Fires of Invention

by J. Scott Savage

  At the last second, the dragon pulled up, wheeled around, and charged at Trenton and Kallista, his mouth open. Attacking the children had been a trick.

  Kallista tried to turn, but it was too late. The dragon caught their wing in its huge jaw and yanked them around, then released them, sending them into a tailspin. The mesh cloth ripped as they spun out of control.

  Swinging the tail hard right, Trenton fought to regain their balance. Kallista managed to pull them out of the spin, but the dragon was close behind. Trenton pulled the flight stick back, hard, and Ladon clawed at the air. The dragon closed in.

  The fuel gauge dropped to empty. The turbines shuddered.

  “There’s no more coal,” he yelled.

  Kallista pounded at her controls, but there was nothing either of them could do.

  The dragon was coming fast. It was so close now, Trenton could count its teeth. But they were out of both power and time. With no way to escape, he tilted the wings all the way forward. The dragon smashed into them from underneath, and Trenton yelled, “Kallista! Talons!”

  She nodded with understanding and rammed all four feet forward—closing the talons like she had done to grab the wall in the exhaust shaft. Only this time, instead of closing on metal pipe, the metal talons drove through dragon scales.

  The dragon screeched and tried to pull away, but Ladon’s talons were locked tight on its back and wings. Kallista shut the oxygen valve to the furnace. As the turbines wound down, the wings stopped beating, and the weight of the mechanical dragon forced the real one down.

  With the last of their power, Trenton smashed the monster with Ladon’s tail. Then they were falling. The ceiling of the cavern faded quickly away as the ground raced toward them. Trenton got one quick glimpse of people staring up in horror before both dragons slammed to the earth.

  His head banged against the seat, and the world began to spin. Before he passed out completely, though, he leaned over the side of the mechanical dragon and looked down. On the ground beneath them, the green beast lay deathly still. Its wings were crushed, and its neck was broken.

  They had done it. They had saved the city.

  Epilogue

  The next few weeks in Discovery—as the city had been renamed—were filled with work and confusion. While recovering in the hospital, Trenton and Kallista got most of their news from Clyde and Simoni, who visited often, and Angus, who showed up now and then.

  At first, many people tried to blame Trenton and Kallista for the appearance of the dragon. One group refused to come up from the mines for fear that they’d die of poisoned air coming through the smashed seal. Others swore that the dragon was a mutant caused by outside technology.

  Fortunately, cooler heads managed to calm the protests. With the death of the chancellor, Miss Huber stepped up to take temporary control of the city, which surprised many people. She turned out to have a base of people in powerful positions backing her.

  Mr. Sheets suspended the people who had dismantled Ladon and led another group of workers to rebuild the exhaust fans and secure a gate over the original city entrance, which the dragon had torn down. They all agreed it was only a matter of time before more dragons arrived, but before they could do anything about that, they had a lot of work to finish inside the city.

  Trenton was amazed to discover that one of the people making repairs was his father. Apparently, his father was not only good with machines, but he had once been in mechanic training. He’d been reassigned to the mines after disagreeing with the city over the size of coal feeder chutes.

  His mother had good days and bad days. One morning Trenton looked up from a book he’d been reading in his hospital bed—one of the many books recovered from City Hall—to find his father wheeling his mother into the room.

  “Leave us alone for a few minutes?” his mother said.

  His father looked uncomfortable with the idea, but Trenton nodded. “It’s okay.”

  Kallista, whose room was across the hall, shut her door to give them some privacy. His father walked out and closed the door behind him.

  For a few minutes, they simply looked at each other. She appeared weaker than the last time he’d seen her. Then again, he didn’t imagine he looked too good himself. He still had a cast on his wrist and stiches all over his body.

  “Do you still think it’s wrong for me to build things?” he asked at last.

  If he had expected his mother to admit she was wrong, he was disappointed. “My opinion doesn’t appear to have stopped you,” she said, stubborn as ever.

  Trenton sighed. “Our invention saved the city.”

  “And you nearly killed yourself,” she said without so much as a blink.

  “If we hadn’t built Ladon, the dragon would have destroyed everyone in Discovery,” he snapped.

  “A lot of people believe it was our technology which led the creatures to us in the first place,” she replied. “They smelled our machines and came to punish us.”

  So this was it—a standoff. Just like it had always been. She wouldn’t accept that machines were his life. And he wasn’t about give up what he loved.

  “Why did you come to see me?” he asked.

  She folded her hands in her lap. “I went to the chancellor because I wanted to protect you. I’d do it again.” She set her jaw in the same way he did when he was determined. “But that’s not why I came.” She looked up at the ceiling for a moment, as if searching for the right words. “I came to tell you that I know what you’re planning to do, and I don’t approve.”

  Before he could respond, she added, “But I still love you.”

