"You've seemed off this whole flight," Kestrel said.
Hare looked at her, surprised. "What do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I said," Kestrel said. "Even a blind scavenger would be able to tell you're upset."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Hare said, looking away. She didn't want to admit that Kestrel was right. Something was wrong, but how could she possibly tell Kestrel about the Place of Lost Souls or about Mystery and the Place of the Found? How could she possibly tell her about Mystery's warning?
"You can't lie to me," Kestrel said. "I raised you, Hare. Remember that."
Hare didn't have a chance to respond.
"Here comes our welcoming committee," Riptide called. Hare spotted a formation of green and blue dragons - fifteen or more - flying toward them, hissing and teeth bared.
"Stop and hover," Hare said quietly to Kestrel.
"That's the advance guard," Riptide explained. He swung in a slow circle around the group and stopped in front again, facing the incoming dragons. "They make sure no one even gets close to the Summer Palace."
The formation of guards soon surrounded them, hissing and beating their wings hard.
"Rririptide," growled the dragon in the lead. His scales were a green so dull it was almost gray, like stone where moss had been scraped away. He had tiny bone-pale eyes that never seemed to blink under a knobbly protruding forehead, and his horns twisted strangely toward each other. Hare noticed that, unlike Riptide, the new dragon had no battle scars. Which either meant he stayed away from the fighting - or he was a very skilled fighter.
"Spare me, Shark," Riptide said. "I've got something Queen Coral will want to see. I've found the missing princess."
Murmurs of shock ran through the SeaWings, but Shark didn't look impressed.
"Or so you say," he snarled. He flapped closer to Tsunami and circled her. "You, Riptide, of all dragons? And we're to just trust that this is the daughter my sister has been missing for the past six years?"
"Sister?" Hare said, swinging her head around to look at Tsunami. "Tsunami, this is your uncle!" Tsunami didn't say anything but she shot Hare an "Oh really?" look.
"Where's your evidence that you come from the royal hatchery?" Shark demanded, poking at Tsunami's side.
Tsunami nudged him away. "What, you expect a golden crown or a box of jewelry?" she snapped.
"You want evidence?" Riptide said, flying up between Shark and Tsunami. He nudged Tsunami lightly with his elbow. "Light up your wings."
Doing as she was told, Tsunami lit up her wings. Underneath them, the luminescent stripes formed spirals around the outer edges. starbursts shaped like webbed dragon footprints branched away from the lines in the middle. The other SeaWings lit up their wings. They had smaller starbursts and no spirals. Only Shark's patterns matched her own.
It must be a royal thing.
"See?" Riptide said. "I told you; she's the long lost daughter of Queen Coral."
Shark let out a long hissing breath. "Very well," he said. "Bring her and kill the others."
"No!" Hare yelled before any dragon could move. "Nobody lay a single claw on them!"
A SeaWing by her gasped in awe. "You, you're Burn's daughter!"
"Meaning," Riptide snapped, "that she's Blister's niece. I advise you do as she says."
"How did you manage to find two such important dragons?" Shark demanded, glaring at Riptide.
"He didn't find us," Tsunami said. "I found him."
Shark laughed. "Well, I must say I'm not surprised." Riptide looked down in embarrassment. Shark raised a talon and made a circling motion with a claw. The guards backed away.
"There's one purpose for us being here," Tsunami said. "Bring us to my mother."
"The queen is conducting business in the Deep Palace," Shark explained. "We'll bring you to the Summer Palace, where you can wait for her to return."
He made another talon signal and two of the SeaWings broke away from the rest of the group. They dove into the water and disappeared beneath the waves. Tsunami seemed to glow a little with joy. Hare smiled. They're bringing the message to her mother. She'll meet her parents today.
"Follow us," Shark said. He shot a look at the others. "And warn your littler group of friends to not step out of line. We won't hesitate to kill them."
