Storm stretched open her wings, relishing the sensation flooding down her wings. She popped her head back up, and turned to proceed to her scroll.

Once she grabbed it, the SkyWing turned towards the closet, her heart pounding as she approached it.

When Lotus had left the day before, Storm had happened upon two oval shaped gemstone sin the closet.

She hoped they were still there.

The SkyWing swung open the doors, and happiness lit in her stomach as she saw the two sapphire necklaces twinkling at the base.

Storm gripped on of the jewels and slid it over her neck. It was hers, if you thought about it. It was in her room. So it was hers.

It shone around her ginger and silver scales, and warmth spread from Storm's nose to tail-tip. It's so pretty.

Her thoughts seemed all to be directed towards the jewel, as if she couldn't think about anything else. Storm dreamily stumbled out of the room, her eyes soft like pillows.

She heard a holler, and she slowly turned, her eyes focused on the blue crystal around her neck.

It was Lotus, her scales a pretty array of purple and gold. Her eyes were wide. "Pretty necklace!" She chirped. "But before we go, meet the others clawmates!"

She backed up, revealing a stubby looking SandWing, Inkwriter, a grumpy faced SeaWing, the icy-cold IceWing from earlier, and a sorry scaled MudWing.

Lotus waved her tail to Inkwriter. "You have already met Inkwriter," she turned her glance to the SandWing, who was wearing a few scattered petals upon his head. "That's Sphinx."

Sphinx dipped his head slowly, his eyes wide and nervous. He glanced between them, but stayed silent.

"This is Shiver." Announced the RainWing, her scales still purple and gold. "She's smiling inside her head."

Shiver glared at Lotus with a freezing stare that alarmed Storm inside her warm body.

"The old thug is Prince Whirlmist, the snottiest tail-twisting royal in the SeaWing Kingdom." Whirlmist blinked slowly, his eyes annoyed and crisp like an autumn leaf. He scanned her, his icy pupils making her go rigid, feeling alarmed.

"And last but... yes, last." She slowly turned towards the moping MudWing. "That's... Stump." She blinked at him. "He's An animus, he just wont tell us that he is."

Stump glared at her, some scales lifting upon his back as she blabbered on.

Storm flexed her jaw. "Well... um... how do you know he is an Animus?" She asked, feeling a slight bit of envious sympathy for him.

Stump looked up at her, his eyes shining. Lotus glanced at her as well. "Well, Whirlmist said..."

Whirlmist flicked one of his ears. "Three moons, I don't care what I said. Let's go." He stepped forward, his shoulders hunched.

Lotus blinked at him. "Oh, alright. You- you seem..." Shiver interrupted her.

"I don't even care about one of you in here." She stated flatly. "But I care about one thing." She stared at them all with her icy blue eyes. "I care about getting a good grade and never being late." She shouldered them away and began to walk towards the exit.

Lotus shuffled after her, her eyes apologetic. Stump quickly followed, his tail skimming the ground, and Sphinx followed. Storm was left with Whirlmist and Inkwriter.

Whirlmist stared at the two in disapproval. He stared at Storm for a moment, then turbed in a flurryy of pale green scales and trotted away.

Inkwriter stared at Storm, his wings shuffling. "Um," he murmured, shifting from talon to talon. "S-Storm why are you hiding your back?"

The SkyWing narrowed her eyes. "Why?" she asked with more hostility then she intended.

Inkwriter looked at her with a speckle of warmth in his dark eyes. "I'm just wondering. It's very pretty, I don't understand why you would hide it. It's unique, like the scales by your eyes and on your wings." He took a step towards her.

Storm drew back, flattening her ears to the side of her head. "Yea, thanks. That was greatly appreciated." She twisted around him, and awkwardly bounded out to the hall.

She felt his gaze on her, but she ignored him. She knew he was just trying to be nice, but she had strict instructions and she would not disobey them.

The math classroom was only just past the Gold Winglet, which was next to the Silver Winglet.

Inside the math classroom, a long-limbed SeaWing was facing the class, his small oval shaped eyes scanning through the Winglet.

"I am going to call attendance." He said finally, turning to grab a scroll behind him. Storm stole this moment to shuffle to a desk next to Shiver, and sit down.

He spun back around, then fixed his eyes on his scroll. "Shiver, IceWing." He called.

"Here." Snapped Shiver, radiations of icy cold air flowing off her. The SeaWing blinked, then continued.

"Sphinx, SandWing?"

"Here." The small sand colored dragonet mumbled, tucking in his chin and looking very uncomfortable.

"Inkwriter, NightWing?"

No reply.

Storm looked behind her, Inkwriter must have stayed behind. She felt a bit of guilt at the fact. He was just trying to be kind.

