I laid in my inn bed, sliding Griana’s ring onto my finger, watching a vision, then sliding it off again. Most of the visions were either about boring, everyday things or too short or confusing to get anything meaningful out of them. But right as I’d start getting sleepy again, some violent, gory thing would flash into my head and wake me back up. And if the surprises weren’t violent, they were definitely an invasion of privacy.

Some kind of fancy office with blue carpet came into view, with Eujia sprawled naked across the desk as a man with dark skin fucked her. Gods damn it to hell. I still hadn’t found a way to stop these things. All I could do was wait them out. And when this one ended, I was full-on hard.

I went straight into the next vision, hoping to knock those images out of my head.

This time, a teenaged girl with dark brown hair and gray eyes, like Eujia’s, shivered in a barred cell. Her clothes were stained and torn, but her eyes glared out through the cell door. Someone’s legs stepped into view, and the door swung open. The girl snarled until the figure threw something onto the stone floor at her feet. A head with long, tangled dark hair. Then the girl screamed silently, scrambling away toward the corner, and the cell door locked back up.

I ripped the ring off my finger as soon as I came back. That had to be Eujia’s little sister. And the head, her mother?

I desperately wanted a break, but I needed to see more.

After a few more pointless visions, I watched Gradis’s giant, bulky frame tower over Nal as they argued, wishing I could hear the words. Gradis lost his patience and punched Nal in the gut before shoving him face down into a table, screaming something in his ear. He released Nal, then threw a backpack at him and pointed to the door.

Show me where you are, Nal.

The vision followed him out as he wiped angry tears away, and I wanted to kill Gradis all the more. He passed fenced-in yards—another ranch. That narrowed things down at least a little. I followed him down a dirt road into a town that had seen better days. Nal kept walking all the way to the only home in good shape, a huge stone manor surrounded by a spiked fence.

He slowed down and pulled a map from his bag, pretending to study it. Eventually, a woman came out to offer the guards on duty some water, and I knew Nal would have marked her for a portal. She was his way in. He waited until she’d gone back inside, then put his map away and went around to the alley behind the building.

Then he took a portal inside.

He snapped the woman’s neck before she could scream and let her drop to the floor. Whatever he was doing, he’d be quick. Another servant spotted him and ran, but he chased after the girl and shoved a knife into her back. He hurried to the dining room, where he took out three guards as a noble couple and their little girl watched in horror.

Without jumping out a window, which the family wouldn’t have time for, there was only one way out of the room, and Nal blocked it. He stood and waited, until the father grabbed a steak knife and charged at him. Nal beheaded the man with one quick cut. The mother ran for the girl, but Nal threw a dagger that lodged cleanly into her heart.

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The little girl just stared at him as he moved closer. No. There was no way he could do it. He kneeled in front of her with a knife in his shaking hand. He pointed it at her throat, and she still didn’t scream. Don’t do it.

He winced through tears and fought with himself, but he finally lowered the knife, pushing the girl toward the door and shouting something at her.

She bolted.

Nal sobbed, staring at his hands. Gradis would kill him.

But then he flipped the knife in his hand and drove it into his own chest.

I shot upright in a cold sweat when the inn’s room came back into view. I fished through the coin purse on the end table and stuffed the comm in my ear.

“Answer, damn it.”

Gasni took his sweet time, but he did answer. “Genet.”

“I’m going to describe a town, and I need you to tell me where it is.”

“Go ahead.”

“It’s a complete dump with some ranches around it. There’s one manor in the center of town with a spiked fence. A couple with a little girl live there.”

“Sounds like Warenti. It’s about two days east of Nisi by wagon, if you can manage to hitch another ride.”

“I don’t have time for that!”

“Do you know how to fly a Sparrow?”

“Yes.”

“Then look in that coin purse again.”

I dumped the contents onto the nightstand, and a small black coin bounced onto the floor. I picked it up and looked closer. “It’s glass. What is it?”

“I convinced Yesida Usten to install a master override into all of his Sparrows. Another thing that stays between you and me. That glass coin will give you access to any Sparrow, anywhere, but it’s a one-time use and needs to be registered to a chip. Do you have one?”

“Yeah.” I pulled up my left sleeve and pressed the coin to my left wrist. A tiny light flashed inside the coin. “I think it just registered. Where do I find a Sparrow?”

“Nisi’s mayor is a collector of Sparrow prototypes. Go steal one.”

Prototypes. Sounded safe. “On it.”

“Best of luck.” He hung up.

I stuffed the coins and comm back into the pouch, grabbed my things, and headed out into the dark.

The mayor’s house wasn’t too hard to find in a town like this. If it could even be called a house. It wasn’t even a manor, but more like a fucking castle, lit up like a beacon with crystal-powered spotlights. A huge extension stuck out on one side with a flat roof—the Sparrow hangar. Men stood guard at both the front and back entrances, while a few marched around the perimeter. I’d have to wait for an opening and crack a window. Easy enough.

I hid myself with my power and hurried to a window right after a guard passed around the corner. I jammed my knife between the top and bottom panes, flipping the latch. I slipped inside and had it closed again before the next guard came around.

I hurried down the hallway to the other side of the building and passed through a pair of glass doors into the hangar, where a handful of black Sparrows in different shapes and sizes sat in two neat rows, lit with even more spotlights. A few were blockier than the rest, obviously older models, while others were sleek and smooth. Every single one was polished to a mirror shine.

The one on the closest end at the right looked like the newest model, smaller and flatter than the average Sparrow. I peeked into the glass canopy. It only had five seats, one in front for the pilot, with two pairs in the back for passengers. It looked like it would be lightweight and fast.

This one.

I raised my wrist to the lock panel, hoping Gasni hadn’t exaggerated about his little toy. But the canopy hissed open, tilting up like an open jaw, and small footholds folded out of the aircraft’s side. I climbed in, taking a minute to look over the controls. A few switches were rearranged from what I was used to, and the yoke was less bulky, but I’d get used to it in no time. Now, where was the hangar door release…

I found a skinny drawer in the control panel with a remote control inside. I pressed the main button, and a huge hatch in the ceiling opened wide. I closed the canopy, fired up the crystal engine, and carefully pulled back on the yoke to raise the Sparrow over the others.

A man charged into the hangar shouting curses I couldn’t hear. Too late. I rose out into the night sky, then grinned as the Sparrow shot even faster than I’d expected toward Warenti.