A PALL HUNG OVER THE crowd back at the finish line.

Everyone knew that Lu had won the race but lost her dragon, and everyone knew that Abel had lost the race on a technicality but had tried to help Lu anyway. None of them knew what Abel had found.

When he got back, he just told Lu that he lost the thief in traffic. She looked like she was going to protest—to say that their deal was off and she’d won Brazza, so she was going to take her—but Brazza made it clear that was not going to happen. Lu relented. She was too heartbroken to put up much of a fight. Her Red Talon buddies led her away. Arvin gave Abel one quick glance before leaving, and an almost-invisible thumbs-up.

“We still trust him?” Roa asked.

Abel nodded. “We do,” he said, and that was good enough for Roa.

He didn’t want anyone else to know about Lina, not before he had a plan. He trusted Roa, Topher, and Arvin to keep it to themselves. He didn’t need to tell his mother, though. She knew instantly.

“It was Lina, wasn’t it?” she asked him on their way home.

After he’d gotten Brazza settled in for the night, his mother paid for them to take a taxi home, rather than taking one of the Nightwing buses.

“I could never keep that girl in her crib,” she sighed. “I guess Windlee Prison didn’t stand a chance.” She didn’t ask him anything else; she just let him rest his head on her shoulder, where he fell asleep.

He woke up late Sunday morning in his own bed and heard voices talking low in the living room. He padded across the room and noticed he was in his pajamas. Abel felt a twinge of embarrassment that his mom had changed his clothes while he was asleep, but that quickly turned to a bolt of shock when he saw Silas on the couch.

And sitting next to Silas was Lina.

Neither his brother nor his sister looked happy to be there, and his parents didn’t look that happy either. The family hadn’t all been together at the same time in months, and this was not the sort of reunion his parents would’ve chosen.

“Finally!” Silas slapped his hands on his silver uniform pants when he saw Abel. “You get in serious trouble if you oversleep like this at the Academy.”

“Good thing we’re not at the Academy,” Lina snapped at their brother.

“I’d have you thrown in the brig if we were,” Silas replied. “You’re a fugitive. I should call for backup right now and have them haul you away.”

“I dare you to try it!” Lina dared him to try it.

“Both of you, quiet!” their father roared with more ferocity than any of them had heard in a long time. Silas and Lina settled down with their hands in their laps, docile.

Docile. Roa had told him it meant easy to control and eager to obey, like a loyal pet.

It reminded him of the army of docile super-dragons the Sky Knights were trying to create, and of what happened to Carrot Soup Supreme when their experiment went wrong.

“Why are you here?” Abel demanded.

“Ask them.” His sister hitched her chin toward their parents. “They’re the ones who lured us.”

“We did not lure you,” their father said.

“Well, we kinda did,” their mother admitted.

“We asked them to come,” Dad explained. “We told them it was important.”

“And you didn’t mention she’d be here,” Silas grunted.

“Hey, you’re the one who tried to arrest me,” she grunted, elbowing him in the side.

“I’d do it again too!” Silas shoved his elbow into hers.

“STOP IT!” their mother shouted. “How come Abel is the youngest of you and he’s the only one acting like a mature adult here?”

Abel straightened his back and gave a nod of respect to his mom. He didn’t admit that the only reason he’d been silent was because he hadn’t thought of a good insult for Silas and Lina yet.

“We have a problem as a family.” Mom waved Abel into the room. “Silas, we know you made Abel fly that race.”

“We do not approve,” their father added.

“But we also know you only did it to try to clear Lina’s name,” their mom said.

Lina flinched. She gawked at her brother in disbelief. He avoided making eye contact with her. She never would have asked for Silas’s help herself, and he never would’ve wanted her to know he was helping. He even blushed a little as he met Abel’s eyes.

“I can’t believe you told.”

Abel had broken the first rule of spies and of siblings: Don’t snitch.

But he was tired of lies. Dr. Drago didn’t rely on deception and betrayal to save the day, and neither would Abel. A hero wasn’t just made by what they did but how they did it. Abel wasn’t going to play Silas’s games anymore, or let Lina get away with betraying him.

“Abel is the only one of you who is ever honest with us,” their mom said. “Even though it took him a while to come clean. However …” She cleared her throat. “All that is in the past. We need to think about the future. Your futures.”

“My future is just fine,” Silas said. “I serve something greater than myself.”

“So do I,” said Lina. They glared at each other.

“You will get caught, Lina,” their mother said. “And needless to say, you are not going to steal your brother’s dragon.”

Lina sat upright so fast it was like she’d been electrocuted. “What? How did you know I—”

“I was there,” Abel said. “Under the parking lot on Leviathan Avenue and Burner Street.”

Lina’s jaw dropped. Her mouth hung open like a dragon trying to shoot fire, but hers only let out coffee breath.

“You don’t understand,” she said. “Whatever you think, the Sky Knights are trying to change things. Everything they do is to make our city better for people.”

“What do the dragons that you ‘used up’ think about that?” Abel said, finding he was much madder at her than at Silas. Sure, Silas had put him in danger, but Lina was putting dragons in danger. “How many dragons have been used up because of you?”

