“My dad has tricks.”

“It would seem so. Ones he is not sharing with the elves.”

“So if he doesn’t have cameras, someone has to physically watch for travelers. I doubt there is scaffolding above us, so that someone would have to fly or sit on the ground. Sitting on the ground doesn’t make sense, because they don’t have phones here. The watcher would have to race us to announce our presence. I’d kill it before it put on the jets. So we’re really only worried about flying things.”

“Yes,” Darius said simply. He’d thought of all that.

I continued talking through my thought anyway while I walked, I’d already decided; Darius kept pace with me. “We’ve only seen one flying thing. The dragon. Which…could be a problem. I didn’t try any real magic on it, but it’s a dragon. It might be impervious to my magic, or too far away for me to do anything.

“If it is our dragon friend and his clown sidekick, they won’t try to tattle on us. They’ll try to kill us and take our stuff. Which isn’t ideal, I grant you, but I am confident I can think of something to keep from dying.”

“And if it is another dragon? Is that why you were rubbing your chin?”

“No.”

Oh good. There was a more perplexing situation at hand than a rogue dragon.

“I’m sure I could figure it out. Violently.” I looked up at the sky. “Like I said, I can always try to crack this bitch open and see the guts. Just give me the word.”

“Since when do you ask for permission?”

“You think ahead, right? Isn’t that your claim to fame? So I’m letting you do your thing. Don’t get lazy on me now.”

Darius looked behind. We’d already put substantial distance between us and the lush green trees, but the horizon looked unchanged, the way ahead never ending. “The risk is not yet worth the reward. You showing that level of power so close to the castle…” He shook his head and glanced upward. “Not yet. How are you doing on energy?”

“I’m feeling the drain of all this traveling. I could use sleep, finally. You?”

“The same. I am amazed we were able to last so long without it. Longer even than in the Realm.” He tsk’ed. “I should’ve asked earlier.” After a pause, he said, “I almost wonder if we should go back to the cover of the trees and take care of that before we get too far out.”

“This can’t go on forever. It can’t. It’s more eye trickery. Impressive, though. If I wasn’t stuck in it, I’d give the old man a nod of approval.”

Darius’s honeyed gaze came to rest on me for a moment, assessing.

“What?” I asked.

“Were you like your mom?”

“Somewhat. Why? Are you wondering how like my father I am?”

“Yes. It is a pity things are the way they are.”

“Tell me about it. That is, if he’s a cool guy. Or maybe he’s mostly an asshole with a few good qualities. In which case, I’m good with the way things are. Except for the hiding thing.”

He smiled at me and looked forward again. “Touché.”

We fell into silence as the faux-sun blazed down on us. Our feet crackled on the brittle ground. I thought back to the map. To what I had thought was a relatively small section of nothingness between sects. I’d seen a few at this point, and many of them had turned out to be an oasis of some sort, or just a common travel way. Demons in those areas tended to mind their own business, and if they looked me askance, they went back to minding their own business as soon as I met their gaze.

I thought back to those demons, and how quickly they’d looked away. “You don’t think word of me has spread already, do you?”

Darius glanced over at me before going back to his scanning. “Why do you ask?”

“Did you notice any demons wary of making eye contact with other demons in the oases?

His gaze stopped moving, now pointed upward. “I did notice demons seeming wary of each other. Shifty-eyed, as you would say. You clearly looked out of place to them, but you didn’t seem to raise any more concern than the others.”

Small graces. “Demons didn’t seem wary of each other in the edges.”

“No.” Darius slowed and put a hand on my arm. “I’ve noticed it more the farther we’ve traveled into the Dark Kingdom. I can’t tell if that is normal, or if we are walking into something unusual.” He raised a hand and pointed. “Do you see that?”

I squinted into the sky, not seeing anything but a few puffy clouds heading toward the distant horizon, which did not curve like anyone born in the Brink would expect. It tripped me out.

“My vision improved with the bond, but it’s still not to your level. What is it?”

“A flying object of some kind.”

I was so tired, I could only think of one possible response to that: one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater…

He did another scan of the sky before going back to that one spot. “Yes. It is something flying. Either it is small and near, or large and far away.”

I nodded, because yes, that was how perspective worked.

Darius pulled the flap away from his satchel and looked around. His gaze stopped on a dead, leafless, twisted sort of tree standing fifty feet away, leaning so hard I wondered how it hadn’t already fallen.

“Are you going to try and work a privacy spell?” I asked, trailing after him.

“Yes. I want to see what’s coming before it sees us.”

Doing things his way really had its advantages.

We stopped by the tree. Spells worked best when they were rooted to something, and natural things worked best. But out here, since there was a distinct lack of somethings, I agreed that the tree would have to do.

We put one on each side and one above, though the one overhead balanced unsteadily as it tried to cling to the paltry branches. Usually for short term only, the spells would (hopefully) make the eye slip right by us, rendering us mostly invisible until the brain of the being observing us figured out something was tricking it and wised up.

I stared out through the purple film. Our side of the spell was colored, but the other side would appear clear. It didn’t take long for me to see what Darius was talking about.

“A vulture,” I whispered.

“Three times as big as a Brink vulture, but yes, that’s what it looks like.”

And like a Brink vulture, it drifted lazily past us without flapping its wings. Unlike a Brink vulture, it was not riding a breeze.

“We’re headed back into mind-fuckery territory,” I said, tapping my gun and thinking about taking out my sword. “Do you see any more?”

“No. Not just yet.” Darius whipped around and squinted. His hand fell on my shoulder.

I followed suit, and there it was, a giant bird soaring through the sky, looking at the ground with beady eyes (we were too far to see the eyes, but I’d back my imagination on this one).

“We were looking at a distorted reflection, used to trick travelers as to the whereabouts and proximity of the coming entity.” A small smile graced his lips. “Genius.”

I didn’t have time to ask him how he’d figured that out. The bird was nearing us now. It did one pump of its great wings, pushing itself through the air. I bit my lip as it flew overhead, inky black wings fluttering. My magic swelled, urging me to shoot a jet of fire at it.

I dug my nails into my palms, desperately trying to hold back with everything I had. Because who knew if there were more beasts coming right up behind this one? If there were, the others would see the whole thing and they wouldn’t have to travel far to tattle.

The vulture traveled beyond us for another hundred feet or so before tilting, turning like it was approaching a dead end. It headed back toward the trees at an angle.

“Maybe it’s leaving,” I whispered.

Once it reached the tree line, it curved again, doubling back. It was scouting the area, looking for enemies. There could be no other explanation.

Feeling like the hunted, my power pulsed. Rage welled up. Then, strangely enough, love surged inside me, too, and the emotions swirled around each other. My magic mimicked it, more blended now than it had ever been. More balanced.