When Jin'en came out of Broken Rainbow's room, the wall lamps in the corridor were still on their dim setting.
He pulled the door shut, turned, and nearly bumped into someone.
Porsette stood outside the door, barefoot, clutching a pair of slippers. Her gilded eyes lifted from the shadow of her hood to look at him.
Her hood sat crooked, the fabric animal ears drooping to one side of her head. A few stitches on the red cross patch had rubbed loose, leaving threads sticking out.
"How long have you been standing here?" Jin'en asked.
"Not long." Porsette's gaze slid from his face to the door behind him, then back. "Is Big Sister sleeping?"
"She's soaking her feet."
Porsette tilted her head without asking more.
She hid the slippers a little farther behind her and rubbed her left foot against the top of her right, as if she had wanted to say something but swallowed it back.
Looking at her, Jin'en remembered that she had worn the same expression yesterday when he taught her stance training at the training ground. She had something to say but wouldn't say it, just stood there waiting.
"Need something?"
"Mother wants you in the study." Porsette's voice returned to its usual soft, sweet tone, but Jin'en could tell this softness was a little different from the kind she put on in front of Broken Rainbow.
The one in front of Broken Rainbow was an act. This one came from genuinely not knowing how to say it.
"When?"
"Before I came out. About..." Porsette tilted her head in thought. "A quarter of an hour ago."
Jin'en glanced toward the end of the corridor.
The light in Inanna's study was on. Warm light seeped beneath the door, laying a narrow orange line across the wooden floor.
"How did you know I was in Broken Rainbow's room?"
Porsette's eyes wandered for a moment.
"I was passing by."
Jin'en didn't call her out.
He took two steps toward the study, then stopped and turned to glance at Porsette.
She was still standing there, clutching her slippers in both hands, her bare feet planted in the corridor's dim light. The hem of her cloak trailed on the floor, gathering a layer of dust.
"Go back and put your shoes on," Jin'en said.
"Oh." Porsette looked down at her feet and turned to leave. After two steps, she looked back. "Big Brother."
"Mm?"
"Mother asking you to come might mean she's going to give me a mission."
Jin'en looked at her.
Porsette's tone was very flat when she said it, completely unlike her usual timid manner.
After saying that, she turned back and kept walking. Her bare feet made very little sound on the wooden floor, and she disappeared around the side corridor.
Jin'en stood in the corridor for two seconds, then headed for the study.
The study door was ajar.
Jin'en knocked twice on the doorframe, and Inanna's voice came from inside.
"Come in."
Inanna sat in an armchair.
The wound along her left ribs had almost healed. The bandages were off, and she had changed into a dark, high-necked top beneath her long trench coat.
Instead of wearing her long, silvery-white hair loose as usual, she had tied it loosely behind her head with a black hair tie. A few stray strands hung beside her ears.
An envelope lay on the low table before her, thinner than yesterday's. Its flap was unsealed, revealing the corner of a photograph inside.
"Close the door."
Jin'en pulled the door shut.
Inanna didn't tell him to sit. She tapped the envelope on the low table with her riding crop.
"Open it."
Jin'en walked over and opened the envelope.
There was only one photograph inside, much smaller than yesterday's picture of Herman. It was a Polaroid, not particularly clear, as if it had been taken from some distance away.
The photograph showed a brightly lit exhibition hall, with a ring inside a glass display case.
The ring itself was hard to make out. All he could discern was a dark stone set into its face, surrounded by a circle of extremely fine silver markings.
Jin'en's fingers paused on the photograph.
Silver markings.
The silver looked much like that of his spatial rifts, but finer and denser, as though engraved with a needle's point.
"An anomaly item, codename 'Devouring Pattern.'" Inanna spoke at an unhurried pace. "Its effect is related to space. Its ability is unknown. The appraisal report only says, 'Can devour spatial ability fluctuations.' It's currently in the hands of a private collector."
Jin'en turned the photograph over. An address was written on the back in pencil.
Twelfth Street, New Hethereau District, and the name of a building.
He had never heard of it.
"The collector's name is Victor Lance," Inanna said. "He's in the art business. Publicly, he doesn't touch anomalies, but he's collected quite a few in secret.
He bought this ring from a secondhand dealer in the Bridge District three years ago for less than a thousand fons. He might not know what the thing is really worth."
"You want me to get it?"
Inanna looked at him, her red eyes dark in the study's warm light.
"Porsette will go."
Jin'en put the photograph back in the envelope and looked at her.
"Are you serious?"
"She needs to go on a mission." Inanna's tone left no room for discussion. "Her ability, Anywhere Door, lets her teleport anywhere within the rules. I am the rules. Wherever I allow her to go, she can go."
