Scorched s-1

by Mari Mancusi

  “You aren’t going anywhere,” the Potential growled. “Not until we check your story out.” He pinned Connor to the wall by his neck, then turned to his friend. “Call Darius,” he commanded. “Inform him we’ve got a situation.”

  The Potential palmed his transcriber, ready to make the call. Trinity’s fear threatened to throttle her and she grappled for a solution. In seconds it would all be over—any chance they had to escape gone for good. Desperate, she reached out to her dragon one final time.

  Emmy—help!

  She meant help with another push, but Emmy evidently had other ideas. The dragon took flight, diving into the room, facing down the Potentials with a fierce, furious expression on her reptilian face. The two men stared up at her, their faces draining of color.

  “Oh hell,” one of them cried. “It’s the dragon.”

  “Let’s get out of here!”

  They turned to run, fighting one another to be first out of the room. In their haste, one of them bowled straight into Trinity, knocking her over. As she stumbled, her head slammed against the cement post and she cried out in pain.

  Emmy reacted instantly, spinning around, diving after the boys, effectively blocking their paths. Black smoke billowed from her nostrils. Sparks danced on her tongue. The Potentials tried to scramble away but there was no place left to go.

  I won’t let you hurt her! the dragon roared in Trinity’s ears. I won’t let you take her away!

  “No, Emmy!” Trinity croaked.

  But it was too late. The beast drew back her head, opened her mouth, and released her flames.

  The fire hit them straight on, engulfing them completely before they even had a chance to scream. They fell to the ground, convulsing, writhing—their clothing consumed, their skin blackening to a charred crisp. Black smoke filled the room and the smell of burning flesh permeated the air.

  “Oh God,” Trin whispered, horrified but unable to look away. “Oh God, no.”

  But Emmy wasn’t done, swooping down on the boys again and again, clawing out their eyes, ripping away swaths of blackened flesh. Trin reached out with her mind, trying desperately to soothe her dragon’s frenzy. But Emmy’s consciousness was too hot to touch, the rage gripping the creature’s mind and refusing to let go.

  “Please, Emmy…” she begged, staggering to her feet. “It’s okay. You can stop. Please stop.”

  Vaguely, she realized Connor had ripped off his pack, yanking out his coat. He threw it over the burning boys in an attempt to smother the flames. Sweat dripped down his face as he pulled it away, then brought it down again. Over and over. Again and again—until he finally managed to extinguish the blaze. Breathing heavily, he dropped the coat over the corpses, then leaned against the wall, his face ashen and his expression grim.

  Thankfully, Emmy’s own internal fire seemed likewise extinguished. The little dragon abandoned her victims and flew back to Trinity, giving her an excited look, as if waiting for congratulations for a job well done. Her claws were caked in flesh and her mouth was dripping with blood. Tears streamed down Trinity’s cheeks and the dragon’s face clouded with confusion. She looked at her mistress, her big, blue eyes filled with hurt.

  Didn’t I do good?

  Trinity’s gaze fell to Emmy’s handiwork. Then she leaned over and threw up. Emmy let out a whimper of dismay, then left Trinity, flying back up toward the ceiling, looking down on her with sad, uncomprehending eyes. As if to say, What did I do wrong?

  “Yeah, sure, dragons aren’t dangerous at all,” Connor muttered under his breath as he reached down to hook the first corpse’s shoulders under his arms. He started dragging it down the hall. “Let’s go ahead and unleash them on the world. What could possibly go wrong?”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  After hiding the bodies as best they could, they hurried through the double doors, closing and barricading them before rushing down the stairs. The Potentials’ deaths had been shockingly quiet considering the level of violence—their throats literally melted before any screams could escape—but neither of them wanted to take any chances that someone had overheard the struggle. The sooner they found the elevator and left the building the better.