"Inkwriter?" The teacher looked confused. "Is Inkwriter absent?" He sighed and wrote something down before looking up.

"Storm, SkyWing."

Storm blinked. "Here." She said casually, feeling surprised with herself. She was usually so nervous about talking. She glanced down at the sparkly sapphire, maybe it was a good luck charm?

But when she glanced at it, her eyes were immediately glued, and she felt dazed and happy. She wanted to hold it close to her eyes and face, treasure it forever.

"Storm."

Storm continued to dreamily stare into the jewel, her gaze clouded. She didn't understand why she loved this gem so much, but she just went with the longing and stared.

"Storm." The voice sounded again. "Storm!"

Storm snapped up her head and turned towards the front of the class, embarrassment seething beneath her scales.

The teacher blinked sternly at her. "As I was saying, I am Turtle, your Math Teacher here in Jade Mountain Academy."

Lotus lifted a wing, her eyes alight with excitement. "Are you an Animus?" She asked, without being called on.

Storm wondered how long she had been staring at the crystal, enough time for attendance to finish, but perhaps enough time for Inkwriter to return?

She turned to look for the NightWing, but he was nowhere to be found. Please don't let him be in trouble. She thought to herself. Please Inkwriter, don't blame yourself. It's just a personal matter. Please come to class...

Though it was silly, she felt like the shy NightWing could hear her. Storm shrugged off the feeling and moved to look at Turtle who was talking slowly about Lotus's question. "Yes." He said, his green wings folded beside him.

"I am an animus, but I do not want to get into depth about that though, Moonwatcher will absolutely fill you in on this matter in history class." He turned his shoulder to Lotus and gripped a white piece of chalk. He reached up an arm and began to write.

Sixteen SandWings ate four rattlesnakes each. How many rattlesnakes did the SandWings eat? Read Storm, her brow furrowed.

Math, she sighed to herself in exasperation. The dreaded subject that I hate with all the force of the three moons.

She hesitated for a moment. So sixteen times four equals? Storm blinked a couple of times.

Sixteen... thirty two... fourth eight... uhhh

Suddenly Shiver raised one of her talons. Turtle nodded to her. "Yes, Shiver?"

Shiver scowled. "Sixty four." She hissed, lashing her icy tail from next to Storm. "Sixty four rattlesnakes."

Turtle blinked at her happily. "Yes." He answered, turning and scribbling the answer on the chalkboard.

"Now, let's move on to a more easy problem." The green SeaWing carefully sketched down another couple words.

Shiver bought twelve porcupines, each costing $5.00 each. How many did she have?

Storm saw a pleased look upon Shivers face as Turtle finished writing.

"Now, who knows the answer?" He asked, smiling at Lotus who was nervously raising her talon.

"Yes?"

"S-s-sixty dollars?" She asked, trembling from wing to tail. Turtle grinned at her, his face relaxed.

"Yes, please come and write that on the board!" Lotus nervously obliged, bringing herself up the board and writing her number down.

"Great job!"

The rest of the math class went by in a blur, Inkwriter never returned, Storm answered an easy question, Shiver accidentally froze a scroll, and Lotus was a mishap of colors.

When the gong was finally rung, all of the dragonets quickly grabbed the homework that had been passed out, and scurried out the door.

Herbs and healing was the farthest away, it was all the way across the school, down the walkway to the entrance, then two turns right.

The funny thing was, Inkwriter was sitting nearly at a table in the room, an empty stool next to him.

The teacher was Princess Anemone, Turtle's Animus sister. She was a pretty sight, her pale blue and green scales littering her body like a rainstorm.

"Please find a partner." Instructed Anemone, nodding to the arranged seats.

Instantly, Lotus bounded to Inkwriter, who stared at her in bewilderment. Sphinx blinked slowly, his ears flat against his head, before slowly walking to Shiver, who snorted at him.

Storm saw Stump and Whirlmist staring at each other. Whirlmist's gaze did not look friendly.

"I'll sit with Stump." Blurred Storm, surprised at herself. Whirlmist glanced at her, looking faintly superstitious and a slight bit relieved.

Stump's gray-brown form bundled over to her, his eyes a bit less dull. Storm attempted to smile at him, but failed, and turned away to find a seat.

They were seated behind Lotus and Inkwriter. The MudWing had long wings, and seemed slightly older then all the other dragonets. He had a face of sorrow and eternal sadness which made Storm quite uneasy.

"It seems we have an uneven number." Muttered Anemone. "Alright, SeaWing to SeaWing." She nodded towards Whirlmist who elegantly walked over to her.

"The first thing is first." Announced Anemone. "Take your..."

Storm wasn't listening.

She only thought about one thing.

What happened to Inkwriter?