Page 9

“Let me introduce you,” I said. “Coco, this is my great-uncle Bracken. He’s a Corey wicche. Bracken, this is Coco Drake. She’s one of the Drake dragons and has thankfully agreed to come with us.” I couldn’t dim the smile on my face. Bracken and Coco. We had a real chance of coming out of this alive.

Bracken stood to shake Coco’s hand. “I’m so pleased to meet you, Miss Drake. I met that nice young man George Fyr when I was here a few days ago. I hadn’t realized, though. Is there a whole wing of dragons in San Francisco?”

Coco looked uncomfortable. “We don’t normally discuss how many of us are in any given location.”

He held up a hand. “Please forgive me. I had no idea I was asking something intrusive.” He shook his head. “I’m a researcher, a historian, really, but one who experiences a great deal of anxiety in unfamiliar situations. I’m terribly sorry for hiding behind questions. It’s a bad habit of mine.”

Bracken had done such a thorough job of chastising himself, Coco’s wariness seemed to melt away.

“It’s okay,” she told him. “I suppose it’s not a secret that my family lives in San Francisco.”

“Can I get you anything to eat or drink?” I moved toward the galley.

She shook her head. “I’m okay. I can’t believe I’m standing here, though. I’d basically decided I wasn’t going, but then I started packing.” She shrugged, seemingly at a loss as to how the decision had been made. “I’m hoping we won’t be gone long. Gran doesn’t know. It’d be best if we were out of US airspace before she finds out.”

“Can Fyr cover for you?” I asked.

She nodded. “He said he would. I talked to him when he got home from work.” She sat, dropping her pack at her feet.

“I can ask Owen to distract Benvair,” I suggested.

“I considered that,” she said, “but I don’t want to put them in a position where I’m asking them to lie to Grandmother for me. It’ll be fine. Probably. Let’s not worry about that now.”

The pilot emerged from the cockpit. “Are we all here?”

I checked the time. It was three minutes after eight. She wasn’t coming. I nodded. “Yes. We can go. Thank you.”

Chapter 5

TURBULENCE

The pilot began to shove the airplane door into place and then paused. Footsteps sounded on the metal stairs and my heart flew into my throat.

The pilot glanced over his shoulder at me. “We seem to have one more.”

I ran to the door and grabbed Stheno into a tight hug. She was dressed more casually than normal, in a t-shirt, hoodie, cargo pants, and leather shoes that appeared to be molded to her feet.

She smacked my back a few times. “You’re choking me, kid. Relax.”

Stepping back, I wiped at my streaming eyes. She’d come.

Stheno looked past me, studying Coco a moment. “You’re George and Alec’s sister?”

Coco stood and held out her hand. “Yes. I’m Coco. And you’re Stheno?”

“That’s me,” she said, turning to my great-uncle.

“And this is Bracken. He’s a Corey wicche, like my mother,” I told her.

Bracken stood as well, giving Stheno a short bow. “It is an honor to meet you.”

Stheno nodded, taking in his look of devotion as her due. It cracked me up how quickly these bigger-than-life types stepped back into their deity, or deity-adjacent, roles. The woman was clearly used to having worshippers.

“You assembled a good party, kid,” she said to me. “A dragon, a wicche, a wolf, and me.” She glanced around the cabin. “Where are the pointy-teethed ones? Vlad said he was flying with us.”

I gestured to the back of the plane.

“In storage, huh?” she said with a smirk.