A Vision of Happiness: Recovery (Book 4)

Chapter 16

MINK

"Tsunami!" Sunny cried. "How- No, this can't be real! Clay, tell me that I'm dreaming!"

Clay pulled her in close, his amber eyes darkened with sadness and grief. "It's not a dream," He murmured. 

"I don't believe this," Starflight muttered. He absentmindedly reached up to the bandages over his sightless eyes. "She can't be dead. No one can kill her. Are you sure it's her?"

No one said anything.

Sunny choked out a sob. "And poor Anemone...who would want to kill them?"

Mink couldn't handle the tension anymore. She rolled into a tight ball, her wings covering her face. 

I miss you, I miss you, I miss you, She thought, fresh tears trickling down her face. Visioner, come back. The real you, not this copy who has no memory of me or your other friends. Please, come back. I need you. Anemone is dead and I'm scared that Brightness will lose her soul. 

She froze at the last thought. She hadn't even known she had been thinking of it. 

Was she just wishing for everything to end? To put the blame on someone to handle the pain?

But the back of her mind still whispered,

Brightness! Brightness is the murderer!

BRIGHTNESS

Brightness had watched the teachers mourn their friend's death for three days. A cloud of gray engulfed their other feelings, making her feel slightly distorted every time she passed one of them. 

They'd given the news to Queen Coral, who was almost hysterical that two out of her three daughters were dead, murdered by one dragon. Queen Glory had come to grieve her lost friend, and Brightness was overwhelmed with the waves of emotion that flowed from the RainWing queen.

A dragon named Riptide, who was the leader of the Talons of Peace, had burst into the academy one day, sadness and anger threatening to drown him in grief. Vowing to kill whoever had dared to kill Tsunami. 

Which was her. Evil bad guy? Not really. Tsunami had been the one to question Brightness's past. It was her own fault that she was dead. 

And Anemone? She would have spread the news faster than wildfire. No one would want Brightness then. Not even Visioner. And besides, she had been ruining her relationship with Tamarin. 

Serves them right, Brightness thought. It's better this way.

And suddenly, when the dragons who had come to replace the dead dragonets came, she wasn't sure if this really was better.