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First edition published by Benedict Jacka, 2022.   Copyright © 2022 by Benedict Jacka.

The moral right of the author has been asserted.  All rights reserved.  

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.  All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.   

Cover art by Lucy Zini: view her portfolio at https://lucyzinii.ArtStation.com. 

For further information on the Alex Verus series, visit www.benedictjacka.co.uk.

Introduction

This story takes place about four months after the end of book #12 of the Alex Verus series.  It’s recommended that you read book #12 (Risen) before you read this, both for reasons of spoilers, and because many of the events of this story touch on the events of Risen.  A brief timeline is included below.

This novella is something of an experiment on my part.  It’s written in a different person from the one that I usually use, it’s a slightly different (but overlapping) genre to urban fantasy, and it opens with some new characters you won’t recognise.  If you’re a long-time fan of the Alex Verus series and would rather read about familiar characters, don’t worry;  this story is about those familiar characters, I’ve just chosen to show them from a different point of view.  By the time you’re about two-thirds of the way through, you’ll probably understand why. 

Timeline

2017

September:  Main events of Alex Verus #12, Risen.  Final battle of the Second Jinn War.  Under Verus’s command, the Council forces are victorious.  The adepts that Drakh trained in Arcadia are almost all killed or captured, while the marid jinn is cast out from Anne and bound back into Suleiman’s Ring.  In the aftermath, Alex and Anne disappear. 

October:  Epilogue to Alex Verus #12, Risen.  The war is over.  The Council is aware that Anne is alive and suspects that Alex is too, but – for the moment – chooses to let the matter rest. 

2018

January:  Stories of the war – usually inaccurate and incomplete – have spread.  Although the Council has clearly won, its Keepers and security forces have taken heavy losses and it has turned inward to focus on rebuilding.  In the meantime, with the fighting ended, there is a surplus of mercenaries and combat-trained adepts looking for employment.  Unrest is high. 

February:  This story begins.

Gardens

The woods were dark and cold.  Three torches cast bright beams that swept across the trees and snow, but there was far more darkness than light, and as soon as the beams moved on the forest was plunged back into gloom, black tree trunks looming up out of a background of featureless grey.  Up ahead, flickers of light signalled the presence of a second group, but the two parties kept their distance from one another.  The only sounds were the crunch of shoes on snow, and the soft whine of the breeze. 

Daniel shivered at the wind’s touch, wishing for the hundredth time that he’d dressed more warmly.  His thick ski jacket was doing its best, but the jeans and trainers that had been good enough for the Bristol winter couldn’t handle the icy cold that seemed to seep upwards from the frozen earth.  His legs were freezing and his feet felt like lumps of ice. 

His two companions, as usual, were having it easier.  Emmanuel was striding confidently out at the front, while Jess was only a little behind.  As he watched, he saw Jess speak;  Emmanuel looked back, saw that Daniel was lagging, and stopped to wait.  Daniel hurried forward and caught up just in time to hear Jess say, “I don’t like her.”

“You don’t have to like her,” Emmanuel said. 

Daniel leant against a tree, breathing hard.  Em and Jess had been having this argument since Bucharest.  

“If she’s some big-shot mage,” Jess said, “why doesn’t she take us through a portal?”

“It’s only battle-mages that can do portals.”

“I’m just saying,” Jess said.  “If she’s so important, how come we’re walking through the snow?”

“What do you want, a taxi?”

Emmanuel was the oldest of their group, tall and good-looking with an easy smile.  He’d been a PhD student when they’d met, while Daniel and Jess had still been undergrads;  after the three of them had discovered what they had in common, he’d been the one to suggest using their ‘talents’ to earn some quick money.  There was a sort of natural confidence to Emmanuel, as though nothing could possibly go wrong or hurt him.  He’d quickly taken the lead in talking to clients, and after each success, he’d been the one to push them to go further.

But right now Jess was pushing back, and from Emmanuel’s annoyed tone, he didn’t like it.  “I’m not going to go whine at her about having to walk through the snow,” he told Jess.

Daniel had caught his breath again.  “Actually—” he began. 

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Emmanuel said.  “Can we at least keep walking?”

Daniel glanced at Jess.  The three of them kept walking. 

“I don’t care about the snow,” Jess told Emmanuel.  Fitter than Daniel, she’d been handling the walk easily.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“She’s holding out on us.”

“She’s hiring us for a break-in,” Emmanuel said with irritation. “Of course she’s holding out on us.”

“Come on, back me up,” Jess told Daniel.

The reflected torchlight made it hard to see much of Jess beyond a vague impression of blue eyes and streaked blonde-brown hair, but Daniel could picture her expression.  “I kind of agree with Jess—” he began. 

“What a surprise,” Emmanuel muttered. 

“I mean, she’s a mage, right?” Daniel said.  “So why’d she hire adepts?”

“You said battle-mages can make portals,” Jess told Emmanuel.  “So why didn’t she just get one of those?  I mean, let’s get real here, we’re not exactly bodyguards.”

“We’re security specialists,” Emmanuel said.

“I thought we were calling ourselves ‘acquisition specialists’,” Daniel said. 

“If all she wants is to steal something,” Jess said, “why’d she bring along those two creepy guys?”

“Don’t say ‘steal’,” Emmanuel said. 

“Um, Em?  She’s hiring us to break into this guy’s house and nick his jewellery.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s stealing.”

Daniel and Jess looked at him. 

“It could belong to someone else,” Emmanuel said.  “Look, it’s just a good habit to get into, all right?”

“Fine,” Jess said.  “If all she wants is to secure something, why is she bringing along two boys who look like sex offenders?”

“They’re the security.”

“I thought we were supposed to be security,” Daniel said. 

“You know what I mean!”

“I’m just not sure this is a good idea,” Daniel began. 

“Well, maybe you should have said that before we got on the plane,” Emmanuel said in annoyance.  “We all agreed.  Remember?”

Daniel did remember.  When Emmanuel had explained it to him and Jess over a round of drinks, he’d made it sound simple.  Break into a cabin while the owner was gone, take something, and get out.  Yes, the owner was a mage, but they’d broken into mage-owned houses before, and this time they’d have a mage of their own to back them up.  And the money was good. 

But now that they were here, and not in the warmth and comfort of a Bristol pub, it was occurring to Daniel that while they were used to breaking into houses owned by mages, breaking into a mage’s actual home might be a bit more serious.  It was also, belatedly, occurring to him that maybe that was why the money was so good. 

But before he could organise those uneasy thoughts, Emmanuel glanced ahead.  “Look, there’s more to this than you know, okay?” Emmanuel said.  “We pull this off, we’re set for life.”

Set how? Daniel wanted to ask, but the sounds of voices made him pause, and as he looked up he saw that the lights of the lead group were just ahead. 

∞

The lead group had stopped in a small clearing in the trees. 

“What’s the hold-up?” Jess asked. 

Emmanuel nodded forward.  “Guide’s stopped.”

“Oh, for God’s sake.”

“Jess?” a woman called.

The woman who’d spoken was their employer, dark-haired and dark-eyed with looks that had a trace of the exotic.  She claimed to be Persian, which Daniel thought meant she was from Iraq or Iran, though her accent sounded more like that of a rich Londoner.  She was wrapped up in furs, and as Jess, Daniel, and Emmanuel walked up, she watched them with a faint smile.  Her name was Shirazad. 

“What?” Jess said.

“Our guide seems reluctant,” Shirazad said.  “Would you mind?”

Their guide was a man from the local village.  He didn’t speak English and none of them spoke Romanian, but Jess had studied French and Italian at university and had been able to talk to him well enough to strike a deal.  Jess launched into a mixture of the two languages and spoke for thirty seconds.  The man answered briefly. 

Jess turned to Shirazad.  “He says the cabin’s up ahead and he wants his money.”

“Tell him he’ll be paid once we get there,” Shirazad replied in her silky voice.  

Jess translated.  Despite everything, Daniel found himself watching Jess as she spoke, the reflections of the torches picking out her features and the highlights in her hair.  He’d always liked hearing her speak French.

The man shook his head vehemently.  “Strigoaică.”

“Que voulez-vous dire?”

The man thrust out his hand. 

Jess turned back to them.  “He says no.”

“Thanks, never would have guessed,” Emmanuel said.

Shirazad studied the guide for several long seconds.  Her face was just visible in the reflections of the torch beam, tilted eyes dark and mysterious.  The guide shifted his feet, glancing around.  “Pay him,” Shirazad told Jess, and turned away. 

“Why do I have to—?” Jess began, but found herself talking to empty air;  Shirazad had walked off to talk to the last two members of their group.  Jess shook her head and thrust a handful of grubby lei notes at the guide.  The man grabbed them, turned, and trotted off. 

“I really hate that woman,” Jess muttered. 

“What’s a ‘strigoiker’?” Daniel asked. 

“How the hell should I know?”

“Come on,” Emmanuel said, and started after Shirazad.  Daniel looked back – the guide had already disappeared – and followed reluctantly. 

“. . . just ahead,” Shirazad was telling the last two adepts.  As Emmanuel, Daniel, and Jess walked up, she raised her voice to address all of them.  “We’ll form a line.  As soon as one of you sees the cabin, signal.”

“What if we can’t find it?” Emmanuel asked. 

“It’ll be there.”

“How do you know?” Jess demanded.

Shirazad looked past her. 

“All right,” Emmanuel said once it became clear that Shirazad wasn’t going to answer.  “You said you’d tell us the details once we were here.”

“Emmanuel,” Shirazad said with a smile.  “I thought you were the kind of boy who likes surprises.”

Emmanuel and Jess looked equally annoyed. 

“The item we’re looking for is called Suleiman’s Ring,” Shirazad said.  She held up a gloved thumb and forefinger.  “It’s about this big, made of gold, with a square top and black patterning.  Very ornate.”

“What does it do?” Emmanuel asked. 

“For you?” Shirazad said.  “Nothing.  Now, this is important.  When you find the ring, do not touch it.  Do not touch it.  Just point me at it and stay away.”

“What happens if we touch it?” Jess asked. 

“Don’t.”

“But what if—?”

“Stop trying to annoy me,” Shirazad told Jess.

Jess looked pissed-off.

“It’d be useful to know what’s so special about this thing,” Emmanuel said with a glance at her. 

“You aren’t being paid to know why it’s special,” Shirazad told Emmanuel.  “You’re being paid to find it.”  Shirazad glanced from Emmanuel to Jess to Daniel.  “Any questions?”

Jess looked like she wanted to argue, but didn’t.  Emmanuel shook his head slightly. 

“Well,” Shirazad said.  “If that’s settled, let’s get moving.”

“Wait,” a new voice said. 

The boy who’d spoken was about Daniel’s age, with a slim build, Indian-Pakistani looks, and a neatly trimmed beard.  His companion looked like a bigger and bulkier version of him, taller even than Emmanuel and heavily muscled.  The two of them had been waiting at the airport when they’d landed in Bucharest.  Shirazad had introduced the bigger one as Azhdaar and the smaller one as Deathgrip.  They hadn’t spoken then, and they hadn’t spoken on the journey, either.  Until now. 

“Is there a problem?” Shirazad asked. 

“We want our money,” Deathgrip said.  His eyes, almost black in the gloom, were fixed on Shirazad. 

“You’ll be paid once I have the ring,” Shirazad told him. 

The bigger one – Azhdaar – looked at Deathgrip.  He seemed to be following Deathgrip’s lead. 

Deathgrip hadn’t taken his gaze off Shirazad.  “Money,” he told her.  “Now.”

Daniel’s skin prickled.  He was suddenly very aware that the three of them were far away from home, in an empty forest, with several people who were, kind of by definition, willing to commit crimes for money.  He’d sort of taken for granted that their group would be the ones committing the crimes, but now that he thought about it, there wasn’t actually anything stopping any of them from committing crimes against him. 

But Shirazad only looked amused.  “Or you’ll do what?” she asked Deathgrip.

Deathgrip stared at her. 

“You think taking a mage’s name lets you act like one?” Shirazad asked lazily.  She raised a hand, inspecting the fingers on her gloves.  “Or maybe you think being Arcadia-trained puts you on the same level as the mages who taught there?”  She picked an invisible speck of dust from one fur-lined glove and flicked it away.  “Think carefully.”

Deathgrip stood very still.  Daniel held his breath.  The wind had dropped and the clearing was silent. 

“Okay, okay,” Emmanuel said, stepping forward.  “We’re all friends here, right?”

“And even if you’re not,” Jess said sharply, “you might want to think about how you’re going to find anything in this forest without me.”

“Cabin’s up ahead,” Deathgrip said. 

“Uh huh.  And what if we need another guide?  Remember what that man said about that?”

Deathgrip paused.

“Oh, right, you don’t speak the language,”  Jess said.  “Guess maybe you and Lumber should have stayed in school.”

“My name’s Azhdaar,” the big one said.

“I think Lumber suits you better,” Jess said.  “And your short friend’s Plank.”

“His name’s not Plank.”

“Yeah, but you know?  ‘Thick as two short—’”

“Okay, I think that’s enough,” Emmanuel interrupted.  He looked between Shirazad and Deathgrip.  “We good?”

Deathgrip stared at Shirazad a moment longer, then looked away. 

“All right,” Shirazad said.  “Get moving.”

∞

The six of them spread out in a line.

Daniel found himself on the right side, with Deathgrip on his right and Shirazad on his left.  He’d tried to stay next to Jess, but she’d gone off with Emmanuel and by the time he’d thought to say something they were gone.  He glanced to the right, looking for Deathgrip, but the adept was gone. 

“Worried?” a silky voice said from behind him. 

Daniel turned to see Shirazad, picking her way carefully through the snow.  Like him, she was holding a torch, but right now she was looking at him with a mysterious smile.  

“I was . . .” Daniel said, and made an awkward gesture.

“Deathgrip’s out there watching us,” Shirazad said. 

Daniel looked around uneasily. 

“Don’t worry, he won’t do anything.”

“He was thinking about doing something a minute ago,” Daniel muttered. 

“Oh, you thought that was serious?” Shirazad said with a laugh.  “He was just seeing what he could get away with.  I told you, he won’t do anything while I’m here.”

“How are you so sure?”

“They know better than to pick a fight with a mage,” Shirazad said.  “Besides, what would it get them?  All they could take is the ring, and I’m the only one who knows how to use it.”  She looked at Daniel with a smile.  “And no, I’m not telling you either.  Even if you are very handsome.”

Daniel shifted uncomfortably.  “Were they really trained in Arcadia?”

“Oh, yes.”

Daniel was silent.  Among adepts, the name ‘Arcadia’ was famous.  It had been a school, a refuge, a training ground.  There had been whispers that an army was being built there, an army to rival the Council. 

But the Council had struck first, invading Arcadia and burning it to the ground.  Those adepts that had survived had regrouped and met the Council forces in a great battle.  No-one seemed very clear about where that battle had been, but everyone agreed that in it, the best of the Arcadian adepts had gone up against the Council armies under the command of the mage general Verus.  The adepts had been shattered and the Arcadian forces broken forever.  But the name of Arcadia still carried weight, a promise of something that could have been, and might come again.

“So have you made a move on that girl?” Shirazad asked. 

Daniel jumped.  “Wh— who?”

“Jess.  The one you have a crush on.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’m an enchantress and I know everything you’re feeling.”

Daniel shot a glance at Shirazad.  Everything . . . ? 

“Yes, everything.”

Daniel’s cheeks heated and he looked away.  Shirazad laughed and began to say something else, but Daniel kept avoiding her eyes, and so he was looking right at the patch of darkness between the trees as something huge and deadly leapt out of it. 

Daniel yelled, pushing Shirazad out of the way while his other arm windmilled.  Something slammed into his chest and sent him flying, his torch sinking butt-first into the snow. 

Daniel scrambled to his feet to see that a creature was stalking towards him on four legs.  It looked like a panther, and it moved like one too, placing its paws on the snow one at a time with an oddly delicate motion.  Only the eyes gave away that it wasn’t a creature of flesh and blood.  They shone bright blue, and the thing’s sides, just barely illuminated in the light of the torch, were dark grey and hairless. 

Terror spiked through Daniel, and he backed away until he came up against a tree.  The creature stalked towards him. 

“Deathgrip!” Shirazad shouted from somewhere off to his side. 

The creature walked straight up to Daniel, raised a paw, and struck. 

Daniel held up a hand and used his power. 

The air in front of Daniel’s hand thickened, becoming solid.  To anyone watching it would have looked like a faint distortion in the air, but he could feel it as a shield, a disc maybe a couple of feet wide, anchored to his hand.  The creature’s paw slammed into the shield and knocked Daniel off his feet.  He came up a second time to see that the creature was almost on top of him;  again he channelled a shield, and this time he used everything he had.  The barrier of hardened air spread from the snow to above his head. 

The blow landed half a second later, but this time Daniel had braced himself and didn’t fall.  The creature struck again, harder;  the impact made Daniel slide back a couple of inches, but the shield held, and the thing paused, studying him with glowing blue eyes. 

“Deathgrip!  Emmanuel!”  Shirazad shouted again.  “Get over here!”

Daniel felt a flash of hope.  This thing was strong, but it didn’t seem able to get through his shield.  His control over his hardened air wasn’t good enough to use it as a weapon, but he didn’t need to attack, just hold it off long enough for—

Glowing blue claws, trailing a faint mist, unsheathed themselves from the creature’s right paw.  The claws sank into Daniel’s shield – and kept sinking.  There was some kind of energy bleeding from them that was unravelling his shield, making the hardened air weaken and wisp away. 

Panic flashed through Daniel.  He hurled himself backwards as his shield fell apart;  somehow the claws didn’t reach him but they were radiating an icy cold that made his hands go numb.  He tumbled to the snow, scrambling away on hands and feet as the creature stalked after him.  It was within pouncing range now, and Daniel knew he was dead, but he kept trying to get away, numbed fingers scrabbling at frozen ground—

The patter of running footsteps sounded from Daniel’s left.  The creature’s head snapped around just as a figure crashed into it, knocking it away, and all of a sudden Daniel was clear.

The figure who’d slammed into the creature was Jess.  As Daniel watched, she darted in and struck at the thing’s head, her fist glancing from its neck.  There wasn’t much strength in the blow, but there didn’t need to be;  light sparked, there and gone in an instant, and the creature jerked as electricity discharged into it. 

This was Jess’s ability.  She could build up an electric charge while moving, then channel it into anything she touched.  The creature lashed out and Jess dodged, brushing it with another touch that carried enough current to stun a horse.  The creature spasmed again, but didn’t fall. 

But before it could recover, a massive arm came down on it from behind.  The arm was sheathed in a blade of translucent force three feet long, and it carved a deep gash into the thing’s neck.  The creature tried to twist towards the new threat, but the electricity had slowed it and it couldn’t get out of the way in time.  Azhdaar stepped into view, striking down with another hammer-blow that drove the creature down into the earth.  He used a second blade in his off-hand to deflect its claws, then struck again. 

The creature was tough, but it couldn’t reach Azhdaar past the force blades, and Azhdaar kept the thing at arm’s length and methodically beat it to death.  At last one of his blows finally broke something crucial inside the creature and it stopped moving.  Azhdaar measured the creature up and took one last full-body swing;  with a chunk the thing’s head came free from its body.  The light in those catlike eyes dimmed and went out. 

Azhdaar straightened up and glanced around.  “Any more?”

“Apparently not,” Shirazad said.  She seemed to have recovered her composure, and now she turned to glare into the darkness.  “Deathgrip!”

Deathgrip came strolling out of the darkness.  He gave Azhdaar a nod. 

“I didn’t bring you here to stand and watch,” Shirazad said tightly. 

Deathgrip shrugged.  “They were doing all right.”

Shirazad and Deathgrip began to argue while Jess came walking over to Daniel.  She was grinning.  “Whew.  That was a rush.”

“For you,” Daniel said, at little shakily.  He could still vividly remember those claws slicing through his shield. 

“Oh, don’t be such a baby.”

“What are they going on about?” Emmanuel said, walking up.  He nodded to Shirazad and Deathgrip. 

“He was the nearest one when that thing jumped on us,” Daniel said angrily.  “And he just stood around.”

“Probably scared,” Jess said.  She didn’t keep her voice down and Daniel saw Deathgrip’s eyes flick towards her. 

“He wasn’t scared,” Azhdaar told them, and pointed down to the remains of the thing at his feet.  “They’re called icecats.  Council used them in the war.”

Jess blinked at him in surprise.

“Because they’re cats and they use ice magic,” Azhdaar explained. 

“Yeah, I get that part,” Jess said.  “I’m just amazed you know that many words.”

“They’re not very difficult words,” Azhdaar pointed out. 

Jess sighed.  “Can you at least act insulted or something?”

“All right,” Shirazad said.  Apparently she’d finished with Deathgrip;  the adept was looking off into the darkness.  “The cabin must be close.  You three, time to earn your pay.”

∞

“Well,” Jess said quietly, “at least it’s easy to find.”

Daniel and Jess were standing at the edge of the trees.  Just in front of them the forest was broken by a path, smooth flat patches of snow marking the presence of flagstones.  On the other side of the path was a raised log cabin with a peaked roof.  Light shone from the windows, blazingly bright in the pitch-black forest. 

“Why are the lights on?” Daniel whispered.  They’d switched off their torches as soon as they’d seen the cabin’s glow. 

“Isn’t the mage who lives here supposed to be out?” Jess whispered. 

“Yeah, so why are the lights on?”

“To keep away burglars?”

“In the middle of a forest?”

The two of them stared at the lights. 

“I don’t like this,” Daniel said. 

“You don’t like anything.”

“What if someone’s in there?”

“Em said he was out,” Jess said. 

“Em didn’t know about that icecat.”

“Mages always have things like that, though,” Jess said.  “Like their version of a burglar alarm.  Right?”

“Then what the hell are we doing here?” Daniel asked. 

“Oh, screw this,” Jess said.  She stepped out from behind the tree and started walking.  Nervously, Daniel followed. 

