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traitors.”
    “I’m not a traitor,” Tsunami said. “And Clay is not your enemy.” She glanced up at him, then back at the SeaWing. “You’d better learn some respect, squid-brain. We’re the dragonets of destiny.”

“Riptide,” Sunny said again. “That’s a funny name.”
    “I like it,” Tsunami said. “Fierce and scary, like mine.”
    Riptide was pacing the beach, lashing his tail in a long swooshing trail through the sand. His sky-blue scales glinted metallically in the morning light. He had claw-mark scars along his pale underbelly and what looked like an old bite mark on his tail. Tsunami was pretty sure he was only a couple years older than she was. The scratches she’d given his snout had finally stopped bleeding. She hoped those wouldn’t leave scars, too — he had a very handsome snout when it wasn’t all clawed up.
    “All right,” he said. “So the Talons of Peace are real.”
    “Unfortunately,” Glory muttered.
    Riptide glanced at her, and Tsunami felt a weird tingle of jealousy run through her scales. Glory had found a large rock to perch on, spreading her wings open to the sun, and her scales were shimmering silver and rose.
    “I thought everyone knew about the Talons,” Sunny said.
    “Just rumors and whispers,” said Riptide. “None of the tribe queens would be pleased to find a member of the peace movement in their midst. Conspiring with other tribes? Stealing eggs?” He shook his head. “Queen Coral would kill any dragon she found working with the Talons.” He gave Tsunami a searching look she didn’t understand.
    Clay was sitting with his tail in the water. He had muddy sand packed over the spot where Riptide had clawed him. Sunny sat next to him, giving Riptide fierce looks whenever he paced too close to Clay.
    “And you’re
the
dragonets of destiny. For real. The ones in the prophecy. That’s real.” Riptide stopped, inhaled deeply, and blew out again. “And you’re here. In SeaWing territory. Just like —” He glanced at Tsunami again, then went back to pacing.
    “I know it’s thrilling,” Tsunami said. “But we’re really looking for somewhere safe to go. The Talons of Peace treated us terribly, and I figured the SeaWings would welcome and protect us.”
    “I suppose,” Riptide said not very reassuringly. “So you were all raised in a cave?” He stopped in front of Tsunami. “With no ocean? Never? You never went into the ocean?”
    This seemed to be the hardest part for him to believe. “Not until we escaped,” Tsunami said.
    “But that’s
awful
,” said Riptide.
    “
Thank
you,” Tsunami said, flaring her wings. “I know it was. I’ve always said our life was miserable, but these dragons keep arguing with me.”
    “Not me,” Glory said.
    “I can’t believe the Talons did that to you,” Riptide said, clawing the sand.
    “Tell me about it,” Tsunami said. “They really are the worst.”
    “Even Webs — Webs didn’t take you to the ocean?” Riptide asked.
    “You know about Webs?” Sunny asked.
    Riptide ducked his head and frowned at his talons. “He’s pretty infamous in the tribe. We all know he deserted during a battle, and later he came back and stole one of the queen’s eggs. At least, Queen Coral was sure it was him. But nobody knew if he stole it for the Talons of Peace or for his own reasons. We’re not really supposed to talk about the Talons of Peace rumors.”
    “Didn’t anyone think he might have stolen the egg to be part of the prophecy?” Starflight asked.
    Riptide nodded. “Some of us did. But again, nobody talked about it. Queen Blister doesn’t like hearing about the prophecy, so that’s also been a forbidden topic.”
    Tsunami wrinkled her snout. “Blister gets to decide what SeaWings can talk about?”
    Riptide shifted uncomfortably and picked up a large conch shell. He twisted it between his talons. “You’ll want to call her
Queen
Blister when you meet her,” he said.
    “Not until we decide