Ice at Midnight: A Winterwatcher Fanfic

❄️Chapter 19: Unlocked❄️

  A shrill gasp jolted Winter awake, his foggy eyes barely registering the multicolored blob in front of him as Kinkajou. It wasn't for a few moments that he realized why she'd gasped, or how much of an imbecile he'd been letting Moon sleep on his ledge last night.

  The IceWing tried to sit up, but he was facing the outer edge of his bed, and being a little out of balance having just woken up, he toppled over onto the floor in a shameful heap.

  "Kinkajou, please don't-" he started, already knowing what was racing through the grinning RainWing's head. 

  The tiny dragon turned and scrambled out of the cave, calling for Sparrow, surely to tell her what she'd just seen.

  "Do that," he muttered with a heavy sigh. He felt a sickening feeling in his chest, knowing he'd already been enough of a moron to give away his and Moon's secret so early. Of course Kinkajou would've seen; she was always in everyone's business.

  Winter turned around and saw that very NightWing blinking her tired eyes open, sitting up with a yawn on his icy ledge.

  "Hey, Winter," she said. Then, she obviously noticed how worried he must've looked, then her face turned to a mask of disappointment and horror; she must've heard his thoughts. "Not already..." 

  "Yep. Already," he replied. "Any second now, the entirety of our winglet is going to come barging in here...you think we should just get all of these secrets out of the way? If Kinkajou found out about this, one of them is bound to discover your powers eventually, and you can't keep passing those pains in your head off as 'headaches'."

  Moon just sighed. "Might as well. The only reason I will, though, is because I know at least you won't hate me after I tell them...oh, moons...what's my mother going to say? She doesn't want me with an IceWing romantically, and she'll probably kill me if I give away my secret..."

  "Guess we both have parental units who will end us if they find out about any of this," he replied with a thin-lipped smile. "Mine actually will, though."

  "Yeah, one more thing...did you see that sort of...smokey stuff near the roof of our cave last night?"

  This alarmed him. He hadn't noticed anything, but if it was smoke...

  "What color was it?" he asked.

  "Blue," Moon said quietly.

  There was no need to express what Winter realized, as he knew she had realized it too. Whatever the prophecy was trying to convey, it was coming true. Quickly, at that. Even if they had wanted to talk about it, they wouldn't have been able to at the time, because exactly as he'd predicted, Kinkajou came back into their cave, followed by Sparrow, Karma, Qibli, Carnelian, and Turtle. All of them had looks on their faces demanding an explanation for what the RainWing had seen. 

  "So," Qibli said, wasting no time in prodding the said explanation, "spill it. What's going on with you two?"

  Winter took a quick glance at all of them, and the only one bearing a look besides curiosity was Karma, disappointment and sadness evident on her expression. This only added to the feeling of guilt multiplying like a cancerous growth inside of him.

  "All you guys need to know is last night, after the dance, things were said and done, and now me and Moon are together," Winter said, cutting straight to the point. "I'm not getting into the details, and if any of you tell this to someone outside of our little circle," he warned, fixing each of them with a cold glare, "I'll personally make sure you are equally paid back. In different ways each time."

  "Uh, how much, exactly, will be equal if that does happen?" Turtle asked.

  Winter grinned. "However much I want it to be. So don't."