Burning in Fire (The Dragon Tributes #9)

Chapter 1

Harlow

The crowd erupts in cheers as Dani drops down from the final net, landing hard on her feet.

She’s covered from head to toe in thick, brown mud.

It drips from her hair and clothes, but she’s beaming from ear to ear, her chest heaving as she tries to catch her breath.

It’s taken three months of grueling training and countless failed attempts, but she’s finally done it.

I’m thrilled for her, and yet my stomach churns as I watch her celebrate. The pressure that’s been building inside me feels like it’s about to explode. Out of thirty Tributes who arrived on Draig Island, there are now only two of us left who haven’t conquered Sky’s Edge. Two. Vanessa and me.

Jordyn sucks in a deep breath next to me and breaks into a brilliant smile.

“You did it!” she shouts to Dani, her voice carrying over the cheers of our fellow Tributes.

Dani starts toward us, and we automatically move to meet her halfway. I take exactly three steps before my feet somehow manage to find absolutely nothing to trip over, and I nearly plant my face in the dirt. My arms go out as I struggle to keep my balance. I barely manage to stay upright.

“Arghhhhh!” I yell.

I really need to be more careful, which is the exact opposite of what my trainer constantly tells me. I glance over at Smoke, and sure enough, he’s scowling at me with a look of disapproval etched into his features.

Asshole!

I ignore him and focus on congratulating Dani. She pulls me into a muddy hug that I don’t have the heart to refuse. I’m going to be dripping in it soon enough anyway.

“It’s nearly your turn,” she tells me, her eyes bright with excitement and relief. “You can do it.” Then she heads toward the outdoor shower to wash off the mud.

Bile rises in my throat, and I have to press both hands against my stomach, forcing myself to take deep, measured breaths to keep from throwing up right here in front of everyone.

First Vanessa, then me. If one or both of us don’t make it through Sky’s Edge, everyone has to stay right here until we do.

No one can progress to attempting the dragon bonding until we all make it through the obstacle course – or die trying.

Some of the Tributes are desperate to bond with a dragon. Others, like me, just want to go home. Neither of those things can happen until we all conquer this course.

No pressure at all.

We go back to our original position.

“Vanessa,” one of the trainers shouts. “You’re up.”

She gives a stiff nod.

I reach over and take her trembling hand, giving it what I hope is a reassuring squeeze. Her face has gone completely pale, making her freckles stand out.

“You’ve got this!” Jordyn tells Vanessa, who responds with a tight smile that doesn’t look particularly confident.

“Let’s go!” Smoke growls from behind us.

Now that Dani has made it, everyone else has successfully completed Sky’s Edge.

Well, everyone except Jack, who got nailed by one of those swinging hammers a couple of weeks ago.

He fell and broke both legs, shattering his arm in several places, which earned him a free pass home.

Lucky bastard. Although I can still hear his agonized screams echoing in my memory while we waited for the medical chopper to arrive.

It seemed to take forever. I can still picture how both his legs were bent at impossible angles at the shins. Maybe not so lucky after all.

I taste bile again and must make some kind of distressed noise because Jordyn turns to me.

“You okay?” she asks under her breath.

“Never better.” I push out a heavy sigh.

“You’ll be just fine.” Jordyn smiles. My friend is so optimistic; it’s both annoying and endearing. How does she maintain that level of positivity in a place like this?

Vanessa takes her position at the starting line.

She’s chewing on her bottom lip. The bell sounds, sharp and commanding, and the massive digital clock begins its countdown as soon as she sprints across the white line.

It will only stop when she makes it to the other side.

She has exactly five minutes to complete the entire course, and I know from experience that those five minutes flash by like seconds.

Vanessa is good, but she normally gets trapped under the net during the mud obstacle for way too long. So long that she’s never even had a chance to attempt the final climb because her time runs out before she can get there. Maybe today will be different. I hope so for her…I really do.

My eyes drift up to the final obstacle of Sky’s Edge, and my stomach drops. The high net stretches up and up and up until it seems to disappear into the clouds. Just looking at it makes me feel sick.

“Stop it!” Jordyn tells me, still smiling. “You were the second person to make it all the way through in practice. You’ve got this.”

“I don’t got anything,” I mutter. “I might be able to make it through, but I can’t beat that damned clock. If I go any faster, I’ll—”

Just then, Vanessa squeals, and the sound makes all of us snap our attention back to her. She’s just cleared the last wall but stumbled on the landing. She’s quickly back on her feet, though, sprinting toward the balance beam.

“We’re talking a few seconds. Just a little faster,” Jordyn tells me. “You were only nine seconds over on your last attempt.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“I have to remind you, or you’ll keep beating yourself up. You can do it. Push yourself.”

“You may as well ask me to grow wings and fly,” I mumble under my breath. I’m not fast, I’m careful. It’s that or dead. But I keep that cheerful thought to myself.

We watch as Vanessa navigates the rope bridge. As per usual, she is making quick work of it.

“You’ve got this!” I shout to her.

