Down the path I went, leaping across stairs three at a time. My aura hummed along steadily. I wasn’t worried about longwalking, the hunter trick of balancing aura output and regeneration to coast forever. My power came out in fistfulls as I plowed ahead, my mind a haze of panic.

Myles was in danger. That much, I was entirely sure of. Someone was in his quarters—and if there was a legitimate reason for them to be there, they’d have come through Avira to reach him. They hadn’t.

That didn’t leave a lot of possibilities for the ‘why’ here.

Seeing a gap in the buildings, I pivoted, vaulting over the railing alongside me, and plummeted down a story to the path below. My legs creaked beneath me, despite the aura I’d forced into them. I grimaced, but launched myself forward. I’d be sore tomorrow, that was all.

And while I ran, the thoughts just wouldn’t stop racing through my head. This was my fault. We’d been so careful with Myles, keeping him somewhere close at hand, but not revealing the exact location. Me heading over to deliver meals had always been a risk. We’d known that. But…Now, with it becoming a whole nightly thing…

Stupid. I’d been stupid.

I was making progress, though. I skidded through another corner, my bare-soled feet almost sliding right out from under me, and burst back through into the tighter streets around Myles’ quarters. The sight drove my feet on faster. Close. I was close.

A woman shrieked as I blasted past her, lurching back into the wall of a shop. I grimaced, but kept running. Another complaint to be filed with Avira later, I was sure. The air around me rang with the confused people who were definitely not expecting to see a hunter racing through at speed. They got out of my way, at least. Good enough.

Because as I burst around one last corner, the familiar sight of the rowhouse rose up at the end of the street.

My reserves be damned. I pulled out the last scraps I’d been saving, pouring it all in. Slow. I’d been too slow in getting here. If I’d reacted faster, then-

Then you’d be here three seconds sooner, I told myself. I’d done the best I could. Now…Now, we had to deal with it.

My aura died as I slammed into Myles’ door, my tattoo blinking on my hand. I was out until it started regenerating. Fine. Panting for breath, I fumbled, grabbing my keyring from my belt. “Come on,” I mumbled, flipping through them. Avira got keys to everywhere now, which meant that as the person doing her legwork, so did I.

The right key landed in my fingers. I grinned down it, jamming it into the lock. It made a dull thump instead of the clank I’d expected. I froze, staring down at it, and twisted. The lock didn’t budge.

I heard a window slide open on the far side of the rowhouse. My blood chilled. He was running. He’d-

Throwing myself to the side, I caught glimpse of a dark-clothed figure burst away from the back of the apartments, breaking for the alleys beyond. In the blink of an eye, he was gone.

Even still, I stumbled forward a step, ready to chase after him. Just as quickly, I stopped myself. Right now I didn’t know what I’d find in the room ahead—but if there was any hope left, I needed to get in there now.

Gritting my teeth, I twisted the key as hard as I could, but it refused to turn. Jammed. The absolute bastard. Whatever he’d done, it wasn’t letting up.

Fine. The latch wouldn’t work. I stepped away, my hands starting to shake. My aura bar was half full again, at least. Grabbing half of that off the top, I took a deep breath, then launched myself forward again.

My shoulder slammed into the door. It rocked, shaking in its frame, but held. “Aethir’s-” I swore, cringing away, but squared up with it again. Sinking a step farther back this time, I barreled in for a second time. This time, when my feet hit the cobblestones in front of his door, I braced, stiffening my whole frame like I was using Rootbound. My toes dug against the rock and mortar.

With a shriek of splintering wood, the frame gave way around the lock. It had never been designed to bear the full brunt of an amped-up chitin-tag hunter. I stumbled into the hazy room, gasping in agony and clutching my shoulder. Red-hot daggers plunged up my collarbone.

And Myles hung in the corner of the room, motionless.

The pain of my shoulder was totally forgotten. I staggered forward, grabbing for my belt knife. “Myles! Myles, just-”

I cursed, grabbing for his legs, and gritted my teeth against the rush of fire I got in response. His weight pressed against my shoulder—and I felt his foot twitch. My heart leapt. The knife came out of its sheath, and I swung hard for the rope. One strike. Two. The blade caught, but the rope was tough. The coil from Myles’ hunting kit, it looked like. Hiking Myles a little higher, praying the worst of the pressure was off him, I kept hacking, gasping for air through the panic and pain. My tattoos flashed their emptiness, no use at all to anyone.

The snap of breaking twine was the only warning I got before the rope gave way. Myles crashed down onto me with two hundred pounds of totally dead weight. Together, we fell.