“I didn’t … I’m not the one who …” She didn’t have a defense. She knew she was in the wrong. It was like the time she’d been caught sneaking out in ninth grade to go to an underground dance party, even though Dad was in the hospital with Scaly Lung.

They had waited up for her till morning. When Lina had finally got home, Mom had simply rose from her chair and said, I expected better from you.

Lina had broken down crying. Not because she was in trouble, but because she knew she’d been thoughtless and cruel. Abel had watched the whole scene from the door to his room, and never forgot how Lina didn’t get punished for sneaking out. She didn’t need to be. She punished herself. Lina believed she was a kind person, but there was no arguing with how unkind she’d been to their family. Abel wasn’t sure her relationship with their mom had ever been the same after that night.

People tell themselves stories about themselves, Abel thought, and it hurts when they realize those stories aren’t always true.

Abel wondered what stories he told about himself, and how he’d react if he found out they weren’t true. Would he cry? Lina was tougher than he’d ever be, and she was crying now.

Their dad went to the couch and put his arm around her.

“I didn’t mean to hurt any dragons,” Lina said between sobs. “But I can’t just stop either. The Sky Knights have good ideas, but they’re ruthless. They’re not going to let me or Abel or anyone else get in their way.” She looked up at Abel, eyes puffy. “If I don’t take your dragon, someone else will. You know that, right? You’re just a kid. There are more thieves in this city than noodles at a noodle bar. One of them will get Brazza eventually.”

Abel imagined a noodle trying to steal Brazza, and he laughed a little. He knew it was just his brain reacting to stress, but he couldn’t help it. Everyone stared at him.

“Brazza is not so easily gotten,” Abel said, dead serious again. “She almost kills me every time I ride her, and she likes me. So let’s see these thieves try it.” He cocked his head at her. “Whoever they are.”

“Abel, don’t threaten your siblings with a killer dragon,” their dad said. “And, Lina, I really wish you’d find another line of work than stealing dragons for a dangerous kin.”

“I do actually work in the bookstore,” she said. “Fitz doesn’t just give out that employee discount to anyone.”

“Fitz’s bookstore is a front for criminal activity,” Silas said.

“Then why hasn’t the Dragon’s Eye shut it down?” Lina stuck her tongue out at him.

“Because it’s the best bookstore in the city,” Silas said. “We have our priorities.”

“Or is it because Fitz bribes the Dragon’s Eye?” Lina replied. “Your precious secret police aren’t as honest and law-abiding as you think. They’re just another kin, only with the law on their side.”

“The Dragon’s Eye are law enforcement!” Silas popped up to his feet. “They are not just another kin! I should arrest you for saying that!”

“And I should toss you out a window for being stupid!” she replied. “Good thing we don’t live our lives by ‘should.’ ”

“Yeah,” Silas told her through gritted teeth. “Good thing.”

“Mom, can I go back to bed?” Abel groaned. He was tired of watching his siblings fight, and even more tired from his late-night dragon flights. “These two are just gonna argue. They won’t be any help.”

“They will,” his mother said, crossing her arms. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I am going to make breakfast.”

“It’s almost lunchtime,” Silas grunted.

She frowned. “I am going to make brunch,” she said. “And we are going to eat together as a family, and there will be no arguing, no kicking each other under the table, and absolutely no threatening each other with imprisonment, death, or dismemberment.”

She glared at her children from one to the other.

“Fine,” Silas grunted.

“Fine,” Lina grunted.

“I could eat!” Abel said.

“Excellent.” Their mother smiled. “And after we eat, we’re going to make a plan together on how to get each of you out of the messes you’re in.”

“And free all the dragons from the lab,” Abel added.

His whole family looked at him like he’d just dumped a pile of dragon dung on the living room floor. “I won’t be part of any plan unless it frees the dragons they’re using for their experiments. I’d rather go to jail than leave them in that place.”

Lina looked like she wanted to object, but Abel gave her the kind of look a dragon gives a rider before throwing them off its back.

“Fine,” his mother agreed. “And free the dragons.”

“And arrest the Sky Knights leadership,” Silas said, crossing his arms. “I won’t be part of any plan that lets those criminals go free.”

“Silas,” their father said. “Your brother and sister are both criminals themselves.”

“I know that,” he grunted. “They can go free if I get to arrest more important criminals.”

Lina frowned, but to Abel’s surprise, she didn’t complain. Abel sort of wanted to complain, though. He wasn’t sure if he objected to being called a criminal or being called an unimportant one.

So he kept his mouth shut. As long as the dragons got free, he was willing to compromise on anything else. He’d even go to Windlee Prison if he had to. The thing about taking responsibility, he realized, was that it didn’t free you from consequences. He was willing to face the consequences if he still got to do what was right.

Judging by the heavy silence around the living room, everyone else in his family was pondering the same kinds of thoughts: what they should do, what they were willing to do, and what price they were willing to pay.

“But first, brunch,” his mom reminded them.

And after brunch, all together, they hatched a plan.

“Our kids are idealists!” Their dad beamed. “Crooked, criminal, dangerous, and deceitful … but idealists nonetheless!”

He looked weirdly pleased about it.

And as difficult, dangerous, and deceitful as they could be, by the time they were done making their plan, Abel was really glad to be part of this family.