Snow crunched under their footsteps as they crossed the path.  The cabin loomed up in the darkness, silent and menacing.  Just looking at it gave Daniel a bad feeling, and he shot a glance over his shoulder.  Emmanuel was supposed to be there, covering them in case anything went wrong, but right now a little voice inside Daniel’s head was screaming that this place was bad news, really bad news, and they should get out while they could. 

But that would mean running away.  Worse, it’d mean running away in front of Jess.  Daniel had been trying to impress her for so long, and he could just imagine her look of scorn.  Shirazad had made it sound as though he should just ask her out or something.  Maybe he ought to—

Daniel bumped up against Jess and came to a stop;  looking up, he saw the cabin looming over them.  Jess made a signal and the two of them began a cautious circuit of the building. 

The cabin was silent.  But for the light streaming from its windows, it would have felt empty.  Daniel and Jess made a full loop around, finishing back where they started. 

“Anything?” Daniel whispered.

“No current,” Jess whispered.

Jess’s ability to feel electrical currents made her quick to spot alarms, while Daniel’s hardened air let him open locks and doors.  Between the two of them, they could get into almost any building.  It was why they’d ended up gravitating towards burglary jobs;  Jess and Daniel handled the breaking and entering, while Emmanuel was the backup.

“What if there’s a magical alarm?” Daniel whispered. 

“Like what?” Jess whispered. 

“Some sort of magic trap that summons a monster or something.”

“That isn’t even possible.”

“What about that lightning elemental that got set off in the British Museum?”

“That’s just a bullshit story.”

“So why does Emmanuel keep telling it?”

“To make our work sound more dangerous than it really is,” Jess whispered.  “Look, do you want to hang around here, or do you want to go back to the others?”

“Go back,” Daniel said. 

They withdrew across the snow-covered path.  As they reached the trees, shadows moved amidst the trunks.  Daniel tensed, then relaxed as he heard Emmanuel’s voice. 

“Everything okay?” Emmanuel said. 

“It’s clear,” Jess said.

“Except for whoever’s inside it,” Daniel added. 

“Did you see anyone?” Emmanuel asked. 

“. . . No.”

“All right,” Emmanuel said.  “We want to make sure this place is empty.  Jess, go and—”

“Did you forget who you’re working for?” Shirazad said, her voice silky.  She brushed past Daniel and strode out into the path. 

Emmanuel, Jess, and Daniel shared a look.  Daniel couldn’t make out Em’s expression but he was pretty sure he was annoyed. 

Shirazad stopped about twenty feet from the cabin, lit up in the glow from the windows.  She stared at the door as Daniel, Jess, and Emmanuel came to a halt a little way behind her.  Glancing around, Daniel saw Azhdaar and Deathgrip.  They were watching Shirazad. 

“Hello?” Emmanuel said after a few seconds.  “Is there a reason we’re—?”

“You can go in,” Shirazad said. 

Emmanuel and Jess looked at each other.  “The mage—” Emmanuel began. 

“Isn’t there,” Shirazad finished. 

“How do you know?” Jess demanded. 

Shirazad gave her a pitying look. 

Emmanuel definitely looked annoyed.  “You’re up,” he told Daniel. 

“You’ll be fine, Daniel,” Shirazad said. 

Slowly Daniel approached the cabin, climbing the steps to the front porch.  Glancing back, he saw everyone else watching him.  He reached the door and paused. 

“Pain in the arse,” Jess muttered under her breath.  She’d followed Daniel to the door.  “Bet she’s making it all up.”

Daniel felt a flash of envy that Jess was apparently so unbothered that she had the time to complain about their employer, then took a deep breath and got to work. 

The air hardened at Daniel's hands, a barely visible blur in the darkness.  As he concentrated on the hardened air it spread, extending through the door’s lock and out the other side.  Carefully, Daniel probed at the lock’s mechanism.  He couldn’t feel through his hardened air, not exactly, but he could sense resistance, and he’d done this enough times to know where to find the tumblers on a lock.  This one was old and simple;  a couple of pounds of pressure, and the tumblers clicked over. 

Next Daniel sent his hardened air flowing up and down the inside of the doorjamb.  His magic wasn’t good in a fight – too slow – but it was fast enough for this.  The doorjamb was smooth, except for one round cylinder that Daniel recognised as a bolt.  He wedged his hardened air under the bolt, levered it up, then drew it back, applying exactly the right amount of pressure.  The bolt slid smoothly and quietly until it was clear of the door. 

Daniel wrapped air around the handle of the door and pulled.  It moved freely.  He let his hardened air vanish, then gave Emmanuel a nod. 

Emmanuel nodded back.  The three of them might disagree sometimes, but they worked together when it really mattered.  Emmanuel strode forward, turned the handle, and opened the door. 

Light spilled out from the cabin, turning the front porch from night into day.  Daniel stepped up and got his first look inside. 

The room within was a sort of combination living room and kitchen.  The middle was dominated by a table and chairs;  to the sides were a counter, a stove, some cabinets, and a fireplace with two empty hooks mounted above it.  The walls and ceiling were wooden logs, and a support beam ran to the roof’s peak.  At the back, a door led through into the rest of the cabin. 

Standing on the other side of the table was a girl in her mid-twenties.  She was slender, with pale skin and long straight black hair that fell nearly to her waist.  She wore a white apron over a green jumper and a pair of jeans, and a kitchen knife was dangling forgotten from her hand as she stared wide-eyed at the people who’d just burst through her front door.

Jess squeezed in next to Daniel;  as she saw the scene, her eyebrows rose.  “Oh, what the hell?”

“Out of the way, all of you,” Shirazad said from behind.  She pushed her way through until she was standing at the front, then stopped.  The six of them stood clustered in the doorway, facing the girl across the empty table.  Warm air flowed through the open door and out into the winter night. 

A chill went through Daniel, a sense of something assembled and waiting.

The girl spoke into the silence.  Her voice was soft, a little unsure, but clear.  “What are you doing here?”

“Azhdaar,” Shirazad ordered.  “Check the house.”

Azhdaar strode in, going around the table.  The girl shrank back slightly as he loomed over her.  “Excuse me,” Azhdaar said politely, pushed her to one side, and opened the door behind. 

“Em?” Jess said.  There was a warning note in her voice.

“You told us it was empty,” Emmanuel said to Shirazad.

“I told you the mage wasn’t home,” Shirazad said coolly. 

“And what, you just forgot to mention that someone else was?”

Deathgrip gave Emmanuel a contemptuous look.  “Afraid of a little girl?”

“Can we have a word?” Emmanuel asked Shirazad. 

“This isn’t really the time,” Shirazad told him. 

“Yeah, it’s the time,” Jess said.  She was glaring at both Emmanuel and Shirazad, and for once she seemed equally angry with both of them. 

Azhdaar poked his head out from the back room.  “Can’t see it,” he told Shirazad and Deathgrip. 

Shirazad looked at the girl.  “Where’s the ring?”

The girl looked back at her with wide eyes.  She’d been watching the exchange with what could have been alarm. 

Shirazad glanced at Deathgrip, who began stalking forward.  “The mage who lives here owns a heavy golden ring,” Shirazad said as Deathgrip rounded the table.  “Have you seen anything like that?  Think carefully.”

The girl looked from her to Deathgrip, then shook her head slightly. 

Shirazad sighed and made a small gesture. 

Deathgrip backhanded the girl across the face.  She went down with a cry, the kitchen knife clattering to the floor. 

The cabin erupted in shouts.  Jess yelled at Shirazad and Emmanuel at Deathgrip, while Deathgrip just looked down at the girl with a satisfied sort of expression.  “What the hell is your problem?” Jess shouted. 

“Stop it!” Emmanuel shouted at Deathgrip. 

“Make me,” Deathgrip told him.

“You really should have just answered the question,” Azhdaar told the girl. 

Shirazad stared at the girl for a few seconds, frowning, then the shouting seemed to register and she raised her voice.  “Quiet!”

Everyone fell silent.

Shirazad gave the girl a final look, then turned to Emmanuel.  “Bring your people outside.”

∞

Daniel, Jess, and Emmanuel assembled on the front porch with Shirazad.  Deathgrip stayed in the doorway, slouching against the doorframe, while Azhdaar stayed inside, watching the girl. 

“What’s the problem?” Shirazad asked Emmanuel.

“I told you we didn’t do this kind of work,” Emmanuel said. 

“What kind?”

“Breaking into people’s houses while they’re in them and beating them up,” Jess said sharply. 

“Burglary’s one thing,” Emmanuel said.  “Robbery’s another.”

“Oh, it’s robbery,” Deathgrip said mockingly.  “Well, that’s different.”

“What you were doing was assault,” Daniel said.  “Actually, it’d be actual bodily harm—”

Deathgrip yawned loudly.

“I’m sorry, are we boring you?” Emmanuel asked. 

“‘Actual bodily harm’,” Deathgrip mimicked, and shook his head.  “Fuck’s sake.”

Emmanuel was visibly keeping his temper.  “One’s a lot more serious than the other.”

“Then maybe you should have thought of that before you took the job,” Shirazad said.  “I told you the job was to find the ring.  I told you the mage who owned it wouldn’t be home.  I didn’t promise anything else.  If you made assumptions, that’s your problem.”

“This wasn’t part of the deal,” Emmanuel told her. 

“Their job was to get us in, and we’re in,” Deathgrip told Shirazad.  “Why are they still here again?”

Jess stared at him.  “Excuse me?”

“You heard,” Deathgrip told her.  “Go run off and let the men handle this.”

Jess bristled, but Emmanuel put a hand on her shoulder.  Jess shot him an angry glance, but fell silent as Emmanuel spoke.  “You think all we can do is get into places?” Emmanuel told Deathgrip.  His voice was light, but there was an undertone of something else. 

Deathgrip looked at Emmanuel with hooded eyes.  Daniel glanced nervously between them. 

Then Shirazad broke the stand-off, reaching into the air between Emmanuel and Deathgrip and snapping her fingers.  “Hello, boys?  If you’re finished with your little testosterone show?”

Reluctantly, both Emmanuel and Deathgrip turned towards her.  “If you can’t handle it,” Shirazad told Emmanuel, “then you can leave.  Right now.”  She nodded towards the dark forest. 

“What about our money?” Jess said. 

“What about my ring?” Shirazad replied. 

Jess was silent.

“No ring, no pay,” Shirazad said.  “Talk it over and make up your mind.  But if you come back into this cabin, you’d better do your job.”  She turned and walked inside.  Deathgrip gave them a sneering look, then followed, slamming the door with a bang. 

Daniel, Jess, and Emmanuel were left alone on the porch. 

“Let’s get out of here,” Daniel said. 

“We’re not getting out of here,” Emmanuel said with an annoyed look. 

“You know, just because you act like the leader, that doesn’t mean we all have to do whatever you say,” Daniel said.  “It’s not like you got elected or—”

“All right, all right,” Emmanuel said, waving his hand.  “Bad way to put it, okay?  I’m not telling you what to do, I’m just saying we can’t do this.”

“Can’t we?” Jess said.  “Because yeah, I might not want to run away like Dan does, but that doesn’t mean I like it.  We agreed right at the beginning.  We break into empty houses.”

“I told her that.”

“Well, it doesn’t sound like she listened very much, does it?”

“That was the only reason we went along with this whole ‘acquisition specialists’ bullshit,” Daniel said. 

“Security specialists,” Emmanuel said. 

“I don’t care!  The British police don’t give a shit about burglaries, everyone knows that, but breaking into women’s living rooms while they’re in them is a big fucking difference!”

“We’re not in Britain,” Emmanuel pointed out.  “And the Romanian police care about as much about this as the plod care about burglaries.  We could probably kidnap her and no-one would even notice.”

Jess stared at him.

“Not that we’re going to,” Emmanuel said hastily.  “I’m just saying, we don’t have to be quite so worried about that stuff.”

“How about the fact that one of the guys on our team is an incel psycho?” Jess asked.  “We allowed to be worried about that?”

“We don’t know the full story . . .”

“Okay, you try and downplay this one more time, and I’m taking Daniel and walking out of here,” Jess told him.  “Have you seen the way that guy’s been acting?  The way he’s been looking at me?  He likes hurting women.”

“All right,” Emmanuel said. 

“I should have known from the start,” Jess said.  “Who the hell calls himself ‘Deathgrip’?”

“All right.”

“Can’t believe you wanted us to take mage names.  ‘Boost our credibility’, my arse.”

“All right.”

Uneasily, Daniel realised that Jess was starting to wind down.  Her temper could flare up quickly, but it could cool down again almost as fast, and right now Emmanuel was placating her.  “So are we going or not?” he asked. 

“Why would we want to?” Emmanuel asked. 

Daniel stared at him. 

“Look, we’re ninety percent done,” Emmanuel said.  “All we have to do is find this ring, walk out, and boom.  Get paid.”

“You mean sit around while they beat it out of her?”

“They’re not going to beat it out of her.”

“How do you know?”

Emmanuel sighed.  “Look, if this bothers you so much, then shouldn’t you be wanting to stay?  I mean, if we just walk off into the night, then what do you think Deathgrip’s going to do to that girl once we’re gone?”

Daniel stopped.

Emmanuel glanced off into the darkness and then back to them.  “All right,” he said.  “You two stay here.  I’m going to go find out what’s going on.”

“Find out how?” Jess asked. 

“Going to make a call.”

“To who?  Is this your mystery guy?”

“Jess, please, not now, okay?  I promise I’ll tell you everything when I’m back.  Just don’t let anything happen while I’m gone.”  Emmanuel trotted down the steps, and strode away into the darkness. 

“Hey,” Daniel called.  “Hey!”

Emmanuel vanished into the night.

“No, stay,” Jess said as Daniel took a step after him.

Daniel paused, looking between Jess and the woods.  “What do you want to do?”

Jess sighed.  “I don’t know.”  She stared after Emmanuel.  “God, I hate it when he does this.”

“Yeah,” Daniel said.  “You know, I’ve kind of been thinking that this whole thing— okay, right back when we were looking around, it felt as though—”

“He always wants to act like the big man in charge,” Jess said.  “You saw how he put his hand on my shoulder?  That wasn’t an accident.  He was trying to make it look like he was in control.”  She shook her head.  “Why do guys always need to do this stuff?”

“I don’t do that stuff,” Daniel said. 

Jess glanced at him and laughed.  “No, you don’t, do you?”  She shook her head with a smile.  “Guess that’s something at least.”

“Uh,” Daniel said hopefully.  “You’re welcome.”  Inwardly he was thinking:  so she likes me more than Emmanuel?

Jess sighed again and turned back towards the cabin.  “All right, let’s do this shit.”

“Wait.  You still want—?”

“What else are you going to do?  Hike back on your own and hope there isn’t another icecat?  Come on, let’s go.”

Daniel took a last look back at the dark forest, and followed Jess back into the cabin.

∞

“Good, you’re back,” Shirazad told them.  “Jess, help the boys search.  Look for something with an electronic lock or alarm.”

The cabin was in the process of being ransacked.  Deathgrip and Azhdaar were going through the cupboards, throwing out cans of food and boxes of spices and seasonings.  The girl was in one of the corners, watching the two adepts destroy her kitchen. 

“What about me?” Daniel asked. 

“She knows something about that ring,” Shirazad said, nodding towards the girl.  “Find out what it is.”

“She said she didn’t—”

“She’s lying.”

Daniel looked at Shirazad in surprise. 

“She’s not scared enough,” Shirazad said.  “But since you seem to want to play white knight, you can try talking.  If she doesn’t co-operate, we’ll see if Deathgrip can do any better.”

Shirazad wasn’t making any effort to keep her voice down, and Daniel saw the girl’s eyes flick towards her.  “You’re a real piece of work, aren’t you?” Jess told Shirazad. 

Shirazad just looked Jess up and down with a knowing expression, then turned away.  Jess rolled her eyes and went to join Azhdaar. 

Daniel walked over to the girl. 

The girl was sitting on one of the kitchen chairs.  Now that he was closer, Daniel could see that she was actually quite tall, but she had a huddled, shrinking manner that made her seem smaller than she really was.  Her cheek was flushed where Deathgrip had hit her;  a small trickle of blood had dried on the skin.  Red-brown eyes watched Daniel apprehensively as he pulled up a chair. 

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you,” Daniel said, trying to make his voice sound soothing.  “You okay?”

The girl gave him a doubtful look. 

“What’s your name?” Daniel asked. 

“. . . Equinox.”

“That’s . . . something on the calendar, right?”

“It’s the time of year when the day lasts exactly as long as the night.”

“I’m guessing you picked the name?”

Equinox nodded.  “It was something I used to think about,” she said.  She had a soft voice;  it made her easy to ignore.  “An equinox is a point of balance between light and—”

Daniel glanced back to see that Jess was listening in.  She was supposed to be searching the cabin along with Azhdaar, but she’d paused to eavesdrop.  After a few seconds, she rolled her eyes and went back to what she’d been doing. 

“—doing this?”

“What?” Daniel asked.

“Why are you doing this?” the girl asked. 

Daniel shifted uncomfortably.  “It’s just a job,” he said to the wall.  For some reason he didn’t want to meet the girl’s eyes.  “We’re just here for that ring, then we’ll go.”

The girl kept looking at him. 

“Sorry about . . .” Daniel said, and gestured at her cheek. 

The girl shook her head very slightly.  “I’ve had a lot worse.”

Well, that’s a pretty creepy thing to say, Daniel thought.  He wondered what this girl was even doing here.  Weren’t a lot of mages supposed to keep slaves?  Maybe if that was true, she’d want to go with them . . .

“Look, this ring,” Daniel said.  “It belongs to the mage who owns this place.  Right?”

Equinox hesitated, then nodded slightly. 

“So it’s not like it’s yours, either, right?”

Equinox looked at him. 

“All mages are thieves anyway.  This guy probably stole this ring off someone else.  We’re just balancing things out.”

“Is that why your friend hit me?”

“He’s not my friend,” Daniel said quickly. 

“But you’re working with him,” Equinox said in her soft voice.  “Aren’t you?”

“No, we’re acquisition specialists,” Daniel said.  “We’re just hired to . . .”

Equinox kept looking at him and Daniel tailed off.  All of a sudden he was annoyed.  Why did she have to keep asking awkward questions?  “Look, do you know where this ring is or not?”

Equinox looked down at the floor and shook her head slightly. 

Damn it, Daniel thought.  He got up and went to join Jess. 

∞

“So?” Jess asked.

“She doesn’t know.”

“Probably lying.”

“You believe Shirazad now?”

“No,” Jess admitted.

From the bedroom came the crashing sound of something breaking.  “Found anything?” Daniel asked. 

“Some sort of generator that doesn’t use fuel,” Jess said.  “Probably worth a bit if we could lug it back.  But no sign of that ring and no alarms.”

Daniel chewed his lip.  “I don’t like this.”

“That’s what you always say.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Daniel said.  “That icecat thing, it was a construct.  Aren’t those things expensive?”

“Yeah . . .”

“So how come the cabin’s got nothing but a bolt on the door?”

“I don’t get it,” Jess said. 

“There should be something else,” Daniel muttered.  That nagging feeling of danger, of wrongness, hadn’t gone away.  He swept his gaze over the cabin:  the kitchen table, the food scattered across the floor, the girl in the corner, the windows looking out into the night.  He had the uneasy feeling he was missing something. 

“Maybe he just couldn’t be bothered,” Jess said.  “Look, stop worrying and help me find this damn thing so we can get out of here.”

Daniel started to answer, but just then he saw Shirazad look towards the door.  A second later, he heard the tread of boots on the front porch.  The door swung open with a gust of cold air and Emmanuel walked in. 

∞

“So you’re back,” Shirazad told Emmanuel.  “Go and—”

“We need to talk,” Emmanuel told Shirazad. 

Shirazad sighed.  “Now what?”

“I think we should do this in private.” 

“I don’t have the time to keep giving private interviews,” Shirazad said.  “If you have something to say, say it.”

Emmanuel glanced around.  Azhdaar and Deathgrip had paused their search and were watching.  “All right,” he told Shirazad.  “When were you going to tell us?”

“Tell you what?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Emmanuel said.  “How about the little fact that the mage who owns this cabin is Verus?”

A jolt went through Daniel, and he saw Jess’s eyes go wide.  Shirazad looked calmly at Emmanuel.  “And this matters because . . . ?”

“I’m sorry, what?” Emmanuel said.  “We’re talking about the same guy, right?  The general who led the Council armies during the war?  Who personally murdered every single adept leader in that last battle?  You don’t think that the fact that this is his retirement home is kind of relevant?  Maybe?”

“Stop repeating rumours you don’t understand,” Shirazad told him.  “Verus is a diviner.  I hardly think he went around killing every adept in that battle with his bare hands.”

“And something else,” Emmanuel said.  “The jinn from that war, they were sealed in items, weren’t they?  Like Aladdin’s lamp.”  He stared at Shirazad.  “That’s why you want this ring.  It’s got a jinn in it.”

“Was there anything else?” Shirazad asked. 

Emmanuel looked taken aback. 

“You did some research and found out who you were stealing from,” Shirazad said.  She sounded rather bored.  “Congratulations?  You should have done that at the beginning, but better late than never, I suppose.  Now are you going to find my ring?”

“What are you going to do with it?” Emmanuel demanded. 

“That’s not your concern.”

“Are you—?”

“Why did you think I was paying you five times your normal fee, Emmanuel?” Shirazad said.  “Did you think I was just that gullible?  Yes, Verus is dangerous.  That’s why I brought both your team and Deathgrip’s.  You told me you were experienced specialists who could handle trouble.  I’m starting to think you might have inflated your abilities.”

Deathgrip snorted.  “Yeah, no shit.”

They already knew, Daniel realised with a jolt.  Neither Deathgrip nor Azhdaar had reacted to anything Emmanuel said.  And— wait.  They’d been trained in Arcadia.  Did that mean they’d fought in that battle, too? 

“All right,” Shirazad said.  “If you’ve quite finished wasting my time . . .”  She turned and walked into the bedroom.  Deathgrip and Azhdaar followed. 

