Page 6

The Smell of Death

Fae

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D on’t trust the Guards . Fae recites for the millionth time.

She shivers in the evening chill, almost frozen in regret for not staying with the Elite girl earlier. Her wariness will be her undoing, especially now.

Fae isn’t sure how far she ran but hopes Alice didn’t find the dragon eggs in the recess of the cave. She needs to get back. It’s been hours of her hiding behind buildings and dumpsters. The Guards are scouring every inch of the island for her.

As expected from Topaz, most buildings still showcase extravagant lights, so it barely looks like nighttime. One skyscraper imitates green, yellow, and red fireworks along the side in pixelated explosions.

A sharp breeze cuts through the tears of Fae’s clothes. She peeks out the alley, seeing the Guard presence hasn’t decreased. How can it when this island is constantly ON? She’ll have to risk it and not look suspicious.

Ignoring the overwhelming horns and zipping cars, Fae trots across the intersection. What direction is the cave? She ducks behind a parked car and gazes at the obsidian blanket hanging over the island, hoping a friend is nearby. A digital clock in a shop window shows it’s after midnight but with the traffic, it resembles rush hour. The fireworks have at least ceased for the evening, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find—

“There!” she gasps.

Soaring through the lonely sky, Fae barely spots a silhouette of a baby dragon aimlessly circling with a high pitch purr.

What great luck; if only my power extended to detecting dragons nearby, too.

“Hey, friend,” she whispers. The baby slows its wandering flight and dives headfirst for Fae. She smiles when the dragon halts and unleashes brilliant, reflective wings that resemble a tiger swallowtail butterfly. Despite being a baby, the dragon is slightly taller than her when it plants its silver claws on the concrete. A pedestrian wearing a hoodie jumps from the dragon’s sudden entrance before scurrying away.

“Hiya! I’m Poppy!” The voice comes to Fae’s mind.

“Hi, Poppy. I’m Fae.”

With a cute head tilt, Poppy opens her mouth, revealing a toothless, wet smile. “Eek! I understand you! You must be Spirit User! Is that your power?”

Fae smiles. “Yes, I am, and I need your help. There’s a cave I’m trying to get back to. You see, I’m not familiar with the area, but there are dragon eggs in a cave that need protection.”

Poppy’s smile quickly shifts to a menacing—but cute—growl. Before Fae responds, patrons stumble out of the stretch of bars sitting down the street. Fae pushes against the car she’s crouched behind and looks back to Poppy, whose silver snake eyes glisten with rage.

“How do you know about eggs?”

Fae scratches her arm, unsure about revealing too much of her predicament, but who else can Poppy tell? As far as Fae knows, she’s the only Spirit User who can speak to dragons.

“I’m hiding from someone and saw them. Are.... they your eggs?” She resists rolling her eyes from the silly question as soon as she asks. Poppy is a baby.

“No. I hide them.” Poppy relaxes her hunched shoulders, tucking her wings behind her. “They’re my siblings. Stay away.”

Fae frowns. “Why? I wanna protect them! There’s a woman you should watch out—”

“I don’t know you! We’re being killed, and we can’t trust anyone.” Poppy jumps and flaps her wings to hover. “Stay away from cave. Eggs are not your problem.”

“No, wait!” Fae reaches out, but Poppy zips upward toward the sky and soars over the city buildings.

M inimal threads of what’s left of Fae’s socks hang loosely around her ankles. The soles of her feet throb with blisters from each island she’s run to.

Staying close to buildings, cars, and large structures helps with navigating, but not when she doesn’t know what direction to go. How much time have I lost?

Fae approaches concertgoers in the Entertainment District. They’re so hyper that takes ten minutes to get a coherent word from them until the neon-haired group offers her a hoodie and instructs her to go straight.

The hoodie’s warmth envelopes Fae into a soft hug tingling throughout her upper body. She tucks her blue afro mohawk in the hood before narrowly dodging a Guard’s line of sight as he marches through pedestrians down the sidewalk. Fae’s pants billow in the wind like paper streamers. That still needs work.

She doesn’t question why Guards are patrolling the streets with Elite members. Unlike the public service dorks, the Guards’ gazes are critical and arresting. Some are definitely looking for her, but telling who the bad Guards are apart from the good ones is impossible.

Even at this time of night, the bustling streets, bumping music, skateboarding kids, and overall chaos are Fae’s only saving grace. She carefully weaves by lurking glances and keeps her eyes on the ground.

Dawn breaks through, and Fae’s calloused feet sting as she settles into a limp. She hobbles to a rickety pub and sits by a giant dumpster in the back. Heavy exhaustion closes her eyes for a brief second before she jumps to cackling nearby. Scrambling to her feet, Fae keeps close to the wooden shack of a pub and moves around to peek near the front.

Two people in Ultima uniforms stumble off the porch while holding each other. They fall over each other to the point where Fae loses interest and sits back by the dumpster. She closes her eyes but doesn’t expect to fall asleep.

