Shattered (31 page)

“Trinity…no, please. Connor, don’t… Please don’t!”

Trinity sighed as Caleb screamed again, his face twisted in anguish, then watched as he fell back into unconsciousness. She dabbed his sweaty forehead with a cold, wet cloth, studying him closely to make sure he didn’t go into another seizure. All night he’d been seizing and vomiting and she hadn’t been able to get much fluid into him to replenish the electrolytes he’d lost. His skin looked almost shriveled now, as if he were a man at the end of his life, instead of the beginning.

“How’s he doing?”

Trinity looked up to see Connor, hovering in the doorway. Tall, strong, stone faced. These days, a stranger would never believe the two of them were identical twins.

“I don’t know,” she confessed, her heart aching as her eyes roved over his shivering body. “No better, no worse, I guess. I keep hoping he’ll wake up so I can get some Gatorade into him.”

“He’d probably just throw it up anyway,” Connor said with a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry, Trin, but we need to be realistic here. That last trip he took to the Nether? That was one trip too many. I’ve seen it before, back home. It’s that one last trip…”

Trinity stared down at Caleb, tears welling in her eyes. “I should have never left him behind.” She looked up at Connor. “Either of you.”

Connor shook his head vigorously. “No,” he said. “You did what you had to do. To keep the promise you made to Emmy.” He gave her a rueful smile. “That stubborn little dragon,” he said fondly. “I still can’t believe she went and did that. Sacrificing her one chance at happiness to save my life. Seriously, the whole thing—it just goes against everything I know about dragons.”

“Maybe you don’t know as much as you think,” Trinity replied, giving him a wry look.

“Yeah, I’m beginning to realize that.” He looked down at his brother mournfully. “If only I’d listened to him from the start. He tried to tell me what dragons were really like. But at the time, I was so locked up in my own hate and fear…” He looked up at Trinity, his eyes filled with anguish

“I almost killed you, you know,” he added flatly.

“What?” Trinity stared at him, confused. “When?”

“When you were in the Nether, trying to find your mother. I was this close to killing you in an effort to end it all,” he said, his voice thick with regret. “But Caleb talked me out of it. He told me there could be a better way.” He sighed. “For all my grand plans and soldiering, at the end of the day, I’m pretty sure he’s the smarter twin.” His mouth twisted. “If he wakes up, that’ll be the first thing I tell him.”

“
When
he wakes up,” Trinity corrected, determined to stay positive as she looked down at Caleb’s pale and sweaty face, her heart aching. “Poor Caleb,” she whispered, reaching down to trace his cheek with a finger. “I hope you’re at least getting some good dragon time in.”

She could feel Connor’s stern gaze. “We’re going to get Emmy back, Trin.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said flatly. “And once we do, maybe she and Scarlet can give you that lesson on dragon 101.”

She didn’t try to hide the bitterness in her voice. She knew she’d done the right thing. The only thing to save Emmy’s life. But that didn’t mean she didn’t still feel incredibly sad about it all. Whatever Scarlet was facing now, she was facing it with Emmy by her side—an honor and a privilege Trinity would never have again.

Connor reached out, squeezing her hands in his own. “Don’t talk like that,” he scolded. “Emmy will still love you when she returns. Just because the two of you are no longer bonded doesn’t mean—”

“Stop.” She pulled her hands away, holding them out in front of her, the lump in her throat making it difficult to breathe. “I don’t want to talk about that right now. I’ll deal with whatever it is once she’s back safe. That’s all that matters now.”

Connor nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “Actually that’s what I came to talk to you about.” He shuffled from foot to foot, looking nervous.

“What?” she asked, her heart fluttering in her chest as she recognized his unease. “Don’t you think we have a good plan? Everyone else seemed on board with it.” They’d had a team meeting earlier that afternoon, going over the details. The Potentials, her father (who had not only survived the ordeal but was recovering nicely from his leg injury), and the new Dracken kids.

“Yes…no…” He wrung his hands together, sputtering. “I don’t know. I mean, it seems solid enough. The soldier in me says it’ll probably work.”

“But?”

He drew in a breath. “It’s just…too close for comfort, I guess. I mean, Emmy locked away in some secret government lab. You joining forces with a group that calls themselves the Dracken to break her out…”

“But it’s not the same Dracken,” she reminded him. “I didn’t form the group like the first time around. They found me. And Emmy wasn’t even captured yet when they did. Also there was no Scarlet the first time around. And it was years later.”

Connor met her eyes. “I’m not arguing that the ripples are different. But what if they build to the same tidal wave?”

His words sent a chill of fear tripping down her backside. Truthfully it wasn’t anything she hadn’t thought about herself a thousand times. But at the same time…

“We can’t do this without them,” she said flatly. “They have the hacker skills we need to infiltrate the facility, disable the security system, all the rest of the things we talked about.”

“We could come up with another plan. Another way—”

“No.” She shook her head. “I may not be the Fire Kissed anymore, but my priorities have not changed. And when it comes to rescuing Emmy, I don’t have the luxury to turn down help. We’ll deal with the larger implications later, once she and Scarlet are safe.”

Connor raked a hand through his hair. “Did anyone ever tell you how stubborn you are?”

“Maybe once or twice.” She gave him a rueful grin. “So what do you say, Connor? If you don’t want to join us, I’ll understand. I’d never force you to go against what you believe. All I ask is you don’t try to stop us.”

For a moment he said nothing, and her heart squeezed at the torment she recognized on his face. He looked so lost, so scared—a little boy playing soldier. It took everything inside her not to throw herself into his arms to try to comfort him now, to tell him everything would be okay. Even if she had no idea if it were true.

