it out?”
Caleb found himself laughing. “Uh, yeah. Let’s not get carried away.” He shook his head at his brother. “Look, Dragon Hunter, how about you go rescue my girlfriend, and we’ll call it even?”
Connor nodded. “That I think I can do.”
Chapter Forty-Three
“Connor?”
Connor opened one eye then the other, trying to gain his bearings. For a moment, he had no idea where he was—white walls and ceiling and floor, stretching out as far as he could see. He rubbed his eyes, searching his brain for answers. Where was—
Then it all came rushing back to him. “Trinity!” he cried, scrambling to his feet.
And then, there she was.
He ran to her, throwing his arms around her, his heart soaring as he lifted her off her feet and twirled her around, burying his face in her curls. “Trinity,” he murmured. “Thank God.” He pulled away from the hug and peered down at her with anxious eyes. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she replied. “Just waiting for this stupid Nether overdose to wear off. From what I’m told, it’ll take at least another day.” She looked at him in concern. “Is my real-life body okay?”
“You’re safe,” he assured her. “You and Scarlet are both back at the airfield. We took you home after we weren’t able to wake you up.”
She bit her lower lip. “What about Emmy? She was here, briefly, before the Nether dust wore off on her. She told me that men had come to take her away.”
Connor sighed. “I’m sorry, Trin.” He gave her a rundown of what had happened at the mall. Trinity listened, her eyes growing wide.
“I should have known,” she whispered. “After all, Darius is too smart not to have had a backup plan.” She scrunched up her face. “But poor Emmy. Trapped all over again. And this time, it’s so much worse.” She looked up. “We have to break her out.”
“No offense, Trin, but I don’t see how we could,” Connor replied. He knew it would do no good to sugarcoat things here. “They’ve got an army of hybrid dragons guarding her. And we don’t have any way to take them on.”
Trinity stared down at her feet. “There’s got to be some way. There just has to be.”
“Where’s Scarlet?” Connor asked, wanting to change the subject. “I told Caleb I’d check on her too. He’s freaking out worried.”
“Where do you think?” Trinity snorted, pointing across the white space. Connor followed her finger, his heart lurching as his eyes fell on none other than Zoe herself, goofily dancing through the skies with Scarlet on her back. She was bigger than she’d been on Earth, and her scales were so bright and sparkly it almost hurt to look at them.
“They’ve been up there for hours. If it weren’t for Caleb back home, I’m not sure she’d ever want to leave.”
Connor turned away, guilt stabbing him in the gut. Zoe looked so beautiful. So innocent too. Just as Caleb’s dragon had been.
He felt Trinity’s hand on his arm. He looked up.
“She gave me her blood, you know,” he blurted out.
“What?”
“To heal me after Caleb hit me with that rock,” he explained. “At first, I thought you did it. Or maybe Caleb or Scarlet. But then I got to thinking. And I realized if you had, you would have been there when I woke up.”
Trinity gave a low whistle. “You know, I had been wondering how you got up like you did. We’d doped you up on so many painkillers, there was no way you should have been able to stand, never mind go dragon slaying.”
“It’s ironic, right?” He shook his head. “She went and saved my life—so I could, in turn, steal hers away.”
“Well, if it’s any consolation,” Trin said, “I’m pretty sure she’s loving being back in the Nether. I mean, she misses her brother, of course, but I actually think she prefers it here to Earth. No more being trapped in a small shed. No more hunger. No more fear.”
“It’s like dragon heaven,” Connor concluded. “Literally, I guess.” He sighed. “If only we could have gotten that Nether dust, brought Zavier and the rest of them here, had them talk to Scarlet and Zoe. I’m sure they would have been able to convince them to call off their war.”
“And save Emmy,” Trinity added. “Having an army of dragons at our disposal would certainly make things easier.”
Make what easier?
Connor whirled around. Lost in his troubled thoughts, he hadn’t noticed the giant green dragon with golden wings step up behind them. He