Hidden

Chapter 5

The last time I’d visited the Tiger’s Palace had been a year and a half ago. When I’d seen it then it had been a dance club, hundreds of boys and girls in their teens and twenties packed into a concrete box filled with the pounding of industrial music. Now the concrete walls had been hidden by drapes of red cloth, and Indian artwork had been set up around the edge of the room. Carpets and tables were spaced across the floor, and the upper balcony had been decorated as well, though no amount of decoration could hide the dominating view it gave over the lower level.

It looked luxurious, almost enough to be a real palace . . . but not quite. It might have been the absence of people—the club had been designed to hold nearly a thousand, and the fifty or so figures scattered across the main floor left it feeling vast and empty—but I didn’t think it was the guests. Jagadev is the owner of the Tiger’s Palace, and there’s little love lost between him and mages. Maybe I was imagining it, but I thought I could feel something of his presence in the building, a kind of cold indifference. Jagadev might live amongst humans, but he doesn’t like them.

We’d attracted attention the instant we walked in, and I could see half a dozen people eyeing us from across the wide expanse of the floor. “Vari,” I said. “We’re in. Alex out.”

“Received,” Variam’s voice said into my ear.

“Here’s where the fun begins,” Luna murmured. Behind the mask, her eyes were bright with anticipation.

“I’ll take the adult mages,” I said quietly. “You cover the apprentices.”

“I’ll start with the ones on the far wall.”

“Stay in touch.” A man moved away from a group ahead of us and looked towards me. “Go.” Luna split off, angling past the duelling ring towards a cluster of Dark apprentices standing in the shadow of the balcony. The man took a few steps towards me, and I slowed to let him intercept my path.

The funny thing is that what I was trying to do here would never work at a Light ball. Light mages are so much more organised; you don’t even get in the door without an invitation, and the guest list is examined carefully. Their society is more close-knit, and even the most reclusive Light mages have colleagues. Dark society, on the other hand, isn’t really a society at all. Amongst Dark mages security and relationships are all handled on an individual level; if you have a problem, then by default it’s up to you to do something about it. While there’s a loose code of conduct, the only way rules are imposed is if the one in charge is powerful enough to enforce his will on a collection of Dark mages (rare) or if the Dark mages in question are willing to submit to him (even rarer).

Secrecy and paranoia are also much bigger deals in the Dark world—Light mages aren’t exactly trusting, but Dark mages take it to the extreme. I wasn’t the only mage here wearing a mask, and it was a safe bet that I wasn’t the only one pretending to be someone I wasn’t, either. The really paranoid mages wouldn’t be physically here at all; they’d be miles away, utilising projections or simulacra. The man in front of me wasn’t one of them, though, as far as I could tell—he was wearing a mask, but my best guess was that he was here in the flesh. “Avis,” he said with a nod.

As soon as he’d made a move towards me I’d begun searching through the futures in which I spoke to him, cross-referencing against the names I’d seen from Jagadev’s guest list. Futures flashed past, there and discarded in a fraction of a second, flick-flick-flick: Ansek, Chance, Chojan, Emerel, Ever, Fabius, Gorith—close but not quite, similar sound—there. “Ordith,” I replied.

Ordith fell into step beside me. I didn’t know anything about the man except his name and that he was a mage. He was wearing brown and silver, and radiated no magic. “Generous of you to show up.”

The tone was slightly mocking, but Ordith’s body language was cautious. “I did not come here for you to waste my time,” I told him. “Get to the point.”

I felt Ordith’s eyebrows rise. “Sensitive,” he murmured. “I was just curious about your position on the new proposal.”

What proposal? A figure caught my eye at the foot of the stairs, slim and deadly: Onyx. If Onyx was here, then so was his master, and Talisid had—I stopped and turned on Ordith. To approach me first he must be at the bottom of the chain, not the top. “Is that your game now?”

“What do you mean?”

I shook my head. “Tell Morden to run his own errands.” I was trying lines of dialogue through the futures. I didn’t need to get it perfect, just to avoid the puzzled reaction that indicated a misstep.

“Come on,” Ordith said. He was wearing a smile intended to take the edge off his words. “You’re hardly an active player.”

“I hope you aren’t expecting anything for free.” What was Morden up to? I should have paid more attention to what Talisid had been telling me. “What about Jagadev?”

“Jagadev knows not to take sides in such matters.”

I didn’t really have any idea what we were talking about but one of the things my first master drilled into us was that when you’re uncertain, you attack. “I have no intention of rearranging my plans to suit Morden’s convenience.”

Ordith’s smile didn’t change. “Morden can be quite persuasive.”

“Don’t try to threaten me. I will support whoever offers the greatest benefit—as will those I represent.”

Ordith’s smile faltered a little. “Those you—?”

“Enough,” I said curtly. I couldn’t see any way I could bring Anne into this conversation, which meant I was wasting my time. “I have other business.” I changed direction and walked away.

Without looking, I knew that Ordith was staring after me; after a moment he turned and headed towards the foot of the stairs. Maybe messing around in Dark politics wasn’t the smartest thing I could possibly be doing. Oh well.

