The Mark of the Dragonfly

by Jaleigh Johnson

  Piper blinked at the titles. “Well, that maybe explains some things.” What if Anna’s strange outbursts of knowledge came as a result of someone reading to her from encyclopedias and scientific texts like these? Instead of memorizing beloved bedtime stories, Anna had soaked up a variety of scientific and technical knowledge. “Do you want to take one of them back to our suite?” Piper asked. “You can read it after breakfast.”

  Anna didn’t answer. She fingered the cuff of her shirt. “I remembered something else while I was reading the books,” she said quietly.

  “What is it? Something bad?” Piper put a hand on Anna’s arm, at the same time trying to push away her own sudden anxiety. “When you fidget like that, it usually means you’re upset about something.”

  “Maybe.” Anna stood up and turned her back to Piper. She lifted her braids to reveal a large crescent-shaped scar on the back of her neck. “I never noticed it before, and I don’t know why, but while I was reading the book, I suddenly remembered it was there.”

  Piper reached out and gently traced the rough flesh. It looked like the scar from a deep, jagged cut, one that no healer had ever treated. “Do you remember how you got it?”

  Anna shook her head and let the braids fall back into place. “I didn’t want to remember it.”

  “What do you mean?” Piper said.

  “The wolf—Doloman—used to talk about it,” Anna said. “I heard his voice in my head. He talked about the scar a lot.”

  “Do you think he gave it to you?” Piper asked, and anger tightened her gut. “Did he hurt you?”

  “I don’t think he gave it to me … but I think he hurt me because of it,” she said carefully. “I remember cold metal and sharp pains like fire all over my skin.” She shuddered. “I don’t want to remember it, Piper.”

  “It’s all right,” Piper soothed, “then don’t.” Inwardly, a wave of sadness seized her. What had Doloman done to Anna? Was it something so terrible that her mind had put up a wall around the memories? “Look, we know enough about Doloman to know he’s dangerous,” she said. “Concentrate on that other voice, the nice one. Maybe the person who read to you is part of your family. He probably read to you in that big house on the cliff.”

  “Do you think so?” Anna said hopefully.

  Piper shrugged. “One thing’s for sure—if he is up there, I’m going to tell him he has lousy taste in bedtime stories,” she answered, grinning.

  Anna smiled too. “You’re doing it again, making me feel better with your jokes. I haven’t thought about last night at all since you came in the room. When I’m with you, I’m not scared.”

  “That’s good,” Piper said. Her smile widened. She wanted Anna to feel safe. “You let me do the worrying for both of us.”

  “It’s just …” Anna’s smile faded. “You keep getting in trouble because of me, and last night Gee got hurt because of me. I don’t understand why you’re all doing this. You left your home, Piper, put yourself in danger just to help me. So much has happened, but this makes the least sense of all. You don’t know me, but you act like a mother bird. Well, maybe not a mother—you’re too young, aren’t you? It’s not logical.”

  “Not to mention I can’t fly,” Piper said dryly.

  “You’re more like a sister,” Anna said. She looked thoughtful. “I don’t think I have a sister. I don’t remember a sister’s voice, and nobody ever looked after me the way you do.”

  “I never had a sister either,” Piper said. “But you annoy me like I imagine a sister would, and you’re an awful lot of work.” Anna put her face in her hands as if she was about to cry, and Piper reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “Hey now. I was joking again.” She scooted closer and put an arm around the younger girl. “Last night was rough, but we got through it. From now on, we play things smart and stay on the train. Jeyne Steel’s going to look after us until we get to the capital. Once we’re there, we’ll find someone to help us.”

  Piper spoke with confidence, but she didn’t know if she really believed they’d find help in Noveen. If King Aron’s chief machinist was after them, who would give them sanctuary? They had to hope that Anna really did have family at the house on top of the cliff, someone powerful who could protect them once Doloman caught up to them again. Because that was sure to happen.

  And she had to hope Raenoll’s grim prediction didn’t come true.

  No, Piper decided. She wouldn’t let it. She cared about Anna, and last night, Piper thought she’d lost her friend. She vowed she wouldn’t let that happen again. She’d make sure she got Anna all the way to the capital, and that she was safe.

