The Prince of Night and Rain

Chapter 15

This is an OC who won't appear in this book, but I love her. This is Polaris. She is the second sister of Darkstalker, older by mere seconds as she hatched under the same 3 moons as he did and has the same powers but uses them in a much wiser way than him. She was taken by a vengeful NightWing when she was an egg but raised with love and care from her kidnapper/Mother and loves her younger twin "brothers." She used to go by "Winterseer," but I thought Polaris fits her better.

Also, sorry for my long absence. I have not been doing well mentally speaking. I'm still not fully back, but this chapter was almost done anyway, so why not?

"You can... what?" Scrollreader asked as she yanked her talons out of his. 

Oh no, he thought as he saw Scrollreader's face twist into horror. "Read minds, slightly see the future..." 

She looked more horrified with each word he spoke. He sighed, dropping his head. "I'll stop talking now..."

"Have you been in my head this whole time?" She asked, a talon over her snout, her mind racing. He tried to block it out.

"Not, the whole time," he admitted. "but periodically, when I lose my focus, I dipped in. It's hard concentrating on not accidentally looking into another's mind."

"Oh, Moons... what did you hear?" She asked. 

"Well, that my voice was nice-sounding..." She began to look more concerned. "Listen, what I heard doesn't matter. The point is, I told you so you wouldn't feel like you were different or... so that you wouldn't feel alone." Shadowscale finished. Scrollreader looked down at her talons.

"I'm sorry, but that is a huge secret!" She said. 

"I know, but I cannot tell others, at least not yet..." He trailed off, staring down at his reflection on the surface of the water. 

"Why not?" She asked as she joined him.

"I don't know. I just... I guess I am just not ready."

They fall silent for a bit, listening to the periodic drops of water from the stalactites. 

"So, what makes you think I can feel other dragon's emotions again?" Scrollreader asked after a while. 

"Well, the way you said, you feel differently around other dragons, for one. How you feel like you must be a different way with each dragon you interact with? And sometimes, I can feel your emotions ricochet off another dragon, and your thoughts and feelings are then affected. It's not a bad thing but, it can explain why you feel more like yourself when alone."

Scrollreader thought about that for a few seconds. Shadowscale focusing his mind on the sounds of a lecture happening far away, a lecture about the war and how it started with Queen Oasis' death.

"Did you hear any of that?" She asked, turning to him.

"Hear what?" Shadowscale asked.

"What I was thinking?" Scrollreader asked again, cryptically.

"No, I was listening to a fun lecture about Queen Oasis' death. Such a delight," Shadowscale replied sarcastically, causing Scrollreader to laugh. 

"Maybe I should leave Jade Mountain, find a quieter place where I can figure out my own mind, you know?" 

Shadowscale shrugged his wings. "Whatever you think you should do. I didn't mean to make you doubt yourself but, trust me. It's easier than not knowing, especially if you begin feeling negative emotions out of nowhere."

"Yeah, you're right. If I go, it will be temporary, just so I can figure me out, and I can then separate the emotions that are mine and other dragons'..." She trailed off and entwined her tail with his. "Thank you. Honestly, it makes a lot of sense now that I think about it..."

"You're welcome," Shadowscale replied. She let go of his tail and rose. "I should get you back to your friends."

"Yeah, that would be best..." He said, rising with her. She opened her wings and began to fly off back the direction they came, and Shadowscale followed after her, wondering if he did the right thing.

~☆~

She led him to a cave that was a little further away from the other students. "Here, this is Clay's room. He and Peril are gone for a few days to visit the Sky Kingdom."

"Thank you for everything." He said.

Scrollreader nodded and flew off. Shadowscale sighed and entered the room where Peregrine and Nightshade sat, studying at a Map of Pyrrhia. 

"So, where to next?" Shadowscale asked, announcing himself to the two. Peregrine turned to Shadowscale with a wide smile. 

"Hey, so how was the tour?"

"It was interesting..." Shadowscale replied as he came closer and took his spot on the other side of the map.

"Well, we don't know. We were wondering where to go next. I was thinking Kingdom of the Sand since those strange animus portals in the Rainforest connect there. And since most of the disappearances happened in the rainforest, that would be the quickest way in and out..."

"But not the safest," Nightshade said. "There are guards there all day and night, RainWings or NightWings, who are always hidden by their natural camouflage. The only way they could go through is to change color or force the dragon they took to change color and hide them. Which wouldn't work since they also took an egg-"

"Which could easily be concealed," Peregrine perked up.

"-but no unauthorized dragons can enter or leave. Queen Glory would have heard about all of them, and she hasn't said anything about knowing if those dragons entered the portal."

There was silence between them as they tried to calculate their next step. 

The SandWing in my dreams brought us here, so maybe she will return and show me where else to go, he thought. 

"We should relax and rest up today. We have a long few days ahead of us, so we best rest now while we can." Shadowscale finally said. The other two nodded Nightshade sitting beside Shadowscale as Peregrine rolled up the map and placed it in a bag around his neck. 

"I'm going to the prey center to get a snack. You want to come?" Peregrine asked as he made his way to the exit.

"I'm not hungry right now, maybe later," Shadowscale replied. Peregrine looked at his friend then a look of understanding flashed across his face. "Alright, I'll be back."

A few moments after he left, Shadowscale felt a tail wrap around his. "You'll find them," Nightshade said quietly, and it was only then when he realized his scales were a sickly green.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry for taking so long to update, Idk if I will regularly update, maybe a while till I get the next chapter out, but hopefully not as long as this wait was...