We hit the ground hard. Just as soon as I touched down, though, I squirmed, working myself out from beneath Myles’ limp form. “Hey. Myles. Are you-”

He didn’t move. His lips were blue—and he wasn’t breathing. I cursed, digging the noose from around his neck. “Come on. Come on, just-”

With one last jerk, I yanked it free, dropping it to slap at his face. “Come on. Breathe, Myles. You got this. Hey.”

He didn’t move, not even a twitch like before. My heart thundered in my chest, adrenaline running through my veins like ice. I kept slapping, trying to jolt a reaction out of him, but…nothing.

Silvos. We needed Silvos, and—

I let out a snarl, ducking my chin. Stupid. Stupid. Calling up the aura trickling back in, I pulsed it through my bonding band three times. There. Avira would know something was wrong, at least. She’d come. And…

I looked up at the sound of flapping wings. Nella was flying circles around the room, I realized, shrieking in terror. She must’ve followed me in.

“Go find Silvos,” I said, trying to give off a nice calming vibe instead of raw panic. I fixed an image of the auburn-haired mender in my mind, and saw her eyes light up. “Get him. Bring him here. Please.”

She took off, her tail flying behind her. I cringed. Another rule, broken. I had to hope Avira would understand. When Silvos got here, he could fix everything. I had to trust that.

And now, I just had to keep Myles going until then.

I slapped him one last time, his head lolling to the side, but it wasn’t getting me anywhere. I was running out of time. I cursed, my mind racing and my head light. What the hell was I supposed to do? I wasn’t a mender. All I knew how to use were-

My eyes went wide. Right. I grappled with my belt pouches, thankful for the first time that I’d been so strapped with work that I hadn’t taken off my gear yet. A trio of vials waited in one. I yanked them out, pausing for a sweat-soaked moment to stare down at them. Two healing potions, one energy potion.

Which would be right here? I licked my lips, not sure. I could see arguments for either one, but-

Didn’t matter. I couldn’t exactly make things worse. If I wasn’t sure which one would work, then I’d just use all of them. Popping the lids off with one swipe, I leaned Myles’ head back, dumping all three down his throat.

“Please work,” I whispered, feeling more useless than ever. A dizzy feeling was setting in, suffusing my senses with every second that passed. All I could do was sit here, staring down at his body. “Come on, Myles, just-”

His back arched. A noise ripped from his throat, hoarse and strangled and decidedly pained-sounding. But he was breathing, damn it.

I grinned, gripping his shoulder. “Hey. You’re good. Just breathe. You’re okay.”

He twitched again, but didn’t move. His eyes slit open, peering up at me through the black strands of his hair. His lips wavered, but…I heard him let out what sounded like a hiss, but that was all.

That didn’t seem good. I nodded, looking away from him toward the shattered door. My head swam. “You’ll be fine,” I mumbled. “Just…take it easy. We’ll get you help.” And I needed to get that door closed off. I was in a really bad spot. Whoever had attacked Myles might come back, and he was in no condition to move. Plus, if the only weapon I had was a belt knife…I didn’t like the prospect of defending a helpless target.

“Sssss,” Myles said. His hand twitched.

“Don’t talk,” I said, looking back to him. “Don’t push yourself too hard.”

His lips fluttered as he tried to shape a word.

I smiled weakly, turning away, and stood. “We’ll…get you looked at, and-”

Two steps, and I stumbled, my legs giving out beneath me. I grabbed a table as I fell, keeping from going down entirely, but shock joined the pain running wild through me.

“Smoke,” Myles rasped.

Smoke? I looked up, my thoughts slowing to a crawl.

The apartment was hazy, like the faintest tinge of cooking smoke left over after blackening a steak. We hadn’t cooked. So where had this come from?

Wriggling back toward the door, I eyed the room. Myles’ arms shook. Slowly, painstakingly, his arm rolled over. His thumb pointed toward the hearth.

The fireplace. My eyes snapped over—and now, with the extra clue, I could see something giving off a gentle sheen from the bricks beneath the chimney. A pile of ash, it looked like. Nothing of concern, except that we hadn’t had a fire here all day.

I could see it, then. If the man knew where Myles was being held, it’d have been the work of a moment to pop up to the roof, dumping a dosed smoke-pellet down. Wait a few seconds for the initial surge of laced smoke to incapacitate Myles, then move in. He wouldn’t even be able to resist.

Pushing hard, I stood again. My legs wobbled beneath me like a baby plainstrider. Gripping every chair and shelf I passed, I worked my way toward the fireplace.

