The Mark of the Dragonfly

by Jaleigh Johnson

  “This is no good,” Piper said. Her chest burned, and she knew Anna must be worse off. “We’re running toward the front of the train. There’ll be more people and more guards; we can’t hide up here.”

  Proving her words, they ran into the next car to find three guards. They were inspecting some cargo and didn’t immediately see the girls. Piper grabbed Anna and turned her around.

  “Where are we going now?” Anna asked. Sweat ran down her face. She looked as if she were about to drop. “We’re not making any progress forward or backward. Those chasing us, on the other hand—”

  “I know, I know! Back to the mail car,” Piper said. Maybe they could tackle the boy, overwhelm him as they’d done to the guard. “We have to—”

  Just then, the boy burst into the car. The guards at the other door looked up. “Get them—they’re stowaways!” the boy shouted. Before Piper could run, the boy grabbed her wrist and twisted it behind her back. Anna tried to push him away, but the guards ran forward and lifted her by the waist. She kicked the air futilely. “Throw them off the train,” the boy said.

  “You don’t understand. It’s not safe out there.” Piper struggled, but the boy only squeezed her wrist until she yelped in pain. “If you throw us off the train, we’re dead.”

  “You’re lucky we don’t give you to the Consortium,” the boy said, “or drag you off to the capital, charge you with destroying government property.”

  “If they want it protected, maybe the capital should put men in charge of the 401, not boys,” Piper sneered. She stamped her heel on the top of his foot. The boy grunted, but he didn’t let her go. How could he be so strong? He was thin as a scarecrow and no taller than she was. Piper twisted around to look at the boy. Up close, she saw two ugly scars slashed his neck just above his collarbone. His pupils dilated, flashing yellow at the edges. The change caught her off guard and she blinked, but when she looked again, they were the normal black color. She must have imagined it.

  “Off you go,” the boy growled.

  The guards took out a set of manacles and bound Piper’s wrists in front of her. They went to do the same to Anna, pushing up the sleeves of her dress. Piper stopped struggling. Instead, she prayed they would remove the bindings once they were off the train. At least then they would have a chance to run again.

  Watching the guards, the boy suddenly let out a soft cry. “What is that?” he demanded.

  The guards looked at each other, confused. Piper turned and saw the dragonfly tattoo exposed on Anna’s arm. Then she remembered what the boy had said about charging them with destroying government property.

  Of course—she was an idiot not to have realized it sooner. The 401 originated from the Dragonfly territories, which meant King Aron likely owned the train and employed all its workers. They would recognize the tattoo and its significance right away. Piper sucked in a breath as hope stirred in her chest. Maybe, if they put on a good enough show, they could still get out of this.

  “Anna!” Piper hissed. “What are you doing? I told you to keep that covered!”

  Anna glanced blankly at the tattoo, then at Piper. “I don’t remember you telling me—”

  “Quiet!” Piper said. “Don’t say a word.”

  “Wait a minute. That can’t be genuine,” the boy said. “Bring her over here,” he told the guards. “I want to see that tattoo up close.”

  They led Anna over to the boy, who removed her manacles so he could examine the tattoo. Piper noticed that he had large calloused hands. If not for the soot on his face, the dirty bare feet, and the expression of suspicious anger in his eyes, he might have almost been good-looking. Almost.

  He stared at Anna’s tattoo for a long time with narrowed eyes, running his finger over the shimmering wings and body, as if he could wipe the ink away and prove the tattoo was a fake. Abruptly, he released her and nodded to the guards. “It’s genuine. Let them go.”

  The guards hesitated. “Are you sure?” the larger one ventured.

  “Do it,” the boy said stiffly. “They’re under the king’s protection.”

  Piper’s knees went weak with relief. She never thought she’d be glad for Aron’s influence, even indirectly. The guards removed her manacles, and she rubbed the feeling back into her wrists.