The communicator in my ear gave a quiet two-tone beep, followed by Caldera’s voice. “Testing. Verus, do you read?”

“Receiving,” I said, turning away from the bulk of the crowd.

“We’re approaching the Tiger’s Palace. Did you manage to scout it out?”

“Yep,” I said, turning to look back over the floor. I could see an interesting-looking group of people near the stairs. “Got a really good view, actually.”

“Any guests I should know about?”

“Morden.” And possibly me, but no point worrying her with trivialities.

“Should have guessed.” Caldera broke off for a second, then resumed. “Sonder and I are ten minutes out. Keep up observation and let us know the instant something happens. Don’t go inside. Clear?”

It looked as though the one at the centre of the crowd was Morden. I started walking towards him. “Stay where I am,” I said. “Got it.”

“Good. Heading in now.” The communicator beeped as the connection closed.

For a diviner, going into the middle of a crowd like this is dangerous. The major limiting factor on how far divination magic can look into the future is unpredictability; the more variables in your surroundings, the shorter your viewing range. In a sealed room with no extraneous movement I can see ahead for hours, days if I push it. Here, I could see ahead for maybe a minute at best. Different futures branched and broke off ahead of me, shadowy and twisting, individual Dark mages noticing me, approaching, interacting, every possibility changing at a moment’s notice. The futures in which I spoke to someone broke up almost immediately, thousands of branching choices all packed in upon each other, the unpredictable elements building upon each other and multiplying into an ever-changing blur.

If something went wrong here, I’d have very little time to react. When divination’s your primary defence it’s much safer to avoid these gatherings, and that’s exactly what most diviners do: hide themselves away in some deserted location where they can see any potential threats a long way off. But divination magic works in close quarters too, as long as you don’t mind a little risk. When you’re talking face to face with someone you might be able to see ahead only a few seconds, but they’re an important few seconds, and you can learn a lot more than you would staying at home.

As I approached the stairs I saw that Morden had quite an audience going, with half a dozen Dark mages gathered around him. He also had Onyx standing right at his shoulder, which was enough to make me very sure I didn’t want to stop for a chat. Ordith was hovering at the edge of the conversation, looking as though he was waiting for Morden to finish. I stayed out of earshot, but as I did I picked out the futures in which I moved closer, looking to see what I would hear if I joined their group.

“. . . be the case,” Morden was saying. He wasn’t wearing a mask; the really powerful Dark mages usually don’t. Dark-haired and handsome, he looked like a politician, though most politicians can’t kill you from across the room without lifting a finger. “I hope I can count on your support.”

“Your interest in this cause is hardly universal, Morden,” another mage said. “The Light mages have little to offer us.”

“Then perhaps those who feel that way would prefer to take it up with my associate.”

A faint ripple, almost too quick to be sensed, went through the audience. Morden looked inquiringly from side to side; when no answer came, he went on. “Neither of us expects any great sacrifice. All you have to do is stand aside and let nature take its course.”

“Nature?”

“It’s the direction things have been going, wouldn’t you say?”

All the time Morden had been talking I’d been moving, and I was reaching the point where I was about to pass out of eavesdropping range. I could linger, but I’d risk detection, and it didn’t sound as though this had anything to do with Anne . . .

. . . except that Anne had once told me a long time ago that Morden had offered her the position of his apprentice. She’d turned him down—did he still hold a grudge?

As if I didn’t have enough to worry about already.

I took the stairs up to the balcony. A pair of women were speaking quietly under their breath on the landing; they fell silent and eyed me when I passed. Something caught my attention as I searched through the futures, a familiar presence. My eyes narrowed. Her? Now isn’t that interesting . . .

A man and a woman were by the balcony railing. The man was masked, and beyond checking to see that he wasn’t going to cause trouble I didn’t pay him any attention. The woman was another story altogether. She was small and delicate-looking, with coppery skin and deep dark eyes. Her hair was done up in an elaborate style with lacquered sticks, and she wore a narrow black dress that showed off her figure. Right now she was laughing, one hand resting naturally on the man’s arm. “—isn’t it?” she was saying, her voice warm and captivating. “If you could, that would be wonderful.”

“No problem,” the man said. He looked like he was trying to come across as casual and doing a bad job of it. “This evening, then.”

“See you then,” the woman said. The smile stayed on her face as she watched him go.

I’d timed my approach carefully and reached the woman just as she began to turn away. As I passed I caught her arm and swept her along with me. “Meredith,” I said into her ear. From this close I could smell her perfume, something flowery and expensive. “Nice to see you again.”

Meredith is an enchantress, petite and beautiful and, from my fairly definite experience, entirely self-interested. As soon as she heard my voice her head jerked slightly. “Alex?”

“I’d wondered where you’d disappeared to. Who’s your new friend?”

