Outside, the streets were filled with people getting off work. Hundreds of dragons flew back and forth over the city, snapping at humans who weren’t moving fast enough or didn’t appear to be doing their jobs. Trenton couldn’t help flinching every time one of their shadows dropped over him. But Alex and the rest of the Runt Patrol treated the city like a giant playground, ducking into pipes, scrambling over walls, and generally staying out of sight.

Alex pulled him into a doorway as a dark-green shape soared slowly overhead, its golden eyes studying the people moving below it like bugs. Once the dragon was past, Alex pushed under a loose piece of fence and climbed beneath a row of metal trailers. Now and then, Trenton caught sight of other small figures ducking and dodging their way through the city.

There could have been as many as ten kids or as few as five. He thought he recognized most of them, but with the way they moved from one shadow to the next, it was hard to tell for sure.

“What happens if a dragon catches you somewhere you shouldn’t be?” Trenton asked.

“First offense is usually three days with no food and only a cup of water a day. Second offense can be anything from a beating to losing a hand or a foot. The dragons themselves don’t do that, of course. They’ve got plenty of sadistic guards waiting to take orders.”

Trenton shuddered, remembering how Angus had protected Clyde from Garvin. “What happens after that?”

Alex led him to a partially covered canal where they splashed through a few inches of mossy green water. “Ever notice how well fed the Ninki Nankas look?”

Trenton’s throat went dry. “They wouldn’t.”

“They would, and they do,” Alex said. “The guards even take bets on how long it takes a Ninki Nanka to finish eating its victim. I’ve seen it happen.”

It was all Trenton could do to keep from throwing up. “Why do they do it? Why do so many people willingly serve the dragons? If they all revolted at once, refused to feed the creatures or . . . ?”

Alex gave his quirky grin.

“Okay, yeah, I mean I know the dragons would kill anyone who refused to obey. But most of the people in this city seem happy to be here. Like it’s a privilege.”

“A lot of people think it is,” Alex said. “I don’t understand it myself. It’s like they get used to it until they can’t imagine any other way.”

Trenton walked through the water behind him, feet soaking wet. “But not the Runt Patrol?”

Alex turned to look at him, his face more pale than normal. “Most of the kids want to fight. Not all of them, but most. Only something happens to you when you reach a certain age. It’s like the fight gets sucked out of you little by little until you completely give in. One day you’re talking about doing whatever it takes to get away, and the next, the only thing you care about is serving the dragons. I’ve seen it happen to friends of mine.” He wiped a shaking hand across his face. “And I can feel it happening to me. Some mornings, lately, I go outside and see the dragons coming out of their towers. I see people marching to their jobs, laughing and smiling, and I think, ‘It wouldn’t be all bad.’ That’s why I have to get out—soon—before it’s too late.”

“That’s your secret,” Trenton said. “You and the others. Why you want to escape the city.”

Alex set his jaw. “One of them. Prove to us that we can trust you and maybe we’ll show you more.”

They peeked out from under the cover of the canal. Less than twenty feet away, a Ninki Nanka waddled down the street.

“Stay here,” Alex said, pressing Trenton back with one arm. He lifted his fingers to his mouth, and a sharp whistle split the air. Instantly, five kids—Graysen, Lizzy, Asher, Hallie, and JoeBob—darted out of their hiding places and into the street.

“Tell them to stop,” Trenton said. “That thing will rip them to pieces.”

Alex held a finger to his lips. “Watch.”

The Ninki Nanka hissed at the sudden appearance of the kids, opening its mouth to reveal sharp fangs. It flicked its tongue, tasting the scents in the air, but instead of charging, the beast shook its head, sneezed, and then flicked its tongue one more time before wandering away.

“What just happened?” Trenton asked.

“Earn our trust first,” Alex said.

Once the Ninki Nanka was gone, Alex led Trenton out of the canal to a line of factories and warehouses. A few of them had smoke coming from the vents, but most looked like they hadn’t been used in a long time.

Alex stopped outside one of the abandoned buildings. The windows were covered with dust, and the front gate was chained closed. He shot a quick look in both directions before peeling up a section of fence. “Follow me,” he said, ducking through the opening.

Once they were inside the fence, he hurried to a four-inch metal drainpipe on one of the corners and began shimmying up. Alex moved quickly, and it was all Trenton could do to keep up. By the time he’d climbed through a window twenty feet above the ground, the other kids were right behind him.

