by Amie Kaufman
“But, Anders,” Det said carefully, as his wolf friends all blinked. “Um, she’s a dragon.”
“Wolves, this is Ellukka, Mikkel, and Theo,” Anders replied.
“Lisabet,” said Ellukka carefully. “Did I hear the Fyrstulf call you her daughter?”
Mikkel’s mouth fell open. All the dragons were looking at Lisabet.
“Actually,” she said, lifting her chin defiantly, the soot on her pale skin streaked with the white paths of dried tears, “I think you heard her say I’m not her daughter anymore.”
“You could have mentioned that earlier,” Ellukka said slowly.
“Would you have?” Rayna asked, with one of her snorts.
“We all have a lot to tell each other,” Anders said. “But right now, we need somewhere to hide. And to make a plan. We thought it was enough to try and counter the Snowstone, to push Ulfar and the Dragonmeet back to a stalemate. But we were wrong. How we do it matters as much as what we do.”
“Anders, the problem is even bigger than you know,” Sakarias said. “You asked us to look into the dragonsfire attacks on Holbard. We have to tell you what we found.”
Mikkel spoke up. “We have to get to safety first. We can fly again, but we’re going to need an hour’s rest, something to eat. It feels like I’ve flown farther today than in all my other times since my first transformation put together.”
Anders watched as Viktoria, Sakarias, and the other wolves exchanged a long glance. He knew what they’d been taught about dragons—he’d been taught the same things. He’d felt the same way, even a few weeks ago.
“These are my friends,” he said. “They’ve lost their home for this. We wolves have been exiled, but they have too, whether the Dragonmeet’s told them so or not. They can’t go back to Drekhelm now, and they gave that up to help us stop the wolves freezing half of Vallen so they could attack the dragons. And to stop the dragons taking the Sun Scepter from us to heat up the city and attack in return.”
Theo spoke up behind him, hesitant but determined. “I lived in Holbard until not long ago. The dragons kidnapped me. I thought I was going to die, but they knew something I didn’t. I needed to transform, and they had to help me do it. They’re not what I always thought they were.”
“And the eleven of us, wolves and dragons,” said Anders, “we’re all that’s left to stop a war. We have to work together.”
He watched as the wolves spoke silently—even in human form, they communicated with glances, with twitches of body language that would have been invisible to him before he’d become one of them. It was a lightning-fast conversation—uncertainty from some, decision from others.
Slowly, on behalf of all of them, Viktoria nodded. “We need somewhere to hide,” she said, her voice soft but clearly determined not to shake.
“Cloudhaven,” said Rayna.
Anders nodded. “It’s where the first dragonsmiths worked,” he said. “Nobody ever goes there now, it’s forbidden.” Then, after a moment: “Our mother worked there too.”
Sakarias did a double take. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Like I said,” Anders replied, with what felt a little like his old smile. “We have a lot to catch you up on.” But the mention of his mother had made him think of someone else. “Does anyone know if Hayn’s all right?”
Slowly, one at a time, the young wolves shook their heads. “I saw him during the battle,” Jai said. “But I don’t know what happened to him.” They sounded far from certain.
Anders reached up to grasp the augmenter at his neck, his fingers tingling with a hint of its power as its edges pressed into his skin. Wherever Hayn was, somehow he was sure it wouldn’t be too long before they saw their uncle again. And Professor Ennar had refused to let anyone speak against Hayn when he’d been locked up. Perhaps there was some hope she’d listen to them.
Beside him, Lisabet started going through her bag, pulling out food and setting it on the ground. “Let’s rest,” she said. “And then Rayna is right, we should go to Cloudhaven. There’s lava deep below it, so the dragons will regain their strength there. And it’s permanently surrounded by mist and cloud, so the cold of it makes it a perfect place for wolves. Once we’re there, we can . . .” But that was where her practical tone of voice ran out, and she trailed off.
Anders didn’t know the answer either. He didn’t know what they’d do next, or how they’d keep the peace. It couldn’t be another act of brute force, another attempt to force the hands of Ulfar and Drekhelm. It would have to be something new.
