Nyx was speechless. Alpine was her SISTER? She was a hybrid? The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. That explained her wings and eyes, and also why she wasn't getting too hot being in the rainforest. But there was still one thing that made no sense at all. 

"Alpine," questioned Nyx, "If Dad is your dad too, why do you hate him?" 

"Don't you get it?" Alpine explained. "He took care of you your whole life. He never even visited me. In fact, the first time I ever saw him was when he was here requesting someone's death. It wasn't to see me. He didn't even mention me, Nyx. Stout never cared and never will care about me."

 "I'm so sorry," was all Nyx could say. 

"Don't be," Alpine replied without any sarcasm, "It's not your fault at all." 

Hibiscus and Apple came over and Apple hugged Alpine. "It's time to free your family," Hibiscus said. "Now that the secret's out, you're ready. I think we all are." Hibiscus added the last part with a glance at Alpine. 

"Already?" Nyx asked. She had only been in the rainforest for a few days, and she didn't have that much training. Plus, she hadn't completely wrapped her head around the idea that Alpine was her sister. 

"Uh, YEAH!" exclaimed Mulga. "Nyx, you have better aim then anyone I know." 

"Yep," Alpine chimed in. "Also, you're my sister, so you probably inherited the fighter gene."

 Nyx laughed and said, "You're right. So, what are we waiting for? Let's go free our family!" 

To get to the Ice Kingdom, the group had to go through the desert. Since it was summer, the Sand Kingdom was warmer than ever. "We won't have to worry about Burn and her army," Hibiscus had said, "The real problem is going to be the heat." 

And it was. Although heat didn't affect Nyx too badly (probably because she was half SkyWing), she and Alpine were both getting hot and couldn't fly as high as usual. Hibiscus and Apple couldn't fly at all and simply walked across the sand. Even Mulga, who was pure SandWing, was struggling under the sun.

  It's so unbearably hot... but I have to keep going for Dad and Caribou Nyx thought. 

"Don't worry," Alpine told Nyx, as if reading her mind, "When we get to the Ice Kingdom it will feel good to us. The others, however, are probably going to wish they were here." 

"Yep," said Nyx in agreement. 

"I'm not sure if I can go much longer," Apple coughed from the sand. The little RainWing was a shade of grayish blue and Nyx could tell that she couldn't walk another step. 

"I'll carry you!" Mulga offered. She flew down to Apple and she got on Mulga's back.

 "On that note," said Hibiscus, "I think I'll get back to flying. We need to get to the Ice Kingdom as soon as possible." 

The group started moving faster after that. And soon, the sands started to shift in snow, and before Nyx knew it, she was in IceWing territory. It's time to save them Nyx thought and then realized something. "How are we going to get in the palace?" Nyx asked Alpine as they landed. "Won't there be guards or something?" 

"I have a sort of plan," Alpine replied, "But I don't think you'll like it. Let's just say that it involves a lot of IceWings getting what they deserve." 

"We probably should avoid that then," Nyx said. She really, really, REALLY wanted the IceWings to get what they deserved, especially Glacier, but they needed to do this with as little casualties as possible. 

"Uh, guys?" Mulga said anxiously. "Why is that dragon staring at us?"

 Nyx looked where Mulga was pointing. Sure enough, a hooded figure was looking at them from behind a boulder.

 Alpine snarled. "Let me take care of this," she said. "No one can know that we're here." 

Nyx looked back at the figure and to her horror they were heading right toward her. Nyx dug into her leather pouch Alpine had given her for a throwing star and was about to throw it when Alpine tackled the mysterious figure. 

"Alright!" Alpine growled, "Who are you and what do you want with us?!" 

"Well, I'm obviously here to just stand in a weird hood all day," the dragon replied sarcastically. She toor off her hood, but Nyx didn't need her to. She recognized that sarcastic tone almost instantly. 

"Caribou!" Nyx exclaimed as she hugged her sister.