  “What does it mean, Piper?” Anna asked. “A minute ago they were like predators, chasing us down, hemming us in, but now they’re acting differently … because of this.” She looked at the tattoo as if she’d never seen it before. Piper quickly took the girl’s hand and rolled down her sleeve to cover the tattoo. This would be tricky. To avoid attracting suspicion, she needed the guards and the boy to believe that they actually worked for Aron and knew what they were doing—instead of being two scared girls running for their lives up and down a train.

  And if they believe we’re working for Aron, Piper thought, hope rising within her, they’ll have to help us, at least let us leave on the 401. They wouldn’t dare defy their king by denying us safe passage on the train.

  “Our secret is out,” Piper said, affecting a tone of resignation, as if they’d been caught playacting. It was the best thing she could think of to cover Anna’s confusion. Her amnesia would be a bit too hard to explain at this point. “No need to pretend anymore, Anna—they know you’re working for Aron.”

  “But what—” Anna stared at her blankly.

  “Never mind,” Piper said, shooting Anna a look to try to keep her quiet. She couldn’t let the girl give them away. “What’s important is that these men understand we’re here on secret business for the Dragonfly territories.” She tried to sound as mysterious as possible—which wasn’t hard, since she was making her story up as she went along. “And we need their help.”

  “Secret business?” the boy echoed, disbelief plain in his voice. He rolled his eyes and laughed. “Maybe the Dragonfly territories should send women to represent them, not girls.”

  Irritating as he was, Piper gave him points for turning her insult around. But she still had the advantage. “You saw for yourself the tattoo is genuine. I think that entitles us to a little more respect—and an apology.” All right, that last one might have been asking too much.

  Piper and the boy stared each other down, tense, neither one willing to blink. Piper tried to look confident, but her stomach churned with nerves. “Where’s your tattoo?” the boy challenged.

  Piper gritted her teeth. “I don’t have one.” She ignored the annoying little aha! flicker in the boy’s eyes and scrambled to think of an explanation, preferably one that sounded at least a tiny bit plausible. “Look, I’m this girl’s protector.” Piper’s mind raced. Goddess, what was she saying? Where did that come from? “Isn’t that right, Anna?”

  Awkward silence fell over the car. Piper realized she’d just potentially put her fate in the hands of a girl with no memory, whose next sentence might or might not make any sense.

  Oh, I am such an idiot.

  “It’s true,” Anna finally said, and Piper let out her breath, relieved. “She’s my protector.”

  The boy’s eyes narrowed. His jaw worked, as if he was holding back a flood of words—hopefully not something like You two are the world’s worst liars!—Piper thought. “I see” was what he ended up saying. “In that case, we apologize for mishandling you.” The boy stared at Anna as he spoke and ignored Piper completely. “How can we be of service in your secret business?” he asked, the disbelief still in his voice.

  Piper started to answer him, but then she realized they were all waiting for Anna to speak. As far as they were concerned, Anna was the one in charge here. Piper was just the scrapper. Piper’s face burned with anger and humiliation. She didn’t have a tattoo, so in their eyes she wasn’t even worth talking to.

  Anna glanced uncertainly at her, and Piper tried to smile encouragement, but inwardly she prayed that the girl wouldn’t start going on about wolves and proportions—theoretical, hypothetical blabbering again.

  “Piper and I want to leave this t
own on the train,” Anna said at last. She hesitated before she continued. “We want to go to the capital. Yes, we want to go to Noveen.” She looked at Piper again. “It’s the logical place, the only one that makes sense.”

  Piper sighed in relief. She gave the boy a bright smile. “Couldn’t have said it better.”

  “All right,” the boy said. “Noveen is at the end of our route. But it would be best if you told us who or what you need protection from so we can be prepared.”

  “A wolf,” Anna murmured, shuddering. Her eyes lost focus as the memory took hold of her.

  “What?” the boy asked, looking confused.

  “Never mind,” Piper said hastily. She didn’t want them to know about the man chasing them. Knowing about him would bring up too many questions Piper couldn’t answer. “That’s our business. You said you’re already going to the capital—great. We just want to tag along.”

  “Just using us for a ride, huh?” A muscle in the boy’s jaw twitched, and his angry scowl deepened. “Can you at least tell us your full names, or are they a secret too?”

