Shattered

by Mari Mancusi

  Everyone nodded and it was time to go. At Rashida’s command, they spilled out of the bus and split up into their teams. Connor exited last, scanning the parking lot, his hand involuntarily traveling to the waistband of his jeans, where he had stashed his gun.

  “You’re worried,” Rashida observed.

  He shrugged. “I’m always worried,” he admitted. Then he smiled at her. “But it’s nice to have backup. I’m impressed with how you rallied the troops like you did. You could be a good soldier, you know?”

  She groaned. “No, thank you. And anyway, it’s the least we can do. Trust me, everyone here wants to help Emmy just as much as you do. I mean, maybe the Dracken don’t really want to save the dragons. But we still do. And we’re ready to do whatever it takes to make that happen.”

  He held up a hand. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he said. “First we need to find her.”

  And Trinity too, he added silently, his heart pounding in his chest. He didn’t want to think about what would happen to her if the Dracken found her here.

  They walked up to the glass doors, which silently slid open before them, granting them entrance. As they stepped inside, a woman in a blue smock welcomed them to the store. Connor looked around, giving a low whistle. He’d never seen anything like this place. So large and packed floor to ceiling with useful items. If only they’d had just one of these stores back home. These common goods would have meant a lifetime of difference for his people.

  “Do you feel her?” Rashida asked. “Do you think she’s here somewhere?”

  He closed his eyes, reaching out. For a moment he thought he felt something, but it was gone as soon as it came. He opened his eyes, frustrated. “I don’t know,” he said, scanning the store again. “This place is so huge and there’s so much stuff everywhere. I’m not getting a good read.”

  “You don’t think the Dracken and the government already showed up, do you?” Rashida asked worriedly. “I mean, they did have a head start.”

  “It’s possible,” he admitted. “They could be observing the store from afar, waiting for a sign of Trinity and the dragon. Obviously they wouldn’t want to make their presence known until they were sure they had her in their sights.” He glanced up at the ceiling above him and shivered a little. “For all we know, the Dracken are watching us right now.”

  “We certainly are.”

  Connor whirled around, heart in his throat. But instead of seeing what he expected—Mara or maybe one of her Dracken friends—his eyes fell upon a tall, lanky, Asian teen with blond hair, his skinny arms crossed over his chest. He was flanked by two other kids around the same age, both with brown hair and black-rimmed glasses.

  “Luke, it’s him!” cried the brown-haired girl. “One of the twins!”

  Her friend—Luke—nodded vigorously. “You’re right,” he agreed. “I remember him from the museum surveillance tapes they put on TV.”

  Connor glanced over at Rashida, his hand hovering over his gun again. He didn’t know whether to deny it or demand these kids tell him what was going on. Who were they? And how did they know about the Dracken?

  “Where’s Trinity?” the other boy demanded, taking a threatening step toward Connor. “What did you do to her?”

  He knows Trinity too? Connor’s heart was now beating a mile a minute. “Who are you?” he asked. “And how do you know about Trinity?”

  “We’re her protectors,” Luke shot back, not missing a beat. He puffed out his chest. “The Order of the Dracken.”

  Connor stared at him, speechless. What? What did he just say?

  “Uh, no. I don’t think so,” Rashida broke in with a snort. “Trust me, I know the Dracken. They’re, like, old and well dressed and from the future and stuff. Pretty much the opposite of you tools.” She smirked and turned to him. “Right, Connor?”

  But Connor couldn’t speak. In fact, he couldn’t even move, the fear inside threatening to throttle him.

  Rashida’s eyes narrowed. “Connor? Are you okay?”

  He wanted desperately to tell her he was. To toss the whole thing off as some kind of freaky coincidence. But his soldier training wouldn’t let him. The puzzle pieces were all there, fitting together far too perfectly for his comfort.

  The Order of the Dracken. The new order. Here. Standing in front of him.

  Had the time line they’d worked so hard to bend now snapped back into its original, horrifying place?

