The logistics storefront stood on the street at the border between Miguel District and the Bridge District. It rarely opened even during the day.
Jin'en parked in the alley diagonally opposite and cut the engine.
Porsette sat in the passenger seat, her cloak tucked into her sweater, her hood down, and her braid tightly plaited.
"The storefront faces the street. The roller shutter is halfway down, and there are crates piled inside.
"The back door leads into a narrow alley. People can get through at either end," Jin'en said.
"What you need to look at isn't inside the storefront. It's the back alley."
"Why?"
"If you go through the front, you have to pass the counter, and the person sitting behind it will get a clear look at your face. No one's watching the back alley. Teleport in, take a look at the back door, and come straight back."
Porsette nodded and pushed open the car door.
They circled around from the alley to the entrance of the narrow lane behind the logistics storefront.
Jin'en stopped against the wall at the alley entrance and spread out his Spatial Perception, sweeping the back alley-two living signatures, one inside the storefront's back door, the other standing against the wall halfway down the alley, smoking, like a lookout.
"People here," Jin'en said. "One inside the back door, one in the alley."
Porsette poked her head around the alley entrance for a look, then pulled back.
"I'll teleport behind that dumpster beside the back door and crouch there for three seconds. Enough?"
"What can you see in three seconds?"
"What the back door looks like, what kind of lock it has, how many windows are in the wall, and where the other end of the alley leads," Porsette said. "That's enough. The coordinates store the location. I can think over the details once I'm back."
Jin'en glanced at her.
"Three seconds. If you're not back by the time I count to three, I'm going in."
"Okay."
Porsette took a step forward.
No light, no sound. She was gone.
Jin'en leaned against the wall at the alley entrance and took his right hand out of his pocket. He hadn't formed the fishing rod, but he could already feel that film of dark attribute waiting beneath the skin of his palm.
One second.
The lookout in the alley was still smoking, the ember of his cigarette glowing and dimming in the dark.
Two seconds.
The living signature inside the back door hadn't moved. Its position hadn't changed.
Three seconds.
Porsette appeared at the alley entrance, her back against the wall, and took a breath.
"Finished looking," she said. "The back door is sheet metal, with a lock hanging outside. An old-fashioned padlock, not an electronic one. The other end of the alley leads to a cross street in Miguel District. I saw the street sign."
"Windows in the wall?"
"One to the left of the back door. The glass is broken, and it's boarded up. None on the right."
Jin'en withdrew his Spatial Perception and pulled her two steps deeper into the alley, out of the lookout's possible line of sight.
"That living signature inside the storefront-did you hear anything when you teleported?"
"Someone rummaging through cardboard boxes. He was moving things, not coming toward the door."
Jin'en thought for a moment.
"Did the lookout have the key to the back door's padlock on him?"
"I didn't see. From where I teleported, I could only get a clear look at the back door. The lookout was halfway down the alley, more than ten meters away."
Jin'en leaned against the wall and fell silent for two seconds.
"The coordinates you saved today are for that spot outside the back door.
"If we need to get through the back door next time, the lock will be in the way. You'll have to teleport straight inside."
Porsette tilted her head.
"I haven't seen inside the door. Teleportation requires me to 'see' the destination."
"So today was a wasted trip?"
"It wasn't."
Porsette said, "I saw what it was like inside the back door. Light came through beneath the doorframe, which means there's space inside. It isn't blocked off.
"The boards over that broken window to the left of the back door weren't nailed tight. There was a gap between them. I pressed up against it and looked inside. There's a small compartment, with shelving against the wall and cardboard boxes piled on the floor."
Jin'en listened and nodded.
"Did you see anything on the boxes when you looked through that gap?"
Porsette paused for a beat.
"...How did you know I saw something?"
"When you came back, your right hand clenched inside your pocket. That habit of yours, gripping something-you only do it when you see something important."
Porsette took her right hand out of her pocket and opened it.
Her palm was empty, but she traced a shape in the air with her finger.
"There was a mark printed on the side of a box. A triangle with a vertical line through the middle."
Jin'en said nothing.
Prism.
"Does that mark have anything to do with the envelope from that Zhou guy?" Porsette asked.