I’d gotten Meredith as far as the balcony railing; she pulled away and I let her go. As I did her eyes flicked quickly down to the club floor. It was so fast it was almost impossible to see, but I’d been watching for it and I knew that the one she’d been looking towards was Morden. When I’d first met Meredith, she’d been working for a Light mage called Belthas—he was gone now but he and Morden had a lot of things in common, and Meredith wasn’t the sort to be especially concerned about whether someone was Dark or Light.

“What are you doing here?” Meredith asked. She was keeping herself under control, but she was on edge, and for good reason. The last time Meredith and I had met, we’d parted on bad terms and she’d given me more than enough reason to hold a grudge.

“Funny,” I said. “I was just about to ask you that. You like to get yourself into trouble, don’t you?”

“What do you mean?”

“The name Anne Walker mean anything to you?”

Meredith shook her head; her eyes were wary but her reaction had been instant and I was fairly sure she was telling the truth. “Hm,” I said. “I guess your new boss works on a need-to-know basis.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Anne Walker’s an apprentice from the Light program,” I said. “She’s gone missing lately. The Keepers are concerned.”

“Well, that’s nothing to do with me.”

I raised an eyebrow.

Meredith looked at me, waiting. I counted off seconds in my head as Meredith’s expression began to shade into annoyance. “Is this it?” she asked. “There isn’t—”

Right on cue, a voice spoke loudly from the far side of the club, pitched to carry across the floor. “Announcing Keeper Caldera of the Order of the Star.”

Every conversation in the Tiger’s Palace fell silent at once, as if someone had hit the Mute button. Caldera was a small figure at the front door, with Sonder a step behind, and she was advancing across the floor. The doorman hadn’t announced anyone else that I’d seen, and I was fairly sure the special treatment hadn’t been meant to do Caldera any favours. Nearly a hundred pairs of eyes watched Caldera and Sonder as they came closer.

“What’s she doing here?” Meredith whispered, looking suddenly unsettled.

I smiled slightly. “Done anything the Keepers might object to lately?”

“Don’t be like that!” Meredith kept her voice low. “Do you know why she’s here?”

“Let’s just say that you might want to find out exactly what Morden’s connection with that girl is. Fast.”

“I don’t know!”

I shrugged and started to turn away.

“Wait!” Meredith caught my shoulder. “Can’t you tell me?”

“I don’t owe you anything.”

“Please.”

“You know what?” I said. “I’ll make you a deal. I’m interested in Anne Walker’s location. Morden knows where she is. Find out, and I’ll tell you why that Keeper’s here and what she wants. And what you need to do to stay away from her.”

Meredith gave me an uncertain look, then hurried away. I leant on the balcony railing, watching Caldera and Sonder approach. As I did, the communicator chimed and I heard Luna’s voice in my ear. “Alex? I can’t see you.”

I was turned away from the others on the balcony, but I kept my voice very quiet. “I’m on the balcony. What’s your status?”

Caldera was approaching the stairs up to the balcony at a steady pace. There was a clear path between her and the stairs, and the Dark mages didn’t exactly block her way . . . but they didn’t move aside, either. Everyone was watching the two of them, and there was a kind of lazy tension in the air, a pack of wolves studying a wolfhound. Caldera’s face was stone, and almost against my will I felt a flash of admiration. The Order of the Star goes after mages who violate the Concord, and no matter how you interpret that, Dark mages are right at the top of their suspect list. Caldera was quite literally walking into a crowd of people whom she hunted for a living, and if those people decided to turn the tables and hunt her, she wouldn’t have a hope in hell of making it out alive. But there was no fear on Caldera’s face or in the way she moved, and the Dark mages stood still, letting her pass. Predators are drawn to weakness, and Caldera wasn’t showing any.

Sonder was another matter. He was half a step behind Caldera, and as the two of them approached I saw eyes drift away from the heavier woman and lock onto him instead. Sonder’s head was up and he was putting on a brave face, but his movements were too quick, too nervous. He looked like a new fish on the prison yard. Without Caldera, I put his life expectancy here at about twenty minutes.

“I’ve been talking to the apprentices,” Luna said into my ear. “Most of them are talking about Morden and that proposal—you know, Dark mages and the Council—but I found out something else. Sagash has apprentices, and they’re here.”

“Good,” I said quietly. Beneath me, I saw Meredith appear from the direction of the stairs and move towards Morden’s little crowd. Caldera and Sonder entered where she’d left, disappearing from my view.

“I think I can find them. I can go after them, or I could try Morden’s—”

“Go after the apprentices. I’ll deal with Morden.”

“Got it.”

From behind me I heard footsteps and I knew Caldera and Sonder were at my back. I stayed facing away, leaning on the balcony rail and tracking them in my future sight. Only after they’d passed by did I turn my head slightly to look. The two of them were moving around the semicircular balcony, heading for the room at the far end. Jagadev would be within.

I was torn. I badly wanted to talk to Sagash: I hadn’t spotted him yet, but if his apprentices were here he probably was too. On the other hand, looking for him meant leaving Sonder and Caldera on their own, and I could already see two or three Dark mages drifting after them. Caldera should be able to take care of herself, but I wasn’t so sure about Sonder . . .

