Scorched

by Mari Mancusi

  You can trust me, Fire Kissed. I’d never let you fall.

  Trust. It had never been one of Trinity’s strong points. Not when so many people in her life had let her down. Her own mother even—with all her promises that they’d be a family again. Promises as empty as the shotgun barrel she’d left behind. And then there was Connor, who’d promised to keep her safe while secretly planning to kill her. No, it was better in the long run not to trust anyone in this world.

  But I’m not just anyone. I’m your dragon.

  Emmy’s words sent a shiver down her spine, as if she could feel them as well as hear them. And strangely, suddenly, she found herself wanting to trust those feelings, to let herself go. To feel what it would be like to soar through the skies. To understand what it really meant to be Fire Kissed. To become one with a dragon.

  She shook her head. Okay, where had that thought come from?

  Let yourself go, Trinity. Trust me.

  On impulse, she reached down to stroke the dragon, surprised to find the creature’s scales soft and satiny to the touch. As her fingers tripped down the beast’s neck, Emmy wiggled appreciatively and made throaty noises that reminded Trin of her cat purring. She drew in a shaky breath.

  “Okay, fine,” she declared, squaring her shoulders. “What the hell. Let’s do this.”

  You won’t be sorry!

  And with that, Emmy took off, soaring through the heavens at top speed. Trinity squealed and grabbed on tight, her pulse skyrocketing and her heart lodging in her throat. It was as if she was on some living, breathing rollercoaster, rolling and dipping across the sky, and it was hard to believe a creature so big and gangly looking could be so graceful. Soon as they whirled and swirled in their dragon dance along the horizon, she found herself laughing out loud—an unguarded, joyous laugh. This was actually fun!

  Faster! she cried to Emmy. Go faster!

  Emmy tossed her head excitedly, then turned her snout to the sky. Higher and higher she pushed, chasing the currents of wind, gaining more altitude every second, until Trinity half wondered if they’d collide with the sun. Finally, the dragon stopped, hovering in midair, turning to face her, a challenging look on her face.

  Are you ready? she asked teasingly.

  Trin gulped but somehow managed to nod. No sooner had she finished than Emmy turned her nose down, dive-bombing the ground, fast and furious. Trinity screamed in a mixture of delight and fear, white-knuckling the dragon’s neck as the earth rushed to meet them at frightening speed.

  Trust her. Trust Emmy. You can trust her.

  Emmy stopped on a dime, practically throwing Trin from her back with the sudden halt of momentum. She gasped as she realized they were hovering only a few yards off the ground. Had they really been so close to colliding? Emmy snorted excitedly, then shot back up into the air again, the wind pounding at Trin’s face, drawing tears from her eyes. She laughed and shook her head.

  Show off, she admonished her dragon.

  Oh, you liked it, Emmy shot back. And Trinity had to agree.

  And so they kept going, dipping and diving, soaring and seeking, skimming trees and ponds, then shooting high into the atmosphere, teasing the sun. Emmy even attempted a few clumsy barrel rolls that made Trinity’s stomach lurch. But through it all, she couldn’t help the big grin spreading across her face. For the first time in her life, she felt free. Absolutely, one hundred percent free.

  What do you think? Caleb asked, leading his own dragon up beside her. Is Emmy taking good care of you?

  Oh my God! she cried. This is, like, the best thing ever!

  I told you, he teased. Now come on. Race me to that ledge!

  Before she could respond, he urged his dragon forward, diving down toward the craggy cliffside before them at top speed. Trinity stared after him with amused outrage.

  “Cheater!” she cried out after him. Go, Emmy! Don’t let them get away!

  The dragon shifted position, diving after Caleb and his mount. Trinity cheered her on as the wind thundered in her ears. It wasn’t long before the two beasts were neck and neck again, beads of dew sparkling on Emmy’s shining scales as her muscles rippled beneath her thighs. The boy and his dragon may have stolen a head start, but it was obvious to Trin who really ruled the skies.

  Yeah, baby! she taunted Caleb. Wingspan definitely matters.

  Oh, you think so? he replied without missing a beat. He gave her a cocky grin. Watch and learn, princess.

