When Jin'en returned from the Bridge District docks, dawn had yet to break.
He skipped the side corridor and went around to the bare tree in the backyard, standing beneath it for two seconds to suppress the mingled smell of rust and old cardboard on him.
Only then did he slip back to his room.
The door was open.
Porsette stood inside, without her cloak, her braid undone, holding the little wooden-handled knife in her arms-she had carved it herself and sharpened the blade.
When she saw him enter, her fingers loosened on the handle.
"You went to the docks."
Jin'en didn't deny it. He entered, closed the door behind him, and draped his coat over the back of a chair.
"You haven't slept."
"You were gone for four hours." Porsette put the knife back beneath her pillow, her voice level. "I heard you leave through the hidden door. Before, when you went out, you were back in two hours at most."
Jin'en sat on the edge of the bed without answering.
He knew the girl lived by her ears and her wits while staying in the mansion.
She memorized coordinates down to the positions of streetlights, and she remembered how long each of his missions took as clearly as a bus route.
"What was in the container?" she asked.
Jin'en pulled the photographs from inside his coat and spread them on the table.
He hadn't brought them back. He hadn't touched a thing, but he had memorized them.
"A Prism hideout. The row of containers by the sea at the Bridge District docks, sixth from west to east," he said. "Electronic lock. Five people inside, four playing cards and one sleeping. The shelves were full of photos of you, from the mansion's back door to the library to Unheard-of Bay. They even recorded how long you stood there."
Porsette stared at the photographs. The light was dim, and she couldn't see them clearly, but she listened closely.
"The latest one was taken the day I used you as bait," Jin'en said. "There was a line written on the back."
"What did it say?"
"The bait is set. Wait for her to leave the mansion."
Porsette said nothing.
She lowered her head, brushed her fingers against the edge of the bedding, then quickly lifted them away.
"They didn't know I left the mansion."
"They knew. When you followed me to the library that day, they followed you the whole way. They just didn't act."
"Why didn't they?"
"They want living coordinates. A dead person's teleportation ability isn't worth anything."
Jin'en had said that once in the car.
The second time he said it, Porsette caught his meaning.
She tilted her head.
"You're trying to tell me I can't go out now."
"More or less." Jin'en leaned against the wall at the head of the bed and closed his eyes. "Prism's people are waiting outside the mansion, waiting for you to step out. The moment you leave, they'll follow."
"What about you?"
"I don't have to go out with you." Jin'en opened his eyes. "I can hit them from inside the mansion."
Porsette didn't understand that, but she didn't press him.
She knew Jin'en's temperament all too well-the more lightly he spoke, the bigger the matter.
The following afternoon, Inanna summoned Jin'en to the study.
She sat in an armchair, her long silver-white hair tied back, a stack of documents spread before her.
She didn't look up when Jin'en entered.
"How did you handle that Zhou fellow in the Bridge District?"
"It's handled." Jin'en stood across the low table from her. "His supplier is Prism. They specialize in collecting spatial coordinates. I found their storage hideout, but left it alone."
Inanna's fingers paused on the edge of a document.
"You found it and left it alone?"
"Acting would tip them off," Jin'en said. "They're watching Porsette, waiting for her to leave the mansion herself. If I wipe out the hideout now, they'll move somewhere more concealed and harder to investigate."
Inanna closed the documents and looked up at him.
"You're planning to fish."
"Yes."
"Using Porsette as bait."
"No," Jin'en said. "Using the hideout as bait. Someone will come when they move their things. If I follow the movers, I can trace them to their roots."
Inanna didn't respond.
She watched Jin'en, her red eyes looking deep in color under the study's warm light.
"You haven't been yourself lately," she said suddenly.
Jin'en didn't move.
"Your right hand." Inanna's gaze fell on the hand hanging at his side. "Ever since you returned from the Bridge District, your right hand has kept moving. Haven't you noticed?"
Jin'en slipped his right hand into his pocket.
"It's fine."
"You've said that twice." Inanna's voice held little inflection. "The last time you said that was the night Daffodil stabbed me. You expect me to believe you're fine?"
Jin'en didn't answer.
"You handle Prism." Inanna waved a hand. "But don't throw yourself away over it. Porsette's coordinates aren't worth your life."
Jin'en turned to leave.
"Jin'en." Inanna stopped him again.
He halted.
"If you find their roots, don't go wipe them out alone," Inanna said. "You're not Red Letter's only blade."
Jin'en left the study without looking back.
In the corridor, Broken Rainbow waited for him against the wall at the corner.
She wasn't barefoot today. She wore old cloth shoes, her hair tied into a crooked braid.
She clutched that dark red braided cord.
"What did Mother say to you?"
"About Prism."
"She told you not to wipe them out alone?"
