Qibli x reader: Chasing Stars

Chapter 21

I screamed, completely sure the rock spearing towards the IceWing would impale her through the head. Any control over the thoughts in my head spiraled away from me in the sound of terrified screams from everyone in the cave.

'Then she'll be dead, dead dead.' Sang a voice in my head through the chaos. I shuddered, 'How horrible!'

But Icicle twisted out of the way at the last moment, and the stalactite shattered against the ground.

There was nothing but pure shock for a full minute.

'Oh, that's interesting. In most futures I saw, that worked and she died. This changes... many things.' Darkstalker mused, and I collapsed from my nerves and from the shock.

Out of the haze of my fear and the chaos of other dragon's thoughts, I saw Winter run over to Icicle. I could hear Icicle's fury and disbelief from all the way over here. 'Who DARED to attack me?'

I lifted my head weakly and looked around to find that Marsh, Umber, and Sora had fled with most of the other dragons. A few moments later, no one was left in the prey center except the two IceWings, Qibli, me, Moon (Who was with Winter, of course), and Clay who had also rushed to Icicle's side.

"By all the moons," Clay cried. "How did that happen? Are you all right?"

"No!" Icicle roared, lashing her tail angrily. Moon pressed closer to Winter. "Someone tried to kill me!"

'The niece of Queen Glacier.' Qibli thought, and then reprimanded himself. 'Not the time Qibli.'

Qibli noticed me pressed against the floor and helped me up. "You okay?" He asked. "Yes, just terrified." I whispered. 'It's okay, little sister.' Moon thought.

"What?" Clay looked up at the other stalactites. "But - no - sure that was an accident, how - and who -"

"That was no accident." Winter said, pointing grimly at the spot where the fallen stalactite had hung. Claw marks were clearly visible in the rock, as if someone had scraped painstakingly though the spire until it had been barely suspended, ready to fall at the lightest touch.

"But who-" Clay said again, searching his brain. 'She's unfriendly, but not bad enough to kill.'

"I'll tell you what else!" Icicle spat. "That bomb yesterday was probably meant for me, too. I'm  the target. Someone was trying to kill me, and I'm going to find whoever it is and turn them into a glittering ice statue, which I will then beat into smithereens with my tail."

'Icicle was the target all along?' Qibli and me exchanged looks.

If she was right, what did that mean? Qibli's brain was rapidly organizing the students into possible categories of IceWing enemies, but I already felt like I knew who all this evidence pointed to.

"You can't do that, and that's impossible anyway." Clay said again. "No one could have known who'd be in the cave when the cactus exploded. We think it was set to happen before class started, so there was no guarantee that you'd be in there then. If it was an assassination attempt against you, wouldn't they have made sure you were there?"

"I was supposed to be." Icicle hissed, and I stiffened. "I'd planned to go early because I needed one of the scrolls. Just by luck, I decided to go by the underground lake first. Otherwise, I would have been in the history cave and I would now be dead."

"So who knew that?" Winter asked. "That would narrow it down. Did you tell anyone you were planning to go early?"

Icicle snapped her jaw shut and stared at him and Clay. Her pale blue eyes glittered, and I heard the words I had been dreading.