Jess and Daniel converged on Emmanuel.  “Em?” Jess said in a low voice.  “How do you know all this?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Emmanuel said quietly.  He shot a glance at Equinox, who’d stayed in the corner while the whole conversation had been going on, and dropped his voice to a whisper.  “Have you been talking to her?”

“Daniel has—”

“Keep your voice down.”

Jess looked annoyed, but did as she was told.  “Daniel did.  I guess he goes for that type.”

“What do you mean?” Daniel asked. 

“You know, the submissive sort?”

“I don’t—”

“Both of you stop it,” Emmanuel whispered sharply.  “Look, I made a call to someone.  He told me about Verus and the ring.”

Jess frowned.  “There’s no signal out here.”

“But he also told me something else,” Emmanuel went on.  “When I told him about that girl, he told me not to upset her.”

“Why?” Jess said when Emmanuel didn’t go on. 

“He didn’t say,” Emmanuel whispered.  “But you know how during the adept war, the Arcadians were using jinn?  Wasn’t the head jinn supposed to be possessing some girl?”

Daniel and Jess paused, then both of their eyes widened.  “Wait,” Daniel whispered.

“Her?” Jess asked.

Emmanuel nodded slowly.  “Maybe.”

“I thought the Council were fighting against the jinn,” Daniel whispered.

“Well, she pretty obviously doesn’t have a jinn now,” Jess pointed out. 

“Maybe he got rid of the jinn but kept the girl,” Emmanuel said.  “Daniel?  Was she talking to you?”

“I . . . guess?”

“Then get her to talk some more,” Emmanuel said.  “Because I’ve got the feeling this is a lot bigger than Shirazad’s telling us.”

∞

“Are you okay?” Daniel asked Equinox. 

He was sitting in the corner next to the girl.  Behind them, the search seemed to have moved into the bedroom;  from time to time a thump or crash would sound through the walls.

Equinox nodded silently.

“You, uh . . . you heard what they were saying?”

Nod.

“Is it true?  About Verus, and the ring?”

Nod.

Daniel felt a chill.  He’d heard stories about Verus.  He was a mage who was supposed to have been friendly to adepts in the past . . . but who was also supposed to have killed an awful lot of adepts who got on his bad side.  Daniel was getting the uneasy feeling that breaking into this guy’s cabin and stealing his stuff might not have been the smartest of ideas.

“Back in the war, the Arcadia adepts had some jinn fighting on their side,” Daniel said slowly.  “The most powerful one was supposed to be possessing some girl in her twenties.  A healer.”  He looked straight at Equinox.  “Was that you?”

Equinox hesitated.  Reddish-brown eyes watched Daniel, evaluating him.  “Yes.”

Daniel stared at the girl with new eyes.  He’d heard rumours of the girl leading the Arcadian forces.  They’d made her out to be some sort of unkillable combat monster who could cut down Council battle-mages with a touch. 

Seeing her in the flesh, she felt a bit . . . lacking. 

“It’s not what you think,” Equinox added. 

“What do you mean?”

“The jinn weren’t fighting on the adepts’ side,” Equinox said in her soft voice.  “They weren’t on any human’s side.  Mages used binding rituals to force them to possess adepts against their will.  Sometimes against the adept’s will, too.”

“. . . Was that what happened to you?”

Equinox paused, then shook her head.  “No.  I picked up that ring because I chose to.”

“Why?” Daniel asked curiously.

“Lots of reasons,” Equinox said with a slight sigh.   Her voice was a little stronger now.  “I was in danger and there were people who’d hurt me.  I wanted to hurt them back.  But . . .”

“But what?”

“That wasn’t the real reason,” Equinox said.  “It was what I told myself at the time, but honestly?  I think I would have done it anyway.”  She looked up at Daniel.  “Do you know what it’s like being the one whose job is to support everyone else?  You don’t make the decisions, you’re not the one people look to, and you get forgotten about until there’s some problem no-one else wants to deal with. ”

Unbidden, an image of Emmanuel and Jess flashed through Daniel’s mind.  He nodded slightly. 

“Now imagine you were born that way,” Equinox said.  “With a set of abilities that made you perfectly suited to taking care of everyone.  And the more you do it, the more they take it for granted, until everyone just starts to assume that if there’s some boring unpleasant job, you’ll do it for them.”  Equinox looked away.  “Eventually I grew up and I found some people who treated me better.  And I told myself I’d gotten over it.  But I think I never really did.”

“They never give you any respect for it, either,” Daniel said. 

“Some do,” Equinox said.  She seemed to be talking to herself.  “But it’s hard to remember that when you get angry.”  She shook her head.  “Do you ever think about fairy stories?”

“Uh,” Daniel said, confused by the change of subject.  “No?”

“You get lots of young girls in fairy stories,” Equinox said.  “But older women, they always seem to be one of two things.  Either they’re a mother, and they have a home and a husband and children.  Or they’re a witch.”  Equinox was silent for a moment.  “I used to think about that a lot.”

“So what happened?” Daniel asked. 

“What do you mean?”

“With the ring and the jinn.”

“Oh.  I had to give it up.”

“Why?”

“The jinn possessed me and started a war,” Equinox said.  “I got some help and managed to bind it back into the ring.  Then I gave it away.”

Daniel stared at her.  Equinox looked back at him with clear eyes.  She seemed to have forgotten that she was supposed to be afraid. 

“That’s it?” Daniel said at last. 

Equinox nodded.

“So where’s the ring?”

“I told you, I gave it away.  I didn’t want to see it again.”

“Do you know where it is now?”

“No.”

∞

“So?” Emmanuel asked in a low voice. 

He, Daniel, and Jess were standing by the door.  Equinox was still sitting quietly in the corner.  From the other room, Deathgrip and Shirazad’s voices were raised, arguing about something. 

“You were right,” Daniel told Emmanuel.  “She’s the same one.”

“Are you serious?” Jess asked.  “This is the freaking boogeyman the Council was scared of?”

Emmanuel and Jess both looked across the room at Equinox.  They stared at her for a second. 

“Bullshit,” Jess said.

“It’s true,” Daniel said. 

“You mean she says it’s true.”

“Why would she make up something like that?”

“Same reason some adepts pretend to be mages,” Jess said.  “Scares people off.”

“Hold on,” Emmanuel said.  He was frowning.  “I know it’s a bit out-there, but . . .”

“But what?” Jess demanded.  “Is this something to do with your mystery employer?”

“What mystery employer?” Daniel asked. 

“Later,” Emmanuel said, shooting an annoyed glance at Jess.  “Look, I’m going to have to check on something.”

“I’m coming this time,” Jess said instantly.

Emmanuel hesitated, then nodded. 

“What about me?” Daniel asked.  Emmanuel opened his mouth to answer, but as he did there was a shout from the other room.  Azhdaar and Deathgrip had finally found what they’d been looking for. 

∞

The safe had been well-hidden.  It was set into the bedroom’s side wall, behind wooden facing that looked exactly like the logs that made up the structure of the cabin.  Jess had walked right past it without noticing, and only by going carefully over the cabin room by room had Azhdaar noticed that there was a small space between the bedroom and bathroom that was unaccounted for. 

“All right,” Deathgrip said, flexing his fingers.  “Let’s crack this sucker open.” 

“Daniel can do it,” Emmanuel said. 

Everyone turned to Daniel.  “Um,” Daniel said.  “I’m not sure . . .”

“It’s just a safe,” Emmanuel said, and glanced at Jess.  “We’ll be back.”

“Wait—” Daniel began, but Emmanuel was already walking out.  Jess hurried after him and they disappeared into the kitchen.  A second later Daniel heard the sound of the front door. 

Daniel was left alone with Shirazad, Deathgrip, and Azhdaar.  A flash of nervousness went through him . . . and underneath, something angrier.  She didn’t even look back. 

“Can you open it?” Azhdaar asked. 

Daniel looked at the safe.  It was a couple of feet square, black metal with a handwheel and a small dial.  Mechanical, no electronics.  “Yes,” he said reluctantly.  He didn’t recognise the model, but it would just be a matter of finding the right place to push. 

“Well, get on with—” Deathgrip began. 

“No, I think we’ve got this,” Shirazad interrupted.  “Daniel, why don’t you go after your friends?”

Daniel paused.  “What?”

“And find out who they’re really working for,” Shirazad added casually.  “Unless you know already?”

Daniel felt a stab of fear.  Deathgrip and Azhdaar had both turned away from the safe and were looking at him, and there was a cold expression in Deathgrip’s eyes.  “I—” he stammered. 

“Oh, don’t worry,” Shirazad said with a smile.  “I can already tell you don’t know anything.  Don’t try to keep secrets from an enchantress, Daniel.  It doesn’t work.”  Her smile faded.  “But I think you should go and find out.  And then once you do, you’re going to tell me.  Because while Emmanuel and Jess might just have gone off to get some privacy, I think what they actually went to do was report in.  And I want to know who they’re reporting to.”

Daniel hesitated.

“Go.”  Shirazad’s voice hardened slightly.  “Now.”

Daniel turned and hurried out of the room.  He passed Equinox, still in the corner, and had a moment to wonder why she was just sitting there, then was out into the night.

∞

Cold air bit through Daniel as he stood on the porch, making him shiver.  He scanned the forest, but couldn’t see any trace of Emmanuel or Jess.  Which way—? 

Oh, right.  Daniel looked down at the snow.  There was a mess of tracks from where they’d arrived as a group – and off to one side, a smaller set, leading into the darkness.  Daniel jumped down and started walking. 

Now that he had a direction, it didn’t take long before he saw a glint of light through the trees.  He switched off his own torch and crept forward, letting his feet down gently;  from up ahead, he could hear the murmur of voices.  A bit of Daniel was hesitant about trying to eavesdrop on his friends, but a larger part was angry.  They’d left him back in the cabin and gone off alone.  And underneath that, another whisper:  what are they hiding?

Jess and Emmanuel were huddled together, and they were talking to something in Emmanuel’s hand.  As Daniel drew near, he realised that one of the voices was that of a stranger. 

“. . . sure it’s her?” the voice was saying. 

“Pretty sure,” Emmanuel said. 

“And you haven’t made any hostile or unfriendly moves towards her?”

“. . . No.”

“Good.  I would suggest you keep it that way.”

It was an upper-class-sounding voice, crisp and clear, with a BBC accent.  Something about it gave Daniel pause.  It didn’t sound like the kind of person you wanted to mess with. 

“Regardless, the situation remains unchanged,” the voice continued.  “Suleiman’s Ring is property of the British Council, unlawfully taken, and should be returned to our vaults for safekeeping.  Of course, we cannot authorise or condone any illegal action taken in the process of retrieving it.”

“But as long as it gets delivered, you’re not going to ask too many questions about how it got there,” Emmanuel said cynically.

“As I said, the item is Council property.  The details of its acquisition are a secondary matter.  Particularly should they take place in another jurisdiction.”

Daniel still couldn’t see who Emmanuel was talking to.  Cautiously he edged sideways, trying to get a better view.  Both Emmanuel and Jess were too focused on their conversation to notice.

“So what about the girl?” Emmanuel asked. 

“What about her?”

“Isn’t there some kind of bounty on her?”

“I couldn’t say.”

Daniel had managed to work his way around far enough to see what was in Emmanuel’s hands.  It looked like a metal disc, no bigger than a rice cracker, with a small green light glowing on one side. 

“I heard some people from the Council were willing to pay a lot to have her delivered alive,” Emmanuel was saying. 

“I would strongly advise against listening to such rumours.”  The voice was definitely coming from that disc;  a sharp note had crept into it.  “That group of four adepts we discussed?  They exhibited an unusual interest in that bounty, too.”

“How did that turn out?” Emmanuel asked.  He was trying to sound casual but Daniel could tell he was paying attention.

“I haven’t been informed of the details,” the voice said.  “But it seems safe to say that if they attempted to collect that bounty, they were unsuccessful in doing so.  Regardless, let me make it quite clear that the Council is not authorising any such action.  Do you understand?”

Jess and Emmanuel looked at each other.  “Yeah,” Emmanuel said. 

“Have you been able to locate the ring?”

“No.”

“Contact me when you do.  And let me advise you once again to treat the woman you call Equinox in a respectful manner.”

“Sure.”

The light on the disc winked out. 

“Arsehole,” Emmanuel muttered.

“Um, Em?” Jess said.  “You know when you told him there’d been ‘nothing hostile or unfriendly’ . . . ?”

“He asked if we’d done anything.”

Jess looked unconvinced.  Emmanuel frowned down at the disc.

“You aren’t thinking about that bounty, are you?” Jess asked him. 

Emmanuel didn’t answer.

“Okay, too far,” Jess said.  “This Equinox might be a doormat with a stupid name, but I’m not okay with kidnapping her.”

“You know how much the payout is?”

“And how are you going to get her home?” Jess asked Emmanuel sarcastically.  “Drag her back handcuffed on British Airways?”

“Yeah,” Emmanuel said, and shook his head with visible reluctance.  “Okay, fine.  But we still want that ring.”

“Okay, but . . . how?  Because I don’t think Miss Mage and the Psycho Twins are going to just hand it over.”

“I’ll figure something out.”

“Em . . .”

“Hey, hey,” Emmanuel held out his arms.  “It’ll be okay.”

Jess hesitated, then came to Emmanuel, who wrapped his arms around her.  “It’ll be okay,” Emmanuel repeated, stroking Jess’s hair. 

Out in the darkness, Daniel stiffened. 

“Don’t think I’m giving you a free pass on this,” Jess said, her voice a little muffled from Emmanuel’s coat. 

Emmanuel smiled.  “Course not.”

Jess pulled back a little to look up at Emmanuel.  “Shouldn’t we tell Daniel?”

“Eh.  He’ll come around.”

Daniel’s anger boiled over and he stepped out into the open.  “He will, will he?” he said loudly. 

Both Jess and Emmanuel jumped.  Jess pulled back hurriedly from Emmanuel, straightening her hair.  “What are you doing here?” Emmanuel asked, startled.

“That’s funny,” Daniel said.  “That’s just what I was about to ask you.”

“You’re supposed to be working on that safe—” Emmanuel began. 

“Fuck the safe.”

An awkward silence fell across the forest clearing.  “Uh, Daniel?” Jess asked.  “You okay?”

“No,” Daniel said.  “No, I’m not.  When were you going to tell me?”

“About . . . ?” Emmanuel tried. 

“Oh, I don’t know,” Daniel said, mimicking Emmanuel.  “How about the fact that you told me we were working for Shirazad when the real plan was to steal the ring and sell it to someone else?  Or how about the little detail that you were working for the Council?  I mean, that was a Council mage you were talking to, right?  You know, the same people who just spent the last few years killing people like us?  Oh, oh, wait.  What about how you were just saying that the real real plan was to kidnap this girl and sell her off?  What, that just slipped your mind?”

“We’re not actually doing that—” Jess began.

“Keep your voice down,” Emmanuel told Daniel. 

“What, because you don’t want Shirazad to hear?” Daniel said angrily.  “Well, maybe I should tell her!  I mean, she’s been more honest than you have.”

“Okay, okay,” Jess said, looking between Daniel and Emmanuel.  “Let’s all calm down.”

Daniel folded his arms and stared at Emmanuel.

“Look, I was going to tell you,” Emmanuel said once it was clear that Daniel had stopped.  “I only found out after we took the job.  I asked around a bit, spoke to some people, and they gave me this mage’s name—”

“What name?”

“Talisid.  He’s some Council black ops guy, very hush-hush.”

“And what, you thought working for a guy like that sounded smart?”

“Yeah, it sounded dodgy to me too, but it turns out they really want this ring,” Emmanuel said.  “Like, really really want it.  What Shirazad’s paying us?  It’s not even close.”

“You said she’s being honest?” Jess told Daniel.  “She’s not.  She’s trying to scam us.”

“Oh yeah?” Daniel asked Emmanuel.  “How much are the Council paying?”

“A million,” Emmanuel told him. 

Daniel stopped.

“Each,” Emmanuel added.

“But he told Em to keep it quiet,” Jess said.  “That’s the only reason I was keeping my mouth shut.”

“There’s more,” Emmanuel said.  “We bring them back this ring, Talisid said they’d put us on the authorised list.  So we’ll get other jobs, too.  Easy jobs, the kind mages get.  No more sneaking around breaking into people’s back gardens.  We’ll be set for life.”

Daniel looked away.  A storm of emotions was churning inside him.  He was still angry with Emmanuel, resentful for how he’d been left behind in the cabin while they’d gone off alone, but now matched against that was the thought of what he could do with all that money.  It was more than he’d ever imagined having.  It’d wipe out his university loans and overdraft, he wouldn’t have to worry about rent or bills anymore, he could live wherever he wanted, if . . .

“If you actually hand him that ring,” Daniel said. 

“Yeah.”

Daniel looked at Emmanuel.  “They aren’t going to give it to you.”

“Yeah.”

There was a pause.  Jess and Emmanuel stood at the centre of the clearing, Daniel at the edge. 

“You in?” Emmanuel asked. 

“I’ll think about it,” Daniel said. 

Emmanuel frowned.  “This isn’t really the time—”

“It’s okay,” Jess interrupted.  “Em, go check on the cabin, all right?  I’ll talk to him.”

Emmanuel thought about it briefly, then nodded and started walking past Daniel.  He looked about to clap the shorter boy on the shoulder, but Daniel drew away.  Emmanuel recovered awkwardly and strode off into the darkness. 

Jess and Daniel were left alone. 

“You okay?” Jess asked. 

Daniel didn’t meet her eyes.  “Sure.”

“We were going to tell you,” Jess said. 

“Sure.”

“It’s just, it was supposed to be secret, and—”

“Were you going to tell me about the two of you?” Daniel asked. 

“What do you mean?”

Daniel looked away.

Jess opened her mouth, then seemed to change her mind about what she was going to say.  “Eventually, I guess.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

Jess stared at him for a second.  “Honestly, I didn’t really think it was any of your business.”

Daniel wanted to make some kind of snarky comment about all the times she’d complained to him about Emmanuel, but didn’t.  He knew how Jess was looking at him right now, and he hated it. 

“So are we okay?” Jess said again. 

“Sure.”

“Look,” Jess began.  “I do like you, it’s just—”

Emmanuel’s voice called from behind Daniel.  “Dan!  Jess!”

Daniel turned to see Emmanuel emerge from the darkness.  “What?” he snapped.

“Something’s happening in the cabin.”

∞

The three of them jogged through the snow, the beams of their torches picking a path through the trees.  Daniel was still angry, and a part of him was wondering if Emmanuel had made the whole thing up, but as the lights of the cabin appeared out of the gloom, he heard it too.  Raised voices, drifting on the still night air. 

They ran back across the path, burst into the cabin and through the kitchen, and stopped at the bedroom door.

Deathgrip and Shirazad were facing each other over the shattered remnants of the safe.  It had been pulled out of the wall and torn open, its door lying several feet away from the rest of it.  Money and papers were spilled across the floor. 

“. . . is nothing!” Shirazad was saying.  For the first time since Daniel had met her, she looked genuinely angry.  “I told you to find the ring!”

“You find it!” Deathgrip snapped.  “All you’ve done is sit on your arse!”

“We are on a clock,” Shirazad told Deathgrip.

“Then maybe we should stop pissing around and—”

“What’s going on?” Emmanuel asked. 

“We opened the safe,” Azhdaar explained.  Compared to Deathgrip and Shirazad, the big adept looked rather placid. 

“And you found nothing,” Shirazad said. 

Daniel glanced at the open safe.  Now that he looked more closely, a better term for it might be ‘shredded’.  Pieces of metal were scattered all over the floor, and the hinges had been destroyed.  Hadn’t that thing been made of steel? 

“That’s not our fault,” Azhdaar pointed out reasonably.  “You just told us to open it.”

“So what’s the problem?” Emmanuel asked. 

“The problem,” Shirazad said tightly, “is what’s inside.”  She kicked at the money on the floor, sending a slim bundle of notes skidding across the floor.  “There’s maybe fifteen thousand pounds, twice that in dollars, and a bunch of lei.”

Daniel and Jess shared a confused look.  “Isn’t that a lot?” Daniel asked. 

“It’s chicken feed!” Shirazad snapped.  “Just enough to make burglars take it and run away!  We’ve been chasing a fake this whole time!”

“So where’s the ring?” Emmanuel asked. 

“Good question, Mr Acquisition Expert,” Shirazad told him.  “Isn’t that something you should be telling us?”

“Yeah, screw this,” Deathgrip said abruptly.  He strode past Daniel and Jess and into the kitchen. 

“Where—?” Jess began, then she and Daniel looked at each other and their eyes widened. 

“Hey!” Daniel called and ran after Deathgrip.

Deathgrip was in the kitchen, a few steps away from Equinox.  Equinox was still sitting in the same chair in the corner, looking up at the adept:  she apparently hadn’t moved. 

Shirazad strode through the door.  “What are you doing?”

“What I should have done the first time,” Deathgrip said over his shoulder.  “Cut this bitch apart till she tells us what she knows.”

“Oh, yes, that’ll really help, you idiot,” Shirazad told him in exasperation.  “I’m sure she’ll be very useful screaming and bleeding to death.”

“She won’t bleed to death that fast,” Deathgrip said coldly.

Shirazad paused.  She seemed to be thinking about it. 

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Daniel said. 

“Says who?” Deathgrip told him. 

“Says me,” Jess told him. 

“And me,” Emmanuel said after a moment’s hesitation.

Deathgrip glanced at the door.  Daniel followed his gaze to see Azhdaar looking back at the other adept.  Daniel had the feeling of a silent message being passed. 

A chill went through Daniel.  All of a sudden he knew – not thought, knew – that death was waiting in the room with them.  His eyes flickered between the others.  Azhdaar and Deathgrip’s faces were suddenly blank.  Emmanuel looked on edge, ready to spring.  Equinox was sitting absolutely still, her hands folded on her lap.  Her eyes were locked onto Deathgrip and she didn’t seem to be breathing. 

“All right,” Shirazad said.  “That’s enough, all of you.”

No-one moved.

“No-one is harming or killing anyone unless I say so,” Shirazad said.  She seemed to have recovered her temper;  her voice was silky again.  “And in case any of you are thinking of ignoring that, I’d advise you to consider the fact that if you do, you’ll be going up against not only the other side, but an enchantress as well.”

