Izaak’s neighbourhood soars above the rest of the town, its houses thin and steep. His house stands out, a hornets’ nest of police and security vans parked on the sidewalk. There’s even a Hippogriff tied to their fence, wearing RISE riot gear.

It gives me hope, in some way, to see this many people here. You’d only need one to deliver bad news.

Sofia and I met up a few blocks back, huddled in heavy coats to combat the rain. Halley decided to tag along too, which seemed totally fine when we were still in my room. She’s trotting on top of the uneven fences, enjoying a nimbleness she never got with Comet.

“Can’t you, like, become a cat?” I ask. People are already staring. Griffins aren’t that rare, but they displayed this one in a museum, probably not without reason. Really hoping we didn’t just ‘revive’ something extinct.

Two agents lean against their police car, smoking cigarettes while their familiars lie at their feet. “Afraid you can’t do that, love,” one of them says when we turn into Izaak’s front yard. The other one puffs out a ring of smoke. “Fancy RISE agent told us to guard the place,” he adds, “no visitors.”

Sofia opens the gate. “Whoops. Well, now that it’s already open, I might as well enter. I’ll knock on the door real quick, and—”

The first agent sighs, feeding her cigarette bud to her familiar. She unbuckles her KLIP gun, sets it to yellow and points it right at Sofia. “You knock on that door, your head is going to hit the floor. I don’t rhyme without threat.”

Sofia freezes, a look of fear in her eyes. Vivid memories from last night, when Sable Thomas did the same to me, make me grab the gun right out of the officer’s hand.

The other agent curses, stumbling for his own gun.

“I dare you,” I say, pointing the woman’s own KLIP to her chest. “Shoot me and see what happens.”

Both familiars jump to their feet, but Halley’s quicker, hissing and squawking them back into submission. She’s small, but her aura is fierce.

Defeated, the female officer holds up her hands. “Look kid, I’m not dying for my badge. Go on ahead.” She elbows the male officer, and he nods, putting his own gun back in its holster.

“Thank you,” I say. I twist the KLIP in my hands, turning its gem to green. The officer holds out her hand, but I shatter the thing against the brick wall surrounding Izaak’s front yard. Not a chance.

“Dude,” Sofia whispers as we knock and wait, “that was like, hardcore.”

Phoebe opens the door, her mind far away. She has to blink a few times before our identities settle. “How did you… never mind. Come in.” She doesn’t even notice Halley prancing behind us. We follow her towards the kitchen, where a dozen people stand crammed around their round table, hunched over tactical maps, laptops and other dubious equipment. Mr. Thomas, Or Sir Jonah, as he insists we call him since he took us to the renaissance fair, leans against their fridge with a cup of coffee. He watches the policemen but doesn’t mingle.

Only one person notices us, the grey wolfman whose riot gear matches the hippogriff outside. “I said no outsiders.” She looks at Mr. Thomas for confirmation, but he just shrugs and says, “If Izaak has his phone, they know what’s going on, anyway.”

“Is Mrs Sable okay?” Sofia asks.

The Wolfman scoffs. “They are clueless if they have to ask.” She turns the screen, showing us three radar dots. Two of them right next to each other, the third following far behind. She points a claw at the third dot. “We’re close to recovering the stolen property. Sable’s tasked with following the bounty until they reach their destination. She requested we inform her family, and then one thing led to another.”

More of the people around the table look up, including the guard that searched us at the museum. His eyes widen. “You’re the dragon!” he blurts out. Suddenly, the room quiets.

I blink. Then I slowly inch towards the exit. No way in hell. I’m not going out now, when there’s so much at stake. I watch the RISE agent, the only real danger in the room, but she makes no movement towards her KLIP.

Before I can run Sofia grabs my hand. “Wait,” she mutters.

The wolfman sighs, brushing her hand over her pointy ears. “Yes Mike, good job airing that out. You going to explain to him how we know that, before we ruin any chance Sable’s son has with him? If she was here you’d be discharged.” She bares her teeth in a smile. “Luckily for you, I’m nice.”

Mike turns red, looking down at the table. “Sorry.”

