Wings of Fire as Humans: Jade Preparatory Academy

Chapter Four: Sunny Roadrunner

Qibli was acting incredibly strange. First, he kept ignoring Sunny completely, which never happened, and even if paying attention to her meant she'd get mocked three times in less than a minute, it was still better than being ignored. Second, he hadn't said anything insulting about anyone in the past minute, which was even stranger than not paying attention to a conversation. Third, his gaze kept traveling between their mother and a random spec of grass in the middle of Glory's yard. And now, he was crouched next to the random spec of grass staring at it in horror.

"Are you okay?" Sunny asked him.

Qibli ignored her. "Mom!" he shouted across the yard.

The yard went quiet.

Thorn frowned at him. "What now? Is the pool about to overflow because you - "

"I found a bomb and it's about to go off in - " he looked at the spec of grass again " - thirty-eight seconds!"

Sunny sucked in a breath and backed away until she bumped into Kinkajou.

Thorn didn't ask questions. She simply came over and crouched down next to him, gaping at the apparent bomb.

"Qibli! What . . ."

"My Weapon," he explained.

"Everyone evacuate," Thorn commanded. "Immediately. It's not big enough to destroy anything but the yard."

Sunny turned around and ran into the building, trusting her mother to handle it. Thorn was amazing at handling disasters; it was why she was a social worker.

"What if the bomb blows up the building," Starflight fretted, falling into step beside her.

"Mom's always right about these things," Sunny reminded him.

Starflight didn't seem assured. "But what if it kills her?"

Sunny paused. She twisted her Weapon anxiously, then tried to put on a brave face for Starflight. "She'll be fine." I hope.

"Why are you all coming inside my house?" Grandeur Paradise inquired angrily. "Wasn't Kinkajou's party supposed to be outside?"

"There's a bomb," Winter Icestorm informed her. Winter had been Qibli's best friend since kindergarten, and he'd made friends with the rest of their group in third grade. Now, he spent more time at the Sizzle Mansion than the Icestorm one. (both their families were extremely rich, but Winter's was snobby and rude. So was Sunny's stepsister, Onyx Sizzle, but she spent all her free time locked up in her room, leaving the rest of the house to Sunny and her friends).

"A bomb?" Grandeur shrieked. "In my yard?"

"Yes," Winter said calmly, as though bombs were in his friends' yards every day.

"Are you okay?" Tsunami asked, coming up beside her and Starflight.

Sunny rolled her eyes. She loved her friends, but sometimes they treated her like a little sister. They talked over her and acted like she didn't have any opinions. And made fun of her height. Just because she was a tenth grader less than five feet tall didn't mean she was useless.

"I'm fine, Tsu," she said, letting the exasperation creep into her voice. "It's everyone else I'm worried about."

Tsunami glanced around at their crowd of friends, looking just as worried as Sunny was.

"I don't see Riptide," Starflight announced. "You wouldn't be worrying about him, perhaps?"

"Oh, maybe I should ask you what you're doing with Sunny," Tsunami retorted. She huffed and walked away.

Starflight flushed. "Oh, um . . . bye!" he said quickly to Sunny before hurrying farther into the mansion.

Sunny glanced behind her. Other than Thorn, who was just stepping through the door, she was the last person inside.

At which point, the bomb went off.