Smoked - Mari Mancusi Page 0,23

blood left inside to heal Caleb.

There may be another way, Emmy had said. Could this be what she meant?

Scarlet’s heart rate picked up as hope started pumping through her. Yes. That had to be it. She would find the scale, and they’d bring it back to Caleb, and everything would be okay. Turning her flashlight to the ground, she started looking for—

“Ow!” she cried, practically jumping out of her skin as she felt something sharp pierce her ankle. Startled, she leapt away, managing only to slam the back of her head against the cave’s low ceiling. Losing her balance, she tumbled to the ground, dropping her phone in the process.

Are you okay? Emmy’s voice came through, sounding anxious.

“Yeah, I guess,” Scarlet said, reaching up to rub her head. She could feel a large lump already forming. Then she scrambled for her cell phone. “But I think something bit me.” Visions of copperheads and scorpions danced uncomfortably through her mind as she felt around for the hard plastic and glass of her phone.

Instead, her fingers made contact with something soft. Leathery.

Something moving.

“What the—?” She scrambled backward, heart in her throat now. “There’s something in here, Emmy!” she cried. “Give me a little light!”

The dragon obliged, blowing a small fireball into the cave. The flames bounced off the walls, providing a moment of illumination. Scarlet took advantage, scanning the cave quickly, looking for her phone—looking for what she had touched instead of her phone.

And then she saw it. Or make that them. Two tiny birdlike creatures huddled together, peering back at her with large, frightened eyes. One was black as night with sparks of gold dancing off his skin. The other was pink with delicate purple-veined wings.

Scarlet stifled a gasp of surprise, her heart now slamming against her rib cage. It couldn’t be. It was impossible. And yet…

There was no other explanation.

Summoning all her willpower, Scarlet’s hands closed around her cell phone, and she switched it back on. Then, with shaky fingers, she raised it slowly, back in the direction of the two creatures.

The two baby dragons, to be precise.

“Uh, Emmy?” Scarlet cried out to the entrance of the cave. “Did you forget to tell me something?”

I thought it would be better for you to see for yourself, came the dragon’s voice, sounding a little sheepish.

“Not better for my freaking heart, that’s for sure,” Scarlet managed to reply, trying to breathe normally again. She looked at the baby dragons. They looked back at her. Then the pink one took a tentative step forward, sniffing the air. On instinct, Scarlet held out a hand, like she would do to a strange dog, inviting it to sniff her. The dragon stared at her for a moment as if nervous, then took another cautious step, craning her long neck until she touched the tip of Scarlet’s finger with her snout. Then she backed away skittishly to the protection of her slightly larger brother.

“It’s okay,” Scarlet whispered. “I won’t hurt you.” She bit her lower lip. “Are you… Do they call you Zoe?” she asked.

Of course it’s Zoe, something inside of her insisted. Who else could it be? Zoe and her brother, Zavier, the same dragons she had met in the Nether who had told her they were Emmy’s children, waiting to be born. At the time, they hadn’t known when this would happen—or if it would even happen at all. But now here they were. Like an impossible dream come true.

How on earth had Emmy, the world’s last dragon, been able to have babies? Did those scientists back at the lab have something to do with it? Scarlet had read about scientists cloning a sheep and a dog. Could they have figured out how to clone a dragon as well? Though if they had, wouldn’t the baby dragon clones look exactly like their mother? She frowned, wishing she’d paid more attention in science class.

However it had happened, it had obviously happened. And recently too, judging from the remnants of cracked shells she now observed littering the cave. No wonder Emmy hadn’t returned to them for two months after being freed. She’d obviously had other things on her plate. And no wonder she’d been so agitated when they’d dragged her back to the airfield; she must have been frantic to get back to her babies.

Drawing in a breath, Scarlet held out both hands this time, petting the creatures’ tiny, scaled feet with gentle fingers. The baby dragons looked at one another, blinked their big eyes, then