Smoked - Mari Mancusi Page 0,26

little body in comfort, making grunting noises in her ear.

Scarlet watched the two of them, trying to swallow the huge lump that had formed in her throat. It was like she and her brother all over again. Two lost souls against the bitter world.

Except this time she was here too.

She cleared her throat. “Are you guys hungry?” she asked with forced brightness. “You must be, right? Do you want to come with me so we can find some food?”

The two dragons turned to look up at her inquisitively. Scarlet patted her shoulders, inviting them back up. They flew up to her, then settled down, croaking softly under their breath. She reached up with both hands to stroke them.

“Don’t worry about her,” she said. “She’ll come around. In the meantime, I’ll be your mother. I’ll keep you safe. No matter what I have to do.”

Chapter Eight

It was done.

Emmy’s heart ached as she dropped from the clouds and the airfield came into view. Her mind spun with visions of the little baby dragons, chirping sadly, and it was hard not to think of when she’d been one of those dragons herself, left on the side of the cliff to die, by her own mother. At the time, Emmy hadn’t understood how her mother could just fly away like that, without even a last look back. Now she understood. That last look would have broken her.

As it had almost broken Emmy.

But her mother had done what had to be done. As Emmy now had herself. Thank goodness Scarlet had been willing to do the job—Emmy had tried three times to smother the baby dragons and each time had stopped at the last minute after seeing the looks in their eyes.

Because you’re weak, she scolded herself. A coward.

But now the job would be done. The monsters would be destroyed, and the world would be safe. And her beloved Fire Kissed would never need to know.

She thought back to Trinity, how she’d risked her life to save Emmy’s pathetic hide. At the time, Emmy couldn’t even bear to look her in the eye, so ashamed she was of what she’d let them do to her. She imagined the disappointment she’d see in the eyes of her Fire Kissed when she learned that Emmy had—after all her promises—let her down after all.

And Emmy would be so ashamed.

But now things would be all right. The threat was gone. Trinity would never need to know. The world would be safe, and Emmy could start working to rebuild her bond with her Fire Kissed. To make sure Trinity had that happily ever after she deserved.

Emmy dropped down, making her final decent to the airfield. Yes. This was how it had to be. It was the only way to make things right—the one way to keep the world safe.

So why did it make her so incredibly sad?

Chapter Nine

“Okay, everyone. The meeting will come to order.”

Trinity rapped the gavel against the small podium she’d found in one of the office’s storage closets. The sound echoed through the terminal, causing everyone to turn in her direction, their chatter fading into silence as they looked up at her expectantly.

Her gaze roved over the group; sometimes it was still hard to believe there were so many of them now. The so-called Potentials—orphan teens from around the world who had once been under the thumb of Darius and Mara—now working on their side. Luke, Nate, and Natasha, the gamer geeks from New Mexico who ran the FreeEmmy.com website and took care of all their high-tech needs. Her father, who she’d once thought dead, and Connor, who she’d once thought an enemy. And now Scarlet, though Trinity didn’t see her in the crowd at the moment. Probably hovering over Caleb’s bedside, as per usual.

What had once been a couple of kids and a dragon on the run had now turned into a real, full-on operation. Which is a good thing, she reminded herself. We need all the help we can get.

Feeling the stares on her, Trin cleared her throat. “So obviously I wanted to start off by thanking each and every one of you for your help in rescuing Emmy and getting her adjusted in her new home,” she said. “We couldn’t have done it without you. It wasn’t easy, and you should all feel very proud of yourselves.”

The group erupted into excited chatter and a spattering of applause and high fives. Trinity let it go for a moment, then banged the gavel again.

“But as you