  She couldn’t possibly know about the plans he and Kallista had been discussing. They hadn’t told anyone. Yet somehow, he felt sure she did. He reached out and squeezed her hand. “I love you too, Mom.”

  Later that afternoon, Simoni, Angus, and Clyde showed up, and they all gathered in Kallista’s room with good news: the green dragon hadn’t completely destroyed food production, but it would take a while to get everything back to normal. In the meantime, strict rationing had been put into effect.

  “The best part,” Simoni said, “is that Miss Huber has stopped forcing everyone to eat the same thing every day.”

  “And the ban on creativity has been lifted,” Clyde said. “Although most people still think it’s a bad idea.”

  Trenton could believe that all too easily. Ideas that had been taught for generations wouldn’t change overnight. He looked at Angus. “What happened to your dad?”

  Angus shrugged. “He was just following orders—doing his job.”

  Trenton had his doubts about that, but he figured that the truth would come out sooner or later.

  When Simoni and Angus left, Clyde lingered behind. “I’ve got some bad news for you,” he said, glancing into the hallway to make sure the three of them were alone. “Those two have been spending a lot of time together lately.”

  That didn’t surprise Trenton at all. He still liked Simoni, and maybe under different circumstances they could have ended up together. But lately he’d been thinking about how little they had in common.

  “At least,” Clyde said, brightening, “almost every other girl in the city wants to meet the guy who rode the dragon.”

  Kallista rolled her eyes. “What about me? Do all of the guys want to meet the girl who rode the dragon?”

  Clyde shifted his feet. “I, um, don’t really know. But I could ask around.”

  Trenton grinned. Kallista was still as feisty as she’d always been, but he was coming to appreciate that. “Better tell them not to wait around,” he said. “We dragon riders are pretty picky about who we choose for our friends.”

  • • •

  A week before they were to be released, Miss Huber visited them. “I guess I have a pretty good idea what Leo was working on,” she said with a mischievous smile.

  Kallista laughed. “It wasn’t oatmeal cookies.”

  Miss Huber examined their bruises and cuts. “Are you both he
aling well?”

  Trenton nodded. “I should get my cast off in a week, and the doctors say Kallista’s burns will heal almost completely.”

  “We’ll both have a few scars,” Kallista said. “But we earned them.”

  Miss Huber, who still wore her work uniform, nodded. “I’ve spoken with the council, and we all agree that the two of you are heroes. There would no longer be a city without you. I’ve come to let you know that whatever you want—within our power to give you—is yours.”

  Trenton and Kallista looked at each other before speaking. They told Miss Huber that there were only two things they wanted.

  She smiled and nodded at the first request, but she seemed surprised by the second. “Are you sure?”

  They nodded. “We’ve been discussing what we want to do next,” Kallista said.

  “And we both feel like it’s the right thing,” Trenton added.

  “Very well,” Miss Huber said. “I’ll see that it’s arranged.”

  • • •

  Three weeks later, a small group gathered on the top level. Everyone was bundled up against the frigid air pouring in from the entrance. Trenton’s father was there, along with Miss Huber, Mr. Sheets, and Mr. Blanchard. Angus, Simoni, and Clyde were also there.

  “Even if the air isn’t poisonous, it’s still dangerous out there,” Trenton’s father said, glancing at the new gate, which was made of Leo Babbage’s alloy. Beyond the new gate was the outside world. “You’re sure you want to do this?”

  “I’m sure,” Trenton said. He hugged his father. “Tell Mom I love her.”

  “I will,” his father said, hugging him back. “She doesn’t always show it very well, but she loves you too.”

  Miss Huber handed Kallista Leo Babbage’s metal box. “As I promised, I’ve done all the research I could.”

  Kallista froze. “What did you find out?”

  “From what I can tell, your father did cause the explosion in the apartment building.”

  Kallista’s shoulders sagged.

  “However,” Miss Huber said, “at the time of the explosion, no one was living there. No bodies were found in the wreckage. Not your father’s, either.”

  “I knew it!” Kallista shouted. “He set up the explosion to make everyone think he was dead.” She peered through the gate. “He’s somewhere out there.”

  As the others carried supplies to the dragon, Simoni pulled Trenton aside. She twisted her hands together and seemed nervous to meet his eyes. “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but . . .”

  Trenton smiled. “You want to break up?”

  Simoni exhaled, clearly relieved that he had said it first. “It’s just that you’re going out there, and I’m going to be busy in here.” She glanced at Kallista with an expression that looked almost like jealousy. “I think the two of you are a better couple anyway.”

  Kallista? Trenton raised his eyebrows. “We’re not a couple.” He didn’t know how anyone could have gotten that idea. Half the time they were fighting, and the other half they were—well, close to fighting.

  Besides, it wasn’t as if Kallista liked him or anything. Did she?

