One True Queen: A Wings of Fire fanfiction

57.

"Darling! You're okay!" Dad throws his wings around me, crushing me in a hug as soon as my talons hit the floor—and he's hugging me so tight I can barely breathe, before I have time to process my mother's fury. "You have no idea how worried we were. We thought he'd taken you."

"Constellation and I, um..." I clear my throat, gently pushing him away. "Went for some fresh air. It gets pretty boring, being stuck in here all day, you know?" I hate lying to them, but I don't have any other option.

"You can't just disappear without telling us."

"Actually," I say, impatience starting to show in my voice. "I'm nine years old, I can do as I please."

"I don't get it. We're one room over, Gaze—if you're going to break the rules, at least tell me first."

"Well—" I exchange a glance with Epiphany.

"We just wanted to talk," Epiphany says. "Just, uh. The two of us. I get nervous around here, trapped in a box 24/7. I like the open space." She clears her throat. "We didn't want to bug you."

"Dad—what did you mean, you were worried he'd take us?" I ask abruptly, furrowing my brow.

"It's just—something I heard," Mom says quietly. "Someone's husband—he never came back from his job. He's been missing for weeks now, and... no one had done anything. That's all. Just one dragon. Probably dead by now. It just seems like there's... missing spaces, these days."

***

In its peak, the New Star had hundreds of dragons—furious dragons, fired up and ready to go to any extent to spark a change.

So why have none of them tried to talk to me?

I have lots of time to stew on this as I start my half-hour commute up what must be thousands of stairs. Sharp-eyes, presumably, thinks this is hilarious.

I wave at a reddish-black dragon, entering a room labelled "Architecture."

"Hi! How are you?" The moment she looks over, I know she's not from the New Star. Her eyes are wide, and she freezes for a moment. Like nobody has spoken to her in a very long time.

"Fine, thank you," she says hurriedly, closing the door without even meeting my eyes.

I let out a heavy sigh.

Maybe whoever's running things now doesn't want me to take power back from them, or something? That seems probable.

I clench my jaw.

Or maybe this is all just one big game Sharp-eyes is playing. Maybe all he wants to do is lead me on.

I'm so absorbed in thought, I don't notice the dragon running back down the stairs until I've slammed into her, and knocked us both to the floor. We end up both tumbling down the stairs maybe ten feet, and she lets out a high-pitched scream.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," I say, picking myself up off the floor and offering her my talon. "I was, um—distracted."

Her midnight blue face is definitely familiar. I'd say she's a bit older than me, maybe eleven or so.

"Oh my gosh. No way. I had Biology with you, seventh year. What's your name—oh, right, Prophecy! I helped you pass a note to your boyfriend once? We dissected an owl together?" She could have New Star ties—as much as I tried, after a certain point, I had no idea who was in those crowds. At least she has no choice but to talk to me.

She blinks. Glances around, as though checking to see if anyone is looking. "Gaze?" She whispers. "You're kidding me."

"I work here. Ancient History, very top of the building. What about you?"