Jin'en was woken by a knock at the door.
"Come in."
The door opened a crack.
Porsette poked half her head through the gap.
"Brother." She stayed outside the threshold without coming in. "Mother wants you at the training ground."
Jin'en glanced out the window.
Dawn had barely broken, and the gray light had yet to spread fully.
"Now?"
"She said now."
Jin'en stood up and rolled his shoulders.
His trench coat had pressed against him all night, leaving the fabric along the shoulders and back covered in creases.
He followed Porsette out of the room. The wall lamps in the corridor had already returned to their normal daytime brightness. Flora ran past from the opposite side with books in her arms and gave them an extra glance when she saw them coming out together.
"What are you looking at?" Porsette said.
"Nothing." Flora ran off with her books.
All the lights in the training ground were on, their white glare washing the iron-sand floor pale.
Inanna stood before the thickest wooden post in the center of the grounds. She wore no trench coat, and the sleeves of her high-necked undershirt were rolled halfway up her forearms.
An open metal case sat on the ground before her, lined with black velvet, with a recess in the center.
The recess was empty.
"A mold of the ring," Inanna said without looking up.
"The dimensions and weight of the Devouring Pattern. What you bring back tonight has to fit into this recess exactly."
Jin'en walked over for a look.
The recess was shaped much like the ring he had seen in the photo last night, but it gave him a clearer sense of it-the ring was small, its face about the size of a coin, with a very thin band. The silver pattern from the photo had been carved into the bottom of the recess.
"Victor Lance's collection room is on the fourth floor, at the end of corridor three." Inanna rose from beside the metal case. Instead of her pointer, she held a pen.
She had already pinned an enlarged floor plan to the white wall beside the training ground and marked the route in red.
"The door lock is on the right side of the corridor. It's electronic-there's a surveillance camera at the end of the corridor, angled slightly left, with a blind spot along the base of the right wall.
Porsette will enter the third floor through the fire escape, take the stairs to the fourth floor, turn right out of the stairwell, and follow the right wall to the end of the corridor."
Porsette stood beside Jin'en, listening quietly with both hands in her cloak pockets.
"You have thirty seconds once you're inside." Inanna looked at Porsette. "Ten seconds to find the ring, ten to verify it, ten to leave. Once thirty seconds are up, teleport straight back to the fallback point, whether you have it or not."
"Where's the fallback point?"
"The corner landing on the third floor of the fire escape." Inanna circled it on the floor plan with her pen. "You saw it when you scouted the place. The window faces the back alley, and anyone passing can see where you are. Teleport from there, and you won't appear in anyone's line of sight."
Porsette nodded.
"Jin'en."
Jin'en looked at her.
Inanna said, "You won't be inside the building. You'll stand by at the fire escape exit in the back alley.
If Porsette isn't out within thirty seconds, you go in."
"Once you're inside, if there's no one in the corridor, bring her out. If anyone has seen her face-"
She paused for a beat.
"Dispose of them."
"Victor himself won't be there tonight. He's attending the opening of an art exhibition in the New Hethereau District. But the building has security on duty at night. Their numbers vary, and none have abilities." Inanna set the pen on the small table beside the floor plan. "You learned the remaining details while scouting last night. You leave at eleven tonight."
She paused at the training ground exit and turned sideways to glance at Porsette.
"Once you're out, go straight back to the car. Whatever happens inside, don't look back."
Porsette nodded.
Inanna left.
Only Jin'en and Porsette remained in the training ground.
White light poured down from overhead, washing the iron-sand floor pale and revealing every blade mark on the thick wooden post.
Porsette stood before the floor plan, looking up at it for a while.
She pulled her fingers from her cloak pocket and, wearing fingerless gloves, traced the red-marked route without quite touching it.
"Brother, will you be in the back alley the whole time tonight?"
Jin'en said, "The whole time."
Porsette drew her hand back from the floor plan and turned to look at him.
"I make a sound when I teleport," she said softly.
"It's very quiet, but in a quiet place, someone might hear it.
The camera at the end of the fourth-floor corridor doesn't record sound, but the security guards have a duty room at the other end, and its door is open."
Jin'en looked at her.
"Why didn't you tell me when we scouted the place last night?"
"I didn't go inside last night." Porsette pressed her lower lip tight. "I thought of all this after I got back last night."
Jin'en said nothing.
He went over the route on the floor plan again in his head.
The duty room was at the other end of the corridor, about thirty meters from the collection room.
If Porsette's teleportation made only a faint sound, but the security guards left their door open, then in the quiet of night, at a distance of thirty meters...
"Before you go in..." Jin'en said, "I'll wait against the wall in the back alley. If you hear anything in the collection room, don't hesitate. Teleport straight out. If you don't get the item, you don't get it."
Porsette looked at him.
"But Mother..."
"Mother told you to complete the mission," Jin'en said. "She didn't tell you to throw your life away."
