Smoked - Mari Mancusi Page 0,2

He turned to her, a sympathetic look on his face.

“Yes, you’ve mentioned that,” he said wryly. “About fifty times in the last five minutes, I believe.” He reached over and squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry, Trin. They’ll come.”

Trinity nodded absently, still staring out the grimy windshield. The wind had picked up, and the sand on the desert floor was swirling around like a living, breathing thing. Her gaze traveled to the large, gray building squatting in the distance, and she narrowed her eyes at it. As if the architecture itself were to blame for all their misfortune. “Well, they’d better get here soon if this is going to work.”

And why do you think it will work this time? an ugly voice inside her head jeered. When it’s never worked before?

It was, unfortunately, a valid question. In fact, it’d been nearly six months since her dragon, Emmy, had been captured and brought to this secret government lab buried deep in the Mojave Desert. Six months since Trinity had started receiving distress calls from Scarlet, who had surrendered along with her. Six months since they’d started formulating and acting out rescue plans that had failed to free either girl or dragon. Why should this one be any different?

“Oh, Emmy,” she whispered. “Are you still in there? Are you okay?”

The worst part was, once upon a time, she would have known the answer to those questions. Would have heard the answer—straight from the dragon’s mouth. Well, her subconscious whisper, anyway. Since before Emmy had even hatched from her egg, she and Trinity had shared a special bond. Fire Kissed, they called it. It allowed them to talk without speaking, share thoughts and feelings over thin air. And when they combined their powers together, they could bend people’s minds and wills. At times, Trinity had been sure there was nothing she and her dragon couldn’t do—if they did it together.

But that bond had long since severed. Dragon and Fire Kissed were now as separate as two beings could be. Back then, Trinity had believed the de-bonding was the best plan of action—the only way to keep Emmy safe from those who sought to capture her and use her for their own gain. But each day since, the screaming emptiness in her head had become more and more unbearable. And while once upon a time she might have been grateful to be spared the burden of being a dragon’s guardian, now she was pretty sure she’d sell her very soul if only she could get her best friend back.

But that would never happen. Because Emmy belonged to Scarlet now. Scarlet, who should have never gotten involved in any of this in the first place—she was now Emmy’s keeper and protector. A fact that, most days, made Trinity want to bash her head against the wall. She knew she should be grateful that Scarlet had willingly stepped in at that final moment. After all, if it weren’t for her, they wouldn’t have any idea where Emmy had been taken. That, in and of itself, was worth everything.

But that didn’t mean Trinity had to be happy about it. She’d lost her dragon in more ways than one, and even if they did manage to stage a miraculous rescue, things would never be the same between them.

She reached out, searching for Scarlet now. When she’d first convinced the girl to surrender to the enemy—in order to keep tabs on Emmy—she’d used her gift of mental telepathy to open up a sort-of back door in her mind—a mental homing device to help them lock down Scarlet’s location and put the rescue plan in place. At the time, Trin had figured it would be a short-term thing. They’d break Emmy and Scarlet out of their prison and that would be the end of it. She had no idea that the government would thwart their efforts for nearly half a year. And her heart ached as she imagined what they’d been doing to her dragon all this time, deep in their labs. Experimenting on her. Abusing her.

This had to work. It just had to.

“Look,” Connor said, interrupting her tormented musings, his finger pointing down the road. Trinity followed it, heart in her throat. Sure enough, a parade of cars now stretched out before them, as far as the eye could see, winding down the dusty dirt road, toward the facility’s front gates. Old cars, beaten-up cars, cars that looked brand-new. All colors, all sizes, all coming their way. Connor rolled down