  Trinity glanced over just in time to see Caleb waving his hand in the air. To her surprise, a piece of raw meat, dripping with blood, seemed to appear out of thin air. He grabbed it in his hands, then tossed it in the direction of her dragon.

  The meat flew temptingly through the sky, causing Emmy to stop short, her eyes locking onto the bloody snack. Before Trinity could protest, the dragon was suddenly dive-bombing for her dinner, the race all but forgotten.

  No, Emmy! Trinity tried. Go back!

  But the dragon either couldn’t hear her or chose not to answer. A moment later she caught up to the meat, snapping it into her massive jaws. Trinity sighed as she watched Caleb and Fred come in for a triumphant landing on the ledge above. First by more than a snout.

  “Cheater!” she yelled up at them, shaking her fist. But Caleb only laughed, sliding down his dragon’s wing in a graceful dismount.

  “The first rule of the Nether,” he yelled back. “There are no rules in the Nether.”

  “Now you tell me,” she muttered as Emmy finished her meal and headed up to join Caleb and Fred on the ledge. Once she’d landed, Trinity attempted a graceful dismount, but only managed to land painfully on her butt.

  “Better luck next time,” Caleb teased, holding out his hand. She refused it and stuck out her tongue at him—childish but pretty satisfying all the same.

  She looked around, taking in their surroundings; they’d landed on the edge of a rocky cliff face, with an overhang that created a small cave. As she watched, Caleb started gathering a few chunks of wood and branches that the wind had blown their way, creating a makeshift fire pit. When Trin looked at him questioningly, he shrugged. “I don’t know about you, but I’m freezing.”

  She nodded, letting out an involuntary shiver as the icy wind pricked at her skin. It was strange—she hadn’t felt the least bit cold when she was riding Emmy. Maybe it was the adrenaline. Or maybe dragons were just hot-blooded. Whatever the case, she hastened to help Caleb with the wood.

  When they had finished, she stepped back, regarding the fire pit with critical eyes. “Do you have a match?” she asked.

  Caleb laughed. “Are you kidding? Watch and learn!” He turned to Fred. “Light my fire, baby!” he crowed to the mighty beast. Fred cheerfully obliged, puffing out a small fireball in the direction of their woodpile.

  Trinity smiled. “I should have known.”

  As the fire crackled to life, she settled down on a nearby log, holding out her hands to warm them by the flames. A moment later, Emmy curled up by her side, contentedly snorting a few puffs of smoke from her snout before closing her large blue eyes. Trin reached over and stroked the dragon’s nose, thanking her for the amazing ride.

  But next time, no lunch breaks! she scolded her gently. And no letting them win. They’re already too cocky as it is.

  She heard a loud snort and glanced up to find Fred looking at Caleb expectantly, her golden eyes shining with eagerness and a large splotch of drool dripping from the corner of her mouth. Caleb rolled his eyes and waved his hands in the air. Once again, a piece of meat appeared, even more bloody than the one Emmy had devoured if that were possible.

  “Okay, okay, I guess you deserve this,” he said grudgingly. “I’m still in shock you let the other one go.” The meat dropped to the ground with a bloody plop and Fred dug in with gusto. When she had finished, she looked up, her mouth smeared with blood like some crazy clown lipstick, batting her eyelashes at Caleb, obviously hungry for more. Trinity giggled. She was worse than a Labrador Retriever.

&nb
sp; “No more!” Caleb cried, playfully shoving her huge snout away. He turned to Trin. “Lesson one when raising dragons: they’re all complete gluttons. They’d eat until they exploded if you let them.” He gave Fred a scolding look. “Now settle down and go to sleep. You’re not getting anything else from me today.”

  Fred hmphed her disapproval but eventually gave up, settling down beside Emmy. A moment later, her eyes drifted closed and she started snoring like a buzz saw. Caleb groaned. “Gotta love dragons,” he said derisively, poking the beast with his boot to get her to quiet down. Then he settled in front of the fire himself, closing his eyes and holding out his hands, as if he were meditating. Trin was about to ask what he was doing, but before she could speak, a bag of marshmallows dropped from the sky, out of thin air, just like the meat. Two large toasting sticks soon followed.

  “Wow,” she breathed. “How are you doing that?”