“O ver here!” someone shouts from around the building. Fae jolts awake from the authoritative tone she knows too well. Her limbs weigh on her as she gets to her feet and search her surroundings.

Across the street, a swarm of Guards jog to a slanted opening in the earth’s wall—the cave! It looks different in the daylight, and she was closer than she thought. A parked car along the side of the road unleashes a tall, muscular woman with sunglasses. Before she walks toward the cave, a Guard rushes to her. Fae’s instinct is to run, but she moves closer through the parking lot.

Gotta know what their next move is.

“Ma’am! No sign of the girl or any dragons.”

The woman takes off her glasses, but it isn’t a shocking revelation. Her angular jaw, hook nose, and sneer can alert anyone that it’s Mildred Anguine, advisor to King Remington of Garnet Island.

“A Guard friend gave you the tip, did he not?” Mildred asks.

The woman hesitates before responding. Fae squints and barely makes out the Garnet Island insignia on the breast pocket of her uniform.

“Yes, but we might’ve come too late, m-ma’am,” the Guard mumbles.

Mildred grabs her by the neck and effortlessly lifts her off the ground, muscles flexing from exertion.

“And what will you have me do with such futile information?”

The Guard struggles and drops her crossbow. Fae watches uncomfortably until the girl utters something inaudible. Mildred releases her with little thought and watches her cough and gasp for air. Fae’s skin crawls from the thought of Mildred finding her again. No sign of dragons must mean Poppy took the eggs already.

“Find her,” Mildred says, turning on her heels and ducking back into the car. Fae sucks her breath, waiting for the remaining Guards to pile into the car before speeding away. She bites through the pain in her feet and makes a break for the cave—skidding down the unsteady path at the mouth and hopping over stalagmites to reach the wall where she last saw the eggs. As expected, they’re gone.

Fae slumps her shoulders. “Thank goodness.”

“Your fault.” A growl curls up Fae’s spine. She whips around to face a gum-bearing Poppy glowering at her with the light from the crystalline bouncing off her silver, metallic scales. “Eggs are gone! Siblings are gone and it’s your fault!”

Fae shoots her hands up. “I didn’t do anything!”

“Your kind did! Zealans and Spirit Users are awful.” Poppy’s mouth opens as an orange glow rises from deep in her throat. The glow brightens and dims to a puff of smoke blowing in Fae’s face. Poppy’s wings sag as her shoulders drop. Fae’s smile tightens to not express too much relief at that thought of a baby dragon not mastering an element blast yet.

“I thought you took the eggs,” Fae states. “You flew away last night. I figured you came here.”

“I was heading here, but my friend cried for help, so I changed course. His wing was ruined by large firework. I comforted him for hours.”

“So, you were hiding just now?”

“Nearby. Those people reek of death. I don’t know what to do now.”

“I think I know who took the eggs,” Fae says. A violent shiver rocks through her body as the cold pierces her copper legs. “That lady you saw is bad news. I’ve been running from her and warning any dragon I can find. I wanted to protect the eggs but . . .”

A shaky smile creeps across Fae’s face. The goosebumps haven’t left since she’s been cold this whole time. With no money or help, she’s been alone since her escape. All Fae ever wanted was to be free and meet dragons. If she gets caught, she’ll become Mildred’s puppet again.

Poppy tilts her head, her metallic scales reflecting in the new angle. “Oh. You’re in danger, too?”

Fae nods numbly. “In a way, yes.”

Poppy softly bumps her warm snout against Fae’s head. She looks up at the glistening silver dragon as the cave drip echoes from the low ceiling.

“I’m sorry. Tell me who took the eggs, and I’ll find them. In return, you stay here and be safe.”

“But you’re still a baby. Don’t you generally stay on one island until you’re old enough to travel more?”

Stubbornness becomes apparent on Poppy’s face.

“Sorry.” Fae instinctively grabs the sapphire necklace.

She still worries about Poppy traveling such a great distance. After Zeala split from the Era of Chaos, dragons learned over time that the distance between islands was too much on a baby’s wings. They’re likely to tire out and drown in the ocean. Fae will never know if Poppy makes it unless she patiently waits for her return and can’t even guarantee Poppy will know where to go. The Guards are hot on Fae’s heels; a train ride to meet Poppy on Garnet is terrible.

“Fae? Tell me where to go. I’m smarter than I look.”

“Okay. Her name is Alice Reid. She works for the Elite Organization. She’s most likely gonna be wearing a maroon jacket with black pants—they all do, so it’s confusing. Alice has very distinct golden eyes and black hair about shoulder length. She’s taller than me with a similar skin tone. Elite has a building where you may find her. Please start there. Watch out for any Guards and that gigantic woman you saw earlier. Please be careful.”

Poppy nods and shows her gums again with a big smile. She jumps to hover as her reflective wings catch the light between each flap before flying down the wet cave path out the mouth of the entrance.