Jin'en glanced at her.
She was always well informed.
"What have you found?" he asked.
Broken Rainbow wound the cord back around her wrist, her green eyes on him, and lowered her voice. "The abandoned bus stop on the road outside the mansion. Someone's been staking it out for three days. Stays still by day, moves at night, watching the back door."
"I know," Jin'en said. "A lookout. I dealt with him yesterday."
"Dealt with him?"
"Sent him back to report that watching Red Letter's back door was useless. The girl won't leave the mansion."
Broken Rainbow tilted her head and studied him for two seconds, then curled her lips up, revealing her pointed canines.
"You certainly know how to counter a move," she said. "Send him back with a report, and when he returns, his contact will know something's wrong. Those people in the hideout will probably move tonight."
Jin'en didn't respond.
He knew. That was exactly what he wanted.
That night, Jin'en waited at the docks.
He didn't enter the container yard. He crouched behind a second-floor window in an abandoned warehouse across from it, spreading Spatial Perception to encompass the sixth container from west to east.
At eleven forty, someone pulled the container door open from inside.
Five people filed out.
The one who had been sleeping came last, carrying a large, bulging travel bag.
Instead of heading for the main gate, they circled around to the employee passage at the side of the yard, where a silver van waited.
Its engine was running, its exhaust rising white beneath the streetlights.
Jin'en didn't move.
Crouched behind the window, he watched the silver van turn onto the docks' main road and head toward New Hethereau District.
He memorized the license plate and the route before coming down from the warehouse.
But he didn't drive after them.
He returned to the mansion and stood behind the large rock on the rear hill.
Dark flowing light seeped from his palm, condensing into a black rod.
Holding the rod, he touched it against the trunk of the short tree beside him.
The bark bulged, collapsed, and crumbled into powder, twice as much as last time.
The film of dark light at the rod's tip shone brighter than yesterday.
Jin'en put the black rod away and looked at his right hand.
Inanna had said she could tell.
Daffodil had said it absorbed things. Porsette had said she could work with it.
He had to train this power until it was fit to be shown before showing it to anyone.
On the evening of the third day, the silver van appeared again.
This time, Jin'en didn't crouch in the warehouse.
He waited on the shoulder outside the docks' employee passage, keeping within a streetlight's shadow.
The van pulled into the passage. Its door slid open, and two people got out, carrying cardboard boxes inside.
Jin'en followed, keeping more than twenty meters behind.
He didn't follow them inside.
He memorized the license plate and the direction the van had come from-not New Hethereau District, but west, toward the boundary between the Bridge District and Miguel District.
On the fourth day, he followed that lead.
A row of old storefronts stood at the boundary. One bore a sign reading "Logistics," its iron door half-closed.
Jin'en didn't go inside. He crouched across the street, watching the comings and goings at the storefront.
At three in the afternoon, a black sedan stopped outside. Someone got out, wearing a dark long coat and gloves, entered the storefront, then emerged ten minutes later, got into the car, and left.
Jin'en didn't follow the car.
He memorized the person's appearance and the car's license plate.
Then he turned and returned to the mansion.
Porsette waited for him at the hidden door in the side corridor.
She asked nothing, only watched him.
"I found it," Jin'en said. "The movers took the things into a logistics storefront on the boundary between Miguel District and the Bridge District. Someone came to inspect the goods this afternoon. Dark coat, gloves. Sat there for ten minutes, then left."
"Someone from Prism?"
"I don't know," Jin'en said. "But he came to inspect the goods. The goods were the coordinate files on you and the others."
Porsette was quiet for a while.
"He sat there for ten minutes and left," she said. "People who come to inspect goods like that usually leave something behind. A car, or a person."
Jin'en looked at her.
"You want to go see."
"Yes." Porsette nodded. "I haven't seen that storefront yet. Take me there, let me have a look and save the coordinates. Next time, no matter where he opens a door, as long as I've seen that storefront, I can get there."
Jin'en didn't answer immediately.
He stood in the dim light of the side corridor, looking at Porsette.
This girl had used the words "I can get to your side" again and again.
Every time, it wasn't just talk. She laid out the work she could actually do.
"We'll go tomorrow," Jin'en said. "In daylight, when there are plenty of people. We won't stand out in the crowd."
Porsette nodded.
She said nothing more and turned toward the third floor.
After two steps, she stopped again. Without looking back, she added very softly, "Big brother, you were right that day-it's fine to step through a weak spot. What matters is knowing how to patch it."
The corridor fell quiet again.
Jin'en stood where he was, watching her back as she turned onto the stairs.
The silver markings on his right wrist were quiet.
But he knew the Prism trail had already led to that storefront.
Next came the person in the dark coat.
And that person was most likely Prism's real contact in this part of the Bridge District.