"There wasn't a mark on Zhou's envelope. But the shape of that mark-" Jin'en traced it out, the three corners of a triangle and a vertical line down the middle. "It fits the codename Prism. Light passes through a prism and spreads out. That vertical line in the middle is the incoming light."
Porsette lowered her hand.
"So those boxes are Prism's goods. What's inside?"
"Your file, my photos, possibly Daffodil's too," Jin'en said. "Prism collects spatial-type coordinates. You're not the only one."
At the far end of the alley, the lookout tossed his cigarette butt to the ground, crushed it underfoot, and turned to walk deeper into the alley.
Jin'en pressed a hand to Porsette's shoulder. They stayed motionless in the shadows at the foot of the wall.
The lookout passed three or four meters in front of them, then turned into an even narrower gap beside the logistics storefront's back door without looking back.
His footsteps receded.
Jin'en let go.
"Let's go."
They withdrew from the back alley and circled back to where the car was parked.
Once Porsette got in, she pulled up her hood. Jin'en started the engine but didn't hurry onto the main road. He waited in the alley for a while, watching the rearview mirror to see whether anyone followed them out.
No one did.
"You did fine today." Jin'en pulled out. "Three seconds. You didn't run over, and no one saw you."
Porsette took off her hood and turned to look at him.
"You said 'go inside the door next time.'"
"Yes."
"You're planning to have me teleport straight inside."
Jin'en turned the steering wheel and took the road toward the mountainside.
"Next time, the target is those boxes. We need to take a look at what's inside and confirm just how many people's coordinates Prism has collected.
"Save the coordinates for that compartment inside the back door. Next time, go straight in, search one box, see what's inside, and take a picture or bring out a sheet of paper."
"What if someone's inside?"
"I'll lure away the lookout outside first. When you go in, you'll have to deal with the man moving goods inside the back door yourself."
Porsette went quiet for two seconds.
"I can't handle him. I have no combat ability."
"You don't need to fight," Jin'en said.
"Open a portal behind him and make some noise to get him to turn around, then come out from the other side. By the time he turns to look, you'll already be outside."
Porsette thought for a moment.
"...I'll try."
"Not try. If you can do it, do it. If you can't, say you can't. Tell me now that you can't, and I'll change the plan."
Porsette turned to look out the window and lightly tapped her knee twice.
"I can do it," she said. "But I need to practice. I've never tried opening a portal behind someone."
"Practice when we get back. Tomorrow afternoon, at the training ground."
As the car turned onto the gravel road halfway up the mountain, Porsette suddenly spoke.
"Big Brother."
"Yes?"
"Does Sister Daffodil know Prism is collecting her coordinates?"
"She knows. Zhou said Prism approached her, but she turned them down."
"Then why did she turn them down?"
Jin'en cut the engine and pulled out the key.
"Go ask her."
Porsette pushed open the car door and stood on the gravel road, looking up at the mansion's back wall.
The mountain breeze stirred the hem of her cloak.
"She's in the Bridge District," she said. "I can't teleport there. I've never saved the coordinates of her bungalow."
Jin'en locked the car and headed toward the concealed door in the side corridor.
"I'll take you to save them next time."
That evening, Jin'en spent an hour at the training ground, teaching Porsette to practice "opening a portal behind someone."
He stood two meters behind her and had her open the portal's exit behind him, then immediately come out from the other side.
The first two times, Porsette placed the portal wrong and teleported to Jin'en's left instead of behind him. Jin'en used Spatial Perception to track her landing point and pointed out the error.
On the third try, she teleported to a spot roughly half a step behind Jin'en, emerging behind his left shoulder, then took two steps back and steadied herself.
"That was right," Jin'en said.
"Remember that feeling. You don't measure the portal's landing point with your eyes. You work it out through the spatial sense you have after standing in that spot. Before you teleport, you need a map in your head of 'where he is, and where I want to come out.'"
Porsette nodded, panting.
After three teleports, her face was a little paler than before.
"That's enough for today," Jin'en said. "Three is your limit. No more practice."
Porsette didn't push herself. She braced her hands on her knees and caught her breath, then followed him toward the stairs.
When they reached the bend in the corridor, Broken Rainbow was waiting against the wall.
She had changed into dark trousers and wasn't wearing her cloth shoes. She stood barefoot on the wooden floor, holding a braided cord.