“Go, Vanessa!” someone else shouts. Others join in with words of encouragement, and the energy from the crowd seems to give her an extra boost.

“I think she might just do it this time,” I tell Jordyn.

“You will too,” she tells me.

I give her a hard look. Easy for her to say, since she completed the course weeks ago.

Jordyn puts her arm around me and gives me a squeeze. I know she means well, but I don’t feel any better. If anything, the weight of everyone’s expectations is making everything worse.

Vanessa squeals again as she stops just in time, one of the massive swinging hammers whooshing past her face with inches to spare. She almost loses her balance but manages to use her arms to steady herself.

Gasps rise from the crowd, me included. Then she’s jumping to the next platform, the hammer barely missing her as she leaps.

“Even if you don’t make it this time, you will next time. I’m sure of it,” Jordyn tells me. “Or the time after that.” She shrugs, as if forcing everyone to wait indefinitely is no big deal.

“Everyone will love me if I do that,” I tell her.

“Who cares what they think?” Jordyn replies. “It is what it is.”

“I care, since I’ll be forcing everyone to wait until I get through this stupid course. It could be months…years.”

Jordyn laughs. “Don’t be so dramatic. It won’t be. You’ll see.”

“You have more faith in me than I have in myself. I’m telling you, if I go any faster, I’ll get hit by the hammer or fall.” I swallow thickly.

This sucks so badly. To think that the only thing standing between me and getting back home is this obstacle course from hell.

My plan is simple: get through the course, don’t bond with a dragon or get turned to ash in the process, and then go home. Home to my real life.

Easy!

Not!

I think about Miles back on the Mainland, and my heart flutters.

It’s so unfair. We were friends for years, and I’d harbored a crush on him for a lot of that time.

Then he broke up with his long-term girlfriend and finally asked me out.

We had one magical, perfect date when that envelope arrived.

That stupid, asshole envelope. The one telling me I had to come here to Draig Island.

We made the decision not to pursue the relationship any further.

What would have been the point when I was leaving?

But he did promise to wait for me to return.

I need to get back to my life. Back to my future. Back to Miles. And that means I have to conquer Sky’s Edge.

An excited murmur runs through the crowd, pulling me from my thoughts. I look over at Vanessa, who’s nearly through the mud portion of the obstacle course. I glance at the clock and realize with shock that she might actually make it this time.

Jordyn and I look at each other. Her eyes are wide and glinting with excitement.

“Go, Vanessa!” both of us shout.

We all cheer as Vanessa slides out from under the net, covered in brown muck but moving fast.

She shakes herself off and runs toward the final obstacle. Then she starts to climb, and everyone holds their breath. Vanessa is moving faster than I’ve ever seen her move.

“Wow!” Jordyn whispers. “I think she’s going to do it.”

The crowd goes wild. Everyone except our trainers, that is. They just stand there looking unimpressed, like watching us risk our lives for their entertainment is just another day. And I suppose it is.

Smoke narrows his eyes at me before looking back at Vanessa, who’s making quick work of the final obstacle. She’s already starting her descent, moving like a spider down the net.

This is wonderful and terrible at the same time. I’m so happy for Vanessa, but her success puts enormous pressure on me to complete the course in time. Otherwise, I’ll be the only one left. The only thing standing between everyone and their next phase of this nightmare.

She’s so lucky, I think to myself, just as Vanessa fumbles and loses her footing.

Shrieks rise from the crowd as her legs dangle from the net. I clap a hand over my mouth, my heart beating wildly.

She tries desperately to get her feet back on the ropes, but her hands are slipping. Then she falls, but one leg gets caught in the netting. She’s screaming, trying frantically to grab hold of anything that might save her.

And then she’s falling…falling and falling until she hits the hard ground with a sickening thud that I’ll hear in my nightmares for the rest of my life.

The trainers spring into action. I also start running toward Vanessa, along with several others, but Smoke grabs me and pulls me back. He and Claw form a human barrier, keeping the rest of us away from the scene while the trainers work on Vanessa’s motionless form.

Within a minute, medical professionals arrive. It looks like an episode from my favorite medical drama, except this is real, and there’s blood, and Vanessa might be dying. We aren’t close, but I like her. I’m suddenly sorry I didn’t make more of an effort to get to know her.

They’re doing chest compressions, shocking her with defibrillators, and injecting her with various medications. Shouting orders at each other in medical jargon I don’t understand.

A helicopter lands to the right of Sky’s Edge, its rotors whipping up dust and debris. Then Vanessa is being loaded into the aircraft on a stretcher, and it disappears into the clouds above.

What just happened?

What the hell!?

My heart is beating at what feels like a hundred miles per minute. I realize I’m crying, tears streaming down my cheeks unchecked. Looking around, I see the same stricken faces, the same tears on almost everyone.

“I think she’s dead,” Jordyn says over and over, followed by, “She can’t be dead, can she?” She shakes her head, sniffing. More tears roll down her cheeks. “Do you think they’ll save her?” she asks me. “Surely they will.”

I shake my head, unable to speak. There’s no way anyone could have survived that fall. No way.

And now I’m the only one left.