Fleck and Moon had kept themselves occupied while the riders were gone. They played a game at first, trying to tap the people coming in and out of the library without being noticed. After the librarian’s dragon threatened to hunt them down for sport, they stopped that.

Fleck suggested reading, but Moon said she couldn't read. At that, he smiled, all smug.

Fleck grabbed a book, and showed Moon some of his reading skills. Harmoni had been teaching him the alphabet, and he was getting pretty good. Moon had never been interested in learning to read, but she seemed impressed by him.

They went along the shelves, looking for books they'd be interested in. The one about Xentron geography seemed kind of interesting. But they knew more about Xentron than most rider species. So looking at nonfiction might just be annoying. Moon suggested a Western.

They weren’t paying too much attention to what their riders were doing.

Until Cooper said someone was going to the abandoned lab. Then Fleck dropped the book they were working on, and he and Moon raised their heads. Moon looked around like she expected someone to come out and grab them.

The abandoned lab? Like the one where they used to experiment on dragons?

Harmoni got the urgency. “Do we tell someone?”

She asked it, but she wasn’t too convinced on the idea, and Cooper seemed the same.

“Eh, who would we tell?” he hedged. “We don’t even know what we’re reporting. That we saw someone in the desert? And just look at the Divergence wandering free, and Wyss Village being slaughtered.” Harmoni flinched, but Cooper didn’t seem to notice, still staring at the crawler. “I’m not sure who would help.”

“Well we have to do something!” Fleck roared.

He was shushed by the librarian.

“Let’s get out of here,” Moon suggested.

“We will do something,” Cooper said. He fixed his completely flesh eye on Harmoni. “Follow him?”

Harmoni clenched her hands into fists, and nodded firmly.

Both dragons wanted to come, but Harmoni and Cooper were already so far away, and going further. It would take a while to get to them. At least on foot.

‘Stay there for now,’ Harmoni instructed. ‘If we get into trouble, you can get help.’

Cooper got them much lower to the ground with his rocket boots. They skimmed across the ground for a moment, practically touching it, but going much faster than on foot.

Squinting up ahead, Harmoni could see the sand crawler pull up beside a concrete building. She vaguely recognized it, from the time she and Fleck had taken a tour. It sat out there like a prison, only a few rock formations around it in the open desert.

Cooper dropped to the ground completely as they got closer.

“Don’t want to attract attention,” he explained.

Harmoni nodded.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The two wordlessly tiptoed closer to the lab, darting between rocks and ridges, so they could stay out of sight.

It was too dark to see inside the lab through it’s few windows, but the windows still looked a bit too bright to be unused. Like someone had a lantern inside. And the person on the sand crawler was obviously inside. They weren’t in sight out here, and Harmoni had heard a door close earlier.

Her ear twitched as she heard something clatter inside. The sound was muffled, and Cooper didn’t seem to hear it at all. She grabbed his shoulder to stop him from getting any closer, pointing to the window the sound had come from.

A shadow moved across the window a moment later. It was hard to make out any details, but it was definitely humanoid. Probably not a dwarf or gnome, they’d be too short to see. Probably not an imp, the horns would stick out.

They both squinted at whoever it was for a moment, leaning in, in the faint hope of getting a better view. Then the figure turned. Harmoni saw a shine of light in their eye. They were looking out the window.

She and Cooper dropped behind the nearest rock, the window disappearing from sight.

“Did they see us?” Cooper whispered.

“I don’t know,” Harmoni answered.

Cooper peered around the rock. “Oh boy. They’re not at the window anymore.”

“We should go,” Harmoni said.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think you’re right.”

The two backed away from their rock, then started running. All the rain made it a little easier than running in sand usually was. Unfortunately, that also made it easier to leave tracks.

Cooper grabbed Harmoni, not waiting for to her get on his back this time, and lifted off with the boots. Harmoni heard a door open and clang shut just as they took off into the sky, Cooper swerving towards the taller rock formations, to get out of sight.

Harmoni tried to look over his shoulder at whoever had come out, but she just couldn’t see anyone.

Cooper wove them through the rock structures, twisting from left to right, and also up and down. He seemed to care very little for where they were going, as long as it was away from the lab. She hoped he could find the way back.

When he came to a large platform, partway up one of the rock formations, he dropped them both there. The two just gasped, catching their breath for a moment. Harmoni pressed both hands against the rock wall beside her. Cooper put his hands on his knees.

“Do you think they saw us?” Cooper asked. Again.

“No idea. Did you see them?”

Cooper shook his head.

“What do you think we should do?” she asked.

Other than panic. At least despite that, their breathing was evening out again.

“I-” Cooper cut himself off, and looked at the sky in thought. “I wish we knew what was going on in there. It could be entirely innocent.”

“Do you think it is?”

“No.” He bit his lip. “I don’t trust any of the groups in charge here. They're gangs, whatever they say. But I don’t think we can handle this on our own.”

“We could talk to the people we know,” Moon suggested. And she must’ve said it for Fleck and Harmoni’s sake, because she didn’t need to speak to Cooper out loud. “Evergreen and Cembra. Or Jay and Ollien.”

Moon listed out a few more. Aside from Evergreen and Cembra, he had no idea who they were.

It seemed these two got out more.

‘Not necessarily.’ They might just know different people. After all, the two of them knew Udo and Aqua, and Fleck’s sisters and their riders. Moon and Cooper wouldn't know them.

Cooper, meanwhile, nodded along to Moon’s suggestions, crossing his arms. “Yeah. We know a few people who can help.”

Harmoni drew in a deep breath. “I’ll talk to Desert Crest.”

Cooper immediately uncrossed his arms, staring at her. “Are you sure?”

Yes, but no. She nodded. “I like your idea.” Mostly Moon’s idea. “And I don’t know if any gang will do much. But it seems like we should tell someone in charge. And I’ve talked to Amier before. So I’ll do it. We can split the work.”

And as much as she didn't want to talk to Amier, it would be better to talk to him once than several people over and over.

“You’ve talked to Amier before?” Cooper’s voice cracked.

Cooper seemed very hung up about this.

Not Harmoni’s business, if it was true. "I have." But she didn’t want to talk about her last, and only, encounter with Amier and Argone. "And I'll do it again. Unless you think it'll make things worse?"

There was no guarantee it would make things better, but she didn't think telling would make it worse.

It seemed Cooper agreed. He sighed, looking to the side, thumbs fiddling with his belt loops. "No. If you're up for it we-we could do that."

Harmoni nodded. “We should go then. We need to hurry, right?”

If something bad was happening in the lab, they needed to let someone know as soon as possible. Even sooner if someone had actually seen them.

Cooper nodded. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

She climbed on his back. She heard his boots start up, and he took them back towards Xentron City.