Page 39 of Talon

But I’d let her touch me, let her trace the scars sustained in a fight with a stubborn green dragon that had refused to die. And I hadn’t pulled away. Her fingers had sent a rush of warmth up my arm all the way to the pit of my stomach. I’d never felt anything like that before. I...wanted her to touch me again.

Startled by my own thoughts, I leaned back and rubbed my eyes. What was wrong with me? I was a soldier, trained to keep emotions in check at all times. I could face down a charging dragon and show no fear. I could endure two hours of my superior screaming in my face and feel nothing. What was it about Ember that was different?

I shook myself. It didn’t matter. I still had my mission, and Ember was still a target. The rest of the group we had pretty much eliminated from the list. Lexi and Calvin had been born in Crescent Beach and hadn’t lived anywhere else. Kristin Duff, our other prime suspect, wasn’t a local but visited Crescent Beach every summer with her father and stepmother. They had an apartment in New York City, where Kristin’s father worked as a stockbroker.

That left the twins, Ember and Dante Hill. Who’d just arrived in Crescent Beach this summer. Who lived with their aunt and uncle in a large house on the beach. Who didn’t have any parents.

Nothing was certain, of course. We could be chasing a false lead. Ember Hill could be perfectly normal, but I wouldn’t be sure until I knew her better, or she slipped up. Regardless, I had to get her to trust me.

If she ever arrived.

Slumping against the seat, I resigned myself to waiting.

* * *

At 1331, Ember finally showed up.

Opening the car door, I got out and headed toward the beach, where a lone figure with mussed red hair stood facing the ocean, a surfboard under one arm. She was scanning the waves, shading her eyes with a hand, when I stepped behind her.

“Looking for someone?”

She jumped, spun around and blinked in surprise, as if not quite believing I was there. “Garret? How long have you... I mean... Wow, you’re still here.” When I didn’t say anything, a flush darkened her cheeks as she looked at the sand. “I thought you might’ve given up,” she admitted.

I almost had. I’d told myself I would wait a half hour past noon before calling it quits. That was a reasonable time to give someone who was late. But a half hour had turned into forty-five minutes, then an hour, then fifteen minutes past the hour. I’d finally accepted the fact that she wasn’t coming and had shoved the key into the ignition when the girl in question had suddenly gone stumbling down to the beach, not seeing me in the palm grove.

“Lost track of time again?” I asked coolly. She winced, probably thinking I was angry, but I wasn’t upset, not really. I was actually relieved to see her; in the hour and fifteen minutes I’d sat alone in the Jeep, my mind had come up with a number of terrible things that could’ve happened. Illogical, improbable things, but still. Everything from car accidents to shark attacks had gone through my mind, making me restless with worry. It was a new experience, one I found I didn’t care for. I’d never worried about anyone before. My fellow soldiers, my brothers-in-arms, it was different with them. We knew that what we did was extremely dangerous. We all knew we could die at any time, and we accepted that. Worry for another’s safety was dangerous and could get everyone killed. You had to trust your team to know their orders and follow them through. Casualties were a certainty, a fact of life. That was one of the perks about being in the Order; soldiers of St. George never died of old age.

But...I had been worried for Ember. I’d desperately hoped nothing had happened to her to cause such tardiness. Which seemed rather foolish now. She was obviously okay, though she lacked her usual bounce.

“I’m really sorry, Garret,” Ember said, gazing at me with big green eyes. With a start, I noticed dark circles crouched beneath them, a sign of exhaustion that hadn’t been there yesterday. “Something came up at home, and I couldn’t get away. I wanted to be here—I came as fast as I could. Dante had the car, I had to call Lexi to get her to drop me off...”

She looked miserable, and I spoke quickly to reassure her. “It’s fine, Ember. I’m not upset. I’m just glad you came.” I smiled, and she seemed to relax. “We’re here now, so don’t worry about it. But...” I glanced at the single surfboard she held under one arm. “You only brought one board? I’m afraid I don’t have one.”

“Oh, right.” She brushed hair out of her eyes, suddenly embarrassed. “Well, I didn’t have time to grab a second one, so we’ll have to try something new. If you’re up for it.”

I started to answer, but as Ember dropped her arm, I noticed something on her shoulder that made my pulse skip. Gently, and without even thinking about it, I grabbed her elbow, tugging her sleeve up.

A mottled purple bruise marred the skin above her bicep. I drew in a sharp breath, not knowing why I was so furious.

“What happened?”

Ember squirmed from my grasp and stepped away, not meeting my eyes. “Nothing,” she replied, pulling her sleeve down. “Walked into a door. A very rude, boorish door that didn’t get out of the way fast enough. It’s nothing to be concerned about. If I see it again, I’ll be sure to kick it.”

“Ember...”

“Garret, trust me. There’s nothing you can do.” She looked up, forcing a challenging smile. “Now, are we going to go surfing, or what? I hope you’re up for what I have planned.”

I exhaled slowly, pushing back the desire to find whoever was responsible for that bruise and snap their neck. “All right,” I said, nodding. “Let’s go. Whatever you dish out, I’m ready.”

She grinned, regaining some of her defiance, and backed toward the surf. “All right, then, hotshot. Let’s put your money where your mouth is.”

Ember

“Ready?” I said to Garret. We sat together, straddling the same surfboard, the telltale swell of a large wave getting rapidly closer. I knelt at the front of the board, facing him and the doubtful look on his face.

“This isn’t going to work,” he told me.

“It’ll work. Paddle.”

---