Smoked - Mari Mancusi Page 0,54

excited as we are? I mean, once she sees us and gets to know us? After all, we’re awesome, right? That’s what Scarlet-mom always says. How could she not like dragons as awesome as we are?

Zavier laughed despite himself. It’s true we are awesome, he admitted.

And she’s awesome too! Zoe added dreamily. She’s the prophesized savior of all dragons! Remember how they used to talk about her in the Nether? Our mother is legendary. Amazing! She’s going to singlehandedly save our entire race!

Zavier sighed. Typical Zoe, always so hopeful and optimistic. Seeing the best in everyone and everything. If only he could be like that.

But someone had to be the responsible one. The one who sniffed for danger around every corner and didn’t give trust away easily. Scarlet-mom was constantly telling them that the world was a dangerous place for dragons. And one misplaced friendship could lead to their extinction. He trusted Scarlet-mom. He was pretty sure he trusted Caleb-dad too—they shared a blood bond, after all. But as for the rest of this so-called “Team Dragon” they were supposed to be meeting? He preferred to reserve judgment.

And as far as their bio mother? Well, Zoe might have managed to block out those early memories of Emberlyn turning her back on them and flying away. But Zavier hadn’t. And he didn’t see why anything would be different this time around.

Not that he cared, he reminded himself. It made no difference to him the opinion of some random dragon who just happened to share the same gene pool. But it would be devastating to Zoe. It would hurt her more than she could bear.

And no one hurt Zavier’s sister. No one.

Chapter Twenty-One

“Right this way, Ems. It’s almost time for your surprise.”

Trinity motioned for the dragon to follow her, out of the hangar and down the runway, where everyone had gathered for the live broadcast. The place had been decorated within an inch of its life with every shiny party decoration they could find at the closest Walmart, and the effect was so blinding in the blazing sunlight that Trinity hoped it wouldn’t mess with the cameras. The Potentials had arranged all the folding chairs they could find in the terminal, placing them in a circle around the pièce de résistance—Emmy’s anniversary present, which lay under a huge tarp. Trin’s father and Connor had even rolled out the gas grill and were busy preparing some awesome-smelling barbecue.

She waved to Nate and Natasha, who were hard at work setting up the feed. When they’d first suggested going live, she’d thought they were insane. Would people really pay to attend an online dragon party? But then the subscriptions started pouring in. Over four million in the past week. They’d already made enough money to feed Emmy for the next five years and then some.

She had to admit, the social media campaign had vastly exceeded any of her expectations. Not only had it brought in enough money for the care and feeding of the dragon herself, but they had also succeeded in building something more important: a real-life community of dragon lovers coming together to support Emmy. Where once Team Dragon had been made up of four members—then about forty with the addition of the Potentials—today they were more than four million strong. People from all over the country, all over the world, were celebrating Emmy’s existence on the planet. No matter what Connor said, that couldn’t be a bad thing.

Trinity scanned the crowd, realizing two people were missing from the festivities. Caleb and Scarlet, surprise, surprise.

She frowned. It was hard to believe Caleb’s continual denial that something was going on between he and Scarlet when they were constantly disappearing together. In fact, whenever Caleb wasn’t occupied helping Trin with Emmy, he was usually MIA with Scarlet. And while she knew she had no right to be jealous of their secret dalliances—whatever they might be—she couldn’t help, at times, feeling a little resentful. They were supposed to be working as a team, after all, not breaking off into their own little groups.

Can you blame them though? a voice inside of her nagged. You didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet for Scarlet.

She shook her head. Okay, fine. That was probably true. But still—couldn’t they have made an exception for today of all days? It was Emmy’s big party. And the live broadcast was the biggest thing they’d attempted to pull yet. They needed all the support they could get. Couldn’t the two of them pry