“I hope so.” Garret turned to me and Riley. “Stall that thing,” he told us, making Riley snort in disbelief. “Just for a few minutes.” His gaze went to mine, dark with worry. “Can you do that, Ember?”

“Yeah.” I gave him a savage grin. “Don’t worry, we’ll hold it. For as long as we can.”

He nodded. “I’ll be right back.”

Spinning, he sprinted away into the flickering darkness.

Cobalt shook his head. “Oh, this is gonna be fun,” he muttered, and gave me a look from the corner of his eye. “If I don’t get eaten by a dragon, Firebrand, I’m never letting you forget this.”

Before I could respond, he leaped into the air, flying straight up so that he could be seen by everyone. “All right!” he roared, jerking everyone’s attention to him. “Hatchlings, fall back! Get out of sight, and do not engage that Adult! I don’t care how much you want to help, this is nonnegotiable. Retreat to the rendezvous and stay there until you hear from me or Wes. Go!”

With a flurry of flapping wings, the hatchlings rose from the ground in a bright swarm and soared over the fence line. As the last dragon swooped out of sight, Cobalt landed beside me with a grim smile. “There. At least the only dragons that thing will be eating tonight are us.”

Opening its massive wings, the Adult vessel gave a leap that propelled it into the air and then streaked like a fireball in the direction of the chapterhouse.

Chapter 51: RILEY

RILEY

Godzilla was coming.

Stall the thing, St. George had said. Easy for him to say. Shit, this was a bad idea. How were two non-Adult dragons and a handful of human soldiers supposed to stall that thing? It was an Adult. An old Adult, by the size of it, close to forty feet from head to tail. Maybe if it choked on us while we were sliding down its windpipe? I was just relieved the hatchlings were in full retreat and that no one had argued about staying to battle this monster.

The Adult clone landed in the center of the yard with a boom and another roar that made my eardrums throb. As soon as it touched down, every soldier of St. George left opened fire, filling the air with the roar of assault rifles. The bullets that struck the chest and belly plates sparked harmlessly off, and the ones that did get through seemed as effective as air pellets. The Adult gave a chilling, banshee-like howl and lumbered forward, plowing through the bullet storm and coming right toward the armory.

I looked at Ember. “Ready for this, Firebrand?”

“Not really,” she replied, her eyes glued to the approaching giant. “But I’m right behind you.”