"She's eight."
"Daffodil was only eight on her first mission too." Inanna laid the riding crop on the armrest and tapped its end lightly with her fingers. "Broken Rainbow was seven on her first. You were ten, and that didn't even count as a proper mission. You were only staking out a location."
Jin'en said nothing.
Inanna drew another sheet of paper from the stack of documents beside her armchair and placed it on top of the envelope.
A simple floor plan of the building was drawn on the paper, with several key locations circled in red.
"Victor's building has six floors. The collection room is on the fourth floor, at the end of corridor three.
There are normally only two guards. At night, one stays on duty and the other patrols. Neither has abilities. The collection room has an electronic lock, fingerprint and passcode. Broken Rainbow will handle bypassing the fingerprint lock."
"Broken Rainbow is going too?"
"She's handling the perimeter." Inanna tapped the end of the armrest twice with her riding crop. "Porsette will go inside and retrieve the item. You will..."
She paused.
"You will watch over her."
Jin'en picked up the floor plan and scanned it.
Fourth floor, corridor three, electronic lock.
Victor Lance's security really wasn't tight. For someone who collected anomaly items, it was practically an open door.
"How will she get inside?"
"Anywhere Door," Inanna said. "She can teleport herself into any space she's allowed to enter. The exhibition hall or a corridor, as long as it isn't locked shut, she can get in. Once inside, she takes the ring and uses Anywhere Door to come back out."
"What about her ability's restrictions?"
Inanna said, "I told you, I am her rules."
"The range in which I permit her to use her ability is her maximum teleportation radius. This distance is within the permitted range. She can use it."
Jin'en put the floor plan back on the low table.
"Then what do you need me there for?"
"She has no experience." Inanna looked at him. "If she's discovered after getting inside, or the door won't open, or anything unexpected happens, you need to bring her out."
"And after I bring her out?"
Inanna's gaze shifted to his right cuff and lingered for a beat.
"If Victor Lance isn't there, leave it at that." Inanna's voice barely changed in pitch. "But if anyone else sees her face, or yours... handle it yourself."
The study fell silent for a few seconds.
Jin'en sealed the envelope again and held it in his hand.
"Tonight?"
"Tomorrow night." Inanna lifted the riding crop from the armrest and laid it back on the table. "Take her to look over the location during the day tomorrow. The routes around the perimeter, the direction of retreat, backup plans. Teach her."
"How far should I take the lessons?"
"Teach her the way you learned back then." Inanna leaned against the back of her chair and pulled out her hair tie, letting her silvery-white hair fall loose again. "Watch once, memorize once, do it once. Watch from beside her while she does it. Don't intervene unless there's absolutely no other choice."
As Jin'en reached the door, Inanna called him back.
"Jin'en."
He stopped.
"There's one issue with Porsette's ability." Inanna's voice came from behind him. "She needs to 'see' her destination to teleport. She can't teleport somewhere she hasn't seen."
"So I need to take her to scout it out tomorrow."
"Yes." Inanna tapped her fingers against the armrest. "But remember one thing. The range I permit her to teleport within is limited. If she encounters danger during the mission, you're the one without restrictions."
Jin'en pushed open the door. The corridor's wall lamps were on their dim setting, and the door toward Broken Rainbow's room was closed. Porsette's room was in the west wing of the third floor, out of sight from this angle.
He headed toward his own room and glanced into the courtyard as he passed.
The bare tree still stood behind the iron fence, its naked trunk pale beneath the night lights.
Jin'en returned to his room, placed the envelope on the desk, and sat on the edge of the bed.
He took the jar of petroleum jelly out of his pocket.
The jar was small, and less than half its contents had been used.
He unscrewed the lid and sniffed it. It barely had a scent, the same as what he had spread over the cracks on the soles of Broken Rainbow's feet.
He screwed the lid back on and placed it on the nightstand.
Then he opened the drawer, took out the fishing rod, and drew it from its cloth sleeve to inspect it.
The tip wasn't bent, the line hadn't loosened, and the barb's angle was the same as after its last use.
He put the fishing rod away and slipped it into the inside pocket of his trench coat.
He took the dagger off the concealed clasp inside the wardrobe and drew it for a look.
The edge hadn't dulled, and the sheath's clasp had the right tension. He hung it back up.
He had to scout the location tomorrow.
He closed his eyes without taking off his clothes, remaining seated against the headboard.
The next morning, Jin'en found Porsette in the dining room.
She sat at the far end of the long table, a bowl of porridge before her, barely touched.
She wasn't wearing her cloak, but an ivory turtleneck sweater. Her braids had been redone and were a little neater than yesterday.
