Wings of Fire - Eclipse Burning (1)

Chapter 14

Eclipse bent her neck, pushing her face against the underside of his chin. They both knew she couldn't stop him if he tried anything. 

"I knew NightWings couldn't be trusted, but I was starting to think maybe you were different. Clearly I was wrong." he said to Eclipse. He stalked out of the cave. 

Eclipse felt a strange pang of hurt blossom in her chest where she could still feel the cold of his scales. She hated that Qibli noticed her hurt expression over everything.  

Moon buried her face in her talons, shaking. Eclipse let her wings fall and stumbled as she turned. Kinkajou reached for her hesitantly. The doubt in Kinkajou's mind - of all dragons - made Moon feel even worse. 

Eclipse staggered to her side and rested a wing over her back, leaning against Moon as she had a wave of dizziness. 

I don't understand, Qibli was thinking, and that was clearly an unfamiliar and uncomfortable experience for him. His brain kept circling all the possibilities. . . including the truth, but he kept shying away from it. Eclipse knew it wouldn't be long before he came to it, though. 

But he wasn't the first one there.

"Three moons," Turtle said. Glowing lines lit up along his wings and neck, making him shimmer eerily in the dark cave. He took a deep breath, staring at them with wide eyes. Eclipse winced. 

"It was a vision, wasn't it? You can see the future." 

Kinkajou gasped. "No way," she whispered. 

Admit nothing. Darkstalker advised. 

Eclipse clenched her jaw and looked to Moon. 

Stay secret, stay hidden, stay safe, they're mother's mantra echoed in both their minds. 

There didn't seem to be any chance of that now. 

Moon looked down at her talons and nodded. Eclipse breathed out. A sigh of relief. 

"What?" Kinkajou cried. "What else have you seen? Anything about me?" 

"When did you know?" Qibli asked, taking a step back, away from the sisters. But all the powers are supposed to be gone! So who's lying to us - the prophecy dragonets, the NightWings, or Moon?  Or all of them? "About the explosion - how long did you know without telling anyone?"

Eclipse hated the look of fear that danced in his eyes. 

"We just saw it," Moon said. "It was right before class - sometimes the visions come months before something happens, sometimes only a few minutes. I never know. . . It's not like a helpful power." 

"We?" Turtle echoed, looking at Eclipse. Qibli looked at her too and she breathed deeply before nodding.

"But it is helpful," Kinkajou said, bewildered. Monkeys and mangoes, I'd love to be able to see the future! "You saved us." 

Maybe they could have saved the others, too, Qibli thought, if they'd told us it was a vision. If we'd known what was going to happen, we could have stopped them. If she'd told the truth - if we'd known about her power beforehand -  

She saw Carnelian in his head, tangled up in his guilt that he should have tried harder to stop her from going in. 

"Would you have believed me?" Moon asked him. "If I told you I'd had a vision?" 

"I would have," Kinkajou said, wounded, and Eclipse realized that was true.

"Who else knows you can do this?" Qibli asked. "Can all the NightWings see the future?"