Deathgrip and Azhdaar looked at Emmanuel and Jess;  both pairs looked at each other.  Then, slowly, the tension in the room eased.  Deathgrip looked away;  Emmanuel settled back slightly.  Daniel shivered.  He felt as though a shadow had lingered overhead, then moved on. 

“Daniel.”

Daniel jumped.  “Huh?”

“Since you seem to like her so much, the two of you are going to talk,” Shirazad said, nodding at Equinox.  “You have ten minutes to convince her to co-operate.  After that, we’ll let Deathgrip try it his way.”

“That isn’t—!” Jess began angrily. 

“That’s the deal.” Shirazad’s voice was ice.  “Take it or leave it.”

Jess looked furious.  Deathgrip stared at Shirazad, his face showing no trace of emotion.  Then, as one, both of them turned to look at Daniel. 

Daniel swallowed.

∞

“So, um,” Daniel began.  “We seem to have a bit of a deadline.”

Daniel was once again sitting next to Equinox.  The others were at the back of the room, separated into two groups and talking quietly.  From time to time one would glance in their direction. 

Equinox nodded.

“So?” Daniel asked.

“What did you think about what we were talking about before?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Mother and witch,” Equinox said.  “Life and death.”  She tilted her head slightly, looking at him.  “Which would you choose?”

Daniel stared at her for a moment.  “I don’t think this is really the time?”

Equinox’s eyes drifted past him to the people behind.  “You don’t?” 

“Where’s the f—?” Daniel began, then took a breath and forced himself to calm down.  Glancing at his watch, he saw they had seven minutes left.  “Where’s the ring?”

“Does it matter?”

Daniel was starting to wonder if this girl was brain-damaged or something.  “Let me explain your situation here,” he said carefully.  “I’m supposed to find out what you know about that ring.  If I go back and tell them that I don’t know, bad things are going to happen.  Do you understand?”

Equinox nodded.

“So?”

“Would you have let him kill me?”

Daniel paused.  “What?”

“That boy, Deathgrip,” Equinox said.  “If you had the choice, would you let him?”

“I don’t have the choice!”

“I used to tell myself that,” Equinox said.  “But it’s not really true, is it?  I mean, you might not be able to totally control things, but there’s usually something you can do.”

“He’s not just going to kill you,” Daniel said.

“You mean he’s going to try to torture me to death?” Equinox asked.  “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

Daniel stared at her. 

“I suppose a lot of people would say I deserved it,” Equinox said.  Looking down, she began to trace a finger along the tendons at the back of her hand.  “I killed a lot of people during the war.  Before it, too.  They’d probably say my life is worth less than theirs.”  She stretched her hand out, studying it.  “I don’t think that’s really true, though, is it?  No-one actually sits around wondering whether one person’s life is worth more than another.”

“Did you actually ever have that ring?”

“Of course.”

“And you gave it up?”
“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Would you have?”

Daniel thought of having that kind of power, of having Jess and Emmanuel look at him knowing that he was the stronger one.  “No.”

Equinox nodded.  “Because you think it’s a shortcut.  But a jinn’s power belongs to the jinn.  They only let you use it as long as it suits them.  That’s how it always works when people give you things that aren’t yours.  You have to look at the things that are yours.  Understand who you really are.”

Daniel checked his watch.  Three minutes left. 

Equinox tilted her head.  “Do you know who you really are?”

“Okay, you know what,” Daniel said.  “Screw this.”  He leant forward.  “You know something.  Tell us, right now, or I’m leaving.”

Equinox looked back at him quizzically.  Looking at her from this close, it struck Daniel that she was actually quite beautiful, and his stomach turned at the thought of leaving her to Deathgrip.  But then the moment passed, and he hardened his heart.  He wasn’t going to risk himself for some questionably sane girl who didn’t even seem to understand that she was in danger. 

“Fine,” Daniel said abruptly, getting to his feet. 

“All right,” Equinox said. 

Daniel paused.  “All right?”

“I’ll tell you what I know,” Equinox said.  “Do you want to call them?”

Daniel hesitated, but then turned to see that Shirazad was already striding over.  “Well?” Shirazad demanded. 

“There’s a clearing about five minutes’ walk to the north,” Equinox explained.  She looked up at Shirazad from her sitting position, her eyes clear.  “The mage who owns this cabin buried something there.  It was metal, about the size of a big jewellery box.  I don’t know what was in it, but it was magical.”

“And?”

“I mean, I don’t think there’s anything left in this cabin,” Equinox said.  “There wasn’t anything magical in the safe, and you’ve destroyed that anyway.  So there isn’t really anywhere else to look.”

Shirazad stared at her. 

Daniel, Jess, and Emmanuel glanced at each other.  “You believe her?” Jess asked Daniel.

Daniel hesitated.

“You realise what’s going to happen if we check this out and don’t find anything?” Emmanuel asked Equinox. 

Equinox nodded.

“What are you hiding?” Shirazad demanded. 

Equinox looked at her. 

“You should be feeling something,” Shirazad said.  She was looking narrowly at Equinox.  “Not scared?  Not angry?  What’s wrong?  Are you that dead inside that you can’t feel anything?”

“No,” Equinox said.

“Hey,” Deathgrip said impatiently.  “We doing this, or not?”

“You mean looking for the ring, or hurting her?” Azhdaar asked. 

Deathgrip shrugged.  “Either-or.”

Shirazad stared at Equinox for a moment longer, then shook her head.  “You’d better hope that ring’s where you say it is,” she told the girl.

Equinox nodded.

“Everyone outside,” Shirazad said. 

∞

The six of them assembled in front of the cabin, in the light spilling from the front door.  They’d left Equinox inside.

“Two of you go check out that clearing,” Shirazad said.  She pointed at Deathgrip and Azhdaar, who were standing in the shadow of the porch.  “One of you.”  She pointed at Daniel, Jess, and Emmanuel, who were standing on the porch itself.  “And one of you.”

“What?” Jess asked.

“You heard,” Shirazad told her. 

Deathgrip and Azhdaar looked at each other.  “The three of us could—” Emmanuel began

“No.”

“We could—”

“Find the ring, take it, and disappear?” Shirazad said.  “Then sell it to some other buyer?”

Emmanuel went still.

Shirazad raised her eyebrows at Emmanuel.  “You really thought I didn’t know?”

Deathgrip and Azhdaar were looking at Emmanuel coldly – but not, Daniel realised, with any sort of surprise.  They were expecting this.

“As I said,” Shirazad said.  “Both of you send one person.  I don’t care which.  Then check it out and come back.”

Daniel saw Jess frown, and knew she had to be wondering the same thing as him.  Why one of each? 

Because then they can’t run off with the ring, Daniel realised.  Even if one of them took the ring from the other, the ones left behind would act as hostages. 

Daniel was starting to realise just how far behind the curve he was. 

Jess and Emmanuel looked at each other.  Azhdaar and Deathgrip did the same. 

“I’ll go,” Emmanuel said. 

Azhdaar and Deathgrip shared a nod.  “We’re going,” Deathgrip told her. 

“I said one of you,” Shirazad said. 

“Both of us.”

Shirazad gave him a narrow look.  “Do we have to do this again?”

“Oh?” Deathgrip said.  He gave Shirazad a slow smile and spread his arms.  “You going to do something?”

Daniel looked at Emmanuel and got a puzzled look back.  “Um—?” Emmanuel said. 

“Go ahead,” Deathgrip told Shirazad.  He was still holding his arms out invitingly.  “Use your enchantress tricks.  Put a fear spell on me and send me running.  Scramble my brain and knock me out.”

Shirazad stared at him. 

“What are you playing at?” Emmanuel told Deathgrip. 

Deathgrip hadn’t taken his eyes off Shirazad.  He took a step forward, then another. 

“What’s going on?” Jess asked. 

“Come on,” Deathgrip told Shirazad.  “Hit me with your best shot.”

“Okay, we don’t have time for this,” Emmanuel told Shirazad in irritation.  “Can you just drop this fool?”

Shirazad didn’t move.

Deathgrip took another step forward.  He was only a few paces away from Shirazad.  “Don’t,” Shirazad told him. 

“Do it,” Jess told Shirazad.

Deathgrip took another step. 

Daniel looked around, unsure what was going on.  Azhdaar was watching calmly with folded arms.  Emmanuel still looked annoyed. 

Then Daniel looked more closely at Shirazad, and saw a flicker of fear on her face.  Wait.  Why would she—?

Deathgrip lunged.

There was a shout and the crunch of movement, but it was all over in a second.  Deathgrip stood behind Shirazad, holding the smaller woman’s arm twisted up behind her back.  His other hand was at her neck, his palm placed against the underside of her chin, forcing her head upwards. 

Shirazad held very still. 

“Em?” Jess said slowly.  “What’s going on?”

Emmanuel didn’t answer.  For once, he looked genuinely caught off guard.

“Surprised?” Deathgrip asked.

“What are you . . . ?” Emmanuel asked.

“What, you still haven’t figured it out?” Deathgrip said.  “Thought you guys were supposed to be smart.”

Jess, Daniel, and Emmanuel looked at each other.  “Why isn’t she knocking him out or something?” Jess asked. 

“Yeah, Shirazad,” Deathgrip said.  He wrenched Shirazad’s arm a little further up, making her catch her breath, and spoke into her ear.  “Why aren’t you knocking me out or something?”

Shirazad didn’t speak.

“See, maybe this is something they don’t teach you in those fancy schools of yours,” Deathgrip told them.  “Just because someone says they’re a mage doesn’t make them one.”

Daniel stared at Deathgrip, then at Shirazad with dawning realisation. 

“How did you know?” Shirazad said.  Her voice was quiet and pained. 

“Because I was trained in Arcadia, you stupid bitch,” Deathgrip told her.  “The name ‘Vihaela’ mean anything to you?”

Who’s that?  Daniel wondered.  But then he saw that Shirazad had gone pale. 

“Yeah,” Deathgrip said.  “She trained me personally.  Enough to know the difference between a pretend Dark mage and a real one.”

“Also, you kept saying you were an enchantress,” Azhdaar pointed out.  “Real enchantresses don’t do that.”

“They don’t?” Jess asked. 

“Their magic’s supposed to be really hard for other mages to sense,” Azhdaar explained.  “So they don’t want to let other mages know what they can do, because—”

“Okay, Az,” Deathgrip said.  “You can stop giving them lessons now.” 

“All right,” Emmanuel said slowly.  “If this is true . . . then what’s the issue?”

“The ‘issue’?” Deathgrip said mockingly.  “You think you’re in charge now?”

“We’re still looking for this ring—”

“Yeah, and you found it,” Deathgrip said.  “Good boy.”  He nodded off into the forest.  “You can go now.”

“While you do what?” Jess said. 

“Not your problem.”

“Don’t let him—” Shirazad began, before Deathgrip twisted her arm, making her cry out in pain. 

“You still here?” Deathgrip asked Emmanuel.

“So how do we get paid?” Emmanuel asked. 

“Guess you’ll just have to keep your advance.”

“We didn’t get an advance.”

Deathgrip raised his eyebrows.  “Sucks to be you.”

Emmanuel paused.  

“Come on,” Jess said sharply.  “We’re not seriously letting them get away with this?”

Daniel hesitated.  He could see Shirazad looking at him pleadingly, and one part of him wanted to help.  On the other hand, he remembered how that safe had been torn apart.  He really, really didn’t want to get into a fight with these guys. 

“Put her down and let’s talk,” Emmanuel said.

“You really don’t take a hint, do you?” Deathgrip said.  “Let me spell it out for you.”  He flexed the hand holding Shirazad’s jaw.  “Get out of here, right now, or I turn her face into dog food.”

The three of them stared at Deathgrip for a moment.  Shirazad’s eyes were wide with fear.  The clearing was silent;  even the breeze had fallen off, leaving the winter night still and calm. 

Then Emmanuel shrugged slightly.  “Okay.”

Deathgrip stared at him. 

“Go ahead,” Emmanuel said.  “I mean, seems like we’re not getting paid either way, right?  So I don’t see what difference it makes.”

“Um, Em?” Jess asked.  “What are you—?”

“Let’s do this,” Emmanuel said, and reached into his jacket. 

Everything happened very fast. 

Deathgrip hurled Shirazad to one side, sending her sprawling into the snow.  Azhdaar charged Emmanuel, Jess dived to one side, and suddenly Daniel was face to face with Deathgrip. 

Deathgrip lunged, palm out.  Daniel raised his hands, then at the last second some instinct made him summon up an air shield instead, hardened air solidifying just barely in time to meet Deathgrip’s attack. 

The shield fractured instantly.  Something speared through it, piercing the shield as though it wasn’t there;  a hot needle seemed to burn Daniel’s hand and he stumbled away.

Deathgrip recovered his balance, looking annoyed, then his head snapped around as he saw Jess moving in behind him.  Energy seemed to hover at Jess’s hands;  Deathgrip shifted his stance to face her as Jess bent her knees, ready to lunge—

“Don’t!” Shirazad called.  She was still lying in the snow.  “He can create dimensional fractures from his palms.  Don’t get close!”

Jess jumped back just as Deathgrip swiped at the place she would have moved into.  Deathgrip shot Shirazad a hate-filled look.  Jess paused, knees bent.  Her eyes were alight and she looked ready to spring, but her magic worked by touch;  she couldn’t harm Deathgrip without coming into range herself. 

But then Emmanuel stepped into view.  “Hey!” he called.

Deathgrip turned to face Emmanuel, but as he looked past the other boy whatever he’d been going to say died on his lips.  Behind, at the edge of the light, Azhdaar was lying unmoving in the snow. 

Emmanuel was holding a stun gun in one hand;  he pressed the trigger, making blue lightning crackle at the tip.  “Should have listened,” he told Deathgrip, and walked straight at him. 

Deathgrip lunged, his hand coming up. 

Emmanuel raised one finger.  “Stop.”

All of a sudden everything was still.  Deathgrip was standing a couple of feet from Emmanuel, hand raised to deliver his lethal touch.  One step was all it would take, yet Deathgrip held still, arm trembling.  He glared at Emmanuel in a mixture of anger and confusion.

Emmanuel walked casually up to Deathgrip.  “So remember when I told you we do more than get into places?” 

Deathgrip rolled his eyes towards Emmanuel;  his arm quivered, but didn’t move.  His expression was changing from anger to fear. 

Emmanuel smiled at him.  “Night.”

Jess touched the back of Deathgrip’s neck.  Electricity sparked and Deathgrip arched his back, every muscle in his body spasming, then he dropped to the ground unconscious.  Emmanuel, Jess, and Daniel were the only ones left standing. 

“Well,” Emmanuel said, looking around.  “Let’s clean this up, shall we?”

∞

It was ten minutes later. 

“All right,” Jess said, giving the handcuffs a final tug and stepping back.  “That should hold him.”

“You seem pretty handy with those,” Emmanuel said with a grin.  “Past experience?”

“Oh, shut up.”

“You’re sure that’ll hold him?” Daniel said doubtfully.  They’d dragged Deathgrip into the cabin, then cuffed his hands behind his back and around one of the cabin’s support beams. 

“Ask your friend,” Emmanuel said, nodding to Shirazad. 

“He can’t get a hold of them,” Shirazad said.  The cuffs were rigid ones and held Deathgrip’s hands with the palms facing outwards.

Now that the chaos of the fight was over, Daniel had had a chance to calm down.  Azhdaar was in the bedroom, secured in a similar way to Deathgrip.  It was lucky that Emmanuel had been carrying two sets of those handcuffs, though maybe not that surprising.  He’d always been the type to plan ahead. 

Emmanuel’s power was one of the more unfair ones out there:  he could stop anyone from hurting him.  It only worked on people who were trying to directly harm him in some way, but once they tried, all he had to do was focus on them and they were mentally blocked, unable to move.  Then he could stroll up, pull out that stun gun, and zap them. 

It was really Emmanuel’s ability that made their group work.  What Daniel and Jess could do was useful, but nothing special.  Yes, they could do burglaries, but any other adept with a stronger ability could just hire them, then refuse to pay . . . or worse.  Emmanuel was their trump card.  If anyone tried anything funny, he could shut them down.  And at the end of the day, that was why he called the shots. 

“All right,” Emmanuel said, turning to Shirazad.  “Start talking.”

“What?” Shirazad said.  She was sitting at the kitchen table, giving Emmanuel a resentful look.

“You know what,” Jess told her. 

“So what are you?” Daniel asked.  “An adept?”

Shirazad didn’t answer.

Emmanuel rapped the butt of his stun gun on the table, making Shirazad flinch.  “Talk,” he ordered. 

“Yes,” Shirazad said.

It was bizarre how different Shirazad looked all of a sudden.  Back when Daniel had thought she was a mage, she’d seemed mysterious, powerful.  Now she just looked like a pretty woman with nice clothes and a sullen expression. 

“You’re an emotion reader, right?” Jess asked.

Shirazad nodded.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Daniel objected.  “She could tell where people were, in the dark . . . ”

“Shirazad?” Emmanuel asked.

“I can feel where the emotions are,” Shirazad said, looking at Emmanuel.  “When you’re thinking about having sex with me that loudly, I don’t need to be looking at you to know where it’s coming from.”

Jess and Daniel turned to look at Emmanuel.  “Anyway,” Emmanuel said with a hurried cough, “why’d you lie to us?”

“Why’d you think?” Shirazad said.  Her accent had shifted subtly;  she didn’t sound so upper-class anymore.  “You know what it’s like being an adept that’s no good in a fight?  Everyone tries to push you around.  Even when they don’t threaten you, they still expect you to do what you’re told, or else.  Just like you’re doing now.”

“So you did . . . what?” Jess asked.  “Just started calling yourself a mage?”

“Why not?” Shirazad asked.  “Everyone knows charm magic’s invisible.  So other adepts, even mages, they can’t tell if you’re really doing anything.  And they aren’t going to risk starting a fight to find out.”

“Yeah, how’d that work out for you again?” Jess asked. 

“So I’m guessing you’re not actually from Persia,” Emmanuel said.  “Wherever the hell that is.”

“Finchley,” Shirazad admitted.

Jess looked amused.  “Shirazad, the great and powerful enchantress from Finchley?”

“Dangerous,” Equinox said quietly. 

All four of them looked at Equinox with varying degrees of surprise.  She’d been sitting in the same place the whole time, but Daniel had completely forgotten she was there, and from the looks of it the others had too.  It wasn’t that Equinox was particularly bland-looking – she was actually quite striking – but she had a way of being so quiet and still that she just faded into the background.  It was hard to remember someone was there when they never did anything. 

“A lot less dangerous than having them think they can do whatever they like,” Shirazad said. 

“Until you’re found out,” Equinox noted. 

“Oh, shut up,” Shirazad snapped.  “Don’t act like you’re one of us all of a sudden.”

“All right, that’s enough,” Emmanuel said. 

“We can still do this,” Shirazad said, glancing up at Emmanuel.  “We just get the ring and get out.  Once we get back to Bucharest, I’ve got a buyer lined up.  I’ll give you Deathgrip and Azhdaar’s share.”

Jess snorted.  “You’ll give us more than that.  We know what that ring’s really worth.”

“Then you know you’ll need help selling it,” Shirazad countered.  “I know people, and I know when a buyer’s lying.  You’ll get a lot more money selling it with me.”

“Hmm,” Emmanuel said.  His face was neutral, but Daniel could tell he was thinking about it. 

“What about them?” Daniel asked, nodding to Deathgrip. 

“What about them?” Shirazad said coldly. 

“We just going to leave them here?”

“There something else you want to do?”

Daniel looked at Shirazad and felt a moment of repulsion.  He remembered what Shirazad had threatened to let Deathgrip do, back when she’d thought he was on her side. 

“All right,” Emmanuel decided.  “Let’s not count our chickens before we know that ring’s really there.  Jess, let’s go check it out.  Shirazad, you’re coming with us.”

“Why me?”

“Because I want to keep an eye on you, and because you’re the only one who knows what this thing looks like.”

“What about me?” Daniel asked. 

“You stay here and watch those two,” Emmanuel ordered, nodding to Deathgrip and in the direction of Azhdaar. 

“What?” Daniel said in alarm.  “I don’t want—”

“You want to leave them on their own?”

Daniel looked around.  His eyes landed on Equinox, still sitting quietly.  “She could—” Daniel began. 

“No,” Jess said immediately. 

“Besides,” Emmanuel added.  “If it turns out she was lying, we’re going to be back.”  He gave Equinox a look;  when she didn’t react, he turned to Shirazad.  “Get moving.”

Shirazad did as she was told.  Daniel looked unhappily at Jess and Emmanuel. 

“You’ll be fine,” Emmanuel said.  He walked over, clapped Daniel on the shoulder, and handed him his stun gun.  “They give you any trouble, zap them.  We’ll be back soon.”

∞

“You actually think he’ll be fine?” Jess asked once they were out of the cabin.

“No,” Emmanuel said.  “So let’s do this fast.”

“I could—” Shirazad began. 

“Shut up.”

∞

Looking out of the window, Daniel watched Jess, Emmanuel, and Shirazad walk away.  As soon as they were out of the ring of light from the cabin, the night seemed to swallow them up.  He was alone with Equinox and the two adepts. 

Daniel glanced around.  Deathgrip was still slumped against the beam, apparently unconscious.  Through the door into the bedroom, he could see that Azhdaar wasn’t moving either.  Everything was quiet. 

“Do you do this sort of thing often?” Equinox asked. 

Carefully, Daniel approached Deathgrip.  The adept’s head was slumped down on his chest;  the only movement was the slight rise and fall of his breathing.  Was he unconscious or just pretending?  Daniel checked the stun gun just to reassure himself, then, very cautiously, reached out with one foot and poked Deathgrip in the leg. 

No reaction.  Daniel stepped back.

“I mean actually fighting with other adepts,” Equinox explained. 

Daniel checked his phone.  Only minutes had passed since Emmanuel and Jess had left.  They'd probably be gone at least half an hour. 