  Tears pricked at Trin’s eyes as she forced her feet to take step after step, her mind relentlessly replaying the nightmare they’d just witnessed. Her supposedly gentle dragon raging completely out of control, tearing through two human lives as if they were tissue paper. She tried to remind herself that the dragon had only been trying to protect her, that she had probably saved their lives. But the fear and horror refused to loosen their grip as she relived the scene of smoke and fire and blackened flesh over and over again. Those two boys weren’t evil monsters—they were orphans who had come here to help save the world. And yet they’d died horribly for it instead. What would the others think if they knew what her dragon had done? She imagined the revulsion on Malia’s gentle face. The fear in Aiko’s eyes. They’d think she was a monster. And maybe they wouldn’t be wrong.

  And then there was Connor. She glanced at his grim face as he took the stairs two at a time. She’d promised him she could control Emmy. That their shared bond meant the dragon would do as she said. But it was as if Emmy couldn’t even hear her when she flew into her protective rage. Was Connor, even now, reconsidering his decision to allow her dragon to live?

  To allow her to live?

  She looked up at Emmy, who was still following though at a slight distance. The dragon had licked the blood and gore clean from her body and once again appeared to be her sweet old self. But when Trin had tried to reach out to her, the dragon refused to answer. She was still hurt by her mistress’s obvious disapproval, and try as Trin might to explain what had made her upset, the dragon seemed not to understand. In her mind it was simple: the Fire Kissed had been in trouble. She’d saved her life. How could that possibly be wrong?

  After what seemed an eternity, the stairs ended, splitting into three hallways. After consulting the blueprints, Trinity selected the middle one, which was supposed to lead to the parking garage and elevator. They were getting close, she realized with growing excitement. They were almost free.

  “We’re not out yet,” Connor said flatly, as if reading her thoughts. “Let’s keep moving.”

  They crossed the parking lot as quickly as possible, feeling vulnerable and exposed in all the open space. But the place was deserted, and soon they spotted the rickety looking elevator, just as the plans had mapped out. Trin sent up a quick prayer of thanks as she reached out to press the red button embedded in the wall. She heard a rumbling from behind the doors and a moment later they groaned open, revealing the elevator’s interior.

  “Come on!” she cried excitedly. “Let’s get out of here.” She waited for Connor and Emmy to enter, then stepped onto the elevator herself. But just as she was about to press the up arrow, a strange trilling sound reverberated through the parking lot.

  “What was that?” she asked, looking around uneasily, her skin prickling with goose bumps at the high-pitched sound. It died out for a moment, then came again. Louder this time, bouncing off the walls and repeating back again.

  “Forget it,” Connor said. “Let’s just go.”

  She heartily agreed, pressing the up arrow and waiting for the doors to close. But just as they were about to slide shut, Emmy shot back out into the parking garage.

  “Emmy!” Trin hissed, appalled. “Get back here!”

  But, once again, the dragon seemed not to hear her. Instead, she bolted across the empty space in the opposite direction.

  “Hell,” Trin swore. She dove out of the elevator. She couldn’t leave the dragon behind. “Emmy, get back here!”

  “Trin! Wait!” Connor tried. She whirled around only to find the elevator doors sliding shut behind her, with Connor still inside. She pressed the red button frantically, but to no avail.

  “Connor!” she cried. But the elevator was already shooting upward, sending him to the surface to where her grandpa would
be waiting, leaving her behind.

  She gritted her teeth. No big deal, she tried to tell herself. She’d go grab Emmy and by the time she got back, the elevator would have returned. Wait for me up top, she sent to Connor. I’ll be there in a minute. Sighing, she plodded through the parking lot, calling out to her dragon as she went.

  Emmy, where are you?

  Soon she found herself back where they’d started—at the bottom of the stairs and facing the three identical passageways. Her eyes caught a fluttering down the hall to the right and she shook her head as she headed after her errant dragon.

  Come on, she scolded Emmy as she raced down the hall to catch up with her. You can be mad at me later. Right now we have to get out of here.

  She caught up to the dragon at the end of the hall. Emmy was pacing back and forth—her eyes wide and her ears flattened against her skull. When she saw Trinity, she gave her a grateful look and took flight, landing on her shoulder, claws digging painfully into her skin.

