Alnea took the cup from Hermit and tapped her forefinger against it. “A Forger.”

Jace raised his cup towards Alnea. “We have to find a Storer!”

Her brow furrowed, then her eyes widened and genuine shock filled her face. She regarded Hermit with something bordering on respect. “That’s… quite good, actually. Brilliant, even.”

Hermit rocked back on his heels with a smirk. “Yes, yes, all very standard for me, of course.”

Alnea paced back and forth. “If Jace Chooses a Storer, then that plan can work. Seratia surely has already Chosen her oracle to be a Champion–at least they’ll be a good fighter. If I Choose a warrior as well…” She stopped pacing and nodded to herself. “Yes, with the Twisted in a weakened state, we could win.”

Hermit swirled his cup of wine and leaned on an elbow. “My thoughts exactly.”

Jace ran his hands over the grain of the table. “It’ll be risky. Even with the Twisted not at full power, they could still kill even the most powerful human fighters. Seratia’s and Alnea’s Champions would have to go toe-to-toe with Malleus and Incus. My Champion and this one”–he waved at Vaela–“would have to defeat Stapes together.”

Vaela folded her arms. Okay, so she wasn’t the strongest fighter in the world. It’s not like she was chopped liver, though.

Alnea rested a hand on her shoulder. “I know what you’re thinking, child. Understand–we’re not underestimating you. But the Twisted are powerful with millennia of combat experience.” She turned Vaela to face her. “Imagine. Fighting one of us”–she gestured to herself, then Hermit and Jace–“to the death.”

The blood drained from Vaela’s face. It was all good to spar Hermit and Jace, but really fight them? They could beat her with their eyes closed and one hand behind their back. For the Creator’s sake, both of them had defeated her and Adyr at the same time–and made it look easy. The weight of what Hermit had damned her to sank in. Not a game, not a round of sparring. A fight to the death.

She backed away a step. “Why?” She swallowed hard and stared at Hermit. “Why me?”

He sighed and set his cup down. “It’s a tough gig, I know, kid. But an opportunity like this has never come before and likely, will never come again.” He rose and crossed to her. “If, when, you and the other Champions succeed, you won’t have just saved Dome this time. You very well might be giving us what we need to win every Event that comes after.”

Her heart beat so hard, it rattled her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut and did her best to suck in air. Her breaths came in stilted gasps. Soft hands wrapped around her from behind, another heart thumping against her back. Adyr.

She spun and Adyr put her hands on Vaela’s face. Cold bled from her fingers into Vaela’s temples. It brought clarity and her chest eased. She fought her breathing to more regular, deeper breaths.

Stronger. That’s what Hermit and Jace had promised. She’d get stronger–in Power and in fighting ability. Adyr’s eyes pierced through her–Cold, calculating, trusting. Full of belief.

Vaela straightened and turned back to Hermit. “What do we have to do?”

Hermit settled back down to the table and waved a hand towards the other seats. Alnea pulled a chair out and Vaela and Adyr followed suit. What kinds of expectations were there for being a follower? Stand when they stand, sit when they sit? Kinda seemed ridiculous.

Vaela shot a glance at Alnea. The woman, her new leader, wasn’t watching Vaela. Her eyes were on Hermit, intense with expectation. So maybe she didn’t care if Vaela did her own thing? Good, because she didn’t think she could follow her around like a puppy like Adyr.

Vaela drained the rest of her cup of wine and slapped it on the table. She slid it towards Hermit. “So I have to fight one of the Twisted–but also Charm an item? From a Storer. What is that? I’ve never heard of that Power.” Which was saying something. She’d seen pretty much everything while working at the shop.

Hermit topped off Vaela’s cup with the bottle. “A Storer can Store Power.”

Vaela glared at him. “Yes, thank you for the dissertation.”

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He chuckled and slid her cup back to her. “It’s somewhat similar to when you drink blood. That person’s Power is within you. However, with a Storer, no consumption of bodily fluids needed. And the amount isn’t related to Sacrifice.”

That… huh. Vaela fiddled with her cup. “That sounds better than Charming.” There was no denying it. It sounded like the same Power without demanding Sacrifice.

Hermit tapped his nose. “Ah, but only on the surface. You see, the Power is considered functionally useless.”

Useless? Vaela leaned forward. “If you could Store Power without cost, you’d be able to use any Power.”

“And that’s just the problem. Our Powers are native to our body. You’ve had customers buy a Charm for a Power they didn’t have. What happened?”

Vaela sat back as realization sank in. She chuckled and shook her head. “Oh. Oh, wow.”

