by Julie Kagawa
I slumped in relief as the other two popped out from behind the desk, Riley snarling quietly into his phone again.
“That’s what I said. I need you to hack into Talon’s computers and...” He paused, frowning. “Dammit, Wes. What do you want me to... Hang on.” He pressed a button on the phone and placed it on the desk. “All right,” he whispered, sliding into the desk chair. “What do you need on our end?”
“Bloody hell, Riley,” came Wes’s voice over the speakerphone, sounding harried. “All right, listen. First, you’ll have to open the browser and go to this IP address. That will download an exploit that will grant me access to—”
“On a time limit, Wesley,” Riley growled. “Don’t need an explanation, just give me the damn address.”
“Right. Hang on, then.” He rattled off a list of numbers, and for a moment, the sound of tapping keys filled the silence of the room. I turned back to the window and peered through the blinds, searching for the guard. On the phone, Wes and Riley muttered back and forth for a few tense moments before Wes gave a triumphant grunt.
“I’m in. Found the file.” He paused a moment, his next words begrudgingly impressed and eager at the same time. “Well, that is a nasty encryption, isn’t it? I’ve just the thing for you.”
A flashlight beam cut through the hall again, and I motioned everyone to get down. We dove behind cover and held our breath as the guard passed by once more, but this time stopped to shine his flashlight through the cracks in the blinds. I flattened myself to the wall, holding my breath, until the light dropped from the window and the guard moved on once more.
Riley sat up, hissing into the phone. “Wes!”
“Hold your bloody horses. These things take time.”
“We’re sitting in the middle of a Talon office building, surrounded by people who want to beat the crap out of us, then kill us. We don’t have time.”
“Got it!” Wes’s voice rang with triumph. “I’m in. There, your damn file is unlocked. So, what’s so bloody important that you had to...oh...”
His words trailed off. Riley scrambled upright and slid into the chair with Mist right behind him, leaning over his shoulder. Both peered at the screen for a moment, their faces glowing blue-white in the darkness.
“Holy shit.” The rogue’s voice sent shivers down my back, and I turned from the window. Riley leaned back in the seat, shaking his head, his face full of horror. “St. George, you need to see this, now.”
I hurried around the desk and bent next to Riley to peer at the screen. After a few seconds of scanning the words on the computer, a chill crept up my spine as I realized what I was looking at.
It was a list...of Order chapterhouses around the world. The main headquarters in London was at the top, but below it were several more chapters throughout the United Kingdom, France, the United States and several other countries. Even more troubling, it listed the amount of security the bases had, the approximate number of soldiers, the exit and entry points and the time zone of every chapterhouse around the world.
And at the very top of the list, a timer, counting down the hours.
I looked at Riley, who drew in a long breath. “Do you know what this is, St. George?” he asked, his voice subdued.
I nodded. There were other things it could be, harmless, less sinister things. Talon could simply be keeping an eye on the Order, making sure their enemies would not attack and take them by surprise. There were other reasons this file would exist. But I was a soldier, and I knew where the signs were pointing. Talon had an army now. And St. George had always stood in their way.
“It’s a battle plan,” I said.
“My God,” Mist breathed, her blue eyes wide as she scanned the list. “The Night of Fang and Fire...they’re planning to attack the Order. All the chapterhouses, in one night.” She looked up at me, horrified and amazed. “They’re planning to destroy the Order of St. George in one fell swoop.”
Riley made a strangled noise. “Not only the Order,” he whispered in a voice of quiet rage. “Look at this.”
Below the St. George chapterhouses was another list of locations, all through the United States. These I didn’t recognize, but Riley swore heavily and shook his head. “Those are my safe houses,” he growled. “Most of them, anyway. Some aren’t in use anymore, but still.” He ran a hand down his face and snatched the phone from where it sat on the desk. “Wes,” he growled, shoving away from the computer. “Did you hear all that? Recall the safe houses right now, all of them...Yes, all of them! Get everyone out of the open before this goes down...Don’t worry about us, we’ll be there as soon as we can...Dammit, Wes, don’t argue with me, just do it!” He yanked the phone from his ear and glanced back at me. “When is this supposed to happen?” he snapped.
I looked at the top of the screen. “In three days,” I said numbly. Three days before Talon unleashed destruction upon St. George and the rogues. Three days to try to find a way to stop it. If they could be stopped.
But first...
I looked at Mist. “Get us to Ember,” I told her. “Right now.”
RILEY
The trip to the final lab was mostly a blur. Mist herded us back into the elevator and used her key card to gain access to the lowest floor, where, she explained, Ember was being held. She told me a few other things, about security and the layout of the floor, but I was finding it difficult to concentrate. I was desperate to get to Ember, desperate to find my Sallith’tahn and life-mate, but I was still reeling from what we’d just uncovered. The Night of Fang and Fire. In one imminent, terrible night, Talon was going to attack not only the Order of St. George, but every safe house, nest and rogue dragon they could find, with the intent of destroying Talon’s enemies once and for all. And, from everything I’d seen, they finally had the numbers to do it.