  He had half a mind to reach for his gun. To shoot the three of them point blank, forcing fate to stand down. But how could he do that? These were just innocent kids. They hadn’t done anything wrong…yet.

  Still, the Dracken. The very first Dracken, back on the time line. He felt like he was going to throw up.

  “Listen,” he said. “We can handle this ourselves. Maybe you should go home and—”

  Suddenly a female voice broke out over the store’s loudspeaker. “Attention Wal-Mart shoppers,” she said calmly. “We’re experiencing a malfunction with our sprinkler system and will be forced to close the store early today. Please put aside your purchases and file out of the store in an orderly fashion. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

  No sooner did the announcement finish than Rashida’s walkie-talkie crackled to life. “They’re here,” the voice—Trevor’s by the sound of it—said urgently. “A bunch of unmarked trucks. They’re circling the store and dropping a group of men off at each exit.”

  “And I see Mara. She’s at the front of the store,” someone else reported in next. “They’re stopping everyone as they walk out and asking for IDs.”

  Connor swallowed hard. He didn’t know whether to be horrified that they were actually here or relieved that they obviously hadn’t found Trinity yet.

  “Ask him if they’re armed,” he hissed at Rashida. He could feel the questioning stares of the new Dracken kids on him, but he didn’t have time to explain.

  Rashida asked and a moment later Trevor’s voice returned. “I don’t know,” he said. “They’re dressed in plain clothes. But they have that military look to them. Buzz cuts and biceps, you know.”

  Rashida and Connor exchanged glances. “They probably don’t want to cause a panic,” she said. “Or alert the media. Emmy’s so famous now, they can’t just capture her and then hide her away to experiment on. The public would demand answers.”

  “Right…” Connor paced the aisle. “They want to steal her away, right out from under everyone’s noses. Without them even knowing.” He closed his eyes, searching for Trinity again.

  Wherever you are, he tried to send. Hunker down. Do not make a move until I tell you to.

  “So what are we going to do?” Rashida asked, her face pale. “How are we going to get out of the store without them seeing us?”

  Connor rubbed his chin. “I’m not sure,” he mused. “If only there was a way to create a diversion. To distract them so we could slip out.”

  “We could get on the loudspeaker. Tell people there’s a bomb threat or something.” Rashida suggested. “If they’re all panicking, trying to get out of the store at once…”

  “Not a bad idea,” Connor agreed. “Though a riot like that could end with innocent casualties. People getting trampled, squished against glass…”

  “If we don’t, then we’ll be the casualties,” Rashida reminded him wryly.

  “What if we alerted the media?” Luke piped up.

  Connor and Rashida turned to look at him. Connor had almost forgotten they were still there. “What do you mean?” he asked warily.

  “I don’t know. I’m just thinking, nothing screws up a sting operation like a bunch of rabid reporters on the scene. If we get them all here, surely they would cause enough chaos to allow us to slip through.”

  “But how are you going to get them to come?” Connor asked. “We’d need all of them at once, not just a random report
er or two. By the time you called them all and told them the story…”

  “Oh, I don’t need to call anyone,” the brown-haired boy interrupted. “I just have to harness the power of the interwebs.” He held up his phone and snapped a photo of a surprised Connor. Then he started pushing at the screen. A moment later he looked up and grinned. “One order of lamestream media, coming right up.”

  Chapter Forty

  “Okay, if you just sit here, I’m going to place this cap onto your head and we’ll begin.”

  “You sure this isn’t going to hurt?” Trinity asked, looking with wary eyes at the blue cap threaded with red wires he held in his hands.

  Virgil gave her an apologetic look. “I said it wasn’t going to kill you,” he clarified. “You may feel some…discomfort…during the actual procedure.”

  “It’s going to hurt like hell, sweetheart,” her dad interjected. “But you’ll get through it.” He walked over to the television set at the opposite end of the former bus. “Here, I’ll put on the TV, so you can have something to distract you while the procedure takes place.”

