She shot upright in her hammock, flaring her wings and almost falling out of the side.

The screaming got louder, and suddenly stopped. Her eyes were still hazy and unfocused as she tried setting them on Mamba's hammock. Which was still there, but Mamba herself was nowhere to be seen. She stumbled out, using her wings for balance so she didn't fall. Her mind was still clouded from the dream.

"Mamba!" She shouted, looking around. Nothing. Beginning to get panicked, she walked the main level of the hut. The screaming started again, and Artemis jumped in surprise, stumbling back onto a very agitated Vine.

"Watch where you're going, stupid Nightwing!" He roared, his scales flaring red as he shoved her out of the way.

"I'm sorry! But what is making that screaming?" She called after him.

He shouted over his shoulder, "The howler monkeys! It's finally time for you to go to Jade Mountain." With that, he sped down the hall, bursting through the door and into the morning air.

Artemis's wings dropped. Jade Mountain. Today. New dragons. Today. Ugh. She wasn't so sure about all of that... Not after the dream...But she had something else on her mind, where did Mamba go?

She continued to look for her friend, having no luck. She asked Shimmer and Treefrog, but they just shrugged their wings and walked away.

Now guideless, she decided to look for her in the village. Running back down to retrieve her things, she slung the satchel over her shoulder. Lastly, she checked her reflection in a pool of water that sat into a large wooden bowl, frowning at it as she brushed a leaf and stray flower that was stuck to her face.

Here goes nothing.

She walked out of the basement and onto the main floor. After thanking Treefrog and Shimmer for letting her stay(to which she got a solemn response) she left. The humid morning met her like a tail slap to the face, and she winced at the bright sunlight. As she turned her head, she found a couple more Rainwings coming out of their huts, who gave her confused looks. One Rainwing turned his scales darker and narrowed his eyes as soon as she stepped outside. Who knew a pink and purple Rainwing would scowl.

She ducked her head and spread her wings, the silver scales catching the sunlight. She knew she wasn't really welcome, she had to be quick. Within a few seconds she was in the air and searching for her friend. She flew over the tree canopy, scanning the ground for familiar colorful red scales and gold eyes. It was surprisingly hard. She mistook one too many flowers for Mamba. She kept looking for a little longer, with no luck.

Her hopes diminishing, she glided down to a tree-circled pond. She landed on her hind feet, cupping her wings to catch the air that slowed her down. The breeze lovingly curled around her horns.

Artemis landed fully, and tucked her wings into her sides, walking to the pond. Dragonflies skirted the water, along with beautifully colored butterflies.

She focused her attention to the glassy surface. She could see straight down to the bottom of the pond, where frogs lay nestled in the mud. She wrinkled her nose, immediately thinking of Mudwings.

Artemis didn't quite understand how they liked mud, but every dragon was different. She was supposed to be a cryptic all-powerful hermit after all. Still, she was fascinated by the idea that they could blend in so easily.

She kept wondering if there was a Mudwing down there, blending in, holding their breath and waiting for something. She bent down to take a drink, when a soft buzzing began in her head.

A sharp pain jabbed in her skull, the pain rocketing to her eye sockets. She stumbled backwards, crying out at the sudden shock. Artemis thought at first that she must have been bitten by something, or hit by a dart. But she soon knew that wasn't the case. Her vision filled with the blue light from her dream.

Details of Mudwings and fire clogged her vision, overwhelming her with shades of brown and gold and tan and burgundy. She was frozen in place, eyes wide and legs buckled until a voice jarred her out of her shock.

"Hello?"

Artemis staggered forward, feeling warm scales suddenly press up against her side.

"Are you okay?" The voice said, urgent. She looked up, a hazy face coming into view.

Another Nightwing looked down at her. He had a black scaled face with black horns, and sharp cheekbones studded with silver teardrop scales, starting from his eyes to his ears. The colored his orange eyes clashed so jarringly against the black.

Artemis was confused for a moment, wondering if she was dreaming again. Perhaps she was dead? The Nightwing's face was full of concern, though, and he shook her urgently. She felt numb.