“Of course I won’t stop you,” he said at last. “Hell, when have I ever been able to stop you at anything? And yes, I’ll do whatever you need me to do. After all, I’m still part of Team Dragon, right?”

A slow smile spread across her face. She rose to her feet, wrapping her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. She could feel his long exhale as he allowed himself to melt into her embrace. He may not be okay with the plan. But he was okay with her. And that was all that mattered for now.

“We can do this,” she whispered as they held one another tight. “You’ll see.”

“Oh, I know we can do it,” Connor replied in a voice so low she could barely hear it. “I’m only afraid of what will happen once we do.”

The monster was back.

Somehow Scarlet could always tell. As if she had a sixth sense, warning her when she was near. A hint of antiseptic, tickling her nostrils, the sound of stilettos echoing through her ears. An uneasiness prickling at the back of her neck as her pulse throbbed in her throat—her consciousness gearing up for the inevitable fight or flight that was sure to come.

Should she face her this time? Or was it better to run?

But this time, there was nowhere to run.

The door creaked open and the monster stepped inside, flanked by two of her regular guards. Though on the surface she looked more like an angel than a devil, with long, beautiful blond hair and serene glowing eyes, Scarlet had learned all too well of the ugly beast that lay just beneath the surface.

“How are you feeling?” the monster asked, stepping toward her and giving her a careful once-over.

When she first arrived, Scarlet probably would have retorted something smart-assed back to her. But now she was just too weak. They’d taken blood—so much blood—over the last few days that she could barely stand anymore.

She’d been here six days, by her count, though it was becoming harder and harder to keep track. She was passing out so frequently now, and there were no windows in her cell to offer up any clues. Only the routine they went through each day gave her some sense of the passage of time. They’d show up, all smiles, escorting her down to Emmy’s pen and ushering her inside, locking the door behind her. Then they’d leave them alone, retreating behind their obviously one-sided mirrors to observe from a distance.

At first Scarlet enjoyed this part of the day. As much as she could enjoy anything in this horrible place. She got to spend time with Emmy. Got to curl up with the dragon and not feel so alone. And at first Emmy would speak to her, telling her how her day had gone and what she’d had to eat. In turn, Scarlet would describe the rescue that would be coming, using her own imagination to fill in the details. Trinity had promised she’d come for them, Scarlet would assure Emmy silently. It was only a matter of time.

But as the days passed, Emmy had started to change, right before Scarlet’s eyes. First she became more restless, more anxious. Then she became more reluctant to talk. On the fourth day she had stopped talking altogether, and when Scarlet entered her cage on day five, the dragon grew wild and frightened, backing into the corner, regarding the girl with wide, distrustful eyes, pillars of smoke puffing from her nose.

It was a look Scarlet knew all too well. A look she’d seen a thousand times on her mother’s face. And suddenly she realized exactly what must be happening to the dragon at the hands of the monsters when she wasn’t in the room. And the helplessness that washed over her nearly took her breath away.

Trinity had sent her here to protect Emmy. But what could she do? Once again, the monsters had taken the one she loved and she was powerless to stop them.

And if the promised rescue didn’t come soon….

“Please hurry, Trinity,” Scarlet whispered. “I don’t know how much longer she has left.”

It’s always scary when your acquiring editor leaves the publishing house mid-series, but in the case of
Shattered
, I had no reason to fear. Aubrey Poole and Jillian Bergsma stepped in like the literary superwomen they are and helped me sculpt the book into what it is today. There is no denying their brilliance. Not to mention the brilliance of Derry Wilkens, publicist extraordinaire, who worked tirelessly all year long to bring about world dragon domination! I can’t tell you how awesome it is to know she has my back. In fact, the entire Sourcebooks team has been totally Team Dragon since the very beginning, championing the series to booksellers, librarians, and, of course, readers themselves. I heart them all madly.

I also want to thank my agent, Kristin Nelson, for her unwavering support and ability to talk me down off a ledge when things don’t go exactly to plan. I wish every author could have an agent like her on their team.

And, of course, I want to thank my wonderful husband Jacob who, with each book, has become more and more a collaborator and partner. I know whenever I’m stuck on a plot point I can turn to him, and when my ideas get too crazy, he reins me in.
Shattered
would not exist as it is without his ideas and feedback.

And a writer has to have her author buds. Diana Peterfreund, Simone Elkeles, Ally Carter, Alesia Holliday, Cindy Holby, Serena Robar, Victoria Scott, Cory Putman Oakes, PJ Hoover, Jo Whittemore, the Austin RWA and SCBWI crowd, and so many more that I don’t have space to name. And I can’t forget my awesome hairdresser Iana Wi at Hearts and Robots—the genius behind my dragon hair!

And lastly to all the wonderful librarians and booksellers and bloggers that I met during promotional events over the year and later on tour. Your enthusiasm means everything to me and I applaud all the amazing work you do to put books in kids’ hands. You guys are the true superheroes of the written word.

Mari Mancusi always wanted a dragon as a pet. Unfortunately the fire insurance premiums proved a bit too large and her house a bit too small—so she chose to write about them instead. Today she works as an award-winning young adult author and freelance television producer, for which she has won two Emmys.

When not writing about fanciful creatures of myth and legend, Mari enjoys goth clubbing, cosplay, snowboarding, watching cheesy (and scary) horror movies, and her favorite guilty pleasure—playing video games. A graduate of Boston University, she lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband Jacob, daughter Avalon, and their dog Mesquite.