Sonder and Caldera vanished behind a pillar and I shook my head and turned away. They were adults; they’d have to handle themselves. The only place I hadn’t checked yet was the far side of the balcony, and I headed along it. Down on the club floor I could see that Meredith was talking to one of the mages around Morden. I needed to hurry.

Sagash was at the very end of the balcony, and he was alone. None of the other mages had approached him, and even from a distance I could see why. Being a Dark mage comes with a certain automatic intimidation factor—you don’t get far in Dark society without being ruthless, and even the ones who haven’t reached their current position over a pile of bodies are not to be messed with—but still, most of them practise a certain minimum level of subtlety. Fear is useful, but sometimes you just want to blend in.

Apparently Sagash was of the opinion that blending in was for wimps.

He was taller than me, and skeletally thin. The flesh of his hands and neck was withered, stretched tight over clearly visible tendons and bones, and the fingers grasping the balcony railing looked like claws. His lips were pulled slightly back over his mouth, showing his teeth in an endless mirthless grin, and his skin was yellowed and pale. A black cap covered his skull, and dark robes hung from his bony shoulders. He looked like a cross between a famine survivor and an animated skeleton, but his thin limbs gave no impression of weakness; there was a kind of unnatural immobility about him, coiled and ready for action. I’m not going to say he was the most terrifying-looking human being I’ve ever seen, but I’d have trouble coming up with a better candidate on short notice.

I swallowed quietly. Well, you’re always telling Luna not to judge by appearances, right?

Sagash turned to face me as I approached, and it was just as well I’d had advance warning or I would have flinched. Up close his face looked even worse; the flesh was stretched over the skull, and pinpoints of yellow light glowed from sunken eye sockets. “Sagash,” I said. I managed to keep my voice steady, but it was a near thing. “I’m glad I caught you.” Let’s not get into the question of who’s caught whom . . .

Sagash stared at me. I’d thought of a dozen lies and half truths, but as I looked into his eyes I abandoned them all. There was something inhuman about Sagash, and my instincts told me that the tricks which had worked on Meredith and Ordith wouldn’t work on him. “I wonder if you might be able to help me,” I said. “I’m interested in the whereabouts of an apprentice called Anne Walker.”

Sagash studied me for a moment before speaking. His voice had a grating, rasping sound, like a piece of sandpaper working on a particularly stubborn lump of wood. “You are misinformed.”

“I was under the impression she used to be your apprentice?”

“No longer.” Sagash still hadn’t asked my name. I suspected he didn’t care.

“But I assume you keep tabs on her.”

“I neither know her present status, nor care.”

“Ah, my mistake,” I said. “My apologies. You don’t make any claim on her, then?”

Sagash’s yellow-pinpoint eyes focused on me and I had to force myself to hold my ground. “Your activities are not my concern,” he rasped. “The girl’s life is of no interest to me. Do with her as you wish.” He turned to face me, one bony hand hanging at his side; he held no weapon, but the threat was clear. “You have your answer. Leave.”

I looked—very quickly—at the consequences of staying, then bowed slightly and withdrew. Sagash watched me go, then turned back to overlook the club floor. As I turned away there was a chime in my ear and I heard Luna’s voice again. “Found them.”

“The apprentices?” I said very quietly. There were people close enough to overhear.

“They’re in the far corner. Listen, I’m going to try something. Back in a sec.”

“Wait, what are you—” The communicator cut off, and I swore under my breath. What did she mean, “try something”?

Looking into the futures, I could sense something happening around the entrance to Jagadev’s throne room, and I changed direction to head towards it. As I did I ran over what Sagash had told me. Now that it was too late, I wished I’d questioned Anne more thoroughly about her time with him; it would have made it a lot easier to figure out whether Sagash was lying. My divination magic hadn’t been much use—if someone isn’t going to tell you something, then looking into the futures of questioning them won’t help. He might be lying . . . but why? If it really had been Sagash who’d been behind Anne’s disappearance, he hadn’t broken any laws. What did he have to gain from hiding it?

The far right end of the balcony terminated in a wide doorway. Some of Jagadev’s men had been stationed outside, but I couldn’t see any trace of Jagadev himself; he must be in the rooms beyond. I couldn’t see Caldera but I could see Sonder; he’d been approached by a girl in her twenties and was talking to her. “Caldera,” I murmured, letting a pillar conceal me. “Where are you?”

There was a pause before Caldera answered, and when she did her voice was muffled. “Not a good time.”

“Let me guess,” I said. “Jagadev let you in to see him but he’s keeping you waiting, and he made Sonder wait outside?”

“Yeah.”

“Know if you’ll be done soon? It’s just that Sonder—”

“Look, whatever this is, take care of it on your own, all right? Kind of busy here.”

“No problem,” I said. “Alex out.” I walked out from behind the pillar and towards where Sonder was standing.

