“The place was bombed too.” Aurora reported.
“What?” I asked. “All the dragons, gone too?”
“Yeah.” Sawyer said. “It didn’t look like there was any remains of them, though.”
“Yeah, because the bomb disintegrated them!” Aurora said. I shuddered. And then I felt really mad. How could they do that? Just disintegrate all the dragons? Dragons were kind of like your pet dog but a lot smarter. Why would you kill a dog/dragon? For what, too? For revenge? What did they ever do to the bomber?
Sawyer must have noticed I was getting really mad because he punched my shoulder and told me to listen. I huffed but listened to the rest of the story.
“In the crater, there was the same note. I know.” Aurora said. “Oh, and sorry.”
“You should be!” I yelled. “Because of you, a dozen innocent dragons were blown to smithereens!"
Aurora’s face fell. “I said sorry! I didn’t know what was going on, and I did my best to be discreet, but-”
“Saying sorry isn’t going to revive those dragons!” I said. I was no longer yelling, just speaking with emphasis.
“I know! And I did what I did! I can’t go back! So stop yelling at me and focus on what you should be focusing on! We don’t know that the person that bombed us was the same one I saw.”
“All right, everyone shut up and stop arguing. Let Emerald tell her story,” Rin said.
As Emerald recounted what happened while she was in the forest, I tried to order who would be the most helpful.
- Me. I wouldn’t live without myself.
- Sawyer. He was my best friend and really resourceful. His visions were also helpful.
- Aurora and Rin are tied for third. Aurora did well with those wolves and she has a dragon. I’m a little worried at how she sometimes gets herself in danger, like with that baby dragon. And when she stupidly spied on that person. Rin might be grumpy, but she knows how to fight and take care of herself.
- Emerald. She has little to no survival skills and could get lost in a big open field. She was probably spoiled before coming to Hekate.
“Storm?” Rin said.
I stopped myself from nodding. “What?” I asked instead.
“What do you think?” She didn’t seem to like repeating herself, but I had no clue what was going on.
“I think,” I said very slowly, “that we should do it.”
She glared at me. “That wasn’t what I was asking about. You weren’t listening! I asked about what you think we should do! I wonder why I even bother.”
“Okay, okay.” I said. “Well,” I began, “we should try to see if any other people dwell on the moons. You know, get a lay of the land.”
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“And how would we do that? Only two of us have adult dragons?” Rin asked.
“Um,” I started, but she cut me off.
“And do you remember what happened the last time we searched for this stuff? Two facilities got blown up!”
“Well, I don't hear you suggesting anything!” I retorted.
“I did! I only asked if anyone had any other ideas!” She glared at me intensely.
“Storm, why are you fighting with everyone?” Sawyer asked. “First Aurora, now Rin.”
“Actually, she was fighting with me. I just responded,” I said.
“But still! I know you’re upset about those dragons…”
“So what if I am? Is it wrong to be upset about them dying?”
“No! It’s just not a good idea to take it out on other people!”
I huffed. I had enough of these people. I swung onto Willows’ back and he started flying. Believe or not, I sort of liked how small Willows was. He called me.
“You’re not at all disturbed by the dragons dying a fiery death?” I asked him.
He stayed quiet for a while before responding with,
“How old are you?”
I felt another wave of frustration, which was then intensified at my frustration for getting frustrated! Once we left the atmosphere of Hekate, I felt calmer. Here there was no one, or no humans, really. And besides, how many people get to say they rode an actual dragon into space? Without a space suit? He suggested.
“What’s that?” I asked. I didn’t want to seem stupid but I really had no clue. He could’ve meant this solar system’s sun.
“Would that affect the tides in any way? Because Earth has one moon and that one affects the tides, and Hekate has three.”
He let out a wheezy laugh.
“Are there dragons on Earth?”
I stayed quiet until a new question popped into my mind. “How do they control the tide?”
Willows turned upside down. I was terrified but didn’t fall off.
“Oh, well fine.” My voice came out kind of strained from fear. Willows turned over again and I could breathe easier.
We landed on Ateria and I slipped off Willows. “Do you know what we’re looking for?” He shot me a glance and I got the message. No more questions.
We wandered for a little bit. Then I heard a steady and I knew what it was. It was Aurora on Snow. I sighed heavily. Still facing away, I paused and felt a cold rush of air as they landed. I hoped she wasn’t mad at me. She was always nicer to me than anyone else. Besides Sawyer, of course.
“Storm!” She called. I said nothing. “What are you doing?”
“I’m checking the moons. I told you before.” I said.
“But why? Why can’t we all make a plan?”
“Because Rin is so mean to me!” I say. “She always argues with me, and when we practice together, she always hits way too hard for ‘practice.’ She doesn’t like me and I don’t know why.”
“She doesn’t like anyone. To her, it’s always been about her number one.”
I sighed. “But why me? She seems to like you and Emerald more. I mean, she does hate Sawyer more than me, of course.”
“She’s just a naturally distrustful person. And besides, you’re a friend of Sawyer and maybe she doesn’t like you by association.”
I smiled. “So are you going to help me look or not?”
“All right.” We walked around and she pointed out the pole I missed. There was actually no wind on the moon Asteria, much like ours, so when me and Aurora looked around, we could see where her footprints once were.
So then we moved onto Persephone. None there. However, we did see what looked like dragon prints (kind of like a tortoise's.) When we arrived on [ moon name 3 ] , it felt off, like something didn’t belong…
We did see dragon footprints on the outside of human footprints, like a dragon was following a human. Weird. We assumed that meant that someone was here, though we couldn’t be sure.
We reported back to the rest of the group, and Rin still looked miffed. And I learned something about Aurora, too. She was smart.