Clearsight was in the library.

She was always in the library. Her parents often joked that they should have let her egg hatch there instead of on the lunar hatching peak. Of course, if they had, she wouldn’t have been born under a full moon, so she wouldn’t have gotten the gift of prophecy, and then she wouldn’t have needed to spend so much time in the library in the first place. But whenever she pointed this out, her parents always shook their heads and sighed as if she just didn’t understand their spectacular sense of humor.

The librarian had given Clearsight a study room of her own, although she suspected that was because he thought she was insane and he wanted the option to lock her in if necessary.

Partially blank scrolls were unrolled all the way across the five tables around her, and she hurried from one to another, scratching quick notes and trailing ink splatters from her claws.

Would it change anything if she did pretend to be insane? She closed her eyes and tried to see if a future unfolded around that idea. Would she end up in the asylum? Would it save the tribe? Would that life be better than the other options?

It was too unlikely; no one would believe her even if she tried it. There was no path there.

No escape.

(these lines are from Chapter 4; Clearsight chapter)

The weather was perfect: rain poured from a grumbling, fire-breathing sky. The rivers at the bottom of the canyons swelled and roared and ate the walls, sending all the dragons who lived down there scrambling for higher ground. The wind was so fierce that it seemed to have been sent by vengeful IceWings to rip every NightWing out of the sky. It was veering quickly from a storm into a baby hurricane.

Darkstalker had been waiting for a day like this. Surely even Clearsight wouldn’t expect him today.

But as he swooped down to the ledge in front of her house, there she was, sitting out in the rain, waiting for him. He hadn’t quite figured out all her expressions yet, but he thought this one might be her trying-not-to-laugh-at-him face.

(these lines are from Chapter 10; a Darkstalker chapter)

The Kingdom of the Sea was in shock.

Queen Lagoon and her husband, Humpback, were dead, as was their daughter, Splash. Current was missing — one of the dozens who had escaped into the sea — but his brother, Scallop, and his father, Fathom’s uncle Eel, were not so lucky. One of the musicians had tried to fight Albatross when everyone fled; she was dead, too. Fathom would have to find out her name later.

Fathom’s parents were both dead. Manta had followed her father into the gardens, pleading for Fathom’s life, and he had killed her and Reef together. Not even Fathom’s magic could bring them back from death.

But as he’d stood with Indigo in the wreckage of the party, heartbroken, a dragon had crawled out from under one of the tipped-over couches.

It was Pearl, bleeding from a thousand cuts, but alive.

(these lines are from Chapter 11; a Fathom Chapter)