Tessa’s POV:

  I followed Mom through the forest somewhat uneasily. It was easy to imagine all sorts of predators lurking in the shadows. The idea of seeing the entire flock at once was even scarier than the forest, but I would finally get to see for myself why so many bonded dragonets liked to sing with the wild flock in the morning.

  Mom had told us that everyone gathered in a clearing every morning to await the Morning Song. Mom slowed down, and I could see glints of color ahead. I snorted faintly as we passed several Kymari sitting in a tree.

  “Why are there Kymari in a tree?” Dirk asked, equally as perplexed as me.

  Dad glanced at them. “About fifty or so show up every day to watch.”

  I wasn’t sure I liked the thought of people watching my first attempt at singing with the flock, but it wasn’t as if I could do anything about it. Glints of color ahead caught my attention. Numerous red, blue, purple, green, gold, and silver dragonets scattered around the clearing.

  Many of them looked over as we entered the clearing, although the brightening horizon drew their gaze back quickly enough. My ear tufts perked up when I saw Serena and Tom. A closer inspection revealed that four other dragonets also wore harnesses.

  Abby flew over to greet me. “You made it!”

  “Just in time!”

  “Let’s sit by the other fledglings. It won’t be long. I can already feel the call building.”

  Mom and Dad perched on a tree branch while Dirk and I followed Abby over to the fledglings. We knew most of the fledglings fairly well after so many park visits, so it was easier sitting with them. Glen was noticeably absent, as was his father, who was remaining close to the burrow.

  We fell silent as we watched the sun peek over the horizon. Seconds before the light rippled, some dragonets took to the air. There was barely enough time for me to realize that not everyone could take off at once without bumping into each other.

  The Morning Song’s call strengthened, and at its beckoning, I jumped into the air with the others. With so many dragonets taking flight, even our normally silent wingbeats created a faint silk-like rustling. Our voices wove into the subtle sound and layered on top of it, rendering it almost a figment of the imagination.

  A handful of clouds had bright pink accents and created a contrast against the dark blue sky that silently pleaded to be woven into our song and dance. The dragonets quickly converged on the center of the clearing, turning it into a three-dimensional dancefloor.

  It was almost too much to take in.

  Not only did the Morning Song fill me with so much joy and happiness that I wanted to sing and dance, but now I had to watch out for almost two hundred other fliers in the same air space. The effect of being so close to this many dragonets while they were singing was something I couldn’t wrap my mind around.

  I joined the swirling mass—somehow avoiding dozens of potential collisions—as I added my own dance and song to the joyous celebration. The air around my scales shifted from close passes, but it merely reflected how interwoven the song was.

  The hundred-part chorus filled the air. Each voice was slightly different, yet all followed the same melody. Each had their own special part to play, and each added to the song and dance as a new day dawned.

  Before I knew it, the Morning Song began to fade. This time, the ending was more noticeable since our group effort had amplified the Song’s effects. It took me a few seconds to spot Mom and Dad as the crowd rapidly dispersed into the trees.

  “See you tomorrow, Abby!”

  “Tomorrow? Where are you going this afternoon?”

  “It’s supposed to rain.”

  “Ugh. I guess that means another boring afternoon in the burrows. I’ll have to stash some fruit so I don’t have to get wet. You may have a heat lamp, but I don’t have any way to warm back up, and no one likes to cuddle when you’re cold.”

  “Yeah, Dirk objects too. Although he squawks pretty good if you can catch him by surprise.”

  Her mirth rolled across the mindlink. “I’ll keep that in mind in case I ever catch him sunbathing.”

  “Tell Glen to get well soon.”

  “He’s sleeping now, but I’ll pass the message along when he wakes up.”

  She flew over to her mother, and both of them disappeared into the canopy as they went in search of breakfast.

  Mom and Dad waited just long enough to make sure that Dirk and I were following before they took off. I blinked and looked around. This wasn’t the way back to the meadow where we left Taureen and Aeria.

  Movement ahead almost made me miss a wingbeat. “They followed us?” I had never seen a handler leave the clearing or go off a walking trail. Nothing that might make them harder to find

  Mom glanced back in amusement. “They always watch our Morning Song. Are you really that surprised that they followed us out here?”

