Shattered (21 page)

“This video got like ten million hits in its first twelve hours,” Nate explained. “It pretty much broke the interwebs.”

“Though of course we already knew all about Emmy,” Luke bragged. “Months before any of this happened I’d found this forum where a museum owner—your grandpa—was bragging about a dragon egg he’d had shipped from Antarctica. I’d tried to contact him to find out more but by then the museum had burned down and he was on the run from the law.” He grinned widely. “That’s when I knew this had to be something big.”

“And how did you know I call her Emmy?” Trinity asked, looking up for a moment.

“You shouted her name at the football stadium,” Luke explained. “One of the videos we watched caught it.”

Trinity continued to scroll through the blog, amazed at how they’d managed to put so many of the pieces together. Not everything was completely right and obviously they didn’t know the big time-travel piece of the puzzle, but it was impressive Internet research all the same. They even had a link to her museum’s old Facebook page. She clicked over to find a big goofy advertisement for Foxx’s Fantastical Fossils and her heart panged.

“That’s your grandfather, right?” Natasha asked gently.

Trinity stared at the photo. Her grandfather was dressed in a Tyrannosaurus rex costume and was holding a sign that read “Fossils rock!” He looked ridiculous and heartbreakingly beautiful all at the same time. “Yeah,” she said quietly. “That’s him. He…died in the fire.”

“And so…now you’re all alone? We heard these rumors that you were with two guys. Two twin guys?” Luke shook his head. “I don’t know. We don’t always get everything right.”

“No guys,” Trinity said, clicking the back button and returning to their website. “It’s me and Emmy against the world.”

She caught Emmy’s curious look out of the corner of her eye but brushed her off.
They
don’t need to know about them,
she told the dragon.
It’d be too hard to explain anyway.

“So,” Luke said after she closed the web page. “Can I ask you something?”

“Um, sure.”

“What were you doing there, out in the open like that? In the middle of a freaking Wal-Mart parking lot of all places? I mean, I know you had no idea just how famous you’ve become. But you had to know there was some chance you might get recognized, right? Why take the risk?”

Trinity hedged for a moment, wondering how much she should tell them. Then she decided to go for it. “I was looking for my father,” she admitted at last. “I believe he’s the one person who can help me and Emmy.” She found herself reaching into her pocket, fingering the Ouroboros, turning it over in her hand. Why had it led her to the Wal-Mart? That was still question number one. “I was told I might find him there. But…I don’t know. Maybe I got bad information.”

“What’s his name?” Luke asked. “Maybe we’ve heard of him.”

“And if not, we can always look him up,” Nate added. “I’m an expert at tracking people down online.”

“Well, I guess his name is Cam,” Trinity said, remembering what her mother had called him in her vision. “Cameron, maybe?” She shrugged. “I have my mother’s maiden name. So I have no idea what his last name would be.” She sighed. “Not very helpful, huh?”

“Wait a second,” Nate interrupted, his eyes wide. He turned to his friends. “Do you think she’s talking about Mr. Law?”

“Who’s Mr. Law?” Trinity asked, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. “Does he live in Fauna? He would be a scientist. Maybe working in a lab or a hospital…”

She trailed off, not liking the way they were exchanging glances with one another. “What?” she demanded.

“Well, it’s probably not the same guy,” Luke hedged.

“But there is a guy named Cameron Law,” added Natasha. “He works at the Wal-Mart where we found you.”

“No,” Trinity said shaking her head. “That couldn’t be him. My dad’s a big-time scientist. He wouldn’t be working in a…” She trailed off as Nate handed her an iPad Mini, with the Wal-Mart website pulled up. Specifically the Employee of the Month page.

“Is that him?” he asked, pointing to the December winner.

Trinity stared down at the photo, scarcely able to breathe. The man had lost some of his hair and his face was thinner and more lined. But the resemblance to the man in her vision was unmistakable.

It was her father. The Wal-Mart employee of the month was her dear old dad.

Numbly, she handed the iPad back to Nate, closing her eyes and trying to control the sudden tidal wave of emotions flowing over her. The man she’d pinned all her hopes on, the one her mother believed could save her and the dragon. He wasn’t some genius scientist after all. He worked at the local Wal-Mart.

