Rowena rolled onto her back and considered her options. Mattie and Sorel had only woken for long enough to be informed of the basic plan and eat a light supper before returning to sleep, and she’d pretended to be asleep herself when Kieran had finally come up to the room– she didn’t much feel like talking to him, even though she was very curious about what Lorimer had to say.

You don’t need Kieran to find out more about what’s going on around here, Cuth pointed out.

She supposed he was right– it was time to put her Secretseeker Subclass to good use. But first–

Finally! Cuth cried out in excitement. I have several ideas about what might be–

Hush, Rowena thought firmly. This is my decision.

I live here, too, Cuth grumbled, but fell silent.

Rowena rubbed her Sigils absentmindedly as she closed her eyes and began to slow her breathing, entering the meditative state where she could access whatever energy powered the Classes and Subclasses. It was almost second-nature by this point, and she felt as though she were cradled deep in the foggy recesses of her mind. It was time for her to choose her two new Abilities that had come with her achievement of– well, rather, vaulting over– Level Five when she’d learned how to invert the Calm Person Ability.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want Cuth’s advice on the topic– clearly, she could use a more experienced person’s thoughts and he had a vested interest in her success– but she wanted to see for herself firsthand what her options were and figure out what she would choose by herself before seeking his opinion. She needed to begin to hone and trust her own instincts. Meeting Lorimer and then Mal had made it clear to Rowena that she was, for all intents and purposes, very much on her own. Thea and Finnegan had been immensely kind and helpful, but they were the exception, not the rule, when it came to encounters with strangers.

She sensed two void-like spaces that called out to be filled with new Abilities. Near them, she could sense her Calm Person Ability, with a shadow of the inversion behind it, and Detect Secret. Further away was Influence Person, an Ability she’d apparently managed to manifest out of pure anger at her father.

Remembering their intense, nearly violent argument made Rowena feel regretful and sad, and she tried to blot it out of her mind. She was so close now— she needed to focus on the task at hand so that she could find her sweet baby brother Tommie’s killer and bring him to justice. At least, that is what she told herself was her main goal, though she couldn’t deny her growing interest in the unusual level of power she and her friends had been granted.

Several options popped up in her mind as she considered the new Abilities. Charm Person, Compel Honesty, Levitate, Pick Lock, Send Message, Detect Trap, Spring Trap, Obtain Object, Inflate Value (that last one puzzled her until Cuthbert said ‘what did we say about Secrets being merchandise?’ in a rather condescending tone), Untie Knots, Cause Explosion… the list felt seemingly endless.

Are you sure you don’t want my advice? Cuth said insistently. After all, that’s what the rest of the Fog and I were doing when we first met.

You mean, when you leapt into my head unbidden and unwelcomed? Rowena snapped. Just give me a moment. I promise I won’t make any actual selections without consulting you.

Fine. Cuth said, and she felt his consciousness slink away, like it was sulking.

Unbelievable, she thought with an exasperated sigh, but tried to forget about Cuthbert as she considered her options.

What would make her most likely to achieve her goal? She wanted to find Tommie’s killer and bring him to justice. She had Calm Person at her disposal, and though that had turned out to be indispensable, she mostly used it (against Cuthbert’s advice) on herself. Detect Secret was interesting, but it hadn’t been as useful as she’d hoped– what good was it to detect a secret if you had no way of knowing what it was, or obtaining it? And Influence Individual would certainly come in handy more often if she could bring herself to use it, but something in her still felt that it was rather unethical.

All in all, she wasn’t in terrible shape with regards to her Abilities, but she needed to be smarter and more thoughtful about the next two. The Abilities reminded her somewhat of an old tale she remembered her mother telling her as a child– of a genie found in an ancient bottle who granted the holder of the bottle’s desires, but found a way to twist their requests so that they regretted making the wish in the first place. The only way to defeat the genie was to think very carefully about the nature of one’s desires and be very particular about wording, and even then there was only one heroine who had ever managed to outwit the genie that she knew of.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

She looked over the options again. Levitate was definitely out– she thought about how she felt when faced with the openness of the road and shuddered. It would only be worse if she were off the ground, as well!

