Page 87 of Talon

Stunned, I could only stare at him. “Really?”

He didn’t smile, but his eyes softened a touch as he gazed at me. “How could I,” he almost whispered, “after I met you?”

A lump rose to my throat, and I swallowed hard. “What about St. George?”

“It doesn’t matter.” His voice was resigned now, weary. “I can’t follow their beliefs, and I can’t condone what we’ve done. I knew what I was doing when I came here tonight.” For a moment, his expression clouded with what might’ve been fear, before he shook himself with a deep, steadying breath. “I knew the consequences. I would do it again if I had to.”

“Ember!” Cobalt’s impatient voice rang over the sand. I looked back to see him at the edge of the water, wings half-open and ready to go. Behind him, a whip-thin black dragon and a smaller male with dusty brown scales bounded toward him from the cave. Nettle and Remy in their true forms, staring at me wide-eyed. “What are you waiting for? Come on!”

“Go,” Garret said, nodding toward the other dragons. “Forget about me. I’m already dead. Just go.”

“Garret...”

A shout echoed from the other direction, and we turned. Figures spilled onto the beach from between the cliffs, guns leading the way as they came toward us in a black swarm. I cringed, and Garret spun back, eyes narrowed.

“Ember, go! Now!”

I bit my lip, turned and sprinted away, seeing Nettle and Remy already taking flight, rising into the air. Cobalt waited for me, holding his ground, even as the first shots rang out behind me. Shifting midstride, I hit the ground running, already pumping my wings as I launched myself skyward, seeing Cobalt do the same. As we soared up the cliff wall, bullets zipped by me, sparking off the rocks, and there was a stab of pain as something punched a hole through my wingtip, making me falter in midair. I hissed in fear, beating my wings and scrabbling my claws down the rock face, expecting a bullet in the spine at any moment.

Cobalt soared over the top of the cliff, landed and spun back, peeking over the edge even through the bullet storm around us. Shots echoed around me, sparking off rock and sending jagged chips and dust into the air. With a defiant snarl, I gave my wings a final thrust and half flew, half clawed myself over the edge. Staggering several feet from the dropoff, finally clear of St. George and their deadly weapons, I collapsed to the dusty ground.

* * *

“Ember.” Cobalt’s gold eyes peered down at me, worried and anxious. From where I lay, panting, his horns and wings seemed to frame the moon, and the light shimmered off his metallic-blue scales. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or maybe it was living through yet another near-death experience, but I decided I preferred his real form far more than his human one. I wished he could stay in this body forever.

“Ember,” he said again, his tail thumping a panicked rhythm in the dirt. “Are you hurt? Did they hit you?” He nudged me, anxious yet gentle. “Talk to me, Firebrand.”

“I’m fine,” I rasped out, and struggled to my feet. My right wing, down near the last finger joint, throbbed where the bullets had torn through the membrane, but it wasn’t serious. I stretched it out, gave it a couple flaps to make sure it still worked and folded it to my back again. “Looks like I’m still in one piece.”

Nettle and Remy crept forward, a slinky black dragon with a crown of spines bristling from her head, and a runty brown dragon with stripes down his neck and tail. They both had backpacks looped around their necks, and it would’ve looked ridiculous if the situation wasn’t so dire. “What now?” Nettle asked, her sibilant voice tight with fear. “Where do we go now?” Cobalt pulled away from me and turned, facing the desert.

“We run,” he said simply. “Far away from here. As far from St. George and Talon as we can. Let’s find Wes, and get the hell out of Dodge. I have a place in Nevada where we’ll be safe, at least for a few months while we decide what to do. It’s not the nicest place, but it’s better than nothing. Firebrand?” He turned to look at me, offering a brave smile. “You ready to go?”

Go. Leave Crescent Beach. My stomach twisted. This was it. I was going rogue, leaving Talon for good to go on the run like a criminal. With Cobalt and two others of my kind, but still. Would I see my brother again? Or any of my friends?

No. No, I wouldn’t. My time as a normal human was done. I had chosen my path, and the consequences that came with it. No more surfing, volleyball, parties or hanging with friends. No more kissing boys in the ocean, feeling butterflies in my stomach, wishing the whole world would just stop for a while. Summer had come to an end, as I knew it must, and I had to move on.

After I took care of one final thing.

“Not yet,” I told Cobalt, watching his eyes widen in surprise. “There’s one more thing I have to do.”

Garret

She’d escaped.

I watched Ember fly away, heart in my throat, as my squad swarmed around me, guns raised, and opened fire. I watched, not moving from where I stood, as Ember fled across the sand, leaped into the air with the blue dragon and soared up the rock face, struggling to get out of range. My heart stopped once when it looked like she’d been hit, wavering in the air, clawing frantically at the cliff. But she recovered, surged over the top in a flash of wings and crimson scales and vanished from sight.

I exhaled slowly in relief.Get out of town, Ember,I urged silently.Run, as far away from us as you can, and don’t look back.

“Sebastian!”

The squad was returning, filing back over the sand, weapons lowered in defeat. There was no use waiting for the dragons to return; they were long gone, and everyone knew it. The squad leader was striding toward me, long legs carrying him over the sand, every muscle tense with controlled fury. I snapped to attention as he marched up and brought his face very close to mine, glaring holes in the side of my head.

“Explain yourself,” he ordered in a low, tight voice as the rest of the team clustered around, angry and confused. Most of them I’d known for years, my whole life. Teammates I’d fought beside, stood shoulder to shoulder with on the battlefield, saved from certain fiery death, and vice versa. None of them looked friendly now. A few seemed bewildered, uncertain what was going on, but many of them were glaring at me with suspicion. I wasn’t supposed to be here, alone, and at the very least my recklessness had caused the targets to escape. They hadn’t figured out the real reason, not yet.

“I asked you a question, soldier,” the squad leader continued when I didn’t reply. His name was Michael St. Francis, and he was a good man: patient, fair and easy to get along with. I’d had no problems with him before tonight. “I assume you have a good reason for being out here alone,” St. Francis continued, still glaring at me. “I assume you have a good reason two hostiles didn’t fry you to a crisp before we could get here. And I assume you have adamngood reason for letting them escape and blowing this entire campaign back several months.” He leaned forward an inch or two, his voice softer but no less furious. “And you’re going to give me your damn good reason right now, because it sure looked to me like you weretalkingwith the hostiles right before we came in.” His hot breath blasted my ear, and a mutter went through the soldiers around us. I continued to gaze straight ahead, my expression blank, as St. Francis stepped back. “Is that what you were doing, soldier?”

“Yes, sir.”

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