The Wolfman barks out a laugh. “Sorry, he says.” She turns to me. “Listen carefully now, little dragon. I’m Raysa. Between two non-humans, I won’t judge you for what you are. But if you came here to interfere, we will not hesitate to contain you. Show him.”

One by one, the guards and policemen pull out their hidden RISE badges.

So now there are a dozen RISE agents in the same room as me. Definitely not what I had in mind this morning. That leaves only one question. “So does that mean—”

“Yeah, Mum’s with them,” Izaak says from behind. He enters the kitchen wearing shorts and a graphic-Tee, like this was all the effort he was ready for this morning. Below his knee sits Donatello, his lightweight prosthetic he often wears to school. Normally he’d go bare inside the house, but I can understand why he’d feel vulnerable with all these people here. “Found out this morning, didn’t we, Phoebe?”

“Yeah,” Phoebe adds quietly, standing a little way away from everyone. “Real thrilled about that one.”

Sir Jonah sighs, setting his cup on the counter. “We wanted to tell you together, when you were older, but we don’t always get what we want. I’m sorry you had to find out this way. We… she really worried about this happening.”

Izaak ignores him. “I told you guys to stay away,” he says to me and Sofia. “Apparently, Mum’s already fixing your mistake.”

I shrink under his harsh words, but this isn’t the time to back down. “You have no idea what happened. I wanted to tell you, but you didn’t answer your phone. Don’t talk to me like… like I did this.”

“Well, you did.”

“And you were going to do it with me!”

“Guys,” Sofia says, “this isn’t helping.”

Then Halley, who until then had been content to watch from the floor, jumps up on the table. The paper maps crackle under her paws as she circles around, making sure everyone gets a good look. “What River did, was something foolish. And he did it foolishly. But from what I know of humans, that foolishness is as sure as the stars in the sky.”

We wait for her to continue, to end her statement with a ‘but’, but it doesn’t come. She licks her paw and grooms behind her ears. When all of us stay silent, she adds, “You can continue now.”

“You were there then,” Raysa confirms. “Sable had her suspicions, but she wasn’t sure it was you. That simplifies things.”

“How?” I ask.

“Now we have a witness. Let’s have a nice, long talk.”

Turns out Sable Thomas, being an undercover RISE agent, had been monitoring me for years. It started the first time I hung out with Izaak, when she found anomalies in her usual background check. She judged me harmless, though, which is both a relief and sort of insulting. Her husband knew too, as well as her entire team, just enough people to keep an eye on me. They hadn’t approached Mom, thinking she’d already know, or, if she didn’t, that I didn’t want her to. Thank god for that. I understand Izaak’s anger now, learning his Mom isn’t only a RISE agent, but has also secretly been vetting everyone he meets.

I tell them everything, from the meet at the construction site, to the creepy symbols Zhran drew on me, and about Kiera, how they traded places with Halley unwillingly. They thought Zhran’s magic was making the skeleton fly, like he did with the chimera, and share worried glances when they learn that Comet’s alive. After sharing everything, the three of us retire to the living room, the adults telling us to take some time to ‘cool down’. Halley followed, jumping on my knees as we crash into the couch.

Izaak hesitates, then sits next to me, looking down at his lap. “wanna do it on three?” he asks, and I nod. He counts to three.

“Sorry,” both of us blurt out.

“I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

“I shouldn’t have gone alone.”

“You shouldn’t have gone at all,” Halley adds, kneading her claws into my thighs.

I turn to Sofia, who claimed the only chair in the room. “Both of you deserved better.”

She smiles, typing something on her phone. “Glad you figured that out.”

The old clock above their TV sounds twice, imitating a church bell. The day keeps passing by with no progress at all. With the adults essentially retiring us into the kiddie corner, they’re not going to allow us to help. But we don’t need their permission.

“What’s the plan?” Izaak asks.

I glance at the thin wall dividing this room from the kitchen. If I focus, I can still hear their voices, so I don’t doubt Raysa can do so too. “We figure out where they are,” I whisper, “And then we’re getting Kiera back.”