Corva watches Jack go slack as his outstretched arm drops to his side. His body wavers a bit, like someone sleepwalking. She’s sure he’s going to collapse at any moment—well, not him. Jack’s not going to collapse. He’s gone. It’s just his body that’s left here. She can stop him from falling, though. She just needs to reach a tendril to him and keep control of his body for safekeeping.

But just as she’s about to take control, she sees Jack’s eyes flutter and his jaw work its way in circles, like a goat chewing. He stops when he notices her looking at him. He smiles, but it’s not Jack’s smile, and it’s not at her. “Hello, old friend.”

This isn’t Jack. Not at all. His mannerisms are all wrong. Even his voice isn’t quite the same. It’s rougher, older.

Something has gone wrong. Somehow, Jack has screwed up and now there’s someone else in his body. Immediately, Corva reaches out with a mental tendril and completes the process of controlling his body. She feels Jack, or whomever it is in his body, try to resist her control. He can’t, but he’s putting up an awfully good fight.

Wait, Corva.

She cuts an eye over to Zeke. “What? That’s not Jack. We need to keep his body safe.”

I know. Zeke hops off her shoulder and scampers up to Jack’s feet. He looks up at the boy’s face. Could it be? Could it really be you?

“Be who?”

Vardin.

“Vardin? The old guy Jack always talks about?”

The moment Corva says the name, Jack’s body stops resisting her control. It’s difficult to describe the sensation, but there’s a flicker of recognition in that act of compliance. Like whoever is in Jack’s body is responding to the name.

Free him.

Corva looks at Zeke. The monkey’s attention is entirely on Jack’s face.

“Are you sure? We don’t know—”

Free him, Corva. I know an old friend when I see him. Zeke’s thoughts in her mind are forceful, insistent. She gets the impression that in this moment, if he could control her with his thoughts, he would.

Scowling, she complies with the monkey’s request and relinquishes control of Jack’s body. She squeezes the handles of her batons in frustration. “Fine. But I still need you over here to point out the next place Thegn is going to show up.”

She’s been getting better with the number of individuals she can control; the whole block surrounding the building they’re on is full of grunts under her command. They’re position is pretty well protected. But projecting control at a distance is still a challenge for her, and she still hasn’t managed to get full control over anyone before Thegn appears to dispatch them. And that’s with Zeke’s guidance to give her a couple of seconds of lead time.

Unfortunately, Zeke isn’t coming back to her. His attention is still entirely on this Vardin guy possessing Jack’s body. “Zeke! Did you hear me? I need your help.”

“Give an old man and his dear friend a moment for a reunion.” Vardin kneels Jack and reaches out to Zeke. He comes down too hard, though, and slams Jack’s knee into the rooftop. Grimacing, he grabs the knee and rubs it. “Yow! Jack’s still a little guy, is he? Gonna take a sec to get my bearings in his skin.” His hand goes up to scratch at part of the chembraid that’s wrapped around Jack’s arm. “Ah—and he did get a chembraid. He’s right, this thing is itchy.”

“Where’s Jack?” Corva takes a step forward, trying to appear intimidating. However, what’s she going to do? Hurting Jack’s body isn’t going to hurt this spirit.

“You must be the girl that Jack was tellin’ me about. You’re War, right?” He smiles at her surprise. “You n’ me both know Jack’s a talker. Our kiddo has jumped over to the spiritual plane. He chose a pretty clever way to do it. Clever and dangerous. It’s a good thing I made sure he swapped with me, made me a bit of a houseguest in his body. Otherwise, who knows which of those poor nuggets he’d have gotten in his body.”

Vardin jerks his hands up to his head. “Whoa, whoa! Too loud, Lyia. It’s good to hear your voice, though.” He looks at Corva, whispering. “Jack fancies her. I always thought she was a bit too overbearing, though.”

His face stretches in mock surprise. “Oops. She heard that.”

Vardin’s expression changes, though, at the sound of a chirp from Zeke. He focuses his attention back on the monkey. “You’re right, Zeke. Time is short. I’ll get to the point.”

Vardin reaches out his hand and lets Zeke climb up into it. “Wow, is Jack really this weak, or did you put on a pound or two?” He smiles and raises the spitting, indignant little monkey to his shoulder before stepping closer to Corva.

