Blue froze at the line of NightWings in front of them. Her gaze scanned through group. Six NightWings, at least, so fighting her and Elk's way out was definitely not an option, unless they wanted to be caught again.

"What now?" Elk whispered to her as the NightWings stared at them coldly.

"Follow my lead," Blue hissed back, then cleared her throat. "You guys going to move, or what?"

"Not until you tell us what you are doing with the prisoner," snarled a stocky female, her eyes dark chips of ice. She towered above them - she was definitely experienced, and, by the looks of her, Blue could tell she'd already thought of seven ways to kill them both already.

"I'm taking him to dump him into the volcano," Blue growled, giving Elk a hard budge. Elk's eyes were glazed with unmasked fear - he was using how he actually felt to his advantage.

"Execution?" the lead NightWing guessed. Blue nodded, relieved that she'd fallen for it. But then her eyes narrowed. "Why is the SandWing following you so willingly, when he has such an easy opportunity to run?"

Blue swore under her breath. "Pretend to stab me with your tail, run and meet me back here," she hissed at Elk.

At the NightWing's words, Elk's eyes brightened, like the sun coming out from under a cover of clouds, then he twisted and pretended to poke Blue in the back with his tail and sprinted away.

Blue roared in pretend agony and fell to the ground, spasming. "THAT MOON-BLASTED SANDWING!" she hollered, then let out another bellow of fake pain.

"You," Blue heard the lead NightWing hiss through her shouting as she whipped around to face her soldiers. "Come with me. We are going after him. And you," she turned to an individual, "stay here and wait with her whilst Futureseer finds a nurse. Go!" Then she whipped around and bolted down the path Elk had taken with three other soldiers on her tail.

The NightWing Blue guessed was Futureseer turned and took a different path. Soon, the hollering Blue and another NightWing were left together.

Blue stopped shouting and leapt to her talons. Swiftly, she darted forwards and cannoned into the NightWing left with her, taking him right off his talons. They landed back onto the metal ground, and the NightWing's head cracked against the hard floor. He was knocked unconscious.

Blue finished him off. Then she positioned his body into a sleep-like form so that he looked like he'd fallen asleep, and went back into character and roared so loud her throat began to hurt.

What felt like an eternity passed. Elk still hadn't shown up, and Blue's throat felt raspy. She wanted to follow the path the four soldiers had taken to try find Elk herself, but then, she realised, he might be on his way where Blue was right now, and if she went off they might miss each other entirely.

With a sudden lurch of her stomach, Blue realised she had no idea whether or not the NightWings had caught up to Elk or not. He could be tied up right now, in a different, more reinforced room, or worse, dead. Me and my stupid, well-thought out plans, Blue thought miserably. 

Sighing, Blue thought she may as well pretend she was dead in case Futureseer and a medic returned. She lay down with her limbs sprawled out and closed her eyes. Concentrating, she shifted the scales near the base of her tail to look pus-greeny-white and blood red to make it more realistic. Then she lay still.

At one point she might've fallen asleep, because she woke up to a familiar voice. "Blue? Blue? Are you OK? Oh, moons, please do tell me I didn't actually stab you!"

Blue grunted and opened her eyes. Elk was looking down at her, his brow furrowed with worry.

"No, you didn't," Blue said, black scales eating up the green, white and red. In just two seconds her NightWing form was back to normal. She got to her feet and tried to pretend that she wasn't relieved and happy to see Elk again.

"OK good," Elk sighed in relief.

"We have to go, quickly," Blue told him. "A NightWing was sent to look for a nurse for me, and its been a couple of hours since then, so they are probably very close."

"Where are we going?" Elk asked, suddenly alert.

"Away from this horrid island," Blue shuddered.

Elk looked troubled. "But... what about Gleam? She must be around here."

"Elk, she isn't."

"How do you know?" Elk shot back.

"Because think," Blue said, beginning to get irritated. Time was ticking. The more they stood around arguing, the less time they had to escape. The patrol of NightWings who had been chasing Elk were probably going to send for reinforcements and come looking for them, which would make running away from here even harder. "Do you really think that Gleam is the type of dragon to sit around on her claws, waiting to be rescued? You might, but I don't think so. If she was here, she'd be fighting her way out, and we'd know she was here by now."

Elk looked dumbfounded.

"Now let's go," Blue growled. She took the lead and raced down the halls of the laboratory, wishing she had a better sense of direction. 

"Hey, what's up with your left ear-ruff? It looks green," Elk panted.

At the mention of Blue's old wound, her ear-ruff began to sting again with a fierce intensity. In the hurry of trying to save herself and Elk, she'd forgotten it was there. She gasped in pain. She realised it must be infected.

"A NightWing happened," Blue said, gritting her teeth in pain. "I'll be fine, though. There are bigger problems at talon."

Elk didn't mention the wound again, but Blue could tell his gaze was trained on her the whole time they were running.

Blue began to get tired. With a flare of panic she wondered if they were lost, until the sulfuric smell began to get stronger and stronger, until they burst out of the laboratory. 

NightWings were everywhere. It was much busier than it had been when Blue had first entered the laboratory about three days ago. Three days, she thought, dazed. It had only been three days since she had went into the maze of a laboratory. It felt like three years.

"What do we do now?" Elk asked her.

Blue didn't answer yet. Her gaze scanned the island, trying to think of where the exit to this horrendous place was. Then she spotted a horde of NightWings on a beach with black sand instead of pale yellow, suspiciously staring into a point. Blue realised that it must be the tunnel back to her home.

"I see the escape tunnel," Blue murmured in his ear. Elk shifted in excitement. "And all we have to do to get there," she said, "is convince the NightWing's that you're one of the prophecy dragonets."