Ariel’s body shimmered, and her eyes blinked slowly, flower petals opening to the sun. “He has been warned. But the warning was ignored. John Ross no longer trusts us. He no longer listens. He believes himself free to do as he chooses. He is a prisoner of his self-deception.”

Nest thought about John Ross, picturing him in her mind. She saw a lean, rawboned, careworn man with haunted eyes and a rootless existence. But she saw a fiercely determined man as well, hardened of purpose and principle, a man who would not be easily swayed. She could not imagine how the Void would turn him. She remembered the strength of his commitment; he would die before he would betray it.

Yet he had already given it up, hadn’t he? By shedding his identity as a Knight of the Word, he had given it up. She knew the truth of things. People changed. Lives took strange turns.

“The Lady sent me to ask you to go to John Ross and warn him one final time.”

Ariel’s words jarred her. Nest stared in disbelief. “Me? Why would he listen to me?”

“The Lady says you hold a special place in his heart.” Ariel said it in a matter-of-fact way, as if Nest ought to know what this would mean. “She believes that John Ross will listen to you, that he trusts and respects you, and that you have the best chance of persuading him of the danger he faces.”

Nest shook her head stubbornly. “I wouldn’t know what to say. I’m not the right choice for this.” She hesitated. “Look, the truth is, I’m not even sure how I feel about John Ross. Where is he, anyway?”

“Seattle.”

“Seattle? You want me to go all the way out to Seattle?” Nest was aghast. “I’m in school! I’ve got classes tomorrow!”

Ariel stared at her in silence, and suddenly Nest was aware of how foolish she sounded. The tatterdemalion was telling her John Ross was in danger, his life was at risk, she might have a chance to help him, and she was busy worrying about missing a few classes. It was more than that, of course, but it hadn’t come out sounding that way.

“This is a lot of nonsense!” Pick stormed suddenly, leaping to his feet on her shoulder. “Nest Freemark is needed here, with me! Who knows what could happen to her out there! After what she went through with her father, she shouldn’t have to go anywhere!”

“Pick, relax,” Nest soothed.

“Criminy!” Pick was not about to relax. “Why can’t the Lady go herself? Why can’t she speak to Ross? She’s the one who recruited him, isn’t she? Why can’t she send one of her other people, another Knight, maybe?”

“She has already done what she could,” Ariel answered, her strange voice calm and distant, her slight form ephemeral in the changing light. “She has sent others to speak for her. He ignores them all. He is lost to himself, locked away by his choice to abandon his charge, and given over to his doom.” Her childlike hand gestured. “There is only Nest.”