He looks at her with Jack’s cool gray eyes; they’ve never looked this focused or perceptive. “Pretty soon, kiddo is going to figure out how to use those crows to move himself around. I’ll disappear from here and he’ll show up wherever that crow is. Knowing Jack, he won’t’ve thought ahead enough to know what to do when he gets there. His first thought is probably gonna be to sneak attack Death with the Touch. I’d talk him out of that if I were you. Too risky.”

“How am I going to tell him any of this if he’s not here?” Corva’s words come out sounding a lot more whiny than she intends.

Vardin shakes Jack’s head at her and taps his finger on the comm kneak behind Jack’s ear. “Not you, young horseman. Them. You’ve got your own job to tend to.”

Corva can’t seem to relax the scowl on her face. “Yeah. I know. We’re slowing Thegn down whenever he shows. That’s why I need Zeke to—”

“Yes, but that’s not all you and Zeke need to do. You need a way for Jack to get back here, right? That means you need to catch one of those crows without killing it. Then bring it here. That way Jack has a route back when he’s done.”

Corva pauses. She hadn’t thought about how Jack was going to get back. Neither had Jack, obviously. “Okay. But won’t that also lead Thegn back here?”

“It might. You were planning on fighting Death anyway, weren’t you? Least this way, you’ll know where he’s coming.”

Thegn more likely has a “last crow” of his own that’s near here. We can capture that one and secure the area around it.

Corva nods at Zeke in acknowledgment. Vardin notices.

“I see ol’ Zeke is already ahead of me, like always.” Vardin smiles and extends his arm so Zeke can travel back to Corva’s shoulder. “Alright then. I’ll leave that to you.”

He turns as if he’s going to leave. The knife that Jack used to cut himself dances in his hand as he flips it through a series of different grips.

“Wait.” Corva grabs his shoulder. “Where are you going?”

He speaks over his shoulder as he walks away. “I’ve got to protect Jack’s body when he’s not in it. I’m going to need some practice with it.”

Corva moves one of her rooftop grunts in his way. “I can’t let you go off into the unknown. You could get Jack killed.”

She feels Zeke’s paw on the side of her head. You underestimate him.

Corva glances over to Zeke. “No I don’t! I’ve controlled Jack’s body, too. I know its limits.”

“Fine.” Vardin’s voice hardens and, through her grunt, she senses him bounce on his toes. “I’ll practice here.”

It takes less than two seconds for Vardin to step around the grunt and climb up its back. The knife in his hand moves the whole time, playing from one grip to the next, slicing with every transition. It’s not that he’s all that fast; his movements are just incredibly efficient. The grunt is already on its knees, incapable of standing, by the time Vardin drives the blade’s tip into the base of its head. Corva barely has enough time to relinquish control of the creature so she doesn’t get hurt by that killing strike.

The grunt slumps forward and lands facedown as Vardin hops lightly to the ground in front of it. He stumbles a bit, but manages to recover without falling. He smiles at Corva. “Still getting used to the kiddo’s proportions, but I think I can manage. He’s got a springyness that I haven’t had in a long time.”

Corva lets out a sigh. “Okay. So you know how to handle yourself.”

“I’ve been around the block a few times. I ain’t no horseman, though.” Vardin squints at her. “Your name’s Corva, right?”

“Yes. Did Jack tell you that, too?”

“Yup. But ever since he brought up your name, I had this one nugget hounding me, trying to get my attention, asking me to get a message out. A message to you.”

“To me?”

“Yeah. I thought it was weird, too.” Vardin wipes his knife clean on Jack’s pants. “Most nuggets’ thoughts are too jumbled to even know who or where they are. This one, though, was real clear on you. On your name, specifically.”

“My name?”

“That’s right. At first it was just repeating your name over and over again. Incredibly bothersome.” Vardin stops what he’s doing and locks eyes with Corva. “But then it started getting a sense of self. A memory of who it was. That’s when it gave me the message. It said to tell you that your name wasn’t just a gift, but that you earned it.”

“Avó?”

Vardin smiles. “Good. I’m glad it made sense to you. For myself, I couldn’t figure out what it meant.” He pauses, and it almost seems like he flickers, kind of like he’s a bad video projection. “Ooh. It looks like the kid might’ve figured things out. You two be sure to catch that crow.”

A moment later, Jack’s body—and Vardin with it—is gone.