“I always do.”
Orx walked me to the back door, so he could lock it behind me. “Don’t be a hero.”
“I don’t know how to be a hero, no risk there,” I told him.
The door closing behind me felt painfully final.
Halfway there, I caught sight of the shifters. They moved through the street fluidly as they fought in tandem, a blur of wings and scale and blade as they shifted. Back and forth more easily than I would’ve shed my cloak.
As I ducked into the next alley, heartbeat thumping so loud in my ears that I could barely hear anything, the healer’s bell sounded, ringing wild and off-key. They were calling for help or issuing a warning or both.
I ran for Tay, hoping my luck would hold.
I hit the healer’s back door hard, then swung it open, my hands clumsy. I moved rapidly through empty rooms. Where had everyone gone?
Inside the front room, Ana was dragging a desk against the front entrance, her arms slick with sweat and blood. She turned and when she saw me, she nodded. “I thought you’d be back for your brother if you knew. I could use some help.”
The door splintered, throwing the table back toward us. Ana and I scattered.
The first burrower wedged its snout through, snapping at the air.
I fired, the bolt thunking into its shoulder. It screamed, a horrible, human sound.
Ana hit it with a broom, catching it in the eye. It reared back, but another one slammed into the door behind it, cracking the frame.
The two monsters both tried to surge inside, slammed into each other, and began to roll over each other, fighting and snapping.
I fumbled the reload. Ana screamed at me to hurry.
Then a third shape loomed behind them. A copper dragon.
He tore the burrower’s head off. For a second, it was in his mouth,before he popped it like a berry. The second monster turned on him, but he snapped it in half.
Then he shifted back. Brown hair, gathered in a ponytail, and an angular, handsome face.
Ander.
He reached over his shoulder for his sword, golden light suffusing the doorway as the sheath appeared by magic. When the light died, he had his sword in his hand and the leather straps of his sheath were over his powerful shoulders.
“Who else is in here?” He moved swiftly into the ruins.
“There’s my brother, the old woman…” I looked at Ana.
“That’s all. Everyone else ran.”
“We need to get them out of here,” Ander said.
“Follow me.” Ana’s eyes were wide with fear, and she jumped at every sound from outside, but she didn’t hesitate to run for the infirmary.
Inside, Tay was struggling to sit up on the edge of the bed. He tried to stand, and his legs collapsed beneath him.
“I’ve got you,” I told my brother, stooping to slide my arm around his waist. I got him up, the two of us staggering together.
Ander gave us an uncertain look and made to sheath his sword. But he couldn’t carry Tay; we needed him to fight.
“Get us to safety,” I told him. “I’ve got my brother.”
He nodded. Respect lit his dark blue eyes, but he said, “Safety may be hard to find.”