“It’s just that you seem a little tense—” 

“Could you stop talking, please?” Daniel said.  He hated how nervous he sounded. 

“Sorry.”  Equinox paused.  “You never actually answered my question.”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Not that one,” Equinox said.  “Would you have let him torture me?”

Daniel stopped.

“It might still happen,” Equinox added.  “If whatever they find in that clearing doesn’t make them happy.”

“Emmanuel isn’t going to do something like that.”

“He wouldn’t do it himself,” Equinox said.  “But he’d look the other way and let someone do it instead.  A lot of mages are like that.  I suppose adepts are the same.”  She tilted her head slightly.  “So would you?” 

“Can you stop it?” Daniel demanded.  “Just . . . stop asking all these questions, all right?  Why do you care, anyway?”

“I’m curious, I suppose,” Equinox said with a shrug.  “Normally the only person I get to talk to is Alex.  It’s interesting getting to talk with someone else.”

“Yeah, well, maybe you should leave.”

“I don’t want to leave,” Equinox said.  “This is my home.  I even planted fruit trees.”

∞

“Trees?” Emmanuel asked.

“Saplings,” Jess said.

“I don’t care.  Why are there four of them?”

Finding the clearing that Equinox had told them about had been easy.  Finding the spot to dig was another matter.  It wasn’t hard to see where the earth had been disturbed – the mounds with the saplings poking up from them were easy to spot, even under the snow – but that still left four places to dig, not one.

“Three decoys, one real?” Jess guessed. 

“Or she was lying and there’s nothing there,” Shirazad said.  She was standing to one side, watching them warily. 

“Of course there’s something there,” Jess said impatiently.  “Otherwise who the hell is going to plant trees in the middle of a forest?”

“Whatever,” Emmanuel said.  He tossed the shovel that they’d taken from the cabin to Shirazad, and pointed at one of the saplings.  “That one.”

“I don’t know how to dig!” Shirazad protested. 

“Learn.”

∞

Daniel checked his watch.  Eleven minutes. 

Now that no-one was talking, Daniel was noticing just how eerily quiet this place was.  Daniel was used to the city, the bustle of motion, the background noise of traffic.  Out here, it was dead silent.  He could swear he could actually hear Deathgrip’s breathing. 

Daniel checked the stun gun for the third time, looked through the door at Azhdaar, looked over Deathgrip.  He wished Jess and Emmanuel would come back.

“He’s awake,” Equinox told him. 

“Will you—” Daniel began, then stopped as he realised what he’d heard.  Equinox was looking towards Deathgrip. 

Deathgrip stirred and raised his head.  “Perceptive little bitch, aren’t you?” he told Equinox.  There was no drowsiness in his eyes. 

He was pretending.  Daniel felt a faint chill at the thought, but squashed it.  He was the one in charge here.  “Stay quiet,” he told Deathgrip. 

“Hey, Az!” Deathgrip called.  “How’s the view over there?”

Daniel lifted the stun gun and pulled the trigger.  Electricity crackled and he glared at Deathgrip with what he hoped was a menacing expression. 

“Okay, okay,” Deathgrip said easily.  He glanced around the cabin.  With the handcuffs, he was propped up in an awkward position, but it didn’t seem to be bothering him.  “So where are your friends?  Gone to get that ring?”

“None of your business,” Daniel told him. 

“They found it yet?”

“You really think I’m going to tell you?” Daniel asked. 

“Nah,” Deathgrip said with a shrug.  “Just asking.”

The cabin fell quiet again.  The silence had a different feel to it this time, something awake and watchful.

Daniel became aware that Deathgrip was studying him.  The boy’s eyes were very dark, almost black.  “What?” he said irritably. 

“How long until they get back?” Deathgrip said.  His voice was casual, but his eyes watched Daniel closely. 

“I—” Daniel began, and stopped.  He’d been about to say ‘I don’t know’.  “Why should I tell you?”

Deathgrip raised his eyebrows.  “You sure they’re coming?”

“Why wouldn’t they?”

“‘Cause of what’s going to happen if they find it.”

“What do you mean?” Daniel asked. 

Deathgrip smirked.

Daniel turned away and stared at the wall for a few seconds before realising that he couldn’t really keep that up.  Looking through the door to the bedroom, he saw that Azhdaar was stirring.  He looked back at Deathgrip.  Deathgrip was still watching him. 

“What do you mean?” Daniel repeated. 

“You know what’s in that ring?” Deathgrip asked. 

“A jinn.”

“You know which jinn?”

Daniel didn’t answer.

“It’s the king jinn,” Deathgrip told him.  “Anyone picks that up, they get all its power for themselves.”

“That isn’t really—” Equinox began. 

“Shut up,” Deathgrip told her.  He was still watching Daniel.  “Your friends out there?  They’ve got no idea what they’re getting into.”

∞

“I don’t even know how it works!” Shirazad protested. 

“The pointy end goes in the ground,” Emmanuel told her. 

“You know what I mean!”

The shovel was one they’d taken from the cabin.  Equinox had claimed it had some kind of minor magical enhancement, but hadn’t been able to explain how it worked.  Actually, Emmanuel suspected that the shovel was doing something, given that the ground was frozen solid and yet Shirazad had still been able to dig about a foot and a half into the earth, which quite frankly was more than he’d expected.  But she was still whining about it. 

Jess was looking back in the direction of the cabin.  “Relax,” Emmanuel told her. 

“You think we’d hear if something happened?” Jess asked. 

“Look, we left him with two prisoners and a girl who won’t move,” Emmanuel said.  “Even he should be able to handle that.”

∞

“So what are they getting into?” Daniel asked. 

“Why’d you think the mage buried that ring?” Deathgrip said.  “Because he didn’t want it anywhere near him.”

“Why?”

“Jinn can possess people,” Deathgrip said.  He was watching Daniel as he spoke.  “Anyone who gets too close.  Unless they know what they’re doing.”

“And you do?”

“The mages who ran Arcadia?” Deathgrip said.  “They knew how to control jinn.  Make them do as they were told.”

“And let me guess,” Daniel said.  “You’ll tell me the secret if I let you go?”

“Sound fair?” Deathgrip said with a grin. 

Daniel just stared at Deathgrip for a moment. 

“Well?” Deathgrip asked.

“You really think I’m that stupid?” Daniel asked.

“Not really,” Deathgrip said, shrugging awkwardly.  “Worth a try though.”

Daniel relaxed slightly.  He’d been afraid that Deathgrip might have some clever trick up his sleeves.  But if this was the best he could do . . .

“Could make a deal though,” Deathgrip said. 

“I don’t think so.”

“Come on,” Deathgrip said.  “You don’t want to have something to show your friends when they get back?”

“How about you tell me what you can do,” Daniel said.  “Then if I’m impressed, I’ll tell them.”  

Equinox had been sitting quietly, listening to them talk;  now she spoke up.  “Controlling a greater jinn doesn’t work the way you think it does,” she said.  “The whole reason they needed to—”

“If you knew how to control a jinn, you wouldn’t be sitting around out here,” Deathgrip told her, not bothering to hide his contempt.  He was still looking at Daniel. 

“So how do you control a jinn?” Daniel asked. 

“Loosen these cuffs and I’ll tell you.”

Daniel rolled his eyes. 

“Better hurry,” Deathgrip said with a smile.  “Don’t think you’ve got much time.”

∞

“Can we hurry this up?” Jess asked. 

“What do you think I’m doing?” Emmanuel said in annoyance.  He’d taken over from Shirazad.  Watching her struggle with the shovel had been satisfying, but they were on a clock. 

“Maybe there’s nothing there,” Jess said, frowning down at the hole. 

Emmanuel bit back a reply.  The shovel was making this easier, carving into the frozen ground as though it were soft earth, but if Jess had the time to complain, maybe she could—

The shovel drove into the ground and stopped with a clack. 

Jess paused.  “What was that?”

“There’s something there,” Emmanuel said.  Jess leant in, picking up on the excitement in his voice, and even Shirazad took a step forward to peer into the hole.  He tried again with the shovel and felt it stop with another clack.

“What is it?” Jess asked. 

“Let’s find out,” Emmanuel said.  He shifted position and began to probe with the shovel’s edge. 

∞

“Seriously,” Deathgrip said.  “These things are cutting off the blood to my hands.”

“Guess with a name like that, you don’t want health issues, do you?” Daniel said.  In the bedroom, he could see that Azhdaar had recovered, but the big adept seemed content to sit and listen.

“Heh,” Deathgrip said.  “Yeah, the name’s a little extra, but it gets you noticed, you know?”

Daniel snorted.  “Yeah, right.  I’ll take a look at your hands.  Don’t try anything.”

“Sure.”

“I mean it.”  Daniel lifted the stun gun warningly.  “You make a move . . .”

“Sure, sure.”

Daniel moved cautiously forward.  He was pretty sure Deathgrip was faking it, but he figured he should probably check – and with the stun gun, he wasn’t so worried about getting close. 

“So you know, I thought a bit about my mage name,” Deathgrip said conversationally.  “For a while I was thinking about going with Shatter.  Then I thought about Fracture, because that’s what my magic really is, you know?  Spatial fractures.”

“Uh huh,” Daniel said.  From the angle he was at he could see the rigid cuffs glinting around Deathgrip’s left wrist. 

“But then I thought of ‘Deathgrip’, and it just clicked, right?  Just had the right ring to it.  No-one’s going to forget a name like that.”

“Your hands look fine,” Daniel told him. 

“It’s the other wrist.” 

Daniel gave Deathgrip a sceptical look.  Now he was really sure Deathgrip was faking.  Still, it definitely didn’t look to him as though Deathgrip could twist his palms around enough to reach those cuffs.  He started to go around the other side.

“So yeah, with the name,” Deathgrip said.  “There was another reason I liked ‘Deathgrip’.  See, once you tell someone a name like that, and they see what you can do, they make the connection in their head, right?  Grip of death.  I grab something, use my magic, bang.”

“Uh huh,” Daniel said.  Deathgrip was close to the table, watching Daniel with his legs crouched underneath him.  To see Deathgrip’s right wrist, Daniel would have to lean in close. 

“So then they figure they’ve got you pegged, right?  They think they know exactly what you can do.”

Daniel was still three feet or so away from Deathgrip, and now he’d come this far, he really didn’t see any good reason to get closer.  Even if Deathgrip couldn’t reach him with his hands, he could still kick him or something.

“Never occurs to them that you might be more than your name.  See, I don’t need to grab something to use my magic.  It just needs to be near my hands.”

“Uh huh,” Daniel said, then his brain caught up with what he’d just heard.  “Wait, what?”
Deathgrip sprang up, arms coming around with the shattered remnants of the cuffs falling from his wrists. 

Daniel jerked away, but he was already too late.  A blow to his head knocked him flat, and before he could get up Deathgrip’s hand closed around his neck.  Daniel froze. 

“Well, well,” Deathgrip said.  There was a note of satisfaction to his voice.  “Would you look at that.”  His voice hardened.  “Up.  Now.”

Daniel struggled to his feet.  His eyes darted around, looking for the stun gun;  he saw it on the floor, but before he could even think of reaching for it Deathgrip kicked it away and dragged Daniel into the bedroom. 

Azhdaar was sitting there, watching them.  “Move,” Deathgrip ordered and pulled Daniel next to him, then crouched down and reached out with his free hand to grasp Azhdaar’s handcuffs. 

It was the first time Daniel had actually seen Deathgrip’s magic working.  The air around the cuffs seemed to warp and distort, blurry gaps opening up.  Deathgrip moved his hand slightly;  the blurry lines moved with it, and the cuffs simply fell apart, their internal workings gleaming.  Daniel felt a chill;  Deathgrip’s other hand was still squeezing his neck, and he had a vivid image of what that would do to his body. 

Azhdaar stood up and stretched, brushing the remains of the cuffs off his wrists.  “Thanks.” 

“Back in there,” Deathgrip told Daniel, and pulled him into the living room.  Once there, Deathgrip let go, pushing Daniel up against the wall. 

Daniel turned, looking for a way out.  Deathgrip wasn’t right between him and the front door, but he was close enough that Daniel knew he’d never make it out.  As Daniel watched, Azhdaar came striding through from the bedroom, dipping his head slightly.  Behind was Equinox—

The stun gun was at Equinox’s feet.  

“Now we’re going to play a game,” Deathgrip told Daniel.  He had his back turned to Equinox.  “It’s called ‘which one of you should we keep alive?’.” 

Daniel looked at Equinox.  She met his eyes, and Daniel let his gaze drop to the stun gun.  

“You,” Deathgrip said, taking a step back to Equinox.  “Up.”  He didn’t take his eyes off Daniel. 

Come on, Daniel prayed silently, willing Equinox to move.  She was sitting within easy reach of Deathgrip.  All she had to do was pick up the stun gun, press it into him, and pull the trigger.  Do it.  Do it!

Equinox looked back at him blankly. 

“I said up.”  Deathgrip grabbed Equinox’s arm and hauled her to her feet.  Equinox stumbled as Deathgrip shoved her roughly in Daniel’s direction.  She recovered her balance and turned to face the adept. 

The stun gun was still lying on the floor behind Deathgrip.  The spark of hope in Daniel flickered and died. 

“Force blade,” Deathgrip told Azhdaar.  The big adept flexed a hand;  something translucent and deadly materialised, extending from his wrist.

“Here’s how this is going to work,” Deathgrip told Daniel.  All pretence of friendliness was gone;  his eyes were cold.  “We don’t have time to drag two prisoners around the forest.  So we’re just taking one.  Give us a reason to make it you.”

Daniel hesitated.

Deathgrip took out his phone.  “Thirty seconds.”

Daniel’s eyes darted around the room.  Time seemed to slow, his mind working frantically as he looked from Azhdaar to Deathgrip.  Both looked back at him, and there was no pity in those eyes.  He glanced sideways. 

Equinox was standing quietly, her hands clasped. 

A flash of resentment rose up inside Daniel.  She could have done something.  He didn’t know how he was so sure of that, but he was. 

“Twenty,” Deathgrip said.

Just say it, Daniel told himself, but hesitated.  He didn’t want to . . .

Then he looked at the force blade at Azhdaar’s hand and remembered seeing it cut through that icecat.  A spike of fear went through him. 

“Ten,” Deathgrip said.

“Em and Jess will trade the ring for me,” Daniel blurted out.  “They don’t care about her.”

Deathgrip glanced up from his phone.  “Air-boy makes a good point,” he said, and shifted his eyes to Equinox.  “You got an answer?”

Equinox shook her head slightly. 

Deathgrip stared at Equinox.  Daniel’s eyes flicked between them.

Seconds ticked by.

Deathgrip’s phone gave a quiet beep.  “Well,” Deathgrip said, shoving it back into his pocket.  “One-nil, I guess.”  He jerked his head sideways at Daniel.  “You might want to get out of the way.”

Daniel scrambled away to the corner.  Shame washed over him and he didn’t dare look up in case he met Equinox’s eyes.  It was her or me.

Deathgrip looked at Azhdaar, and nodded his head towards Equinox. 

Azhdaar frowned.

“What?” Deathgrip asked.

“Seems a bit of a waste,” Azhdaar said. 

“Can’t take both.”

“Could leave her,” Azhdaar pointed out. 

“And have her tell everyone?  Fuck that.  Just get it over with.”

Azhdaar hesitated, then turned to Equinox with a regretful sort of shrug.  “Just so you know,” he told her, “this isn’t personal.”

Equinox nodded slightly.

Azhdaar took a step, building up momentum as he drew back his arm. 

“Oh, well,” Equinox said in her soft voice.  “It was fun while it lasted.”

The blade rose and fell. 

Equinox made a small movement and the force blade hissed by her head.  Azhdaar brushed against Equinox as he went past, then stumbled and crashed to the floor. 

Everything was quiet.

“Seriously?” Deathgrip asked Azhdaar.  “What did you do, stub your toe?”

Equinox turned to face Deathgrip.  “Hey,” Deathgrip told Azhdaar.  “Get up.”

Azhdaar lay still.

Daniel looked at Equinox – and caught his breath.  It was hard to say what had changed.  Maybe she was standing a little straighter;  maybe her stance was a little different.  Red eyes gazed at Deathgrip with that same weirdly calm expression.  It was as though she didn’t understand that Azhdaar had been about to—

A jolt went through Daniel.  No. 

It wasn’t that she didn’t understand. 

It was that she didn’t see them as a threat. 

“Vihaela used to say she’d come find me once the war was over,” Equinox said.  “Just the two of us, one on one.”  She tilted her head slightly at Deathgrip.  “I always regretted not getting to test myself against her.  But if she really did teach you . . . then maybe you’ll do?”

Deathgrip stared at Equinox, then looked down at Azhdaar.  “Hey!” he shouted at the other adept.  “Wake the fuck up!”

Azhdaar didn’t move, and a cold feeling went through Daniel.  He was suddenly very sure Azhdaar was never going to move again.

“Ready?” Equinox asked Deathgrip. 

Deathgrip glared at Equinox, then stalked forward and grabbed for her neck.

Equinox leaned away as Deathgrip’s hand closed on empty air.  It wasn’t just that her reactions were quicker.  She’d started moving before he had, as though she could see the commands going to his muscles before they happened.  Equinox touched Deathgrip’s arm and the adept froze. 

“Seems not,” Equinox said. 

Deathgrip stood absolutely still.  When Emmanuel had paralysed him, Deathrip had trembled, visibly fighting against the spell.  This time he was completely motionless;  if it weren’t for the even rise and fall of his breathing, he’d have looked like a statue.  Even his eyes stayed fixed on the same spot.  

“Spatial fractures, was it?” Equinox said, studying the blur stemming from Deathgrip’s hand.  Delicately, she placed her palm against it. 

Skin and flesh tore, revealing red blood.  It looked horrifying, but before Daniel could get a good look at how bad it was, Equinox withdrew her hand.  As she studied the gaping wound, green light glowed and the injury closed, healing in seconds to leave smooth pale skin.  “Well, they’re damaging enough,” Equinox said.  She shook her hand;  a couple of stray drops of blood splattered to the floor.  “I’ll be honest, though, I was expecting more.”

Daniel stared at Equinox.  He’d heard of adepts who could paralyse, but how could she be doing all these things at—?

“I suppose I could give you a do-over,” Equinox said.  She seemed to think for a second, then shook her head.  “No, you might actually be dangerous.  Besides, you’re really just not that interesting.”

“What—?” Daniel began.

Green light flickered.

Deathgrip’s posture changed.  The muscles in his face and arms seemed to sag;  his expression became fixed, and he crumpled bonelessly, sprawling on the floor at a strange, awkward angle with one leg bent beneath him.  Only when his head rolled back to stare blankly at the ceiling did Daniel realise that the adept – the boy – had died before his eyes. 

Daniel stared down at Deathgrip, seconds ticking, then looked up at Equinox. 

“Now,” Equinox said.  She smiled at Daniel.  “What shall we do with you?”

Daniel turned and ran. 

He made it maybe two steps before something touched his back and his body stopped obeying him.  His legs slowed to a stop and straightened, shifting to a balanced, neutral posture.  His breathing, which had been fast and panicked, switched to a steady rhythm, his heart rate falling with it.  In less than a second he went from charged with adrenaline to unwound and calm. 

Or at least his body was.  His brain was screaming in panic, but it wasn’t in charge anymore. 

Equinox came into his view.  She was touching his shoulder, one finger tracing the line of his bicep as she moved.  “I was hoping we’d have a chance to talk,” she told him.  “It gets lonely out here with Alex gone.  He’ll be back in a few days, but that’s a long time to wait, don’t you think?”

Daniel strained, trying to run.  Instead, his body walked over to the kitchen table, pulled out a chair, and sat.  It didn’t look forced or awkward;  his movements were actually smoother than usual. 

“There,” Equinox said, sitting next to him.  She kept a light touch on his arm as she crossed her legs and smiled at him.  “So what shall we talk about?  How about I tell you a story?”

Daniel couldn’t answer.

“Once upon a time, there was a girl born with the gift of healing,” Equinox said.  “As she grew up other people took advantage of her, forcing her to do as they ordered.  The girl was kind and gentle, and so she tried to make the best of the life that had been given to her.  She let herself be shaped by other people’s desires, and did as she was told.

“But there was a part of the girl that thought differently.  That part thought:  why should I have to take care of others?  Why should I live my life according to what they want, and never what I want?  And as those people pushed the girl further and further, that part grew stronger and stronger, until one day it took over completely.  And then the girl became the opposite of what she’d once been.  Instead of being kind, she was cruel.  Instead of serving others, she served herself.  And instead of bringing life, she brought death.

“But in the end that girl’s new self was no more successful than her old one.  She destroyed everything and was left with nothing, and it was only because of the actions of a few people who loved her that she didn’t end up destroying herself as well.  And at the end, after it was all done, the two parts of that girl came back together and she had to decide who she would be.  Should she be a healer, or a killer?  Should she live for others, or for herself?”  Equinox paused.  “What do you think?”

Daniel couldn’t answer.

“Oh, sorry,” Equinox said.  “Go ahead.”

All of a sudden Daniel could speak again.  His eyes flicked wildly around the room and he tried to jump to his feet, but he couldn’t move anything below his neck.  His breath came out in sharp pants as he struggled to move. 

“Calm down,” Equinox said soothingly.  “I could boost your endorphins a little, if that would help?”

“You killed them,” Daniel said, his breath fast and panicky.  He couldn’t see the bodies of Deathgrip and Azhdaar, but he knew they were close. 

“Yes,” Equinox said.

“You— you didn’t have to,” Daniel said.  He was sure of that, somehow.  “You could have knocked them out, or put them to sleep, or . . .”

“Yes.”

“Then why?” Daniel said.  It came out sounding plaintive.

“Because I wanted to.”

Daniel stared.

“I like doing things like this,” Equinox said.  “Not all the time, and not to everyone.  But it’s a nice little adventure, don’t you think?”

Daniel stared at Equinox.  She was looking calmly at him with those reddish eyes, a slight smile on her lips, and a sort of sickening horror went through Daniel as for the first time he realised just what they’d stepped into.  If they’d had the slightest inkling of what was really waiting for them in this cabin, they would have turned and run.

