Nadia silently slunk through the cheap scrap fence like a panther in the jungle. James and Peregrine followed behind, their steps like foresting machines compared to Nadia. But despite their noise no one seemed alerted to their presence.

“There,” Nadia whispered as she stopped. “They’ve hidden a camera.”

She pointed up to a small indent in the distance, James only barely making out the glint of a lens.

“Should we take it out?” James asked.

Nadia shook her head. “That will only alert them to our presence. My shield will keep us hidden.”

“Figures someone like you would have an assassin’s toolkit,” Peregrine muttered.

“Beasts care little about honor, young one,” Nadia explained. She wrapped the wall of water around them all, changing it ever so slightly with her abilities to refract the light away from them. It wasn’t a perfect invisibility, any human would easily notice the shifting patterns as they moved out of the way, but it was enough to fool anyone watching from a camera.

Nadia motioned for them all to continue, moving the watery camouflage as she walked. James couldn’t help but be impressed by his master’s control over her element.

They walked through an open courtyard, scattered debris acting as small cover if they so chose. Nadia ignored most of it, trusting in her stealth ability. As they walked, she found a number of other cameras watching the area, heighting her suspicion.

“No one needs this much surveillance in an abandonded warehouse,” she said to James.

“You’re right,” he said. “Osman is up to something.”

“You don’t know that,” Peregrine hissed, though his retort held tinges of doubt.

“You’re right, we don’t,” Nadia said. “So let us find out.”

They all continued walking until they reached an electronically bolted door.

Nadia frowned. “I had hoped the door would be unlocked. I am not skilled in stealthily opening doors.”

“You can’t cut the bolts?” James asked. “Or the hinges?”

“Not without alerting anyone,” Nadia said. She pointed to a portion of the lock. “See this? It tells someone when the door opens. An alarm will go off if I break any part of the door.”

James frowned. “Couldn’t we just wait for them to leave and sneak in?”

“My stealth is not that good,” Nadia answered. She slunk back to think.

James and Peregrine retreted with her, the latter with a conflicted face. James ignored it as he tried ot think of some way to enter the building without notice. He looked around. They could probably reach a window or something.

“We could get up there,” James said as he pointed up to the window he noticed.

Nadia looked up, conjuring some water that she turned into a telescopic lens. “No luck, there are alarms on the windows as well.”

“Beasts,” James cursed. “You think the roof is alarmed as well?”

“If there is a skylight, most likely,” Nadia said.

“So we’re stuck here?” James asked.

“It is possible there is a portion of the wall that has fallen away that hasn’t yet been alarmed,” Nadia said. “But it is unlikely.”

The comment seemed to spark an idea in Nadia. “It occurs to me that perhaps we do not need to search for an open door.”

James looked confused. “Why not, master?”

Nadia spun droplets of water around her finger until they became a saw. “I do believe it would be trivial for us to make our own.”

“Assassin skills, and now property damage,” Peregrine said sourly.

“Don’t you want to confirm your master’s innocence?” James asked.

“It is the only reason I am going along with this,” Peregrine said.

“Come then,” Nadia said as she moved to a handhold leading up the warehouse. “This will not take long.”

The three climbed silently, Nadia using her refractive stealth whenever she detected a camera. They soon made it on the roof, Peregrine’s mood growing worse each moment. James laid a consoling hand on the teenager.

“Don’t worry,” he said with more cheer than he had. “I’m sure this is all some big misunderstanding.”

“Right,” Peregrine said, gaining a bit of confidence.

James didn’t believe the words he said for a moment, but he wanted to keep Peregrine calm until they confirmed what Osman was up to. James only hoped it was something simple like a drug factory. He wasn’t confident of the fact, however. All the stories he saw back in the tower said Osman would be from an enemy sect. Or worse, a demonic cultivator.

There was in fact a skylight on the roof which Nadia used to triangulate a good entry position. The skylight only revealed an upper office portion of the warehouse but it was enough for Nadia. She focused, conjuring water around her hand and stabbing down to puncture the roof. It came away with a loud scrunching noise, making everyone wince.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Perhaps I should have realized cutting would be loud,” she said.

The three waited silently for guards to walk up, only relaxing after a minute when no one arrived.

“The downstairs must be louder,” James said.

“Or they decided to set an ambush,” Nadia answered.

“Can’t do anything about that,” James said. “I say we continue.”

“Before we do,” Nadia said, “call me on your handheld. I will go first and if the coast is clear you will follow.”

“I could help,” James said.

“I will have better odds of escaping if I do not have to look after you, disciple,” Nadia said, though not harshly.

“Fine,” James grumbled. He couldn’t wait to get a node and actually help out for once. He was starting to get tired of being protected.

While James prepped a call, Nadia quickly shored away more of the roof as if her hand was a can opener. She stopped once a small hole had been opened and answered the incoming call from James.

“This will only take a moment,” she said as she lowered herself into the warehouse.

James waited silently, hoping that his master wouldn’t find herself in an ambush. Peregrine stood to the side, likely hoping the opposite.

It felt like hours to James’s stressed psyche, but Nadia’s voice spoke over the handheld only a minute later. “The area is clear. You may both come down.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” James said. He quickly lowered himself through the hole, Peregrine following shortly after.

They landed in one of the many simple office rooms above the ground floor. Discarded office chairs and desks sat scattered around, deteriorated due to age and abuse. Dust and cobwebs covered walls and floors, enough to almost make James sneeze. He caught himself just in time.