  My ear tufts went back in embarrassment—it hadn’t even occurred to me that Taureen and Aeria would follow our tracking devices this deep into the forest. Instead of landing on their shoulders, we flew beside them as they jogged back to the main walking trails. There was just enough time to get home, have some breakfast, and get ready for the rest of the day.

  I was certain of one thing, though—I wanted to come back another day to sing with the flock.

  ***

  The rain began falling after lunch. Judging by how dark the clouds were, it wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. I rustled my wings unhappily when the wind blew a few cold drops past Aeria’s umbrella.

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  This part of the sidewalk had nothing to stop the wind or the rain. The guards’ armor must have been waterproof and warm since they weren’t bothered by the wet stuff falling out of the sky. Dad didn’t seem to mind the rain, although his wings were folded tighter than usual.

  It was a relief when the training building came into view. Not only would we get out of the rain, but I might get to see something new! I waited impatiently as we went inside and walked through the hallways to reach the airlock.

  The doors slid open, and I took a deep breath. Nothing stood out. My eyes scanned the empty corridors as Aeria walked through them. Despite my best attempts, I couldn’t smell anything out of place. No hint of sicora or crawler. Not even a nebulous whiff of a ktari.

  We rounded corner after corner as the suspense built. The air held no clues. Surely there had to be something here. I examined the corridor and twitched my ears, not that it helped. When the door to the next corridor opened, my eyes went wide. Strange symbols were painted on the walls and weird spinning decorations hung from the ceiling at various heights.

  Considering how Dad sat up and stared, he didn’t know what to make of it either. The farther we went, the more things we encountered. Some were just decorative twirlers hanging from the ceiling that spun and flashed with bright lights even though there was no wind to move them. Twice, I spotted lone weapons just lying on the floor.

  A loud boom echoed from behind us, making me and Dad jump. Dad’s ears pinned back as he growled faintly, peering behind us to try and locate the source of the noise. I looked around nervously, but didn’t see anything.

  Aeria and the guards were alert as they kept walking. A faint whirring noise grew louder, and we had to get closer to discover that it originated from another rapidly rotating wind decoration. I tilted my head, trying to figure out how it was moving when the air was still. If nothing else, it needed to be fixed so the annoying sound would stop.

  Another boom from behind made me jump and whine, unsure of what was going on.

  “Easy,” Aeria reassured me, reaching up to stroke my shoulders.

  The wary looks the guards exchanged undermined her soothing words. Another boom rocked the air and the floor, forcing Aeria to sidestep to keep her balance. I whistled a high-pitched alarm call, although all three Kymari had already spotted the wisps of smoke curling around the corner behind us.

  “Let’s get moving!” Rhay said, his eyes fixated on the smoke as he motioned the other two ahead of him.

  The Kymari took off at a quick jog, and I dug my claws into the shoulder pad to hang on. We reached another airlock, and it slid open to reveal a forest. I stared at it in complete shock.

  If it wasn’t for the ceiling far above us, I would have assumed that we had just walked into the scariest forest I had ever seen. Twisted trees and thick foliage restricted us to a narrow trail littered with twigs and leaves. The damp smell of leaf mold and greenery filled the air.

  “I vote that we never allow Banrai to set up the training room again,” Sadria muttered, holding her weapons at the ready.

  “He does have a habit of going overboard,” Rhay replied, equally as on edge. “Although, I suspect the chance to catch us off-guard was a challenge he couldn’t resist.”

  Their conversation and level of alertness did nothing to calm my nerves. Dad’s head never stopped moving as he tried to watch as much of the greenery as possible. Strange bird calls and noises echoed through the trees. My Blood Memories couldn’t identify most of them, and the few they could were creatures likely not found on this planet.

  Sound recordings. That realization helped slow my heartbeat, although I wasn’t about to relax. Especially if it made two Kymari guards wary when the training session was supposedly designed for me.

  Branches occasionally rattled in the distance, although the thick greenery prevented us from seeing what might be there. The Kymari cautiously walked down the pathway with Sadria leading the way.

