A thief. That’s who I am. One hundred percent a thief. Oh, shit. I hope my ears stop ringing soon.

Keeley ran until the deafening nothingness in her ears popped, and the sounds of the world started to filter through again.

She wanted to run until she couldn’t smell smoke anymore, but there was no escaping it. It clung to her hair, her coat, the inside of her throat.

At last her ragged steps slowed, and she looked around. She was a few neighborhoods away from the station. Far enough away that anyone who caught her eye quickly looked away again, instead of looking at her with concern, like they were asking her if she was alright. Disasters brought people together, but only to the edges of the blast zone.

Good. She didn’t want anyone to find her. Not Sean. Not whoever he was working for. Not…

Gray-green eyes, startling against dark skin, appeared in her mind. The man who’d dragged her away from the explosion.

She had no idea where he’d come from. She’d checked the platform before she got off the train, and it had been practically empty. Definitely no giant, incredibly handsome black men who looked at her like—like—

Like you’re some fancy New Keeley, and not a filthy thief?

She shook her head. She’d escaped the explosion at the station. Next step, get out of town. Away from Sean, and whoever was pulling on his leash, and incredibly fucking sexy guys who’d probably forgotten she existed by now, anyway.

Keeley walked until she began to recognize the storefronts around her. Somehow, in her panic, she’d run within a few blocks of her apartment.

She let herself slip into cruise control, her feet automatically setting in on the route to her apartment building. She was only a street away when Sean’s words echoed in her mind. You’re still in that shit apartment in Queens?

She stopped dead. He knows where I live.

Suddenly, the thought of going home to her apartment filled her with dread.

Heart pounding in her throat, Keeley found a quiet side-street and leaned against a wall. The brick was cold against her back, even through her coat. She dropped her head onto her chest, panting softly.

Okay. Think. I can still leave. What’s in my apartment that’s so important, anyway? I’ve got my wallet. Phone. That’s all I need.

All we need.

Tiny claws prickled against her stomach through the cheap cloth of her uniform. Hidden under her coat, a tiny warm body lay curled in her apron pocket, its heart beating as fast as a hummingbird’s wings.

Keeley swallowed as she remembered. A tiny body, lithe and snakelike. Four legs, each tipped with lizardy claws. A long, narrow head like a crocodile, with big cat-like eyes. And wings. Wings.

Lizard? Crocodile? Bullshit. There was only one thing the creature that had hatched from that egg could be. A dragon.

Holy shit, a dragon.

Keeley waited for her brain to tell her, No, you must be imagining things. But it didn’t. It was crazy, but every part of her was totally on board with the fact that she’d just watched a baby dragon hatch out of an egg.

And stolen it.

Keeley swore under her breath. Sean was going to kill her. Sean’s new business partner was going to kill her.

She was so fucking dead.

“Prrp?”

Keeley froze. The creature in her pocket—the dragon—was moving. She felt every wriggle as it unrolled itself, claws pricking through her uniform.

“Prrp?”

A long head nosed its way out of her pocket and up under her coat. Gold scales caught the light. Bright, cat-like eyes looked up, blinking, into Keeley’s.

“Prr-rrp!”

The tiny dragon pulled itself up onto Keeley’s chest, balancing with its tail whipping back and forth behind it and its wings spreading to either side. A feeling like “Aha! Found you!” bobbed against the edges of Keeley’s mind.

“Hey, baby,” Keeley whispered. “What’s up?”

It chirped back at her, and flicked out its tongue to lick the tip of her nose.

Keeley closed her eyes. Opened them. The dragon was still there. It licked her nose again.

“Oh, f—fudge,” she muttered. Her head was spinning. A dragon. Okay. So, dragons existed. The world had changed, without warning, and she was stuck in the middle of it.

She’d acted on instinct back on the subway, relocking the case and stashing it under a seat in the seconds before the train had stopped. But now that she had time to think, she had no idea what she was going to do next.

Sean was back. He was involved with people who were… smuggling dragons? Oh, God, she was in so far over her head.

“Prr-eep?”

Keeley took a deep, shaking breath. Maybe the world had gone mad, but she knew one thing for sure.

There was no way in hell she was letting Sean or his new friends get their hands on this baby dragon.

She drew another long breath. This time, it didn’t shake.

“Okay, little… dragon,” she said, staring the tiny creature straight in its burning-gold eyes. “We need a plan.”

The baby dragon cheeped back at her, louder than before. Keeley quickly looked around, but the side-street was still empty.

“First bit of the plan,” she murmured, easing the tiny dragon back into her apron pocket, “No one is allowed to see you, okay? We’ll be in a shi—we’ll be in a lot of trouble if they do.”

To her relief, the baby dragon let her hide it back in her pocket. It rolled up against her stomach again, chirping happily.

“Okay. Okay. Good dragon. First bit, done. Second bit…” She paused. She knew what came next, but her mind jumped away from it like it burnt. “Second bit, you need a name,” she relented, giving herself a few more breaths to build up her courage.

A name. A name for a dragon. What the hell do you call a creature that shouldn’t even exist outside of stories?

Keeley peeked into her pocket. The baby dragon was the size of a kitten. With an extra-long tail, and extra wings. She rummaged through her memory. Weren’t there dragons in Harry Potter? Game of Thrones? They had names, right?

This was supposed to be the easy bit to distract from the hard bit, she thought, swallowing. Her eyes felt hot. How am I going to handle any of this if I can’t even think of a name for it?

She raised one hand to her neck, her fingers searching for the thin gold chain that was her only connection to her only good memories from growing up. There was nothing there.

Keeley’s breath caught in her throat. Her gran’s necklace. Had she lost it in the subway station? After the explosion—or when that handsome stranger had picked her up and carried her to safety?

No. No, it has to be here. Somewhere. It has to be… She scrambled at her coat collar and blouse, hoping against hope that the thin chain might have caught on a button. Nothing. And it wasn’t caught on her apron shoulder-straps, either, or—

She paused and looked closer at the little golden bundle rolled up into a tight ball in her front pocket.

Gold scales. White-gold claws. Gold eyes with black slit pupils like a cat’s, peering back up at her. And, wrapped around the baby dragon’s neck and front legs…

“Oh, who’s the thief now, huh?” Keeley breathed, relief washing through her. “Did you sneak that off me just now?” She hesitated, pursing her lips. Thief. Maybe she and the dragon had something in common.

She shook her head. The dragon needed a name, not an insult. What was something else that liked shiny things?

“Magpie. Well, dragons are supposed to like shiny things, aren’t they? And it’s better than nothing.”

She reached into her pocket and scratched the baby dragon on the top of its head. “Hello, Magpie. Maggie.”

“Prr-eep!”

Keeley giggled as the baby dragon nibbled the tip of her finger. After Maggie had thoroughly taste-tested Keeley’s finger, she dove back into the depths of her pocket, hugging the thin gold chain as though it was a beloved teddy bear.

“Okay, Maggie. I think I’m ready now. Step three of the plan…” She took a deep breath to steady herself, and stood up. “Step three. We go to the bus station, pick a destination at random, and get the hell out of Dodge before Sean finds out what’s happened here tonight.”

Air moved against her face. Keeley didn’t even have time to think, That’s odd, there isn’t any wind tonight, when Maggie shrieked and dug all four claws into her stomach.