Kadhi's timing couldn't have been more perfect. Especially given the topic of our conversation and the fact that this wasn't Kadhi. I could see it now. In his eyes. A lack of soul.

[Notice]

With [Demeot Eyes], you have successfully identified [Eth'tar], a reflection demon of the 10th Dominion of the Underworld. Reflection demons are a type of evolved pride demon that has taken the form of whoever contracted them.

The smile was Kadhi's though. So was the gait as the lizardkin made his way to the breakfast table. Garta gripped my sleeve, but where he seemed worried, I felt revived. When Garta tried to stand, probably to confront Kadhi's demon, I pulled him down with more than enough force.

"Kadhi!" the professor greeted his favorite student. "We saved a portion for you. How was your sleep?"

"Not bad," the demon said using Kadhi's voice. Where had Kadhi gone anyway? Was the demon possessing Kadhi's body? That didn't make sense since I saw demons in the march alongside their original. "What about everyone else? Sleep well?"

"No," Rila said. She set her silverware down gently despite her tone. "There was a fucking demon in the mirror and we've been waiting for you to come out so we could see if you were still you."

Kadhi laughed. "Oh. That was easy to take care of, right? Don't be silly. Of course I'm not a demon."

"It was rather easy, yes," the professor agreed. He offered Kadhi a plate of the leftover breakfast. "Eat up. I was just talking about our plan for the day."

Garta gave me a look but I ignored it. The professor was either playing dumb that Kadhi was a demon or he had no idea. Playing dumb made him dangerous, so sticking him with the demon could work in our favor. If he wasn't aware that Kadhi was a demon, then maybe spending some alone time with his favorite student would show him the truth of our situation.

"What's our plan?" Kadhi asked between bites.

"I'd like to do a bit more research," the professor said. "I know that's asking a lot since this dungeon could very well be more dangerous than [Silvernight] and there may be dangers here you're not prepared for yet in your studies. However, as this is, in fact, not [Silvernight], it would be best to gather as much data as we can to bring back with us. This is the kind of information scholars at Caemor crave for their research."

"What do you want us to find out?" I asked. It just sounded like a stalling tactic to me. Suspicious.

"I want you four to continue mapping the city, as well as what you can map of outside of the city walls. I will take Kadhi with me back to the tower so that I can determine how I can best support your group through it. However, even for a professor, it would be unwise to go alone." Professor Widhia smiled and turned to Kadhi. "You'll come with me, yes?"

"Of course, Professor." Kadhi returned the smile, same as always. It was uncanny in a way that bothered even me.

"Pack your bag and meet me here in five minutes?" the professor said. "I need to finish packing as well."

As the professor left, Kadhi ate quicker than I'd ever seen him. He didn't pay us even a modicum of attention as he hurried back to his bedroom to do as instructed.

"The professor didn't seem to notice," Garta whispered. When Rose and Rila leaned closer, he repeated it even more quietly for them. Rila looked alarmed for a moment but calmed herself.

"They're really fucking everywhere," she said under her breath as Rose rubbed her back.

"Let them go together," I said. "Any outcome of that will benefit us with more information one way or another. We need information more than anything. I'm betting there was never a low tide...?"

Rose shook her head. "No, we'd have to use magic to get across the fire back to the portal on the beach. It'd take a powerful spell, but I think we could pull it off with the four of us. Five if the professor wants to come along. I guess we're leaving Kadhi, then?"

"So we're not going to tell the professor?" Garta asked. "So if the demon kills the professor, we have no chance to clear this dungeon and we'll leave. If the professor kills the demon, we'll be able to clear the dungeon with the professor as a guide. All good and well, but what happens if the professor returns with Kadhi?"

"We'll figure that out if it happens."

Since I heard the professor opening his door, I gave the other three a look to quiet. If the professor came back with Kadhi, we were probably fucked and should still try to get the fuck out of the dungeon. Besides, it wasn't as if I wanted to share that I had [Demeot Eyes] with the professor, and I doubted Garta wanted to tell Professor Widhia about this reality stone that he had.

