The Sky Lands: Cursed

Chapter 12: Sunrise

  When Amber awoke, light was dripping into the cave. Slowly, the cave brightened. Amber looked around. Everyone was asleep, except for Shimmerwings, who sat with creases under her eyes as she watched everyone from her place at the edge of the cave, next to the large metal bucket. 

  Shimmerwings saw Amber and smiled. She waved a talon, and Amber stood up. Shimmerwings bounded out of the cave, and she followed. 

  Amber was hit by a blast of sunlight, just above the horizon. Shimmerwings sat right next to the tunnel entrance, staring out at the sun. 

  "Isn't it beautiful?" Shimmerwings said. Amber sighed and nodded. "Do you like my bandage job?" 

  Amber looked down at her right wing. It was wrapped with clean, white bandages, and only the start of her wing had visible orange scales. "Yeah," She said. "But why did I... me and Faith... we...."

  "Fell unconscious? Well, Faith woke up last night, and apparently both you and her had something given to you by Ms. Bell. Thanks to the book Borealis brought, Medications for Creatures, I found out that she gave you a combination of Dragon Root and Sky Berries. They are used as food on their own, but when combined, they can be formed into pellets which can knock a dragon unconscious in exactly one day and two hours. Dragons and phoenixes, it seems." Shimmerwings said.

  Then, Amber saw Shimmerwings' eyes light up with realization. "Ms. Bell hates you three, right?" She asked. Amber nodded. "Well, at the time you went out, you would've been in classes! Your teachers would get mad at you because you were sleeping, and give you detention! That's one smart dragon, I'll give her that."

  "That makes sense. But there must be plenty of other students she hates. Why us?" Amber asked. Did Ms. Bell know something about Amber and her friends?

  "I don't know. But... my father would be able to figure that out. He was very smart." For a moment, Shimmerwings' scales changed. All of them were green, a rich, light green, like the color of leaves and nettles. Shimmerwings' pupils, now back to their usual size, grew again. And, as fast as the color had appeared, it had returned to Shimmerwings' normal splotches of colors. 

  But it wasn't her normal colors. Her purple scales had shifted slightly downwards, and her pink slightly upwards. Amber knew she was seeing things. 

  "You must miss your parents," Amber said. Shimmerwings' eyes turned dull and distant. "I-I'm sorry, Shimmerwings, I-"

  "No, it's okay," Shimmerwings said, cutting Amber off. "Of course I miss them. Wouldn't you?" She asked. 

  "Well, my father left when I was six, and my mother is... she can be mean," Amber said. "But they still take care of me and give me things. I would never leave them."

  "Parents can be like that," Shimmerwings said. "They don't treat you well, but you know you have to stay because of what happens when you leave.

  "I hated leaving my mother and father. And especially when I left them right after my brother died." 

  Amber jerked around. Coral stood behind them. "Sorry to interrupt," Coral said quickly. "But everyone is waking up. And Borealis wants to tell you something."

  Shimmerwings nodded to Amber, signaling that she could go. Amber walked down the tunnel nervously, wondering what the Prince would tell her. She stopped at the edge of the cave, where Shimmerwings had been sleeping, to see Borealis pacing excitedly. 

  "Coral told me that you wanted to talk with me. Do you?" Amber asked. Borealis nodded. 

  "Yes! I got up right after you left with Shimmerwings and started reading. Turns out, dragons with Curse of the Skies can see things through other Cursed dragon's eyes! But only ones they've seen before. Only the most powerful ones can see through ones they've never seen. And even that takes months of practice!" He added.