Winter Turning

This installment in the Wings of Fire series, set on the dragon continent of Pyrrhia where seven distinct tribes coexist, follows Prince Winter of the IceWings as he searches for his missing brother.

A prologue set two years earlier shows Winter's older brother, Hailstorm, the top-ranked IceWing dragonet, leading three-year-old Winter into enemy SkyWing territory. SkyWing soldiers surround them, and Hailstorm negotiates Winter's release by belittling him as worthless. Winter escapes, but Hailstorm is taken to Queen Scarlet, the SkyWing ruler, where a mysterious soldier whose eyes turn pitch black reaches toward him, and Hailstorm loses consciousness.

The main narrative opens with Winter reflecting on his failures. IceWing society is governed by a strict ranking system of seven circles that determines every aristocrat's status and future. Winter's sister, Icicle, is being groomed to challenge their aunt, Queen Glacier, for the throne, and Hailstorm had been the tribe's most promising warrior. After Hailstorm's capture, Winter's ranking plummeted. Now he has learned Hailstorm may still be alive as Scarlet's prisoner. Icicle had bargained with Scarlet to kill certain dragons in exchange for Hailstorm, but Winter stopped her. Standing outside Jade Mountain Academy, the inter-tribal school he attends, Winter prepares to search alone.

His winglet, the small cross-tribe student group he belongs to, finds him: Moonwatcher (Moon), a NightWing; Qibli, a SandWing; Kinkajou, a RainWing; and Turtle, a SeaWing prince. Moon collapses and speaks a prophecy warning of darkness, a stalker of dreams, talons of power and fire, and one who is not what she seems; Jade Mountain will fall unless the lost city of night can be found. Moon then reveals she is the only NightWing with genuine powers: She can read minds and see the future. Turtle gives Winter skyfire, a stone that blocks mind reading, and returns to school. The remaining four head for the rainforest, where Qibli believes Icicle has gone to kill Queen Glory, the young queen of both the RainWings and NightWings.

In the rainforest, Winter recounts an ancient grievance. Centuries ago, a NightWing named Foeslayer lured away Prince Arctic, the IceWings' last animus dragon—a dragon born with the rare ability to enchant objects with permanent magic. Foeslayer and Arctic's offspring, Darkstalker, became the first NightWing animus and killed his father, ensuring the IceWings lost their magical bloodline forever. Queen Glory treats Winter as visiting royalty, but a scout reports frozen vegetation nearby. Investigation reveals a murdered NightWing whose scales are ravaged by frostbreath, the IceWings' freezing breath, confirming Icicle's presence.

Glory confines the group for safety, but they escape and follow a tunnel to the abandoned NightWing volcanic island. Moon concludes this desolate place is not the lost city from the prophecy; an older NightWing city on the mainland is the true target. They find Icicle in the ruins, sleepless for days to avoid Scarlet's dreamvisitor, a magical object that allows one dragon to enter another's dreams. Icicle insists she must kill Glory to save Hailstorm. She attacks Kinkajou, but Glory's guards tranquilize her with a dart. As Icicle collapses, Winter whispers a bluff: Tell Scarlet he will kill Glory himself if she proves Hailstorm is alive.

That night, Moon monitors Icicle's sedated mind and detects Scarlet entering the dream. Moon glimpses an unusually shaped mountain behind Scarlet and sketches it. The group seeks out the Talons of Peace, a cross-tribe organization, to identify the location. Among their SkyWing members is Pyrite, a nervous orange dragon wearing a tight brown pouch on a gold chain around her neck. Pyrite identifies the mountain and agrees to guide them, driven by obsessive loyalty to Scarlet. When Winter touches Pyrite, he feels a disorienting magical sensation.

Pyrite leads them to a hidden valley, where they find Scarlet's abandoned shelter but no prisoners. Scarlet invades Winter's dream that night, taunts him, and threatens to kill Hailstorm by morning. Winter mentally screams for Moon, who wakes him. They fly to the surrounding peaks, where Moon detects Scarlet arguing with a NightWing companion who possesses a limited power to transform dragons into other dragons. Scarlet orders the companion to bring Pyrite to her.

They race back to camp. The NightWing arrives first and attacks Kinkajou, slamming her into a tree with devastating force. Moon and Winter drive him off, but Kinkajou lies crumpled and unresponsive. Qibli subdues Pyrite while Winter rips off her necklace. Pyrite's scales shift: Orange bleeds away, white spikes emerge, and her body grows into a tall IceWing with arctic blue eyes. It is Hailstorm. Pyrite was a magical disguise that completely overwrote his identity for two years.

They fly to Possibility, a mixed-tribe town, where a doctor diagnoses Kinkajou with a skull fracture and other grave injuries. Winter opens the necklace pouch and finds an animus spell that transforms any wearer into Pyrite, complete with loyalty to Scarlet and no memory of their true self. He briefly wears the necklace and instantly becomes Pyrite, feeling her conviction that SkyWings are the greatest tribe, the same certainty he feels about IceWings. Only because Qibli tore off the spell's compulsion clause can Winter remove the necklace. Hailstorm begs to put it back on, saying life without rankings was easier. Winter refuses.

Winter decides to take Hailstorm to the Ice Kingdom. Moon asks him to return and join the search for the lost city. He refuses, insisting he cannot be friends with a NightWing. Moon tells him he is one of the bravest, truest dragons in Pyrrhia. Qibli promises they will wait one week. Winter flies north with Hailstorm.

At the Ice Kingdom, their father Narwhal places Hailstorm in dead last in the Seventh Circle and promotes Winter to first for his rescue. Winter grasps the motive: Hailstorm's seventh hatching day approaches, and the Diamond Trial, a lethal rank duel, is his only path back to first place. The Trial requires the current first-place holder as defending challenger, and only one dragon survives. Winter's parents positioned him at the top so Hailstorm faces him rather than the formidable Snowfall, Queen Glacier's daughter, sacrificing one son to save the other.

In the Diamond Caves, the brothers find Foeslayer herself encased in ice, kept alive for thousands of years by animus magic, dying and refreezing each time the Trial occurs. Hailstorm reveals their parents secretly instructed him to use his enchanted spear to freeze Winter after killing Foeslayer; the Trial is rigged so only the chosen winner knows the spears' true power. Neither brother can comply. Winter proposes that Hailstorm claim victory while Winter never returns home.

After Hailstorm leaves, Winter wakes Foeslayer. She insists she did not steal Prince Arctic; they fell in love. Winter believes her, recognizing the parallel to his own feelings for Moon. He frees her enchanted shackles using frostbreath, a mechanism designed so no IceWing would ever willingly release a NightWing. Winter does it anyway, extracting her promise not to harm IceWings. Foeslayer says she wants to return to the lost Night Kingdom, meaning she knows its location. Winter declares he will come with her, no longer a prince bound by rankings but a dragon with friends from other tribes, determined to save Jade Mountain.

An epilogue reveals that Darkstalker lies buried beneath Jade Mountain, monitoring students' minds. He observes a NightWing student weighing whether to join a coup, a SandWing named Onyx plotting to become queen, and Princess Anemone, a SeaWing animus contemplating using her power against her mother. He focuses most on Peril, the firescales SkyWing whose scales burn anything they touch, sensing something in her future that could change everything. Darkstalker wishes for Moon to return, establishing his continued threat.