Candy kept having nightmares where she woke up and Kade had escaped after murdering all her friends and leaving her to deal with the heart-break, his evil cackle in the background of her dreams.

When she did wake up, the endless silver and sandy cover over her gave her a mini heart-attach. Then she realized it was just Scorpian's wing and relaxed.

The Sandskink was snoring and her wing was limp over Candy, telling her nonverbally that she was asleep still. Carefully lifting her wing off her and setting it gently against Scorpian's side, she quickly searched the spot where Kade should be. She panicked for a moment, not seeing him there, until she spotted him nearer to her, gazing wistfully out her giant windows.

Her sudden panic made her legs weak, encouraging her to lay back down and rest. Outside of the windows, the mountains were just being shed with exciting orange light that spilled down the craggy rocky faces. The sky above them tinted with purples and pinks, hiding the blue sky behind them.

She stretched before joining him.

He sighed to himself with his thoughts practically shouting out of his face and posture; I wish I could fly and be free again. It looks so pretty and opens out there. Candy could guess his thoughts easily.

"Did you sleep alright, princess?" He didn't look at her when he asked it, making her wonder momentarily if he was talking to her and not . . . any other princess. She inwardly growled at herself for being so stupid.

"Yeah," she lied. It wasn't her sleep that was bad, exactly. Just her dreams. But she didn't want to make him feel bad somehow. "And you?" she slapped her forehead below her horns. "I didn't mean that - what I meant was, did you - you know - you - did you . . ." she looked at him, hoping he'd change the subject or laugh or something.

All she got was a small smile, but it made the day outside brighter and her muscles relax.

"I wonder what they must be doing now," he almost whispered it, she knew he meant it for himself, but she couldn't help but say something. Try something.

"You know, judging by the things nobles used to say when they thought no one was listening, I think they're just jealous," she said with a smile as she looked out to the sunrise. It took a moment before she realized he'd looked over at her, his face hungry for . . . she couldn't tell what exactly. But there was definitely hope there somewhere, so she went on, turning her gaze back to the sunrise (mostly so she didn't see the heartbreaking expression he was wearing).

"You're smart, Kade. Much smarter than any of them, I'm sure. Dragons hate you because they're jealous, or they see potential in you they want for themselves. I think you have everything they don't, starting with a heart."

She chuckled at her own joke, but when she turned to see Kade, he wasn't smiling. But he wasn't frowning either, more like considering her words, wondering with hope if they were true.

"Princess . . ." they looked at each other simultaneously. "Do you believe it would be selfish of me to wish that were true?"

Her smile grew all the way to her horns. She sighed, turning back to the fading sunrise.

"Well, if it isn't, then you can blame me," she shot him another smile and this time he caught it.

Thump thump thump.

Their attention was turned to the doorway, where a pair of guards were standing. "Your highness, we were just making sure you were awake."

She nodded her thanks with a plastered on a smile. The guard said something else but she was suddenly worried she was like her ex-parents (if that was a thing) with fake smiles that hid deep darkness.

When she snapped herself out of her thoughts, the queen was standing at the archway. She didn't have to be touching Kade to feel him tense. Without thinking about it, she touched her tail to his. She only noticed what she was doing when he relaxed slightly.

"Your Highness," he dipped his head politely but didn't bother to bow or anything. Scorpian was still snoring on the bed of downy and fur. One of the guards nudged her with her spear, rousing her awake.

"Er - huh? Hello? Oh! Queen Pua!" she bowed, but getting into the pose tipped her sideways and she fell to the stone before quickly picking herself up.

Candy could see the smile on her mother's snout watching Scorpian and she watched it disappear when her eyes fell to Kade.

"Ghostfang. I hope you didn't wake my daughter u-"

"He didn't, mother. In fact, he waited here the entire night, just like he promised. Just ask the guards outside my windows," she said with a smile, letting her mother know she knew they were there.

Pua took a deep breath that sounded irritated, but pride gathered behind her eyes. It was such a weird feeling for someone to be looking at her that way. She turned to Kade again, the twinkle in her eyes gone.

"You've proved yourself, so we have decided to reward you. You are now free to be in your cell without chains or tranquilizers," she didn't let any of them speak as she turned to the guard closest to her.

"Sundance, would you pl-"

"MOTHER!" Candy let a growl out with her words. All eyes fell on her, but she didn't squirm this time. She was too upset. "Don't you realize how unfair you're being!?"

"Princess, this really isn't-"

"I mean, what is it that you hate about Kade so much!?" she willed tears not to mist her eyes, but as she spoke they were already rolling down her cheeks. Scorpian and the guards stared down at their talons, but Kade was different. He looked at the queen, not with hate or vengeance or malice, just curiosity.

Pua, on the other hand, was fuming. Her sides grew and pressed with deep, emotional breaths.

"Kala, I don't-"

Candy wasn't done. "I'm serious! What is so wrong with - with an innocent dragon!?"

Her mother's face fell into something else, and a lightbulb went off in Candy's head. She tipped her chin up.

"Oh . . . it's not Kade personally, although you've clearly shown you don't give a Nymphs' island about his feelings. It's about his tribe. The Ghostfangs."

