by Julie Kagawa
“Garret.” Her voice was breathless but worried. “How...?” She shook her head. “You shouldn’t be up,” she whispered. “You were shot just over a week ago. And not just in the leg or the arm—you nearly died.”
“So everybody keeps telling me,” I murmured back, and smiled. “I know. I know I shouldn’t be here—I shouldn’t even be standing for a few days at least. But...” I gave a helpless shrug. “I’m fine. Wes checked me out, both last night and this morning. The wounds are mostly healed. He said that my healing is nearly on par with a dragon’s regenerative abilities, that he’s never seen anything like it before in a human. I guess having dragon’s blood is a blessing in disguise.” Her brows lifted in amazement, and I grinned. “So you don’t get to leave me behind, dragon girl. Even if I do grow wings and a tail, I’m not leaving your side. You’ll just have to get used to me being—”
Ember interrupted me by lacing her fingers behind my neck, pulling me down and pressing her lips to mine. I groaned and wrapped my arms around her waist, drawing her close, feeling her heart beat against me. Heat spread through my insides, roaring in my veins, as the tension in my stomach melted away. When I was with her, everything that had happened to me—being shot, nearly dying, being infused with something I wasn’t sure wouldn’t eventually kill me—seemed insignificant. I would die for this girl, I realized. I would happily take a bullet for her if it meant that, today, I could hold her one last time.
When we drew back, Ember’s eyes were bright, almost seeming to glow. I was wrapped in a cocoon of heat and warmth, feeling it pulse between us with every heartbeat. I wanted nothing more than to pull Ember into her empty room, lock the door and see how long it would take before the flames consumed us.
Gazing down, I stroked her cheek and offered a wry smile. “Riley is waiting for us,” I murmured, and she nodded with a sigh. “He wanted me to tell you to grab your things—we head out as soon as you’re ready.”
Rising on her toes, she kissed me once more, long and lingering, before pulling back and stepping away. I took a furtive breath to calm the inferno within and waited outside the door while she gathered her meager belongings. Her black Viper suit was the last item to be stuffed unceremoniously into a bag before she zipped up the duffel and joined me at the door. I took the bag, shouldered the strap and together we walked down the hall to the command room.
Riley, Wes and Jade were all there, the two dragons standing around the table discussing something in quiet undertones while Wes sat at the computer, furiously typing away. As we came into the room, Jade inclined her head to me with a faint smile. I nodded back.
“There you are,” Riley announced, looking at Ember. “Sure you got everything, Firebrand? It’s a long way to the Ozarks, and we’re not turning around this time.” One corner of his mouth curled into a smirk. “We don’t want to be halfway through Colorado before you realize you left your Viper suit in the bathroom.”
“That was one time, Riley.” Ember rolled her eyes. “And we lost fifteen minutes, tops. Let it go.”
“All right,” Wes interrupted, rising from the chair. “That’s done. I sent the final message through the network. Everyone is on high alert, with instructions to stay put unless absolutely necessary. We’re ready to move out.” Since I didn’t need watching anymore, Wes was coming, too.
The rogue shook his head. “Right,” he said, sounding not at all thrilled with the whole idea. “Let’s get this over with. Eighteen hours is a hell of a drive, so we’re going to have to do it in shifts. St. George, since you’re feeling so magically rested...” He tossed me a pair of keys. “You’re driving first.”
DANTE
Three years ago
Finals week was always hell.
“Watch it,” I snapped as Ember closed the refrigerator door and nearly ran into me with the milk. “Don’t you ever look before you bash into people headfirst?”
She snorted. “Jeez, grumpy much?” She sidestepped me and headed to the table. “Did something crawl up your butt in the shower?”
I yanked open the fridge door. “Sorry,” I muttered, pulling out the juice. “Just tired. I was up till two last night studying.”
She wrinkled her nose as I joined her at the table. “Again? You did that yesterday. And the day before. And all afternoon.”
“Yes, because I want to pass,” I snapped again. “Because, unlike you, I can’t half-ass my way through life. Because, unlike you, everyone expects me to do better. So yes, I have to study and not spend my evenings watching TV in my room.”
“Hey, jackass, I’ve been studying, too,” Ember snarled back. “Every night, I’ll have you know. So don’t pull that ‘I’m more persecuted than you’ crap with me. If you choose to stay up all night, don’t bitch at me if you’re tired. It’s not my fault.”
I started to snarl back at her but stopped myself. She was right. We were both cranky and exhausted. The past week had been nothing but exams, studying and more exams. Not just in math, science, biology and all our academic studies; we also had daily tests measuring how “human” we could be. These were to see if we could remain under control in extreme, stressful situations, or if we’d lose it and Shift to dragon form. Yesterday, one of our “exams” had involved sitting in the middle of a circle, trying to answer calmly while everyone around us had screamed in our face or asked demanding questions. I’d kept my cool and passed easily enough, but Ember had come out of the room bristling and ready to snap at anything that touched her.
“Sorry,” I offered again, and managed a half smile.
She relaxed and smiled back, mollified for now. “At least it’s the last day,” she said in a relieved voice. “After this, things will go back to normal.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I hope so.”