The Order of St. George was going to fall. After hundreds of years of hunting us toward extinction, killing and slaughtering without regret, the genocidal maniacs were finally getting what they deserved. Talon would sweep through with their army of clones, dragons they had bred for destruction, and wipe St. George off the map.
And that, in the most ironic twist of fate I’d ever encountered, terrified me.
I felt no sympathy for the Order. Present company excluded, I hated St. George and every fanatical, trigger-happy individual in it. I had lost friends, colleagues and hatchlings to their endless war, and there had been countless nights where I struggled to keep my underground safe and my hatchlings off their sights.
But I didn’t want them wiped out. I didn’t want them gone. Because I knew that, without the Order of St. George, there would be no one left who could challenge Talon. They balanced each other, kept the other in check. The reason we had to hide, the reason Talon was so leery of discovery, was plain and simple—because they were afraid of the Order. Because they knew what the Order represented: humanity’s fear of the unknown and what they would do if they found out dragons were real.
Without St. George, that balance would tip. Without the Order, there would be nothing to stop Talon and the Elder Wyrm from achieving what they’d wanted from the start. Complete and utter dominion. How they would accomplish that I wasn’t entirely sure, but destroying an entire organization of professional dragonslayers seemed like a good first step.
I didn’t know how we were going to survive the coming storm. I didn’t know what the world would be like in the future, a future where Talon had no opposition and no one to stop their plans, whatever they were. I did know that I was going to rescue Ember, recall all my safe houses and then find the deepest, darkest hole where we could hide and wait this out. And hope that, when the dust settled and we reemerged, the world would still be intact and not burned to a crisp.
I spared a glance at the soldier. He stood next to me with a gun held loosely at his side, staring at the elevator doors. His face was s
tony, his eyes flat and dangerous. Most likely, he was thinking of the Order and what he could do to save them. Or perhaps he was thinking of Ember. I did know one thing: we were done with Talon. If anyone got in our way right now, they wouldn’t live long enough to regret it.
“This is it,” Mist said quietly as the elevator came to a halt on the very bottom floor. “Beyond this hall is the lab where we will find Ms. Hill. It will be guarded, so be prepared. We might have to fight our way through.”
I glanced at the clones beside me. “What about your two puppet dragons?”
“They will follow orders,” Mist said. “Because I will be the one giving them. But the security guards on this floor are human and will attempt to stop us when we approach. We need to silence them quickly before they sound the alarm. If they do alert the rest of the building, we’re as good as dead. Are you ready?”
“Yes.” St. George stepped forward, his expression hard. I glanced at his face and realized that whatever stood between him and Ember was probably going to die. “Let’s go.”
EMBER
We need to speed up the process.
Lowering my arm, I gazed around, shivering as the disembodied voice echoed from a cloudless sky. I stood at the edge of a sandy beach, white cliffs looming behind me, a red sun sinking into the waves and sparkling off the water.
Is that wise? Her mind is already under a lot of stress. We could do irreversible damage to her psyche if we go much faster.
As long as her memories are extracted, it won’t matter if her psyche is damaged. But the Elder Wyrm wants this done today. Dig deeper.
Anger and horror stabbed at me, and I turned in a circle, trying to pinpoint the voices that faded into the wind. Stop it, I tried telling them, though my voice was frozen inside me. Whatever you’re doing, whatever this is, please stop.
More voices caught my attention. I turned, discovering that the beach wasn’t empty. A few yards away, a group of six—three boys and three girls—clustered together at the water’s edge. I looked closer, squinting against the sun, and my heart jumped as I recognized them all. Lexi, Kristin...and I...stood talking to a trio of older college guys whose names I had mostly forgotten. One of them—Colin, I abruptly remembered—kept trying to put his arm around me, and I kept squirming away.
I drew in a slow breath as the memory became clear. This is Lone Rock Cove, I realized. And it’s...that evening. My heart turned over. The day I met...
I looked over, and Garret Xavier Sebastian walked past me, striding toward the group at the water’s edge.
Dread bloomed in my stomach. I was suddenly terrified, filled with a horror and desperation I’d never felt before, though I didn’t even know why. I only knew I had to stop this, keep him from reaching the group and setting those chain of events into motion.
Wait! I lunged after him, reaching for his arm. Garret, wait!
My fingers passed right through his body, and he continued toward the group in the distance, followed by Tristan. No, I thought in despair, hurrying after them. Garret, stop. Don’t go.
Her mind is retreating. She’s struggling to hold on to that memory. Increase the dosage and the current, now.
Sir, the procedure is at near max. Any more and we’re pushing the limits of what she can take.
Do it. This is a linchpin memory. Something significant happened to her on this day, that’s why she’s fighting so hard to keep it. Once we remove it, the others will become much easier to...what? Who are you? How the hell did you—no, stop!
Thunder boomed overhead, and everything fractured.
GARRET
“Ember!”
I leaped across the room, past the bodies of the two guards, shot dead before they knew what was happening. Four men in white coats cringed away from me, but I ignored them. My body ached, protesting the movements, but I barely felt the pain. My whole attention was riveted to the scene in the middle of the room.