  I guess this means I’m forgiven, Trinity thought wryly.

  “What’s wrong with you?” she asked, starting to get a little worried. An angry and annoyed Emmy she could deal with. Scared-half-to-death Emmy scared her as well.

  Then she heard it—the strange trilling—sounding as if it were coming from behind the wall.

  I want to leave, Emmy told her. I want to go now. Trin realized the little dragon was literally shaking with fright.

  “Why? What do you feel?” she asked, curiosity getting the best of her. “Is there something down here?” She thought back to the two Potentials guarding the door. Was this what the Dracken didn’t want anyone to see?

  Let’s go now, Trin. Let’s get out of here.

  Trinity was tempted to comply. Connor was waiting—they were this close to a perfect escape. And yet, something compelled her to stay. If the Dracken were up to something, she needed to know what it was. Otherwise, how would they ever be able to stop them from doing it?

  “We need to figure out what’s making that noise,” she told the dragon firmly. “Then we can leave.” She walked over and put her ear up against the wall. The noise came again, causing Emmy to squawk in alarm. Trin knocked on the wall with her fist and realized it was hollow.

  “There’s something behind here.” Her fingers danced across the wall, feeling for some kind of handhold or crack. “Give me a little light,” she commanded the dragon. Emmy blew out a puff of fire, illuminating the dark corridor. Just for a moment, but it was enough for Trin to locate a lever hidden in the shadows. She wrapped her hand around it and pushed down. There was a groaning sound as the wall sank into the earth, revealing a dark passageway beyond.

  “Come on,” Trin instructed Emmy with growing excitement. “Let’s go.”

  Emmy hovered at the doorway, shaking her head vehemently. Trin rolled her eyes. “You know, for a fire-breathing killer dragon, you’re kind of a scaredy-cat.”

  But Emmy only plopped down onto the ground, crossing her wings over her chest. Trin gave up. “Have it your way,” she told the dragon. “But I’m going in.”

  She stepped into the passageway. The noises grew louder, the trilling sound now accompanied by pitiful squeaks and moans and cries. Her heart thumped in her chest as she pressed onward, no idea what she was about to uncover. Whatever it was, the Dracken definitely didn’t want anyone to see it.

  The passage wasn’t long, dead-ending at a small wooden door. Reaching down, she wrapped her hands around its handle and pulled it open. As she stepped into the darkened room, a sharp pain dug into her ankle, like a needle piercing the skin, and the door slammed shut behind her. She screamed, stumbling off balance and crashing into a nearby wall, springing a switch in the process. The room burst into light.

  She looked around, her eyes widening, her mouth falling open in shock. Her knees buckled, threatening to give out from under her.

  “Oh God,” she whispered. “It can’t be!”

  But it could it be. And it was.

  Dragons. Sick, mutated, diseased-looking baby dragons, some three times the size of Emmy, stacked in cages from floor to ceiling on every possible wall. Some sported three eyes; others, a fifth leg or a stump where their leg should be. Some had no legs at all—flapping their misshapen wings against the wire cages, looking at Trin with hollow, desperate eyes. A few had broken free of their confines and were tottering across the floor on skinny, malformed legs. The ankle biter looked up at her, opening his mouth and revealing a single gleaming, bucktooth fang.

  Trin’s stomach clenched. It was all she could do to not run screaming from the room. Instead, she stood, frozen in place, trying to digest what she was seeing, trying to understand how it could be possible. Her brain told her it was too horrible to be real, that her eyes must be playing tricks. But when she closed them and opened them again, the dragons remained. Somehow, some way, they were really here.

  Emmy? she managed to send in a shaky voice. You need to see this.

  But before the dragon could reply, Connor’s voice slammed into her consciousness. Urgent and afraid.

  Someone’s coming down the elevator, he rasped. Wherever you are, get out of there. Fast!

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Trinity froze, Connor’s warning echoing through her head, as her ears caught voices down the hall, confirming his words. Her gaze darted around the room, searching for an escape, but there was only one way in and one way out. And the voices were getting closer.

