I knew that was a lie, of course. Garret couldn’t know what I was.

Our worlds were vastly different. I knew, when the summer ended, I would have to give him up.

But not yet.

“Ember.” A knock came at my door, and Uncle Liam’s voice drifted through the wood. “It’s five o’ five. Are you awake?”

“Yes,” I sighed, and the footsteps receded. Rising, I set the bear on my unmade bed and dressed into my old, now paint-spattered shirt and shorts. I didn’t bother with a shower, knowing I’d come home dirty, sweaty, and covered in bright red paint. (My driver had covered the back seat of his car with a sheet so I wouldn’t ruin the up-holstery. The sheet now looked like someone murdered a goat on it.) Dante had already gone ahead when I went down to the basement, and a knot settled in my stomach as I opened the tunnel door. ever since our fight yesterday afternoon, my brother and I hadn’t spoken, not about anything important. He’d smiled at me when I came back from the carnival and acted as if nothing was wrong, but it wasn’t the same. Around our guardians, he was still my friendly, teasing, easygoing brother, but ask him anything Talon or dragon related, and his eyes would go blank, his smile empty. He was slipping farther and farther away from me, and I didn’t know how to get him back.

When I reached the office building, I received a shock. The enormous storage room had been cleared out. Nothing remained of the massive wooden labyrinth except a few crates and pallets stacked in the corner. The floor was empty, except for a square of thick blue wrestling mats in the middle of the cement, making it look more like a gym than a storage room. But that wasn’t the biggest surprise.

Scary Talon Lady stood in the center of the mats, arms crossed, waiting for me. She wasn’t wearing her normal three piece suit and heels. She was dressed in a sleek black outfit that hugged her slender form and covered her from neck to ankles. Her blond hair had been pulled behind her and swung halfway down her back, free of its ever-present bun. She was, I realized, quite attractive in human terms. Beautiful and stunning. Though her acid green eyes, watching me cross the room, were the same: flat, cold, and subtly amused.

“Something new today, hatchling.” She smiled as I stepped to the edge of the mats. “I think I’ve been too easy on you, letting humans chase you around with paintball guns and fake bullets. I also think you’re depending far too much on your real form to get out of trouble. Sometimes you need to shear through a St. George soldier with claws and fangs and fire. Sometimes it is better to be human.

You need to learn to defend yourself as both. Take off your shoes.”

Go easy on me? Like dodging paint bullets and playing hide and seek with fully trained soldiers was a fun little skip in the park? I eyed her warily over the mats and kicked off my sandals. “So, what are we doing today?”

“Like I said.” My trainer cocked two fingers forward, and I stepped onto the mat. The plastic was thick and cool against my soles. “I think it’s time to step your training up a notch. Today, you deal with me.”

More than a little nervous now, I walked steadily across the flat surface until I was just a few feet away, watching her across the mats.

She regarded me coolly for a moment, then pulled a gun from a back holster, holding it up. I jumped.

“Tell me the easiest way to kill a dragon,” she said, acid green eyes boring into me. I forced my attention away from the instrument of death in her hand and tried to focus on the question.

“Um.” I wracked my brain for the answer, knowing she would expect me to get it right. “When we’re in human form. Before we have a chance to Shift. We don’t have any protection when we’re human.”

“Good,” my trainer said, though there was no praise in her tone.

Her expression was hard as she continued. “The soldiers of St. George know this, too. Which is why secrecy is so important to our survival. If they knew our true identity, they’d have no qualms taking us out with a sniper round to the head from a thousand meters. you wouldn’t even know what hit you. If you are ever in a life or death situation with St. George, know this—they are not so stupid to engage a dragon in one-on-one combat. If they can, they will shoot you from afar, before you have the chance to get close.”

I nodded. Scary Talon Lady held up the gun. “With this in mind, there are times where you might be in close quarters with someone who wants to kill you. And there are times when it is impossible to Shift into your real form, in urban areas or among witnesses, per say.

Learning to defend yourself as a human is just as crucial as defending yourself as a dragon. So, the most important thing to remember if you’re staring down a loaded gun, or any weapon, is this.”

She pointed the gun right at me, the muzzle inches from my face, and I went rigid.

“Don’t freeze. If you freeze, you’re dead. Just like that.” Without warning, she pulled the trigger. It clicked, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. My trainer smiled.

“Not loaded, hatchling. Make no mistake, though, it is real. and it is exactly what you might be facing one day. Now…” She flipped it around, holding the pistol out to me. “Take it. I’ll show you the disarm.”

I took the weapon gingerly, like I would a poisonous snake. my trainer rolled her eyes. “Stop being twitchy. I told you it’s not loaded.”

She took a step back. “Now, point it at me. Like you intend to shoot me, right through the heart.”

Gripping the stock, I raised the gun…and my trainer’s hands moved faster than I could see, tearing the gun from my grasp. a half-second later, I was staring into the muzzle, now pointed back at my face.

My trainer’s cold green eyes stared me down the gun barrel, her lips curled into an evil smirk. “Did you catch that?”

“No.”

“Good. Neither should they.” She motioned me forward again, and I took a reluctant step toward her. “I’ll show you again in slow motion, and then you’re going to try it yourself.”

For the next few minutes, I watched her technique, as she broke down the disarm step-by-step. How she angled off to the side when she moved in, making her body a much smaller target for the gun.

How she never put herself directly in front of the muzzle. How she forced the barrel up and away, before turning it on the opponent.

In slow motion, it made a lot of sense; put together at full speed, it happened before you could blink.

“Now it’s your turn.” Scary Talon Lady took the gun and stepped back a pace, watching me. Nervous and eager at the same time, I took a breath and tried to relax, to stay loose and flowing as I’d been taught. My trainer smiled, holding the gun loosely at her side. “And remember, you must stay focused on your opponent if you want to live. Do not allow anything to distract you. Are you ready?”