An hour later, Daryn was sitting in the helicopter along with Gayle, Neal and Quetz. As the pilot steered the copter over the field, he said, "We have already covered this part. There are only four islands, which are inhabited and they all have private villas. Our men have talked to the occupants, apart from scurrying through them. There's nothing that could lead us to our Luna." The pilot was a werewolf.

"Go west," Quetz mumbled. He had felt Dawn's presence in the west, where the sun had set. "And keep going until I feel her presence strongly." Quetz was sitting on the side seat. When Azura was dragging Dawn out of the villa, he could feel her fear. But what he couldn't figure out was why wasn't Dawn fighting, why wasn't she resisting against him? Why did she give up on it? It wasn't that she wasn't lacking power. She was as powerful a neotide as Azura was, then why didn't she fight him? That single thing nagged him over and over. He had screeched and shouted in order to provoke her, to oppose Azura, but she had simply conceded. "Not done, Dawn," he mumbled again, as his frustration rose in the chest.

​​

That night when he had lost the connection with her, he felt he could stifle to death. The bond between them was so strong that her absence made a hollow in his soul. The gnashing pain only seemed to increase until he could bear no more. His whole presence in the world was about to cease, and he was only five years old.

He had to meet Brantley. He needed that one time wish to become human and seek his rider. And only one person could grant him that—the King of Aztec. The man who was the king of dragons, who himself was a dragon rider, who had rarely transformed into a dragon. The legend was that in his two millennia of living, he had transformed into a dragon only to kill another mighty dragon. And he will transform into one when he will meet his mate, or maybe not…

Quetz flew all the way back to Ulfric to meet him. The journey took him a day and only he knew how he went there with a gaping hole in his heart, with so much pain that his mind struggled to stay sane.

What should have been an easy seven hours flight, was shortened to less than four hours as he dashed at full speed braving the weather across the ocean. He was about to reach Ulfric, when to his surprise he found Brantley on his dragon flying regally from the opposite direction towards him. Quetz squealed to draw attention, but it wasn't needed. Rirsyr had conveyed it to him that Brantley needed to talk to him. That man was strange.

Without any questions or deals, Brantley granted him the wish. "You can, but remember I am watching you closely. Once you bring Dawn back to safety, you are to go back to Ensmoire Forests and stay there locked up for a month as your retribution."

"I will!" said Quetz. He didn't have much of a choice.

Together, they headed to where they could find Daryn. Once again Quetz found it bizarre that Brantley knew as to where Daryn was present, and even more weird was the fact that he wanted to help Quetz in finding Dawn. This was the man who had given them so much trouble in Ulfric. He had practically imprisoned them for life until they returned with the Stone of Solaris.

As they flew back to the Mediterranean, to Quetz, Brantley appeared restless. Rirsysr had been flapping his giant wings hard to reach sooner. When they reached the hospital where Daryn was being treated, Brantley had asked the two dragons to stay high above in the skies, away from human eyes. In order to cover them, he had conjured dark skies with lightning that struck so viciously along with the deluge of rain that people of the town stayed indoors out of fear.

"Stay here until I call you," he had instructed Quetz while he was sitting on Rirsyr. "As soon as you hear me, come." Rirsyr had begun to circle the air above the hospital, and Quetz wondered how they even knew of the hideout of the Lykae.

"But how can I enter that place in this form?" Quetz asked, most bewildered.

Brantley looked at him with angry eyes and then jumped off his dragon. Quetz watched him with panic as he saw Brantley diving down and then disappearing behind the clouds. Was he crazy? He looked at Rirsyr, who appeared nonchalant.

"You just do as he asks you to," said Rirsyr. "Don't ask questions." But Rirsyr knew that Quetz was too young and his curiosity to ask questions was like that of a small child.

---

Quetz looked down at the vast expanse of sea. 'Where are you Dawn?' he called her. He glanced at Daryn and knew that even he was also trying to trace her through their mind link. In fact every pureblood werewolf who knew about Dawn's kidnapping, was by now searching for the queen.

"I don't think she has gone to the west," said the pilot. "There is no island on that side."

"I know," he replied. "I am not looking for any island. Only a fool would have a woman like Dawn on land."

"What do you mean?" asked Daryn, his panic rising at a rapid rate. Did he mean that Dawn was below the waters? His skin was lined with goose bumps. The pain in his stomach had ebbed after he had taken a few painkillers.

"I mean exactly what you think Daryn," Quetz snapped at him. In his mind he blamed Daryn for Dawn's troubles.

A low growl escaped from his lips. He took his phone and called more people.

"How are we going to find that place?" said Gayle looking at the azure waters.

"We can't find it unless we have those special scuba divers helping us. I have called for assistance," said Dayn.

"Take this thing lower," Quetz said in a serious tone.

"What? Why?" asked the pilot. "We can't go lower than a certain altitude."

"Then take it as low as possible."