by Julie Kagawa
“Faith.” She pried the girl’s arms away from her head. “Hey, we have to go.”
“No!” Faith looked up, gaze frantically searching for the other hatchling. “What about Ava? We can’t leave them.”
“We can’t help them now!” Ember growled and pulled the other girl off the wall. The chatter of gunfire was getting closer, as were the footsteps of the squad. “She’s with Riley, she’ll be fine. But we have to get out of here, right now.” Faith took a breath to argue, and Ember snarled at her with the fury of a fire-breathing dragon. “Move!”
Faith gave a desperate sob and stumbled past me down the hall. I started after her but Ember paused, shooting one final glance at Riley and Ava, who were already sprinting in the opposite direction.
“Be careful, Riley,” she whispered, before spinning and catching up to me and Faith. We rounded a corner just as the squad reached the intersection, sending a storm of bullets after us, and whatever feelings I had about Ember and the rogue were quickly replaced by thoughts of survival.
Riley
I might not get out of this one.
Angrily, I banished the thought as I led Ava through the maze of corridors, the echo of gunfire and soldiers’ voices ringing behind us. I couldn’t start thinking like that. I’d survived worse than this, and besides, I had too many who counted on me; I couldn’t die now.
“Riley, wait,” Ava said, bringing me to a halt in the middle of the hall. The pale-haired hatchling shot a quick look around, blue eyes searching, then jerked her head at an open doorway. “This way,” she announced, and darted into the room. Frowning, I followed, hearing the soldiers close behind us, wondering what she was planning. We couldn’t afford to be trapped.
“What are we doing?” I hissed, as the hatchling hurried to a pair of balcony doors. “We can’t fly, Ava. They’ve got snipers out there—”
“We’re not going to fly.” Ava unlocked the frame and pried back the glass doors, glancing over her shoulder at me. “I know what I’m doing,” she said to my dubious look. “Trust me, Cobalt.”
Shouts echoed from the hallway, making my skin crawl. “Looks like I don’t have a choice,” I growled, and followed her onto the balcony. She didn’t launch herself into the air but hurried to the railing and swung over, making my heart jump to my throat. For a half second, she dangled over a lethal drop, feet swinging out over nothing. Then she pumped her legs twice and let go of the rails. My heart gave another violent lurch as I leaned over and watched her drop onto the balcony directly below us, landing in a graceful crouch.
Straightening, she looked up at me, as I told my heart it could start beating again. “Hurry!” she urged, just as the glass behind me shattered. Bullets sparked off the railing, and I scrambled over the edge, taking a half second to swing my legs forward as I released my grip.
I hit the concrete and rolled, distributing some of the impact, though it still clacked my teeth together and sent a flare of pain up my arm. Ava pulled me to my feet and dragged me away from the balcony railing just as the soldiers stuck their guns over the edge and fired down on us. We fled the room into another series of darkened corridors. This one without the swarms of soldiers, at least for now.
I leaned against a wall to catch my breath, and Ava did the same. Panting, I looked at her, at the slender body and the calm, young face. “How many times have you done this before?” I asked. She shrugged, pushing long pale hair behind her shoulder.
“I was trained for this,” she said as I wondered what Talon had her pegged for before she ran. Basilisk, Gila and Viper were the operatives that received special combat training. “My final exam was supposed to be this month,” Ava went on, staring at the wall, her eyes dark with memory. “But I knew I couldn’t do what they asked. The new management was especially unbearable.” An unexpected look of disgust broke through her composure. “Hiding what I felt was getting harder and harder. I’d been planning to leave for a long time, ever since I heard about you.” Her gaze flicked to mine, then away just as quickly. “I’m not usually this disorganized,” she admitted, hunching her shoulders as if embarrassed. “I was going to run when my test came around, but then I heard about Faith and…things happened a little faster than I originally planned.” She sighed, squeezing her eyes shut. “I hope she’s all right,” she whispered. “I promised I’d keep her safe.”