Charm Person was interesting– she’d always secretly wondered what it might feel like to be popular– but she thought it might be a little redundant. After all, she had Influence Individual, and surely they had similar outcomes, especially if she worked on Influence Individual a little more. At this point she felt Cuth’s desire to speak, but she squashed him down. Not yet.

She hoped she wouldn’t have a need to interact with traps in any way, but Obtain Object was intriguing. She thought back to the sickly thief, Sylas, who had attacked Kieran– he’d had a secret she’d detected in his pocket… perhaps if she’d had Obtain Object she could have taken whatever it was. But how would that help her with finding Tommie’s killer? She was a ROGUE, but that didn’t make her a Thief.

Send Message was intriguing, and she focused on that Ability a little further. As she got a better sense for it, she realized that it would allow her to communicate over long distances via a private voice whispering in someone’s ear– at first, only those she’d met before, but eventually, with practice, she’d be able to send a message to anyone in the land. This was quite intriguing, and appealing– Rowena’s heart ached to select it immediately and send a message to Calla, updating her beloved sister on their progress. But she could also simply send a messenger for a very small fee, she realized. Immediate gratification wasn’t worth selecting an Ability.

Compel Honesty… now that was interesting. And the more Rowena thought on it, the more interesting it became. She could force a confession from Damon, compel him to admit to his wrong doing in front of the authorities. And unlike many of the other options used on others, it felt less ethically murky, somehow– she wouldn’t be forcing anything but a revelation of the truth. Surely that was an inherently noble cause?

She spent several more minutes trying to dive deeper into the myriad options, but after a while it became apparent that she wasn’t getting any closer to finding a suitable combination of Abilities.

I can’t do this alone, she realized. She was suddenly glad that she had Cuth right in her head, because the first person she would usually ask for advice was now the last person she wanted to talk to– Kieran had been so clearly taken in by Lorimer and Mal she didn’t know what to think.

For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing moderately well, Cuth said primly, as though compliments were gold to be hoarded.

This made Rowena laugh a little. Why, thank you, your majesty, King of Abilities.

Don’t mock me. This was most certainly my area of expertise when I was alive. Or one of them, probably.

Well. What does your expertise tell you? she asked.

I think you’re on to something with Compel Honesty. Both for Damon, and because it should be a good way to find out all kinds of information in the future, Cuth said pensively.

I don’t care about the future. The thought of a future past finding justice for Tommie was a haze so blurry that Rowena couldn’t even begin to imagine what it might be. Or perhaps she just didn’t want to– what kind of a future could she have as a ROGUE, anyway?

One of us has to! he retorted. No more regretting your past choices.

He was right. Okay, so Compel Honesty. What else?

I thought you’d never ask, Cuth thought triumphantly. You haven’t even come across it yet!

Well, what is it? Rowena asked with curiosity. She felt dazed by all of the options and surprised that she hadn’t seen all of them– it felt like enough to offer every ROGUE on the planet a different option, and then some.

Cuth directed her attention towards a new Ability– he was right, she either hadn’t seen it or hadn’t considered it– Throw Consciousness.

Rowena’s brow furrowed. I don’t understand– what does that even mean?

You can and should spend some time with the Ability yourself, but it’s pretty simple. Your body stays in one place, but your mind is free to travel. So you can spy and investigate anywhere you want without bothering with locks or traps or any of those tedious distractions.

Rowena thought on this for a moment. Sending her consciousness elsewhere while her body was safe and sound– that would allow her to gain access to all kinds of places and learn all kinds of information, all without disturbing anything real at all. So no one would know I was there… and I wouldn’t even risk getting caught!

Exactly, Cuth thought smugly. It’s perfect for a cowardly ROGUE.

Rowena winced. That accusation stung, a little.

Oh, don’t be so sensitive, she sensed Cuth rolling his eyes. You’re obviously not a coward. I don’t think you’re a coward. But you don’t like getting your hands dirty. Literally or metaphorically.

That was… undeniably true.

She spent a few moments examining the Ability, but she had to admit that Cuth was right. She’d be able to send her mind only so far as another room, to start, but with practice she might be able to reach as far as anywhere within a city, even across the land, someday. She wouldn’t only be able to find out secrets, but also check in on Calla. Maybe eventually she could even learn to influence the world with her mind, leave a message?

That was probably getting a bit ahead of herself.

Alright, she thought with grim determination. Let’s do this.