“Again.”

Mira had no idea what the word was supposed to mean; she knew what it meant in a normal sense, a repetition of movement or statement that was meant to be shown off a second time. But here, in an even lower portion of the library sitting in a dusty old room with Jovie and the shadow of the jackalope beside her like a medium-sized dog waiting for an order, Mira wasn’t exactly sure what Jovie was asking her to do. She only sat there with her palm up and held her breath as if stars could willingly spark in the air in front of her.

Jovie tilted her head back. “Miz Deiasi, assit mi.”

A voice warbled in response, but not one Mira could understand, not like she had in the room with the token nearby.

“Speak something normal, please,” Mira muttered, panting a little. They’d been sitting in this room for roughly three hours and she’d about had it with the little training exercises that Jovie had set aside for her to do. The Scepter was adamant on Mira not bringing the amplifier with her, since Jovie wanted to see what Mira was capable of on her own.

It seemed a faulty plan; Mira would have assumed that the amplifier would help, but Jovie wouldn’t see reason for bringing the small object along with them. Instead, the other woman just stared at her when they got to the room for a very long, uncomfortable amount of time. Soma’s chitters and warbled noises had gone quiet the entire “assessment” and Mira hated it.

She hated the silence. She hated the stares. She hated being treated this way, like an object of curiosity rather than a person.

And when that turned up nothing, Jovie had flicked her hand and the air began to hum with a kind of electrical force that Mira couldn’t see but could feel. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand up and instantly she recalled the passage through the Maidenwoods.

Little Star.

It was intrusive, the thought, but Mira didn’t say anything.

“Cipher exists in the blood,” Jovie had explained, lessening the buzz in the air to be nothing more than a low droning noise, like a circuit making noise behind a box. “Sometimes the presence of additional cipher is enough to cause a spark, but …”

She’d trailed off then and hadn’t bothered to finish that thought before she demanded that Mira try and make the cipher appear herself.

As if Mira had any clue how to do that.

They’d spent the last two hours trying everything for Mira’s potential cipher to appear. And the more it failed, the more the attempts proved nothing, the more Mira felt hope and relief in her chest. Maybe this wasn’t her life. Maybe it didn’t have to be her reality.

Whatever feelings she had on the matter, though, were not shared by the Scepter, who looked at the shortcomings with a degree of irritation. It never showed in the woman’s voice, but the evidence was all in her face. Jovie’s inscrutable foggy white eyes were as consistent as ever until Mira faltered; only then did frustration cross her features, make her jaw tense and her eyes narrow.

And this attempt seemed to put the Celez Vesza in a rather sour mood. Even the warbled noises in the room from Soma’s input sounded impatient.

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“This makes no sense,” Jovie said, pacing back and forth. The rabbit’s shadow moved towards one of the couches and laid down on it, front hooves crossed daintily over each other. While Soma was calm, collected, the same couldn’t be said about the Spectacle’s Vessel. “I don’t understand what the deal is.”

“Then use your words,” Mira snapped. “I don’t understand what this whole thing is supposed to be proving—and we’ve been here for three fucking hours, Jovie. I don’t know what you’re looking for.”

“I’m looking for you to try. For a woman intent on getting answers, you certainly don’t seem to be eager for them.”

Mira felt her blood boil. She leaned forward, arms crossed at her stomach. “I am trying. I don’t know what you’re trying to get me to do, Jovie. How am I supposed to be trying if I don’t know what I’m trying for?”

Jovie dragged her fingers down her face, holding her short brown hair behind her head in a tiny ponytail before letting it fall back. It grazed her jaw as she tucked it behind her ears. “Energy,” she said simply, perching on the arm of the chair Soma was sitting on. “You’re reaching for energy. But if you can’t access it …”

“Then I don’t have it?” Mira asked, hoping to keep her anticipation at bay.

“There could be a bunch of reasons why it’s not showing up, Mirabel.” Mira winced, but Jovie went on. “I don’t understand how someone like you can hear something like Locht but not have anything.”

Someone like you.

The phrase rubbed her the wrong way. She’d heard too many variations of it in her life to take it lying down. “Why?” Mira hissed, taking a long step towards the Scepter, who tipped her chin up in challenge. “Were you expecting something else when you found us? Someone who knew exactly what they were that would come primed and ready looking for help?”

“I don’t know what I was expecting,” Jovie shot back, “but I was hoping you’d have enough potential to be useful!”

“Useful. Like a prop.”

“Like a candidate.”

“Which you refuse to say anything about.”

Jovie threw up her hands. She turned on her heel to create distance between them while the shadow that was Soma appeared to be shaking her head. As if not even the Spectacle could believe what was going on. Mira had almost half expected Jovie to take a breath and explain something—it was the least she could’ve done—and she debated on challenging the woman when she froze in place and the shadow leapt from the arm of the chair in the direction of Jovie’s shoulder.

Mira didn’t have to see the Scepter’s eyes, which were an ice blue as she turned around, to know that Soma had possessed her. The wavering form of the animal was enough of a giveaway as it was.

“What?” Mira asked. “I don’t suppose you’re going to lecture me from Jovie’s mouth, are you?”

Jovie cocked her head in a lupine kind of way, a curious pout on her lips. Her brows furrowed and the voice that came from her was distant and faint, like echoes off a cavern wall. “No,” said the Spectacle, her hooves resting squarely on Jovie’s shoulders. She sounded mildly affronted at the assumption. “I have no time for lectures. Jovie may do as she pleases, but we will not get things done with secrets alone.”

“So are you going to tell me what the whole point was of getting me to make it show up?”

Under Soma’s influence, Jovie gave a dismissive wave. “Sa. She is all talk, miz Vesza. She thinks that by holding things captive, she will make better progress. Not that she is fond of this assertion; we have had many an argument on the matter. Jovie is a stubborn one.”

As if that wasn’t obvious enough, Mira thought bitterly, walking over to the single chair in the room to lean against the back of it.

“There is something very important, though, that may help solve our question about you and your … anomaly.”

“Gee. Thanks.”

The Spectacle frowned, both through Jovie’s face and the blobs that were Soma’s ears flattened. “No need to sound disappointed. There is nothing wrong with challenge.” Jovie’s arm waved, motioning for Mira to follow, or at the very least, get a move on. “Do yourself a favor, dear child,” said the Spectacle, “come along.”

Mira stood straighter at attention. “Why? Where are we going?”

Something like a smirk curled on the edge of Jovie’s lips, all out of place on her dull face. “The one place in this library that matters.”