Talon

  Since 1400. “No,” I said, but movement outside caught my attention. Two more people were emerging from the car now; Lexi Thompson, whom I’d met the other day with Ember, and a taller boy with blond hair pulled into a ponytail.

  Ember followed my gaze. “Oh, yeah. Lexi and Calvin will be joining us. They were the ones who taught me to surf, after all, and Calvin knows all the best spots on the beach. Hope you don’t mind.” She gave me an apologetic smile and leaned in, resting her palm on the corner of the table. My stomach jumped as her face hovered close to mine. “Actually, they kinda invited themselves,” she whispered. “I made the mistake of telling Lexi, and when she heard I was going to teach you, she had to come. And then Calvin didn’t want us hanging out with some strange guy after the creepers from the other day, so...yeah. Sorry.”

  Well, this was...unexpected. But surmountable. There was no reason the others shouldn’t come; my objective was to fit in with the whole group, after all. And if Lexi was Ember’s friend, she likely knew a lot about her, secret things, perhaps. If I could get her to open up and share what she knew, that would bring me one step closer to my objective.

  So why did I feel like they were intruders?

  “That’s fine,” I said, shrugging. “Not a problem.”

  “Hey, Garret!” Lexi bounced up and slid into the booth across from me. “So, you’re actually going to put your life in Ember’s hands today, huh? Did she tell you what she did on her very first day of surf lessons?”

  “Lexi.” Ember sighed as I leaned back to give myself a little more space away from the other girl. “We want him to come with us, you know. Not run away screaming.”

  I tilted my head at the girl across from me. “What happened?”

  “She almost drowned,” Lexi went on, cheerfully oblivious. “Got the basics down really quick, then decided to brave an eighteen-footer all by herself. It was a pretty spectacular wipeout.”

  I glanced at Ember and raised an eyebrow, and she actually colored a little. “Don’t worry,” she said with an exasperated glare at her friend. “I’m not going to throw you at eighteen-footers on your first day. We’ll start with baby waves and work our way up. I’ll go easy on you, I promise.”

  Calvin sauntered up, a trio of smoothies in hand. “Dude,” he greeted, setting the drinks on the table, where they were pounced upon by the girls. “Garret, right? So you’ll be joining us today, huh? Ever gone surfing before?”

  “No.”

  He smirked, but it was without malice, lazy and knowing at the same time. “Well, it’s gonna be interesting, I can tell you that.”

  * * *

  We didn’t drive far. I sat in the backseat with Ember, gazing out the window, while Lexi craned her neck around to talk to us both, chattering nonstop. I didn’t say much, but I didn’t need to, as the two girls more than made up for my silence. I began to have serious doubts that the friendly, cheerful girl sitting beside me could be anything but a normal teen. She certainly didn’t fit the normal dragon model: vicious, ruthless, power-hungry. Then again, all the dragons I’d encountered had been trying to kill me, and vice versa. I’d never really seen a dragon in human form for an extended amount of time, never encountered one that was trying to fit in. Still, I wondered if I wasn’t wasting my time pursuing this.

  Oddly enough, I found that I didn’t care. The backseat of the Volkswagen was very small, and Ember’s slim leg was brushing against mine, a fact I was acutely aware of as the car trundled down a narrow back road. At one point, the tires hit either a rock or a log and bounced so hard the top of my head struck the roof and Ember nearly ended up in my lap.

  “Sorry.” She shifted away, but her hand came to rest on my thigh, and all my nerve endings snapped to attention. I noticed her cheeks were slightly pink as she drew back, and felt the heat radiating from my own skin. Embarrassment or...something else? I hadn’t been around many civilians, certainly not many females my own age. There were women in the Order, but they occupied the jobs outside of combat—gathering intelligence, handling paperwork, saving a soldier’s life when he got himself incinerated by a dragon. They were crucial to the Order, but there were no female soldiers in St. George. Tristan had no problems talking to girls, especially when he’d had a few, but when faced with a member of the opposite sex I usually found myself with nothing to say, so I avoided them when I could.