I brushed her arm. “She’ll be okay,” I said, allowing a small grin to tug at my mouth. “You don’t know Ember. She’ll burn the building down before she’ll let anyone hurt her. And the soldier…is a bastard, but he knows what he’s doing. Trust me, she’ll be fine.”
Ava regarded me with solemn blue eyes. “You have a lot of faith in them,” she said. “It’s been so long since I’ve been able to trust anyone but myself.”
“Hopefully that’ll change.” I pushed myself off the wall. “But right now, we have to worry about ourselves. Come on, we’re not out of here yet.”
We slipped through the empty corridors, keeping a close ear out for voices or footsteps, until we reached the elevator hall. Ava frowned as I walked up to a pair of metal doors and forced my fingers between the tightly sealed crack. “What are you doing?”
“Forget the stairwell.” I grunted, gritting my teeth as I pried the doors back. They resisted, stubborn with rust and disuse. “The Order probably has them all guarded. Or are using them right now. I don’t want to run into any more soldiers on the stairs, so we’re going the unconventional route.” She watched as I wedged my shoulder between the crack and looked back at her. “You’re not claustrophobic, are you?”
A door slammed somewhere in the maze of corridors, and my blood froze. Claustrophobic or not, we were out of time. With a growl, I shoved the doors as hard as I could, ramming them with my shoulder. They gave a last rusty groan and reluctantly slid back a few inches. A gust of hot, stale air billowed out of the opening, and a long, pitch-black tube plunged down into darkness.
I eyed the distance from the edge to the maintenance ladder on the wall, then looked back at Ava. “After you.”
Flashlight beams scuttled along the wall, and the sound of booted feet echoed through the hallways. Without hesitation, Ava leaped into the shaft and grabbed the ladder’s rungs with easy grace, then started down the tube. I followed, gritting my teeth as the ladder trembled under my weight. If it snapped, we were in trouble; a fall here would kill us as surely as if the soldiers stuck their guns through the opening and filled the shaft with lead.
Let’s hope my luck holds.
Together, we descended into the pitch blackness.
Ember
A hail of bullets erupted behind us as we turned another corner, and Faith screamed.
“Garret!” I panted, as flashlight beams scuttled over the walls ahead of us, and the soldier stopped abruptly in the center of the corridor. I stopped behind him, shivering as harsh voices drew closer from different directions. “They’ve surrounded the floor,” I whispered, feeling my heart pound in my ears. “We’re trapped.”
Garret scanned the hall, his gaze falling on a pair of open doors at the end of the corridor. “This way,” he ordered, and we sprinted through the doors into a large conference-type room. It was only half-finished; scaffolding stood everywhere, and large iron beams marched down the center of an aisle, creating a tangled web of iron and steel. It was very dark in here, and the air was thick with the smell of dust and mold.
Garret pulled us behind a cage of scaffolding and iron beams. “Faith,” he said softly, bringing the girl’s attention to him. “Look at me.” Faith’s eyes were huge and liquid, and tear tracks stained her dusty cheeks as she glanced up. “Listen to me. I want you to climb to the top of the scaffolding tower, lie flat and don’t move. Don’t look up or make a sound, no matter what you hear. Can you do that?”
She stared at him. “What…what are you going do?” she whispe
red, looking between us fearfully. “You won’t leave me here, will you?”
He shook his head. “We’re not going to leave you,” he said, with that quiet intensity that made my skin prickle. “But you have to get out of sight. I can’t worry about you if I’m going to do this.” She blinked in confusion, but he didn’t explain. “Get up there,” he said gently, nodding toward the scaffolding. “If the worst happens, wait until they’re gone, then get out any way you can. Go.”
With a final sniffle, Faith turned and scuttled up the ladder, vanishing from sight.
Voices echoed outside, and flashlight beams pierced the blackness beyond the doors. The soldiers were converging on the room. Garret took my wrist and pulled me farther back into the shadows.
I stepped close, resting my palms on his chest, feeling his heart race. “What’s the plan?” I whispered, surprised that my own voice was so steady.
