She saw them wherever she went, and it seemed no one else did.

In the caves, outside, in her den. They were relentless. They were watchful. And they were always, always talking. There was the Door, too, as she'd come to call it, glowing a horrid blank white, whirring and humming at the end of one of the tunnels that had been here when her parents had first discovered the cave system. The only place that was still and quiet, where she didn't have to watch her step to avoid everyone, was her parents' High Council dome.

Midnight would often hide underneath the table in there to get some rest from the invisible dragons. She'd overheard some secret meetings before by doing this. She'd had to act surprised when her trio of adults told her about the Cube; she had known about that since she was a hatchling.

Today they were particularly loud and particularly everywhere. But today, she had an idea.

Midnight walked right up to one of the invisible dragons and spoke.

"Hi."

This one was a kindly old gentleman dragon, who had been speaking to another before Midnight interrupted.

"Why, hello there, youngster." His voice was warped and warbly. "You don't usually speak to us. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too. I had a question."

"Fire away!"

"Who are you?"

The invisible dragon straightened himself up with pride. "I am Lord Glowtail The Fifteenth, of the Shadow Flight. There's a whole book about me in the library one of my great-great-great-great-grandsons wrote! I had many hatchlings before I joined the war, you know."

"War?"

"Yes, yes, one of the many waged against the Light Flight over the millennia. I'm surprised you don't know about that, youngster. What do your hatchling-watchers teach you nowadays?"

Midnight wasn't a hatchling anymore, but she was still quite young, probably a baby in this elderly dragon's eyes.

"So why are you invisible?"

"Invisible? What do you mean?"

"Why can't anyone else see you? I'm the only one."

Lord Glowtail The Fifteenth's companion, another elderly male, chimed in at that. "I can see him too!"

"Yeah, but--"

"Run along now, youngster. I've got a riveting game of chess to get to with my friend Lord Sparksbreath The Twelfth here. And we've got to discuss our quest!"

"Quest?"

But they had already turned away.

---

In the library later that afternoon, Midnight found it. The book on Lord Glowtail. She wasn't interested in the number of hatchlings he'd had (although 78 was quite a feat), or his expansive lair, or the amount of treasure he'd amassed through his various conquests, or even his eventual exultation to the Shadowbinder. She was interested in only one line in the book.

Unfortunately, the end of Lord Glowtail The Fifteenth's long and productive life came when he fell in his service to our lady the Shadowbinder on the fields of battle against the treacherous Lightweaver.

That was it, then. Midnight finally had her answer. She knew what she had to do next.

He was in the same spot she'd left him, now hunched over a table with Lord Sparksbreath.

"Cunning as you may be, you'll never win this," said Sparksbreath.

"I beg to differ, old one," said Glowtail, making an elaborate move across the board and knocking down Sparks's king. Sparksbreath put his great head in his paws. "Fine, but I'll win the next one."

"Excuse me again."

They both looked up at her. "It's the shadowy youngster! Hello again."

"Hello. I have something to show the both of you, if you'll follow me."

"Oho? A mystery indeed. Come along, Glowtail, let's see what she has to reveal to us."

She brought them straight to the Door. It was the same as usual, an electric buzz in the air around it. She hated it.

"Is this part of your quest?"

Glowtail scoffed. "Of course it is, but without a guide, we can't get through."

"What would a guide have to do to get you through it?"

"Oh, it's quite simple really. They would have to put both paws in the center of the portal to open it, and then we'd walk through and it would close behind us. If it were to be left open for longer than a few hours, calamity and catastrophe would follow. Nothing too much."

"Oh. Like this?"

Midnight put both paws on the door and it stopped humming almost instantly. The white afterglow of its light turned into a rainbow swirl, and she stepped back.

The two lords looked at Midnight with newfound respect. "Our guide," Sparksbreath whispered. "We've been waiting all this time. What is your name, youngster?"

Midnight held her head high and spread her wings for dramatic effect. "I am Lady Midnight of the Creed of the Cube. If you'd like to step through the door into whatever waits beyond, you are welcome to do so now."

"Of course, my lady," said Glowtail. He walked into the cave wall--and vanished. Sparksbreath gave Midnight a bright smile and followed after, and the door closed behind them. The humming was quieter now, and much more bearable.

Midnight turned away. She had a job to do.