Smoked - Mari Mancusi Page 0,1
end of a messy pigtail. She looked up at Connor with wide, awestruck eyes.
“Are you one of them?” she asked in a tiny voice. “Are you a Dragon Hunter?”
Suddenly her fear seemed forgotten as she rummaged through her filthy backpack, pulling out a trading card–size version of the poster Connor had seen in the house. She studied it for a moment, then looked back up at him. “It is you!” she cried excitedly. “Can you sign my card?”
“Where’s your family?” Connor demanded. He needed to get moving. But he couldn’t rightly leave the girl out here, exposed and unprotected and alone. These quarters weren’t far from the Surface Lands and could go up quickly if the dragons weren’t stopped.
Or worse—if the Council did pull out the nukes.
The girl dropped her hand, looking dejected. “We got separated. And then they closed the ’vators,” she warbled in a thin voice. “They wouldn’t let me down.”
“What?” Connor frowned. This was, of course, completely against protocol. The ’vator operators were supposed to do a complete head count before closing down to make sure everyone in the strata was accounted for. But that didn’t mean it always happened, especially during a major panic like this one had been.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Salla,” the girl whispered. “My name is Salla. And I’m scared.” She stuck a grubby thumb into her mouth.
“Okay, Salla, I’m going to get you to a shelter.” Connor scooped the girl into his arms then switched directions, once again traversing the empty hall with as much speed as he could manage. Thankfully the girl was a light load.
He grabbed his transcriber with his free hand, pushing on it to call Damien above. “I’ll be there in a second!” he told the Watcher.
“Hurry,” Damien’s voice crackled back. “It’s bad up here.”
It’s bad down here too.
They reached the ’vator, and Connor lowered Salla to her feet so he could rummage for his key card to summon it. Soon the two of them were shooting down into the earth below. When they reached floor negative 23, containing the last flame shelter one mile beneath the surface of the earth, the doors slid open, revealing two guards standing watch.
Seeing Connor and the grimy girl, they barked, “No room.”
But there was plenty of room, Connor saw. In fact, he had never seen a more roomy emergency shelter in his life. The people inside, dressed in finery, sipping sparkling beverages, chatting as if they were at the social event of the season, not hiding out from monsters. He thought about some of the other shelters he’d seen a few levels up, where there was barely room to turn around. He’d heard rumors of these places—where guards accepted bribes and turned others away. It made him sick to his stomach to see it for himself.
He reached into his shirt and whipped out the badge that hung from a chain around his neck. He didn’t like to pull rank, but at the moment, he didn’t have time to screw around.
The guards’ eyes widened as the badge flashed under the fluorescent lights. They looked at one another and then back at Connor, nervous grins erupting on their faces.
“So sorry, sir. We didn’t recognize you,” babbled one.
“Of course you can come in. Anything you need. It’s an honor to—”
He waved them off angrily. “This girl is under my protection,” he stated, forcing his voice to stay even. “Take her and make sure she has water and something to eat.”
“Of course! Of course!” the first guard assured him hastily. “I’ll treat her as if she were my own daughter.” He reached for the girl. Salla looked back at Connor with terrified eyes.
“Don’t leave me!” she cried. “Please, Mr. Dragon Hunter!”
“You need to be brave, Salla,” Connor commanded, hoping he sounded cool and confident and not the least bit afraid. “I’ve got to go. I have to fight the dragons and make things safe for you.”
Salla thankfully seemed to get this. She smiled at Connor. “Hasta la vista, dragon spawn!” she cried, raising her fist in a cheer.
He smiled back weakly, then forced himself to repeat it, trying not to blush too hard as he did. Then he gave her a last salute before running back to the ’vator.
It was time to go slay some dragons.
Chapter One
Present Day
“Come on. They should be here by now.”
Sixteen-year-old Trinity Foxx glanced down at the clock on her disposable cell phone, then over at Connor, who was sitting next to her, in the driver’s seat of the delivery truck.