  “Ask and the Nether shall provide,” Caleb replied nonchalantly, though Trin caught him wiping a sheen of sweat from his brow. Whatever he’d done, it’d taken a lot out of him. “That’s what makes this place so cool. We can do anything we want to do. Be anyone we want to be. It’s limitless! Well, until you get back to real life that is,” he amended. “Then you have to face the fire.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Remember how you felt after using your gift on that cop?” Caleb reminded her. When she nodded, he added, “Imagine that but ten times worse. Like a hangover, I guess. And your spark is totally depleted.” He gave her a rueful look. “Sorry, I probably should have warned you in advance.”

  She shrugged, taking a marshmallow and stuffing it onto her stick. “Whatever,” she said, waving a hand in dismissal. “This is well worth a little hangover.” She looked out over the valley below, at the sky, flaming red from the setting sun. “To be here. To see this.” She shook her head. “It’s unbelievable really.” She gave him a shy look. “Thank you. It’s just what I needed—a chance to get my mind off everything.”

  “So you enjoyed your ride?”

  “It was incredible,” she admitted, watching the marshmallow turn a golden brown as she held it over the flames. “I can’t even put it into words. And it wasn’t just the flying either. But the chance to let go like that—to just be able to enjoy the ride.” A warm glow flowed through her. “Let’s just say that’s not something I’ve been able to do much in my life.”

  “I know exactly what you mean,” he said with a slow smile. “I’ll never forget my first time. I thought I was going to die. Instead, it’s when I finally started living.”

  A silence fell over them, each lost in their own thoughts as the fire crackled between them. She looked over, watching him gazing tenderly at his dragon and she felt a warmth settle in her stomach. He was so different here than he acted in the outside world. As if just being here allowed him to shed his prickly skin and reveal his true self underneath. Here he seemed relaxed, gentle, kind. Almost sweet. So unlike the sullen, sarcastic boy he pretended to be.

  He looked up, catching her gaze. His eyebrows raised. She felt her face heat and she turned quickly away. As she stared purposely into the fire, she could feel his eyes rake over her with curious intensity, as if asking a question she wasn’t sure how to answer.

  “Wow, this fire is pretty hot,” she stammered, pushing back on her log.

  “Yeah,” he answered slowly. “Some might say scorching.”

  Scorching. Yes, she felt scorched all right. But not by the fire. She cleared her throat, trying to still her pounding heart as her stomach flip-flopped madly. She tried to tell herself it was because she still hadn’t eaten. But deep down, she knew that wasn’t it at all.

  “So do you only do this in the Nether?” she asked quickly, desperate for a subject change. “Or do you ride Fred in real life too, back home in the future?”

  Caleb’s face sobered. “I used to,” he replied, a bitterness creeping into his voice. “Before.”

  “What do you mean? Did something happen?” Trinity glanced worriedly over at Fred, who was smacking her lips in her sleep and moaning loudly—likely dreaming of jerky treats. Had someone hurt her? Or worse?

  “Remember what I told you—only dragons yet to be born or those who have already died can exist here in the Nether,” Caleb said slowly. “In other words, Fred is no longer a part of the real world. I can only see her when I come here.”

  “What happened to her?”

  He gave her a hard look. “How do you say it in your world? Oh yeah: I’ll give you three guesses, but the first two don’t count.”

  She stared at him, dread rising within her. It couldn’t be true. Could it? “Oh God. Not…”

  “Oh yes. The great and glorious dragon hunter,” he spat. “My own brother.”

  “How could he do that?” she blurted out, horrified. But even as she asked the question, she realized she already knew the answer. Connor believed dragons were evil. They’d killed his father. They’d destroyed his world. None of them were pardoned from his bloody crusade—not even sweet, silly Fred.

  And especially not Emmy.

  Caleb scowled. “He actually had the nerve to tell me he was doing me a favor,” he ground out, “that I had been brainwashed by an evil fiend and he was only doing his brotherly duty, breaking me free.” His hands curled into fists, his fingernails cutting into his palms. “But Fred didn’t do anything wrong, Trin. She wasn’t a monster. Her only crime was belonging to me.”