After you’ve spent a while in certain types of environments you get a nose for trouble. I didn’t know the girl Sonder was talking to, and I didn’t know the boy hanging back in the shadows, but I recognised the way they were standing and that was all I needed to be sure about what was going to happen. In the time I’d been talking to Caldera, Sonder had been drawn a few steps away from the entrance to Jagadev’s throne room, and he looked on the point of following the girl. “Please?” she was saying. “There’s no one else I can ask.”

“How far is he?” Sonder asked. He was hesitating, but I knew he was close to being convinced.

“Just in the next room,” the girl said. She was petite and wiry, with a birdlike way of moving, and she looked very appealing as she gazed up at Sonder. “Isn’t there anything you can do? I don’t have much, but if there’s anything I can offer you, I—”

“Leave,” I told the girl, doing my best imitation of Avis.

The girl turned, taken aback. “I don’t—What do you mean?”

“This is not something you want to involve yourself in,” I said, making my voice harsh. “Take your partner and get lost.”

The girl looked back at me for a second, then her face changed and she straightened. All of a sudden she looked a lot less vulnerable. She gave me a disgusted glance and walked away without a word. In my peripheral vision, I saw the boy slip something back into his pocket and disappear from view.

Sonder had watched the whole thing in confusion; now as I turned back to him he drew back suspiciously. “Who are you?”

I shook my head and switched to my normal voice. “Sonder, if fooling you is this easy, you really shouldn’t be hanging out at Dark audiences.”

Sonder stared. “Alex?”

I took a step away. “Come on. Those two might decide to come back, and if they do they’ll bring company.”

Sonder didn’t follow. “What are you doing here? We didn’t invite you!”

“‘Why thank you, Alex,’” I said to the open air. “‘You’re welcome, Sonder.’”

“I didn’t need your help!”

“Another three minutes,” I told Sonder, “and you would have been challenged to a duel. Traditional, not azimuth.”

“For what?”

“Making a move on someone’s girlfriend, breaking a social taboo, stealing something that just would have happened to turn up in your pocket . . . whatever they decided to set you up for. Are you coming or not?”

“No!” Sonder glared at me. “You’re not in charge and we’ve got work to do.”

I let out a breath. I hadn’t really expected Sonder to be happy to see me, but this was starting to wear on my nerves and I’d already seen that Meredith was looking for me. “Suit yourself.” I turned and walked away. Sonder didn’t follow.

Meredith found me less than two minutes later, and from the way she was looking at me I knew this conversation was going to go less smoothly than the last one. “Morden says he doesn’t know anything about that girl,” she said without preamble.

“Really.”

“I think he’s telling the truth,” Meredith said. Her eyes were narrowed as she watched me. “You were lying to me. You weren’t trying to help at all.”

“Lying and pretending to care about someone? What kind of terrible person would do that?” I leant closer towards Meredith and dropped the pretence, letting her see the coldness in my eyes. “You set me up to be killed. Did you think I forgot?”

Meredith backed away; she looked afraid, but there was anger underneath it. Without saying a word she spun and marched away. She’d lost her usual grace and her movements were spiky and quick.

I watched her go. Meredith doesn’t have much combat magic, but it’s a big mistake to think that that means she can’t be dangerous. It was probably a good time to start thinking about leaving. There was a chime and Luna spoke into my ear. “Well, that didn’t work.”

I started towards the balcony. “What didn’t?”

“I found Sagash’s apprentices. Two of them, anyway.”

I leant over the balcony and scanned the crowd below. “Two guys by the long table on the far right?”

“That’s them.”

The two mages I was looking at were too far away for me to get a good view, but it looked as though one was blond-haired and white, and the other West Indian or African. Both wore masks, and they were talking quietly, standing close together at an angle where they could watch each other’s backs. “Huh,” I said. “You know, they look awfully like those descriptions Sonder gave us.”

“Yep.”

“You were talking to them, right? Did you get anything?”

“Kind of. I challenged the blond one to a duel.”

“You did what?”

“Relax, he turned me down. Anyway, it was only a first-blood thing.”

“‘First blood’ means something a bit different here. What were you thinking?”

“Well, Sonder got a look at the magic those two were using, right? I figured if he said yes, Sonder could watch and we could check to see if it was really them.”

“That . . .” I paused. “. . . could work, actually.”

“I know, right? Anyway, I tried calling him a coward, but that didn’t draw him out either, so—”

“What?” A passing mage gave me a curious look and I glared at him, then hurriedly turned away.

“I said he turned me down; calm down already. It’s kind of a pity, I’ve never had a match against a Dark apprentice.”

“You’re out of your mind. Never mind. I’ll come down and we can—”

I was facing out over the main club floor, directly above Morden’s group, and at this point I caught sight of Meredith. She was talking to Onyx, and as I watched she pointed up to the balcony in the direction of the spot we’d last been talking. Onyx turned his head towards me and I ducked back out of sight. “Uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh, what?”

“Change of plan,” I said. Going down to floor level would mean passing Onyx and walking out into the open, neither of which struck me as a good idea just now. “Get Sonder.”

“What for?”

“I’m guessing you asked those apprentices a bunch of leading questions? Odds are as soon as you were out of earshot they started trying to figure out how much you knew. If you can get Sonder there—”

“—then he can look back to see what they said! Let’s do it.”

