wait, he was here? He was captured?”

  “Yes. We couldn’t get to him in time.”

  The sea wolf was pacing before Delania finished the sentence.

  “Oh, Great Star. What’s he up to now? He can’t have- can’t-”

  Delania shifted her feet uncomfortably. “Uraria-”

  “Just call me Misty.”

  “So, uh, Misty… what do you mean, ‘what’s he up to?’ Araktine? Is he… is he back?”

  “No,” the wolf said. “No. I mean whatever Cirrus is up to. He wouldn’t have let himself be captured if he didn’t already know how it was going to end.”

  Cienna was as fast as me. Normally it wouldn’t be saying much on the ground, but she was half my size. Either way we got to the source of the first scream within a few minutes.

  I stared at the ground. It wasn’t even near the edge of Sílier’s territory. I hadn’t even been there. But the sinzar’s broken body on the ground meant that someone had done something.  It might or might not have been Araktine. It definitely wasn’t me.

  Her feathers were sleek instead of fluffed like they’d normally be and looked like they were fading into her clear-blue icy body. She radiated cold, but every few seconds a wave of heat would erupt from her. The feathers started vanishing into her skin and her whole body looked like it was made of glass. Her eyes stared straight ahead. One of her wings lay twisted out the the side like it was broken. The other was oozing clear blood and looked like it had been almost torn off.