The dragonets had been trekking through the Jungle for a little over a day.

There had been a bit of drama — Nettle got stuck in a death plant (called a cobra lily by Willow and Sundew, although Clearwing didn't know anything about it other than the fact that it was terrifying), Coal screamed when a tsetse fly about as big as a dragonet whizzed past them while they flying over a death lake (filled with plants called waterwheels, which Clearwing once again thought were terrifying), and then they had only one more obstacle before reaching the Eye of the Jungle, where Hawthorn supposedly lived.

The Den of Vipers.

Dragonbite vipers.

The place was filled with dragonbite. Moonblasted. Vipers.

They sat in eerie, coiled stillness, unblinking, unmoving, they barely even breathed. Some of the vipers were about the size of a large worm — others were the length of an entire dragon. They'd come across the first one when Mandrake and Nettle stopped moving. There was a long, horrifying silence as they all realized how many snakes there were — dripping from the trees, hiding under the leaflitter, curled around reeds and stones in the river.

Clearwing had never seen Coal so quiet in either of their lives. Coal had always been chattering about new things or what would happen if the SilkWings got their own queen or potential futures. Some of them had even involved them being together; Clearwing had always assumed he was joking, but now that she knew about his feelings for her, she realized he had meant it. Or he was making accusations through his muzzle, constantly, every time someone ignored him and talked about him as though he was "just a puppet" and not an actual dragon at all (which made Clearwing feel horrible, but really, there wasn't much she could do about it when the LeafWings were their only allies).

The jungle was dark, and dense. It was getting harder and harder to see as they travelled further and further towards the Eye. Willow and Sundew helpfully pointed out which cobra lilies were actually snakes; which vines were actually snakes; which fish in the river were actually snakes. There were a lot of snakes.

Then there was a tug on Clearwing's mind.

"Can you feel that?" Clearwing whispered to Sundew, her voice choked as though it was being held by strangler vines. The LeafWing nodded silently, her eyes a mix of horror and confusion even though her expression was chiseled.

"I can smell it, too," she said. A faint whiff of some horrible, peppery, rotting smell drifting through the air. Cricket made a quiet gagging sound.

The breath of evil was here.

Clearwing felt its little tendrils squirming around in her mind, trying to reach into her brain and take her over. However after a few moments they shrank back, almost as if they were scared of her. That was a funny thing to say about hypothetical tendrils.

"Look," Mandrake said, his eyes lighting up. There was light ahead, a break where the sunlight shone through the leaves and onto the forest floor.

"Maybe that's the Eye," Cricket whispered. "Where Hawthorn lives?" Clearwing felt the mind of a dragon out there — it must've been Hawthorn. Something was off, though...

"How can he live here?" Willow whispered back, not seeing Clearwing's expression. "Surrounded by all these vipers and the breath of evil?"

"Maybe he doesn't," Nettle hissed. "Maybe he's dead."

"That's the spirit, Nettle," Sundew said wryly. "Let's go check it out."

"Is something wrong?" Cricket turned her eyes on Clearwing, speaking in the smallest whisper possible.

"I... don't know," Clearwing whispered back. "I can feel the mind of Hawthorn, but there's something else, and... this just doesn't feel right." Something definitely wasn't; but she didn't exactly know what.

You know fully well, little dragonet.

Clearwing ran to catch up with the rest of the group, hoping she imagined that voice.

As they headed toward the light, the jungle around them became easier to see.

Green and red vines curled overhead. The breath of evil vine grew freely throughout this entire space, barely a day's walk from Queen Sequoia's village. Next to Clearwing, Sundew shuddered. The entire group, or at least her and Coal, were probably thinking the same thing: Why didn't Sequoia just destroy the plant entirely?

They were almost on the edge of the clearing when the snakes suddenly lunged into movement.

A massive one, large enough to swallow Nettle whole, dropped from the tree in front of them, blocking their path. A tiny one dug its fangs into Coal's armor, nearly sending Clearwing into a state of shock, but didn't pierce it, to her relief. Five more glided out of the bushes behind them; even more seemed to magically materialize from the ground underfoot. The vipers began to hiss.

They were surrounded.

Clearwing's first instinct was to scream, but Coal had already started doing that, his wails reaching up to a high-pitched shriek through the gag.

"Sundew," Willow said, hysteria edging into her voice, "Any ideas?"

"Why bother asking her?" Nettle demanded. "I have an idea; let's kill them!" She lunged toward the one in front of them. It bared its fangs and darted at her, fast as lighting. Mandrake screamed. Cricket wrapped her wings around herself. Clearwing scrunched her eyes tightly shut.

There was a whoosh of air as something thumped onto the ground in front of them, his wings slowing his fall.

"Begone!" shouted a voice, all too familiar. "Leave these travellers in peace!"

"The dragon's name is Hawthorn," said the voice through the LeafWing's mouth. Clearwing shivered a little bit more, sinking further into her wings.

The hissing intensified, and Clearwing's heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest. But finally, after a few million bone-chilling moments, the hissing stopped and the leaves rustled lightly as the snakes slithered away.

Clearwing peeked one eye open.

"Well, you very nearly just died!" a giant LeafWing announced, tossing away a dead viper as though it was nothing more than a discarded old twig. "What kind of idiots come to a place like the Den of Vipers?"

"Desperate ones," Sundew admitted. "We're looking for a dragon named Hawthorn."

"Thank you for saving my sister," Mandrake interjected.

"I didn't need saving!" Nettle roared. "I was about to kill it myself!"

"If you had, the rest probably would've killed you," Clearwing pointed out.

"Mph, mm cnmm mmgmnn nnnmmnn mmbphnn tmm phmm," Coal said.

"I mean," the LeafWing said, tipping his head politely at Clearwing, his eyes sparkling. "It's only reasonable, right? You did come into my territory. No one ever does that. So they tend to be a bit overprotective."

"They..." Cricket trailed off. "I'm sorry, who? The vipers? They're protecting you? What?"

"Oh, yes," Hawthorn replied. "I'm Hawthorn, and those were my vipers. Who wants tea?"