"Are you okay?" He said again.

Artemis nodded slowly, waiting for the pain and strangeness to subside, and he sighed in relief.

"Blazing salamanders, what was that all about? Your eyes rolled back into your head, you looked like a...I'm not sure actually. Your necklace, it turned gold!" He exclaimed. "Are you an animus?"

Artemis shook her head in denial and opened her mouth to speak, but looked down at her necklace as another strike of pain rolled through her scales. What the Nightwing said was true. She was baffled, the dragon tail curled over the dark stone had now turned a shimmering gold.

The Nightwing must've seen her expression.

"So I'm guessing it wasn't supposed to do that, then?" He asked.

Artemis arched a brow, thinking. Who is this guy?

The Nightwing gave her an apologetic look. "Uh. Sorry." He said. "I'm Shadowbender." He flashed her a toothy grin, his orange eyes seeming to glow like lava.

"Artemis." She said, a little wary about the new Nightwing. How could he tell?

He fixed his blazing orange gaze on her. She sensed something other than friendliness behind his eyes.

"So, why are you here?" She asked, a little more rude than she should've. He looked hurt for a split second, but immediately covered it with a smile.

"You're friends with Mamba, right?" He said.

Artemis nodded briefly, facing the pond for a second before arching a brow at him. He knows Mamba? Well, duh, why would he be so close to the Rainwing village.

"Yes." His eyes widened. "I mean, yes. I thought so. I mean. Well, she sent me to find you. To tell you she's over at Dart's house." He looked up as if he was trying to remember. Artemis couldn't help but be amused.

"Helping her get her things together for Jade Mountain." He finished, looking satisfied for delivering the message.

Artemis gave him a quizzical look. "Okay?" He at least could've told me where Dart's house is...

Shadowbender winced, "Ah. Right. Her house is just down by the waterfall."

Artemis was confused. Did he just...read my mind?

Shadowbender started pacing nervously on his talons, curling his tail around his back leg.

"Uh, yeah, nice to meet you, Artemis." He blurted. "That's all she wanted me to say, I should go now, see you at Jade Mountain? Hopefully. Probably. Maybe. Um, bye!" With another wince, and possibly a curse, he threw up his wings, briefly showing the stars under them. They were shaped in a row of circles.

He brought them down, and in a few beats he was gone, leaving behind a very confused Artemis.

Well that was...strange. Artemis thought. But yet again, as was much she experienced.

She stepped backwards, away from the pond. She didn't need a weird freaky vision again. Artemis tried not to think about it. That was probably best than wracking her brain so much it imploded.

Taking a look up in the sky, she could make out a faint black blur, obviously Shadowbender.

Let's see...He said something about a waterfall? She peered around, perking her ears to search for the sound of water. Nothing...nothing.. She suddenly grinned triumphantly. Not too many paces forward, she could just make out the sound of pounding water, probably east.

Flaring her wings, she took off into the air, following the sound of water. Gliding over the canopy of trees, Artemis spotted a few Rainwings. One green and gold was chasing another pale blue. While one was shooting venom at a leaf, the other was turning red and scolding them about their aim. Three more were giggling and laughing and tossing about a coconut with their tails.

She could eventually hear the waterfall with no problem, so she broke through the trees. Cautiously weaving over and under vines, she made it to the ground, though not without snagging her wings a couple times.

As she landed her talons sunk into the moist earth. The thundering waterfall was really loud now, like the sound of dragons roaring all together. A bit like a warning.

"Mamba?" She shouted.

Nothing.

Growling in frustration, she began to wander around the waterfall. The water sprayed upwards in a cold mist, chilling her scales. Frogs leapt from lilypads, adding their croaks to the roar of the waterfall. It was like one big rainforest choir. As she thought this, Artemis suddenly slipped on a patch of wet, glossy rock. Her misstep brought her tumbling into the water. It shocked her scales with an ice-cold blast.

Her thoughts immediately flared to Icewings, as if on command. She pictured the cluster of spikes behind their head, their serrated talons. A whip thin tail materialized in front of her eyes. Pale blue scales, deadly frostbreath, lunging at her from the deep.

