Tonio’s juggling with fire—a dying mother, two vengeful gang leaders breathing down his neck, and a tough dragon master hunting him down. Not to mention his step-brother who’s always looking for an excuse to wield a birch switch. When Tonio tells his friend, Sam, that Ma is dying of the wasting sickness, Sam comes up with a brilliant idea, and they sell secrets to rival street gangs to earn enough for his mother’s healing tonic. But the gang leaders, Biter and Half-Ear, are ruthless, and it’s only a matter of time until they discover Sam and Tonio are double-crossing them. If only Sam’s ideas weren’t so dangerous. If only Tonio’s drunken step-brother, Marius, wasn’t constantly beating him. Then a ruby dragon arrives in Naobia. A tough dragon master, as sharp as a blade, has come to town—a spymaster who hunts down Tonio and Sam and tempts them to go on a dangerous hunt for his dragon’s stolen egg. Anyone in their right mind would turn him down. Unless they were desperate for coin… Coin that could buy Ma’s healing tonic in a flash.