Free Dragon Coast by Greg van Eekhout

they were talking about.
    â€œI’m skeptical about even a ‘maybe,’” Gabriel said. “I take it you’re proposing we join forces in this unlikely endeavor?”
    â€œWhat could be better, Gabriel? We worked together to off the Hierarch, now we can work together to save my kid.”
    â€œBut you know I’ve been working to do just the opposite. I’ve been working to destroy the Pacific firedrake.”
    Daniel put down the bottle. “I do know that. And now you’re going to stop doing that.”
    Some osteomancers spent magic on letting their power show. Mother Cauldron used hers to grow herself monstrously large and to sprout extra arms. Alex Vermilion used his to glow in the dark. Daniel had never spent one iota of magic to impress. He always let himself look like something left out in the rain. And knowing the power that resided in his bones, Gabriel found him all the more frightening.
    Outside the window, the valley lights twinkled. Billions of gallons of water flowed through city waterworks, as much a part of Gabriel as the blood coursing through his veins. Gabriel’s power was far-reaching and immense, but he had absolutely no desire to test it against Daniel Blackland’s magic.
    â€œI’m waiting for you to articulate the reason I’m going to help you, Daniel.”
    Daniel stood. “Because otherwise, at long last, after more than ten years of avoidance, you and I will be at war.”
    He went to the door, poised to put a period on this dramatic parting.
    Gabriel hated drama.
    â€œShow up to my office at eight,” he said. “We’ll start discussing a plan.”
    â€œWill there be doughnuts?” Daniel asked, hand on the doorknob.
    â€œWill we be at war if there aren’t?”
    Daniel smiled.
    â€œI’ll make sure we have doughnuts.”
    *   *   *
    Jo Alverado threw her arms around Daniel’s neck and planted a wet kiss on his cheek. Daniel didn’t even get to say hello before she tugged him by the arm into her apartment, steered him to a chair in her kitchen, and filled a teacup from a kettle still exhaling the last of a whistle.
    She waved off his attempted apologies at not having looked her up sooner when he came back to Los Angeles, and instead kept him busy fielding questions about how he was doing, about his health, about his bandaged hand, whether he’d looked in on Cassandra, and if he had anyone special in his life right now. And so on.
    Daniel went through two cups of tea before she deemed him sufficiently debriefed and allowed him to get to business.
    He’d just been through two long days of planning with Gabriel Argent. Argent was smart and efficient, and it was amazing how quickly he’d put things in motion. But there were some things for which he still had to rely on his friends.
    â€œI need a new face,” he said.
    â€œI’ve been telling you that for years. What for?”
    â€œIt’s part of trying to get Sam back. I lost him on Catalina Island. ‘Lost’ is maybe not the right word. He—”
    â€œI know what’s been going on,” she said with gentleness. “You’ve been scarce, but I still hear from Moth.”
    In the old days, Daniel was the glue that held his group of friends together. They were a band of thieves, and he was their mastermind. It startled him to think of Moth being the center now.
    â€œWhose face do you need?”
    â€œI just want some alterations to my own. I’ve got some good chimera bone to make me pliable, but I’m not a sculptor like you.”
    â€œI’ve never changed anyone else’s face but my own.”
    â€œI know your talents, Jo. There’s nobody else I’d come to for something like this.”
    The flattery touched her, and Daniel felt ashamed of himself. He could no longer justify telling someone just what she needed to hear as anything other than