  “What are you doing all the way down here, little one?”

  Trin flinched. The voice was unmistakably Darius’s, and she realized he must have found Emmy. In another moment, he’d open the door and head in her direction. Frantic, she hit the light switch and dove behind the dragon cages. She could feel Emmy’s growing alarm ringing through her head while the dragon croaked weakly back at the Dracken master.

  “Unbelievable!” another voice, heavily accented, rang through the hall. Trin furrowed her brow, trying to place it. It didn’t sound like any of the Dracken or their mercenaries—at least none she’d met. “A dragon!” the voice continued in hushed awe. “A real-life dragon, just as you said!”

  “I told you, didn’t I?” Darius proclaimed, his voice rich with pride. “Now come with me and I’ll show you the rest.”

  Footsteps approached and Trin crouched deeper into her hiding spot. A moment later, the door squeaked open and the light switched on again. From her vantage point, she could just make out Darius, dressed in a dapper black suit, leading a distinguished, forty-something-year-old dark-haired man into the room. As he entered, the foreigner gave a low whistle.

  “Amazing! Simply amazing!”

  “Didn’t I tell you? It’s quite a sight to be seen,” Darius replied, reaching into a drawer and pulling out a metal band. He slipped it over Emmy’s mouth, effectively muzzling her. Guess he wasn’t about to take his chances with dragon fire. When Emmy struggled in protest, he dug a firm thumb into a spot under her wing. The dragon whimpered but meekly quieted down. He opened up an empty cage and shoved her inside, closing and locking it behind him.

  “I have to confess, I didn’t really believe you,” the man exclaimed, his eyes darting from cage to cage. “It just seemed too fantastical to be real.”

  “Oh, they’re real all right,” Darius assured him. “All with perfect pedigrees. The ones you see here are approximately one year of age. Soon each will be paired with a Guardian to begin their training.”

  Trinity squinted at the men, trying to figure out what was going on. Why hadn’t anyone told her there were more dragons in the mall? She’d been led to believe Emmy was the last of her kind. But that was clearly untrue. Did the other Potentials know their dragons had already been born? They couldn’t have; they wouldn’t have been so excited to see Emmy.

  But why keep the rest of them a secret? And what was wrong with them, for that matter? Why were they so deformed looking? She turned back to the conversation, hoping for answers.

  “When w
ill they be ready for delivery?” the man was asking, poking a finger into one of the cages. The dragon inside hissed angrily and he pulled his finger away with a nervous laugh.

  “Each dragon will complete its training at five years of age,” the Dracken Master replied smoothly. “At which time we will deliver both dragon and Guardian to your people, yours to do with as you wish.” He gave a smug smile. “Dragons have many gifts, after all: curing disease, sniffing out natural resources, finding water in the—”

  The man waved him off. “Yes, yes,” he said impatiently. “But can they fight?”

  Trinity held her breath, praying for Darius to scold him for the idea. To tell him these creatures were made for saving the world, not destroying it.

  But the leader’s lips only curled cruelly. “Your enemies will be annihilated before they even know what hit them.”

  She collapsed against the wall, her heart sinking in despair. Connor had been right all along. Caleb had been completely deceived. The Dracken were never interested in using dragons to help mankind. They were nothing more than time-traveling arms dealers.

  And the Potentials! They would be sold off along with their dragons. Made into slaves. Forced to go into battle. No wonder the Dracken took only those with no family. That way there was no one left to rescue them—no one to care—when they found out the truth.

  “These dragons,” the foreigner remarked, his eyes scanning the cages again, “they don’t look like the other one.” He gestured to Emmy. “Is something wrong with them? I don’t want defective merchandise.”

  Darius looked uncomfortable. “We had some…issues…with the original batch of eggs,” he admitted, wiping a sheen of sweat from his brow. Trin stole another peek at the mutated dragons and wondered again what could have happened to them. Maybe something about being brought back through time? Maybe the process had corrupted their DNA somehow? It made sense now why they were so eager to get their hands on Emmy. She was perfect.