He took a deep, furtive breath. “There’ll be two teams,” he murmured, glancing at the entrance and the lights getting closer. “Possibly more, if they called for backup. Six soldiers at the very least, with M-4s, a sidearm and a pair of stun grenades. That’s standard procedure for this type of strike.” His voice was cool, unruffled, as he calmly analyzed our odds of survival. “We should split up,” he said gravely. “I’ll get in close, take one or two out, then you hit the others from a different angle when they respond. Try to surprise them. If they see us coming, it’ll be over.”
I shivered, closing my eyes. “All right,” I muttered, clenching my fists in his shirt. “No problem. It’s just like training back with Scary Talon Lady.” Just with real soldiers, and real guns. No paintball bullets this time, Ember.
Garret gazed down at me, and for the first time, a shadow of fear crossed his face. Not for himself, I realized, but for me. “Ember…”
“Don’t you dare tell me to stay up top and hide, Garret,” I warned, narrowing my eyes at him. “That’s something Riley would say, and I’ll tell you exactly what I’d tell him. I’m not letting you fight them by yourself.”
“I know. I mean… I wasn’t going to.” His hands rose and gripped my arms as he stepped close. “But…be careful, Ember,” he said, his intense gaze searing into me. “They’ll be searching for a dragon. They know how dangerous one is when it’s cornered and trapped. Remember, this is the type of scenario they train for, what we’ve all trained for. Do what you have to do…” One hand pressed to my cheek. “Just stay alive,” he whispered.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You, too.”
Figures appeared in the doorway, freezing us in place, as six soldiers stepped through the frame, guns held in front of them. Fanning out, they advanced cautiously into the room, sweeping their weapons in tight arcs, the tactical lights on the bottom of their guns piercing the darkness.
Garret drew back. His eyes were hard, that blank soldier’s mask slipping into place as he melted into the shadows and out of sight. I darted behind a scaffold, then hunkered down as thin beams of light swept the opposite wall, making my heart pound.
Okay, how was I going to do this? I took a deep breath to slow my heartbeat, and gazed around the room. Despite its vastness, it was quite cluttered. There were a lot of tight quarters and places to hide, where the soldiers would be at a disadvantage if I could get close. In fact, this was a lot like my training with Lilith, having men with guns chase me around a crowded warehouse while I figured out how to “kill” them. Of course, I’d “died” most of those times, too, shot down with paintball guns, as the soldiers had become increasingly aware of attacks from up top.
Up top…
Crouching down, I stripped out of my clothes and left my shorts, top and underwear at the base of a pillar. Any modesty or embarrassment I might’ve felt was swallowed by the need to stay alive, and besides, no one could see me in this darkness, not even Garret. In another circumstance, I might not have worried about ruining my clothes, but I didn’t have my Viper suit on, and if we did make it out of here, I did not want to run through the streets of Las Vegas stark naked.
The soldiers were halfway into the room now, their lights creeping ever closer as they eased forward. Hurrying to the nearest scaffolding tower, I began to climb, feeling cold iron, rust and cobwebs under my fingers and the soles of my feet. When I reached the top, I crept silently along the wooden planks, keeping my head low, until I was almost directly above a pair of soldiers and could peer down at the tops of their heads. I couldn’t see Garret, but I knew he was close, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. I would be ready when he did.
As I held my breath, muscles coiling and tingly with the energy right before a Shift, my foot brushed a loose nail on the edge of the wood. It fell and pinged off the cement, a tiny sound that might as well have been a gong in the silent room. The soldiers below immediately swept their beams straight up the scaffolding. My heart lurched, and I ducked down, pressing my cheek to the boards, as my perch was illuminated in light.
“Did you hear…?”
“Yeah.” The flashlight swept back and forth along the plank. I took shallow breaths and thought invisible thoughts. “I think it might be up there—”
A muffled shout rang out from another corner of the room, followed by the sound of a scuffle, a body being slammed against a wall, a burst of gunfire. The light vanished as the two soldiers whirled their guns in the direction of the noise, and I leaped to my feet.
