Willow and Croc turn, and Reef, Stella, and Kimber look up at Marigolds shout.

"What'd you find?" Asks Croc as Marigold leads them to the rocks.

Marigold points at the rocks and explains, "Claw marks and scales. I don't recognize them, but do one of you?"

"I don't." says Croc.

Willow peers at them closely, "Black scales, it looks like. And I think that one's a bit yellow. It looks almost like they came out in a fight. Or a meeting that got out of hand."

"Black..." Marigold says slowly. "Like the person who kidnapped us?"

"Could it be the saboteur, I wonder?" Mused Willow.

"Maybe between two NightWings, or a NightWing and a HiveWing." Croc says, now that the colors were identified. "You never really know. It could have been anyone that kidnapped us. You said yourself that it was dark and difficult to make them out."

"True, but I swear the kidnapper was black." Willow said.

"A NightWing makes sense," Said Marigold. "But a HiveWing? Odd."

"It's definitely yellow." Willow says, poking it.

"I wonder who? Most of the HiveWings I know are pretty nice." Wonders Marigold.

"What about Hornet? She pretty mean." Croc puts in. "She's a tattle tale and she plays teachers pet to Sundew so she can bully us."

"Maybe..." says Marigold thoughtfully.

"Wait, when was the last time we saw Hornet? She wasn't in our cross winglet class." Says Croc.

Honey walks over and hears what they're talking about.

"Hi Honey!" Willow and Croc say.

Marigold hugs Honey. "Hi!"

"Hi guys. You're talking about Hornet?" She says, "She was watching us as we left Pantala."

"No, I could swear she wasn't. We were kinda escaping on the run and no one really knew." Willow says.

"But I swear she was!" Honey insisted.

Stella walks up and joins them.

"It might be my fault she knew we were leaving..." she says sheepishly. "I told my winglet I was leaving. I bet Dragonfly told Swallowtail. And Swallowtail probably blabbed to the entire Sapphire Winglet because she can't keep her mouth shut!"

"It's ok Stella, you can't control other people's mouths." Marigold reassures her.

"You know, now that there's evil things happening, it strikes me that we don't truly know what happened to Wasp." Willow says. "She escaped from the former flamesilk cavern and no one's seen her since."

"Yeah..." said Croc. "But we should get going. Phyrria won't bring itself to us!"

"Good idea. We've intruded upon the Middle Island long enough." Willow agrees.

"Reef! Stella! Honey! Kimber! Let's go!" Croc yells.

The corresponding dragons except Kimber all look up and gather their things, including Stella and Honey, who had both walked away during the Queen Wasp conversation.

"Where's Kimber?" Marigold asks.

"I bet he's sleeping." Croc says, rolling his eyes. "I'll wake him up"

He proceeds to grab a bucket, fill it up, and promptly dumps it on Kimber's head.

"Yo! Wake up!" He says loudly.

"Well... that's one way to do it" Willow giggles.

Croc sighs, "And he's actually easier to wake up than Goldie is."

Everyone who heard laughs, including passerby who saw.

"Not true!" Protests Marigold through laughter. "Well... maybe partly true..."

"It's so true that I could give you a knockout blend and push you off a cliff and you wouldn't wake up!" Croc retorts.

"That would be SO unfair!" Marigold replies hostilely.

"Buuuuut we aren't going to be trying that today," Willow interjects. "So let's go!"

Croc sighs, and follows. The group organizes itself and prepares to head out.

"Ready to fly y'all?" Croc asks.

"Yep!"

"Yup!"

"Yes!"

"Yea!"

"Uh huh!"

"Sure, but who's carrying me?" Marigold says.

"I can!" Says Willow, bending down so Marigold could climb on.

"I can- never mind..." says Croc. "I wanted to because I never get to."

"We can switch off in a little bit Croc." Replies Willow, lifting into the air.

Marigold pulls out the map and studies it before pointing in a direction to their right.

"Thataway!!"

The group flies off in that direction.

•••

A little while later, Croc spots an island in the distance.

"Let's stop at that island," Cric says, and yawns "I'm getting tired."

They land on the island a few minutes later and set up camp.

"G'night!" Croc says, and he falls asleep.

"Night!" Everyone calls back.

The entire group falls asleep.

•••

Croc groans the next morning as he wakes up.

"Guys wake up."

Reef is the first to wake up to Crocs call.

"Hi Croc! How you doing-" He says, but gets cut off.

"We. Need. To. Move." Croc says urgently.

"Why? What's wrong?" Asks Marigold.

"So I kinda accidentally got up at like 4 am..."He says.

"Ok..." Marigold says, unsure of where this was going.

"I got a little confused and thought I needed to get Luna. So I walked over to wake someone up but they clawed at me!" Croc says.

He gets interrupted by Stella's muttering.

"Five more minutes..." she says, still half asleep.

"Seriously?" Croc says. "No one wants to get up in this group." He mutters to himself.

"Did you get a look at this dragon?" Marigold asks.

"Yea," replies Croc. "They were blue and purple."

"Odd, I don't know anyone with those colors. Unless..." Marigold says thoughtfully, "Did you accidentally wake up Wild?"

"I don't think so," Croc says, "Wild would hit me with a frying pan."

I know dragons probably don't have frying pans but it's for comedic effect, and it's also mentioned throughout the book and I think it's too funny so I'm not gonna change it.
-BookLover3062

"Between you and me," Croc whispers, "She is too intense!"

"Yeah... probably," says Marigold.

Stella, who had been just listening and waking up, spoke.

"I'm hungry."

"Ok," says Marigold, and she grabs a mango from the pile of fruit Croc had grown the day previously. "Mango? Or do you want meat?"

"Mango, please!" Stella says gratefully.

She grabs the mango and starts eating.

"Good mango!" She says through her food.

After everyone else had woken up and eaten various meals, camp was taken apart and everyone prepared for departure.

"Who's back am I riding on?" Marigold asks, posing the ever present question.

"Mine." Says Croc, bending down.

Marigold clambers onto Crocs back.

"Oh no!" Croc says, imitating Wild in a very high pitched and anxiety laced voice. "Now we have another thing for Croc to hurt himself on!"

"Hey!" Says Willow, turning around and grabbing her frying pan. "I do NOT sound like that!"

Marigold quickly slides down from Crocs back as he backs away. She joins in the laughter at the situation.

When the disagreement turns has been resolved by Wild chasing Croc and hitting him with her pan a few times, the group prepares once again, Marigold planting herself securely on Crocs back.

"I can't believe we're only a couple islands away from Phyrria!" Stella says.

"Well let's not wait any longer! Let's go!" Shouts Marigold, and they all head off towards Phyrria.

Croc starts flying in that direction but flies into a tree with a sickening CRUNCH.