THE CITY OF DRAKOPOLIS WAS shaped like a huge spiral, with giant boulevards as wide as ten dragons across swirling out from the center. These boulevards were sliced through with thousands of smaller and smaller connecting streets and paths and alleys. There were more neighborhoods on any one arm of the spiral than any one person could ever know the names of. Usually, it was the graffiti on the walls that told you where you were at any given moment because the electric street signs were half-broken and half-wrong.
No one knew exactly how many people lived in Drakopolis. The population was in the tens of millions, at least, and it seemed like all of them were trying to go somewhere at all times, which meant none of them were going anywhere most of the time because they were all stuck in traffic.
Especially this morning.
Dragons lugged wagons and dragons hauled buses, dragons pulled luxurious private cabins and dragons flew with nothing more than a saddle and a dusty pilot. They flapped and screeched and roared at each other all the way from the lanes at ground level to the lanes 150 stories high, pinched between gleaming glass skyscrapers that jutted like talons trying to scratch claw marks on the sun.
And that was just on one street in Abel’s neighborhood.
Abel’s school was about as far from Abel’s neighborhood as it could be. It would’ve taken a full day to fly there in city traffic if he had to take the public roads. Luckily for Abel, school buses had their own special lanes above the traffic. Only the huge military long-wings flew higher, keeping an eye on the city below.
Abel said goodbye to his parents on the rooftop platform of their apartment building just before sunrise, eyes all bleary with sleep.
“Did you have to wear that jacket?” his father asked, running his hand along Abel’s patchwork leather jacket with the rainbow stitching of a laughing dragon on the back.
“It’s the coolest thing I own,” Abel answered, though that wasn’t why he was wearing it. The laughing dragon was the symbol of the Wind Breakers kin. If he was going to stay out of jail, he had to keep his end of the bargain with Silas and get himself challenged to a race. The jacket was like an invitation to the kids who were trying to impress other kins. And the Wind Breakers were the only kin who wouldn’t feed Abel to a wyvern for wearing their symbol.
Also, it was a really cool jacket.
As a green long-wing Cloudflayer swooped in with the bus on its back, his father gave him a hug that lingered just long enough for Abel to lose any cool he felt.
“Have fun,” his dad said. “Stay safe.”
Abel nodded and climbed the ramp into the passenger compartment. He hadn’t even found a seat yet when the Cloudflayer flapped its wings and the building’s platform dropped away. The long-wing rose above the blinking lights of the neighborhood, wings beating steadily.
“Stow your bag and take a seat!” a loud voice shouted. “Unless you want to be hauled to school hanging from the bus’s claws!”
Abel looked for the shouter, a broad-shouldered man in Dragon Safety Officer armor.
Since when do Dragon Safety Officers ride the school bus? he wondered.
The DSO pointed a meaty finger at Abel. “Do not eyeball me, kid, or I will feed your eyeballs to the pavement!”
Abel didn’t know what it meant to get your eyeballs fed to the pavement, but he didn’t want to find out. He sat down in the first seat he found, next to a new girl with a ruby-red stud in her nose. She smiled and tapped the nylon safety harness on the seat, telling him to strap himself in.
The bearded Dragon Safety Officer frowned at him, then took his own seat in the front of the passenger compartment.
“Don’t worry about him,” Abel’s new seatmate whispered. She looked about his age. “They’re assigning added security to all the schools this year. My dad works in the dispatch office, so he told me all about it. You’re Abel, right?”
Abel nodded, feeling a little proud that his reputation preceded him.
“Thought so,” she said. “I heard about you when I found out I was transferring to this school. My name’s Lu.”
“Hi, Lu,” Abel said. “So you’ve heard about me, huh?”
“I mean, it’d be hard not to have. All summer, everyone was talking about the kid who won a battle on the back of a Sunrise Reaper. Did you know that the Thunder Wings put out a reward for sucker punching you?”
Abel gulped. “They did?”
“And the Red Talons put out a reward for anyone who gives you a snapdragon wedgie. Five bucks per wedgie.”
Abel’s stomach sank. “What’s a snapdragon wedgie?”
“When you pull the underwear so hard it tears off the waistband,” Lu explained.
“Ouch.” Abel winced.
“Yeah,” Lu agreed. “Ouch.”
“What about the Sky Knights? Did they put a bounty out on me too?”
“I haven’t heard anything about that,” Lu said. “Maybe because of your sister.”