“Things have gotten more complicated,” Nadia said as James and Peregrine landed. “It seems whatever important here is underneath the ground floor. There are two guards in front of an elevator, and three servitors patrolling the area. My refraction won’t work on any of them effectively.”

“Is the only way down the elevator?” James asked.

“As far as I can tell,” Nadia said. “I could risk cutting into the floor, but that would likely attract attention.”

“So we’re stuck?” James asked again. “After all this?”

“It seems so, disciple,” Nadia said. “Unless you have an idea to take the guards out without alerting anyone.”

James crossed his arms in annoyance. All this work just to come up empty handed? He didn’t like that one bit.

“What if I acted as bait?” he asked.

“No,” Nadia answered curtly.

“But—“

“Disciple, I am not letting you risk your life for this,” Nadia said. “The only reason you are here right now in the first place is because I know you would try and solve this yourself without me. You explained as much. You cannot expect me to let you run off on your own.”

James sulked. His master was right. “But we need to see what he’s up to. Peregrine needs proof of innocence.”

“Do not use his need as an excuse for you, disciple,” Nadia said. “He is able to make his own decisions.”

Peregrine spoke up. “Then, use me as a distraction.”

“Again, no,” Nadia said.

“Master won’t do anything to me when I’m caught,” Peregrine said. “He would discipline me for following him, but he has always been fair.”

“And these gangsters?” Nadia asked. “Do you believe they will treat you with the same kindness as your master?”

“If I mention his name they will,” Peregrine said confidently. “And this will prove to you that he is righteous.”

“And if you’re wrong?” Nadia asked.

“I am not,” Peregrine said with all the confidence of a teenager.

“An insufficient answer,” Nadia replied. “I am not risking any young disciple on this. We shall return to the stadium, finish the games, and recruit others more suitable to this task.”

“That will take too long!” Peregrine said, his voice as loud as a whisper could be. “And I can't trust you. Master says you are trying to tear this sect apart from the inside!”

“I will answer any accusations you have as we return,” Nadia answered calmly. “Osman and I have our differences and I am sure we can discuss why he sees me as a threat. But that will come after.”

James watched Peregrine’s conflicted face. He could tell something was warring inside the teenager.

“This has to be a trick of some kind,” he heard Peregrine mutter. “Master told me she wanted to break our sect apart. Her civility is only so I let my guard down. It has to be.”

James saw the unspoken words on Peregrine’s face. Osman was acting deceitful as well and Peregrine had no clue why. The teenager’s sense of honor, built entirely around the idea of a righteous cultivator, was warring with what his master told him.

James didn’t know what to say. He knew Peregrine had been misguided, the teenager’s sense twisted up in the respect and trust of the one who taught him everything. But neither James nor Nadia could say anything, as Osman had already sowed distrust. In fact, it was a miracle that the teenager hadn’t broken earlier.

“Peregrine,” James said softly, deciding to at least try and calm his companion down. “You don’t need to risk yourself for this.”

It was the wrong thing to say.

Peregrine’s conflicted face changed to one of betrayed realization. “You believe your master, don’t you? You think my master isn’t righteous, that he’s under demonic influences.”

“No,” James whispered. “I think—“

“You do!” Peregrine’s voice grew hotter, the whisper staring to rise. “You think—!”

Nadia moved with fluid speed, one hand cupping Peregrine’s mouth while the other struck him just under the chin on his carotid artery with such precision that he fell unconscious in moments.

“Master, what?” James asked.

“Hurry,” Nadia said. “He can complain about our betrayal after we leave.”

That was when one of Peregrine’s talismans activated, a failsafe that activated when the teenager fell unconscious. A number of various stimulations, activated by the talisman, ran through the teenager’s body to wake him. At the same time, the talisman activated reflexive movements that shoved Nadia away. Peregrine awoke in moments, a betrayed look on his face.

“I knew you were lying!” he shouted. “Master! Where are you!”

Nadia cursed and moved again, grabbing James. Peregrine still blocked their exit, so she instead moved out to find another way out.

“Head to the elevator,” James gasped in surprise.

“No,” she said.

“They won’t expect it,” James said as they dashed through the offices. “They’ll be looking outside and we can wait for things to die down.”

Nadia frowned as she considered the idea. “Are you sure?”

“I don’t have a better idea,” James admitted truthfully.

The three servitors were already making their way up the stairs toward Peregrine’s location.The two guards moved behind, their eyes scanning every nook and cranny. Nadia kept her refractive camouflage up as she whisked herself and James through the shadows before they jumped from the top floor.

She silently cushioned their fall with more water, dispersing it in a thin cloud of imperceptible mist. James readied himself to head to the elevator, but Nadia stopped.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Wait here,” she said. “I’ll increase our chances.”

Nadia moved before James could ask what she meant. He heard the noise a moment later, the same shearing sound from when she sliced through the roof. Only this time, the noise was much louder.

James saw the two guards stop and turn toward the noise. He looked as well, seeing the large hole now in the side of the warehouse.

Nadia returned in a moment, sweat on her brow. “Come,” she said in a whisper.

James nodded and followed behind his master as the two made a break for the elevator. It was a simple freight elevator, made with large amounts of cargo in mind. It activated as the two landed on it.

A few boxes were already on the elevator and Nadia used them to hide their presence as they descended. James held his breath, wondering if his idea was about to get them caught. Nadia laid an assuring hand on his shoulder and nodded in confidence.

James nodded back, feeling a bit better as they descended.