  Even if it meant Anna would leave Piper and rejoin her family.

  Anna laid her head on Piper’s shoulder, and they sat for a while in silence. Piper found herself thinking about King Aron. Where did he fit into all this? He lived in the capital. If they went to him, would he be a friend or an enemy? Anna and Doloman both bore his mark. He owed loyalty to both of them.

  At least in theory—as Anna would say.

  No, it was too risky to go to the king. Anna was just a kid, and according to Jeyne Steel, Doloman was practically Aron’s second in command. Their only option was to find Anna’s family—if she had one. And for her sake, Piper hoped she did.

  After breakfast, Anna wanted to go back to her reading spot in the library. Piper didn’t really feel like sitting still, so she decided to take a walk to the back of the train. She told herself she just wanted to stretch her legs, but she found herself looking around for Gee as she explored. She hadn’t seen the security chief since the night before, and she felt like she owed him an apology. Really, she owed him a lot more than that, but Piper could only swallow so much of her pride in one day.

  When Piper got to the door of the cargo section, a guard stopped her at the vestibule. “I’m sorry, miss, but this area is off-limits to passengers,” he said. He spoke politely, but his body squarely blocked her path. He wore that same expression of nervous expectation she’d seen on the faces of the passengers earlier.

  “I’m looking for Gee,” Piper explained. “Have you seen him?”

  “He’s meeting with the senior guards,” the man said. He looked her over. “You’re one of the girls marked by the Dragonfly, aren’t you?”

  Piper hesitated. Saying yes would probably get her past the guard, but at this point, she decided the truth was best, and anyway, she was tired of lying. “I’m not marked, but I’m traveling with someone who is,” she said. She turned to go, but before she retreated the man stopped her.

  “Wait here,” the guard said. He turned, opened the boxcar door, and shouted to someone Piper couldn’t see. “Go tell the chief one of the girls is here asking for him.”

  A few minutes later, Gee’s scarecrow figure appeared in the doorway. Today, his soot smudge floated above his left eyebrow in the shape of a carrot. He looked tired and pale, but he smiled at Piper. “Just the person I wanted to see.”

  His smile was startling. It softened his face, made him less intimidating—or maybe it was because she’d seen him naked. That was an equalizer. Piper wasn’t sure whether that would make her apology easier or harder. “I don’t want to bother you,” she said, feeling her cheeks flush. “I just wanted to talk for a minute.”

  “Sure. Come with me.” He led her through the boxcar, past wooden crates stacked against the walls and secured with heavy rope. The air was humid and smelled of sawdust. Whatever the cargo was, it filled the entire car from floor to ceiling, with only a narrow space to walk in between. “It’s usually not this packed in here,” Gee said as if he’d read her thoughts. “This cargo’s been with us since Tevshal. Even I don’t know everything that’s in it.”

  “Don’t you have to know?” Piper asked. “I mean, isn’t whoever’s shipping the goods supposed to let you look at it in case it’s dangerous?”

  “Not if the price is right,” Gee said. “Aron will ship anything, no questions asked.” His scowl told Piper what he thought of
that policy. “We get a manifest, but it’s never complete. The Merrow Kingdom doesn’t tell us any more than necessary.”

  “I’m surprised Merrow and Dragonfly are still willing to deal with each other at all,” Piper said. There hadn’t yet been open conflict, but relations between the two places had been strained to near breaking point ever since the king stopped trading them iron.

  “You were right—neither of them cares enough about what’s happening to their own people these days,” Gee said, shaking his head in disgust. “All Merrow wants is weapons, and the Dragonfly’s too busy with his factories. Do you know he wants to have a fleet of steamships ready to set sail for the uncharted lands by next summer? The summer after that, he wants five skyships to cross the Hiterian Mountains.”

  “He’s crazy,” Piper said. “No one’s ever crossed the mountains, and all the exploration ships that have gone beyond the coastlands never came back.”

  “That just makes the Dragonfly more determined,” Gee said. “It won’t be him going on any of these expeditions, so what does he care if they fail? It’s not his neck that’s at risk.”