“Wait?! Everyone knows about her?” He couldn’t believe all his secrets were out in the open like this. What had happened to privacy?
He was afraid Silas had something to do with it. If everyone knew Abel was a criminal with criminal connections, then the illegal racers would be more likely to trust him. And if they trusted him, he’d be a better spy for Silas.
The dishonesty made him a little dizzy. In movies and comics, spies were cool and heroic. In real life, he’d been a spy for only a few hours and he already had knots in his stomach.
“Everyone knows everything, Abel,” Lu chuckled. “And sometimes what they know is true. There are even rumors your brother is a Dragon’s Eye agent.”
Abel tried to keep his face from revealing anything. That was not information anyone should know. “Silas?” he scoffed. “He’s too lizard-brained to be a Dragon’s Eye agent.”
Lu snorted. “Ha. Though you probably shouldn’t talk about him that way. He’s pretty popular at the Academy.”
“Silas? Popular?” Abel couldn’t believe it.
Lu nodded. “I know he’s your big brother and all, but a lot of the kids have huge crushes on him.”
“Crushes? On Silas?” Abel shook his head. He couldn’t imagine it.
“Wait …” Abel said. “You transferred from the Dragon Rider Academy?”
Lu nodded sadly. “Expelled,” she said. “Not my fault! They’ll expel you for tying your boots wrong at the Academy. So here I am. Municipal school.”
“It’s not so bad,” Abel reassured her. “You can tie your boots any way you like here,” he added, waggling his eyebrows in a way he thought made him look charming.
Lu smirked and leaned in to whisper, “So is it true?”
Abel’s heart leapt. Was this the moment his popularity started? Would it feel different to be one of the cool kids? Would he walk differently and start calling things he liked “fire”?
He hesitated to speak. He didn’t want to mess this up.
“Did you really win a battle against the Sky Knights, the Thunder Wings, and the Red Talons on a stolen Sunrise Reaper? And then let all the dragons you won go free?”
Abel met her eyes. They were dark brown and kind, and she seemed to know everything already. He wasn’t sure why, but he wanted to impress this new girl.
He nodded. She smiled at him, patting him on the back. “I thought so.”
And then, fast as lightning striking a cell tower, her hand dropped down behind him, snatched the top band of his boxer shorts, and yanked with such force he was flung hard against the safety straps that he now wished he hadn’t clipped into. They locked him in place while Lu yanked again, forcing the treasonous cloth of his underwear into such a brutal wedgie he couldn’t help but scream. The kids all around turned to look. Some of them burst out laughing, just as the fabric tore and the waistband ripped free.
Even some of the classmates Abel thought liked him laughed, like Tall Andi and Prentiss and Bo. Their betrayal hurt worse than the wedgie.
No, he thought through gasps, nothing hurts worse than this wedgie.
Lu held his waistband up like a trophy. “That’s a snapdragon!” she shouted. “Anybody film that? I want my five dollars!” Lu tucked the shred of his waistband into the inside pocket of her jacket. A few kids had their phones up, taking video.
So much for starting the school year cool, thought Abel.
He glared at Lu with tears in his eyes.
“Jazinda Balk sends her regards,” she told him. “The Red Talons don’t forget their enemies.” With that, she leaned back in her seat, crossed her arms, and closed her eyes to nap, though she opened one of them to glare sideways once. “And if you think about messing with me in my sleep, just know that I can do a lot worse than wedgies.”
She closed her eyes again. Abel saw the Dragon Safety Officer staring at him but doing nothing to intervene. Was he on Lu’s side, or did he just hate Abel?
How was this school year already going so painfully awry? It hadn’t even started yet!
Abel shifted uncomfortably. He had to let go of his dignity to pick out the wedgie, which further amused the kids around him. At least Prentiss mouthed a silent “sorry” his way.
He glanced out the window to see if they were close to Roa’s building yet. He’d like to have a real friend on the bus as soon as possible. As they flew, he dared a look at Lu again, sleeping soundly. She wasn’t even afraid of him getting revenge while she had her eyes closed, which made him think she wasn’t really asleep, just taunting him.
He wouldn’t fall for it. He’d bide his time.
Sleep well, he thought. And go ahead. Underestimate me. That’s the same mistake all my foes have made, before I vanquished every one of them.
It was a cool line, imagining he had “foes” or that he’d “vanquished” them. He would’ve felt a lot cooler thinking it if he wasn’t still trying to pick his boxer shorts out of his crack.