  He rubbed his hands through his hair, wishing Simoni hadn’t brought the subject up. “So, you and Angus?”

  Simoni sniffed. “I don’t think so. He’s okay. But honestly, I think I’m going to take a break from boyfriends for a while. I’m only thirteen.” She gave him a quick hug. “I’m sorry about turning you in.”

  “It’s okay.” He laughed. “Let’s call it even for me not taking you to the dance.”

  As he walked back, Kallista was packing her father’s books and maps into a bag. “Did she say she’ll wait for you? So you can go on more picnics?”

  He grinned as he shrugged and said, “Who wouldn’t?”

  She punched him the stomach, briefly knocking the air out of him.

  Angus stepped forward and shook their hands. “Try to survive.”

  Kallista rolled her eyes. “You do the same.”

  Clyde enclosed them both in a huge bear hug. “Now that art isn’t against the law anymore, I left you a gift.”

  “What kind of gift?” Kallista asked suspiciously.

  Clyde pointed up at the dragon’s controls.

  Trenton and Kallista climbed up and discovered that Clyde had painted a large portrait of his grinning face on the back of Ladon’s neck in front of the first seat where it would stare back at them whenever they flew.

  “Just to keep you company!” Clyde yelled up.

  Mr. Blanchard handed up boxes and bags of food until they said they couldn’t carry any more weight. “If you don’t mind my asking,” he said, “what will you do when you run out of coal?”

  Trenton patted the dragon. “We made a modification to Mr. Babbage’s plans. The furnace can operate on wood now, too. Sawdust burns more quickly, but there are plenty of trees outside.”

  Mr. Sheets unlocked the gate and swung it open as Kallista started the furnace.

  Trenton’s father climbed up the dragon’s leg and hugged his son, swallowed hard, and said, “I know this dragon is made for two, and I probably weigh too much to fly it anyway. But I want you to know that if I could, I’d go with you in a heartbeat.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” Trenton hugged his father back.

  “Be careful,” Simoni called over the whine of the turbines.

  “We will,” Trenton yelled. “And we’ll come back as soon as we know what’s happening outside.” He pulled on his helmet, slid his goggles down, and turned to Kallista. “What do you think, is Don ready to fly?”

  “Ladon,” Kallista said. “He hates nicknames.”

  Trenton shook his head and patted Ladon’s scaled back. “Okay, big guy. Let’s go.”

  Kallista turned the dragon toward the gate. Taking the leg controls in hand, she started walking, then running. They raced out the gate and to the brink of a cliff. At the edge, she coiled the dragon’s legs and they leaped into thin air.

  For a heart-stopping moment, they plunged over the cliff toward the jagged, ice-crusted rocks below. Then Kallista spread Ladon’s wings, and they pulled out of the dive.

  Trenton shoved the flight controller forward, and they soared off into a cloudless blue sky. Squinting his eyes against the biting cold, he looked at the shining yellow orb called the sun for the first time. He looked down at a carpet of trees thicker and greener than anything he’d ever imagined.

  “Let’s go find my father!” Kallista yelled.

  Trenton grinned, threw back his head, and whooped with joy. He had no idea where Leo Babbage was or what new clues he might have left for them. He didn’t know where they were going or what dangers they might find when they got there. But whatever lay ahead of them, he knew one thing for sure.

  It would be new, and definitely unapproved.

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks so much to my agent, Michael Bourret, who believed.

  To Chris Schoebinger, Lisa Mangum, Heidi Taylor, Karen Zelnick, Richard Erickson, Michelle Moore, and the rest of the Shadow Mountain staff who took a chance on this book and worked so hard to support it.

  To my critique group, the Women (and Men) of Wednesday Night: Michele, Sarah, Annette, Heather, Rob, and LuAnn, who tightened every sentence. We miss you, LuAnn. A special thanks to Annette Lyon, who polished the prose.

  To my early readers, Jennifer Moore and her sons, Joey and Andrew, and James and Rebecca Blevins, who encouraged me.

  To my incredible wife, Jennifer, who makes the impossible possible every day; my children and children-in-law—Nick, Erica, Scott, Natalie, Jake, and Nick—who give me the gift of laughter; to my grandchildren—Gray, Lizzie, and Jack—who are walking (and crawling) bundles of joy; to my parents, Dick and Vicki Savage, who taught me I could do anything; and to my wonderful brothers and sisters, who pushed me to do it.

  And as always to the readers young and old who take the words in my head and turn them into worlds more vivid than any movie.
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br />   Thanks to you all.

  About the Author

  J. Scott Savage is the author of the Farworld middle grade fantasy series and the Case File 13 middle grade monster series. He has visited more than 400 elementary schools, dozens of writers conferences, and taught many writing classes. He has four children and lives with his wife, Jennifer, in a windy valley of the Rocky Mountains.