  They passed through another cargo area and into the mail car. Piper recognized this area from her first night on the train. It was where they’d snuck on board. “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “Oh, sorry,” Gee answered. “I should have said before. I want you to show me how you and Anna got on the train. As far as I can tell, all our defenses were working that night, but obviously something went wrong.”

  Piper felt a rush of fear, remembering that night. “Good thing it did.” She shivered. “I almost got burned to a crisp.”

  Gee glanced at her, but Piper couldn’t read his expression. “The vestibules are our weakest points,” he explained. “The fire vents keep raiders from boarding the train and attacking the guards and passengers.”

  It was still a terrible system, Piper thought, when innocent people had as much chance of being burned as the raiders did. “But there has to be a better way to protect the train,” she said, “one that isn’t dangerous for your people too.”

  For a minute, Gee said nothing, and Piper thought he might be angry. But then he nodded. “You’re right,” he said sadly. “It is dangerous, but it’s all we have.”

  Piper had no answer for that. They stood in awkward silence, Piper staring at the floor, at a loss for what to do next. Gee coughed, and when she glanced up at him, she noticed he was sweating; trickles of moisture were running down his forehead.

  “Are you all right?” The train jolted, and Gee staggered in place. Piper grabbed his shoulder to steady him and felt a tremor go through his body. “You look awful. Maybe you should sit down.”

  “I’m fine,” he said, but Piper didn’t believe it. He was visibly shaking now. He coughed again, and the sound that came from his chest was a loud, harsh wheeze.

  “It’s the dust, isn’t it?” Piper said. “You’ve still got it swimming in your lungs.” Holding him by the shoulder, Piper guided him to a seat on one of the mail crates. Gee coughed again, only it was a longer fit that had him bent over, his head between his knees. Piper held on to him so he didn’t fall off the crate; otherwise she could do nothing but watch helplessly.

  Gee finally caught his breath. “I thought it would be better by now, but …”

  “I’m no healer, but it sounds like it’s getting worse,” Piper said. She felt the flush of guilt again and couldn’t meet his eyes. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault. If we’d stayed on the train when you told us to, you wouldn’t have been smacked with the dust.”

  Gee laughed weakly. “I knew you were going to be trouble the instant I saw you. Stubborn, hard-headed—”

  “Well, you weren’t exactly a charmer yourself,” Piper interrupted. “Remember the part where you were going to throw us off the train?”

  “I remember.” His humor faded. “I’m sorry about that. If I hadn’t been so harsh, maybe you would have told me the truth right then about why you were running.”

  Maybe it had worked out for the best, Piper thought. If Gee had found out it was the Dragonfly’s head machinist chasing them that first night, he would have had no choice but to turn them over. “Doloman’s never going to stop looking for Anna,” she said. The truth made her sick to her stomach. “I don’t know what’s going to happen once we get to Noveen.”

  Gee studied her face. “You care about her, don’t you?”

  Piper nodded. “Is that surprising?” she asked.

  “No, it’s not that. It’s just … the two of you are so different.”

  Piper gave a rueful laugh. “That’s the truth—a scrapper from the north and one of Dragonfly’s own from the south. We couldn’t be any more apart in the world.” Her expression turned serious. “I think she’s been through some terrible things. Maybe it’s a blessing that she doesn’t remember most of it. I want her to be safe, to find a home. Everyone should have that, especially at her age.”

  “She’s not much younger than you,” Gee pointed out. “What will you do after she’s back with her family?”

  “Well, I don’t think I’m ever going back to the scrap town.” As much as Piper longed to see Micah again, she didn’t have the money to get there, and she knew she had to move forward with her life, no matter how hard it was to let go of the past. “I’ll stay in the capital, maybe, or move on to somewhere along the coast. I’ve never seen the ocean before.” Piper tried to summon the excitement she used to feel when she’d dreamt about these plans back in Scrap Town Sixteen, but she couldn’t banish the empty feeling that came when she imagined leaving Anna behind. “What about you?” she said, needing to change the subject. “Do you have family in the south?”