"Finished practicing?" she asked.
"Yes," Porsette said.
"Got the hang of opening a portal behind someone?"
"I did."
Broken Rainbow tilted her head, her green eyes shifting.
"Then before you open a portal on tomorrow's mission, think one thing through: you're opening it behind him, but someone else might be behind you. When you come out, look both ways first. Don't just walk straight ahead."
Porsette looked at her.
"Are you teaching me this because you learned it the hard way?"
Broken Rainbow wound the braided cord back around her wrist.
"The first time I used the Eye of Bewilderment in the Eye-Carving Bird's dungeon, I thought everyone in front of me had gone down.
"But there was still one behind me. He nearly slit my throat," she said evenly. "Afterward, my sister taught me something: before coming out, feel whether there's any wind behind you."
Porsette didn't answer, but Jin'en saw her fingers lightly dip in a nod inside her cloak pocket.
Broken Rainbow turned and left. The sound of her bare feet on the floor soon faded.
Porsette stood in the corridor and turned to look at Jin'en.
"What time are we leaving tomorrow?"
"Afternoon. The storefront is busy then. The lookout in the back alley goes to buy food at the street entrance at three. Go in during that gap."
Before Porsette opened her door and returned to her room, she looked back and added something.
"Big Brother."
"Go ahead."
"When you're waiting outside for me tomorrow, don't stand directly opposite the back alley. Stand at an angle where you can see the back door, but the lookout can't see you when he turns around."
Jin'en looked at her for two seconds.
"When did you start teaching me?"
"You taught me." Porsette pulled the door halfway shut, showing half her face through the gap. "It's okay to miss a step. What matters is knowing how to make up for it. I looked at your spot in the back alley yesterday. Directly opposite is too straight on. An angle is better."
The door closed.
Jin'en stood in the corridor and pressed his fingers to his brow.
The girl had chewed through every word he'd taught her without missing a single one, then fed it back to him.
The next afternoon, in the alley behind the logistics storefront.
Jin'en stood at an angle to the alley entrance, his back against a low wall, his Spatial Perception spread across the back alley and the storefront's interior.
Porsette crouched beside him, her hood pulled low and her cloak tucked in.
Just after three, the lookout emerged from deep in the alley, wrapped in an old jacket, and headed toward the street entrance.
"Go," Jin'en said.
Porsette's figure vanished from behind the low wall.
Two seconds later, a new coordinate appeared in Jin'en's perception-inside the back door, in the compartment.
He watched the alley entrance. The lookout hadn't returned yet.
A faint sound came from the compartment, like a cardboard box being shifted.
Then Porsette emerged through the back door and stood midway down the alley, holding a kraft-paper envelope against her chest. It was thinner than the one on Zhou's desk earlier.
"I found it in one of the boxes. There were three photos and two sheets of paper inside. I took one sheet out and left the photos alone," she said, panting. "The lookout's back."
Jin'en caught her wrist. They retreated out the other end of the alley, turned onto a cross street, and only stopped once they were in the car.
Porsette spread the sheet of paper across her lap.
It was a handwritten list, a few lines listing several code names-"Daffodil," "Scarlet Mallow," "Poinsettia"-each followed by a set of coordinates and a line of notes.
After "Daffodil," it read: Bridge District, bungalow, confirmed. After "Scarlet Mallow," it read: Scarlet Letter Mansion, unconfirmed. After "Poinsettia," it read: Scarlet Letter Mansion, awaiting retrieval.
Jin'en took the paper and glanced at it.
Prism had Daffodil's coordinates and had confirmed her location.
Broken Rainbow's coordinates were marked "unconfirmed," which meant they knew Broken Rainbow was with Red Letter but hadn't pinned down her exact location.
Porsette tilted her head to look at the paper in his hand.
"They've even marked my sister's bungalow," she said. "She's still living there."
Jin'en folded the paper and put it in his pocket.
"Tell Daffodil when we get back. She needs to move out of that bungalow."
Porsette leaned back in her seat, the brim of her hat pulled down just above her eyebrows.
"Prism's coordinate lists-there are other boxes too," she said. "I searched one today, and it had three people's details in it. There might be more in the other boxes."
Jin'en started the car.
"We'll search them slowly, one at a time."