“Also a Red,” I rasp.
“Yes. Give me five minutes to convince you that the Mistveil dragons are not bad, or evil…or feral.”
I snort. Like that will ever happen.
“This should be good,” I mutter, crossing my arms over my chest.
Fury speaks for the first time since the failed handshake. “The Reds aren’t your enemy. We never were. The Mainland is lying to you. They’ve been lying to all of us for a very long time.”
I laugh, but there’s no humor in it. “Right. And I’m supposed to just take your word for it? You’re not thinking clearly, Shadow.”
“I assure you that I am,” Shadow says, stepping closer. “I was just as skeptical. You need to listen.”
“Fine.” I nod once.
Shadow takes a deep breath. “The vaccinations for Hemorrhagic Fever that every shifter on this island is required to take every year. They’re not what the Mainland says they are.”
My dragon stills inside me. “What are you talking about?”
“The Hemorrhagic Fever outbreak that killed thousands of shifters all those years ago?” Shadow’s voice is quiet but firm. “It was engineered by the Mainland. They purposefully infected our people.”
“That’s insane,” I say, but even as the words leave my mouth, doubt starts to creep in.
“The Mainland created the virus,” Fury continues, his voice low and intense. “They did it so that we would believe that the annual vaccination was a necessity to prevent further outbreaks.”
“Why would they do that? It doesn’t make any sense,” I ask.
“The vaccination serves a purpose, alright, just not the one they are selling us,” Shadow says. “On Draig Island, the vaccination makes and keeps our dragons feral. They made us believe that the Reds are worse than us.”
“They are,” I scowl at Fury. “Your beasts are completely out of control.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Grim,” Shadow tells me. “They have full control of their beasts. I have full control of my beast, now that I no longer have the vaccination in my system.”
“Why do the Reds attack us if they’re so in control? Why do we need to guard Mistveil in the first place?”
“They feel oppressed by us. There are those who get pissed and retaliate,” Shadow tells me, her eyes on mine. “You would do the same, and you can’t tell me any differently because I wouldn’t believe you.”
I don’t say anything.
“Then there are the banished shifters who live on the jungle side of Mistveil Island. They’re all males; most of them have gone feral.”
“Now that, I believe.”
“Hear me out.” Some irritation bleeds into her voice. “The shifters on Mistveil also get vaccinated for Hemorrhagic Fever.” The way she says it tells me that she thinks it’s bullshit.
“You’re about to tell me that the vaccinations on their island are bogus, too.” I glance at Fury, who nods.
“They are,” Shadow says. “But instead of making the dragons feral, they make the females on the island infertile and the males incapable of fathering female offspring. There are those who are immune, a handful of females who can still have young, despite the vaccination. There were hardly any babies being born, and females were rare.”
I look at Drake, desperate for him to tell me this is all bullshit. Some elaborate lie the Reds have concocted.
But Drake just nods slowly. “It’s all true, Grim. Every word.”
“I can prove it,” Shadow tells me.
“How?” I’m still skeptical.
She takes a step back and starts pulling off her shirt. Within seconds, she’s stripped down completely, her clothes in a neat pile at her feet.