Looking into the future, I knew that Onyx was heading in my direction. I moved towards the wall and behind the cover of a pillar. “Sonder,” I said. “You there?”

“What?” Sonder said after a pause. He sounded harassed, as though he’d been in the middle of another conversation.

“Got a job for you. Mind helping Luna out with something?”

“Luna— She’s here?”

“Bingo,” Luna said over the link. “Meet me at the foot of the stairs, okay?”

“What were you thinking, bringing her here?” Sonder said. “You’re her master, you’re supposed to look after her!”

From the other side of the pillar, I heard quick footsteps as Onyx strode past. Onyx is Morden’s Chosen, slim and deadly; he’s an extremely powerful and specialised battle-mage and he hates my guts. The one bright side (from my point of view) is that he’s so specialised a battle-mage that he’s very bad at anything that doesn’t directly involve hurting or killing things, meaning that while he’s very dangerous in a fight, he’s remarkably bad at spotting anyone hiding from him. “Excuse me?” Luna said in annoyance. “I’m older than you are.”

“You’re still only an apprentice. You shouldn’t be here!”

“Since when did you get to—”

Another chime sounded in my ear. “Hold, please,” I said as I emerged from behind the pillar and headed in the opposite direction from Onyx. I switched circuits. “Hello?”

Sonder and Luna’s voices cut out and Caldera’s voice sounded in my ear. She sounded pissed. “Verus, what are you playing at?”

“You know, this isn’t a great time,” I said, taking a glance around. I couldn’t see Meredith but I knew Onyx was coming back for another pass. “Can I call you back?”

“I told you not to go inside!”

“Technically I was inside already.”

“You bloody well knew what I meant!”

“Well, here’s the thing. As you made clear to Variam earlier today, you Keepers have a strict chain of command, and I’m not in it.”

Caldera started swearing. Onyx was heading back towards me and I slipped into a side room. “I am going to kill you,” Caldera said once she was coherent again.

“You might have to get in line,” I said. The communicator chimed again. “Hold, please.”

“No! Where are—”

I switched channels. “Receiving,” I said, then stepped back into the shadows behind a wall hanging.

“Alex?” Variam said into my ear. “Think we might have a problem.”

Onyx appeared in my view through the doorway. He looked as pissed off as Caldera had sounded. He turned his head from side to side, searching, then whirled and headed back the way he’d come. “Someone’s just arrived at the front,” Variam said. “His getup looks really similar to what you’re wearing. Like, really similar.”

“Oh, come on,” I muttered. “Now?”

“You made sure the real Avis wasn’t coming tonight, right?”

“I did! Everyone told me he never shows up to these things!”

“Yeah, well, unless he’s got an identical twin you might want to qualify that, because someone who looks exactly like him just walked in the front door.”

“Okay.” I started walking towards the stairs, trying not to make it too obvious that I was hurrying. “I think it’s time to leave.”

“I’ll get to the evac point. Call when you’re a minute out.”

I switched channels again and came in the middle of Sonder and Luna arguing. “—risky,” Sonder was saying. “What if they see?”

“You said they can’t tell if you’re using timesight.”

“They might notice that I’m—”

“Luna, start closing,” I said. “Five minutes, then we’re leaving, back entrance.”

“Got it. By the way, we just ducked Onyx. Seemed like he was looking for someone, know who it might be?”

“Very funny.” Looking ahead, I saw that Caldera was just about to come around the corner ahead of me. “Oh, great.”

“They’re still standing where they were,” Sonder objected. “How are we going to—?”

“Do I have to think of everything?” Luna said. “Alex, I’ll meet you at the door in five.”

“Got it. Alex out.”

Caldera came striding around the corner and fixed me with a look of death. Obviously Sonder had told her what I was wearing. “You!”

“Keeper,” I said formally. “Is there something I can help you with?”

Caldera had been about to start swearing at me again, but my tone brought her up short. Looking from side to side, she saw that two Dark mages were within earshot and both were watching with undisguised interest. “Mage,” she said through clenched teeth. “Would you mind if we spoke privately?”

“I’m afraid I was just leaving,” I said. “How was your meeting with Lord Jagadev?”

“Screw Jagadev!”

In the futures in which I went to the balcony edge and looked over, I could see Onyx talking to Meredith. He looked even angrier if anything, and she didn’t look happy either. He made a cutting motion with his hand; Meredith pointed again in the direction of the balcony. Onyx turned and stormed off towards the stairs. “I doubt you’re his type.”

Caldera took a deep breath, obviously getting herself under control. The futures shifted and I glanced ahead; yet another person I didn’t want to talk to was heading my way. “I recommend you locate your assistant,” I said. “I think he might need assistance himself.”

“What? What have you done now?”

From behind Caldera someone cleared his throat. Caldera turned to see Morden standing behind her. “Keeper,” Morden said. “If it’s not too much trouble, would it be possible for me to speak with Avis?”

