“What do you think we did? We pissed our pants and ran. Haven’t gone back since.”

“Huh.” I quirked a brow at him, though my heart was racing. “Sure you didn’t see a big scary bat and think it was a monster?”

“Whatever, man.” The human scratched his arm, glaring mulishly. “I know what I saw.”

I slid to the edge of the booth, my thoughts whirling. Two new hatchlings in the city. Were they mine? Wes hadn’t gotten any messages from our safe houses; could these two have escaped the recent Order strikes sweeping the country like the plague? I’d have to find them, and quickly, before St. George did.

Glancing at the human, who watched me with a greedy, hopeful expression, I held up a couple bills. “This was worth about twenty bucks, if that,” I said, watching his face fall. “But I’ll bump it to fifty if you can do two things. Stay away from that hotel, and don’t tell anyone about this, ever. Think you can do that?”

“Sure, man.” The junkie shrugged. “Whatever you want. No one else believed me, anyway.”

Alarm flickered, and I narrowed my eyes. “No one else? How many did you already tell?”

He cringed and scratched his neck. “No one, man,” he mumbled, not looking at me. “I didn’t tell no one.”

He was lying, but I couldn’t dwell on that now. Throwing the cash on the table, I rushed out and looked around for a taxi. If there were hatchlings in this city, rogues or runaways, I had to find them. Especially with St. George on the move, looking for me. They could easily get caught in the cross fire, and then it would be on my head if more innocent kids were murdered by the Order.

I had to get to them first. But as I stood there on the corner, cursing the taxis that cruised blissfully by, my phone buzzed, making me wince. The only people who had this number were Ember and Wes, and I’d told them to call only in emergencies.

Bracing myself, I pulled the phone out of my jeans and held it to my ear. “Ember?”

“Not quite, mate.” Wes’s voice was taut with anger and disgust. My gut churned, and I closed my eyes.

“What happened?”

“Your bloody hatchling,” was the peevish reply, “is what happened. I can’t find her, or the soldier, anywhere. You’d better get back here, Riley. Before something else blows up in our faces.”

Ember

Ember

You’re not supposed to be doing this.