Hi! I have nothing to say, for once, so I'll just let the story speak for itself.

We somehow make our way out of the food cave and down the hall. I don't know how we can even walk with our bulging bellies. "Hey, Silverscale?" Eclipse asks, followed by a burp. "What?" I reply drowsily. "I think we will get along just fine." she says. Halfway down the hall, we start to hear voices. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" A hostile voice snarls. "A hybrid! Oh, such a shame, I was hoping that we were the only 'PURE' Winglet." a different voice says. "Wait, guys, please! It's not my fault I was born like this!" another voice calls, seemingly pretty scared. Eclipse gasps. "I know that voice!" she exclaims. "Well, then, would you prefer that we kill your parents instead? It is their faults, isn't it? Because that's what you just implied. See, really, we'd just be doing you a favor." a third voice roars. I realize that Eclipse has galloped ahead, and I rush to follow.

The sight that greets me is something that startles me more than I ever thought possible. After the War of SandWing Succession, this school has been meant to bring dragons together, in peace, but that is not what I am seeing here. The source of the frightened voice is backed up against the wall, an IceWing/SkyWing hybrid, cornered by a SandWing, RainWing, SeaWing, NightWing, and an IceWing. A little MudWing cowers behind them, as if not sure he wants to be in collaboration with the bullies.

But the thing that startles me most is Eclipse, positioned in front of the hybrid, a ferocious snarl on her face, lasing her strong tail angrily, growling at the bullies. I never even had an idea that she could be so....intimidating. I thought she is shy and quiet. "You have ten seconds to back off, and I'll let you go without a scratch. I am offering you mercy, and I suggest you take it." she threatens, baring her teeth. "And why should we listen to you, hybrid?" the SandWing asks. "Because, if you would kindly look at my beautiful face, I am gifted with teardrop scales, and I am reading your mind as we speak. You're right, carry on bullying us, as long as you want your secret to be spilled around the whole school." she says in a sickly sweet tone, you know, the one that tells you that you better back off if you want to get out of this with all your teeth still intact.

His eyes go wide, and he slowly backs off. As soon as he is out of hearing range, Eclipse whirls back on the strange hybrid. "Thanks!" he says, his voice lined with awe, and I wonder if I am the only one noticing the way he is looking at her. "No problem. Least I could do in return for saving my life." she replies simply, returning the same dreamy-eyed look that he is giving her. My mouth drops open. He saved her life!!!!???? "So....what was that dragon's secret anyways?" he asks. "Oh, he has a crush on some RainWing, that's all." she replies easily. Eclipse glances at me, and seeing the look on my face, her own expression turns to one of guilt at not introducing me sooner. "Oh! Sorry! I forgot about you!" she exclaims. No kidding. Too busy being miss swoony eyes over there. My thoughts grumble. She winces as if I had hit her. Oops. I instantly regret it.

"Well, anyway, Silverscale, this is Scorch, Scorch, this is Silverscale." she says, recovering quickly. "Nice to meet you" I say. "You, too" he mumbles, to distracted in studying Eclipse's face to really answer. I scan him over. He needs to meet the requirements if he is going to have a crush on my new best friend. I gasp as my eyes wander to his chest. He has the same amulet as me and Eclipse! Eclipse catches my eye, not looking alarmed at all, and flicks her tail to signify that she already knows and it is ok. Scorch looks up. "Hey, do you guys want to go to the underground lake?" he asks. "I have a cool game we could play. It's called truth or dare. Basically, one dragon asks another truth or dare, then the other dragon chooses either one. Truth is were the dragon asks a question and the other one thas to answer it truthfully. Dare is where the dragon dares the other one to do something, and they have to do it. It is basically a game of revenge." he explains.

"Ooo, me likey!" Eclipse exclaims. "Let's do it!" she says and looks hopefully at me. "Ummm.....i'm kind of freaked out by the description....but....I guess." I say hesitantly. We head down the long and twisting passageways of the academy, following Scorch. We started to go underground, and then we came to a dead end. "Um... are you sure that we are going the right way?" I ask, unsure. "Yup" he replies without hesitation. He lifts his talon, and starts to scratch repeatedly in one section of the wall. "Oh, yeah, I understand now, good plan, we will dig another passageway. It will only take us a hundred years!" Eclipse exclaims, her voice dripping with sarcasm. He sighs and rolls his eyes. "C'mon! I thought you trusted me more than that!" he exclaims. Just as he says that, a loud, blood-curdling screech echoes through the cavern.

We all jump, and I exclaim "Who is that!? We have to help them!" I start to run down the passageway, but am stopped by a comforting talon on my shoulder. The talon belongs to Eclipse, I can tell by the webs between the claws. I look back and realize that a secret door has opened in the wall. The screeching sound must have originated from the door scraping against the floor. "Ohhhh......" I say as I realize this. I thank the moons that dragons can't blush, because if they can, I would be as red as a cherry right now. I follow the others into the passage. The glowing orbs lining the ceiling are few and far between, making the passage dark and eerie. "The school founders don't know about this place, and only a select few students know that it exists, let alone where to find it and how to open it. So it should be pretty private down here" Scorch whispers. He had closed the door behind us, and the walls were made of thick stone so no one would hear us, but this just seems like a place to whisper.

"If the school founders don't know about it, then how are their still some orbs down here?" Eclipse asks, and I silently scold myself for not coming up with it first. "The first few dragonets to discover this cave needed a light source, and you know the extra globes in our rooms?" we nod, "Well, they, I don't want to say stole because they are still in the school, but they relocated them into here. It took a while to carve hooks to hang them up from out of the stone ceiling, and they figured that the founders and teachers would notice their absence, so they only had one or two at first, but as the years went by, more dragons sacrificed their time to hang up more lanterns. It has sort of become a source of pride for those who have done it. A sign of unity." he explains.

"Well then, how do you know about it?" I question, pleased with myself at coming out with a good question. "I...had an older brother who graduated from this school, and he told me about it. He never told me how he knew about it." he says in a sad voice.

I must not be the only one who noticed his use of past tense when talking about his brother, because Eclipse, who is walking next to him, reaches out a wing and touches his lightly with it.

She gives him a sympathetic smile and in the dim light, I can faintly see him giving her a small, sad, and grateful smile in return. I suddenly feel very much like a third wheel, kind of left out. I open my mouth to ask when we will be there, but just as I am inhaling to talk, we arrive in the cave. I clamp my mouth shut.

"Whoa...." all three of us gasp at the same time.

I hope you liked it! The next chapter will be out soon.

~ Eclipse