“Hey!” Luke cried, putting a hand on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

It was too much. She let the tears flow out of her, splashing onto the keyboard. Until that very moment, she hadn’t realized how much she was depending on this all working out. For there to be some sort of daddy-fueled rescue magic just around the corner, ready to provide a pretty little happily ever after for her and Emmy.

“I’m sorry,” she babbled, feeling old and exhausted and scared. “I just…I thought…” She couldn’t continue. “He was supposed to be my only hope!” she blurted out at last.

“And why can’t he be?” Natasha demanded, looking a little offended. “My mother was a Wal-Mart checker for years while going to nursing school. And she’s smarter than anyone I’ve ever met.”

“And who knows, maybe it’s just a cover,” added Luke. “Maybe he has a secret lab underground or something and he’s using his Wal-Mart discount to get cheap supplies to help fight crime.”

“Yeah, you know, even Superman worked for a newspaper,” added Nate, pulling off his black-rimmed glasses. “All superheroes need day jobs to serve as their cover.”

Trinity couldn’t help but smile at this. “I suppose you could be right,” she relented, though she still wasn’t entirely sure.

“We’re totally right,” Luke declared. “We’ll track him down tomorrow and you’ll see for yourself.”

“Are you going to stand there admiring yourself all night, or do you think you’ll get some sleep at some point?”

Trinity watched with amusement as Emmy tossed her head at the cracked mirror in the corner and bared her teeth. She’d been preening at her reflection ever since Trinity had presented her with her necklace earlier that evening.

“Guess it’s safe to say I did good?” she teased, fluffing up her pillow before lying down on the couch in the geek cave garage. Luke had gone home about an hour ago, and Nate and Natasha had retreated to their bedrooms after heating up some microwave lasagna for her and plying her with blankets. Their mom worked the overnight shift as a nurse, they’d told her, so there would be no one to walk in on her and her dragon during the night. And they promised to be back first thing in the morning, armed with breakfast and a plan to track down dear old Dad.

Emmy turned to her, her face practically glowing.
Red
is
a
good
color
on
me, don’t you think?
She craned her neck to give Trinity a better look. She had to admit, it did add a nice little flair, a glittery ruby nestled amongst a sea of emerald scales.

“Yes, yes, you look gorgeous,” she assured her with a smile. “Utterly gorgeous. Now come to bed. It’ll still be there in the morning, I promise.”

Emmy snorted, twin puffs of smoke bursting from her nostrils.
Of
course
it
will
still
be
there
, she declared indignantly, though her eyes were dancing.
No
one
would
dare
steal
treasure
from
a
dragon.

Trinity smiled, a feeling of warmth wrapping around her. She liked seeing Emmy so happy. If only she’d known all it would take was a piece of junk jewelry, she would have rummaged one up months ago.

Emmy took one last look at herself in the mirror—vain dragon!—then headed over to the second couch, hopping up and turning around three times before settling into the cushions.

“Comfy?” Trin asked with amusement.

The dragon nodded.
Are
you?

“Yeah, not bad,” she said, shifting to lie on her back. She stared up at the dark ceiling, feeling a strange mixture of happiness and longing. This was good, she told herself. This was right. But…

You
miss
them.

She looked over to find Emmy peering at her from the other couch with sad eyes. She gave her a rueful smile. “Yeah,” she admitted. “I know it’s stupid but—”

It’s not stupid,
Emmy admonished.
You
like
them. And they like you. The Hunter likes you so much he lets you kiss him. And he cuddled with you all night long.

Trinity groaned as her mind betrayed her with a sudden flood of memories. Connor’s warm lips whispering across her face. The weight of his body melting into her own.

And
the
other
one. He’s very nice as well. I know you don’t like that he took me out flying. But he really was very careful. And he always did it for you. Everything he does is for you.

Trin closed her eyes, seeing Caleb’s haunted, hollow face. His shaky hands. His pale skin. His anguished voice crashing across her consciousness. Telling her it was so hard already.

Her heart panged. Had Connor found him? Was he okay?

Was she a terrible person for leaving them both behind?

“Okay, I miss them,” she admitted. “But I don’t want you to think I regret leaving them behind. It had to be done. Your well-being is way more important than my love life.”

Emmy gave her a sad look.
What
makes
my
happiness
any
more
important
than
yours?

“Are you kidding me? I’m just, like, one inconsequential girl,” she reminded her. “You’re, like, the savior of the world.”

Well, I couldn’t save anything without you.