  Trinity nodded, gritting her teeth. Truth be told, she didn’t really care too much about the physical pain. It would be nothing, she knew, compared to the mental anguish she’d suffer after Virgil flicked the switch—the moment when she and Emmy’s bond would be shattered and her dragon would become a stranger. No more hearing Emmy’s voice whispering across her mind. No more feeling the dragon’s love and affection wrapping around her like a hug. A lifetime of suffocating emptiness seemed to roll out before her.

  I’m going to miss you so much, she told the dragon.

  Emmy looked up at her with her big, liquid eyes. But you’ll have him back, she said in an earnest voice. So you will not be alone.

  Trinity cocked her head, puzzled. Uh, what?

  You know, Emmy pierced her with her gaze. The Hunter. You told me you didn’t have time for happily ever afters with me around. But now you will. Now you can find him and be with him, and it’ll be just like the movies.

  Trinity’s heart flooded. As if things could be that simple. As if life were just like a film. But still, she loved that the dragon believed it. That she had created her own little happily ever after for her Fire Kissed. So she could leave without guilt or worry.

  And here I didn’t think you liked him all that much, she couldn’t help but tease.

  Emmy gave her a stern gaze. You like him, she said simply. And he will keep you safe. I like that.

  Trinity swallowed past the lump in her throat. Thank you, Emmy. It was all she could say.

  The dragon nodded then took a deliberate step toward her. She bowed her head low, exposing her long, scaly neck with some ceremony. At first, Trinity had no idea what Emmy was trying to do. Then she realized.

  “No.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t. You love your necklace.”

  Emmy looked up at her. I love you more.

  Oh God.

  A raw, primitive grief overwhelmed Trinity and it was all she could do not to crumble to pieces. Instead, she forced herself to reach out, lifting the golden chain from the dragon’s neck with trembling fingers. As she slipped it over her own head, the jewel settled against her throat, warm and heavy.

  “Oh, Emmy,” she cried, unable to hold back the floodgates of tears a moment longer. She grabbed the dragon, clinging to her with all she had left, which admittedly wasn’t very much at all. Together their minds reached out, desperate to share a lifetime of memories in the few seconds they had left.

  She’d already lost so many people in her life. Her mother, her grandpa, Connor, Caleb. Now she was about to lose her dragon too. Her sweet baby dragon. And she wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle it.

  No. She shook her head. She couldn’t think like that. This was not about losing Emmy. This was about Emmy gaining new life. And that, at the end of the day, was all that mattered.

  Emmy would be happy.

  Emmy would be safe.

  Emmy would be free.

  “Sweetheart,” her father interrupted in a gentle voice. “It’s time.”

  She looked up at him in horror. She wanted to say no—that it was too soon, that she wasn’t nearly ready, that she needed far, far, far more moments with her dragon before she said good-bye. But she knew all that would only prolong the inevitable. Better to rip off the Band-Aid than keep torturing herself and Emmy with an extended farewell. And so she somehow managed to force her hands from the dragon’s neck.

  She had to be brave here, she told herself. If Emmy heard her have second thoughts, she might change her mind and refuse to go. And she couldn’t let the dragon sacrifice her own happiness for her.

  It’s for the best. It’s for the best. It’s for the—

  Emmy met her eyes. Thank you, Fire Kissed. It was an honor and privilege to be your dragon.

  Trinity’s breath caught. Her heart lurched and panic slammed through her. She started to rise from her seat. Oh God. No, Emmy. I can’t—

  Virgil flipped the switch.

  A bolt of lightning slammed through her, knocking her back into the chair. She let out a scream. Her hands gripped her thighs and it took all her effort not to pass out, her brain feeling as if it was being burned from the inside out. Emmy’s essence being torn away for good.

  Emmy. Oh Emmy!

  The whole process felt like hours but might have lasted only a few seconds—she wasn’t sure. In any case, eventually the pain subsided and her vision cleared as Virgil reached over to pull the cap off her head.

  “It is done,” he said quietly.

  It was done. Never had one sentence held so much weight. It was done. It was over. Finito. The bond broken. The connection between her and her dragon severed forever.