  The mission, I reminded myself. Focus on the mission. I could not be distracted by this girl. I couldn’t let myself think of her as anything but an objective. And I certainly couldn’t let myself think of touching her again, of feeling her skin against mine, her warm fingers on my leg.

  I stared out the window, deliberately forcing my thoughts elsewhere. Anything to keep myself distracted and my mind off the girl beside me.

  The Volkswagen finally came to a bouncing, shuddering halt in the shadow of a grove of palm trees. Through the space between two giant thornbushes, an empty strip of sand and the ocean beckoned, white-capped waves breaking in the distance. I exited the car and felt the heat of the sun beating on my bare shoulders. Ember climbed out behind me and yawned, covering her mouth with one hand.

  “Pull another all-nighter, Em?” Lexi teased as she helped Calvin unstrap the boards from the roof. “You know, if you went to bed before dawn, we could actually go surfing before noon sometimes. Just a thought.”

  “Oh, like you’re ever up before noon,” Ember scoffed. She didn’t give any outward signs of alarm, but I caught the discrepancy with what she’d told me this morning. Ember didn’t get up early; even her friends knew this, though they probably thought she was sleeping. No one ever saw her, or her brother, until afternoon.

  So why was she out this morning, alone? Where was she coming from?

  “Here,” she went on, tugging a blue board from the roof and handing it to me. I took it with a puzzled look, and she smiled. “That’s yours for today. Be nice to it. It’s been through a lot.”

  I nodded and tucked the surfboard under my arm as I’d seen Ember do. It was surprisingly light and had more than a few dents and scratches on the surface. Calvin swung a pristine white board under his arm and headed down toward the water, moving with lazy confidence. The rest of us trailed behind, Ember and Lexi walking to either side of me, explaining the basics of surfing.

  I tried to listen, but both were talking at the same time and one tended to finish the sentence the other girl began, so it was difficult to follow along. Nothing really stuck until we reached the edge of the beach, and Ember turned to me.

  “Okay!” she announced, and dropped her board into the sand with a soft thump. “This is where we start.”

  “Here?” I glanced at the ocean, where Calvin was striding into the surf, not looking back. “I was under the impression that surfing was done in the water.”

  Lexi giggled, and Ember frowned at her. “It is, of course. But there’s a whole lot of things to learn before you can ride a wave. Paddling, balance, timing, things like that. It’s easier to start on solid ground first.”

  “Or you can be like Ember and keep falling off the board into the water,” Lexi added. “Because you’re too impatient to start on the beach.”

  The other girl huffed at her. “You shush. I only agreed to let you come because you promised you’d let me do this.” She glowered fiercely, and Lexi giggled again. I found myself wishing she was gone, that it was just me and Ember in this empty little cove. I’d be able to better concentrate and learn more if I had just one teacher and Lexi wasn’t peering over our shoulders.

  That’s what I told myself, anyway.

  Ember sighed. Turning back to me, she pointed to my board. “Here. Put your surfboard next to mine. I’ll show you how to paddle out, catch a wave and stand up when you do. After that, you’re on your own. The balance part comes with time and practice.”

  I followed her lead. Under Ember
’s tutelage, I learned to lie on my stomach and paddle my arms when trying to catch a wave, then quickly spring into a crouch to ride it down. I learned the best way to stand when surfing, keeping my knees bent and my weight balanced, and how to steer the board when I did catch a wave. Ember was a very patient teacher, gently correcting my stance when I needed it, answering any questions I had. Once, her hand came to rest on my arm as she demonstrated a technique, and the prickle from her fingers lingered on my skin a long time afterward. Lexi would comment occasionally, either to confirm what Ember was saying or tease her teaching methods, but by the end of the lesson, I’d nearly forgotten about her.

  “All right,” Ember announced, giving me an appraising stare. I caught a flash of admiration in those green eyes as she smiled at me. “I think you’ve got it. In fact, I’m pretty sure you’re either a natural, or you’ve been pulling my leg this whole time about not ever having done this before. I’m going to feel awfully stupid if you’re some surfing champion from Waimea or something.”