Flora sat opposite her, eating bread and chatting with the girl beside her, occasionally glancing at Porsette.
Jin'en took two steamed buns and sat down opposite her. Seeing him arrive, Flora found an excuse to pick up her plate and move to the other end of the table.
Porsette looked up at him.
"Finished eating?" Jin'en asked.
"I don't feel like eating."
Jin'en placed a bun beside her bowl.
Porsette looked down at the bun without moving.
Her expression was flat, unlike her usual timid look.
Her gilded eyes looked paler beneath the dining room's fluorescent lights, like two faded copper coins.
"What did Mother tell you last night?" she asked.
"You should know better than I do."
Porsette rubbed a finger along the rim of her bowl.
"She told you to come with me."
"Mm."
Porsette was silent for a few seconds, then picked up the bun and took a bite.
It had a meat filling. She chewed very slowly, as if she really didn't want to eat and was merely looking for something to do.
"Are you scared?" Jin'en asked.
Porsette swallowed her mouthful and shook her head.
"It's not fear," she said, her voice quieter than usual. "It just feels... too soon."
Jin'en didn't press her.
He finished his bun, wiped his hands, and stood up.
"Come find me at the back door when you're done."
Porsette looked up at him, her gilded eyes blinking once.
"Now?"
"Scouting." Jin'en pushed his chair back into place. "You need to see your target to teleport with your ability, right?"
Porsette rubbed her finger along the bowl's rim again.
"How do you know?"
"Mother told me."
Porsette pressed her lips together, then picked up the bun and took another bite.
Jin'en left the dining room and headed toward the side corridor.
As he passed the courtyard, he glanced toward the iron fence. The tree was still bare in the morning light, and the cracks in its trunk were a little deeper than the last time he had looked.
He waited outside the back door.
About five minutes later, Porsette came out through it.
She had put on her cloak but left the hood down, her braids hanging over her chest, and wore that pair of red fingerless gloves.
She walked over to Jin'en and tilted her head back to look at him.
"How are we getting there?"
"Driving."
The car was parked at the end of the gravel road on the hill behind the mansion, the same black one as last time.
The key was in a hidden compartment. Jin'en settled into the driver's seat, and Porsette opened the passenger door and climbed in, gathered the hem of her cloak, and fastened her seat belt.
Jin'en started the engine.
New Hethereau District was on the other side of the city. They drove down from halfway up the hill, took the highway, and drove for about forty minutes.
It was noon on a weekday, and there weren't many cars on the road. Reflections from glass curtain walls flickered across the windshield.
Porsette kept looking out the window without speaking. Her fingers slowly picked at the seat belt, her fingertips rubbing back and forth along the texture of the webbing.
Jin'en glanced at her in the rearview mirror.
"Have you ever cased a place before?"
"No."
"Then I'll teach you today."
Porsette turned her gaze from the window.
"How?"
"Watch first." Jin'en turned off the highway onto New Hethereau District's main road. "When we get there, don't rush inside. Find somewhere across the street to sit down first. Watch the people coming and going from that building, and remember a few key times."
"Key times?"
"Who arrives first in the morning, who leaves last at night. What time the shift changes at noon. When the guard leaves his booth."
Porsette tilted her head and thought for a moment.
"What if I can't remember?"
"Then stake it out for another day." Jin'en turned onto a side street, pulled into a parking space at the corner, and switched off the engine. "You only get one chance to go in. If you're a step too slow coming out, if there's one extra person in the hallway, you could be seen."
Porsette looked down at her fingers and pressed the fingertips of her fingerless gloves against the seat belt.
"What happens if I'm seen?"
Jin'en unfastened his seat belt and turned sideways to look at her.
"What do you think?"
Porsette said nothing.
Her gilded eyes looked very dark in the dim light inside the car. Something shifted in them, but it didn't show on her face.
Jin'en pushed open the car door.
"Get out."
The building was across the street, a six-story gray-and-white structure with floor-to-ceiling glass across the front, a reception desk at the entrance, and a freight elevator passage along the side.
Jin'en led Porsette around from the side street into the back alley. The alley was narrow, with the building's fire exit on one side and a row of low walls topped with wire mesh on the other.
Jin'en stopped at the mouth of the alley, leaned sideways against the corner, and tipped his chin toward the fire exit.
"That door," he said. "Iron, opens outward. You can push it open from inside. Once you're out, turn left and go through this alley. There's a main road at the end. A car can wait there to pick you up."
Porsette stood beside him, looking up at the iron fire door.
There was rust on the frame, the handle had been worn shiny, and a ring of scratches surrounded the hole for the latch.