  Gee shook his head. “My parents sold me when I was seven.”

  “What?” Piper thought she must have heard him wrong.

  Gee ran a finger over the twin scars that slashed his neck. “These marks are how the slavers value their purchases. Slaves as young as I was don’t usually get more than one slash, but since I’m a chamelin, I was considered a novelty.”

  Piper stared at the scars, her own problems forgotten. “You didn’t tell me that part.”

  “About the scars?”

  “That you were a slave! I mean, you warned me about the slavers, but I didn’t know … your parents … they sold you?” The idea was incomprehensible to Piper. Her own father had loved her more than anything in the world. “What happened? How did you end up on the 401?”

  “Luck, mostly. Turned out, the slavers who bought me weren’t equipped to handle a chamelin, even a young one,” Gee said. A shutter had closed over his expression and his body had gone tense, but he kept scratching absently at the scars, as if a part of him still hoped to obliterate the marks. “I escaped six times. They always caught me, though. The last time I got away, I was sure they were going to kill me. Jeyne found me first.”

  “She helped you escape?”

  “No, she couldn’t. The slavers were right on top of me. I flew into a rail yard where the 401 was being repaired.” With his other hand, Gee made a little soaring motion in the air. “Jeyne pulled me out of the corner of a boxcar. I was still in my other form, scratching, biting—I’m sure I gave her a couple scars of her own in that fight, but I was desperate. Instead of handing me over to the slavers, she negotiated a price.” Gee’s mouth twisted in a mixture of humor and pain. “I never asked, but I’m sure she got me cheap. The slavers were tired of dealing with me.”

  “Then she set you free?” The thought of Gee as a slave, of someone tying down his wings and using the dust on him, made Piper feel queasy.

  The slavers could have taken him again that night in the field, she realized. He must have known it was possible, but he followed them anyway. He came for both of them.

  “She tried to,” Gee said, interrupting Piper’s thoughts. “When I changed back to my human form, she said she’d take me home. I was so angry—at my parents, the slavers, the world—I just screamed at he
r, told her I didn’t have parents or a home. When I couldn’t scream anymore, she said she’d give me a place on the 401. I’ve been here ever since.”

  “I’m sorry,” Piper said again. “I misjudged you.”

  “No, you got me right,” Gee said. He stopped rubbing the scars and wiped the sweat from his forehead, smearing the soot mark into a long dark streak. “I’ve been afraid for a while that Aron is going to shut down the 401. The train’s powerful but old. Aron’s factories have already churned out faster trains with deadlier defenses that run some of the major routes around the capital. Now he’s strictly working on steamships and airships. In a few years, he’ll probably abandon the railroads. We’ve avoided being shut down so far because we haven’t given them a reason. We deliver our cargo on time and we make sure our passengers are safe. Everything was going well. When you and Anna snuck on the train that night, I saw you as a threat to that.”

  “We are a threat.” Piper’s heart thumped painfully. “If Doloman finds out that you’re protecting us, he’ll do a lot more than shut you down. You could all be thrown in prison.”

  “He won’t find out,” Gee said. “We’ll get you to the capital and make sure you’re safe.”

  “How can you be sure?” Piper said, trying to quell the fear that rose inside her. “Anything could happen.” She ticked the possibilities off on her fingers. “Doloman could change his mind, decide to come after us here, maybe bring an army with him this time.”

  “He won’t risk it.”

  Piper couldn’t stop—her mind spun with all the possible disasters. “You just said the 401 is old. Well, what if we break down, or the train derails, or we get attacked by vicious raccoons—”

  Lips twitching, he cocked an eyebrow at her. “We don’t see too many of those along the coast.”

  Piper crossed her arms. “Well, I wasn’t expecting to see a chamelin on this trip either. And the train actually could break down.”

  “Yeah, about that.” Gee gave her a searching look, and just as she had last night, Piper squirmed, as if Gee were staring right down inside of her. Something fluttered through her stomach. “The 401’s been running smoother on this trip than it ever has before,” Gee said. “I’m not worried about us breaking down.” He stood and headed for the door at the back of the car. “I’ve rested enough. We should get going.”