But as he watched Sakarias break a bread roll in half and pass the other piece to Ellukka with a tentative smile, he knew one thing for sure.
Whatever he did next, he’d do it with all his friends at his back.
Acknowledgments
No book is created by the author alone, and I have a wonderful pack of wolves and dragons to whom I owe many thanks.
I’ve been to every corner of that map of Vallen with my inspiring editor, Andrew Eliopulos—his navigation is never wrong, and I can’t wait for all our future adventures! The wonderful Abby Ranger first handed me the compass, and will always be a part of these stories.
A huge thank-you to the wonderful team at Harper, who have made publishing these books such a joyful experience—I must particularly mention Bria Ragin; Joe Merkel and Levente Szabo (who are jointly responsible for these incredible covers); Virginia Allyn for a map that inspired large parts of this story; Jill Amack and Emily Rader for saving me from myself on many occasions; and Rosemary Brosnan and Ann Dye for all their support. To my team at Harper Oz—I’m having such a blast! Thank you so much for taking such good care of me. A huge thanks as well to the team at Harper Audio and to my incredible narrator Johnathan McClain, who truly brought these books to life.
My agent, Tracey Adams, is a part of all my stories and all my journeys—Tracey, I value your friendship as much as your fierce intelligence. I feel so lucky to have you, Josh, Cathy, and Stephen in my pack.
Many people lent their expertise to this telling of this story—as always, any mistakes remaining after their wonderful advice are mine. Thanks and more thanks to Alex Gino, the staff at the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, New York, and many others. Thanks as well to Will Marney (who also lent me his middle name) for all his feedback, and to Meg Spooner for every part she played in making sure both book and author came through in one piece.
Other support came from many wonderful friends: Jay, Marie, Leigh, Michelle, Cat, Kacey, Kiersten, Nic, Kate, Soraya, Ryan, Peta, Eliza, the Roti Boti crew, my retreat-mates at the House of Progress, and the Wordsmiths. I am immeasurably lucky to have all of you in my life.
Many, many thanks to the readers, reviewers, booksellers, and librarians who help to spread the word about this and many other books—I am so grateful for all your efforts in helping Anders and his friends find their way to new homes and new hearts.
To all my family, both two- and four-legged—thank you so much for all your support, your enthusiasm, and your love. I am so grateful, and so lucky.
And finally, as always, to Brendan: You are endlessly patient, loving, generous, hilarious, and supportive. I couldn’t tell my stories without you, and I wouldn’t want to. I love you.
About the Author
Photo by Christopher Tovo
AMIE KAUFMAN is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of young adult fiction, including Unearthed and the Starbound trilogy, coauthored with Meagan Spooner; and the Illuminae Files trilogy, coauthored with Jay Kristoff. Her multi-award-winning work has been described as “a game-changer” (Shelf Awareness) and “out-of-this-world awesome” (Kirkus Reviews). Raised in Australia and Ireland, Amie has degrees in history, literature, law, and conflict resolution. She took howling lessons from a wolf expert while preparing to write this series. She lives in Melbourne with her husband, their rescue dog, and an extremely large personal library. Read more at www.amiekaufman.com.
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Books by Amie Kaufman
Elementals: Ice Wolves
THE UNEARTHED DUOLOGY
coauthored with Meagan Spooner
Unearthed
Undying
THE STARBOUND TRILOGY
coauthored with Meagan Spooner
These Broken Stars
This Shattered World
Their Fractured Light
THE ILLUMINAE FILES
coauthored with Jay Kristoff
Illuminae
Gemina
Obsidio
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Copyright
ELEMENTALS: SCORCH DRAGONS. Copyright © 2019 by HarperCollins Publishers. Illustrations by Levente Szabo. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
COVER ART © 2019 BY LEVENTE SZABO/GOOD ILLUSTRATION LTD
COVER DESIGN BY JOE MERKEL
* * *
Digital Edition MARCH 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-245803-2
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-245801-8
* * *
Map by Virginia Allyn
1920212223PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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