"The lock's old," she said.
"Mm."
"There's no electronic lock inside?"
"The electronic lock's on the fourth floor." Jin'en went over the floor plan in his mind. "You can go anywhere from the first floor to the third. Only the door at the end of the fourth-floor hallway has a fingerprint lock."
Porsette took her eyes off the fire exit and looked down at her hands.
"My ability can bypass locks," she said very softly. "When Anywhere Door teleports me, I don't need to go through a door."
"So you're going straight into the collection room."
"Mm."
"What about getting out?"
Porsette was silent for a beat.
"I'll teleport out too."
Jin'en leaned against the corner with his arms folded, watching her.
Porsette stood in the alley, the draft lifting the hem of her cloak. The red cross patch looked vividly red in the afternoon light.
"Does teleporting make any noise?" he asked.
Porsette shook her head.
"Any light?"
"No."
"Then what are you afraid of?"
Porsette lifted her head to look at him.
Her gilded eyes were a little brighter than usual in the afternoon light, reflecting the sliver of daylight coming through the mouth of the alley.
"I'm afraid I won't be the only one inside," she said evenly.
Jin'en didn't answer.
She had put it very plainly.
She couldn't handle the security in the collection room. If anyone else was inside, her ability would be useless except for running away.
And to run, she had to be able to see her destination. If someone trapped her in the room and she couldn't see what was outside, she wouldn't even be able to escape.
"Tomorrow night, I'll make sure the hallway is empty before you go in," Jin'en said. "Thirty seconds after you enter, you have to come out, whether you've got it or not."
"Will thirty seconds be enough?"
"If it isn't, don't take the job."
Porsette looked away, turning back to the fire exit.
Another gust swept into the alley, making the end of her braid sway.
"It will," she said.
Jin'en straightened up from the corner.
"Let's head back."
He turned toward the mouth of the alley, then stopped after two steps and glanced back at Porsette.
She was still standing where she had been, the wind pressing the hem of her cloak against her legs. The animal ears on her hood drooped, and her hands hung at her sides, her fingers slightly curled.
"Something else?"
Porsette took her eyes off the fire exit and hurried two steps to catch up, looking up at his profile.
"Big brother."
"Mm."
"Why didn't you ask if I was scared?"
Jin'en turned his head and glanced at her.
"You already said it in the car," he said, continuing forward. "'I'm not scared.' Your words."
Porsette followed half a step behind him, walking for a while without speaking.
The wind in the alley blew her braid forward, brushing it against the back of her hand. She reached up and gently pushed it back.
When they reached the parking space, Jin'en opened the car door. Porsette climbed in from the other side, fastened her seat belt, and tucked the hem of her cloak into the gap between the seat and the door.
Jin'en started the car.
Porsette stayed silent on the drive back.
She leaned back in her seat, her head turned toward the window. The streetlights on the overpass came on one by one, and the sky shifted from gray-blue to dark orange.
When the car neared the Bridge District, Porsette suddenly spoke.
"Big brother."
"Mm."
"Did anyone go with you to case the place on your first mission?"
Jin'en's hands stayed on the wheel, his gaze on the road ahead.
"No."
Porsette turned to look at him.
"Then how did you do it the first time?"
"Staked it out for three days." Jin'en turned the wheel onto the road climbing halfway up the hill. "Watched the people on the first day, checked the routes on the second, made my move on the third. When I did, I discovered an extra camera had been installed in the back alley the day before. It didn't catch me."
Porsette tilted her head.
"Then what?"
"Then Mother had someone take the camera down."
Porsette looked at him for two seconds, then the corner of her mouth moved.
It was a very slight curve, not enough to show her little fang, but she was definitely smiling.
"So you missed something when you cased it."
"Everyone does the first time." Jin'en drove onto the gravel road, stopped outside the mansion's back entrance, and switched off the engine. "It's fine to miss something. What matters is knowing how to make up for it afterward."
Porsette unfastened her seat belt but didn't hurry to get out. She sat with both hands on her knees, the fingertips of her red fingerless gloves lightly touching.
"Tomorrow night," she said very softly, as though confirming something.
"Tomorrow night."
Porsette pushed open the door and got out, the evening breeze stirring the hem of her cloak.
She walked around the front of the car to Jin'en's side and stood beside the door, looking up at him.
"Big brother."
"What is it now?"
"If I don't come out tomorrow," Porsette said, her tone so flat that it was completely at odds with her usual soft, sweet manner, "how long will you wait outside?"
Jin'en pulled out the car key and slipped it into his pocket.
"Until you come out," he said.
(PS: Please, please, help this poor author promote the book-I'm begging you!!!)