  I met her gaze. “You don’t have to wonder. I’ve never done this before.” She gave me a dubious look, and I held up my hands. “I promise.”

  “Then why do I have the feeling you’re going to catch a wave and dazzle us on your very first try?”

  “Maybe I just have an exceptional teacher.”

  She snorted. “Flattery will get you nowhere, sir. I have a brother that tries the same thing at home, so I am immune to such charms.” But she was blushing while she said it, and I resisted the urge to smile.

  “Moment of truth, then,” Lexi stated, picking up her board and grinning at us. “Time to let him try the real thing.”

  Ember

  Garret picked up his board and turned to me, waiting. And for about the hundredth time this afternoon, my stomach gave a weird little jolt. His hair shone in the sun, and his sculpted arms and shoulders were highly noticeable without his shirt. As was the lean, tanned, washboard stomach and chest. The boy definitely worked out or did something strenuous in his free time. One did not get a body like that from sitting around.

  And even though he denied it, I couldn’t help but think he had done this before. He was so graceful, knowing exactly where to put his feet, how to balance himself on the board. Even on land, with the board stationary, I could tell he would do fine in the water, maybe more than fine.

  Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he would wipe out, as I had on my first day of surf lessons. Granted, I wasn’t going to let him try the monsters just yet, but one did not just pick up a board and surf merrily down a wave on the very first try.

  “Come on,” I told him, grabbing my board. “I’ve shown you everything you need. Now you just have to do it.”

  He followed us into the water without hesitation, paddling about a hundred yards from shore. As always, while floating on my board in the middle of the sparkling ocean, I felt a familiar rising excitement. Maybe I couldn’t fly anymore, but this—the rush, the prickle of danger, the adrenaline—certainly came close. At least I didn’t have to give this up just yet.

  I remembered Cobalt, soaring with him over the crashing ocean, racing the waves, and felt a twinge of sadness and regret. I’d never do that again. Which meant I’d probably never see him again, either.

  “Ember?” Garret’s voice broke through my melancholy. He sat very close, bobbing on the surface of the water, and his metallic gaze was fastened on me. “You all right?”

  That same prickle again, but I ignored it. “Yeah,” I said, giving him a bright smile. “I’m fine. Just...looking for waves.”

  “That’s a relief.” He actually smiled back. “Because I’m depending on you to show me how to do this. The lesson isn’t over yet, I hope.”

  Those eyes. I felt like they pierced right through me; that if I didn’t break away now, they would peel me open to see what lay beneath. Deep within, the dragon stirred, growling. She didn’t like this human, I realized. Maybe he scared her, or the intensity of his gaze reminded her of a predator. Or maybe she felt that, if I stared at him much longer, I would lose myself in those stormy eyes and forget all about a certain golden-eyed rogue, waiting for me in the darkness.

  “Here comes a good one!” Lexi announced.

  I tore my gaze away and stared out over the water. Coming right at us, getting larger as it approached, was the familiar swell of our next ride. And, by the looks of it, it wasn’t a small one. Not gigantic, per se, but definitely not the “baby” wave I’d promised Garret.

  Oops. So much for easing him into it.

  I jerked my board around as Lexi did the same, and Garret followed our example. “When I say go,” I told him, lying flat on my stomach, “paddle just like I told you. Paddle like your life depends on it, and don’t look back.”

  Briefly, our gazes met. I didn’t see any fear or doubt on his face, just confidence, excitement and trust. My breath caught under that look, but then the swell loomed over us, and I hollered for everyone to go.

  We paddled. I hit the top of the wave first, and for just a moment, I perched on the rim of a mountain, my board teetering on the edge. Then the nose of the board plunged downward, and I leaped upright as we began to fall.

  Wind and spray whipped around me, buffeting my hair. I didn’t see anything but the ocean and the front of my board as it sliced through the water.