  His voice broke. Trinity’s heart wrenched at the naked pain she caught in his eyes. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for him—to lose someone he loved at the hands of his own twin. No wonder he was so bitter. So angry. So sarcastic. He was hiding a mountain of pain behind those sullen eyes.

  “But I don’t understand,” she tried. “If you were bonded to a dragon and she died…”

  “Our bond hadn’t yet been completed at the time he did the deed,” Caleb explained. “That was one of the excuses he gave, actually—he had to kill her to save me.” His expression darkened. “I told him not to do me any favors.”

  Trinity nodded slowly, knowing all too well what he meant. That helpless feeling of being left behind. Of having someone you love ripped away and the sudden realization that you’re all alone—and will be forever. After all, hadn’t she herself once stared down the barrel of a certain shotgun, hopelessly broken inside, wondering if Mom had seen fit to leave her dear old daughter a spare bullet? If her grandpa hadn’t walked in at that very moment, things could have turned out very differently.

  “Fred was the only one I could trust,” Caleb continued. “The only one who gave a fleck about me in this stupid world. And Connor murdered her in cold blood. Left me all alone.” He looked up. “And now he’s after your dragon too.”

  Trinity flinched. She glanced over at Emmy, sleeping peacefully by her side, her emotions spilling over. She knew, in her head, why Connor would want Emmy dead. But at the same time, her heart told her it wasn’t fair. To punish Emmy for something she didn’t do.

  She turned back to Caleb. “You must miss her,” she said softly, not sure what else to say. Words seemed so inadequate in the face of such exquisite loss.

  “I do,” he admitted. “It’s one reason I travel to the Nether so often. It’s tearing my body apart in the real world and I know I should stop before I suffer some kind of permanent damage. But,” he whispered, looking sorrowfully at his dragon, “how can I leave her here, all alone?”

  Trinity’s heart tore at the wretchedness in his voice, the pain she saw in his eyes. Even if he won this fight, she realized, he’d already lost—lost the one thing he cared about more than anything in the world. All of a sudden, she understood why it was so important for him to help the Dracken succeed. While nothing could bring Fred back, with Emmy, he still had the chance to usher new Freds into the world. Giving other lonely, orphan Potentials a chance to feel valued and whole.

  On impulse, she rose to her feet, walking over to his
side of the fire and sitting down beside him. Without a word, she reached out, pulling him into her arms. At first he didn’t move, as if startled by her offer of comfort. Then, slowly, he wrapped his hands around her waist, burying his face in the hollow of her throat. She could feel his erratic heartbeat against her chest as he struggled silently with his demons.

  For a moment, they just sat there, completely still, locked in their embrace. Then, without warning, Caleb pulled away, pinning her with a dark, hungry gaze. She shivered as she recognized the naked need on his face—the worship in his storm-tossed eyes. As she drew in a shaky breath, he reached out, tracing her cheek with a trembling finger, his touch speaking words she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear.

  And then he kissed her. Not the whispering kiss Connor had given her back at her mother’s house. Not tentative, not shy, not the wisp of a butterfly’s wing brushing against her skin, but hard, angry, almost brutal in its intensity—as if trying to punish her for what they’d done to him. Hot blood pounded in her ears as his mouth moved over hers, his hands clamping the sides of her face.

  She knew she should break away, to get as far away as possible as her emotions whirled and skittered. But her traitorous body seemed to have other ideas, pressing closer against him, wrapping her legs around his, digging her hands into his hair. As if she could simply melt into his embrace and be done with it all. In that moment, there truly seemed to be nothing else in the world. No dragons, no apocalypse, no loved ones in danger. Just a boy and a girl tangled in one another’s arms.

  “You have to admit,” Caleb murmured against her mouth. “You’re suddenly feeling a lot, lot better.”

  Oh God. She froze, his words breaking the spell. What the hell was she doing?

  Ripping herself from his grasp, she somehow managed to scramble to her feet, staring down at Caleb with wild, unfocused eyes. How could she have let this happen? It was wrong. So wrong. On so many levels.

  Caleb looked up to her, his lips swollen and his face torn with confusion. “What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice hoarse and horrified, and sounding so very scared. He started to rise to his feet. She held up a hand, stopping him in his tracks.