Morden put just the tiniest accent on Avis—enough to let me know that he knew who I was, not quite enough to make it obvious to Caldera. Caldera knew I wasn’t Avis, but she didn’t know that Morden knew I wasn’t Avis . . . this was getting confusing. Caldera gave me a last warning glance, which I returned blandly. “We are going to talk later,” Caldera said to Morden. “Don’t go anywhere.”

Morden bowed slightly. “I look forward to it.”

Caldera walked off around the left-hand curve of the balcony. She was heading in Sagash’s direction, and I had to fight off the impulse to eavesdrop. Watching those two bounce off each other would be interesting, as long as I was at a safe distance. “Can I assume you’re here to support my proposal?” Morden asked.

Was that why the real Avis was breaking his usual habits and showing up? I really should have done more digging on what Morden was up to. “Not in a million years,” I said. I didn’t bother disguising my voice; trying to play those kinds of games with someone like Morden is a waste of time. “What do you want?”

“I believe that’s my line.”

Onyx had come up to the balcony again. Luckily this time he’d turned the wrong way, but he’d be back. “I’m a little short on time,” I said. “Could we hurry this up?”

“You know, Verus, you should learn to be more polite,” Morden said with a smile. “Someone might take offence.”

I looked at Morden. His smile didn’t waver, and I felt a brief chill. Morden doesn’t look dangerous, but he’s very powerful, and if he decided to make a serious attempt to get rid of me I don’t think my life would be worth much. He wouldn’t even have to do anything himself; all he’d have to do would be to point Onyx in my direction. He hadn’t—yet—but I started mentally planning out escape routes, and this time I kept my mouth shut.

“Better,” Morden said when I didn’t answer. “I understand you have an interest in Anne?”

“As do you, last I heard. Do you happen to know where she is?”

“What are you offering?”

“I’m not going to work for you.”

“Really? I’d hoped you’d reconsidered.”

I took a breath. “Morden,” I said. “Exactly how many times does that sociopathic Chosen of yours have to try to kill me before you register that it might be a problem?”

“I’d really hoped the two of you could work out your differences,” Morden said. “Ah, well. Someone else has a prior claim.”

“You don’t know where Anne is either, do you?”

Morden shook his head. “Your fishing attempts are actively painful to watch. Enough games. I do not know Anne Walker’s location, but fortunately for you I have my own interests in her well-being. By this time tomorrow, I will know where she is and why, and I will take my own measures. Go home, Verus. You and your Keeper friend. I will take care of this from here.”

I stared at Morden, trying to work out if he was telling the truth.

A flicker of movement from the direction of the entrance caught my eye, and as I looked towards the front entrance a nasty feeling went through my gut. There was someone crossing the floor wearing a mask and an outfit very similar to mine, and from his body language he looked extremely unhappy about something. If he’d just had to get past a group of Jagadev’s guards, all of whom had been under the impression that they’d let him in already, I could understand why. A strange two-tone bell sounded, echoing through the club, and people looked up.

“Avis seems a little upset,” Morden said as I stood there, hesitating. “Tell me, is there anyone at this audience whom you haven’t managed to aggravate?”

“The ones I haven’t met?” Several of Jagadev’s men were moving in a purposeful way towards the front entrance. That chime had sounded a lot like an alarm . . . almost as if Avis had had to fight his way in . . . in which case they’d be looking for someone dressed exactly like . . . “Got to go,” I told Morden. “Later.”

“Have you made your choice yet?”

I’d moved past Morden, but that made me pause. “What?”

Morden was watching me, his head tilted slightly. “He won’t wait forever, you know.”

Something about the words made my hair stand on end. I backed away, not taking my eyes off Morden, and the Dark mage watched me go. I put a pillar between us and started walking fast.

As I headed for the stairs, I switched back to Luna and Sonder’s circuit. “—trying,” Sonder was saying.

“Can you hurry this up?” Luna said. “Running out of time here.”

“I . . .” Sonder paused again. It sounded like he was using one of his spells, but his voice didn’t have the usual sureness it does when he’s seeing into the past. “I’m not sure.”

“You’re not sure, what?”

“Time’s up,” I broke in, broadcasting only to Luna. “Luna, we’re going.”

“Fine,” Luna said. “I’m thirty seconds out.”

“Good, I’ll—shit. Wait a sec.” Avis was heading straight for the stairs. I cut the connection and tried to figure out if I could get past him. No good, the stairway wasn’t wide enough. I moved past, heading for the nearest corner—

—and Onyx was right on the other side. I scanned left and right for ways to avoid him and realised with a sinking heart that he was standing still. If he’d been moving in literally any direction I could have dodged him, but I couldn’t sneak past on an open balcony. Below, I knew that Avis was just about to start up the stairs. I had maybe twenty seconds to get out of sight.

I looked around, thinking fast. There was a doorway set into the wall but the room beyond was a dead end. If I went back the way I came I’d run straight into Morden, and eventually Sagash and Caldera. I could hide, but that meant giving up any control over whether I’d be found. I looked into the futures in which I got spotted by Onyx and Avis. Both were about ready to kill me on sight.