  “Oh, Emmy.” She choked back a sob, meeting the creature’s eyes with her own. For a moment, they just looked at one another. Just looked and looked and looked, as if their lives depended on it. Then, slowly, Emmy turned away.

  Trinity’s heart broke. Completely and utterly broke. Desperate, she forced her eyes to rise to the television set her dad had turned on before the procedure. To focus on something inconsequential—meaningless—as her whole world crumbled all around her.

  Unfortunately, what she saw there was not meaningless or inconsequential at all.

  “What the…?”

  She leapt to her feet, running to the TV to get a better look. She felt Emmy come up behind her, but she couldn’t tear her eyes from the screen.

  “Turn it up!” she cried to her father. “The volume. Turn it up, now!”

  Her father did, the reporter’s voice filling the school bus. “According to the free Emmy dot com website, this teenager, rumored to be one of the dragon thieves, has been spotted at the Fauna Wal-Mart on Cerrillos Road.” The screen flashed with Connor’s photo, apparently taken from a camera phone, inside the store.

  “Is that the Dragon Hunter you were with?” her father asked worriedly. “Did he come here to find you?”

  The video cut from Connor’s photo to an aerial shot of the parking lot above them, now filled with a caravan of unmarked trucks. To Trin’s horror, the store appeared to be surrounded. Then the camera cut to a live shot on the ground, the reporter standing just outside the store. Behind her, people appeared to be evacuating one by one, with plainclothes men interviewing each and every one of them before letting them on their way.

  “Authorities won’t comment on the operation,” the reporter was saying. “But it appears a manhunt is underway. Reports say the dragon could even be inside the store.”

  “Oh, Connor,” Trinity cried. “Why couldn’t you have just stayed away?”

  Worried, her father switched from the TV to the surveillance cameras in the Wal-Mart itself. Trin watched as he flicked from camera to camera, searching the store for some sign of Connor.

  “W
ait!” she cried, pointing to the screen. “Go back!”

  Her father obliged and the cameras swapped. Trinity swallowed hard as she recognized none other than Mara herself, backed by six men, storming through the store.

  “Connor, get out of there,” she whispered.

  “I’m not sure he can,” her father said solemnly. “They’ve got all the exits blocked. He’s trapped.” He rubbed his chin. “Virgil, maybe we should do something. If he were to be captured, he might have information on my daughter that—”

  “No,” Virgil broke in. “That’s just what they want. They’ll use him to flush her out of hiding. We can’t fall into their trap. We have to get the dragon into the time machine. Now.”

  Trinity glanced over at Emmy, who was looking at her with worried eyes. She shook her head to clear it. Virgil was right. Once they got Emmy to safety, she could go try to help Connor herself, but not a moment before. That was what she’d promised. That the dragon would come first. And she couldn’t go back on that promise now.

  “Okay, Em,” she said to the dragon. She gestured to the entrance of the large metal box that Virgil had rigged to take the dragon back in time. “Go ahead.”

  But Emmy didn’t move. She just stood there, staring at the TV screen, whining worriedly. Trinity’s pulse kicked up in alarm. She didn’t need to hear the dragon’s thoughts to know exactly what Emmy was thinking.

  He will keep you safe. I like that.

  But if Connor were captured…If he were killed…

  “He’ll be fine,” she tried to assure Emmy. “You know how Connor is. He can take care of himself.”

  Emmy turned from the TV to the time machine. She pawed the ground anxiously with her foot. But she didn’t take a step forward.

  “No,” Trinity said again, more firmly this time. “I know what you want to do and I love you for it. But you can’t save him this time. You have to save yourself.”

  Emmy’s eyes flashed fire. Steam shot from her nose.

  Trinity grabbed the dragon by the head, forcing her to face her. “Emmy, Connor knows what he risked by coming here. If he were here now, he’d tell you the same thing. Believe me,” she added, her voice cracking, “I don’t want him to get hurt either. But I need to know you’re safe first.” Swallowing hard, she gestured toward the time machine again. “Go on,” she begged. “Please. It’s the only way.”