The Mark of the Dragonfly Read Online Free PDF Page B

litter to take Micah back to town. The tarp seemed to be the only thing holding the wagon together. Once she freed it, the wagon collapsed.
    An arm fell across Piper’s lap.
    With great effort, she held in a scream. Scrambling back, she let the arm drop to the ground. Piper tore the tarp away and uncovered the body of a girl lying in the wreckage.
    Judging by the face, she appeared to be only a year or two younger than Piper, but she was smaller, delicate-boned and frail. She wore petticoats and a pale yellow dress with flowers embroidered on the collar. Mud and snow had ruined these, and her wet skirt clung to her legs. Her dark hair hung in braids coiled at the back of her neck. Several strands had come free and lay limply across her cheek.
    For the second time that day, Piper found herself checking for wounds, her hands tracing the girl’s limbs and face, looking for the cause of her death. It took hera minute to realize the girl’s skin was still warm. When Piper reached her chest, she drew back in shock at the steady rise and fall, the breath that blew softly on her fingers.
    The girl was alive.

The tarp was just big enough to carry Micah and the girl. Briefly, Piper considered leaving the two of them to go get help—it was risky to move Micah, especially if he had a head wound—but the howling, frigid wind made her decide against that. The sooner she got them both back to town and got them warm, the better.
    Piper took as much medicine and food from the caravan as she could carry, which wasn’t much, but once she got back to town, she would tell Micah’s brother where to find the rest. She’d taken bandages from one of the medicine packs and used them to wrap Micah’s head, but she could see no visible wound on the girl. She did a quick search but found no other bodies in the caravan wreckage. If there were any other passengers, they’d either escaped the meteorite impact and run off—or there was nothing left of them.
    She dragged her burden out of the fields, trying to be gentle as possible as she passed over the crater-marked earth. When she finally reached the town limits, she was half fainting with exhaustion, and a fiery ball of pain had settled around her ankle.
    The townspeople were still in the shelter, which meant all the healers were there too. Piper didn’t think she had the strength to get both Micah and the girl all the way to the center of town. Her own house was closer. That would have to do.
    She dragged the tarp across her yard, kicked open her front door, and pulled it into the house. Her legs wobbled as she lifted the girl by the armpits and propped her up by the stove, the warmest spot in the house. Piper put Micah beside her, then stripped the two blankets off her bed, one for each of them. As far as Piper could guess, the girl would be fine—she’d probably just passed out from the force of the meteor blast or from the thick fumes in the air. She’d been the lucky one. But Micah needed help, now.
    Voices filled the air, breaking the heavy silence that had settled over the fields in the wake of the storm. Stumbling, Piper went back outside. While she’d been tending to the injured, the rest of the town had emerged from the shelter and were now running for the fields. Piper was torn. She could try to chase down one of the healers or go find Jory and bring him here, but that meant leaving Micah. A wave of panic washed over her at the thoughtof leaving her friend alone, even for a few minutes. What if he woke up and she wasn’t there? What if he got worse and he was all alone?
    Just like her father—alone when he died. She hadn’t been able to be with him.
    Piper clamped her jaw tight to stifle a whimper. She’d brought Micah this far—she had to get him home to his brother.
    Her arms leaden, Piper put Micah back on the tarp and dragged it outside. She headed toward the center of town, shouting frantically for Jory as she went. Halfway there, she met him running.
    “What