Inside, he could see right away that the building had once been a machine shop. The tools and machinery were coated with a thick layer of dirt, but they looked like they might be operable once they were cleaned up.

Trenton bent forward, his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. “Does this stuff work?”

“Most of it,” Michael said, walking up beside him.

“And the ones that don’t we can get working,” Asher said, shaking back his blond curls.

Trenton followed the others down a set of splintery steps to where a metal table was covered with large sheets of paper and design equipment that looked much newer and cleaner than anything else in the room.

“Had a couple of the kids borrow a few supplies from the design shop on the way,” Alex said, nodding to Jack and Cameron, who were lounging on a stack of pallets across the room.

JoeBob folded his arms across his skinny chest. “Now it’s your turn. Tell us what you want this place for and how it’s going to get us out of the city.”

“You could ask a little nicer,” Hallie said.

Alex brushed his hair out of his face. “No. JoeBob is right. We took a big risk bringing you here. It’s time for you to open up. What’s the plan?”

Trenton took a deep breath. Technically the plan wasn’t only his, and he hadn’t had a chance to make sure the others were okay with him telling the Runt Patrol their secret. But these kids were right. They’d told him at least some of their secrets, not to mention they’d found this amazing building. He knew that without their help, building a submarine would be impossible.

“They took our dragons after we were captured,” he said.

JoeBob snorted. “Of course they did.”

“But we think we know where they are,” Trenton said. “They’re in an old fort called Alcatraz.”

“The island?” Lizzy asked. “There’s no way you can reach that without the dragons seeing you.”

The light that had been in Alex’s eyes went out. “She’s right. The dragons watch the harbor like hawks, and if they don’t spot you, the guards in the towers will. You might as well kiss those mechanical dragons of yours good-bye.”

Trenton reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He’d been working on the drawing every spare chance he got. “They can watch the top of the water,” he said as he unfolded the sheet, “but not underneath.”

The Runt Patrol gathered around him as he spread the paper out on the table.

It was a set of designs for a completely enclosed, underwater vehicle. The ship was more than ten feet long with a pair of tall, matching rudders on the back and narrowing to a point on the front. Scalloped fins angling down from the sides made it look like a metal fish.

Twin glass domes on the top covered a pair of seats inside where drivers could control the underwater ship with pedals and levers. With all the machinery they’d need to make the ship run, it would be a tight fit, but he thought two people could squeeze in.

“It’s called a submarine,” he said.

The kids around him gathered closer.

“What’s this?” Graysen asked, pointing to a brass tube rising out of the top.

“It’s an underwater telescope,” Trenton said. “It uses lenses and mirrors to see above the water while the rest of the ship remains out of sight below.”

JoeBob gaped. “You designed this yourself?”

Trenton felt himself blush. It wasn’t anything like what Leo Babbage could do, but he was proud of his work. “I saw something like it in a book, and I came up with the rest myself. I’m pretty good at inventing things.” He tapped the paper on the table. “There’s still a lot of work still to do. I have to figure out how to store enough oxygen to stay underwater, and some way to keep from crashing into unseen obstacles, but I have some ideas.”

Michael ran a finger across the design. “You think it will work? I mean, an underwater boat is crazy.”

“We won’t know until we test it,” Trenton said. “But, yeah, I think I can build it, and I think it will work.”

“We,” Hallie said. “We’ll build it.”

Alex studied the plans. “It only carries two people. How are we all going to escape?”

Up until that afternoon, Trenton had only been planning to get him and his five friends out of the city. Well, four, if Kallista refused to leave. But if the Runt Patrol was going to help him, they deserved the chance to escape too.

“Maybe we’ll build more than one,” he said. “Or maybe we’ll take multiple trips back and forth. The submarine can only hold two people at a time, and the dragons can only carry two, but I promise we’ll find a way to take anyone who works on this.”

A bang sounded from up on the platform where they’d climbed through the window. Trenton looked up to see a girl staring down at him.

Alex started forward, but Trenton put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. She’s with me.”

Somehow, even with her leg braces, Plucky had followed them all the way to the warehouse and climbed up the pipe and through the window without anyone hearing her.

She wound the key on her braces with a soft click-click-click and grinned. “Looks plummy. When do we start building it, yeah, yeah?”