“Yes,” Equinox said again.  She was giving him an appraising look.  “You felt it before, didn’t you?  None of the others even noticed how close they came.”  She glanced aside at the window.  “Well, this has been fun, but there are a couple of things I’d like to know before the others get back.  What can your friends do?”

“What?”

“Emmanuel, and Jess,” Equinox explained.  “What are their adept abilities?”

“Abilities . . . ?”  A tiny hope sparked in Daniel.  If Equinox needed to know what Emmanuel and Jess could do, maybe she wasn’t so powerful after all . . .

“Please don’t try to stall, Daniel,” Equinox said.

“I’m . . . not sure what you mean.” 

Equinox sighed.

Stomach-twisting nausea ripped through Daniel.  It was so sudden that he didn’t have the chance to scream;  he lost his breath in a grunt, eyes bulging.  It was the most horrible feeling he’d ever had in his life, worse than any pain;  the closest to it he’d ever felt was that one night he’d had food poisoning and had spent two hours bent over the toilet.  By the end of that he’d wanted to die.  This was worse.  Every part of his body was heaving against every other part;  he gagged, trying to retch, but couldn’t. 

Then just as soon as it had come, the sensation vanished.  Daniel wheezed, his heart hammering.  Cold sweat beaded on his forehead;  his muscles felt limp and wrung-out. 

“My first teacher liked using that one on me,” Equinox said conversationally.  “But he was only a death mage.  I can make it a lot worse.”  She paused.  “Now, I know you all got into the habit of ignoring me while I was sitting here, but when I ask you something, I really would prefer if you’d answer.  So let’s try this again.  What can your friends do?”

“A mind adept!” Daniel blurted out.  His heart was hammering in his chest.  All thoughts of resistance were gone;  just the thought of that spell was so horrible that he’d have done anything to avoid it.  “Emmanuel’s a mind adept!  He stops people from hurting him, it’s like a mental block or something, I don’t know how it works but it does, please, I’m telling the truth!”

“That makes sense,” Equinox said with a nod.  “I’d been wondering why those other two adepts just froze like that.  What about Jess?”

Daniel opened his mouth to answer – and hesitated.  The image of Jess being hit with this same spell flashed through his mind.  If he didn’t talk, maybe she’d still have a chance . . .

“Oh?” Equinox said curiously.  “You’ll talk about him, but not her?”  She paused.  “Last chance.”

Terror stabbed through Daniel.  He couldn’t bear the thought of enduring that again.  If he’d had a knife he’d have tried to turn it on himself, slash his own wrists or throat, just to make the nausea stop, but he couldn’t move.  He had to talk. 

He didn’t.

Equinox waited a few seconds.  “All right,” she said when Daniel still didn’t talk.  “Let’s try something a little . . .” She paused and looked towards the wall with a frown.  “Already?”

She was looking in the direction Emmanuel and Jess had gone.  The spark of hope inside Daniel flared up, but before he could suck in his breath to scream for help, Equinox did something he couldn’t see and he was paralysed again. 

“Oh, well,” Equinox said.  “I suppose it doesn’t really matter.”  She rose to her feet, moved out of line of sight to the window, and waited. 

Seconds ticked past.  Daniel sat perfectly still.  From the corner of his eye he could just see Equinox, standing looking at the door, waiting. 

The soft crunch of footsteps on snow sounded from outside.  They were slow, cautious.  There was the creak of wood, followed by silence. 

“Hey,” a voice called quietly from the other side of the door.  Emmanuel’s voice.  “All good?”

“All good,” Equinox called back, and Daniel felt a horrible jolt.  She’d said it in his voice.  She hadn’t cast any spell that he could see, but the voice coming from her lips was suddenly a perfect match for his own. 

Emmanuel’s voice floated through from the other side of the door.  “Any trouble?”

“No, we’re fine,” Equinox called back.  It was bizarre watching his words coming from her throat.  “Come on in.”

Terror flashed through Daniel as he saw Equinox’s stance.  She was watching the door like a cobra ready to strike, and Daniel remembered how fast she’d moved.  She could cover that distance in an instant.  If Emmanuel – if Jess – walked through that door . . .

Desperately Daniel called up his magic.  It was harder without the use of his hands;  the first traces of an air shield began to form at his fingers, but it was slow, and he knew even as he did it that he’d be too late.  Equinox didn’t even glance at him;  she was staring at the door handle. 

The handle didn’t turn. 

Straining his ears, Daniel thought he caught the sound of whispering.  He saw Equinox’s stance shift;  she took a step back.  Daniel threw everything he had into his magic, the air hardening and starting to spread—

The door crashed open, kicked almost off its hinges.  Icy wind flowed in and so did Emmanuel, the older boy’s face set and hard;  he had a gun held in a two-handed grip, and Equinox jumped away.  Moving almost too fast to see, Equinox darted into the bedroom and slammed the door behind her. 

All of a sudden Daniel could move again.  He jumped to his feet and nearly fell, the room spinning as dizziness washed over him;  he caught at the table as Jess came through behind Emmanuel, electricity crackling at her hands. 

“Shirazad!” Emmanuel snapped.  He didn’t take his eyes or gun off the door. 

“She’s running,” Shirazad called from outside. 

Emmanuel reached the bedroom door in three strides and tore it open, sweeping the room with his gun.  Through the open door and through his fuzzy vision, Daniel could just see that the bedroom window was open, curtains fluttering. 

“Daniel!” Jess said.  The charge at her hands fizzled out and she caught his shoulder.  “You okay?”

Daniel stared at her, saw the worry in her eyes.  You came, he wanted to say, then his vision greyed out and he collapsed. 

∞

“How did you know it wasn’t me?” Daniel asked. 

It was a few minutes later.  Daniel had recovered enough to sit on one of the chairs, though he still had to prop himself up on the table.  Jess was watching over him, and Emmanuel was patrolling the cabin, going from window to window. 

“We did think it was you,” Jess admitted. 

“Then how—?”

Jess nodding grudgingly at Shirazad.  “It was her.”

Daniel blinked at Shirazad. 

“When you leave a cabin with four living people, and come back to find two,” Shirazad said dryly, “it’s kind of obvious something’s happened.”

“You can tell that?”

“Dead people don’t feel emotions.”

Daniel fought back a shiver.  Azhdaar and Deathgrip’s bodies were still lying where they’d fallen, and the thought of them made him feel sick.  Jess hadn’t said anything about it, but he’d noticed that she was avoiding looking at that side of the room. 

“Well, can’t see her,” Emmanuel said, walking back in from the bedroom.  He looked at Shirazad.  “So unless she’s under the floorboards . . .”

“She’s not,” Shirazad said.

“What happened out there?” Daniel asked.  From what Jess had said it had sounded as though they’d run back as fast as they could. 

Emmanuel looked grim.  “Remember what Talisid said about a team of adepts who came here?  Four of them?”

“. . . Yeah?”

“We found them.”

Daniel looked at Emmanuel, confused.  Emmanuel didn’t elaborate, and neither did Jess. 

“So now what?” Shirazad asked.  Alone out of all of them, she didn’t seem to care about the bodies.  “We’re down two people, the girl who lives here is apparently a serial killer, and we’ve still got no idea where our ring is.”

“Our ring?” Jess said.  “Getting a bit ahead of yourself.”

“It might still be there,” Emmanuel said absently. 

“What, you believe her?”

“Well, she obviously hid it somewhere.  And if you’re burying four things, might as well make it five.”

“Wait,” Daniel said.  He was looking back and forth between the others in growing unease.  “You’re not still thinking about going after this ring?”

“Why not?” Shirazad asked. 

“Because it’s hers.”

Emmanuel, Jess, and Shirazad looked at him. 

“We can’t take it from her,” Daniel said, looking between them.  “You have to see that.”

“Uh,” Jess said.  “I don’t think I care very much about playing nice at this point.”

“You don’t understand,” Daniel said.  “I don’t mean we shouldn’t, I mean we can’t.  If she doesn’t want us to have this thing we’re not getting it.”

“She’s not invincible, Dan,” Emmanuel said. 

“You don’t understand,” Daniel repeated.  “You didn’t see what she can do.  She isn’t— you can’t—”  Daniel stopped, struggling to put it into words.  What he wanted them to understand, what he needed them to understand, was that moment of dawning horror when he’d looked into Equinox’s eyes and heard her say ‘Because I wanted to’.  They’d gone out into the ocean and found a monster, and their only chance, their only chance, was to get back to land before it was too late. 

“It sounds as though she can’t do anything unless she touches someone,” Shirazad said. 

“I mean, yeah, she got Deathgrip and Azhdaar,” Emmanuel said.  “But from the way you say it, that was only because she caught them by surprise when they didn’t know what she could do.”

“It’s okay,” Jess told Daniel.  “We’re not going to leave you to her.”

Daniel looked hopelessly at the others.  Shirazad looked faintly contemptuous, Jess looked sympathetic – which somehow made it worse – and Emmanuel was obviously not paying attention.  How could he make them understand?

“All right,” Emmanuel said, pulling something from his pocket.  It was the disc Daniel had seen him use in the forest.  “I think it’s time for another chat with our man from the Council.”

“Wait,” Shirazad objected.  “He’ll want—”

“Yes, he’ll want the ring, but he’ll pay us a lot more than you would have,” Emmanuel said.  “Plus he can teleport us home.”

“He can do that?” Jess asked. 

“He offered.”

“You can’t trust the Council—” Shirazad began.

“Yeah, thanks for your opinion.  Now shut up.”  Emmanuel thumbed something on the side of the disc.  Daniel felt a faint tingle as a blue light came on.  There was a moment of silence. 

The light turned from blue to green.  “Hello?” the disc said. 

“Hi there,” Emmanuel said. 

“Emmanuel,” the voice said in greeting.  It was the man with the upper-class voice that Emmanuel had called Talisid.  “Has there been any progress?”

“Yeah, you could say that.  We found your ring.”

“That is progress,” Talisid agreed.  “It’s in your possession?”

“Not yet.”

“When will you have it?”

“We’re working on that part.”

There was a pause.  “I see.”

“We’re going to need you to teleport us out,” Emmanuel said.  “You can do that, right?”

“A gate can be arranged easily enough,” Talisid said.  “Provided you can ensure the security of the portal location.  You can ensure this, correct?”

Emmanuel hesitated just the briefest instant before answering.  “Sure.”

“And how is the situation with Anne Walker, otherwise known as Equinox?”

“Fine.”

“Is she there?”

“No.”

“Is there something you’d like to tell me, Emmanuel?”

“You just get that teleport ready, okay?”  Emmanuel sounded far too confident to Daniel’s ears.  “We’ll handle the rest.”

There was a pause.  Daniel looked around.  Jess was frowning at the disc.  Shirazad was looking mutinous. 

“Where’s Anne?” Talisid asked. 

“I’ll have to check.” 

“When we spoke earlier, you told me you were holding her in custody,” Talisid said.  “Is this still the case?”

“. . . No.”

“Because . . . ?”

“She ran off.”

“And would you happen to know why?”

“Some of the other guys were threatening her.”

“Threatening?”

“Yeah.”

Silence.

“They might have roughed her up a bit,” Emmanuel added when Talisid still didn’t answer.

“I seem to remember,” Talisid said, “that I told you to treat her with respect.”

“Yeah, well, we didn’t do anything.  I thought you were asking about us.”

“Apparently you did not think at all.”  Talisid’s voice was cool.  “If you had, it might have occurred to you that when a Council mage gives you a warning, you would be well advised to listen.”

“Fine, whatever, things didn’t go exactly to plan,” Emmanuel said.  “Can we stick to the point here?”

Through the disc, Daniel heard Talisid sigh.  “This is what happens when you send an adept to do a mage’s job.”

“You have a problem with me being an adept?” Emmanuel asked with a frown.  “Is that it?”

“Emmanuel, I’ve been in this business a long, long time,” Talisid said.  “I’ve dealt with Council-aligned adepts, with Dark-aligned adepts, with independent ones, law-abiding ones, criminal ones, intelligent ones, stupid ones, and everything in between.  But one thing I have never done, and will never do, is do business with an adept who is dead.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“If you do in fact manage to secure that ring, I will be happy to arrange transportation for you and your associates,” Talisid told Emmanuel.  “However, until you have it in your hands, I’m afraid I must ask you not to contact me again.”

Emmanuel frowned at the disc.  “I’ll be in touch,” he said at last.

“I rather doubt it,” Talisid said.  The light on the side of the disc winked out.

Emmanuel dropped the disc to the table.  “I really hate that guy.”

“What did he mean, ‘I doubt it’?” Jess asked. 

“He means he’s going to leave you hanging,” Shirazad said.  “He’s Council.  You can’t trust him.”

Emmanuel began pushing the disc around in circles on the table.  “You want us to cut him out?” he asked Shirazad. 

“Yes!” Shirazad said.  “Get the ring, get back to Bucharest, find our own buyer.  Somewhere where we’ve got the upper hand.”

“You mean where you’ve got the upper hand,” Jess said.

“Why would that matter?” Shirazad countered.  “I’ve got more to gain by working with you.”

“Can we just get out of here?” Daniel asked. 

Jess gave Daniel a pitying glance.  Shirazad and Emmanuel didn’t even give him that, and with a hollow, sinking feeling, Daniel knew that it was hopeless. 

“We go with Talisid,” Emmanuel decided. 

“You sure?” Jess asked. 

“He’s the only one offering us a way out,” Emmanuel told Jess.  “I don’t want to hike back through these woods with that girl around.”

“If you let that mage gate you out, you won’t be any better off,” Shirazad objected.  “He’ll drop you into a Council facility.”

“Better than being here.”

“No.  We can’t—”

Emmanuel raised his eyebrows.  “We can’t?”

“I mean, we shouldn’t,” Shirazad said quickly.  “If we get to Bucharest—”

“—then you’ll be able to hire some more muscle to replace the last lot,” Emmanuel finished.  “Then you can sell us out, too.  That’s the plan, right?”

“I just meant—”

“You really think I’m stupid, don’t you, Shirazad?” Emmanuel said.  “Guess that’s something you and Talisid have in common.  You’ve been pretending you’re a mage for so long, you’ve started to think like one.”  Emmanuel stared at the disc for a moment, then shoved it into his pocket and straightened.  “All right.  Let’s go.”

∞

The door to the cabin creaked open.  Emmanuel poked his head out, looking left and right.  The forest was silent. 

“Anything?” Jess whispered.

Emmanuel took a long look out from the front porch.  Ahead of them, the snow glowed in the cabin’s light like white gold, fading with the falling night until it ended at the forest’s edge.  Emmanuel clicked on his torch and let its beam play over the looming trees, but between their trunks the darkness swallowed the light without a trace. 

“Shirazad,” Emmanuel ordered when nothing moved. 

“What?”

“She out there?”

“No,” Shirazad said sullenly.  She wasn’t taking her loss of authority well. 

Emmanuel swept the trees for a moment longer, then stepped out onto the porch and beckoned. 

Daniel followed Emmanuel out.  Dread was gnawing at his stomach;  he couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.  Jess moved to Emmanuel’s side, her movements quick and birdlike as she looked around. 

Emmanuel stepped out onto the path. 

A soft voice spoke from the trees.  “Leaving already?”

All of them jumped.  Their torch beams converged, illuminating a figure in black and white.  Equinox was standing between two of the trees, in a spot Daniel could have sworn had been empty just a second ago. 

She looked . . . very different. 

When they’d found her in the cabin, Equinox had been wearing jeans, a jumper, and an apron.  Now she was wearing a short black dress that looked like something a figure skater would wear, with shoulder straps and a flared skirt.  It left her long arms and legs bare, and by all rights she should have been freezing, but she was standing there smiling as though the cold and the snow didn’t bother her at all.  For that matter, she didn’t seem bothered by the torch beams shining in her face, either. 

Fear stabbed through Daniel. 

“What a shame,” Equinox said.  “We were just getting warmed up.”

“What do you want?” Emmanuel said.  He had his gun out and levelled. 

“You know, that’s a really good question,” Equinox said.  “It’s exactly what I’ve been talking with Daniel about.  Did you ask him?”

Jess and Shirazad each shot Daniel a look.  Emmanuel didn’t.  “I said, what do you want?” he told Equinox. 

“At first I wanted to be a healer who was protected and loved.” Equinox said.  “Then I wanted to be a destroyer who was respected and feared.”  Equinox looked from Emmanuel to Jess to Daniel.  “It took me a long time to figure out the answer.  Do you want to know what it was?”

“I wasn’t asking for your life story,” Emmanuel said. 

“I realised I could be both,” Equinox said.  She was looking straight at Daniel.  “I realised I am both.  I’m the mother who stands guard over the cradle, and the monster who waits in the night.  I’m the healer who brings life, and the assassin who brings death.  And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”  Equinox spread her arms, palms up.  “I’m going to build a new life with Alex, here or wherever else we go.  I’m going to have children with him, and I’m going to raise them and protect them and teach them and watch them grow.  And when anyone threatens them, or him, or me, then I’ll snuff out their lives like candles in the dark.  Because I am Equinox, the queen of life and death, the witch in the gingerbread house, the strigoaică of the forest.  And you,” she swept her eyes across the four of them, “are in my forest.”

The clearing was dead silent.  Daniel stood frozen in terror, staring at Equinox.  Illuminated in the torch beams, she looked like a statue in white and black. 

“You are totally fucking crazy,” Emmanuel told Equinox.

“Yeah, no shit,” Jess said.  “Do you even hear yourself?”

“Really?” Equinox said with a frown.  She lowered her arms with a disappointed look.  “I thought I’d got it that time.”

“You haven’t,” Jess told her.

“I’m not crazy, you know,” Equinox said.  “At least, not any more.  I’m just very clear about who I am and what I want.”

“Yeah, well, on that subject, how about you tell us what you actually want?” Emmanuel asked.  “And maybe dial down the psycho-chick vibe a little.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Equinox said, and pointed at Shirazad.  “I want her.”

Everyone stopped for a second. 

“What?” Shirazad said.

“I mean, if there’s one person who’s responsible, it’s you, don’t you think?” Equinox told her.  “Besides, you threatened me.  I take that sort of thing a bit personally.”

Shirazad stared at Equinox, then gave a short laugh.  “Get over yourself,” she told Equinox.  “You really think . . .” She turned to Emmanuel and stopped.  He’d turned his head and was watching her. 

“Okay, okay,” Shirazad said.  All of a sudden she sounded nervous.  “We’ll do it your way.  We go to Talisid.”

Emmanuel didn’t answer.

“I get it,” Shirazad said.  “You want to know if I’ll make trouble.  Got the message, loud and clear.”

“Why couldn’t you spot her?” Emmanuel asked. 

“What?”

“You said you could find people from their emotions,” Emmanuel said.  He nodded in Equinox’s direction.  “Why not her?”

“I don’t— Look, it could be a lot of things.  She was probably further away, or—”

“It’s called a life shroud,” Equinox said helpfully.  “I mostly shield against life or death magic, so it’s been good practice figuring out how to shield emotions as well.  Turns out stopping you from reading my feelings is easy, but it took me quite a few tries to figure out how to stop you noticing me at all.”

“So you can’t pick her up?” Emmanuel asked Shirazad. 

Shirazad hesitated.

“Em?” Jess asked cautiously.  She was watching Equinox and Shirazad at the same time.  “Where are we going with this?”

“If you can’t find her, and you can’t fight her,” Emmanuel told Shirazad, “then I’m having trouble seeing what use you are.”

“Hey, come on,” Shirazad said with a forced laugh.  “I know you don’t mean that.  There’s lots I could . . . I mean . . .”

Emmanuel looked at Shirazad. 

“You don’t mean that,” Shirazad said.  Her face was suddenly very pale. 

“You take her, and we’re even,” Emmanuel told Equinox.  “Okay?”

“Seems fair,” Equinox said.  She’d clasped her hands behind her back.  There was something creepily polite about how she was just standing there waiting. 

“Let’s see, how did you put it?” Emmanuel asked Shirazad.  “‘If you can’t handle it, leave’.  That was what you told us, right?”  Emmanuel nodded off into the darkness.  “Guess this is where you leave.”

“No,” Shirazad said.  She looked between Emmanuel and Jess.  “You can’t . . .”

Jess gave Shirazad a glance, then turned away. 

“Daniel!” Shirazad said desperately.  She was breathing fast.  “Come on.  You aren’t going to do something like this.  You’re not that kind of guy.  Right?”

Daniel looked at Shirazad, seeing the fear in her eyes.  She was obviously terrified, and for a moment he thought about saying something.  Then he remembered how Shirazad had used Deathgrip and Azhdaar as a threat, only to abandon them.  Besides, she’d been the one to threaten Equinox, hadn’t she?  This was her fault. 

Daniel took a step away.

Shirazad looked between the three of them.  The fear in her eyes was turning to horror.  “No . . .”

Emmanuel turned the gun slightly so that it was pointed halfway towards her. 

“I’ll give you a head start,” Equinox told Shirazad. 

Shirazad gave the three other adepts one last, pleading look.  None of them met her eyes. 

Shirazad turned and ran. 

“Well, then,” Equinox said.

“So are—?” Emmanuel began, but Equinox was already stepping back into the darkness.  The night seemed to swallow her and when Daniel twitched his torch in her direction, it found only blackness. 

Behind them, the crunch of Shirazad’s running feet on the snow faded into silence.  The three of them were left alone. 

“Okay,” Emmanuel said.  “Let’s go.”  He started walking north. 

Jess followed Emmanuel, and after a moment’s hesitation, Daniel did the same.  Just as the three of them left the clearing, he heard a whisper of movement that made him look back.  The cabin was still and silent, glowing with light, but he was sure that sound had come from behind it. 

Had she really circled around through the trees that fast?

With a shiver, Daniel hurried after Emmanuel. 

∞

The walk through the forest was silent.  The memory of Shirazad’s terrified face kept playing in Daniel’s head;  once he glanced at Emmanuel, thinking of saying something, but Emmanuel’s mouth was set in a hard line and he thought better of it. 