But how to contain it? The closer I was to the source, the more concentrated the smoke would be, so I didn’t have long to consider. My eyes settled onto a bucket alongside the fireplace—the ash bucket. That would do.

Grabbing it one-handed, I twisted, upending it over the smoking pellet, then dropped the bucket over the top. Ash roiled out to cloud the air, but this time, it was plain, ordinary ash.

When I looked back, Myles was watching me, right where he lay. Already I could see his neck exploding into horrifying colors where the rope had dug in.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, lurching away from the fireplace again. No time to relax, not when our unwelcome guest could return at any moment. “Good…Good tip. Glad to have that sorted out, instead of-”

My bonding band pulsed—twice. Avira. She wanted to know if I was serious, no doubt. Part of me shrieked that she knew full well I wouldn’t signal her by accident. But the rest of me…The rest of me understood. It just wasn’t something that should happen in Linead. This place was supposed to be safe.

But tonight, it wasn’t. I let three long, steady pulses out again. Come quick, I prayed. She’d be close, surely. Pushing myself back into motion, I stumbled forward, grabbing the door where it swung.

The wood was twisted, but the hinges had held. Mostly. The latch would never close again. I’d…just have to make do. Gritting my teeth, I shoved, forcing it against the frame again. When I let go, it wobbled, moving to swing open, and I snarled. Fine.

A dresser stood next to the door. I grabbed it with both hands—and yelped as my shoulder lit up again. Okay. The adrenaline was starting to fade, and without it…it was broken. Probably. Fractured, at least.

Broken or not, I had to get this done. My teeth clenched and tears welling in my eyes, I put my back into it. The dresser groaned across the wood. I closed my eyes, pulling as best I could.

Only when it sat square in front of the door did I stumble away, my arms falling to my sides. One more task down. My eyes went to Myles again. My belt knife lay on the ground beside him, forgotten where it fell. I needed that. I needed a weapon.

My mind foggy, I shambled over. The ground was…just such a long way down. I leaned against the wall instead, sliding to the floorboards.

I felt better with the knife in my hands, though, even if the tip wobbled when I held it up. I leaned back against the wall, looking between the door and the still-open window at the back of the apartment. I should handle that too, I realized.

But there was no handy bit of furniture nearby to drag out, and…I wasn’t sure I had it in me to heave something else around the room. I kept my eyes in the window, though, ready to spring into motion if a shadowy figure poked back through its gaping maw.

It didn’t keep me from stealing a glance at Myles. “Still can’t move?”

He twitched, blinking, but didn’t say anything.

I could work with that. “Can you blink? One blink yes, two blinks no.”

I earned myself a blink. A smile cracked across my face. “Okay.”

My good mood darkened as quickly as it’d brightened, though. “Did you get a look at who attacked you?”

He didn’t blink. His eyes wavered back and forth, as though he was trying to decide.

I sighed. “Did you recognize him?”

Myles blinked twice.

“Okay,” I mumbled, piecing it together. “But you saw him?”

One blink.

I nodded again. “Well, that’s something, at least.” I took another look at the window, then glanced back to him. “Are you…I know you’re…” I winced, trying to get my own thoughts to line up properly. “You’re probably not feeling very good right now. Silvos is coming. Are you hurt anywhere else that…that I should be worried about?”

Another two blinks. I exhaled, relaxing faintly.

There were other questions I could ask, but all the important ones, I already had enough to make some educated guesses myself. If Myles had known there was an attack coming, he’d have told us. I was sure of it. And if he hadn’t, well, there were only so many groups that’d like to remove him from the picture. We just had to figure out which one had done it.

My bonding band warmed. I sat a little straighter, brightening. Avira. She was here—although she must’ve burned aura the whole way to make it so fast. I tried to stand, but gravity had other plans.

I heard her boots racing up the street, though—and I heard her rapping on the door. “Trellin? Lad, are you-”

“In here,” I said, raising my voice. The worst of the smoke must’ve dissipated when I broke down the door, but even still…the act of yelling made my head pound, leaving me sagging back against the wall. “Someone attacked Myles. He’s hurt, and I…breathed a lot of whatever poison they used. Need Silvos.”

“What?” Avira said, her voice rising. “I’ve- I’ve got a healing potion in my bag. Just open the door and-”

“Neither of us are dying,” I said, stealing a quick look down at Myles. I didn’t want to lie to her. He looked…horrible, but not dying-horrible. “We’ll…We don’t need it. Had some on me.”

