Chapter 14

"How did you find them?" Asked Kestral.

" We found a body outside of a tree hole, then another, then another... We went inside and found a whole mound of dead Rainwings." Mangrove said.

"Who's we?" Ruby rose added.

" People who cared... who lost their lives to the Mudwing... not long after we found the bodies, we saw a Mudwing burn our home and my two helpers. I was lucky to make it out alive. I now know who caused all of this. That Mudwing is a monster." Mangrove sat again.

Ruby rose pulled out the tube from before that still had a few droplets left.

"Why are you still looking at that? Clay is probably on a... Rampage? I still can't believe Clay did all this. " Glory said.

"I don't think it was just him. It has to do with this goop. It's probably Animus, but I have to make sure. " Ruby rose said.

" How does one test Animus magic? " Kestral said.

Ruby rose looked at Kestral and Glory.

" Experimentation. " Ruby rose responded.

Ruby rose dropped a droplet on both of them. At first, it seemed to do nothing.

" Yep... Nothing. " Glory said.

" Some animus magic includes a type of command... Let's see... GLORY, KESTRAL GO KILL... um... " Ruby rose looked around to find something to kill, then saw a small monkey in the trees. " That monkey."

Suddenly, they flew towards the monkey. Kestral got it first, and they seemed to fight over it.

" GLORY, STOP!!!"

Glory stopped everything, including balancing. She began to fall at about 50 feet.

" Glory, Catch yourself... "

Glory spread her wings and landed on the grassy floor.

" Glory, Kestral... Return! "

Glory and Kestral landed on the platform. Kestral still had the monkey in her talons.

" Kestral... Drop the monkey. "

Kestral dropped the monkey. Ruby rose took the goop and placed it back into the tube. They turned back to normal.

" What happened? How long have I been out? " Glory asked.

" This changes everything. " Ruby rose said.

Ruby rose took out the collar from a leaf sack that once held onto Clay. Ruby rose noticed that the collar had a needle on the necklace that connected to the tube.

" A needle... that changes things. " Ruby rose said

" So Clay is being controlled on the inside it seems. " Kestral said.

" So how do we get it out of him? " Glory asked.

Rubyrose pulled out the syringe from the necklace then put both into the bag.

" We take it out the same way they put it in. "