Pua said nothing but the expression on her face already gave away the answer.

"And the fact that my tribe is the one who you accused of stealing your egg is the reason you refuse to give me any mercy," Kade added. Candy winced, kind of wishing he hadn't, but in the end it didn't really make a difference who said it out loud. The guards had instinctively shot to Pua's sides, their spears gripped tightly in their talons. Candy knew she was a stranger (and possibly a threat in their minds) to them, so it didn't matter whether she was royalty or not.

After a long and agonizingly quiet silence, the queen sighed,

"I'm sorry, Candy, You're right. I - I - it's just when you were taken from me . . . I guess I've never been able to forgive the Ghostfangs."

"But mother," Candy said as softly as she could, "they weren't the ones who took me, remember?"

Pua sighed again and her wings sagged. "I'm sorry, my warrior. And to you too, Ghostfang. I back my reward. You," she took a deep breath, "are free to roam the castle with my daughter and her friends. I don't really trust you though, so I'm afraid you've got to at least have this," she held her claws out, palm up. Right in the center was a small bracelet. It was thin, crafted from black wires with a small white gem in the middle.

"What's this?" Kade asked as he took it from her.

"A tracker - of sorts. If you leave the walls of the castle, it will explode if you try to leave the walls of the castle. After I set it," she mentioned, leaning forward as he slid it over his arm and she poured a green liquid over it from a vile that she put in a pouch fastened around one of her back legs.

Candy couldn't read Kane's expression. Was he disappointed? Did he regret ever going along with Candy? Was he happy he did it?

She could only assume.

Her mother nodded satisfactorily to herself before gracefully sweeping out of the room.

Candy only heard the whistling sound when her and her friends sat down to eat lunch with the queen. Well, Pua wasn't actually there yet, they were waiting for her to finish up with something in the village.

Candy's ears pricked up, stopping her mid-sentence in a conversation with Night. Kade sat on her other side. He hadn't said much, but she didn't mind. He was probably just intimidated and scared by her friends.

"Do you hear that?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowed together. The others grew quiet, tilting their heads up to hear what she could. Scorpian was about to shake her head, about to say "no" but Night cut her off.

"Yeah . . . I do. Where's it coming from?"

Now everyone was lifting their heads toward the sky. But they didn't need to wait to hear what it was much longer. The queen arrived just then, talking with one of her advisers (or whatever they were).

The whistle sounded right over their heads; and then it was around them as an explosion erupted around them. Scorpian roared, staggering away as Silver stood frozen to the ground. Candy only thought about the fact that he wasn't on fire before something spread across her scales.

She surprised herself - and Night and Kade - as she only growled, strolling out of the fire-touched area and reached the spot where they'd been sitting. She was bristling as the fire died over her scales before she splashed them with her cup of water.

Scorpian and Silver were both staring at her as Night copied her - splashing himself with water, that is. Kade, she thought. It sent adrenaline through her and made her heart surge.

She jumped into the air, frantically searching the explosion for her friend. She spotted him stumbling toward the wall of the courtyard they were in.

She swooped down, grabbed two cups with her talons, swooped over to him without spilling much, then dumped them over him.

His whole body was shaking; his smooth white and black scales were blotchy with deep red where the fire had burned him. She threw the cups away as she bolted forward.

"Are you okay!?"

He nodded slowly with shallow breaths.

"D-don't worry, we'll fix those - it'll be okay," she wanted to help somehow, but between the burns she had herself and having them before, she knew firsthand what it was like for other dragons to touch such a painful spot.

Guards were now swarming around the queen, pointing their spears out as if that would stop the fire.

"Where did that come from!?"

Candy ran to her mother - the guards parted for her.

"Mother, what do we do?"

"I've already sent a squadron of soldiers into the skies to see what the trouble is," she looked calm and fierce at the same time. "Candy, listen, get out of here as soon as possible. See those two over there? They'll take you somewhere safe - go!"

"No, I won't leave you, mother," Besides, my friends need safety too, she thought. Pua was already shaking her head as Candy spoke.

"Griffin!" she waved over the parrot-colored dragon. He was currently ordered around a guard or something and looked up the second he heard her voice. With a flash of dark blue and red, Griffin was right in front of them. Pua didn't wait for him to talk. "Take Candy and those four" - she gestured to Scorpian, Silver, Night, and Kade - "and get them to safety."

"But your majest-"

"Go, now," she shot him a significant look with a sharp nod. He kept her gaze in his for a moment, then jumped towards Candy. The movement scared her so badly, she instinctively jumped back and out of reach.

"What are yo-"

He was abruptly cut off as another explosion blasted off near them. The force knocked into Candy sending her flying over the patchy, bluish grass.

Her ears rang and her vision blurred.

How long had she been here? A few minutes? A few seconds? Talons grabbed onto her; she felt something jab harshly into her left ribs, right below her wing.

She tried to call out in pain, but she didn't feel any sound come out - or hear it for that matter. A strange feeling washed through her; a numb feeling that stretched deep into every muscle. Wait a second . . . I know this feeling.

Someone changed me into a human, was the last thing she managed to think before blacking out.