“Are you all right?” Ember hovered a few steps away in her black Viper suit. Though her voice was concerned, her face was as red as a beet in the darkness, and she didn’t look directly at me. Any other time, it would’ve been adorable. “You’re bleeding pretty bad.”

“I’m fine,” I gritted out, heaving myself upright. “A few holes in my hide aren’t going to kill me.”

“Can you climb?” St. George asked. He had already yanked open the backpack and was pulling out a change of clothes. His demeanor was calm and practical; we had to climb down the elevator cables to get to the bottom floor, and then we had to get out of the building and escape into the city. All of which would be difficult to do in the nude.

Dammit, I really need to think about stealing a Viper suit one day.

A thud echoed below us, and the hatch door rattled. “Don’t think I have much of a choice,” I said, and snatched the articles of clothing the soldier tossed at me. “You two, get going. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Riley...” Ember began.

“No arguments, Firebrand. Unless, of course, you want to see me run naked through the streets.”

That got her moving. With one last worried look, she turned and made the short leap onto the rusty service ladder against the wall. St. George watched her descend until the top of her head vanished from sight, then turned to me.

“Hurry,” he said calmly. “I’ll cover you.”

I scowled at him as I yanked on the pair of jeans. “I’m fine, St. George. You don’t have to stay here and babysit—”

The elevator hatch burst open, and a scaly gray head lunged out, hissing. I jumped, and St. George instantly raised his weapon and shot it twice in the head and neck. It screeched and dropped away, and the soldier lowered the pistol, backing away with a steely expression. “That’s it, I’m out,” he announced as clones began clawing their way through the opening, hissing and snarling. “Move!”

I went, leaping from the roof and grabbing the rungs as I came down, wincing as my back and ribs protested the sudden stop. I shimmied down a few feet and felt the ladder shake as the soldier landed on it, as well. The elevator shaft echoed with the snarls and hisses of the dragons above us, but either they were unable to climb down after us, or Shifting into human form to pursue hadn’t occurred to them yet.

Though that did give me a rather morbid realization.

“You know,” I panted, seeing Ember below me, moving swiftly down the rungs, “those things are dragons. If they wanted to kill us, what’s to stop them from filling this entire shaft with fire and burning us to a crisp while we’re human?”