Here we go, I thought, and plunged off the scaffold, feeling my body explode midpounce. I landed on one of the soldiers in full dragon form, driving him into the concrete, and turned on the other with a roar, blasting him with fire as he spun around. He cringed back, tongues of flame snapping around him, but apparently his armor was fire resistant because the flames didn’t stop him from raising his gun and firing. I ducked behind a pillar, sparks erupting around me, and bounded into the shadows. The soldier backed away, firing short bursts and shouting to his companions, his light sweeping wildly back and forth. His armor still burned, though the flames were slowly dying, and he looked like a torch in the darkness.
Something emerged from the shadows behind him, a pistol pointed at his back. My heart jumped as Garret deliberately paused, then lowered the gun and fired once, at the soldier’s legs. The man shrieked and whirled around as he fell, raising his weapon, but Garret darted forward, smashed the butt of the pistol into his face and wrenched the rifle away as he collapsed to the cement.
More shots boomed out, the deafening roar of assault rifles making my ears ring as the rest of the squad converged on his location. Garret dived behind cover as they approached, not seeing me in the shadows.
I snarled and lunged, pouncing on one from behind, clamping my jaws around his leg and dragging him across the floor. He shouted, clawing at the ground, and his friends immediately aimed their rifles at me.
A blur of motion, and Garret hit them from behind, striking one behind the ear with the pistol and grabbing the other’s weapon as he turned. The soldier beneath me tried flipping onto his back to shoot, but I pinned him down and slammed his head into the floor. He shuddered and went limp, the gun clattering to the cement. Tensing, I looked up just as the second soldier swung wildly at Garret and clipped him in the jaw with an elbow. Garret staggered, and the human immediately struck him in the head with the assault rifle, driving him to a knee, then raised the gun to fire.
I leaped with a roar, slamming into the soldier just as he pulled the trigger. He recovered, swinging the muzzle around at me, and I blasted him in the face with fire. Screaming, he reached up, tearing away the flaming helmet and mask…as Garret surged to his feet and punched him in the jaw as hard as he could.
The human reeled back, fell into a pillar and slid to the ground, his head dropping to his chest as he went limp. Silence fell, the echoes of screams and gunfire fading into the black. Still shaking with fury and adrenaline, I looked at Garret, w
ondering if we had really won. If it was really over.
He stood cradling his hand, gazing at the soldier slumped against the beam, his expression torn between relief and guilt. A trickle of blood ran down his face from his temple, crawling down his cheek, and my stomach knotted. “You’re bleeding!” I exclaimed, jumping over the body of one of the soldiers. My claws clicked anxiously over the floor as I trotted up. “Are you all right?”
He nodded painfully. “Just a cut,” he said, lowering his arm as I reached him. “It’s not serious.” Wincing, he looked down at his hand, clenching and unclenching a fist. “Think I burned myself when I punched the last soldier, though.”
“Let me see,” I said, reaching for his arm. He stiffened, and I froze when I saw my scaly foreleg, curved black talons hovering close to his skin. Claws that could easily rend and tear and rip right through him. His eyes rose to mine, and I saw my reflection in his steely pupils: a huge horned lizard with claws and wings outstretched, looming over him. For half a heartbeat, we stared at each other, dragon and soldier, surrounded by the bodies of his former brethren.
Garret moved first. In the moment before I would’ve pulled back, he raised his arm and held it out to me, placing the back of his hand gently in mine. Heart lurching, I very cautiously curled my talons around his wrist. He didn’t move, didn’t flinch or tense up, though a patch of his skin was red with the telltale shininess of a burn. I swallowed hard.
“Sorry about that.”
“I’ve had worse.” He held my gaze, gray eyes intense. “Besides, it’s hard to be angry at something that saved your life.”
“Garret? Ember?”
Faith edged into view. She held a length of rebar in both hands, and it shook as she gazed around at the fallen soldiers. “The shooting…stopped,” she whispered, her body poised for flight, as if the bodies might leap up and attack again. “I didn’t know if you were still alive, or if they had…had…” Her voice trembled, and she trailed off. I huffed a cloud of smoke at her.