It was a relief when the trees opened up to reveal a small clearing.  The snow had been disturbed next to a pile of freshly dug earth;  a shovel was stuck into the ground. 

Jess spoke at last.  “You realise we still don’t know where this thing is.”

“Got to be one of them,” Emmanuel said.  He pulled the shovel from the ground. 

“What if it’s not?”

“If it’s not, it’s not,” Emmanuel said.  “We’ve still got the cash from the safe, we take it and go.”

“So why not go now?” Daniel asked plaintively. 

Emmanuel had been about to drive the shovel into the earth;  as Daniel spoke he stopped and look at the sky.  “Can you shut the fuck up?” His voice was brittle.  “Every time.  Every time, since I’ve ever known you, all you do is whine and bitch and complain.”  Emmanuel turned to glare at Daniel.  “Your entire fucking life, you’ve just drifted along following everyone else and moaning when they don’t make you happy.  Now we’ve got our chance, our one chance for a big score, and you want to run away.  I will not let you fuck this up for us.  You understand?  I – will – not.”

“You know what?” Jess said before Daniel could answer.  “He’s right.”  She looked straight at him.  “If you can’t do anything useful, then shut up and keep watch.”

Daniel stared at Jess, poleaxed.  Jess turned to Emmanuel.  “Come on.”

Emmanuel raised the shovel and drove it down.  It bit into the frozen earth with a shunk. 

A soft voice spoke from the darkness.  “You two really just can not take a hint.”

The shovel clattered to the earth as Jess and Emmanuel whirled.  Their torch beams swept the clearing. 

“I mean, I probably wouldn’t have let you go anyway,” Equinox said.  Emmanuel and Jess started, their torches seeking the voice;  the beams of light played over trees and snow, finding nothing.  “But this?  This is just asking for it.”

“We had a deal,” Emmanuel called.  He had his gun out, its barrel aimed into the darkness. 

“That was before you dug up my garden.”

Daniel’s foot wobbled underneath him and he clutched at Jess, catching his balance.  Jess shook him off, and as Daniel righted himself, he realised he’d been unconsciously edging closer to the others until he’d almost fallen into the hole.  Looking down, Daniel saw that it was a few feet deep, the sapling uprooted and lying on its side.  At the bottom was something oddly shaped, half-exposed from where the shovel had dug around it.  If you didn’t look too closely, it might have been a branch.

“Don’t see your name on it,” Jess called.

“You really weren’t paying attention, were you?”  Equinox’s voice seemed to come from a slightly different place each time.  “This is my forest.  Besides.”  The soft voice hardened a little.  “You destroyed my construct, broke into my house, and ransacked my bedroom.  You really thought there wouldn’t be consequences?”

“It’s just stuff, you crazy bitch!” Jess shouted. 

“Is that what you tell yourself about the other things you steal?”  Equinox’s voice had changed subtly, and a chill went through Daniel that had nothing to do with the winter cold.  “About the other people whose houses you rob?  This is my home.”

“Maybe we can make a deal,” Emmanuel called.  His gun was still questing for a target. 

“Like when you told me that if you got what you wanted, you wouldn’t let Shirazad and Deathgrip torture me to death?”  Equinox said pleasantly.  “That kind of deal?”

“Not working, Em,” Jess said out of the corner of her mouth. 

“Just keep her talking,” Emmanuel muttered, then raised his voice to call back to Equinox.  “Come out and let’s talk.”

There was a pause, then Equinox answered.  “All right.”

Something small and round came flying out of the night and shattered on the ground. 

Fog rushed out around Daniel, the air going from clear to filled with a thick mist in seconds.  Daniel shouted, and he heard Emmanuel and Jess do the same, but as he turned he realised he couldn’t see them.  The beam of his torch sank less than three feet into the white cloud before disappearing. 

Running footsteps sounded.  Daniel spun;  he heard a shout, then the crash of Emmanuel’s gun, muffled by the fog.  A shadow flashed through the mist, there and gone.  “Em!” Daniel shouted.  “Jess!”

“Em!” Jess shouted.  “Where are— uh!”

“Jess!” Daniel shouted.  He took a step towards her, and realised he didn’t know where she was.  The fog blanketed everything.  “Jess!”

Silence.

“Jess!”  Daniel shouted again.  Blindly, he took a step, then another.  He stretched out an arm, trying to reach for—

A warm hand wrapped itself around his.  “Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you,” a soft voice said as a shadow loomed out of the fog.  “I’m just saving you for last.”

Everything went black.

∞

It was cold.

Icy chill crept through Daniel, seeping into his limbs and body.  Cold.  He shivered, trying to shift his position, and couldn’t.  Cold, cold, cold.  Why couldn’t he move—?

“Oh, good,” a familiar voice said.  “You’re awake.”

Terror shot through Daniel.  His eyes snapped open. 

He was sitting on snowy ground, propped up against a tree.  Jess and Emmanuel were there as well, propped up against their own trees, the three of them making the points of a triangle.  Their torches were lying in the snow, still switched on, their beams casting the clearing in a weird mix of light and shadow. 

Equinox was standing next to Jess.  As Daniel saw her, he tried to jump to his feet, but his muscles wouldn’t obey.  Flicking his eyes to the side he saw that Emmanuel was awake too, eyes wide, but he wasn’t moving either. 

Equinox bent down and touched Jess on the forehead.  Jess’s eyes shot open and as they focused on Equinox they filled with panic. 

“There,” Equinox said.  She sat down in front of Jess and smiled at the other girl.  Her bare legs were resting on snow, but it didn’t seem to be bothering her.  “I thought we should have a chat.”

“What do you want?” Jess asked.  She was trying to sound cocky but Daniel could hear the fear behind it. 

“Well, it occurred to me that with all the time I’ve been spending talking with the boys, I haven’t been paying much attention to you,” Equinox said.  “I think it’s your turn.”

“My—?” Jess’s face twisted and she struggled to rise.  At least, Daniel thought she was struggling;  it was hard to tell.  “Let me go, you crazy bitch!” she shouted. 

“Did you know that you remind me of one of my cousins?”  Equinox said conversationally.  “She used to lose her temper a lot, too.  And when she did, she’d always expect other people to clean up afterwards.  It took me a long time to figure out that a lot of it was envy.  I could never understand why, back then.  It just didn’t seem to make any sense, she had so much more than I did.”  Equinox paused.  “You’re envious of me, too.  But in your case the why isn’t much of a mystery, is it?  You want a mage’s power.  Life and death, in the palm of your hand.” 

Jess stared at Equinox.  From behind her, Daniel tried to call out, but couldn’t.  He could feel the blood pumping through his body, but his voice didn’t work.

“Well,” Equinox said, clapping her hands together.  “It’s your lucky day!  I’m going to give you exactly what you want.”

“I don’t want anything from you.”  Jess seemed to have found her voice.  “Envious?  Yeah, right—”

Equinox touched Jess on the forehead again and Jess fell instantly silent.  Fear fought with anger in her eyes.  “Now pay attention,” Equinox said, “because you’re going to want to listen very closely to this.  Are you paying attention?”

Jess glared at her. 

“Good,” Equinox said.  She gestured towards Daniel and Emmanuel.  “I’ve made some temporary changes to your two friends.  Specifically, to their bodies’ regulation of blood flow and blood pressure.  Over the next . . . oh, ten minutes or so . . . their kidneys are going to filter their blood more and more aggressively at higher and higher pressures until they hit their limit.  Do you know what happens when your kidneys go into overdrive?  It’s very interesting to watch.”

A chill went down Daniel’s spine.  All of a sudden, the blood thumping in his ears took on a new meaning. 

“But you get to stop that,” Equinox said.  She lifted Jess’s right hand in hers;  green light glowed briefly, then vanished.  “The spell I’ve put into your hand will cancel out my magic and end all of my active spells on the person you touch.”  She paused.  “Once.”

Jess stared at Equinox. 

“Life and death, in the palm of your hand,” Equinox said.  She smiled at Jess.  “Have fun.”  She touched Jess once more on the forehead and stepped back. 

Jess jerked into motion, scrambling to her feet.  She took a threatening step towards Equinox, but the taller girl had already slipped away to the edge of the clearing.  “Better choose quickly,” she told Jess.  “You don’t have long.”

Jess stared at Equinox for a moment longer, then, slowly, turned her head towards the two boys. 

Daniel’s breath was coming faster and faster.  The blood was throbbing in his veins;  with each beat of his heart, he could feel the pressure spike all the way through his body, to the tips of his fingers and toes.  It felt like a really bad panic attack, except it wasn’t slowing down;  it was getting stronger and stronger.  He looked pleadingly at Jess—

Jess wasn’t looking at him.  

Daniel rolled his eyes sideways and saw that Emmanuel was staring straight at Jess.  It felt like there was some message passing between them.  The other boy’s chest was rising and falling fast, his breaths harsh and ragged. 

Confusion went through Daniel.  No, wait, he called out silently to Jess.  Look at me.  You’ve known me longer than him—

Jess did look, then, but only for a fraction of a second.  Shame flashed briefly across her face, then her expression hardened.  She strode past Daniel and laid her hand against Emmanuel’s chest. 

Emmanuel arched his back with a gasp.  He fell forward, holding himself up with his hands, panting hard.  Jess crouched down next to him and put her arms around him;  gradually, Emmanuel’s breathing began to slow, his breaths coming more and more evenly. 

Daniel stared at them both.

“Thanks,” Emmanuel managed to say once he’d recovered. 

“It’s okay,” Jess said, her voice muffled. 

Daniel’s eyes went from Jess to Emmanuel.  Neither of them were looking at him, and one part of him still couldn’t really believe it.  This wasn’t happening, right?  The blood would stop pounding in his ears, his body would stop throbbing, and everything would go back to normal—

Emmanuel straightened up, drawing his gun from beneath his coat.  “You,” he told Equinox flatly, “just made a big mistake.”

“What are you going to do, shoot me?”  Equinox had slipped half behind one of the trees at the edge of the clearing;  her face was in shadow, but she sounded amused.  “I think you’re going to need a bigger gun.”

Emmanuel’s face twisted in rage;  he took a step forward.  “You piece of—”

“Em,” Jess said.

Some switch seemed to flip inside Daniel and the pounding in his ears grew stronger.  A spasm went through his body;  the blood was thundering through his veins, so hard it felt as though his heart would tear.  A burning sensation started from inside him, faint at first but growing stronger. 

Dimly Daniel was aware of Emmanuel and Jess standing over him.  “What do we do?” Emmanuel asked tautly. 

“If you want to say goodbye,” Equinox called, “now’s the time.”

“Screw you!”  Emmanuel shouted back at her.  “You did this!”

“You were the leader, Emmanuel.  They followed you here.”  There was no pity in Equinox’s voice.  “You could have told them to turn back whenever you wanted.”

“Shut up!” Emmanuel shouted, and crouched next to Daniel.  “Dan.  Are you okay?”

Daniel couldn’t answer.  The blood was rushing in his ears, louder and louder until it became a roar, and his vision was going red.  His body spasmed again, harder this time, until he slid sideways off the tree and sprawled on the ground.  There was snow against his cheek and it seemed as though it should flash into steam at his touch;  his body felt as though it was on fire.  The burning was spreading through his body, hotter and hotter. 

Jess was saying something but Daniel couldn’t make it out.  He was still struggling to take it in.  He couldn’t die like this.  It was one thing for those other adepts and for Shirazad to die, but the same thing wasn’t supposed to happen to him.  He mattered, he was a real person with a history and hopes and dreams.  He wasn’t even a burglar, not really, this whole thing was just a short-term deal until they could find something better.  It wasn’t supposed to lead to this, dying in some stupid way on a job gone wrong because Jess chose Emmanuel over him, the same way she’d—

Daniel couldn’t see or hear.  There was only the pounding of his blood, and the burning.  It was so strong that he felt as though he was about to burst, explode in some horrendous bloody explosion like a popped balloon.  Hot.  He couldn’t breathe.  Hot.  He couldn’t breathe.  Hot.  He couldn’t—

And then suddenly the heat and pressure seemed to crest some peak and start to recede.  Little by little, the blood began to pound less fiercely and the burning in his veins began to fade.  Sight and sound returned last of all, the red receding from his vision, until he was lying panting on the snow.  He twitched an arm and realised he could move again. 

Daniel pushed himself up with both hands. 

Jess and Emmanuel were staring down at him.  “Is he . . . ?” Emmanuel said uncertainly. 

Hesitantly, Jess reached out a hand.  Daniel jerked away and Jess stopped.

Equinox’s voice came floating out of the darkness.  “I’m sorry.”

“Shut up!” Emmanuel shouted, and coughed. 

“I hate to tell you this,” Equinox said, “but I wasn’t talking to you.”

“You bitch,” Jess said venomously.  She gave Daniel a final glance, then wheeled to face Equinox.  “It was never going to kill him, was it?”

“I never said it would.”

“Fuck you!”  Jess shouted.  “This was all some sick game to you, wasn’t it?  Making me think I was choosing between them?”

“But you were.”

Jess looked sideways at Emmanuel.  “Can we kill her now?”

Emmanuel frowned, and coughed again.  “What’s she . . . ?”

“So, remember when I told you that spell has some interesting effects?” Equinox said conversationally.  “One of the main things your kidneys do is filter your blood.  Pushing them into overdrive like that is a nice little quick fix for being poisoned.  It was one of the tricks I learned as an apprentice.  Bit unpleasant, as Daniel will tell you, but it beats having a bunch of toxins in your bloodstream.  Like the ones I put in while the two of them were unconscious.”

Daniel straightened up just in time to hear the last words.  He, Jess, and Emmanuel stared at Equinox. 

“Like I said,” Equinox told Jess.  “Life and death, in the palm of your hand.  I just didn’t say which was which.”

Slowly, Daniel turned to Emmanuel.  In the reflected light of the torches, the older boy looked pale.  He still had his gun aimed at Equinox, but it was wavering. 

“I don’t—” Emmanuel began, and collapsed. 

“Em!” Jess shouted and jumped to his side.  Daniel stared, wide-eyed.  Emmanuel was coughing, gasping for air.  He took one long, rattling breath, then another, then seemed to sink back into the snow, staring up at the sky. 

“Em?” Jess asked.  Panic crept into her voice.  “He’s not breathing!”

Daniel stared down at Emmanuel.  Emmanuel’s eyes were glazing over.

“Do something!” Jess shouted.

“Do what?”

“Your magic!  Put air into his lungs, get them moving!  Give him CPR or something!”

“But— I don’t know—”

“Figure it out!”

“I’ve never— I mean, I don’t—”  Daniel couldn’t take his eyes off Emmanuel’s empty, dead stare.  It didn’t seem real, and he kept on talking.  “I’ve never tried actually using it inside someone, I can’t—”

With a growl Jess swept her hand through the air.  Electricity crackled;  she slammed her hand to Emmanuel’s chest and the boy jerked.  “Come on.”  She started to compress his chest, throwing her weight into it.  “Come on!”

Daniel stared down as Jess kept working, then looked up.  Equinox had stepped out into the light again and was watching them.  She didn’t make any move to stop the other girl, and somehow, as Daniel saw Equinox’s mildly interested expression, he knew that nothing Jess was going to do would make a difference. 

It took Jess maybe five or ten minutes to wind down.  When she finally gave up and leant back, breathing hard with sweat beading from her forehead, Emmanuel’s body was just as still as it had been before.  Jess stared down at it. 

“Finished?” Equinox asked.

Slowly, Jess raised her head.  Her voice was flat and lifeless.  “You could have saved him.”

“Yes,” Equinox agreed.

Jess got to her feet.  Carefully, she brushed the snow from her trousers until they were clean, then looked at Equinox.  “I’m going to kill you,” she told her. 

“You can try.”

Jess lunged.

Electricity sparked as Jess’s hand flashed through the air, but Equinox twisted aside and Jess went stumbling past.  “Slow,” Equinox told her. 

Jess whirled, eyes alight with rage.  Again she lunged;  again Equinox pivoted away.  “Much too slow.”

“Shut up!” Jess screamed. 

She’s playing with her, Daniel thought with a chill.  Equinox’s movements were neat and precise.  She was watching Jess with a slight smile, and she stood with knees slightly bent, balanced on the balls of both feet.

Jess advanced, striding towards the other girl.  Her fingers lashed out, curved into claws and charged with energy, but Equinox simply stepped away.  “Too slow, too weak,” she told Jess.  “Lightning mages are all the same.  Only answers they have are—”

“Shut up!” Jess screamed again.  She rushed at Equinox with outstretched arms. 

Equinox hopped behind a tree.  Jess had to stop to get around it;  as she did, Equinox slipped away again.  “—go harder or go faster,” Equinox continued.  She didn’t even sound out of breath.  “If that doesn’t work, they have no idea what to do.”

Jess stalked back into the clearing.  She was breathing heavily, but her eyes as they flicked towards Daniel were full of hate.  “Pick up the fucking gun!”

Daniel looked down to see Emmanuel’s handgun lying where he'd dropped it.  He bent to grab it;  the metal was cold from the snow. 

Jess lunged again, and this time Equinox twisted casually aside and touched Jess’s neck.  Jess froze, arm still outstretched, electricity crackling uselessly between her fingers. 

Daniel levelled the gun. 

“Going to do it?” Equinox asked.  She was standing behind Jess, watching Daniel with eyebrows raised. 

Jess’s eyes slid sideways to Daniel and bored into him.  She was still as a statue, but Daniel could feel what she was trying to tell him.  Shoot her.  Kill her. 

“I think she wants you to try,” Equinox said. 

Daniel squinted at Equinox.  Through the metal sights on top of the gun, he could see Equinox and Jess.  The gun’s barrel trembled with his hands, the reticule jumping from Jess to Equinox to Jess and back again.  Daniel had never fired anything bigger than an air pistol;  if he pulled the trigger, he had no idea who the bullet would hit. 

He couldn’t do it. 

“Oh, well,” Equinox said.  She turned back to Jess, studying the other girl’s neck and shoulder.  “Let’s see . . . aggression response, stress hormones, fight-or-flight . . . that should do it.”  Green light flickered from her fingers into Jess.  “All right,” she told Daniel, and stepped back.  “Have fun.”

Jess collapsed to the snow.  Daniel tensed, but Equinox was already darting out of the clearing, merging with the shadows.  There was maybe half a second where he could have pulled the trigger, but he hesitated and then Equinox was gone, her footsteps fading into silence. 

Daniel lowered the gun and hurried forward to Jess, who was on her hands and knees in the snow, shaking her head.  “Jess?” he asked, reaching out hesitantly.  “Are you—?”

Daniel’s arm touched Jess’s shoulder and she smacked it away, shooting him a furious glance.  “Why didn’t you shoot her?”

“I—” Daniel stammered.  “I could have hit you—”

“You could have gone around!  Used your magic!  Done something!”  Jess opened her mouth to shout again, then her eyes fell on Emmanuel’s body and the anger vanished from her face, replaced by a stricken expression. 

Explanations and excuses ran through Daniel’s mind – it wouldn’t have worked, Equinox wasn’t acting scared of that gun in the first place, and besides he didn’t know . . . but then he realised where they were and how little time they had.  Equinox could come back at any moment.  He turned to Emmanuel. 

Emmanuel was still staring up at the sky, eyes glazed and dead, and a part of Daniel shrank at the thought of touching him, but he carefully pulled Emmanuel’s jacket pocket open and rummaged inside with the tips of his fingers until they touched something round.  He pulled it out to reveal the disc that Emmanuel had been using to contact Talisid. 

Our way home.  “I’m going to . . .” he began, turning to Jess, then trailed off as she saw she was still staring at the body.  Instead he hefted the disc, fumbling for whatever Emmanuel had used to switch it on.  The thing was heavier than he’d expected;  it felt smooth, like stone or graphite. 

Something shifted in the disc and a light came on at its side.  “Hello?” Daniel said.  His voice sounded high and panicked to his ears.  “Hello?”

The light changed to green; the disc seemed to warm slightly in Daniel’s hands and an upper-class voice spoke from it.  “Who is this?”

“It’s Daniel!  I mean— it’s us, Emmanuel’s group.  We’re with Emmanuel, we’re his team.  Can you hear us?  Hello?”

“Ah, Daniel,” Talisid said.  “Yes, Emmanuel mentioned you.”

A wave of relief swept over Daniel and he scanned the trees anxiously.  How far away was Equinox?  Could she hear them?

“So do you have the ring in hand?” Talisid asked. 

“Yes!” Daniel said quickly.  “I mean, it’s here.  It’s right here.”

“Do you have it in hand?” 

“I mean . . . not exactly, but . . . you want it, right?  We can give it to you, we just need a little help.  Just get us out of here and we’ll tell you all about it.  You can get us out, right?”

The disc was silent. 

“Right?” Daniel pleaded.  The wind hissed quietly in the trees. 

A faint sigh came through the disc.  “Daniel, I’m afraid that what we have here is a fundamental incompatibility of interests.”

Daniel stared down at the disc.  “What?”

To the side, Jess blinked and seemed to come awake.  “Hey,” she said, pulling herself to her feet as she took in what was going on.  She raised her voice, addressing the disc.  “Hey!  You have healers, right?  We need your help.”

“Ah, you must be Jess,” Talisid responded.  “Emmanuel spoke very well of you.  Although from the sound of it, I gather I’m unlikely to be hearing from him again.”

“You can open portals, right?” Jess said.  “Open one here.”

“In order to . . . ?”
“Just do it!”

There was a pause.  “Do you know why the Council rule this country and you don’t?” Talisid asked. 

Jess stared at the disc.  “What are you even talking about?”

“It’s not because they’re mages,” Talisid said.  “That helps, of course, but what the Council is really built on is an understanding of the realities of power.  Everybody has things they want, and things they can offer.  Out of this interplay, a balance emerges.  Those with more to offer will naturally be better able to fulfil their desires.  Those with less to offer will be able to ask for less in return.  And unfortunately, as of this moment, it appears that the two of you have nothing to offer at all.”

Daniel could feel their chances of escape slipping away.  “But you could help us,” he said desperately.