  Piper thought about it. She didn’t want to give him her full name, even though she didn’t think it was smart to push him much further. The fact that he seemed suddenly angrier surprised her. She knew he didn’t fully believe their story, but why should he care about taking on a couple of extra passengers? It didn’t cost him anything. “I’m Piper. This is Anna.”

  “Fine, then.” The boy turned to the guards. “You can go. I’ll take care of things from here.”

  “Are you sure?” one of the guards said, eyeing the girls warily.

  The boy nodded. “I can handle them.” He looked at Piper and Anna. His expression was neutral now, but Piper sensed the anger still simmering beneath the surface. Where did it come from? “I’ll show you to your private car,” he said.

  Piper couldn’t believe the ploy had worked. The relief that came over her left her feeling shaky. They were going to get out of this. “Thank you,” she said, then realized what she’d just heard. “Wait, hold on, did you say our private car?”

  The boy nodded at Anna. “Anyone who has the mark of the Dragonfly is treated as a representative of King Aron himself,” he said formally, as if he were in the presence of the king. “He or she is entitled to full access of the train and all its services for as long as necessary. I do wish you hadn’t waited so long to make your identities known,” he added with a hint of scorn in his voice as he turned to Piper. “We might have avoided all this unpleasantness.”

  Piper realized he was still suspicious of her, even after seeing the tattoo and knowing Anna was under the king’s protection. Piper couldn’t help it. Her anger flared. It was she who didn’t fit into the picture. “I told you our business is secret, and even if it wasn’t, maybe we didn’t trust that you’d let someone like me on the train. How many scrappers do you take on as passengers up here in the mountains?”

  “None,” the boy said flatly. Oh yes, he was suspicious of her all right. “But as long as you’re with her, you’re welcome here too.” His tone left Piper no doubt that if Anna weren’t here, he’d take great pleasure in throwing her off the train himself. “My name is Gee,” the boy continued. “I’m in charge of security. If you need anything while you’re here, talk to me. Now, if you’ll follow me.”

  Without waiting for them to reply, Gee strode off quickly toward the front of the train. He was all business, and judging by how fast he was moving, he was clearly anxious to get rid of them. Piper and Anna hurried to follow, Anna sticking close to Piper’s side as if she was afraid Piper was going to suddenly disappear.

  “Will we be safe now?” Anna whispered.

  Piper didn’t know. She didn’t want to lie, but she also didn’t want to frighten the girl any more than she had to. “It looks like for the moment. We caught some luck back there,” Piper said. She glanced at Gee’s back, the rigid set of his shoulders. “I think he likes us.”

  Anna brightened. “Really?”

  “Oh, absolutely,” Piper said, trying to sound cheerful. Not at all.

  As they walked, Piper felt the train begin to move. The whistle blew a final time. After passing through another storage car, they entered the passenger section. Several passengers and train personnel milled about, turning the seats from their upright daytime positions into upper and lower beds with privacy curtains for nighttime sleeping. Piper looked out the windows to see the houses of the scrap town slowly passing by, fewer and fewer until they were clear of them.

  That was it. In another minute, they’d left Scrap Town Sixteen behind. Piper realized with a jolt that her dearest dream—to ride out of the scrap town—had come true in a heartbeat and she’d nearly missed it. She stopped and stared out the window, watching the snow-covered hills roll by and the town get smaller in the distance.

  And then it dawned on her what she was really leaving. Micah was back there too, and every minute she was getting farther away from him. The realization hit Piper, and she put her hand against the cold window, staring back at the town as loss gripped her chest. Everything had happened so fast, she hadn’t realized what leaving the scrap town would actually mean. She was leaving Micah behind, and she hadn’t even gotten to see him wake up. She wouldn’t be there to see that he recovered from his injuries. Worse than that, Micah wouldn’t know what happened to her. He would wake up and find out she was gone, with no explanation and her house a shambles. He would be so worried about her.

  “Piper, what’s wrong?” Anna stopped a little ahead of her. Gee stopped too and turned back to wait for them. He sighed impatiently but said nothing.