  The shrub in front of her rustled as something launched out at her. Even as I screeched, her phaser fired several shots as the small furry creature exited the bushes. The blasts knocked it sideways, sending it rolling through the rotting leaves. From this angle, I could see that it was another hide mounted on a frame.

  My claws dug into Aeria’s shoulder pad as I chittered. I was more than happy to track sicora and crawlers, but I had not signed up to be ambushed by hidden creatures! And forests did not belong on spaceships! Especially creepy ones.

  Dad growled faintly and half-unfolded his wings in case he had to take to the air quickly. The Kymari resolutely kept going deeper into the foreign swamp-like jungle.

  A quiet rustle made me look overhead and screech as something dropped down. Aeria jumped to the side, nimbly avoiding it as I held onto her shoulder with a tight grip. A fireball struck it as Dad took to the air, too uneasy to remain a stationary target. He circled the group with quick wingbeats and unpredictable sideslips in case something else popped out at us.

  Aeria didn’t call him back, knowing that his reactions in the air would beat her evasive maneuvers. My flying skills still weren’t nearly as good as the adults’, so I remained where I was, anxiously shifting my weight and making sure my claws had a good grip.

  We kept going. Twice more, “animals” tried to ambush Sadria. Nothing else dropped down from above, for which I was grateful, although deep mud puddles forced the Kymari to detour off the trail.

  When we rounded the corner, I breathed a sigh of relief. I had never been so glad to see a door before.

  Dad landed beside me and eyed up the door suspiciously. As it began to open up, I tensed, ready for almost anything. The spaceship corridors were a familiar and welcome sight, although that didn’t prevent me from growling as the smell of a crawler reached my nose.

  It took us less than five minutes to guide the Kymari to the pest and let the guards dispatch the fake creature. We checked the rest of the corridors and rooms, just in case.

  As we left the final airlock door, Rhay glanced at us and commented, “They certainly did well.”

  “Yes,” Aeria agreed. “I don’t think any of the fire lizards have been through a training session like that. Keegan handled it better than I expected.”

  Sadria nodded. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the trainers put the trainees through that course just for amusement’s sake. I almost had to do a double take when I saw the hidden pitfall trap.”

  “Did you see the two air cannons?” Rhay asked.

  My eyes went wide. Pitfall trap? Air cannons? Apparently, I had missed more than a few things in the last room.

  “Yeah, I saw them,” Aeria replied somewhat dryly. “If they had fired those cannons near the fire lizards, I would have been having some words with them.”

  “They wouldn’t dare,” Rhay said. “I’m positive this particular setup is meant for guards who want additional training. The fire lizards just got the privilege of going first.”

  Aeria glanced back at the airlock. “I’ll have to see if I can leave Keegan with Taureen and try the course. I’ve been getting a bit slack in my own training lately.”

  “I know Taureen would love to try it,” Rhay replied. “With the two youngsters to distract Tasha, he can probably slip out for an hour without her noticing. The training area in your basement is good, but it only holds the basics. Nothing like this.”

  Aeria nodded slowly. “I’ll mention it to him tonight. He will probably come before sunrise while Tasha is sleeping. Let’s walk around the west district for an hour, then our shift will be over.”

  “Sounds good. The rain isn’t letting up, and that area has a lot of sheltered walkways.”

  I shook myself off and looked up at Dad, kind of surprised that he was still beside me. Normally, he preferred to have more room and went to Aeria’s other shoulder.

  He nudged me with his nose. “I guess your mother isn’t going to have to worry about you wanting to become an adventurous explorer, huh?”

  I snorted at the joke. “Not likely. Please tell me we don’t go into many forests like that on patrols.”

  “I’ve never seen anything like that. The forest outside the wall is similar to the main park. The few times we helped track sicora or crawlers out there, at least six guards came along.”

  I sighed in relief, glad to know that I would likely never see a forest like that outside of a training area. A chilly wind blew through the opening door, announcing that both the wind and rain had waited for our return. I folded my wings tighter and leaned against Dad, using him as a windbreaker.

  This last hour was going to feel very long. As I got older, the rain bothered me less, but I doubted I’d ever like the wet stuff. In the meantime, I just had to put up with it.