Forget the mission. Forget the Order, and the war, and my objective.

Before today, I wouldn’t have considered it. My life was the Order; I had to be exceptional, unyielding. The Perfect Soldier. That was what everyone expected of me.

But, this afternoon, I’d gone surfing with a beautiful red-haired girl, and everything about the Order and the war had flown out of my head the second my board sliced down that wave. It was the most exhilarating moment in my life. I couldn’t remember having that much fun in…ever, really. My free time, when I had it, normally consisted of training—honing the skills that kept me alive. While the other soldiers went to bars and nightclubs, Tristan included, I was usually at the gym, or the shooting range, or studying mission tactics. There were a few non-training activities I enjoyed—reading and action movies, and I could hit the center of a dart board nine times out of ten—but as a whole, my life consisted of training and battle and little else.

Now I’d begun to wonder—what might I be missing? Tristan had always pressed me to come to bars, clubs, or parties with him, and I had always refused, not seeing the point. But maybe there didn’t have to be a point. Maybe it was just to experience something new.

“Well,” Tristan said, grabbing his keys from the counter, “You can stay here and be the perfect little soldier, if you want. I’m going out. Probably won’t be back till sunrise, and there will be a fifty-fifty chance I’ll be very wasted, so don’t wait up—”

“Hold on.”

Tristan paused, blinking in shock as I tossed the binoculars to the armchair and turned back to face him. For a second, I almost backed out, but forced myself to keep talking. “Where are you taking us, exactly?” I asked. “Will I need a fake I.D?”

His mouth fell open dramatically. “Okay, sorry. Who are you and what did you do with my partner?”

“Shut up. Are we going or not?”

He grinned, making a grand gesture toward the front door. “After you, partner. I don’t know what’s happening here, exactly, but whatever you’re on, feel free to keep taking it.”

Not “it,” I thought as I opened the front door. Who. And you can keep wondering all you like, because I have no idea what’s going on, either.

Ember

“Hellooooooo. Earth to Ember. Are you still with us?”

I blinked and tore my gaze away from the glass case and the sparkling collection of diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, and rubies within.

At my elbow, Lexi sighed, giving me a look that said she’d been trying to get my attention for a while. The well-dressed woman behind the counter offered a polite, I-don’t-think-you’re-going-to-buy-anything smile, and moved on to a man looking at engagement rings.

“Sorry,” I muttered, turning back to Lexi. I hadn’t really been spacing out so much as thinking about the hidden room, and the secrets it still contained. In a stupidly risky move this afternoon, I’d snuck down to the basement after my training session, only to discover the code Cobalt had given me no longer worked. Either Talon had it changed or it reset automatically, because after the second time I punched it in, the panel gave an ominous beep and the words Warning: incorrect sequence had flashed across the screen in red, making me flee back upstairs.

I couldn’t get back into the secret room. Which was annoying and left me with only one option. I was going to have to find Cobalt. And I had no idea how I was going to do that.

“Where’d Kristin go?” I wondered, trying to take my mind off TALON. I was free, I was here with friends, and I didn’t have to see Scary Talon Lady until tomorrow. I wasn’t going to ruin the rest of the day thinking about sadistic trainers and absent rogue dragons.

Lexi pointed. Kristin was on the other end of the jewelry kiosk, admiring a new bracelet while her newest boy-shaped “friend” stuck his bank card back in his wallet. I’d forgotten his name. Jimmy or Jason or Joe or Bob, something like that. Poor guy. None of the core group bothered to remember his name, either. We were all used to Kristin’s endless stream of new guys.

“You and your obsession with shiny things,” Lexi muttered as we rejoined Kristin, who had sent poor Joe-Bob into a nearby Starbucks for a latte. “You’re almost as bad as Kristin, only she gets boys to buy her stuff.”

Kristin smiled. “It’s not my fault they all want to buy me presents for my birthday.” She raised her wrist, where the bracelet twinkled like a thousand stars. Entranced, I watched the light dance off the gemstones, and Kristin shook her head. “Em, you’re not using your assets to your advantage. If you really wanted a sparkly, there’s not a guy in the world who wouldn’t shell out for you. You just have to bat your eyes and let them think they’re getting some later.”

I wrinkled my nose. “That’s okay. I’m not, you know…evil.”

“Suit yourself.” Kristin dropped her wrist and smiled at Joe-Bob, who was approaching with a large, whipped-cream and caramel drizzled latte. He gave it to Kristin with a goofy smile, and she purred her thanks, watching him from beneath her lashes as she took a long sip. I had to turn away to hide my rolling eyeballs.

“So,” Lexi announced brightly. “Where to now? Lunch? Is anyone hungry? Besides Ember, I mean.”

“Hey.” I crossed my arms. “Since I eat more than the two of you combined, my vote should count for twice as much.”

“I’m not done shopping,” Kristin said, pouting at Joe-Bob. “I wanted to find a top for the party this weekend. Let’s go look at one more store, and then we can get food.”

I groaned, knowing “one more store” with Kristin meant at least an hour of watching her try on outfits. And while I normally didn’t mind, I was starving, restless, and getting cranky. Dragon wanted food, now!

As if to prove my point, my stomach growled, and I put a hand over my middle. “Kristin, I swear, if I have to watch you try on shoes for an hour, I’m going to eat your boyfriend. With a fork.” Joe-Bob blinked at me, but I ignored him. “It’s lunchtime, and you don’t want to see me hungry. You won’t like me when I’m hungry.”

“Well,” said a new voice behind me, “I guess I’ll have to buy you lunch, then.”

My heart skipped a beat. I turned, and there was Garret, just a step away, watching me with a faint smile on his face. He wore jeans and a white shirt, and his bright hair glimmered like strands of metal in the artificial light.