The Mystery of Jade Mountain | A WOF Fanfiction | Paused

Chapter 1

Sandwasp hurried along the hallway, her chest in hand. She'd hoped that she would get even a little time to pack for Jade Mountain Academy properly, but no, her mother was rushing her around as usual, telling her to make sure her brother was packed, and that everyone was ready. In the chaos of it all, Queen Thorn had told her to check on the kitchens and make sure the dinner for the leaving dragons was ready.

A thrill ran through her as she thought of Jade Mountain Academy. Where she'd meet other dragons, from different tribes, rather than just seeing the same pale golds of SandWings every single day. Not that there was anything wrong with that — Sandwasp loved her tribe, she just though it would be awesome meeting RainWings and SkyWings and IceWings. And learning all about Pyrrhia's history — that was something she was really exited about. Too bad she had to wait a whole day before she — and her fellow SandWing students — could even begin flying to Jade Mountain, which would take about half a day, according to her mother, Arizona.

"Sandwasp!" a large, paler white-gold SandWing with diamond patterns running down her neck was suddenly standing in front of her. Sandwasp skidded to a stop and hissed in alarm. Her mother eyed her up and down, frowning slightly at the black scales dotted over Sandwasp like she always did.

Like always, Sandwasp stared back, trying not to show any emotion. She was the only dragon in SandWing history — as far as she knew — that was an extremely pale, almost white, gold with scattered black scales. Some SandWings had black diamond patterns going down their sides, but nobody had scales like Sandwasp, which made her unique, as her friend Fennec said.

"Yes, Mother?" Sandwasp already guessed what Arizona was going to say; she didn't need to be told a third time.

"Get some rest," Arizona said instead, making Sandwasp jump. She was expecting to be told to check on her brother, Scorch, which she was already on her way to do. They shared a room, so she'd decided to take a chest from her father's room to pack her things — so she could keep an eye on Scorch while she did it.

"Really?" Sandwasp checked, still startled. Arizona nodded.

"Yes, you've been working hard all day," her mother pointed out. "Go pack and then you can sleep. Help Scorch with his things, too. We'll all meet in the courtyard tomorrow morning, crack of dawn, to fly to Jade Mountain. If you're not there then I will come and bite you to wake you up."

Sandwasp nodded. That was her mother — fierce but kind, all at once, though it didn't sound or look like it much. Arizona picked her way past her and Sandwasp continued, balancing the chest on her back while using her wings to try and keep it there.

She approached her room and peeked inside. Scorch was sitting beside his chest, nosing at scrolls and his weird little rocks and shells. Sandwasp entered the room and put her chest down beside his.

"Hey," she greeted him, heading over to where her scrolls were. She picked them all up and sauntered back over to Scorch.

"Hi Sandwasp," Scorch said, selecting a couple of scrolls and dropping them in the chest. "Are you bringing any treasure? Because I don't know if it's a good idea or not."

Sandwasp shrugged. She dropped the scrolls and started sorting through them. "Maybe. But some dragons might try to steal them, and you don't know how trustworthy your clawmate could be."

"I'll just bring the ones I don't want to lose," Scorch decided and padded away to the small chest where he kept his jewels. He brought back a gold armband inlaid with obsidian, a small turquoise dragon and a gold earring studded with more obsidian. He chucked them into the chest.

Sandwasp chose her scrolls and put the rest back in her scroll rack. She sorted through her small amount of treasure and chose a gold necklace with an obsidian pendant, a gold ring with obsidian stones, a large gold earring with more obsidian and a bracelet make of full obsidian, with streaks of gold and silver running through it. She dropped it in the chest with her scrolls.