Smoked - Mari Mancusi Page 0,73
glassy, unseeing. And her tongue, that silly black tongue that had given Scarlet a thousand playful kisses over the last months, now lolled from her gaping mouth. Cracked. Dry. Dead.
Dead like the dragon herself.
“Oh, Zoe,” Scarlet sobbed, throwing herself on top of the dragon and holding her as best she could as the tears fell like rain from her eyes. “My poor baby. My poor, poor baby! Who did this to you?”
But the dragon, of course, didn’t answer. And Scarlet knew in her heart that the dragon would never answer her again. Burying her face in her scales, she sobbed pitifully, her heart feeling as if it were being ripped apart, piece by agonizing piece.
Everything she’d suffered up until now: her stepfather’s abuse, her mother’s neglect, the government’s experiments—nothing had felt as bad as this. Maybe it was because, in all of those situations, there was still underlying hope. Hope of rescue. Hope of escape. Hope of starting a life anew. But now, as she held the dead dragon to her, she realized there was no longer any hope left at all. And there never would be, ever again.
They’d killed her dragon. Despite all Caleb had said, despite what Trinity had promised. They’d gone and done it anyway. And she’d been helpless to stop them.
“Scarlet!”
She looked up, so blinded from the mixture of tears and smoke she couldn’t recognize the figure who stood above her for a moment. But when he crouched down and tried to put his arms around her, she realized it was Caleb.
She shoved him back with as much force as she could muster. “Get the hell away from me!” she growled.
“Scarlet, the fire’s spreading. We have to get out of here.”
She stared at him, rage burning through her like wildfire. “That’s all you can say?” she screamed, her voice raspy from the smoke. “She’s dead, Caleb! They killed her! Just like I said they would.”
His face twisted in anguish. “I know, baby. I know.” He tried to reach for her again. She leapt back, staring at him with hatred.
“I could have done something. I could have gotten them away.” she cried, her words spilling from her lips. Angry. Afraid. And so, so sad. “I counted on you. They counted on you. But you didn’t care about that, did you? You only cared about her. And now Zoe is dead, and they’re probably after Zavier too!”
Suddenly she remembered him standing outside her window. He was waiting for her. Even now, with his sister dead and his life in danger, he was waiting to take her to safety.
She slowly rose to her feet, taking one last pained look at her dead dragon, then turned to face Caleb. “I hope you and your precious Fire Kissed rot in hell,” she growled.
She pushed past him before he could reply, out of the hangar, her lungs now burning from smoke inhalation. But she didn’t care. She ran across the airfield, her bare feet hitting the cement one painful step after another. Finally, she made it back to the window, where Zavier had been waiting, praying the dragon hadn’t given up on her and flown away.
But no. It was people who gave up on you. People who betrayed you. Dragons were loyal. They would be there for you. They would not let you down.
And as she turned the corner, there was Zavier, proving her right. Pawing the ground with marked agitation and impatience, but still there. Still waiting to take her away. Scarlet ran to him, throwing her arms around him and holding him close, unleashing yet another round of tears. Zavier whined nervously, his scales bristling, his nose steaming smoke. She could feel him shaking with fear and upset.
“I know, baby,” she murmured, her voice choking on the words. “I know.”
It was me, not her, the dragon protested. She didn’t do anything wrong. She didn’t do anything, but they killed her anyway. Why would they do that? Why would they kill my sister?
Scarlet bit her lower lip to keep from sobbing. Sometimes it was hard to remember, since Zavier was so big, that he was actually still so very young. He could be physically strong for her, but at the end of the day, she had to be his rock.
She was his mother, after all.
“Because people are monsters,” she said simply. “And from this point on, we are done with monsters.”
Chapter Thirty-One
“Oh, Connor, what have you done?”
Trinity stared at Connor, his silhouette illuminated by the flames raging behind him. Her hands