“Watch,” she says.
“What are you doing?” I ask her. “You can’t let her do this,” I tell Drake, who does nothing to stop her.
“I’m in perfect control of my dragon,” she tells me, and then she shifts.
The transformation is instantaneous and fluid. One moment she’s standing there in human form, the next there’s a pretty gray dragon in her place.
My dragon roars inside me with recognition of her beast. Then he is silent all over again, withdrawing into me.
I half expect her to tear off. Or to tear into us, but it doesn’t happen.
Instead, Shadow holds her dragon form for a long moment, stretching her wings, flexing her claws. Making her point. Then she shifts back, just as smoothly as before.
She’s human again, reaching for her clothes and dressing quickly.
Drake just nods slowly. “It’s all true, Grim. Every word. Shadow isn’t feral. You saw how easily she shifted form. How in control she was for the whole time she was in her scales.”
I scrub a hand over my face and nod once in a jerky motion. I can’t deny it, even if I want to.
“The two Councilors who were dismissed and jailed for treason,” Drake says. “Tairn and Ember. They were traitors to Draig. They were spies for the Mainland government. They were feeding information back to the Mainland, helping to cover upthe truth about the vaccinations. Tairn was trying to get more spies onto our Council. They have eyes everywhere.”
“We have documents,” Shadow adds. “Proof. Medical records, communications between Mainland officials. All of it confirms what we’re telling you.”
I can’t breathe. The air feels too thick, too heavy.
A whole hell of a lot of what we’ve been told – what we’ve been made to believe – is all a lie.
“Things are turning around for us on Mistveil,” Fury says. “Females are getting pregnant again. I’m sure some of those offspring will be female.”
“How?” I frown.
“About eight months ago, we orchestrated to get one of our people working in a vaccination center, in a trusted position. Four months ago, they were able to swap out large contingents of the vaccinations with placebos. We just got a second person into a second vaccination center. It won’t be long before we infiltrate the third and start swapping out the doses there, too. We need to take back our power…all of us,” Fury says. “Not just on Mistveil but here on Draig Island, too.”
“We also need to work toward brokering peace,” Drake says, determination shining in his eyes, his eyes on Fury. “But that’s my job.” He turns back to me.
“Why are you telling me this?” I ask. “I think I know where this is going, and I’m not sure I like it.”
Drake and Shadow exchange another look.
“Because we have a job for you. We need your help. I trust you, Grim,” Drake says.
I bark out a harsh laugh that holds zero humor. “A job. I thought so.”
“It’s dangerous,” Drake continues, his voice serious. “If you’re caught, you’ll be risking everything. Your freedom, your life, all of it…everything.”
Everything.
I think about my empty cabin, my dead-end job, my dragon slowly disappearing inside me. I think about the numbness that’s been eating away at me.
That’s just it; I don’t have a damned thing to lose. Not a single thing that matters, at any rate.
“Tell me,” I say, and for the first time in months, I feel something other than numb anger stirring in my chest.
It might be purpose. It might be rage.
Whatever it is, it’s better than nothing.
“We need you to get a key player on board with us. Someone who works at the Vaccination Center. Someone with access to the vaccinations. That, or you need to get close enough to someone to be able to steal their keycard…to gain access that way,” Drake says.