It was soon after that the professor left with Kadhi toward the tower and the four of us were alone again. We did our due diligence and finished our map, including what we could see from the top of our building into the seemingly endless sea of fire and the forest choking the beach.

But being out in the open during the day made me feel more watched than ever before. Yesterday, the demons paid us about as much attention as Kadhi had. They still didn't bother us, never made eye contact, but I could feel their stares, their assessing gazes, their thirst for a possibly better deal to be made with one of us.

All of these demons knew we weren't one of them even if we blended in with their replicas. Plus we didn't eat at the restaurants like they did. We didn't shop at the boutique stores or drink tea in the cafes. We didn't watch the performances or throw pennies into the fountains. We stood out because they all did so much not to.

As soon as we were back in the living room of the apartment we stayed in, I quickly got everyone's attention. I didn't think we had a whole lot of time left here, no matter how much the professor wanted to stay for research purposes.

"I think we should make that tea," I said. "The Divine Communication Potion. I have about half of the ingredients, but I think we can find the rest here if what's here is real."

"It's all real," Garta said. Clearly wishing it wasn't.

"We'll have to risk some mirror though," Rose said.

I pulled out a piece of the glass where I'd seen my reflection. I'd pocketed it before we'd cleaned up. "I think we can use this. It's reflective enough that I saw a demon in it, but because it's not a perfect reflection, I think it's easier to resist if one does try to show up."

"Let's do it," Rose said. Then she took a little breath. "The last time we had that tea, I did get a visit in my dreams from Ket'ha. He sent me a vision of this place, I think. I didn't realize it at the time, and I wasn't really sure until last night. It was like déjà vu."

The work was quick with the four of us. Rila and Garta found the ingredients around the city while Rose and I prepared the ingredients we'd pooled together from our inventories. Apparently everyone had a skill like [Deep Pockets].

Once the potion was made and the tea was done, we drank quickly in a circle in the living room with the shard of glass hovering in the middle of us thanks to Garta. He was stupid good at magic but I could still kill him.

"Mirror of void," Rose said just as she had the time before. Her gaze found the piece of glass. We repeated as necessary. "Please reveal to us profound truth. Show us the Plane of Shevirat. Allow our voices to be heard by our patron Shevira and all other Shevira who will listen. Mirror of void, please reveal to us the inner wisdom from all that seems mysterious, shrouded in velvet veils. Help our patron Shevira contact us in our dreams, in our imagination, in the liminal space between wakefulness and slumber. Mirror of void, thank you for your help. May our tributes be enough to repay you for your generous help tonight. So mote it be."

There weren't enough of us to produce the same mumbling of each of the Shevirat's names. We hadn't coordinated, but it was easy enough to tell the order.

"Ket'ha," Rose said, her voice unwavering.

"Hokra," Garta said.

"Tzalel," Rila said.

"Di'at," I said.

Even though I felt their questioning gazes on me, I ignored it and focused my attention on the glass. The candles we'd lit flickered and went out just like last time. But no one here was breathing hard or panting. No one was sobbing. Time seemed to pass normally. One second at a time. With nothing happening.

"...Maybe it's not possible to communicate with them from inside a dungeon," Rose suggested. "Or, if we're in the Plane of Demeot..."

"Sounds like we should prepare our way back to the portal," Rila said as she stood. "Are you not going to tell us why you said Di'at's name?"

"No," I said. "Maybe if we survive this, I'll have something nice enough to say about him that I'll feel like sharing. What do we need to make it to the portal?"

Rose nodded. "I'll teach you the spell. Listen carefully. The theory is the trickiest part."

She wasn't wrong about that. We spent the rest of the day working it out like a bunch of scientists working at NASA trying to send someone to the moon again. By nightfall, we'd lost track of time and I could feel my magical limit more than ever. Then the worst two things happened.

Kadhi came out of his bedroom, eyes wide and a stone the size of an apple in his palm. "D-demon..." He looked panic-stricken, like he'd lost everything in life playing poker without knowing he had a tell. Then a scream came out of him, something so piercing that I almost thought it was the demon although my [Demeot Eyes] hadn't said this was Eth'tar as well.

The professor burst through the front door at the same time. Without Kadhi.

"We need to go," he said, breathless. "Now."