“God, they’d better,” Ember muttered. “If I have to endure another ‘scream in your face for a half hour’ exam, I’m going to bite someone’s head off.” She curled a lip, then took a hard bite of her cereal, crunching down with vigor. “Anyway, I have reasons to pass these stupid tests, too. Did you know that Mr. Gordon will take us to see the new horror movie if we ace the final exam?”
I smirked at her. “You might’ve mentioned that once or twice.”
She ignored my sarcasm. “I’m so tired of these same stupid walls,” she went on, glaring at the walls in question. “I need to get out of here, for a couple hours at least. And come on, Dante—you’re excited, admit it. You’ve been dying to see this movie, too.”
“Yes, though you know what I’m not looking forward to? Being woken up at 12:00 a.m. by someone sneaking into my room because she thought she heard her closet door open.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ember answered breezily. “But you should probably leave the sleeping bag on the floor, just in case.”
I shook my head, finished my glass and headed to my room for my books.
* * *
Testing was brutal. I was tired, and about an hour in, my head started to ache. But I gritted my teeth and pushed myself to finish early. Ember, shockingly, finished a few minutes after me, indicating that she had been studying as she’d said. I felt bad for snapping at her.
After the two-hour science test, we were ordered outside. It was midafternoon, and the sun beat down directly overhead, baking the dusty earth. A car waited for us near the gated entrance of the compound, engines humming, a man in a suit standing at the front. I was surprised, and a little wary. Testing wasn’t over yet, far from it; why would they have us leave the school premises now?
The doors were opened for us by black-suited Talon employees, and we climbed in without a word, knowing questions were useless and never answered. The car pulled out of the gate, and the school soon vanished in the rear window.
As usual, it was cold in the car. A little too cold for my liking, but the tinted glass between u
s and the driver prevented any questions or requests to turn down the AC. Ember gazed out the window, eager to be out of the compound and away from school, no matter the situation. I was a little less enthused. Not that I wasn’t happy to be outside, of course. I just didn’t know what Talon had planned. Why were they taking us out of school in the middle of testing?
“Where do you think we’re going?” I mused out loud, watching the desert speed by beyond the glass.
Ember shrugged. “Who cares? We’re out of school and not stuck in testing for six hours. They could be taking us to the gas station and I wouldn’t complain.” She thought about it, then shrugged again. “Maybe they’re taking us to see the movie early, because we did so well?”
I grimaced. “I highly doubt that.”
Abruptly, the car made a sharp left, cruising off the narrow private road and bouncing into the desert. Startled and now even more wary, I watched the road disappear as we went deeper into the middle of nowhere.
Just as I was about to run some crazy theories by Ember, the car slowed and came to a rolling stop in a billow of dust. With a faint buzz, the glass separator rolled down a few inches, just enough for us to see the top of the driver’s head over the rim.
“Get out. Both of you.”
I looked out the window. There was nothing beyond the glass. No gas stations, roads, signs or cars. Nothing but desert, stretching to the horizon in every direction.
“Here?” Ember asked, echoing my confusion. “Why?”
Questions regarding orders were generally discouraged or went unanswered, so I was surprised when the driver answered. “Part of your testing,” he replied brusquely. “The first to make it back passes. The other fails.”
My stomach dropped, and I stared at the driver, wondering if he was serious. “What happens if we come back together?”
“Then you both fail.” He made a gesture with two fingers, indicating that we leave the car. “Go.”
Stunned, we slid out. As soon as the doors closed, the vehicle tore off in a cloud of dust, cruised over a sand rise and disappeared. Leaving us alone in the middle of the Mohave Desert.
Ember looked at me with defiant green eyes. “The hell? What kind of stupid test is this? The first one back passes and the other fails? Like they expect us to race each other across the desert on foot? With no phones or water or even a compass?” Glaring around, she shook her head and made a hopeless, frustrated gesture. “This is crazy. Do you even know which direction the school is?”
“Yes,” I said quietly, and she blinked in surprise. “Judging from the time, and the position of the sun...” I squinted at the sky, then nodded and turned away, confident in my assessment. “The school should be...that way.”
Ember sighed, crossing her arms. “Well, I’m not going to go charging off without you,” she announced. “That’s insane. They can suck it if they want me to pass this stupid test. We cross the finish line together, and they can just deal with two failures, right?”
For just a moment, I paused. It was likely that what Talon was really testing for was loyalty to the organization. I realized that. But if I did what Ember suggested, it would be my first real failure. I’d always passed my exams with flying colors. If I screwed up now, it would stain my perfect record.
“I don’t know...” I began, but Ember tapped my arm.
“Wait a second.” There was a look on her face now, the one that always worried me. The one that said she was just coming to a realization that would probably get us in trouble. “If you know where the school is, does that mean you know where the town is, too?”
I frowned. “Yes,” I said slowly, gazing around. “I...think so.” The nearest town was a tiny, dusty settlement with a handful of gas stations, restaurants and one very old movie theater that we’d never been to. It was thirty minutes away by car, and by my estimation, we were probably closer to the town than the school right now. “Why?”