To her horror, the blue light filled her head again, this time, ice cold. It froze her insides, spreading to her scales. Her lungs didn't seem to work, and she screamed nothing but a stream of bubbles. Her head throbbed, and her throat seemed to be lined with icicles.

Not again! Her thoughts screamed. I'm going to drown here! Stupid Icewing vision!

She roared another stream of bubbles, clawing to the surface, but the waterfall just kept pushing her back down. Her eyes clouded with starbursts, and her body started to go limp. That's when claws suddenly grabbed her shoulders, and hauled her to the surface.

She spluttered and clung to her rescuer, coughing up spurts of water. She was dragged onto a muddy surface, where she lay splayed out, and she tried to catch her breath.

"Three moons, are you okay?" A voice exclaimed. Artemis rapidly blinked her eyes to clear the haze from them, Mamba's face coming into view. Her friends scales were now a green and pale yellow, the colors of fear and worry.

Artemis sat there and tried to gather her thoughts. First the Mudwing vision. Then the Icewing vision. What was going on? Her head still hurt, yet she still attacked it for answers.

Her eyes drifted down to her onyx pendant. Or, what she thought was just onyx. Now a new section had turned a different color. The dragon tail was now a white-gold. Something was definitely up. Artemis had a feeling there was a bigger secret behind this strange necklace...and she was determined to find out what it was. Maybe it was the key to where she got it in the first place.

Mamba was shaking her shoulders, and she hadn't even realized. "Artemis? What's wrong?" She said, her talons still on her friends shoulders.

Artemis was quiet, until her senses came back to her. She was suddenly aware of a sharp throbbing in the back of her head. Artemis winced and jerked her head backwards.

"I fell in the waterfall."

"Thanks for stating the obvious, birdbrain, now come on! Your head is bleeding!" Mamba yelled. She grabbed Artemis' talons, dragging her behind a nearby leaf curtain.

Ah. That's where it is. She thought woozily.

Her head broke through the leaves, and she was whisked into the cave. The two stumbled in on a Rainwing dragonet packing a leaf satchel. The Rainwing looked up, a storm of royal blue and pale yellow was swirling through her scales. The pale yellow broke off into green and purple. She looked up and saw Artemis, and immediately titled her head.

"Artemis?" She said. Artemis recognized her voice, and her curved horns, this was Dart. Dart pulled the leaf satchel over her head.

"Whoa. What happened to you?"

"She fell into the waterfall!" Mamba spoke for her, poking Artemis. "Hit her head on a rock the way down."

"Good thing you came here. I'm training to be a healer." Dart stated, walking over and examining the wound on the back of Artemis's head. "Hey..." She suddenly said as she pressed her talons near the gash. "Wasn't your necklace black and silver?" She said to Artemis, peering at it around her neck as she kept her talons on her wound.

She nodded the best she could while Dart examined her.

"Weird." She simply said. Somehow she had gotten ahold of a pale pink paste, and was applying it onto the gash on Artemis's head.

"Well. That should heal it up in no time, but there's a chance you'll have a scar."

Artemis breathed a sigh of relief as a icy tingle spread from the wound. "Thanks, Dart."

"So I'm guessing Shadowbender delivered the message?" Mamba suddenly said, Artemis looked over, Mamba was shoving scrolls and her dart gun into another leaf satchel.

"Yeah. Yeah he did." Artemis said, she couldn't help thinking back to the Mudwing vision, when Shadowbender suddenly stumbled across her in her state of shock, just at the right time. His soothing voice, and his odd behavior. It seemed a little too good to be true.

Mamba snickered and arched a brow, and Artemis immediately narrowed her eyes.

"What?"

Mamba snickered again. "Nothing."

If she was a Rainwing, Artemis was sure her scales would be a bright pink and red right now. Dart was back to putting things in her satchel.

"Let's go, Dart! " She encouraged. "Gecko is probably getting impatient!"

Artemis looked at Mamba, confused.

"Gecko is the other Rainwing coming to Jade Mountain. Since, you know. There are three new winglets and all."

