Fourth Wheel ||Qinter||

Chapter Two - Turtle's Secret

Moon stared down at her talons. Qibli had a really awkward secret that he thought no one knew. But Moon had mind-reading powers, so... there was no keeping secrets from her. She had just confronted Qibli about it. Qibli's face had turned red as a tomato and they just stood there, in awkward silence, none of them daring to walk away. Moon guiltily wrapped her tail around one of her hind legs. It wasn't every day that you found out that your best friend was bi, and he had an enormous crush on a dragon from the enemy tribe. "So..." Qibli mumbled awkwardly. "You know about... me? Liking Winter?"
Moon nodded. "Yeah. I just wanted to be transparent with you. And I guess I am now, because you know my big secret."
"Of course," Qibli said. "Mind reading? Trusting one of your friends with that kind of secret is no big deal, Moon."
"I guess so." Moon agreed. "Well, what do you want me to do?"
"Huh?" Qibli asked, puzzled.
"Well," Moon explained. "I have mind-reading powers, and you have a crush."
"Ah." Qibli finally realised. A mischievous grin began to spread across his freckled, golden snout. "I get it."

Winter lumbered through the cave tunnels of Jade Mountain Academy, feeling like a big, useless, MudWing. How could he forget to wear the spine brace? He grabbed the black spine brace and clipped it into his large, crooked spines. The black stone of the brace felt cool and comfortable against his pale back. He'd have to wear it everyday for the rest of the year, otherwise his wonky spines from Icicle's rough behaviour would never heal. Luckily for him, spine-braces weren't nearly as bad as tooth-braces, and even so, his spine brace was made of a rare black rock that occasionally fell from the sky, and was only accessible by IceWing royalty. It had been a rare, precious stone in the past, because it had been thought to shield the mind from NightWing mind-readers. Although NightWing powers had been exposed as a myth, the immense value of the stone had lived on.

"Now I'll never be able to know if Winter likes me back!" Qibli wailed.
"Stop being dramatic, Qibli." Moon scolded. "I'm sure you can get through you time at Jade Mountain Academy like any other normal dragonet who doesn't have a friend who can read minds."
"You see, Moon, I'm a bit of an introvert-" Qibli started.
Moon suppressed a giggle. "That's a lie, if I've ever heard one."
"Yes, I'm so very funny," Qibli announced sarcastically.
"I've never seen a dragon with a bigger head than yours," Moon snorted.
"No, but seriously." Qibli said. "We need to find a way to get into his mind."
"But I don't know what's protecting him!" Moon said, frustrated. "The only other time I've felt something like this is- is..." Her voice trailed off.
"Is...?" Qibli prompted.
"Is with Turtle," Moon finished. "We have to speak with Turtle.'

When they entered the Jade Winglet cave, Turtle was sitting on the floor, rubbing one of his leg muscles with a small pebble.
"Hey, Turtle," Moon said.
Turtle jumped and dropped his pebble. "Hi!" He squeaked, his voice an octave too high.
"Yeah," Qibli said awkwardly. "Hi! We were wondering if you could help us with something."
"Sure thing!" Turtle said, smiling. "What do you need?"
"Well," Moon said, taking a deep breath. "I can read minds. Well, I can read most minds. But your mind is protected. How?"
"I'm not sure," Turtle said, fidgeting with his golden armband nervously. "I don't know. But- follow me."
Turtle led them into a storage closet with lots of metal shelves in it. "I'm an animus," he blurted suddenly, as soon as the door closed. "I'm an animus," he repeated. "I don't remember enchanting anything to protect me from mind-reading, but it might've been a side-effect of something else." He backed away from the other two dragonets, tripping on a part of the stone floor that jutted out. His golden, black-stone studded armband got caught on the corner of the shelf, and as it slipped off his arm, Moon caught it. She was thrown into a pool of eerie, staticky silence, and gasped as she threw the armband to the floor.
"It's the armband," Moon whispered. "The armband protects from mind-reading."
Turtle sat up and rubbed a bruise with the small pebble he had been holding earlier, and the bruise vanished. "But I never enchanted that necklace!" He said.
"Wait," Qibli said, picking up the armband. "These black stones. Winter has a spine brace made of the same material."
"Why are we discussing Winter all of a sudden?" Turtle asked, confused.
"You'll see," Qibli replied, blushing. The he turned to Moon and confidently said, "That's why you can't read Winter and Turtle's minds. Because of this black stone."
Moon nodded, and Turtle said, "I call it Skyfire, by the way. So just call it Skyfire. It's a cool name."
"Yes, it is." Qibli agreed, examining the stone. "Any idea of how to get it off Winter?"