—and something hit her from above, bursting through the clouds to slam into her back. Huge and dark, with leathery wings and blank silver eyes, it hit the Eastern dragon like a falling airplane, driving them both to the ground. Jade didn’t even have time to look back before she struck the earth with the other dragon on top of her. The crash from the two behemoths shook the ground, and a cloud of dust billowed up where they landed.

An enormous shadow rose from the swirling dust storm, its scales the metallic gray of the clones, only this dragon was much, much bigger. Pale horns framed its face and twisted back from its skull, and a line of bony ridges curved wickedly down its spine to the tip of its tail. Looming over the motionless body of the Eastern dragon, the monstrous vessel reared onto its hind legs and roared, making everything inside me cringe in fear.

Cobalt snarled, crouching down and half opening his wings in a semi-instinctive reaction. “What the hell? They have an Adult clone? Where has Talon been hiding that?”

Garret’s commander looked pale. I didn’t blame him; in one swoop, the clone had taken out our strongest ally, and with her our best chance at stopping it. From this distance, I could just make out the graceful curve of her body, lying motionless in the sand, and felt sick with grief, anger and fear. Was Jade really dead? It didn’t seem possible that the Eastern dragon was gone. Without her, I didn’t know what we could do against a massive Adult dragon that showed no fear and no instinct for self-preservation. Unless we killed or severely crippled it, it would keep coming, and something that huge would cause massive destruction before it was finally put down. The soldiers of St. George stared at it, too, their expressions grim. They knew, better than most, how nasty Adult dragons could be, how difficult they were to take out.

“I don’t suppose you lizards have any more tricks up your sleeves?” the commander muttered, never taking his eyes away from the Adult. “Another dragon you’ve kept in reserve, just in case?”

“Sadly, our reserve of Adults is rather slim at the moment,” Cobalt growled back. “Jade was our heavy hitter before that thing blindsided her.” He shook his head at the enormous Adult vessel, his spines bristling in fear. “Shit. Any bright ideas, St. George?” he asked, turning to Garret, who stared at the huge dragon with narrowed eyes. “’Cause I’m feeling a little outgunned right now.”

“Lieutenant.” Instead of answering, Garret turned to Martin. His voice was surprisingly calm. “Sir, are the keys to the garage in the same spot?”

“Yes.” Martin frowned, obviously as confused as we were. “I take it you have a plan, Sebastian?”