Trinity sighed, reality creeping in uncomfortably around the edges of the conversation. She didn’t want to go there, not now. But at the same time, she could no longer ignore the elephant in the room.

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m sure you and Scarlet could manage to get along somehow if I were gone,” she said, trying to sound casual. But even she could hear the hurt in her voice. She’d been forcing it down ever since she’d discovered Scarlet had followed them to San Angels—and that Emmy had once again seen fit to risk everything to save her.

Emmy looked at her sharply.
What
do
you
mean
by
that?

“Come on, Emmy,” Trinity drew in a breath. “Do you think I don’t get it? Scarlet’s my backup, right? That’s why you started bonding with her in the first place. You felt I wasn’t living up to my end of the Fire Kissed bargain and you wanted to make sure you weren’t left stranded. And now you’ve been stringing her along, leading her from town to town, just in case.”

Emmy looked at her, horrified.
Scarlet
was
hurt. She needed me. That was the only reason I…Do you really think I would try to replace you?

Trinity hung her head. This was coming out all wrong and she was sounding like a paranoid fool. But still! She swallowed hard.

“I just want you to know that I would understand if you were,” she said at last. “I mean, let’s face it, I haven’t been a very good Fire Kissed to you. And if you ever decided that you made a mistake by choosing me…” She broke off, unable to continue. Not wanting it to be true.

Emmy stood, hopping off the couch and padding across the room. When she reached Trinity, she lowered her head until their faces were only inches away. Even in the darkness of the room, Trin could see her blue eyes glowing strong.

Dragons
do
not
make
mistakes.

She was so vehement—her tone so sure, so fierce—it sent chills to Trinity’s toes. She wrapped her hands around Emmy’s neck and squeezed her tight, feeling as if her heart would burst. For a moment, neither of them moved and neither of them spoke.

“I’m sorry,” Trin said at last, finally finding her voice again. “I didn’t mean to doubt you. Or myself. I just…I want to do what’s best for you, you know? That’s all I want. And I’m so afraid that if I do the wrong thing—or I make the wrong move—I’ll lose you forever.”

Emmy pulled away, meeting her eyes with her own.
Silly
Fire
Kissed
, she said with a smile.
You
can’t get rid of me that easily.

“Any sign of the cops?”

Trinity peered out the truck’s passenger side window, scanning the nearly empty Wal-Mart parking lot the next morning. It was dawn—too early for all but the most dedicated of shoppers. Only a few RVs intruded on the emptiness, parked at the perimeters, but they were quiet and dark, their inhabitants likely still asleep.

Her van was gone. Not a big surprise, but it still made her heart sink a little. In addition to the memories of her grandfather, the van had come to symbolize a certain amount of freedom—she could go anywhere she needed to go with that van. Do anything she needed to do. Now she was back to being dependent on the kindness of strangers.

Her eyes fell on the store itself. Could her father really work here? And if so, why? Had he just needed a steady job to pay the bills, while waiting for her and Emmy to arrive? Sixteen years was a long time, she told herself; he’d probably need to have some kind of income, a low-profile job where they didn’t do a big background check, seeing as he was supposed to be dead and all.

That said, it was more than a little disconcerting to watch all the dreams she’d had of a sterile laboratory, filled with futuristic technology that could help save her and Emmy, fade into a bright yellow bouncy ball of a big box store.

Her new friends, on the other hand, seemed more optimistic. Lucas had come to pick her and Nate and Natasha up bright and early, happily skipping out on school to help her with what they had jokingly been calling their
Operation: Find Daddy
quest. As if the whole adventure was some kind of video game come to life. Once upon a time, the gamer girl in her might have laughed at that. But things had been too real for too long at this point.

“No cops,” she said, reluctantly pulling her head back into the truck. “Looks okay.”

If
he
can’t help us, he can’t help us,
she told herself.
No
big
deal.

Except that it was a big deal. A huge deal, in fact. She hadn’t quite realized, she supposed, just how much she’d been secretly counting on this miracle until it had started to fizzle. What would she and Emmy do if her dad couldn’t help them? Where would they go? The Dracken kids seemed cool, but they were just kids themselves, and eventually their mom might catch on to the extra girl and extra large reptile squatting in their garage. The money she’d taken from Connor and Caleb wouldn’t last long, and her criminal status assured her she could never apply for a real job. Hell, she didn’t even have her own transportation anymore.

