On the walk back to the kitchen, Thisbe’s expression was vacant, but her mind was anything but—she couldn’t stop going over the conversation that she’d just had with the Revinir. What had prompted her to lie about the broth? And more importantly, how had she known what to say? Thisbe had never had premonitions like that before. But they’d been perfectly accurate. She’d appeased the Revinir’s suspicion. And she’d even somehow gotten her to say what Thisbe had wanted her to say.

It didn’t seem possible that Thisbe had orchestrated that, but it had been a pretty big coincidence. And as much as Thisbe wanted to assert her own version of mind control on the Revinir, she knew deep down that the dragon-woman had probably already been thinking all along that the broth had spoiled. And Thisbe had simply made some good guesses in confirming it. Maybe Thisbe had had an accurate feeling about what to do for once. And maybe things were just finally going her way. After all, she’d had a lot of unlucky things happen lately. She was bound to get one thing right eventually. Perhaps today was just her lucky day.

An Investigation

Fifer and Sky took a boat to Warbler, with Fifer’s birds accompanying them overhead, carrying the empty hammock. When they arrived, Copper met them in the marina, which was located in the small inlet on the east side of Warbler, a quarter turn from the beach. Dozens of beautiful handmade ships floated around them—the Warblerans had a knack for shipbuilding, and Sky had practically grown up working on boats. To their great shock, one of the ships was a charred skeleton of its former self.

“What happened there?” Sky asked her mother.

“The Revinir and her dragons sent a fire shower down on our island as they passed overhead,” Copper said. “That one caught and quickly became a full-on blaze before we could put it out.”

“What a horrible thing to do!” said Fifer.

“She wanted to spite us. She knows she’ll never run this island again.”

“It doesn’t surprise me that she’d just try to destroy it,” said Sky. “She’s been on a rampage lately.” Sky tapped her lips thoughtfully. She’d feared the Revinir coming to fight Artimé but knew Warbler was just as vulnerable. Maybe even more so because of the dragon-woman’s history. “I think you should prepare for more attacks, Mother.”

Copper nodded her head solemnly. “We’ve already begun to do that.”

Fifer swept her gaze over the ships. They could all be gone in a matter of minutes if the Revinir and her cursed dragons returned. “At least she won’t be able to fit into your tunnels.”

“Her own protective design is flawed in a way that hurts only her,” said Copper with a rueful smile.