Read Online The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson - Free Book Online Page A

She didn’t recognize him, and she knew most of the faces of the current crop of scrappers in town. Strangers didn’t necessarily mean trouble, but sometimes the hungry or hurt ones were desperate, and they weren’t above breaking into houses for food and warmth. This man looked like he was in sore need of both. But his injured arm might also mean that this was the other survivor ofthe caravan that Jory had mentioned. Piper hoped so, anyway.
    Before she could open her mouth to ask him what he wanted, the man spoke.
    “Are you Piper Linny?” he asked, a mixture of hope and impatience in his voice. “I was told this is her house.”
    “That’s me,” Piper said cautiously. “What is it you want?”
    “Is she here?” the man asked. His voice quivered, suddenly excited. “I was on a caravan in the fields when the meteors hit. I thought everyone else died, but I was told you found a girl, that she survived. Please, may I see her?” He took a step forward and lifted his good hand as if to push the door open.
    “Whoa.” Piper set her foot against the door and rested her hand on the knife in her belt, making sure he saw the gesture. She could tell he was upset and worried, and though she felt for him, she didn’t like the idea of him pushing his way into the house. Injured or not, he was still a stranger. “It’s all right,” she said, “just calm down. Yes, she’s here, and she’s alive.”
    “Thank the goddess!” The man sighed and rubbed his good hand over his face. Piper noticed a tremble in his fingers. “Please,” he said, “I have to see her. I was so frightened.”
    Piper bit her lip and looked the man up and down again. “Okay, but give me a minute to check on her first before I let you in.”
    Piper waited for him to take a step back before she closed the door. She should have been relieved—the man had come to her, saving her the trouble of searching for him. All she had to do now was give him the girl and—hopefully—collect her reward. But Jory was right. Something about the man didn’t sit right with her. He seemed so anxious, like he was about to jump out of his skin. She told herself she was imagining things and that he was just eager to make sure that Anna was all right.
    “Anna, the man I told you about—the one who was on the caravan with you—is here. If you’re feeling up to it, he really wants to see—” She stopped. Anna wasn’t sitting by the stove anymore. She’d pressed herself into the farthest corner of the room and was staring at the door with an expression of sheer terror on her face.
    “Don’t let him in,” she said. Her voice was barely a whisper. “Don’t let in the wolf.”
    Confusion gripped Piper. “Anna, what’s wrong?” Piper crossed the room and crouched in front of the girl, taking her by the shoulders. The girl’s breath came in quick, panicked gulps. She shook her head violently from side to side.
    “No, no, no, no,” she moaned. “The wolf found me. He caught my scent. Now I’m the prey. I’m acting just like the prey, but I can’t stop!”
    “What are you talking about?” Piper demanded. The wild expression on the girl’s face frightened and confused her. “Who is he? Anna,
who is he?
”
    “We have to escape. Fight or flight. Always flight—it’s the only way when you compare the odds.” Whimpering, Anna struggled out of Piper’s grip and stood up. She grabbed Piper’s coat and shoved it into her hands. “Get out while we still can.”
    “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.” But Piper put on the coat. It was, after all, best to be prepared for anything.
    A loud, urgent knocking sounded again at the door, and the man’s voice came through the thin wood. “Listen to me. You must let me see her, my Anna.” Piper heard the impatience in his tone, but she thought now it bordered on anger.
    Anna danced in place, looking as if she might bolt for the window. “We have to run!” she