Smoked - Mari Mancusi Page 0,81

fire, she reminded herself. Or an oil fire. Or someone could have dropped a cigarette in a bale of hay. But deep down, she knew there was no way they’d be so lucky.

Oh, Zavier, she thought miserably. Please don’t force us to take you down.

It was the last thing she wanted, but she knew, in the end, that they would do what had to be done. If the dragon couldn’t be controlled. If people had been hurt. Or worse… She and Emmy would do what they had to, to keep the world safe. Connor wasn’t the only one with a mission after all.

But hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.

As they got closer, she could hear the fire engines wailing below, but there was still no sign of a dragon. She frowned. Where was he? Had he done a drive-by and already headed to the next town?

“Go ahead and land,” she told Emmy. “Let’s see if we can find out what’s going on here. But be careful. If things seem hairy, we might have to take off quickly. After all, if these people have just been attacked by a dragon, chances are they’re going to assume you’re an enemy too.”

Understood. Emmy gave a quick nod, then dipped her head, flying in large circles as she dropped elevation. Finally they landed in the middle of a small park in the town’s square. Trinity cringed a little as she took in the all-too-familiar scene—smoking buildings, burning trees, shell-shocked citizens wandering around aimlessly, covered in soot and ash.

“Look!” cried a voice behind them. “There’s another one!”

Oh crap. Trinity whirled around to find a bearded man wearing a vintage Aerosmith T-shirt, probably in his late twenties, pointing at her, a terrified look on his face. In an instant, everyone was looking at them. Someone screamed. A little girl a few feet away burst into tears. Trinity bit her lower lip, panic rising inside of her. Maybe this had been a bad idea.

“It’s okay!” she cried. “Emmy and I are here to help you!”

“Oh my God! It’s her! It’s really her!”

A girl with black-rimmed glasses shoved her way through the crowd, waving something in her hand. Trinity squinted; from where she was, she could just make out the sprawling gold script. What was…?

Then it dawned on her. It was one of the printable Team Dragon membership cards that Natasha had created as a thank-you for those who had donated to the FreeEmmy.com website.

She let out a breath of relief. Team Dragon was in the house. Thank goodness.

The girl stopped in front of Emmy, dropping to her knees as if in worship. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot from the smoke, but her face had lit up like a Christmas tree. “Thank God you’ve come!” she said in a voice filled with reverence and respect. “We need your help.”

Trinity looked around, assessing the rest of the crowd, who had huddled around them now. Some looked suspicious still, others more cautiously hopeful. She supposed they must realize that if Emmy was going to hurt them, she probably would have gotten started already.

“When did this happen?” Trinity asked the girl.

“A half hour ago,” she replied, rising back to her feet. Her eyes never left Emmy. “He just swooped down out of nowhere and started tearing things up.”

“He was huge!” added a woman to her left. “All black and as big as a house!”

Trinity frowned. In truth, Zavier wasn’t much larger than a good-sized Clydesdale, but she supposed it was hard to accurately estimate something’s size while you were running for your life.

She squared her shoulders. “Was anyone hurt?” she asked, fear thrumming through her veins. “Did anyone get burned? Or…” She trailed off, not wanting to voice the worst.

“We don’t think so,” the bearded man said to her relief. “Everyone seems accounted for. Though we can’t be sure.”

“Right.” Trinity nodded. That was something at least. “Okay,” she said. “Here’s what we’re going to—”

“Look!” screamed a young boy, pointing his finger to the sky. “He’s back!”

Everyone screamed, their eyes shifting to the nightmare above. Trinity followed their gazes, her own eyes locking on the black shadow swimming across the sun. She had to admit, he really did look pretty large from this vantage point—not to mention extremely angry.

“Everyone, take cover!” she cried, attempting to be heard over all the screaming. “He may have summoned up enough fire by now for another big blast.”

“What are you going to do?” asked the little boy, staring up at her with awestruck eyes.

“Whatever I