“Of course he can.” All he had to do was attend the Reckoning and keep Ryan’s father occupied, ideally outside with the rest of the guests, until we had the jewel.
“It’s just that he doesn’t seem so keen on this whole plan.” He winced as Liam and Tuck head-butted each other. “Ooh, that had to hurt.” The twins then turned on Charles, who was sitting cross-legged on the roof of the gazebo with his fists clenched and eyes squeezed shut.
“Dad’s just worried about us.” Understandable, given that the last heist hadn’t worked out so well. But I had come back, and I’d found Mom. So in a way, it was a success. Sort of. “He’ll do it. I know him.”
Looking over at us, Liam winked his overly large dragon eye at Gabriela, and he and Tuck both hunkered down and crept up on Charles, one from each side of the gazebo. Gabriela giggled.
“I think Charles is going to—” Benden began.
As the twins leaped for Charles, he suddenly ballooned out. Scales broke out over his body, and he transformed into an enormous golden dragon, crushing the poor gazebo. Roaring, he swatted Liam with his tail and swiped at Tuck with his claws.
The three of them began chasing one another around thegarden.
Gabriela scooted closer to us. “Aren’t you going to transform?” she asked Benden. She’d already seen me do it, as I was explaining the process to my brothers.
“Can’t do it,” he said.
“Why not?”
“Self-esteem issues,” I chimed in.
She frowned. “But you’re a wyvern.”
“So?” Benden scowled. “Still can’t do it.”
“Because you don’t believe you can?”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Benden said.
“No, it’s not,” I said.
Gabriela brightened. “How about I believe for you? Will that work?”
He stared at her, and for a split second I was sure it would work and he’d solve all his emotional issues in the blinding light of Gabriela’s faith and optimism. “Tell me about the Home of the Fighting Badgers,” he said.
She blinked. “School? Um, okay…but why do you want to know about that? Compared to this”—she waved her hand at my dragon brothers—“it’s boring.”
“Not to me. Tell me about being human. Please.” Andhewas looking atherwith the same expression she had worn when I’d told her about wyverns.
So Gabriela started talking about the quirks of high school, while Benden listened with rapt attention. As she talked, she grew more and more animated—she’d been so busy thinking about other worlds that I don’t know if she’d ever noticed all the great things in her own.
While she expounded on the glories of research papers, I thought about Dad. How it must have felt when he’d heard I’d died. How he must have blamed Mr. Keene. How he must feel now, knowing that Mr. Keene had lied, knowing that Mr. Keene had torn apart our family for a second time. Would Dad be able to talk civilly with him?
After my brothers had successfully transformed a few times, Benden worked with all of us on fire breathing. My brothers were far more advanced than I was—they already could control their fire with the precision of a blowtorch. So I ended up practicing with Benden, while Liam chatted with Gabriela.
Benden and I etched patterns with our breath in the grass. I’d just finished drawing on a tree with my thin stream of fire when Dad came outside.
And like that, playtime was over. The magnitude of what we were about to do crashed down on all of us, and every worry that we’d been suppressing surfaced again.
“Earpieces,” he said, holding out his hand.
My brothers transformed into their human shapes, and we all trotted to gather around Dad. He’d prepared one earpiece and mic set for each of us. Sticking mine into my ear and attaching the mic inside my shirt, I tested it. “Lalala, can you hear me?”
“You’re standing right next to me,” Liam said. He then turned to Gabriela and helped her insert her earpiece. She smiled at him as he pushed her hair back from her neck. I made a mental note to tease her later too.
When we were certain all the earpieces were working, I took mine out and put it into my pocket—I’d wear it after I was done with the dragon flight part of the plan. “Okay. Gabriela will be with me. Dad, you have to keep Mr. and Mrs. Keene outside the house. Charles—”
“I keep an eye on the kitchen. Before you arrive, I clear out anyone who’s there.”