Eleven that night.
The car stopped at a corner two streets away from the Victor Building's back alley.
Jin'en sat in the driver's seat, his trench coat buttoned, his fishing rod tucked into an inside pocket, and his dagger hanging from a concealed clasp.
Porsette sat in the passenger seat with her cloak's hood pulled up, its animal-ear-shaped fabric sticking up on either side of her head.
Both hands rested on her knees, the fingertips of her red fingerless gloves touching intermittently.
"We're here." Jin'en switched off the engine.
They got out and followed the shadows to the back alley.
The alley was narrow, with wet moss creeping over the walls on both sides.
The iron fire escape door stood halfway down the alley, the rust on its frame dark in the stray light from the streetlamps.
Jin'en stopped at the alley entrance, leaned against the wall, and turned his head to glance toward the iron door.
It was about twenty meters from here to the door. Three seconds at a run, less than one with Spatial Folding.
But folding would produce spatial fluctuations. If the building really had sensory-type security personnel, folding would mean exposing himself.
Porsette stood beside him and looked up at the fire escape window.
The window on the third-floor corner landing stood half open toward the back alley. Nothing sat on the sill, and the glass gleamed faintly in the night.
"I'm going in," she said.
Jin'en looked down at her.
"Thirty seconds."
Porsette nodded, then took a step forward. Nothing happened.
No light, no sound, not even a disturbance in the air.
Her figure vanished from the alley, as though someone had cut a piece out of a picture.
Jin'en leaned against the wall, his right hand in his trench coat pocket, his fingertips touching the fishing rod.
He didn't check his watch.
The seconds ticked through his mind from the moment she disappeared.
Ten seconds.
There was only the sound of night wind funneling into the alley and the occasional passing car on the distant main road.
Twenty seconds.
Nothing stirred in the fire escape behind the iron door. The window on the third-floor corner landing remained as it was, half open and pitch-black.
Twenty-five seconds.
Jin'en withdrew his right hand from his pocket. The silver markings lay quiet beneath his cuff, unlit.
Twenty-eight seconds.
A very faint sound came from behind the iron door, like a sole scuffing against concrete.
Jin'en took two steps toward the iron door, his combat boots soundless on the damp bricks.
Thirty seconds were up.
The silver markings on Jin'en's right wrist lit up. He opened no rift, using only folding.
His body vanished from midway down the alley and reappeared on the third-floor corner landing.
The window was half open, wind pouring in from outside, and a thin layer of dust covered the concrete floor.
Porsette stood in the corner of the landing, her cloak's hem dusty and her hood askew.
Her right hand clutched something, and her gilded eyes shone strikingly bright in the dim light.
But her left hand was shaking.
"Did you get it?" Jin'en asked.
Porsette nodded and opened her right hand.
A ring lay in her palm, its face set with a dark stone. The band was thin, with a circle of silver markings on its surface, exactly like the photo.
She closed her hand, clutching the ring in her palm again.
"There were people inside," she said.
Jin'en looked at her.
"The security guards changed shifts." Porsette kept her voice very low, speaking faster than usual. "The collection room wasn't locked when I went in. The door was ajar, and the lights were on inside. Someone was going through the cabinets."
"How many?"
"Two." Porsette's grip tightened. "They wore black jackets. They weren't the building's security guards. They had lock-picking tools and were going through the display cases."
Jin'en's Spatial Perception spread through his consciousness.
He knew where the collection room was, its coordinates at the end of the corridor.
One fold could take him from the third-floor landing to the collection room, but it would produce spatial fluctuations.
"Did they see you?"
"No." Porsette shook her head. "They were behind the display cases when I went in, with their backs to the door. I took the ring and teleported straight out."
"Are you sure they didn't hear you teleport?"
Porsette didn't answer.
Her gilded eyes watched Jin'en's face, her lips pressed together.
"Brother," she said. "They went through more than one cabinet. I saw three empty display boxes on the floor when I went in."
Jin'en stepped back from the edge of the landing.
His right hand rested inside his trench coat. He had already drawn the fishing rod, its shaft pressed against his ribs.
He took the dagger off its concealed clasp and secured the sheath behind his waist.
"Go back to the car," he said.
Porsette looked at him.
"You said if anyone saw-"
"No one saw you."
Jin'en's voice was level. "You took the item and got out. Those two came to steal things, not to look at you. Go back to the car, lock the doors, and wait for me."
Porsette stood in the corner of the landing, the wind lifting the hem of her cloak.
Her right hand hung at her side, clutching the ring, the fingertips of her red fingerless glove curling slightly.
"Will you come back?" she said.
"Yes."
Porsette looked at him for two seconds, then took a step back.
Her figure vanished from the landing, as silently as she had come.
The window remained open, and the night wind poured in from outside, stirring the dust on the landing.
