“Fine. But I just want you to know I think it’s romantic. You know, the whole forbidden lovers thing.”
I kept my voice neutral. “We aren’t lovers. Drop it.”
We hit the street, and Silas materialized from the shadows like he’d been waiting. Which he probably had been.
“Go search,” I told him. “The dark places. Anywhere someone might be held or hidden. Report back if you find anything.”
He huffed and launched skyward, wings catching the strange light from floating Erelith chalices.
“Should I go up too?” Pip asked.
“Not yet. Stay with me for now. I need someone to watch my back.”
She moved to my shoulder, brushing my curls away to whisper. “Don’t worry. I brought my sword in my pack. Just in case.”
We moved through the streets, weaving between citizens in their elegant coats. Everyone looked prosperous. Content. Like they were living in paradise instead of a city hidden behind deadly flame.
“This place gives me the creeps,” Pip muttered, staying close to my shoulder. “Everyone’s too happy. Too perfect. Like they’re all wearing masks.”
“Maybe they are.”
She gasped. “Really?”
“No, not really. We call that sarcasm.”
“Rude.”
We searched for what felt like hours but was probably less than one. We asked questions that got us nowhere. Even with the sprites. Followed leads that dead-ended into more of the obsidian city and more smiling, useless people.
“This is pointless,” I said finally. “We’re not getting anywhere. It’s like the city itself is hiding him.”
“Maybe it is.” Pip landed on my shoulder again, her tiny weight comforting. “Maybe this whole place is designed to keep secrets.”
I was about to respond when I saw him. Not Calder, but someone else.
Just a flash, a figure in elegant black standing at the corner where two streets intersected. Beautiful dark features barely visible before he turned and disappeared around the corner.
Not looking at me. Not acknowledging my presence. Just... there and then gone. The man... the man that was at the Mortalis finale staring at me. Who I’d seen in the Tangles staring at me.
“Did you see that?” I asked.
“See what?”
“The man. In black. He was just—” But when I looked again, the corner was empty.
“I didn’t see anyone.” Pip flew up slightly, scanning. “Just more scary people.”
I started toward where he’d been anyway, something pulling me forward. A feeling I couldn’t explain and probably shouldn’t trust.
“Syn? Where are we going?”
“I don’t know. Just... follow me.”
We turned the corner, then another, following a path that felt less like choice and more like inevitability. And there, another flash of him at the mouth of an alley.
Gone before I could focus.
“Okay, now I’m creeped out,” Pip said. “Are we following a ghost?”
