“What’s with the metal roof?” Vanessa asked, craning her head back to look up at it.

“There’s a lot of blimp traffic in the area,” Cowl replied. “The city didn’t have a good spot for them to land safely since the dunes are always shifting. People were also asking for some cover from the sun, so the city combined the two. They made a giant landing pad that doubles as a roof.”

“That seems like a huge waste of money,” Angel said.

“You’ve got no idea how much money comes from blimp travel,” Cowl said, laughing. “The people that can afford to get on one can usually afford to spend several Vei a day on just about anything that catches their attention. If you can get them to stop at your city, you generate a ridiculous amount of money.”

“Is a Vei really that much money?” Vanessa asked doubtfully. “My skates cost fifteen Vei, but my mom gave me an allowance of five Vei every we–”

Angel clapped a hand over her mouth before she could finish the sentence.

“Shush,” Angel hissed. “You can’t go around yelling that. I’ve seen people killed for a few Vex.”

Vanessa’s eyes widened in shock and she nodded once. Angel took his hands off her mouth and shook his head, letting out an exaggerated chuckle.

“You keep dreaming that you have that much money and maybe you’ll get to see a Vei one day,” he said loudly, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Cowl picked up the pace and the three of them slipped out of the alley and deeper into the city.

Angel let Vanessa go after a few minutes. He glanced back over their shoulder, but all he could see were the low hanging lanterns.

“Watch your words when we’re in the city,” Angel said in a low tone. “They’re no safer than the deserts. The monsters are just wearing human flesh.”

Vanessa swallowed nervously. They continued on in silence for a few more minutes before Cowl suddenly came to a stop before a warped stone and metal door. The man pulled it open and dim orange light spilled out into the narrow street.

They slipped through the door and Cowl closed it behind them. The room they’d stepped into had a single chair and table in the center. Both were made of plain metal and stone, and a dirty mug sat on top of the table.

There were no windows, and the only other exit was an open doorframe at the back of the room. Angel peered through it to see several straw beds stuffed inside a small room the size of a closet.

Cowl paced through the building, examining it carefully. He pulled out a thin green tag from beneath one of the table’s feet and walked back to the door. He unlocked it and opened it, hanging the tag from the handle before closing it once more. Cowl unclipped his sword and set it down on the table before sitting down in the chair.

“This is a safe house for Hunters. Nobody will be stupid enough to bother us here tonight. We can get supplies and leave in the morning,” Cowl said. “There isn’t any food here, so we’ll have to make do with rations.”

Vanessa made a face as Angel pulled out his rations, but she followed suit a moment later. Once again, Cowl ate meticulously and with deliberate movements, never removing his mask entirely but instead lifting it just enough to fit the scraps of jerky beneath it.

“Is there a reason you don’t take your mask off?” Vanessa asked bluntly.

“Yes,” Cowl replied. He stuck another morsel under the mask. Vanessa sent a side-eyed glance at Angel, but the Seeker just shrugged.

“You’ll get used to it,” Angel said. “Hunters are strange sorts. They do what they want and often tend to be eccentric. Fighting monsters for a living can do a lot to a person.”

“Like Seekers are much better,” Cowl said with a low laugh. “You spend even more time in the Barren than we do. I’ve met many a good Seeker that went insane after getting trapped in a catacomb.”

“Good Seekers don’t get trapped,” Angel replied curtly. “There’s always a way out. If more people opened their minds to the true possibilities of magic, they’d realize that.”

Angel finished off the rest of his food, ignoring the befuddled look that Vanessa was giving him. He pulled three empty cannisters out from his bag and set about filling them.

“How do you do that?” Vanessa asked.

“Do what?” Angel asked. “Fill the cannisters?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s a Tinkerer technique,” Angel said. “That’s what you’re going to school for, isn’t it?”

Vanessa nodded. “Yeah, it is. It’s the only thing my mom would let me do since it’s not dangerous like being a Seeker or a Hunter. I’ve read a little about it, but none of the books in mom’s library went into any real detail and she refused to let me read anything related to magic beyond what we had.”

“Well, you’ll probably learn it soon enough in school,” Angel said, shrugging. “It’s a pretty simple method. It’s just imprinting a pattern with the magic and then putting it within a container to hold it. The cannisters also act as a catalyst to activate the magic within them.”

“Why do you need a catalyst?” Vanessa asked. “Can’t you just make the pattern and then cast it normally?”

“That’s Old World magic,” Angel said. “Strong Old World magic at that. Aside from Old World and New World, magic comes in two main forms: passive and active. Passive magic is something that’s always functioning without needing some form of activation.”

Angel raised his mechanical arm and nodded at it. “My arm is an example of that. It runs without conscious thought from me. Passive magic tends to be weaker than active magic. Active Old World magic is a lost art. People used to be able to summon lightning from their hands and control the sea with their mind.”

“And that’s why it was eradicated in the Great War, right?” Vanessa asked. “It was too dangerous.”

“You make it sound like we made a conscious decision to do it,” Angel said, laughing. “But it’s hardly eradicated – it’s just very rare. There are still a few artifacts that let you use active magic.”

“Well, according to the legends, the Great War started because of Old Magic being too oppressive,” Vanessa said.

Angel blinked. “Huh. I never knew that, although I suppose it makes sense.”

“It doesn’t matter much. History is cool, but it’s hardly useful. Your cannisters are New World magic, right?” Vanessa asked. “They don’t look like they’re passive, since the magic happens instantly.”

“Correct,” Angel said. “New World magic is more of a mixture. The cannisters are active. They basically act like a cage for the magic I put within them. The magic wants to return to its natural form, but it has to follow the pattern I make to do so. That pattern determines the type of effect the magic has.”

“So why do you need a cannister?”

“Pressure,” Angel replied, filling another cannister. “If I just release the spell into the air, it’ll fizzle out. However, steel blocks magical flow. Most metal does, actually. Magic runs alongside it, but it can’t penetrate on its own. The magical energy within the cannisters gets agitated as time goes by, which builds up power. When I then break the cannister, it rushes forth as a spell.”

“Wow. That’s fascinating,” Vanessa said, watching closely as Angel filled his final cannister. The Seeker smirked and placed them into the slots on his upper arm.

“You should see what Old World magic can do.”

“You’ve seen it?” Vanessa asked. “I’ve heard rumors of Magistrates using it, but mom never showed me any.”

“There are murals in a lot of the catacombs,” Angel replied. “And I’ve seen people use artifacts that had powerful Old World magic. It was… beautiful and terrifying at the same time.”

“And you want to bring more of it back,” Cowl said with a scoff. “Some things should stay gone.”

“Bold words for someone that uses just as much Old World magic as I do,” Angel said. “Those wings of yours aren’t anything of new make.”

“Touche.” Cowl let out a small laugh. He stood up and pushed the table to the side of the room. Then he grabbed one of the straw mattresses from the small closet and dragged it out in to the main room, setting it in front of the door. “I’m going to get some rest. We’ll be setting off tomorrow morning. Angel was right – the less time we spend in the cities, the better it is. I can’t say how long it’ll take our pursuers to find us.”