Across the table, Adyr flagged Vaela’s attention with a small wave. “What does that mean?”

Vaela spread her hands. “You can’t use a Power you weren’t born to. I’ve seen it a hundred times. A Warmer hoping they can use Strength, a horny couple spending a fortune on a Feeling Charm hoping it makes the sex incredible.” Adyr flushed and nodded. Vaela bit back a grin. Maybe she should have used a different example, but it was an obvious one. “They inevitably can’t actually Control or Harness the Power and it goes awry.”

Surah grinned and clapped his hands. “Oh yes, I saw that at the brothel quite a bit.” He placed a hand over his chest. “Sometimes, I’d play along, just to make the poor guy feel good.”

“That’s nice of you.”

“Yes, attitude isn’t included in the fee, but I like to go above and beyond.”

“Makes sense. Good customer service–they keep coming back.”

Adyr tapped the table, interrupting Vaela and Surah. “I, uh, sorry. But if they can’t Control the Power, why do they buy anything?”

Vaela took a swig of her wine and set it down. It was nice to talk about something she actually knew about. “Most of the time, I don’t make the Charms very strong. Just enough that if they Tap into it, they can feel the Power inside.” She shrugged. “To be honest, the price of the Charms was often more related to their appearance than how much Power was in them.”

Timura rustled in her seat and faced Vaela. She held her hand out, palm up. A Shadow Rose sprouted, black thorns lining its stem. “As for why people came back, well, it didn’t hurt that a pretty girl was behind the counter.”

Vaela smirked and bit her lip. She waved a hand through the air. “No, no. Really, people came back because they had a good experience.” She grinned and blew towards the Rose. It wisped away and dissolved into the air in sync with the arrival of her breath. She laughed and shook her head. It’d been a long time since she and Timura had done that trick. How long had they worked on it that one day? Timura winked at her.

Adyr crossed her arms and looked off to the side. A pang rang through Vaela. Stupid. Why was she rubbing her history with Timura in Adyr’s face? It was hard–they’d been friends for a long time. Vaela cleared her throat and faced Adyr again. “Uh, anyway, I really wasn’t selling them any miracle for their problems. I was just selling them confidence. They’d take the Charm, ‘Tap’ into it, and succeed. Most of the time, it was something they could have done all along. My job wasn’t to sell them something phony. It was to get them to buy into something real–themselves.” Her fingers trailed absently over the Mark on her forearm. “I don’t know. I always liked the thought of that. Maybe people didn’t keep coming back for my Power, they were coming back for me.” And now here she was. Roped into a ridiculous quest for what reason? Because they needed her Power. Some Charmer she’d turned out to be.

Adyr tilted her head at Vaela. “I think they did come for you.” She smiled down at her hands. “How could they not?” Adyr’s neck blushed red. She clutched her cup and threw back the rest of it in one large gulp.

Hot need growled in Vaela’s chest. She wanted nothing more than to jump across the table and tackle Adyr right there. And… and kiss her. Hold her. Tell her she’d always come back for her, too. Vaela swallowed hard. Something more than desire welled in her chest, something terrifying. If the world needed her to fight, she’d do it. If it meant feeling Adyr’s arms around her.

Timura clattered her empty cup on the table, jolting Vaela from her daydream. Timura looked at Hermit. “So you want to find a Storer, then? I’ve never heard of that Power, either. How will you find them?”

Hermit sighed and raised a hand over the table. Shadows Sprung up into the shape of two islands. Vaela craned her head and examined them. One was Ankilov, the continent they were on. She pointed to the other. “That’s Shen-Ri, right?” She’d never been one to study maps. What’s the point? She’d get there and experience it with her own two feet one day.

Hermit nodded. “You said you wanted to travel the world? Good news, kid. Storers don’t generally appear on Ankilov. But they do crop up now and then on Shen-Ri. It’s still not common, but it’s not such a rarity. Actually, it’s similar to Forging. Storers often serve as religious figures over there as well.”

Vaela stood and leaned over the Shadow continents, her heart pounding. Had Dad ever been across the ocean? She’d always said she’d go to the ends of Dome, but now it might really happen.

Hermit waved at the space between the continents. “All this–it’s open ocean. It’ll take us a while to travel across the sea. Fortunately, our next course of action will be getting someone who's not only an expert at navigating the ocean–they’ll be able to hunt down a Storer in no time.

“Who’s that?”

The Shadow faded away and Hermit grinned. “The last of the Created here on Dome, the great huntress herself. Seratia.” He leaned in towards Vaela. “Her Champion will already be Chosen and you can be grateful that’s the case. Whoever they are, they will almost certainly be the sole reason you survive.”