I held up my hands. “Point taken. No need to bite my head off. I believe you.” She sniffed, looking mollified, and I glanced back at the screen. “So, this is their western chapterhouse,” I mused, crossing my arms. “I’m sure Talon will want to know about this. Have you informed Mr. Roth?”

“No,” Mist replied gravely. “I figured you deserved that honor. After all, you were the one who pointed us in the right direction. But that’s not all we found,” she continued, before I could feel smug that I had been right. “Look at this.”

The screen went dark as the scene faded to night, only a few points of light glimmering in a sea of black. Then one of the humans clicked a key, and the image switched to a grainy green color. I could see the buildings, blurry and indistinct, through the emerald haze, and the fence surrounding the base as the camera zoomed in. The time on the bottom left of the screen read 3:26 a.m., dated two days ago.

I blinked. Two small black dots were moving across the desert from the east, looking like tiny crawling insects from this height but definitely making a beeline toward the fence. They weren’t coming in from the road; in fact, it looked like they were actively avoiding the gates, heading toward the most isolated corner of the compound. As I stared, amazed, they paused at the fence a few seconds, slipped through a hole they must’ve cut out and began creeping across the yard toward the main headquarters.

“What in the world?” I whispered, baffled as I watched their progress. “That can’t be…”

“We believe it is Ember, Mr. Hill,” Mist finished solemnly. “And Cobalt. None of our agents have received orders to move on a St. George facility in several months. Cobalt has the knowledge and the skills for this type of work, and he is bold enough to infiltrate even an Order chapterhouse. It’s one of the reasons he is so dangerous to the organization.”

“But why is Ember with him?” I asked, unable to tear my gaze from the two tiny figures, darting through shadows and around corners, avoiding the light. Anger and fear caught in my throat. She was inside a St. George base! What was she thinking? If anyone spotted her, she was dead. Get out of there, I wanted to shout, knowing it was futile. Ember, you stubborn idiot, why are you doing this? Get out of there before you’re killed.

Mist didn’t say anything. Turning, she nodded to one of the humans, who bent over the keyboard. A moment later, the screen jumped to fast-forward, with the time in the left corner accelerating rapidly, though nothing inside the base appeared to move.

“Stop,” Mist commanded, and the screen froze. “Look at the upper left corner, Mr. Hill,” she went on, nodding to the blurred image above us. “Behind the vehicle, near the main headquarters. What do you see?”

I followed her gaze and drew in a sharp breath. “Three of them,” I muttered, squinting to make sure I was seeing correctly. No, I wasn’t mistaken. There were the two figures in black from earlier, only now there was a third party member, huddled behind the car. “They were there to get someone out,” I breathed, trying to wrap my head around what it could mean. “But…why? St. George doesn’t take prisoners, at least not with us. Who…?”

I trailed off, a cold lump settling in my stomach. “The soldier,” I whispered, feeling the blood drain from my face. “The human from Crescent Beach. They were there to free the soldier of St. George.”

My legs felt weak. This was not what I’d expected. I’d hoped that, by watching the chapterhouse Sebastian belonged to, he would lead us to Ember. Or that Ember would contact him, somehow, and we could follow when they moved on her and the rogue. I’d never expected her to breach St. George itself.

Mist’s eyes were grave as she turned to me. “So, not only has your sister gone rogue, she is also fraternizing with the enemy,” she said. Her voice was quiet, meant only for me and our team members. “What do you intend to do with this information?”

I took a deep breath. “I have to tell Mr. Roth,” I said, feeling slightly ill, but knowing there was no other choice. “If Ember is associating with St. George, Talon must know immediately. She could unknowingly put the organization at risk, though I have no idea what she thinks she’s doing.” Anger flickered, and I scrubbed a hand down my face, trying to stay calm. Ember going rogue was bad enough, but to aid one of the Order? How was I supposed to advance my cause, convince Talon that my sister was being manipulated, if she kept pulling stunts like this?

Straightening, I looked back at the paused screen, at the trio of figures huddled against the car. “Did they escape?” I asked, almost dreading the answer. Surely Mist wouldn’t be showing me this footage if they hadn’t. But if the worst had occurred, if Ember hadn’t gotten out of that compound alive, I wasn’t going to stand here and watch. Even after everything, I didn’t think I could handle seeing my sister gunned down right in front of me.

Surprisingly, the other dragon’s lip twitched into the faintest of smiles. “Oh, you could say that,” she said, and hit the pause key on the computer.

Seconds later, with my heart in my throat, I watched the two dragons flee the compound amid a flurry of lights and gunshots. If I’d had any doubts that one of the figures in black was Ember, they were long gone now.

I took a slow breath as the two dragons soared offscreen, vanishing westward and out of sight. The soldier sat astride one of them, and a flicker of rage and disgust pierced my amazement. With a brisk nod, I turned on one of the humans.

“Send a message to Mr. Roth immediately. Let him know we’ve found her.”

Ember

“Ember,” Dante said. “Get up.”

I groaned. My bed was warm and comfortable, and the air outside my nest of blankets was cold. It was a Saturday, at least I thought it was a Saturday, and I was supposed to meet up with Lexi later this afternoon to go surfing. She didn’t want to go early because of reasons, which meant I could sleep in today. Of course, that didn’t account for obnoxious brothers coming into my room to bother me.

I peeked through the covers, intending to tell said obnoxious brother to go away, only to find I was no longer in my room.

I sat up, blinking. Moonlight filtered in from a window, casting hazy light over an assortment of shadows and unrecognizable lumps. I frowned in confusion, sliding out of bed, giving a little shiver as I stood. The floor beneath my bare feet was hard and icy cold.