The Silver Scales

The Silver Scales Chapter 3

Qiblis old acquaintance.

It had been two days since Sunny sent for Moon, Qibli, and Sandstorm. In the past two days, Falcon had only picked on her more, further increasing her self-consciousness as well as her growing depression. Thankfully they located Sandstorm rather quickly due to Spirit saying they live in the town of Possibility. Moon and Qibli were the first to arrive, meeting Sunny and Spirit in the entrance cave. "Hey Sunny," Moon said quietly, still feeling the effect of her missing dragonet somewhat hard. Qibli wrapped his wing around Moon; not greeting his sister as he would rather be out looking for his missing dragonet than being in here on a simple hunch that their dragonet could be here.

"I know this is probably not what you would rather be doing," Sunny said noticing neither had noticed Spirit sitting a few away. "You got that right!" Qibli grumbled. "Anyone who steals a dragon I would doubt that they would be stupid enough to send them to a school where the queens themselves take notice of who attends." Qibli had small wisps of smoke coming out of his nose. It was only when Moon lifted her head to try and tell Qibli to calm down, did she notice Spirit. Locking eyes with the dragonets, seeing similarities instantly.

"Qibli," Moon said, but he was already arguing with Sunny about being here in the first place, so he did not hear her. Moon whacked him with her wing, finally catching his attention. "OW! What?!" He hissed at Moon, not angry with her per say but was still angry with Sunny. Qibli saw her looking at something and followed her line of sight, staring at Spirit with the same wide-eyed look Moon had.

"Why are you two staring at me?" Spirit asked, admittedly a little unnerved at their stares. "It... Is she..." Qibli said slowly looking back at Sunny. "I believe so, but someone or something has messed with her mind. She doesn't remember things nor does she seem to recognize the physical similarities between the three of you." Sunny explained. Sandstorm landed at the entrance of the cave, with two escorts, just in time to hear that. "Spirit come here," Sandstorm ordered.

Spirit walked over and sat beside her supposed father, looking slightly down. "What do you want from my daughter?" Sandstorm asked.  "YOUR DAUGHTER?!" Qibli shouted before Sunny could even answer. "She doesn't look anything like you!" Qibli raised his tail into a striking position. Why did this sandwing look familiar? Where did Qibli know him from?

"I adopted her from Possibilities orphanage." He said simply. "Possibly doesn't have an orphanage," Qibli said. "We were just there a few weeks ago to see if there was an orphanage. And there wasn't any." Qibli looked at Sunny. "What do you think he did to her?"

"There is a discovery called hypnosis. You can use it to alter the memories and even personalities of dragons." Sunny said. "In this case since it's not a full alteration there is a trigger that if we can find out what it is. We will be able to get Spirits memory and personality back." Sunny explained, looking at Sandstorm. "Isn't that right, Desert?"

Before the two guards could grab Desert he had grabbed Spirit, his barbed tail pointed at The dragon's heart. Causing Spirit to shriek in fear, her wide eyes looking at the barb. A deep chuckle emanated from the sandwing; The two guards moved around to his line of sight wanting to be cautious rather than risk the death of the dragonet.

"Well, well, well," Desert said. "I underestimated your stubbornness and persistence." He said to Moon and Qibli. "As well as your intelligence." He added to Sunny. "Suppose there is no point in keeping her in this state. Desert looked down at Spirit and flicked her nose.

Spirit shuddered and shook her head, blinking rapidly for a moment, looking around. "Uh.... How did I get here?" She instantly stiffened once more when she realized the situation she was in. "Now Sunny i'm sure you don't know me but you!" Desert looked at Qibli. "Recognize me now?"

"Desert." Qibli hissed. "How could I forget? You only tried to kill me several dozen times because I was getting promotions I didn't WANT." Desert laughed. "Didn't care. But since I could never get to you." he inched his tail closer to Spirit who let out a small whimper.

"Let her go! This is between me and you!" Qibli growled, Sunny tried to think of a bargain and the two guards tried to find a way to help Spirit without risking her life. 'Spirit' A voice suddenly popped into Spirit's head, causing her to lock eyes with her mother. 'I know you can hear me, I've been hearing your thoughts run through your head. We can try to distract him, but you are the one who needs to get him to let go of you' Moonwatcher thought to her daughter. 'I... I can try.' Spirit thought back.

Spirit glanced around looking for anything she could grab with her tail. But there was nothing big enough to cause any damage. "SPIRIT DUCK!!" Spirit instinctively ducked as a Frost breath blast struck Desert in the eyes, causing him to drop Spirit. However, Spirit had to grab his tail, barely managing to hold it away from her chest.

"GRAB HIM!!" Sunny shouted, the two guards immediately grabbing him and pulling his tail away from Spirit. Avalanche ran over from a tunnel, helping her up. "Are you ok Spirit?" Avalanche asked, her parents running over soon after. "Yeah..... Except for nearly being killed." She panted her eyes wide, trembling slightly.

Spirit looked at Avalanche. "Do I know you?" Avalanche looked baffled, glancing at Spirit's Parents. "What did I miss?" Moon gave a condensed version of what had happened before Sunny said. "Thank you for your help, Avalanche, If you would please tell Clay and her classmates what has happened. She will be there shortly." Sunny said gratefully.

Avalanche nodded and ran off to class. Spirit finally turned to her parents, staring at them; and being stared right back. "Are..... are you..." Spirit trailed off slightly, she had been well aware she wasn't Desert's daughter. Considering that there were no parental similarities

Moon nodded slowly, Sunny had stood back a few feet to give the trio some sort of privacy. Spirit lept into their wings, hugging her parents as the two dragons wrapped their wings around their long-lost daughter. Tears of joy in their eyes as the two guards tied up Desert and took him away for trial.

After 5 minutes of the trio hugging, Spirit pulled away. "Um... I think I'm late for class." She chuckled, wiping her tears away. "Don't worry about it," Sunny said, "You're a smart dragonet you will be able to make it up," Sunny explained. "I'll make sure the others understand everything."

"Thanks, Aunt Sunny," Spirit said with a smile. "Thanks, sis," Qibli said with a chuckle, now feeling bad for how he treated Sunny when he arrived. "We will make sure she doesn't miss too much schooling." Qibli chuckled.

Sunny nodded and hugged her brother and niece before walking off to tell her classmates what had happened. Spirit looked back at her parents, smiling as she was finally reunited with her parents. And they were finally reunited with their daughter. Everything was finally beginning to look up.

However in the middle of a shared cow, the family was eating while they were catching up, Spirit groaned loudly and clutched her head, another vision coming through. This time she could see a little more, but it didn't make any kind of logical sense. "What did you see?" Moon said once Spirit could speak again. "Nngh, I... I think I saw a seawing. It was very dark but their scales lit up!" Spirit explained. "But they looked like they had Octopus suction cups on their tail?"

"Mmmm, that's odd," Qibli said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Well for now I guess we'll just have to wait and see if anything happens," Qibli said, earning a nod from Spirit.