Jin'en turned to face the fire escape stairs. The silver markings on his right wrist lit up, and space folded before him.
When he reappeared, he was at the end of the fourth-floor corridor.
The collection room door stood ajar, warm yellow light spilling through the gap.
Jin'en pressed himself against the right wall of the corridor and spread his Spatial Perception-there were two coordinates inside the collection room, both behind the display cases, about five meters from the doorway.
At the other end of the corridor, the duty room's door was closed and its lights were on, but there were no human coordinates inside.
Jin'en took a deep breath. He didn't use the fishing rod.
He needed to make a noise to get those two to turn around, but he couldn't use a spatial rift-its radius would be too large and would shred the contents of the display cases as well.
He drew the dagger from behind his waist and held it in a reverse grip. Then he edged sideways toward the gap in the door and tapped the doorframe twice with the end of the sheath.
The sound wasn't loud, but it was clear enough in the quiet corridor.
The two coordinates inside the collection room paused for a beat.
Then one set of footsteps approached the doorway while the other stayed where it was.
The door was pulled open from inside.
A man in a black jacket stood in the doorway, clutching a crowbar.
His pupils contracted for a split second when he saw Jin'en. He raised the crowbar and forced out a "You-"
Jin'en's dagger drove upward beneath his ribs, its tip slipping past the bones at an angle.
The man's mouth was still open. The crowbar slipped from his hand and struck the floor with a loud clang.
Jin'en caught the crowbar in his left hand and pulled out the dagger with his right. The man pitched forward a step and collapsed at his feet.
The other person in the collection room had already rushed to the side of a display case.
Jin'en heard metal clinking-the man was pulling something out.
He gave him no chance to draw it.
He hurled the crowbar from his left hand into the display case's glass door. The crash of shattering glass exploded through the collection room.
The man's movements faltered for a moment. Jin'en had already stepped over the fallen man and reached the side of the display case in two strides.
The second man was more heavily built than the first, with a short blade clenched in his hand.
Jin'en's dagger was shorter than his, but Jin'en had no intention of crossing blades with him. He turned sideways to evade the first slash. The silver markings on his right wrist flashed, and an extremely thin rift opened in space before his palm.
The rift extended along the short blade and closed at the man's wrist.
The man's blade fell from his hand.
A red line as fine as a hair appeared on his wrist. Before blood could seep out, his entire hand had already lost its grip.
Jin'en's dagger followed immediately, piercing the side of his neck, its tip cutting in at an angle, clean and decisive.
The man struck the display case beside him as he fell, scattering broken glass across the floor.
The collection room fell silent.
Jin'en stood between the broken glass and the two corpses, taking a couple of breaths.
The silver markings on his right wrist had already dimmed, and the rift had closed without a trace.
He glanced down at his hand-blood coated the dagger's blade, dripping from its tip to leave several dark red spots on the floor.
He did not linger.
He wiped the dagger twice on the man's black jacket and sheathed it behind his waist.
He left the crowbar where it was.
He backed out of the collection room, pulled the door shut, and headed along the corridor toward the stairs.
The fire escape's iron door was downstairs.
Jin'en climbed out through a window on the third-floor landing. His combat boots hit the brick paving of the back alley with a dull thud.
He walked briskly through the alley to the parking space at the corner.
The car was still where he had left it.
The passenger door was locked. Porsette sat inside with her hood down, her braid hanging over her chest.
Her shoulders relaxed a little when she saw Jin'en open the car door.
"Got it?" Jin'en settled into the driver's seat and started the engine.
Porsette opened her right hand.
The ring lay in her palm, the dark stone set into it reflecting a faint gleam under the dashboard lights.
The silver markings on the band were very fine, denser than they had looked in the photograph, as though they had been repeatedly engraved with a needle's tip.
Jin'en glanced at the markings around the band.
"Put it away," he said.
Porsette closed her hand around the ring, tucked it into the pocket inside her cloak, and zipped it shut.
She leaned back in her seat and turned to glance at Jin'en.
"You have blood on you."
Jin'en glanced down at his trench coat.
A few dark red stains marked the cuffs and collar, already soaked into the fabric.
"We'll talk when we get back."
The car turned onto the main road. Streetlights slid across the windshield one after another.
Porsette leaned back in her seat without saying anything more, both hands resting on her knees, the fingertips of her red fingerless gloves lightly touching the pocket zipper.
When the car reached halfway up the mountain, Porsette suddenly spoke.
"Big brother, those two people inside."
"Did they see you?"
Jin'en said, "They did."
Porsette turned her head to look at him.
Her gilded eyes looked very dark in the dim light inside the car, with something in them that Jin'en could not name.
"Then you-"
"Dealt with them."
Porsette turned her gaze away and looked at the road ahead.
Streetlight swept across her face, alternating light and shadow, while the end of her braid swayed against her shoulder.