Page 74 of Blue Embers
“So is having a woman to protect,” he exhaled, staring intently down at the compound.
His words made me think of Persephone, who I was still eager to return to. I scanned the buildings below, hoping something would stand out to me, but things seemed quiet on the surface. Draven was right. They had to know dragons would be able to circle above and see what they were up to. The real activity was below, which made things all the more tense.
“Something’s strange,” Draven muttered, his brows growing rigid.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Just then, a small group of armed men burst from one of the buildings and into the courtyard. Looking at their clothes, they weren’t just dumb brutes from the outer territories calling themselves rebels. They were uniformed in dark tactical gear and moved with military precision. Both Draven and I stared alertly as they rushed into the yard and fanned out, searching the grounds as if some kind of silent alarm had attracted them to the surface.
“Think that could be a drill or do you suspect our hacker did something to rile them up?” I asked.
“I think they look worried,” Draven said, narrowing his eyes.
“Well, whatever is going on, we can at least see a little more about our enemies. Those are trained men. Organized. I’d be tempted to say this was an official compound if my vast range of knowledge didn’t say otherwise. This place has never shown up in any official records. They wanted to keep it secret.” I gave it some more thought until my mind settled on an idea that was a bit more troubling than suspecting the Falcons were behind it all. “This place is so close to the sectors I’m halfway tempted to say this wasn’t entirely cooked up by Falcons,” I said, daring to suggest something I didn’t want to.
Draven gave me a look as if he was thinking the same thing. “You think the Order had something to do with this,” he said through a tense jaw.
“Those uniforms seem awfully similar to the Order’s security forces. Perhaps it’s time to start thinking we’re not as safe here as we thought.”
“Give them the means to take power back and they’ll use it,” Draven sighed. “Haera’s giving them everything they need for a full scale uprising. If the Order really is funding this, we need to shut it down.”
“And if we destroy a facility belonging to the Order? If we slaughter people and wipe out every Phyre Glass factory without even trying to negotiate, we look like the oppressors again and we’ve seen how that turns out. We risk the world turning against us. We risk war if we decide to kill everyone we disagree with. Media is waiting, brother. Waiting to turn the world against us.”
“I’m not saying we slaughter them. These weapons weren’t approved formally by anyone. They were thrust into civilians’ laps and introduced to a world that wasn’t ready.”
“Yes. They were. And Haera is patient and she’ll slowly let the flame grow beneath us. She’s smart and we need to be smarter. Force isn’t always the answer. Not when we want to preserve a world we’ve come to call home.”
“If this place isn’t in any records, no one will miss it. They…”
He stopped as if he’d bitten his own tongue. I watched as Draven’s eyes glazed over, like his thoughts had suddenly flown hundreds of miles away. Furrowing his brows, he looked down at his forearm.
“What is it?” I asked, sensing the worry that was bleeding from his pulse.
Draven cocked his head a bit as if unsure, but before long, he was drenched in a sense of furious concern.
“It’s Everly,” he said.
“What about her?” I asked.
“She’s hurt.”
“Could it be something minor? A fall perhaps?” I said, hopeful.
“No,” he said, stepping past me to head back through the woods to a cliffside on the other side of the mountain where we’d landed in the first place. “Her heart is racing. She feels cold. She’s losing too much blood for it to be minor. Something’s wrong.”
I followed, anxious. “What about the facility?”
“We know where it is. We’ll come back.”
Part of me wanted to stay and observe the facility further. We were so close to learning more and were already being pulled away. Then again, the idea that Everly really was in trouble and Persephone was close by made every bone in my body tremble with the need to get back.
When we reached the cliff, neither of us wasted any time. We leapt off, both transforming with haste and ascending high into the cover of the clouds before anyone could spot us. It was then that I could feel the amplified connection to Persephone tingling down the length of my spine. Her lungs were heaving with frightened breaths. I could almost hear it. I could smell her fresh scent in the air, pulling me toward her. By the way Draven’s flight sped up, I could see that he was feeling Everly with more potency now, too, and it had him alarmed. Whatever was happening, the women were in trouble.
31
Persephone
. . .