Ember’s eyes gleamed, a faint, defiant grin crossing her face. “Here’s an idea,” she said fiercely. “Screw their stupid test. Let’s go to town instead.”
I stared at her. “Skip the test? Are you crazy?”
“Why not?” Ember gestured at the terrain around us. “They dumped us here, in the middle of freaking nowhere—why shouldn’t we have a little fun for once? Let’s go to town and watch that movie. We can say we got horribly lost and wandered around for hours and hours. How are they gonna say otherwise?” When I still hesitated, she rolled her eyes. “Come on, Dante, we’re going to fail the test anyway, you know that, right? What’ve we got to lose? Unless you really want to race me across the desert.”
I took a breath. It was tempting. I was tired, and not just physically. I was tired of tests, tired of studying, of staying up all night only to face another grueling day of exams. And, truth be told, I was angry at Talon for giving us this impossible test, requiring the one thing I refused to do: abandon my twin.
I looked at Ember and nodded. “Yeah,” I said, ignoring the brief stab of fear to the gut. “Let’s do it.”
* * *
It took us all afternoon to reach town, even knowing which direction we were going. The desert stretched on, eternal in its sameness. Even for two dragons who normally thrived in the heat, hours of trudging through the desert in over a hundred degree temperatures began to wear on us. By the time we saw the first of the roofs across the desert, we were hot, sweaty, thirsty and desperate to get out of the sun.
“Made it,” Ember breathed, sounding triumphant. She grinned at me, eager and relieved at the same time. Her skin was slightly pink from the sun, and my own felt uncomfortably tight, making me wonder if it was possible for dragons to get sunburned. “Come on,” she said, gesturing toward a distant gas station on the edge of the road. “I’m spitting sand here. Drinks first, then let’s go find the theater.”
My stomach danced as we approached the border of town, either in excitement, fear or a little of both. This was supremely forbidden. Cutting class, wandering into town alone, deliberately disobeying our instructors? I’d never done anything this risky before. I didn’t know if I liked this feeling of nervous exhilaration and utter terror, but we couldn’t turn back now.
However, as we crossed the road and headed toward the gas station, I spotted a disturbingly familiar black sedan sitting at the edge of the parking lot, and my insides gave a violent twist.
Get ahold of yourself, Dante. Not every black car is from Talon. There’s no way they could know where you went—
The back door opened, and Mr. Gordon stepped out of the car, followed by two Talon agents in suits.
Ember froze. I went rigid, my mind going blank as our teacher came toward us across the lot, leaving the agents by the car. They had found us. How had they found us? Had the car turned around somehow, to make sure we were heading in the right direction? Had the driver been hiding somewhere with binoculars, watching our every move?
“Ember.” Mr. Gordon’s tone was impassive. He didn’t sound angry, or surprised, to find us here. “Dante. Come along, it’s time to go home.”
Numbly, we followed him to the car. There was nothing more we could do.
The ride back was silent. I stared out the window, trying to control the sick feeling in my stomach. What would they do to us? Would this permanently stain my record with Talon? Would they decide to separate me and Ember?
I should have been afraid, and I was. I knew Talon’s punishment would probably be terrible. But at the same time, the more I thought about it, the angrier I became. They were obviously watching us somehow, waiting for us to screw up. Setting us up for failure.
It wasn’t fair. I thought back to all the times I had excelled, followed instructions and orders without hesitation, and my blood boiled. Hadn’t I proved myself by now? Hadn’t I been the model student, never questioning instructions, never complaining? Wh
y this one pointless test that we couldn’t win?
When we got back, we followed Mr. Gordon silently into one of the classrooms, where our other two trainers were waiting with displeased expressions.
“So.” Mr. Gordon turned to face us as the rest of the teachers came forward. His expression was stern, disapproving. “Decided to have a little fun, did you? In the middle of your exams, no less. Would either of you care to explain what you were thinking today? And please,” he added, looking at me. “Do not attempt to tell me you ‘got lost.’ I know that you at least, Dante, know enough to tell which direction is north. So.” He raised his eyebrows. “What were you doing in town today? Why did you ignore the test?”
“Because it was stupid,” Ember growled under her breath. Mr. Gordon’s eyes narrowed, and I jumped in before she made things any worse.
“I didn’t understand the point of the test, sir,” I said, though my own voice came out hard. “I wasn’t going to leave my sister alone, in the middle of the desert. I might’ve known the way back, but what if Ember really did get lost? She could wander around out there for days and get hurt or dehydrated.”
“That was unlikely,” Mr. Gordon replied. “We were watching you both via satellite. Neither of you was in any real danger. Besides, your assessment of the exam was incorrect. We were not testing to see who could make it back first—we were testing to see if either of you would Shift into your real forms in order to make it back faster. But, as you circumvented the exam entirely, that point is moot.”
Satellites. So that was how they knew. My heart sank even more. We’d never had a chance to escape. They’d known what we were doing from the very beginning.
Mr. Gordon gave me a piercing stare, seeming to read my thoughts. “Do let me make this perfectly clear, Mr. Hill,” he said firmly. “We are always watching you. We are always testing you. Nothing you do goes unnoticed. Remember that, always.”
