Page 30 of Talon

“You still have training tomorrow, Ember,” Liam called as I retreated from the kitchen, heading up to my room. “I’ll be at your door at 5:00 a.m. to make sure you’re awake.”

“Solooking forward to it,” I sang back with as much sarcasm as I could muster, and slammed the door behind me.

I seethed quietly for a few minutes, tempted to slip out the window, head down to the beach and catch a few waves just for spite. Who was Liam to forbid me from surfing? From doing something that I loved? Not only that, riding the waves was the only thing that kept me somewhat grounded; if I didn’t have that release, I’d probably be sneaking out every night to go flying with rogue dragons.

I snorted. Maybe Iwoulddo that again. I didn’t need Cobalt to go wing surfing any night of the week; I could do it on my own. It wasn’t like Liam could stop me, rules or no.

Maybe that’s why Cobalt went rogue,I thought sourly, gazing out the window. I could hear the ocean in the distance, shushing against the sand, and my resentment increased.Because all these stupid rules were suffocating him.Can’t Shift, can’t fly, can’t have any fun, oh, and here’s a sadistic trainer to make your life miserable for no good reason.

There was a soft tap at my door, and I sighed. “It’s open, Dante.”

The door creaked, and my brother stepped into my room, a concerned look on his face. “Hey,” he greeted, closing the door behind him. “You all right?”

No, I wasn’t. My anger still hadn’t cooled, and now it switched to the only target in the room. “Thanks for sticking up for me in there,” I snapped, making him frown. “You could’ve told Liam I wasn’t in any danger from surfing—you know how good I am. Now I’m going to have to watch my back every time I want to go down to the beach. Some twin you are.”

His eyes narrowed. “I was more concerned about you mouthing off to Liam and getting yourself sent back to Talon,” he retorted. I glared at him, and he gave me a look of exasperation. “You don’t get it, do you? This isn’t a vacation, sis, not for us. We’re not human, and we’re not here to have fun. This is a test, and they’re watching our every move to make sure we don’t screw this up. If we fail, it’s right back to retraining. Back to the desert, in the middle of nowhere.” He crossed his arms with a grave expression. “Remember that? Remember what it was like? Do you really want to go back?”

I shivered. I did remember. The isolation, the boredom, the same scenery every single day—nothing but dust, scrub and rock, as far as the eye could see. The loneliness. Except for our teachers, the guards stalking the perimeter fence around the facility and the evaluators who dropped by every month to check our progress, we didn’t see another living soul. No friends, no kids our age, no company. It was just us, two hatchling dragons against the world.

I didnotwant to return to that. Bad enough when I didn’t know any better, when the outside world was nothing more than images on TV or photos in a textbook. Now that I’d actually lived here, I’d go crazy if they sent me back.

I dropped onto the bed with a thump. “No,” I growled sullenly, knowing he’d won this round. “I don’t.”

Dante perched on the corner of the mattress, one leg folded beneath him. “I don’t, either,” he said quietly. “You’re my sister. It’s always been just us against everything else. But the rules are different here. Before, we could occasionally slip up and Shift into our real forms and Talon wouldn’t care—no one outside the organization would be around to see it. But now?” He shook his head. “We can’t afford any mistakes. We can’t break the rules, even once. There’s more to lose than surfing privileges and getting to stay out late. Talon is testing us, and I am not going to fail.”

My stomach felt cold, even though I managed a small smirk. “You know, you were a fun brother, once.”And someone I could trust. Why don’t you ever talk to me anymore, Dante? I still don’t even know what youdowith your trainer every day.

He snorted, looking more like himself. “I grew up. You might try it sometime. I don’tthinkit will kill you.” He stood, ruffled my hair and yanked his arm back before I could smack it. I glowered as he walked to the door but paused with his hand on the knob.

“It’s still just us against the world, sis,” he said, quite seriously now, glancing back over his shoulder. “We have to look out for each other, even if that means doing what’s best for our future. Even if the other doesn’t agree sometimes. Remember that, okay?”

“Yeah.” I sighed, mostly to get him out of my room. His words had a strangely ominous tone, though I couldn’t put my finger on why. I suddenly just wanted him gone. “I will.”

He gave me a brief, somewhat empty smile, and the door closed behind him.

Alone, I flopped to my back and gazed up at the ceiling. Mornings came way too quickly these days. Tomorrow I’d have to be up at the crack of dawn—again—to attend another torture session with Scary Talon Lady. That last exercise, with the soldiers and the guns, had been shocking to say the least. Though it was slightly better than the pointless tasks of before, which, I suspected now, were designed to be pointless on purpose—to break my spirit, and to teach me not to question orders, no matter how stupid they seemed. If I just shut up and did whatever aggravating thing she told me to do, it would be over a lot faster.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t very good at staying quiet and following orders, particularly if they made no sense. And now, I wanted to know why my trainer had thrown in these crazy new war games. I’d been curious before, and the encounter with a certain rogue dragon had only intensified my determination. If Talon, my instructor, my guardians and my own brother wouldn’t tell me anything, then I would just have to find answers myself.

* * *

I stayed in my room, listening to music and chatting with Lexi online, killing time until the rest of the house grew quiet. At 11:45, I switched off the computer, tiptoed to the door and cracked it open, peering out.

The house was dark and silent. Liam and Sarah had gone to bed, and from the shadows under Dante’s door, he had turned in, as well. I hoped he was truly asleep; maybe that annoying twin radar he had attuned to my every mood would be shut off if he was unconscious.

I crept down the stairs as silently as I could, avoiding the squeaky third step, crossed the moonlight-drenched kitchen and pushed open the door to the basement. In one corner, the door to the secret tunnel sat firmly closed and locked, but that wasn’t even remotely interesting anymore. Not when there could be a whole other room somewhere behind these plain cement walls, hiding any number of secrets. About Talon, and my guardians, and me.

I poked around aimlessly for a few minutes, wishing I could Shift into my other form, the one that could see in the dark. I didn’t find any panels, levers, touchpads, anything that would indicate a secret room, and after scouring the walls and finding nothing but mold and a couple spiders, I was ready to give up. Maybe Cobalt was wrong, or just delusional.

Wait a minute.Annoyed with myself, I paused, turning to scan the room carefully this time.If Talon did have a hidden keypad, do you think they’d put it in plain sight? Come on, Ember, use your brain and the hundreds of spy movies you’ve watched over the years. The panel will be hidden, just like the room. Maybe in a wall safe, or under a counter, or behind a picture frame...

But there were no pictures, or counters, or anything in the room that a switch could hide behind. The walls were bare.

Except, maybe...

I turned and padded to the gray electrical box, then pulled back the door. Black switches marched down the center in perfectly straight lines, neatly labeled with the circuits they were attached to.

Except for one, near the very bottom, that was unmarked.

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