Lukas smiled against my mouth. “Remind me to hang mistletoe all over our house.”
My phone vibrated in my pocket. “Hold that thought,” I said as I reached for the phone. As I pulled it out, it emitted a long distinctive beep. Mom’s and Dad’s phones went off at the same time, and I looked down at my phone as they went for theirs.
The Agency insignia was displayed on the phone, and underneath it was the words LEVEL FIVE BULLETIN.
A level five? I looked up and met Dad’s shocked eyes. Then I clicked on the alert.
A large drakkan has been sighted above Manhattan. Last seen flying over Brooklyn Bridge toward Brooklyn. National Guard is enroute. Requesting all available bounty hunters to respond. Approach with caution.
I stared at the message, and Mom said, “A drakkan in New York? How is that possible?”
“There are still weak spots in the barrier,” Lukas told her. “A drakkan could fly through one of them, although I can’t see drakkans being attracted to this world.”
Finch whistled and jumped up and down on the back of the couch. Maybe it’s Gus coming to visit us for Christmas!
I laughed. “I don’t think Gus knows where we –” I spun to look at Lukas. “You don’t think…?”
“You did say he always knew where to find you,” Lukas said slowly.
“I thought it was because of the goddess stone.” I pushed between Conlan and Faris and grabbed for the door. “Oh, no!”
I flew down the stairs with Lukas on my heels. We were at the first floor by the time I heard the others running after us. I burst through the main entrance, barely feeling the cold as I ran down the steps to the snow-covered street.
Standing in the middle of the street, I scanned the gray sky as fat snowflakes hit my face. A horn blew behind me, but I didn’t move as I caught sight of the dark shape soaring over the rooftops toward me.
A quarter of a mile away, horns blared, followed by the crunch of metal. I grimaced but couldn’t take my eyes off the shape that was now close enough to make out its reddish gold scales and thirty-foot wingspan.
“Oh, my God!” Violet squealed.
“You don’t see that every day,” Mrs. Russo said.
Somewhere down the street a man yelled, “It’s a dragon! Betty, come look at this!”
When Gus was two blocks away, he roared, letting me know he’d spotted me. He dipped lower, flying straight down our street, his wings almost brushing the buildings on either side. How on earth was he going to land without damaging the vehicles parked along the street?
Gus swooped in like a hawk going for a mouse. At the last second, he pulled back his wings and landed twenty yards away with the scrape of large claws on pavement. His red eyes fixed on me, and he shook his head in an agitated way.
“Hey, Gus,” I said as I started walking toward him.
He growled and swung his spiked tail, taking out a minivan on one side of the street and an Audi on the other. The Audi’s alarm blared, and Gus brought his tail down on the car, flattening it.
I held up my hands, crooning, “It’s okay, Gus.”
“Jesse,” Lukas called from behind me in a warning tone that said he was two seconds from coming after me.
“I’m good,” I called back. “Gus is just a little upset. He won’t hurt me.”
“My car!” wailed a man from the doorway of a building near the destroyed Audi.
Gus jerked his head to the side and growled, emitting a stream of smoke and flames. The man was too far away for the fire to reach him, but he screamed and ran back inside, slamming the door.
“Finch,” Mom cried, and the fear in her voice had me whirling to look at her. I nearly fell over when I saw the little blue figure coming around the wheel of a parked car. Finch, who never left home unless he was tucked inside one of our coats, was running down the street toward me, his tiny feet leaving a birdlike trail in the powdery snow.
I moved to intercept him and pick him up, but he evaded me and headed straight for Gus. He stopped a few feet in front of the massive drakkan, stretched out his arms, and whistled.
The air seized in my lungs when Gus went still and tipped his head forward to look down at Finch. Tendrils of smoke still curled from his nostrils as he focused on my tiny brother, and all I could think was one misstep and Finch would be gone.
Finch whistled again, and Gus cocked his head to one side. Then Gus lowered his head until it rested on the pavement, putting them almost eye-to-eye. The drakkan didn’t blink as Finch reached out and touched his snout as he had the first time they’d met in our apartment.
Gus made a sound like a dog’s whine. Finch shocked me when he climbed up to sit on Gus’s snout and began whistling and signing to the rapt drakkan.
“Would you look at that?” Dad said.
I walked over to Gus and rubbed his head. “I guess you got homesick, too.”
He let out a contented huff, and Finch looked up at me. Can Gus stay with us?
I chuckled. “I don’t think he’ll fit. Besides, he belongs in Faerie where he can hunt and be with the other drakkans.”
My brother’s eyes grew sad. But he misses us.
“I know. We can visit him, though. Would you like to do that?”
Finch nodded eagerly.
The sound of sirens got louder, reminding me we were about to have a lot of company, including hunters looking for a fifty-thousand-dollar bounty. There wasn’t a net or cage that could hold Gus, but that wouldn’t stop them from trying anyway. Things were about to get very messy. There wasn’t any time to think, so I did the first thing that came to mind.
I picked up Finch, and Gus’s head came up. Placing a hand on his snout, I said, “Gus, will you take Finch and me to Unseelie?”
Finch whistled and clapped his hands, and Gus shot to his full height. I held Finch against my chest with both hands and turned to face everyone as Gus’s claws wrapped around me.
“Jesse,” Lukas shouted, running toward us.
“We’re okay,” I yelled back as Gus’s powerful wings spread out, and he lifted into the air. I looked down at Lukas and my family and friends standing in the middle of the street staring at us. “We’re taking Gus home. We’ll be back for dinner, Mom.”
Finch waved both arms wildly at them and whistled. Mom raised her hand and gave a weak wave in reply. Dad gaped at us. Lukas shook his head, looking both aggravated and amused. I smiled at him to let him know I’d make it up to him later.
We rose into the snowy air and cleared the rooftops as a stream of red and blue lights spilled onto our street. Gus rose higher and tucked me against his warm body. I looked out over the city, and it hit me that for the first time in a year, I was free to do whatever I wanted. No hunting, no school, no trying to save the world. It was just me, my brother, and our drakkan.
And two National Guard helicopters closing in on us.
“Let’s get out of here, Gus,” I shouted, laughing. Exhilaration filled me. I’d missed this.
He banked sharply toward the Hudson and put on a burst of speed. I let out a whoop, and Finch whistled happily as we set off on our next adventure.
~The End~
Author Note
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