  “I’m all right. I was just looking at the scenery.” With an effort, Piper turned away from the window and caught up with them, but her legs felt shaky, her steps uncertain. She was free of the scrap town, but it wasn’t the clean break she’d thought it would be when she used to dream about leaving. She was going to miss Micah terribly.

  Gee led them through several more passenger cars and common areas until they reached a car near the front of the train. A narrow hallway ran the length of the left-hand side, but the entire right side was enclosed. Piper assumed it was another passenger car set up for nighttime, but this one had real walls instead of privacy curtains. Gee opened the one door to the enclosure and stood aside to let them go in.

  Piper’s mouth fell slack as she entered. They stood in a large private suite. To her right was a sitting area with a plush sofa bolted to the floor. Opposite was a small polished dining table flanked by two chairs. Outside the huge windows, the scenery raced by as the train picked up speed. Near the front of the suite were two plump berths, upper and lower, and a private washroom. Piper’s tiny house could have fit into the car a couple of times.

  “Is this acceptable?” Gee asked stiffly. His tone still carried traces of anger.

  Piper could only nod. She was too busy staring at the beds, the furniture, and the bowl of apples, oranges, and grapes sitting on the dining table. Without another word, Gee turned and left the suite, slamming the door much harder than necessary.

  Anna glanced at Piper uncertainly. “It really doesn’t seem like he likes us,” she observed.

  “I think you’re right.” Piper sighed. “Well, it doesn’t matter. I’m just happy we made it this far. Might as well make ourselves comfortable.” She shook her head. She still couldn’t believe the size of the room.

  Anna grabbed an apple from the bowl of fruit on the table and bit into it eagerly. Juice dripped down her chin. “This tastes amazing.” She offered an orange to Piper, but Piper shook her head. She knew she should eat, but she wasn’t at all hungry. After everything that had happened, her stomach just wouldn’t settle down.

  Dropping her satchel, she walked over to the sofa and knelt on the cushions, leaning against the sofa back so she could press her cheek against the window. She was trying to look back at the scrap town.

  She told herself it was only Micah she missed, not the town itself. Numbe
r Sixteen wasn’t home. The only real connection she had with the place was in the memories she’d shared with her father, and he was gone. Her mother had died when Piper was too young to remember her.

  Nothing should be holding her back. She was safe, she had a bed to sleep in—a very nice bed—and she was on her way to the capital. Her plans for her future hadn’t changed. In fact, they’d improved. A private suite for the trip to Noveen. Arno Weir would have swallowed his tongue at seeing those fluffy sofa cushions. And she would get to see a nice little slice of the world along the way. Once Anna was safely home, Piper would collect her reward and set off to find work as a machinist, just like she’d planned. The whole thing felt like a dream.

  An image of the man from the caravan flashed through Piper’s mind, and fear took hold of her.

  Piper gripped the sofa back and pressed her forehead against the window. Her breath peppered the glass with little fog clouds. All right, so maybe things weren’t perfect. Maybe she’d just had a world of trouble dumped in her lap along with her dreams, but she was too exhausted to sort it all out right now.

  Piper turned her back on the window and sank into the couch. Anna had put the half-eaten apple back in the bowl and was sitting at the table, sleeve rolled up, tracing the lines of the dragonfly tattoo. “You’d better keep that hidden,” Piper said. “It came in handy today, but we don’t want to attract too much attention.”

  “I didn’t know I had this,” Anna said. Fear quavered in her voice. “There are too many blank pages. Nothing’s comprehensive. Why are there so many blank spots, Piper? I heard the name Aron once when I was asleep, but I don’t know his face, so the picture’s unfinished. But I should know his face because you say he put this picture on me.” Tears ran down the girl’s cheeks. “It doesn’t make sense! I know you told me not to say that, but it’s true. None of this feels real.”

  “Hey, take it easy.” Piper went over to the table and took Anna by the shoulders. She steered her across the cabin, over to the lower berth, and sat next to her. “You knew you needed to go to the capital, didn’t you? You told those security men exactly what you wanted.”