“No,” she said firmly. “It really is my fault this time. The snake would’ve bitten me if you hadn’t been here.” She gazed at her brother in complete adoration before she sighed and rose to her feet. “Besides, he wouldn’t believe me, anyway,” she said as she dusted off her jeans, then extended a hand to Dante. “You never get into trouble.”

Dante took her arm and let her pull him upright, clenching his jaw. “Because I don’t go looking for it,” he said in a voice much too wry for a six-year-old. Tiny Ember shrugged, apparently not getting the sarcasm.

“Ember and Dante Hill!”

I turned. A man was striding across the yard on the other side of the fence, a human in a collared shirt and khakis, looking stern as he stalked forward, eyes furious. But when he reached the gate and yanked it open, taking a breath to shout something, he disappeared. Vanished like the image on the television screen when you flipped it off. I blinked, then turned to whatever he’d been about to yell at.

There was nothing. Empty desert greeted me as I looked back, a barren landscape stretching on to the horizon. I frowned and turned in a slow circle, trying to determine where I was, but there was nothing but sand, rock and emptiness as far as I could see. I shivered and rubbed my arm, staring at a spot in the dust, certain something had been there a moment ago. Something...important, but I couldn’t remember what it was.

Then the desert twisted, flickered like a bad signal feed, and everything went white.

Chapter 25: GARRET

GARRET

I walked behind Riley, my wrists bound with metal cuffs, following Mist as she led us down a narrow white corridor. A pair of identical, blank-faced guards hovered at my shoulder, their footsteps sounding in unison and echoing down the hall. Mist walked in front of us all with her head high and her gaze straight ahead. A few men in white coats passed us, but they averted their eyes or ducked into other rooms or hallways as we approached. They were humans working in a Talon building, and here, dragons were the masters.

I breathed a furtive sigh, trying to ignore the pain in my side, the puffiness of my eyes and lip. I ached, but it was bearable. Far more than I knew it should be. And Mist’s plan of getting us through the building, daring as it was, seemed to be working. When she’d handed us a pair of manacles through the cell bars and told us to put them on, we’d both hesitated, making her sigh.