Ember lay strapped to a gurney in the center of the floor, wires and electrodes connecting her to a large computer in the corner. Her eyes were closed and her skin was nearly white as I rushed to her side. Heat blazed through my veins, turning the air in my lungs hot as I yanked the wires from her face and neck and began unbuckling the straps tying her to the bed.
“Stop!” One of the scientists came forward, hand outstretched, glaring at me. “Don’t touch that!” he ordered as I contemplated putting a bullet through his shiny skull. “You have no idea what you’re doing—”
With a growl, Riley shoved his gun into the man’s forehead, his eyes dangerous. “Keep talking,” he snarled as all color drained from the human’s face. “Give me a reason to blow your brain through the back of your skull.”
The scientist froze. From the corner of my eye, I saw Mist direct her two clones to guard the doors before motioning the remaining scientists against the wall. The men obeyed, holding up their hands. They didn’t look like they would try to stop us, which was good, as my entire focus was getting Ember out of here.
The last of the straps were removed, and I gathered her in my arms, lifting her shoulders off the mattress. “Ember,” I murmured, and pressed a palm to her cheek. It was cold, ashen, and my heart gave a violent lurch. I felt for a pulse, nearly collapsing with relief as I felt the faint flutter of life beneath my fingers. Whatever had happened to her, whatever horrible things they had put her through, at least she was alive. “Hey,” I tried again, shaking her gently, desperate for her to open her eyes. “Ember, wake up. Can you hear me?”
There was no answer. The girl remained limp and unresponsive in my arms, and my desperation grew. “Ember...”
Against the wall, the lead scientist shook his head. “She can’t hear you,” he said, making Riley turn on him with a growl. “I doubt she can hear anything now, and don’t snarl at me, dragon. I’m not the one responsible for this.” He glared at Riley and myself, his thin face taut with anger. “You fools don’t know what you have done,” he snapped. “This was a delicate procedure, and you’ve gone and blundered into it without knowing what was at stake. You can’t just yank the plug without risking permanent damage to the subject’s mind.”
“What were you doing to her?” Riley asked in a hard, dangerous voice.
“I don’t think I can tell you that.”
“No?” Riley pressed the muzzle of the gun harder to the man’s forehead, his eyes glowing yellow in the brightly lit room. “Then I guess we don’t need you, do we?”
“All right, all right!” The scientist held up his hands. “I’ll tell you, for all the good it will do now.” He leaned back from the gun and ran a hand over his face, seemingly unaware that the rogue was fighting hard not to Shift and tear him into tiny pieces. The Dractylpromazine was starting to wear off, because the flicker of a dark blue dragon suddenly overlapped with Riley for the barest of seconds, gold eyes blazing in fury as they glared at the scientist. Who, dangerously for him, didn’t notice.
“Ms. Hill was...is...the Elder Wyrm’s vessel,” the human went on. “That is why she is so important to the organization. As one who shares her blood and DNA, she was genetically engineered to house the memories and consciousness of Talon’s CEO.”
“Wait, what?” Riley gaped at the scientist. “Shares her blood? Are you telling me that Ember is—”
“The daughter of the Elder Wyrm, yes.” The scientist nodded and glanced at Ember, not seeing Riley’s pale face, the shock filling his eyes. “She and her brother are the heirs to Talon, though it was always the Elder Wyrm’s intention to raise a daughter for the sole purpose of extending her own life. We were extracting Ms. Hill’s memories so that the Elder Wyrm’s presence could take over her mind without opposition.” He frowned then, shaking his head, and glared back at the rogue. “Of course, now that you and your friends have quite literally pulled the plug on this fragile operation,
there is no telling what state of mind she will be in when she revives. If she wakes up at all.”
Horror flooded me. I looked down at Ember’s body, willing her to wake up, to open her eyes. She lay like a doll in my arms, her head lolled back and her hands limp at her sides. With shaking arms, I gathered her close, pressing my forehead to hers, praying my thoughts would reach her.
Wake up, Ember, I thought, fighting the despair clawing at my insides. You’re too strong to let this beat you. Come back to me, dragon girl.
Ember didn’t respond.
EMBER
I raised my head, and found myself alone. The beach was gone. The ocean was gone. I was in the middle of a black void, darkness surrounding me like a vacuum. It wasn’t nighttime; there were no shadows clinging to the ground or hanging in the air. There was no ground. No sky. Just...blackness.
“Where am I?” I whispered.
A soft growl echoed out of the darkness. “I think the better question,” something said behind me, “would be who. Also, what the hell?”
Spinning around, I came face-to-face with a dragon. With...myself.
* * *
The human gaped at me, green eyes widening. She looked like a startled deer in headlights, dazed and frightened. Like prey. I saw my own reflection in her eyes, my wings partially open, my neck raised to gaze down at her. It was a strange sensation; I’d only seen myself, my true self, maybe once or twice. The human face I saw much more often, gazing back at me from mirrors and shiny surfaces, the girl who had become the real me.
“What...the hell?” she stammered, taking a step back. “What is this? What’s going on?”
