Jason looked up at Puck with questioning eyes,his pupils gone normal again but golden flecks showing in the pools of deep hazel and rich royal purple. They seemed to float calmly on the surfaces like leaves in a pond.

"Our trusty guide has gone AWOL."

Grimalkin had vanished, and he didnt respond to the hissed calls for him to show himself. The street kids were watching them now, eager and hesitant at the same time. There was no telling where Grimalkin was, or when hed return. Really, there was just one option.

"He disappeared last...back there....Puck.What...what if...." Shade patted his horn again and squeaked something softly and Jason's dragonic letters started flashing again in things he didn't speak.

"He's fine, I'm sure. I saw him come through the trod with us." Turns out, they were in the basement of her mansion.

"So, Leanansidhe has you guys steal from dragons?" Puck asked the girl as they walked down the dimly lit corridors, torchlight flickering over the damp stone walls. Whatever the house looked like, the basement was huge. It was like a medieval dungeon, complete with heavy doors, wooden portcullises, and gargoyles leering at us from the walls. Mice scurried over the floor, and other things moved in the shadows, just out of sight. The girl, Kimi, grinned. "Leanansidhe has lots of clients with very unusual tastes," she explained. "Most of them are exiles, like her, who cant go back into the Nevernever for some reason. She uses us--" she gestured to herself and Nelson "--to fetch things she cant get herself, like that thing with the dragon. Apparently, a banished Winter sidhe in New York is paying a fortune for real dragon eggs."

"Dragon eggs? Th-those aren't just something to be traded or sold!" Jason said,shaking his head a bit. Shade was on his left shoulder and Fatespeaker his right. "Those are little lives..." He said softly,remembering how his own egg had been left in the Moon Fields,he remembered the conversation outside of his shell that had been spoken of how,because of his human blood,he wouldn't hatch. That he was nothing but a lifeless egg. And he hadn't been able to squeak like the others of his clutch so he hadn't been able to show that he was alive. Like all dragons,he could remember the small amount of time before and of his hatching.

"We stole only one." Kimi giggled. "Then the stupid lizard woke up and we had to book it." She giggled again, smoothing down her ears. "Dont worry, were not going to decimate the dragon population. Leanansidhe told us to leave a couple behind."

Puck made a noise that mightve been appreciation. "And what do you guys get out of this?"

Jason lowered his head a bit but nodded. "No one deserves to live away from their family though." He whispered,Fatespeaker patting his head and Shade snuggling him gently. He didn't know if Puck was appreciative that they had taken the egg or that they had left some behind.

"Free room and board. And the rep that goes with it. Wed be out on the streets, otherwise." Kimi and Nelson shared a secret glance, but Warren was staring at Jason. Hed been doing that since they left to meet Leanansidhe.

"The pays not bad, either," Kimi went on, oblivious to Warrens scrutiny. At least, its better than the alternative-being hunted down for what we are, getting stepped on by the exiles and the fey who just like it better in the mortal realm. Leanansidhes made it safer for us-you dont screw around with the queens pets. Even the redcap gangs know to leave you alone. For the most part, anyway."

Jason felt uncomfortable under Warren's stare but gave a small smile and a wave of a bound hand.

"Oh, and by the way," Kimi went on, with a quick glance at Ironhorse, clanking along behind them. "Leanansidhe knows about...um...his kind. They've been killing off lots of exiles lately, and it's making her mad. Your 'friend' should be really careful around her. I dont know how shell take an Iron faery in her living room. Ive seen her throw a fit for less."

"Shut up, Kimi," Warren said abruptly. They had reached the end of the hall, where a bright red door waited for them atop a flight of stairs. "I told you, its not a big deal."

Strains of music drifted down the steps, the low, shivery chords of a piano or organ. The music was dark and haunting, kind of like Phantom of the Opera music