“I emphasised to Emmanuel that the Council could not condone any illegal action taken in the course of this operation.  It now appears that you have, against my express instructions, taken hostile action against the mage Equinox, which is, of course, a violation of the second clause of the Concord.  As such, I hope you understand that any further assistance or communication on my part would be inappropriate.”

“You fucker!” Jess shouted.  “You sent us here!  This is your fault!”

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Talisid said calmly.  “Should you believe you have been treated unfairly, you are of course free to file a complaint.”

“But—” Daniel began.

“Goodbye, Daniel.”  The light on the side of the disc winked out. 

Jess snatched the disc out of Daniel’s hand.  “You piece of—!” she began to shout, then realised that no-one was listening.  With a scream of fury she threw the disc downward, then stomped it into the ground until it had disappeared beneath the snow and earth.  She stared down at it, chest heaving. 

Silence fell.

At last Daniel stirred.  “We have to go.”

Jess didn’t answer.

“Come on,” Daniel said uneasily, glancing around.  There was no sign of Equinox, but he knew she was out there.  “We have to get out.”

“Get out,” Jess echoed.  “That was what you wanted from the start.  Is that what you’re saying?  ‘I told you so’?”

Yes, a small voice said inside Daniel.  “No.”

Jess stared at Daniel, and something about her expression made the hairs on the back of Daniel’s neck stand on end.  “You want to run?” she said.  “Let’s run.”  She darted away. 

“Wait—” Daniel began, but Jess was already disappearing into the trees.  He took off after her. 

Snow crunched under Daniel’s feet as he ran.  It was hard to go fast;  his torch didn’t illuminate much, and roots and bushes reached up to snag his feet.  The best he could manage was a kind of hurrying jog, constantly swerving and ducking under obstacles.  Up ahead he could see the bobbing light of Jess’s torch, and with a jolt he realised that he was losing ground.  “Jess!” he called after her. 

Daniel ran on.  Was he even going the right way?  A branch caught him in the face, pine needles scratching his forehead and almost knocking him over.  “Jess, wait!” he shouted.  His breathing was loud in his ears, and the gnawing fear was growing in him that Equinox might be right behind and he wouldn’t be able to hear her.  He didn’t dare look back to check.  “Jess—!”

Jess loomed up out of the night.  “What?” she hissed. 

“Don’t— run off,” Daniel panted.  “Equinox—”

“And what are you going to do if she comes?”  Jess’s eyes glittered in the torchlight.  “You’ve been fucking useless every time.”

Daniel stared at Jess, hurt, but Jess turned and stalked off and he had to hurry after her.  That’s not fair, he wanted to say.  She’s a mage, I did the best I could—

He remembered that instant when he’d had Equinox in his sights and failed to pull the trigger.  A moment of shame flashed through him and he remembered the gun, stuffed into his pocket.  Would he be able to do it next time?

A darker thought:  would it matter?

∞

The two of them trudged through the snow.  Jess set a fast pace, and Daniel would often have to break into a jog to keep up.  Before long he was panting, his legs burning with fatigue. 

Jess had started muttering under her breath.  She sounded like she was arguing with herself;  from time to time she’d shake her head angrily.  Daniel couldn’t quite make out the words. 

“Wait,” Daniel called at last.  He couldn’t go any further;  his legs were shaking.  “Got to rest.”

Jess stopped.  She didn’t turn or look at Daniel;  instead she walked over to a tree and leant against it, one hand splayed against the trunk, the other letting her torch dangle to cast a cone of light across her feet. 

Daniel leant against another tree, taking deep breaths.  “You think we lost her?” he asked once he’d recovered. 

Jess didn’t answer.

“I think she’s still coming,” Daniel said, looking fearfully out into the dark.  He still felt as though someone was watching them.  “Maybe we gained a little—”

“Why didn’t you help him?” Jess asked. 

“I—” Daniel hesitated.  He knew who the ‘him’ was.  “I didn’t know how.”

“You could have tried,” Jess told him.  “Done something.”

Daniel was silent.

Jess turned to look at Daniel.  “You wanted him dead, didn’t you?”

Daniel stared.  “What?”

“Answer the question.”  Jess’s voice was toneless. 

“No!  No, nothing like that, I just— I didn’t know what to do, it all happened so fast, I . . . he was my friend, why would I want to . . . ?”

“Because you thought that with him gone, you might have a chance with me,” Jess said.  “Right?”

Daniel froze.  “What?”

“Say ‘what’ one more time and I’m going to beat your face in,” Jess said.  Her voice was flat, dangerous.  She stalked towards him and Daniel flinched back.  “It really pisses me off when you put on that dumb face and do that.”

“No, I . . .” Daniel trailed off, staring dumbly at Jess. 

“You think I didn’t know?”  Jess’s face was in shadow;  Daniel could just barely make out her eyes, focused on him like black stars.  “Always hovering around, staring at me?  Em and I used to joke about it.  We wondered what it’d take for you to finally get the hint.”

Daniel stared at her.  “What?”

Daniel saw a flicker of motion at the corner of his eye, then there was a jarring shock and the next thing he knew he was on the ground.  Cold was leeching into his arms and legs and the side of his face was numb. 

Daniel pulled himself up, confused.  Jess was standing a few feet away.  Her free hand was clenched into a fist. 

“I warned you,” Jess told him.  Her voice was thick with rage. 

Daniel kept staring at Jess for a second longer before it clicked.  She’d hit him, used her magic on him.  Why would she—?

A memory flashed through Daniel’s mind.  Equinox touching Jess, talking out loud to herself.  Aggression.  Stress.  The green flicker of her magic. 

Realisation flashed through Daniel’s mind.  “No,” he said, scrambling to his feet.  “No, wait.  This isn’t you, this is her, she did something—”

“Shut up,” Jess told him.  Too late, Daniel realised he could hear the rage bubbling under her voice.  How long had it been there?

Jess stalked forward;  Daniel tried to back away but she was faster.  Her hands shot out to grab him and drag him towards her.  “He was worth a hundred of you,” Jess breathed.  “It could have been you instead of him.  It should have been you instead of him.”

The dropped torch was casting a light over Jess’s face;  Daniel got a good look at her expression for the first time and fear shot through him.  Jess’s eyes were filled with a terrible blank fury.  “I didn’t—” he began. 

“Shut up,” Jess said, and used her magic. 

Daniel went flying, crashing into a tree to sprawl on the ground.  Stars swam before his eyes;  half his body was numb.  He tried to pick himself up but couldn’t;  the most he could do was roll onto his back. 

Jess was stalking forward.  Her eyes were fixed on Daniel, and he knew from the look in her eyes that she wasn’t done.  “Stop,” Daniel croaked.  His legs were numb from Jess’s shock but he still had his arms, and at some point he’d pulled the gun from his pocket.  He levelled it at Jess. 

“You’re pointing his gun at me?”  Rage glinted in Jess’s eyes.  “After taking it off his body?”

“Stop,” Daniel said shakily.  The gun wavered.  “Stop or I’ll . . .”

Jess paused for a moment, then her lip twisted in a sneer as she reached for him.  “You don’t have the guts.”

The gun crashed, shattering the stillness of the forest.  The sound of the shot echoed through the trees, bouncing and reverberating until it faded away to let the silence return. 

Daniel was still lying in the snow, gun still shaking, a trace of gunsmoke wisping from the barrel as he stared wide-eyed at Jess.  Jess looked at Daniel, then down at her stomach, then up at Daniel again. 

“I didn’t mean—” Daniel began, then as he saw the expression on Jess’s face he scrambled to his feet and ran. 

With a shriek of fury Jess came after him.  Daniel could feel the hate radiating from her and knew that if she caught him he was dead.  But Jess wasn’t faster than him anymore.  The crashing and scrabbling gradually faded away as he left her further and further behind. 

“Daniel!”  Jess howled.  “Get back here!  You—”  Her words turned into a sound of pain, then he heard her suck in a breath to scream again.  “I hate you!” 

Daniel kept running.

He didn’t stop until he reached the top of a low hill and the sounds of pursuit had vanished completely.  Only then did he turn, panting, to look behind.  Dimly, through the trees, he could make out the flicker of Jess’s torch, sweeping from side to side.  Jess was still screaming, but she seemed to have run out of words;  it was just an animal sound of rage. 

Then as Daniel watched, the light of the torch swerved and went out.  Jess’s scream rose to a peak, then there was a green flash and her voice cut off. 

The forest was silent. 

Daniel turned and fled.

∞

And then it was just him, alone in the woods.  He’d lost the torch in that last fight and  all he had left was the flashlight on his phone.  Daniel picked his way through the trees, stumbling sometimes over roots or dips in the ground that he hadn’t seen. 

Every part of Daniel hurt.  His legs throbbed, his face and chest tingled from where Jess had hit him, he still had the bruises Deathgrip had left, and his lungs burned from running and hiking for hours on end.  Worse than that, he was utterly exhausted.  He’d been going from worry to terror and back again all night and he was getting close to the point where he’d fall down and wouldn’t be able to get back up. 

The only thing that was still keeping Daniel going were the spectres of Emmanuel and Jess.  Every time he started to slump, to close his eyes, their faces would swim into focus in his mind, and he’d jerk his eyes open.  He didn’t let himself think about the bodies, didn’t let himself think about what he’d done.  As long as he only focused on putting one foot after another, he could keep his mind blank.  He was just walking.  That was all.  Step.  Step.  Step— 

The flashlight on his phone went out. 

Daniel looked down at the screen to see the ‘Low Battery’ message.  The charge indicator was down to 10 percent.  “Oh no,” he said quietly.  He held up the phone, trying to use the screen as a light, but it was barely enough to see five feet.  The forest seemed to press in around him, dark and hungry.  Daniel turned around, trying to think of something to do.  He couldn’t see anything.  “Oh no—”

A hand closed on Daniel’s shoulder from behind. 

Daniel screamed and tried to pull away, but the hand clung on.  “Dan!  Shut up!”

Daniel struggled for an instant before recognising the voice.  “Jess?” he said in disbelief. 

“Who do you think?”  The rage was gone from Jess’s voice;  she sounded normal again.  “Now can you stop yelling quite so loudly?”

“But . . .” Daniel tailed off.  All he could make out of Jess was a shadow in the dark, but she wasn’t moving as though she was hurt.  “I shot . . .”

“Well, I suppose we’re both lucky that your aim’s so bad.”  Jess actually sounded amused.  “I swear, I don’t know why you even picked up that gun.”

She really isn’t hurt.  Warmth seemed to flow from Jess’s hand into Daniel’s body;  he sagged in relief, almost collapsing. 

“Hey, hey.”  Jess propped Daniel up, taking his weight with surprising ease.  “Not the time to fall asleep.”

“I’m sorry,” Daniel said.  Tears were beading in his eyes.  “I . . . I just . . .”

“Shh, it’s fine.”  Jess took Daniel’s hand and started leading him forward.  “Let’s get moving, okay?”

“Okay.”

Daniel’s phone had died completely and they were in total darkness, but it didn’t seem to matter so much now.  The forest felt quieter, more subdued, and now that he wasn’t relying on a torch anymore Daniel found that his eyes could actually pick out the shape of the trees and the folds of the ground.  Even his bruises weren’t hurting so much, and his exhaustion seemed more manageable for some reason. 

“What happened to you?” Daniel asked as they walked.  “You were . . .”

“Some sort of spell,” Jess said.  She moved confidently in the darkness, leading Daniel around mounds and bushes.  “It made me so angry I couldn’t think.  But you were right to run.  I’d have killed you if I’d caught you.”

“Oh,” was all that Daniel could think of to say.  A part of him wondered if he should really be holding hands with someone who’d just told him that.  But she hadn’t been herself, right? 

The two of them walked through the night.  Daniel couldn’t tell where they were going but Jess seemed to know the way.  The shadows of trees and bushes loomed up out of the darkness and were left behind. 

“I’m sorry about Emmanuel,” Daniel said eventually. 

“Mm-hm.”

“I didn’t want him to die.  I just didn’t know what to do.”

“I know.”

“It was just because . . .” Daniel began, and then trailed off.  Because you chose him over me.  “I mean, it wasn’t your fault either,” he said hurriedly.  “You know that, right?”

“Wasn’t it?” Jess asked absently. 

“I mean, of course it wasn’t.  But, I mean, I get how you’d feel that it was.  That’s a thing, right?  Survivor’s guilt?”

“Well, yes,” Jess said.  “But I’m not sure that counts if you really were the one who killed them.”

Listening to Jess was calming Daniel’s nerves.  He wasn’t even completely paying attention to what she was saying;  it was just reassuring to listen to her voice and . . .

A vague thread of unease touched Daniel’s mind.  Her voice.

“Watch your step,” Jess told Daniel.  “We’re coming onto the path.”

The sound of Daniel’s footsteps changed;  the snow beneath his shoes was now covering flagstones, not bare earth.  “Is this going to take us out?” he asked. 

“Mm-hm.  We’re nearly home.”

Yellow light gleamed through the trees ahead, and Daniel’s heart soared.  He hurried forward, pulling his hand from Jess’s.  This must be the village they’d passed on their way in.  They could get directions, maybe pay for a cab.  He could only see one set of lights . . . maybe this was an outlying house?  He jogged forward, following the path around a clump of trees to get a clear view—

—And saw a raised log cabin with a peaked roof, light shining from its windows, bright against the dark forest. 

They’d come around in a circle.

Daniel took a step back, shaking his head in dawning horror.  No.  They couldn’t be back at the cabin.  It didn’t make sense—

“See?” Jess said from behind him.  “Nearly home.”  But her voice had changed.  It was soft and delicate, like falling snow.

It wasn’t Jess.

Slowly, Daniel turned.

Equinox was only inches away, smiling at him.   “I told you I was saving you for last.” 

∞

Maybe half a mile distant, Jess’s body lay cooling in the snow, sightless eyes and curled fingers pointed up at the sky.  A long-eared owl was perched on her chest, dark eyes looking down. 

A distant scream echoed through the forest. 

The owl twisted its head, looking west.  For a few seconds it held very still, but then, when no further noise came, it turned back to Jess and dipped its hooked beak to feed. 

∞

Some time later, the young woman who called herself Equinox returned to her cabin.  She brushed snow from her bare feet, then closed the door and walked to the table, stepping absentmindedly over Deathgrip’s body.  In her hand she carried a palm-sized disc, still marked with dirt from where Jess had stomped it into the ground.  She placed the disc on the table, then sat down and touched one finger to its side.

The light on the side of the disc went blue, then green.  “Hello?” 

“Hello, Talisid,” Equinox said in her soft voice.  “I thought it was time we had a chat.”

“Ah,” Talisid said.  He didn’t sound surprised.  “Anne.  Or perhaps you prefer Equinox, now?”

“I think that would be better, don’t you?”

“Equinox, then.  I take it I shouldn’t be expecting any more calls from Emmanuel or his friends.”

“I’d say that’s a safe bet,” Equinox said.  “So exactly what orders did you give them?”

“Believe it or not, I didn’t,” Talisid said.  “They approached me on their own initiative claiming that they’d been contracted by some so-called mage to retrieve Suleiman’s Ring.”

“And you thought you’d let them steal it, then buy it off them?”

“Yes,” Talisid said.  “I’d apologise, but . . . well.  You, more than anyone, know exactly how dangerous that item is.  I’m under direct orders to retrieve it if possible.  It’s just business.”

“And that was the only piece of business?”  Equinox pushed the disc with one long finger, turning it in a neat circle.  “Nothing about a certain bounty?”

“No.”

“Some might find that a little hard to believe.”

“Equinox, I understand that our past history has given you good reason to be suspicious,” Talisid said.  “But do at least give me credit for not being completely stupid.  The last time I was ordered to go after you, I brought an army.  You really think that I’d try the same thing with half a dozen adepts?”

“Flatterer,” Equinox laughed.  “All right, I’ll let you get away with it.  Just this once.”

“I appreciate that.”

“Alex, though . . .” Equinox said.  “Well, that’s another story.  He’s still very protective of me, you know?  It’s quite sweet.”  Equinox paused.  “You remember what he did the last time some people connected to the Council attacked me?  I mean, you’ve only just finished replacing all those Senior Council members.”

“I would . . . prefer not to restart that particular conflict,” Talisid said carefully.  “Perhaps some sort of deal could be arranged?”

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Equinox said in pretend surprise.  “Let me think.”  She paused, tapping her fingers on the table.  “I’ll tell you what.  How about, from now on, when you hear anything about people coming to pay us a visit like that, you let us know?  So that I can get things ready.”

“Just . . . let you know?” Talisid asked.  “You’re not asking me to stop them?”

“I mean, let’s be realistic here,” Equinox said.  “You couldn’t promise that anyway.  People are going to come, guys on the Council are going to want us dead, it’s just the way things go.  But tipping us off . . . that’s something you can do.”

“I suppose that’s a fair point.”

“Besides,” Equinox said with a smile.  “Why would I want you to stop them?  Today was the most fun I’ve had in weeks.”

There was a long silence.  “You are really rather terrifying,” Talisid said at last. 

“So do we have an understanding?”

“We have.”

“Then I’ll talk to you soon.”

“I expect you will.”

The light on the side of the disc winked out.  Equinox leant back in her chair, interlaced her fingers above her head, and gave a long, catlike stretch. 

Then as she brought her head back down, her eyes fell on Deathgrip’s body, followed by Azhdaar’s, and her smile faded.  “Cleaning all this up,” she announced, “is going to be such a pain.”

The dead bodies were silent. 

Equinox gave a long sigh, then stood.  “Well,” she said to the empty room.  “Let’s get to work.”

∞

It was five days later. 

Alex Verus, ex-Dark apprentice, ex-shopowner, ex-Keeper, ex-Council, and now arguably ex-human, stood at the edge of the clearing and studied the cabin that was now his home.  From his stance and expression, someone who knew him well would have been able to tell that he wasn’t terribly worried, but he was frowning slightly, as though something wasn’t quite right.  Seeming to come to a decision, he made a small gesture. 

A large red fox came trotting out of the woods, vanishing mid-step.  It reappeared a quarter of the way around the clearing, head turning to survey the cabin, then blinked away again, repeating the process twice more before reappearing at Alex’s side.  It looked up at him and blinked twice. 

“All right,” Alex said to himself.  Hefting his polearm, he walked out across the clearing. 

It was a bright winter’s morning, shafts of sunlight slipping down between puffy white clouds to cast reflections on the snow.  Alex climbed the steps to the front porch, then reached for the door;  it swung open at his hand.  “I’m home,” he called. 

The door gaped wide.  Behind was a kitchen, spotlessly clean.

“Hello?” Alex called.

Silence.

Alex stepped through the door. 

There was the patter of bare feet;  Alex turned, moving his polearm out of the way as a slim figure jumped on him to latch both arms around his neck. Equinox smiled happily up at Alex.  “Welcome back.”

Alex tossed the polearm toward the fireplace;  it clattered precisely into the mounting hooks as he put both arms around Equinox to give her a kiss.  “I missed you too,” he told her with a smile.  “What’s with the surprise attack?”             

“I thought you might have turned your precognition off.”

“This place is not even close to being safe enough for me to turn my precognition off.  Besides, did you see what happened to our icecat?”

“Yes.”

“I was actually worried there for a second.”  Alex disentangled himself from Equinox’s arms and slipped out of his coat, walking over to hang it on a chair.  “I mean, I knew you’d answer if I called, but . . .”

“You know I’m fine.”

“It was still bothering me all the time I was gone.  The wards on this place really suck.  And I’ve been hearing some things that make me—”

“Alex.”

Alex turned.  “Hm?”

Equinox was standing with folded arms.  Her black dress left most of her arms and half of her legs bare, and she was giving Alex a distinctly unimpressed look.  “You’ve been gone this long and you want to talk about home security?”

Alex paused.  “On second thought, I guess it can wait.” 

Alex walked over, picked Equinox up with one arm under her shoulders and another under her knees, and carried her into the bedroom.  The fox, who’d been watching the whole exchange from the doorway, twitched its ears, then turned and trotted away. 

∞

“So let me see if I’ve got this right,” Alex said some time later.  “Something happened while I was gone that led to our icecat being cut to pieces with a force blade.”

“Yup.”

“And our safe got torn apart by some weird kind of spatial magic.”

“Yup.”

“But nothing was stolen.”

“I put it back.”

“And all of this happened without you being in any kind of danger.”

“Yup.”

“Oh, and in the middle of all this you somehow also found the time to acquire a Council comm focus tuned to Talisid,” Alex said. “Who’s apparently still interested in talking to me, not that I’m really surprised about that part.  Did I miss anything?”

“The trees.”

“Right,” Alex said with a sigh.  “You got five or six new cherry trees.”

“Apple trees.”

“Apple trees, sorry.”  Alex paused.  “And you’re not going to tell me how all this happened.”

“Nope.”

“Because . . .”

“Because this is all your fault for leaving your poor helpless wife alone for so long.”

Alex gave her a look. 

“Also, I told Talisid I wouldn’t,” Equinox added.  “I mean, I’m sure you’ll find out on your own sooner or later, but I did promise.  So how was the trip?”

“Actually . . . really good,” Alex said.  “I’d forgotten how nice it was to not be the most notorious mage in the country.  I could stay under the radar for a change.”

“So do you think you’re going to keep on doing things like this?” Equinox asked, leaning her head against his chest.  “Being a sort of freelance problem-solver?”

“For a while, at least,” Alex said, stroking her hair.  “I’d still like to get us a proper shadow realm.  I don’t care how much you say you can take care of yourself, I’ll feel a lot safer once you’re sleeping somewhere with proper defences.”

“Only if it’s got a garden.” 

“All right.”

“A big garden.”

“Let me guess, you want to bring your fruit trees.”

“Yes.”

“Fine.  Anything else?”

“Anything else is negotiable,” Equinox said, rubbing her cheek against him.  “As long as you’re there.”

The two of them stayed there for a while.  Outside, the sky had clouded over.  Snow began to fall. 

Inside the bedroom, watching the white flakes spiral down past the window, Equinox felt contentment.  Everything was in its right place.  She snuggled down into Alex’s chest and fell asleep. 

END