I didn't know about three new winglets. She thought to herself.

"Wait. So if there are three Rainwings, won't there also be three Nightwings?" Dart suddenly asked, looking up in Artemis's direction.

"My sister Prophecyteller is going." She mumbled.

"Shadowbender is going too." Mamba nodded.

Artemis felt a faint smile tug at the side of her mouth. Right. She'd get the chance to see him again.

"Oh. So I guess we now know the Nightwings and Rainwings! It just depends what Winglet we're in on how often we'll see each other. But we will have to meet up, certainly." Dart said, smiling wide. "Well, I'm ready. What about you guys?"

"Yep." Mamba said.

Artemis titled her head to the slightly damp satchel hanging on her left side.

"Honeycombs! Sweet! Well, let's go meet up with the dragonets, then!" Dart exclaimed.

Mamba looked at Artemis, and she shrugged her wings. "Let's go."

The three spread their wings and took off into the air. A couple minutes later, an emerald green Rainwing caught up to them. His wings were a bright orange, and he was extremely scrawny.

"That's Gecko!" Mamba shouted over to Artemis. Gecko and Dart had started talking, they both seemed overjoyed to see each other. Mamba glided over to Artemis.

"He's Dart's brother." She stated. Artemis nodded, and kept flying.

A while later, when they were coming to the end of the Rainforest, a familiar pitch black Nightwing showed up. Shadowbender.

Shadowbender flew up to Artemis and Mamba.

"Hey, guys!" He cheerfully stated.

"Girls." Mamba muttered sassily.

"Hey, girls." He corrected himself. "So I'm guessing you two are heading to Jade Mountain also?"

Artemis gave him a look. He chuckled and flew higher. "Kidding! I knew you were already, why would you be here if you weren't going?"

"To hang out with Gecko and Dart, now shoo, I'm getting a headache just by listening to you!" Mamba shouted up to him.

Shadowbender stared out at the Rainforest for a second. Then he frowned, somersaulting down. "Aw come on, that's not very nice. Is it, Artemis?"

"Well. I don't know. You are kind of annoying." She teased.

He studied her eyes, orange meeting a vibrant blue.

Artemis began to feel uncomfortable, sensing the same buzzing in the back of her head while she was speaking to him earlier. Shadowbender's eyes suddenly snapped shut, and he winced.

"Yeah, maybe I should go...over there." He said flatly. "Talk to you later." He flared his wings, and slowed down to catch up with Dart and her brother.

"What's up with him?" Artemis wondered aloud. "Does he always act..." Truthfully, she didn't know how to put it. She decided to be vague. "Well...that way?"

Mamba nodded. "He's super secretive."

"Oh."

"Yeah. It gets irritating after a while. The guy is crazy mysterious"

They flew in silence for a little longer.

"How come you live with your family, and other Rainwings don't?" Artemis suddenly asked.

"Cause we don't live in the center of the tribe. We're the outer village, as some would say. There's a lot more Rainwings in the inner village. We stick with our family so it doesn't get lonely." She simply explained. "See, Gecko lives in the inner village along with some relatives of his. Dart lives in the outer village with their parents."

Artemis's brain went to work trying to process it all.

"Confusing, I know," Mamba said. "Better left unexplained. But it's been nice to have dragons to call family. I'm really happy Glory is making all of these changes." She stated. "You can choose to embrace your family if you want, or choose to ignore them."

"I get it, I never lived with the rest of my tribe either." Artemis said, beating her wings. "I wonder if I could move here... It's so wonderful. "

"I'm sure Glory would let you, you're a good dragon."

More silence.

"Hey, Artemis?" Mamba said.

"Yeah?" Artemis answered.

She tossed a purple flower to Artemis, and a sweet aroma filled the air around her. Artemis wondered when Mamba had managed to snag it.

"Thanks for the sculpture." Mamba smiled. "I figured you'd like a nice flower, just, y'know, this one won't kill you."

Artemis laughed and smiled back at the Rainwing, and she and the rest continued on to Jade Mountain.