With that, Shark took off flying. The group followed with the guards close behind them and some closing in on the side. Islands flashed by below them as they flew on. Some of the islands were small patches of sand, barely big enough for one dragon to land on, and others were towering, jagged rocks shooting out of the water. Ahead, Hare saw one that looked like a huge dragon skeleton, with holes and gaps all through the pale stone.
The stone skeleton's nose pointed toward another island, this one ringed with forbidding-looking rocks and presenting only a high, sheer cliff face on all sides. The top was a rioting jungle. Thick green vines and trees pressed so close together that there was not a single spot clear enough to land on.
"Hope you all can swim," Shark called. He swerved and dove toward the base of the cliff. He splashed down between two spiraling rocks, sharp and evenly matched like dragon horns, and vanished into the water.
"You've got to be kidding," Hare groaned. "Swimming?"
"Riptide says it's a short swim," Starflight said. "It was redesigned for Queen Blister to visit."
"Deep breaths everyone!" Tsunami called before following Riptide into the water. Hare stuck close to the others as they dove into the water. A fizz of bubbles nearly blinded her, but she kept Kestrel close and made sure Clay and Starflight's tails were always in sight.
The group pushed past a golden kelp curtain aside. Water rushed into Hare's eyes. She squeezed them shut and grabbed onto the nearest tail in front of her. She allowed the dragon in front of her to guide her through the currents, keeping a tight hold on their tail.
The dragon in front of her suddenly veered upward. Hare angled herself to follow. Suddenly Hare's head popped up into air. She opened her eyes and gasped for breath. She released her grip on the dragon's tail, who turned out to be Clay.
"Blindfolds off," Riptide said. "We're stopping for breath, and we're already in the tunnel. There's no way you'll be able to know where we are."
Glory pulled off Clay's blindfold while Starflight pulled off Sunny's. Hare sliced her claws through the back of Kestrel's blindfold. The seaweed slipped off her eyes and dropped into the water.
"Quickly," Riptide said. "Take your breaths, we need to get moving."
Kestrel raised her talon out of the water and stretched her claws like she was examining them. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I can stand going a little longer without meeting anymore SeaWings."
"I can't," Tsunami said, thrumming her wings. "I want to meet the other dragons of my tribe!"
"Keep your claws on," Starflight said. "The palace isn't going anywhere. It hasn't for the past . . . how many years?"
"2,000," Riptide replied. "The Summer Palace has stayed where it is for the past 2,000 years,"
"2,000 years and still no one's found the place," Glory said with a small chuckle. "Impressive."
Another SeaWing popped up into the small cavern. "Let's go," she said.
Riptide followed her back beneath the water. Hare grabbed hold of Clay's tail again as he followed the others under. She blindly followed as he swam through the tunnel. Every now and then they'd pop up into another cavern to get some air. Hare couldn't remember ever being more grateful to breathe in her life.
Except for maybe when -
No. Hare quickly put the thoughts of the fights with Hvitur out of her mind. She couldn't think about that, not now. It felt wrong to think about the things Hvitur did now that he was dead. A dead dragon was supposed to be honored, remembered for the good things they did. Hare felt horrible for only thinking about the mistakes he made.
At the final cavern, Riptide got all their attention focussed on him.
"Don't expect a welcome party," he warned. "The others won't exactly be happy to see a SkyWing and MudWing in the Summer Palace. May only the moons know how they'll react to a NightWing."
He didn't give them a chance to respond. Riptide dove back into the water. Before he followed, Clay flicked Hare with his tail beneath the water.
"Try to keep your eyes open for the final go," he teased, then followed into the water. Hare giggled and went after him. She kept a light hold on his tail but kept her eyes open. The final swim was short. Then suddenly, finally, there was light ahead - real light, not glowing scales. A moment later they swam out of the tunnel into an open lake, lifted their heads above the water, and breathed in deeply. Green-tinted sunlight dazzled their eyes at first, but as her vision cleared, Hare saw dragons.
Over a hundred blue and green dragons surrounded them. All eyes were on them .As they rose up out of the water, Hare twisted her head to look around. They had arrived.
They were in the heart of the Kingdom of the Sea.