The trip to the final lab was mostly a blur. Mist herded us back into the elevator and used her key card to gain access to the lowest floor, where, she explained, Ember was being held. She told me a few other things, about security and the layout of the floor, but I was finding it difficult to concentrate. I was desperate to get to Ember, desperate to find my Sallith’tahn and life-mate, but I was still reeling from what we’d just uncovered. The Night of Fang and Fire. In one imminent, terrible night, Talon was going to attack not only the Order of St. George, but every safe house, nest and rogue dragon they could find, with the intent of destroying Talon’s enemies once and for all. And, from everything I’d seen, they finally had the numbers to do it.
The Order of St. George was going to fall. After hundreds of years of hunting us toward extinction, killing and slaughtering without regret, the genocidal maniacs were finally getting what they deserved. Talon would sweep through with their army of clones, dragons they had bred for destruction, and wipe St. George off the map.
And that, in the most ironic twist of fate I’d ever encountered, terrified me.
I felt no sympathy for the Order. Present company excluded, I hated St. George and every fanatical, trigger-happy individual in it. I had lost friends, colleagues and hatchlings to their endless war, and there had been countless nights where I struggled to keep my underground safe and my hatchlings off their sights.
But I didn’t want them wiped out. I didn’t want them gone. Because I knew that, without the Order of St. George, there would be no one left who could challenge Talon. They balanced each other, kept the other in check. The reason we had to hide, the reason Talon was so leery of discovery, was plain and simple—because they were afraid of the Order. Because they knew what the Order represented: humanity’s fear of the unknown and what they would do if they found out dragons were real.
Without St. George, that balance would tip. Without the Order, there would be nothing to stop Talon and the Elder Wyrm from achieving what they’d wanted from the start. Complete and utter dominion. How they would accomplish that I wasn’t entirely sure, but destroying an entire organization of professional dragonslayers seemed like a good first step.
I didn’t know how we were going to survive the coming storm. I didn’t know what the world would be like in the future, a future where Talon had no opposition and no one to stop their plans, whatever they were. I did know that I was going to rescue Ember, recall all my safe houses and then find the deepest, darkest hole where we could hide and wait this out. And hope that, when the dust settled and we reemerged, the world would still be intact and not burned to a crisp.
I spared a glance at the soldier. He stood next to me with a gun held loosely at his side, staring at the elevator doors. His face was stony, his eyes flat and dangerous. Most likely, he was thinking of the Order and what he could do to save them. Or perhaps he was thinking of Ember. I did know one thing: we were done with Talon. If anyone got in our way right now, they wouldn’t live long enough to regret it.
“This is it,” Mist said quietly as the elevator came to a halt on the very bottom floor. “Beyond this hall is the lab where we will find Ms. Hill. It will be guarded, so be prepared. We might have to fight our way through.”
I glanced at the clones beside me. “What about your two puppet dragons?”
“They will follow orders,” Mist said. “Because I will be the one giving them. But the security guards on this floor are human and will attempt to stop us when we approach. We need to silence them quickly before they sound the alarm. If they do alert the rest of the building, we’re as good as dead. Are you ready?”
“Yes.” St. George stepped forward, his expression hard. I glanced at his face and realized that whatever stood between him and Ember was probably going to die. “Let’s go.”
EMBER
We need to speed up the process.
Lowering my arm, I gazed around, shivering as the disembodied voice echoed from a cloudless sky. I stood at the edge of a sandy beach, white cliffs looming behind me, a red sun sinking into the waves and sparkling off the water.
Is that wise? Her mind is already under a lot of stress. We could do irreversible damage to her psyche if we go much faster.
As long as her memories are extracted, it won’t matter if her psyche is damaged. But the Elder Wyrm wants this done today. Dig deeper.
Anger and horror stabbed at me, and I turned in a circle, trying to pinpoint the voices that faded into the wind. Stop it, I tried telling them, though my voice was frozen inside me. Whatever you’re doing, whatever this is, please stop.
More voices caught my attention. I turned, discovering that the beach wasn’t empty. A few yards away, a group of six—three boys and three girls—clustered together at the water’s edge. I looked closer, squinting against the sun, and my heart jumped as I recognized them all. Lexi, Kristin...and I...stood talking to a trio of older college guys whose names I had mostly forgotten. One of them—Colin, I abruptly remembered—kept trying to put his arm around me, and I kept squirming away.
I drew in a slow breath as the memory became clear. This is Lone Rock Cove, I realized. And it’s...that evening. My heart turned over. The day I met...
I looked over, and Garret Xavier Sebastian walked past me, striding toward the group at the water’s edge.
Dread bloomed in my stomach. I was suddenly terrified, filled with a horror and desperation I’d never felt before, though I didn’t even know why. I only knew I had to stop this, keep him from reaching the group and setting those chain of events into motion.
Wait! I lunged after him, reaching for his arm. Garret, wait!
My fingers passed right through his body, and he continued toward the group in the distance, followed by Tristan. No, I thought in despair, hurrying after them. Garret, stop. Don’t go.
Her mind is retreating. She’s struggling to hold on to that memory. Increase the dosage and the current, now.
Sir, the procedure is at near max. Any more and we’re pushing the limits of what she can take.
Do it. This is a linchpin memory. Something significant happened to her on this day, that’s why she’s fighting so hard to keep it. Once we remove it, the others will become much easier to...what? Who are you? How the hell did you—no, stop!
Thunder boomed overhead, and everything fractured.
GARRET
“Ember!”
I leaped across the room, past the bodies of the two guards, shot dead before they knew what was happening. Four men in white coats cringed away from me, but I ignored them. My body ached, protesting the movements, but I barely felt the pain. My whole attention was riveted to the scene in the middle of the room.
Ember lay strapped to a gurney in the center of the floor, wires and electrodes connecting her to a large computer in the corner. Her eyes were closed and her skin was nearly white as I rushed to her side. Heat blazed through my veins, turning the air in my lungs hot as I yanked the wires from her face and neck and began unbuckling the straps tying her to the bed.
“Stop!” One of the scientists came forward, hand outstretched, glaring at me. “Don’t touch that!” he ordered as I contemplated putting a bullet through his shiny skull. “You have no idea what you’re doing—”