She sighed, missing Connor and Caleb and her grandpa more than ever. The life of running from the law and hiding out together seemed almost blissful compared to her dark, unknown future.

She gritted her teeth, shoving the worried thoughts to the back of her mind. There was no use borrowing trouble, as Grandpa used to say. Her dad had promised to help her. She had to hang on to that promise with both hands and have a little faith.

As Luke drove the truck up to the front of the store, Trinity pulled down the visor mirror and checked her reflection. Natasha had done her best, but she had gotten a bit…
enthusiastic
with the makeup. Looking now, Trin could barely recognize herself, which she supposed was a good thing. She pushed up the mirror then looked back at the store, her heart pounding in her chest.

“Maybe this was a bad idea,” she blurted out.

“What are you talking about?” Lucas cried. “Your dad said he could help you. How could that be bad?”

“You’re not scared are you?” Nate blustered. “I mean, how can
you
, of all people, be scared? You’re Trinity Foxx, for Captain Kirk’s sake! You ride freaking dragons for a living.”

“That’s a bit of an overstatement, actually…”

Natasha gave her a disappointed look. “Do
not
make me have to stop fan-girling you,” she scolded. “I spent way too much time on my
Trinity
is
a
rock
star
Tumblr theme to have you fall apart now.”

Trinity sighed. “Okay,” she relented. She supposed that was one kind of motivation. She popped open her door and dropped down to the sidewalk. As she closed the door behind her, she felt Emmy perk up from inside the truck.

Be
careful,
the dragon warned.
Call
me
if
you
need
me.

I
will,
she assured her.
Don’t worry.

She didn’t love leaving Emmy alone in the back of the truck, but what was the alternative? Walk into Wal-Mart with a dragon on a leash, hoping people mistook her for a labradoodle?

She walked inside, the glass doors sliding silently shut behind her. She stood still for a moment, not sure where to even begin in the overwhelmingly large store. Her dad could work in any department—or in an inaccessible back room. He might even have the day off—or he could have called in sick. And what if someone recognized her as she walked around the—

“Welcome to Wal-Mart!”

The voice made her nearly jump out of her skin. She whirled around, a small cry of relief escaping her as she realized it was only the store’s greeter, standing behind her. He was an older man, dressed in a blue vest covered in multicolored buttons, and he beamed back at her with a guileless grin on his face. He was balding on the top and appeared as though he hadn’t made friends with a razor in at least a week. She swallowed hard, trying to steady her racing pulse. Not her father.

“Sorry,” she said, feeling her face flush. “You scared me.”

“Definitely didn’t mean to.” The man smiled amicably, running a hand through his thinning gray hair. “Just wanted to welcome you to our humble store. Can I offer you a button?” He looked at her hopefully.

Trinity cocked her head. “Excuse me?”

He reached into his pocket then extended his hand toward her. Clasped in his fingers was a yellow, smiley-face button. She stared down at it, horribly confused. Then she managed to shake her head.

“Oh. No, that’s okay. I don’t really need—”

A flicker of shadow crossed the man’s face. “Oh I think you do,” he said. “I think you’ve been looking for this button for a very long time.” He paused, his eyes leveling on her, the smile fading from his lips.

Take
it, Trinity. It’s from your father.

Trinity gulped as the words tripped across her mind, clearly from the man in front of her, though he never moved his lips. “How did you—”

He shoved the button into her hand then turned so abruptly it left her reeling. The doors behind her had opened, she realized. A mother and three kids were walking into the store.

“Welcome to Wal-Mart!” the man greeted in the same cheerful voice. But he didn’t, Trinity realized, force a button on them. And he didn’t call them by name.

Somehow she managed to get her feet to cooperate, walking through the store, her legs feeling as if they were made of lead as she clutched the button in her hands. She made her way to the bathroom, selecting the handicapped stall and closing the door behind her. Only then did she allow herself to look down at the button.

At first glance, it seemed like every other button. Bright yellow smiley on the front, metallic pin on the back. But then she noticed a small scrap of something caught in between. Digging her fingers into the sides, she managed to pry it apart with some effort.

A small piece of folded paper fluttered from the button. Trin gasped, scrambling to grab it before it fell into the toilet. She could barely breathe as she pulled open the paper, staring down at the scrawling text.

Meet me at the back of the store at midnight tonight.

Tell no one.

P.S. Bring Emberlyn.