“Because St. George has ways of covering this up,” I explained as we left the house, easing around the faded walls. “That soldier you killed,” I went on, gesturing back to the empty building, “he’s a ghost. We all are. We have no background, no past, no family except the Order. We don’t register in any system. When we die, we vanish, as if we never existed.”

“Oh,” Ember mused, though she didn’t sound reassured. “That’s…kind of sad. All that fighting, and no one even remembers you when you’re gone.”

I didn’t have an answer for that, so I stayed quiet. We slipped through the fence and huddled on the corner of the street, keeping a wary eye on the crowd surrounding the burning house. The roof was fully engulfed, clouds of black smoke billowing into the evening sky. I hoped Wes and the rogue dragon had been able to get out safely. And that they had come up with a getaway plan.

Sirens wailed in the distance. I tensed, and Ember froze, gazing down the street. The authorities were on their way. I glanced at the burning house, debating whether to search for our companions or to vacate the area and hope they caught up.

A sleek black SUV suddenly rounded a corner, barreled across the road and squealed to a stop in front of us. The driver’s window buzzed down, and Riley glared out at us, jerking his head at the back. “Get in!” he barked, as the sirens grew louder. “Let’s go!”

Yanking open the back door, I ducked into a black leather interior, the smell of new car surrounding me. Ember followed and slammed the door behind her, and the tires screeched as Riley stepped on the gas and roared away, leaving chaos in our wake.

Cobalt

Twelve years ago

Nearly there.

I pressed back against the office wall, holding my breath, as a pair of soldiers swept down the hallway just outside the door, their boots thumping in unison. They marched around a corner and out of sight, and I exhaled slowly in relief. Getting into this place had been a huge pain in the ass, with more close calls than I was comfortable with. It had taken all my considerable skills to make it this far unnoticed, and I still had to get out again once I was done. But one problem at a time.

A large wooden desk sat against the far wall, a computer perched atop the surface. Pressing into a corner, I hit a number on my phone and held it to my ear. One ring, and someone picked up.

“I’m in,” I whispered. Slipping around the desk, I jiggled the screen to life and pulled the human’s thumb drive out of my pocket. “Inserting the program now,” I said, and stuck the drive into the side of the computer.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, a bar flashed across the top of the screen, the tiny white numbers above the strip at 0 percent. As I watched, it flicked to 1 percent, then 2 percent as the numbers started inching upward. Very, very slowly.

Oh, don’t rush or anything, I thought, peering around the desk at the open door. No life-threatening situation here. Just me, a dragon sitting in the middle of St. George. Please, take your time.

Footsteps echoed down the hall, coming gradually closer. I winced and ducked beneath the desk, shoving myself into a corner as voices drifted into the room, talking of meetings and drills and other boring things. Two humans passed by the door and continued down the hallway without slowing. I waited until they were truly gone before popping out and glaring at the bar on the screen.

Eighty-six percent. Dammit. How long did hacking a file take? Biting back my impatience, I waited, drumming my fingers on the floor, until the strip had completely filled and the numbers finally hit 100 percent. I yanked it out and stuffed the drive into my pocket then rose, relief and a strangely grim sensation stealing over me. One thing down.

But I wasn’t done yet.

The backpack felt heavy against my shoulders, reminding me of what came next. I slipped out of the room and made my way through the building, on high alert for guards, until I found the stairs. According to the Chief Basilisk, my final objective was below me, on the very last floor.

The hallways were dark as I crept across the tile, though a light glowed near the end of one of the corridors, the murmur of human voices drifting through an open door frame. Thankfully, I didn’t have to go far. My objective sat behind an inconspicuous white door at the end of a lonely hall, unguarded and exposed. The door was locked, but my skills got it open fairly quickly, and I eased inside.

A cold blast of air hit my skin, and my breath billowed in front of me as I gazed warily around. The room was windowless, stark and almost freezing. The walls were bare, the floor empty except for three metal towers in the center of the tile, blinking with dozens of green and blue lights. As server rooms went, it was pretty small, unlike the vast rooms with dozens of computer towers lining the floor that I had seen in other buildings. These servers would provide only enough information for this one isolated compound. I wondered why Talon was so keen on blowing it up. Still, I had my mission, and it wasn’t my job to ask questions. The sooner I was done here, the sooner I could leave.

Shrugging out of my backpack, I knelt and carefully eased the padded black case out, then clicked it open. The incendiary device sat within, and my heart pounded as I stared at it. The new “toy” I was supposed to try out was a bomb, and not just any bomb. This one was much more powerful than a normal explosive, my trainer had said. A combination of science, magic and dragonfire, packed into this small, deadly package. Dragonfire was not like normal fire; it burned hotter, fiercer, and was capable of melting steel and turning flesh to ashes in minutes. It had the tendency to cling to whatever it touched, consuming any material until it was completely gone. Even now, with all the technology and tools and firearms dragons had adapted over the centuries, our breath remained our most lethal weapon. It was the main reason St. George feared us in battle. If this thing worked the way Talon expected, it would not only destroy this room and pulverize the servers, it would spread caustic, roaring dragonfire through the whole floor, blowing out walls, weakening supports and bringing the whole building down on top of it.