“Are you all right back there?”

“Just fine. Stop speaking to me, already. Somebody might see you.”

“Sorry.”

She drove us through the woods, between tall, mighty trees which had likely stood for hundreds of years.

I looked up at them from where I crouched behind her, under a blanket. I’d wanted to fly there, but I didn’t want to run the risk of any lookouts seeing me as I landed on the property. Better to arrive as a human and make my shift after finding the boy. No telling how he’d react to the presence of a dragon outside his window.

“I can see the house now,” she murmured.

“Armed guards?”

“I don’t see any. I don’t think they operate like that, I really don’t.”

“Even so, let’s not underestimate them.”

“Right.” She sounded determined, stronger than I had heard her sound yet.

It was well after midnight, but she hadn’t wanted to wait another day before going after Tommy. I couldn’t blame her.

“I don’t like the idea of you going in there on your own,” I muttered.

“I’ll be fine,” she breathed. “So long as you come for me in time, before anything happens.”

“I will. I swear it. You have the blood?”

“Right beside me.”

“Good. Let me out before you reach the gates, and I’ll make my way around the back.”

“All right.” She slowed down just enough to let me out, not even coming to a stop.

We had gone over the plan so many times, I didn’t feel the need to go over it with her once more. We were running out of time before I could feasibly get them both out of there under the cover of darkness.

I crouched as I ran through the trees, the house in my sites all the while. More like a mansion, with a brick wall running around its perimeter. The home of a greedy, old industrialist who had gotten involved with the wrong people and wound up funding their illegal activities—activities which centered around creating a drug which would allow immortality.

This was all according to Harrison, who was one of them himself. The lying fool. He had no idea how they’d used him, I was sure. Why wouldn’t they want to have a man like him on the team, someone with access to a laboratory? He could lead legitimate research teams, funded by the money of a dying old man who was so desperate to cheat death, he’d ended up selling his soul. There was so much more to the world than even I was aware of.

They knew the power of dragon’s blood, which led me to wonder how. Most people didn’t believe we existed. What gave them this understanding? If all went as planned, I wouldn’t have the time to find out. The clock was ticking already as I climbed the wall and fell to the ground on the other side.

There was nothing to do but look for the child. He’d likely be asleep by that time of night, with the lights out. That ruled out several lit rooms.

I ran around to the back of the house, with its ivy-covered brick walls and overgrown hedges. Nobody had given the property the attention it deserved in years. I leaped over one of those hedges and scaled the back wall, climbing high above a long-empty swimming pool and weed-strewn tennis court. The place must have been grand in its day. I tested the first window I came to and found it unlocked. Here’s hoping there’s no alarm system in place, I thought as I raised it.

No alarm met my ears. A relief. I climbed into what was obviously a bedroom, and obviously long unused. It reeked of mothballs and rodent excrement—my heightened senses picked up on everything. I tuned my ears to the sound of breathing. I had to find him, quickly, and get him to trust me. If he raised a fuss, we’d be sunk before we started.

I hurried to the door and opened it just a crack. It only squeaked softly, the sound a mouse would make. And plenty of mice evidently did make that sound in and around the house. I could just imagine Tommy sleeping while mice ran circles around his bed.

The hall was dark. It ran in a U-shape, and I was in the center of it. The grand foyer was open, with brass-trimmed wrought iron railings running down the lengths of the three halls which overlooked it.

I heard Carissa’s voice—loud, strong, unapologetic. My chest swelled with pride.

Would Tommy hear her, too?

I dashed to the left, close to the wall, listening hard at every closed door. Nothing. So much silence. I wondered where the old man slept and whether he was even alive at that point. Perhaps the group had only been using his money in his name while he’d long since gone to his great reward—or, more likely, to whatever damnation awaited a man who’d made his fortune on the backs of others.

Light breathing. Feather-light. It came from the room at the furthest end of the hall. The window probably overlooked the front of the property. It was the only sound I’d heard coming from any of the bedrooms up to that point. It was worth a try.

The door was locked, but that was no matter. I turned the old, cut-glass knob until the lock broke—the noise was just loud enough to arouse whoever was inside, as I heard their breathing go from the soft, even pace of sleep to a much more hurried pace.

I swung the door open slowly, quietly. “Tommy? Are you in here?”

Nothing at first.

I held my breath, straining to hear.

Finally, “Who are you?” A little boy’s voice.

“I’m here to get you out and take you home,” I whispered as I opened the door a little wider. “I’m a friend of your Aunt Cari.”

“Is she here?”

“She is.” Rustling sounds came from the bed.

I could just make out a small shape, silhouetted against the moonlight streaming through the window, as he sat up. It seemed almost comical, such a little boy in such a big, grand bed.

“She shouldn’t be here. They’re bad people.”

“Which is why we’re here for you, my boy.” I went to him, and he flinched. “I’m sorry. I’m not here to hurt you, believe me. She’s downstairs, and she’s tricking them until I have you safe and sound. We’re going to go down there to get her and get all of us out of here.”

He turned his face to the window, and I could make out the big, blue eyes. The golden hair like Carissa’s. “They’re always watching me.”

“They won’t be watching then, trust me.”

If Cari was able to set the diversion.

He was dressed in pajamas. Someone had been kind enough at least to buy him pajamas.

“When are we going?”

“First off, do you have your coat with you? Or a jacket?”

“It’s here.” He scrambled out of bed and over to a small chair.

“Any heavier clothes?”

“A sweater.”

“Put it on, then the jacket,” I decided. “Who has been watching you, Tommy? What are they like?”

“A big man. He’s the one who talks to Aunt Cari on the phone, and lets me talk to her sometimes. There’s a couple ladies who make sure I eat and get washed up and that stuff. But he’s the one who tells me what to do the most. He locks me in here most of the time.”

He recited these facts like they were nothing, and I remembered Carissa telling me about his life. How much he had already seen.

“Have you ever seen anybody else?”

“Mostly just them. I hear other voices sometimes, but I only see the three of them.”

“Okay. You ready?” At least I knew somewhat who I’d be dealing with.

“I think so.”

“Good. Now. There’s something else we need to talk about before we can leave the room.”

This would be the toughest sell of all.