He crossed to me and took my hands. “I will never hurt you again, Sky. I love you. A million times over, I love you.”
In my ear, Tuck mumbled,“Dude, we can hear you.”
Tears were in my eyes. “I love you too.” And then we were kissing again, and this time it did feel like fireworks, exploding inside me, with a fanfare so loud in my ears that the rest of the world was blotted out. When the kiss ended, I felt as if my head were spinning.
“Did not need to hear that,”Charles said.
I was grinning at Ryan and couldn’t stop.
“Um, Sky?”Benden said.“Shouldn’t we, you know, do the heist?”
“Right.” I was too happy to even blush. Ryan wasmine.He’d lied for me. He loved me. And we could continue this conversation (and the kissing) just as soon as we survived the next hour.
In the hall, outside his door, we heard footsteps on the stairs. A door opened. A door closed. I heard voices: my father’s and his. I couldn’t hear words, but I could hear tone. And then a door was thrown open. A door slammed. Footsteps. Two sets. They were in the hall, coming toward Ryan’s room. “Have you been talking to my son behind my back?” Mr. Keene was asking Dad.
“I’ve got this,” Ryan whispered to me. “Hide.”
Gabriela ducked behind his bed, and I hid under his desk.
My father spoke. “We’ve had no contact, beyond a handshake at my daughter’s funeral. I am surprised that you attended.” He sounded civil, completely cordial. Nice emphasis on the word “daughter’s.” I was impressed.
“She was a child. It was a tragedy. I hope you know that you have my deepest sympathies. The loss of a child, no matter how misguided she was, no matter how poor her decisions, is the harshest pain. I know you must blame yourself greatly. The questions you must ask yourself: if only you’d watched her more carefully, if only you’d instilled a greater sense of caution, if only you’d erected firmer boundaries, would it be different?”
My father began to speak, but Mr. Keene cut him off.
“I am not criticizing your parenting style,” Mr. Keene said. “Far from it. Your sons are everything a wyvern could hope for: ambitious yet obedient, independent yet respectful, talented and hardworking. You should be very proud.” They were just outside Ryan’s bedroom.
“I was proud of my daughter as well,” Dad said stiffly. “She was strong in all the ways someone should be strong. She knew her own mind, and she pursued her goals. Her mother was proud of her too.”
“Ahh, it is that blind spot that is the reason that I will not vote for your reinstatement,” Mr. Keene said. He sounded truly regretful. “I am sorry, but your judgment is clouded.”
“Loving one’s family is not a weakness. It is a strength!”
I wondered if Mr. Keene was trying to bait Dad. It sounded like it, as if he wanted to force Dad to say something that would incriminate him, something that Mr. Keene could use against him at the Reckoning. Suddenly, I was sure: everything my family had said about Mr. Keene was true. He wanted my family to be cast out of wyvern society for good.
We had to take him down.
“Your ‘strength’ led to the loss of your wife and daughter,” Mr. Keene said. “Do you really want to jeopardize your boys as well? Right now their fate is precarious, tainted by their association with failure. Keep them on the straight and narrow, and all will be well.” The bedroom door opened. “Son, it’s time,” Ryan’s father said.
“I’m ready,” Ryan said. He blocked his father’s view as he went out, and he shut the door behind him. It was smooth—Mr. Keene had no reason to suspect we were here. “Hello, Mr. Hawkins.”
“I heard you completed your first heist, Ryan. Congratulations. That’s a mighty achievement. Thomas, you must be very proud of him.”
“Indeed I am,” Mr. Keene said heartily.
I was proud of Dad—he’d kept his head with Mr. Keene. And I was proud of Ryan. He’d given no hint to his father that anything at all unusual was happening.
All three of them headed for the stairs. I listened for their footsteps, counting them. Soon they reached the bottom. Beckoning to Gabriela to follow, I crept out of Ryan’s room, through the hall in the opposite direction, and then down the back stairs to the kitchen.
My brothers and Benden were waiting for us. Tuck was busily adding stuffed cherry tomatoes to a tray and passing it out the window. Charles was standing guard in front of the pantry door, arms crossed, biceps bulging, like a bouncer in a club.
Without a word, Liam and Benden joined us as we crossed to the basement door. I picked the lock and we headed down.
The wall of fire was just where we’d left it, but Gabriela didn’t hesitate. She downed the vial of the fire resistance spell and strode through the fire. Liam, Benden, and I followed. I stopped the boys at the base of the steps, while Gabriela knelt in front of the wyvern detection spell.
I then danced my way through the lasers. On the other side, I shut them off, and Liam, Benden, and Gabriela joined me. As before, I hooked onto the ceiling, hung upside down, and cracked the lock. It took me two minutes. Less. When the vault door opened, Benden blasted the fire beast. It withered, and we entered the vault, crossing directly to the Door.
“We’re in,” I said to the earpiece. Then I turned to my brother. “Liam, your turn.”