Kill on sight . . . I stopped. Wait a minute . . .

Ten seconds. I moved to the corner, snatched up a wooden statuette from the table, waited two seconds for Onyx to turn his head the other way, then stepped around the corner and threw. Two other Dark mages whipped their heads around as the statuette described a neat ballistic arc before hitting Onyx in the back of the head.

Onyx staggered but recovered almost instantly, whirling around as a transparent bubble of force flashed into existence around him. He stared at me, then down at the statuette, then up at me again. I think the sheer ridiculousness of it threw him for a second; no one does that kind of thing to a Dark mage. I figured he needed some extra motivation, so I gave him the finger just to make my feelings clear.

That did the trick. Onyx’s eyes lit up with fury, and as his hands came up I jumped back around the corner and darted into the room. Just as I got inside, Avis appeared at the top of the stairs, turning in my direction. I held dead still as Avis stalked by outside, passed my hiding place, and turned the corner to where Onyx was waiting.

There was a moment’s silence, then the flat wham of a force spell and Avis went flying straight out over the club floor. He clipped the railing on his way over, but his shield was already up and it only sent him tumbling. Avis didn’t fall but kept going horizontally, doing two full backflips before steadying himself to hover in midair, grey light gathering at his hands, storm-winds whipping at his hair and clothes. He threw out an arm and something translucent flashed out just in time to meet Onyx’s second strike.

I was already running, using the brief moment of distraction to make it to the stairwell. I raced down the stairs three at a time, sending Dark mages jumping out of the way. A thunderclap shook the room as I made it to the ground floor; Luna was waiting by a side door behind one of the tables, looking up at the battle with wide eyes. “We’re leaving!” I told her as I came to a halt, dumping the contents of a small pouch into my right hand. It sparkled briefly before I closed my fist around it.

Luna nodded, not taking her eyes off the scene at my back. Behind and above, Avis was still duelling with Onyx, the air mage a blur of motion as he wove through Onyx’s shots; he hadn’t yet noticed me and I wasn’t planning on giving him the chance. I pushed the door open.

The route Variam had told me about me led through the kitchens and out one of the side doors. It would have been nice if it had been unguarded, but unfortunately Jagadev’s the thorough type and there was a security man standing inside the anteroom. He didn’t carry a visible weapon but I could see a bulge inside his jacket. “I’m sorry, sir,” he said to the two of us. “These are the kitchens.”

“That’s all right,” I said. I’d slowed before opening the door and now I walked forward in a self-assured sort of way, obviously dismissing the guard. “I know where I’m going.” He wasn’t going for his gun; he couldn’t have been given my description yet. Good.

“I’m sorry, sir,” the guard said again, moving to block my path. I didn’t change course, and he held out an arm to bar my way as I walked into him. “I’m afraid you’ll have to—”

The guard’s arm blocked his view of what I was doing, and he had only an instant to react before I threw the handful of glitterdust right in his face. Sparkling flecks clung to his eyes, blinding him; he staggered back, hands coming up instinctively. The movement left his lower body open so I kicked him in the groin, then when he doubled over I hit him on the back of his head. He went down hard and I kept going; the whole fight had taken less than two seconds. Luna gave the guy an interested glance and followed.

We passed through the door and into a wide kitchen full of men and women in aprons. Steam and the scent of food filled the air, and between the din of cooking and the chatter of voices it was hard to hear. Someone shouted something as we reached the other side, but I didn’t turn to look and in only a second we were into the corridor beyond. The route Variam had given us was good, and although I’d been searching ahead to map our way it hadn’t been necessary. The corridor ended in a flight of stairs, and at the top was a fire door. I pushed it open and stepped out into the cool spring night.

We were in a Soho alley, the sounds of the city all around. Lights glowed from the street at the far end, a narrow window onto a brighter world. Music echoed down the alley, interrupted by a shriek. It sounded like excitement rather than pain . . . probably. “Vari,” I said as I trotted down the steps and turned right. “Two of us coming in cold.”

“Gating,” Variam said. From the end of the alley I felt a flicker of magic.

For his gate location Variam had chosen a hulking dark building at the end of the alley. The door was ajar rather than burnt to ashes; apparently even Variam’s capable of being subtle sometimes. “Taxi,” Luna called out as we walked in.

“You wish,” Variam said. The room was big and dark with metal racks along the walls and ceiling, and he was standing in a corner, the fiery glow of his magic lighting the gloomy interior. “We good to go?”

“All clear,” I said, shutting the door behind us. I’d been checking for any signs of pursuit, and while it was going to come, it was still a few minutes out. By the time they traced us here there’d be nothing but an empty room. “Calling Sonder,” I heard Luna say into her communicator. “Sonder, everything okay?”

“What?” Sonder said. He sounded distracted. “No, it’s fine.”

“Tell Caldera we’re out, okay? Oh, and have fun at the party.”

Variam’s gate bloomed and took shape in the air in front of him, a fiery ring leading into a place of trees and grass. I stepped through and let it take me away.