A moment of silence as Avira processed—followed by another thump against the splintered wood. “Trellin, open this door.”

“Seriously, we…we just need Silvos,” I mumbled. “Sent Nella for him. Sorry. Didn’t have a lot of choices.”

Another silence, more prolonged. “Trellin. Open the door, lad.”

I chuckled, grinning over at the door. None of this was funny, but I just had to laugh. I grabbed at a chair within arm’s reach, trying to stand, and made it halfway up before my legs turned to jelly. Groaning, I sat back again. “Avira, I’m not…I’m not quite sure I can. Could you p-please just go get Silvos?”

She went quiet. I leaned back, letting the world spin around me. Good. She’d go get our mender, and-

Her aura flared. My eyes snapped open again. I had just long enough to half-roll over, shielding Myles’ body.

The door exploded in the next instant, the dresser toppling over with a terrible thud. I don’t know what mark Avira used, or if that was just pure aura and a lot of fear, but my homemade barricade didn’t even slow her down.

She strode over the wreckage—and as soon as her eyes landed on me and Myles, she froze. “Trellin.”

“I told you we’re good,” I mumbled, easing off Myles. My eyes settled to him. “Hey. Still hanging in there?”

Myles blinked once. His eyes were unfocused, though, his eyelids drooping lower.

“Try not to sleep until Silvos has a look at you,” I said, a bit regretfully. I wished I could just let him rest. “We don’t know how much damage they did. Let’s not risk it.”

“Who did this?” Avira said. I looked up—and found her eyes on me, not Myles. Her gaze darted to the noose on the floor. “What in Myra’s frozen heart happened?”

I shook my head, swallowing hard. “I don’t know,” I whispered. “I’d already left. Stopped on the rise, looked back, and saw someone at his door. Total chance. I saw them, and ran back.” I closed my eyes. “That’s…That’s all.” The truth of it shook me. If I hadn’t been standing there, if I’d been even a minute later in climbing to the terrace…I wouldn’t have known anything. We’d come far too close to things playing out differently.

A cool hand pressed against my forehead. I jumped.

“Are you unwell?” Avira said.

“Poison,” I said, cracking an eye back open. She was right there in front of me, her eyes worried. “Dropped it in the hearth. It’s right-”

Right under the giant pile of ash I’d dumped atop it. I groaned, leaning my head back.

Avira’s fingers tightened against my skin. “Trellin? What’s-”

“I’m an idiot,” I mumbled. “It was a powder pellet. I buried it in ash to…to stop the smoke. We’ll never separate it back out. I…I should’ve-”

“Quiet, now,” Avira said. “You did perfectly, Trellin. Ending the threat was the correct decision.”

Even still, I grimaced, wriggling higher. She could say whatever she wanted, I’d still feel the same. “You can see us now,” I said, looking back down to Myles. His eyes were glassy, every breath he drew strained and raw. “We…We really need Silvos. So can you-”

“Worry not,” Avira said, patting the top of my head once. Her yellow eyes darted to Myles—then to the door, a satisfied smile pulling at her lips. “I already saw to it.”

I blinked, leaning forward. My hearing was no better than my sight, leaving me foggy, but…I could hear someone running closer.

“H-Hey!” I heard the man snap, his voice exasperated. “I’m going! What more do you want from-”

“Silvos!” Avira cried, standing and turning away from me. I winced, cringing at the bellow. My head pounded in response. “We’re in here! Quick, now.”

He’d gotten here faster than I’d thought. I smiled wearily as Silvos appeared in the ruined doorway, going pale at the sight of us. “What..What on…” Nella burst through behind him, barreling toward me with a peal.

Silvos shut his mouth with a snap, striding for Myles’ limp form.

I wrapped an arm around Nella, pulling her close as she hit my good shoulder. Thank the Broken it wasn’t the other, at least. “I’m here, girl,” I murmured, stroking her gently. “All safe. See? And Myles…He’ll be fine too.” Little by little, the fear rising off her faded.

Silvos bent over Myles, gently probing his neck. “I don’t know if moving him all the way across town is a good idea,” he mumbled, pursing his lips. “But…I need him flat. Let’s get him to the bed. Avira, could you-”

“On it,” she said, already moving toward Myles’ legs.

I smiled, my eyelids drooping. I was pretty tired too, I realized, and from more than just the smoke. I’d been beat even before this started. Myles was safe. Avira was here, and Silvos, and Nella had made it back to me. Somehow, we’d come through this unscathed. Mostly.

That would have to be good enough.

So I let my eyes sink shut, relaxing, and let the two of them handle the rest.