  And then, Garret sliced past me, his board sending up a spray of foam. Startled, I nearly fell, but quickly regained my balance and watched him from the corner of my eye. He stood on the board just as I’d taught him, knees bent, arms slightly raised, the wind whipping at his hair as he careened down the wave. A thrill of pride zipped through me, and I steered my board in his direction, pulling alongside him.

  “You’re doing it!” I called, though my voice was probably drowned out by the roar of the wave behind us. But then Garret looked over with a brief, dazzling smile, and my heart nearly stopped. I’d never seen him smile before, not a real one, and it transformed him completely. He was a creature of light, of energy and power and adrenaline, and absolutely beautiful.

  Behind us, the wave curled over and crashed in a roar of foam and spray, losing fury as it petered out in the shallows. Still on our boards, we cruised toward the beach until our momentum gave out and Garret hopped off the board into waist-deep water. He was panting, breathing hard, his whole face lit up again with an eager, excited grin as he spun to me.

  “That was amazing,” he exclaimed as I grinned back and splashed beside him, our boards bumping noses as they floated behind us. “I never felt... I mean...” He shook his head, sending droplets flying from his wet hair. “Just... Wow.”

  I laughed. It was good to see him like this, unguarded and free. He was normally so reserved, I had wondered if he’d ever had any real fun in his entire life. “Beginner’s luck, I think. No more going easy on you—next time we’ll catch a real ride.”

  “Hey, guys!” Lexi floated over, straddling her board. “What’s the holdup? Are we going again, or what?”

  I looked at Garret. He grinned, looking eager and boyish as he grabbed his board and turned toward the waves. “Yeah. Let’s go again.”

  Birth of a new surfer, I thought smugly, following them into the water. Let’s hope I haven’t created a monster.

  * * *

  We surfed the rest of the afternoon. Garret was an incredibly quick study, learning to spot approaching waves, eventually passing on those that were too small. He did wipe out a couple times, but we all did, and he fell off his board much less than I expected, especially on the bigger waves. Even after a particularly nasty wipeout, he bounced to his feet, shook water from his hair and waded dauntlessly back into the surf.

  The sun was hanging low and red over the water when we finally stopped, Calvin returning from farther down the alcove to join us. I was starving, tired and a little sore from being tumbled through the s
urf a few times, but Garret seemed reluctant to head back. He was insatiable. I really had created a monster.

  “Can we do this again?” he asked, quite seriously, as we loaded the boards onto the roof of the car. I looked at him, at the way his eyes stayed trained on me, the calm, happy look on his face, and my stomach danced.

  “Sure!” I grinned and tugged down a strap. “When did you have in mind?”

  “Tomorrow,” was the immediate reply. “If that’s okay with you.”

  I would’ve liked nothing better than to meet him again, maybe alone this time, but unfortunately... “I can’t tomorrow, Garret,” I said. “It’s Kristin’s birthday, and we’re meeting at the mall that afternoon so we can watch her buy things, I mean...so we can hang out and stuff. Sorry.” At least, I hoped I’d be able to make it. Scary Talon Lady had really screwed up my mornings, so the important things like surfing and hanging out with friends had to be moved to the afternoon. Thankfully, neither Kristin nor Lexi were early risers.

  “Come with us!” piped Lexi from the other side, poking her head over the roof. “Kristin won’t mind, and I think she’s bringing someone, so you won’t be the only guy there. Sadly, my deadbeat brother won’t be joining us.”

  Calvin didn’t even look up from his surfboard. “Walk around the mall with a bunch of girls squealing at clothes and other dudes? Yeah, you have fun with that.”

  I ignored him, focused on Garret. “Anyway, that’s where we’ll be tomorrow afternoon. You’re welcome to come along.”

  “To the mall?” A faintly troubled look crossed his face, that wariness settling back on him like a second skin. “I...don’t know. Maybe.”

  “Well,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant, “if you make up your mind, you’re welcome to join us. If it’s lunchtime, just look for me at the Panda Garden in the food court, or at the Cinnabon next door.”

  “If it’s before lunch, just follow the sounds of Ember complaining that she’s hungry,” Lexi added, and dodged the pebble I hurled at her.