A red letter L is spray painted into the walls—or what’s left of them. Across the room is Totsi’s counter and her register sits untouched. Behind it, Bri is blinking, staring at the floor. I hurry over, past piles of burned books, and gasp.

“Oh, shit!”

A pool of sticky red something is on the floor and my insides hover in the back of my throat. Bri rakes her hands through her hair and Zora pops up beside us. She slicks up the red with two fingers and brings it to her nose.

“It is fresh. Someone was just here.”

My anger boils and I turn to Grag. “You said this way was safe. Where is she?”

“I don’t even know who—”

“Liar!” I point at the letter graffitied on the wall. “That’s the Loyalists’ mark, isn’t it?”

“Y-yes, i-it is their symbol.”

“She ran a bookstore! Why did they hurt her? Where is she?”

“I-I don’t know. Sh-she must have been marked.”

Zora’s blade finds his throat.

“You’re not talking enough. Explain.”

“Th-there’s a-a list. Th-the Chancellor h-has a list of who he’d like to see gotten rid of. I-I swear, everything I said is true. I’m not the enemy. The Chancellor drops a name, s-someone gets it.”

“Someone who?”

“I-I don’t know. One of the higher-ups. I-I’m not in that deep with their group. And besides, I stuck to traps. He keeps his inner circle tight. The person is then tracked down and either brought in or…” He gulps, his eyes falling to the blood staining the ground, and I remember the wailing in the prison and the floors of cells we didn’t even have time to check in our haste to get out of there.

So much death. Sick to my stomach, I hug myself and pace in a circle, blowing out a slow breath. Calm. And think. What is the Chancellor after? Besides my Ancestors’ relics seared into my wrists. What else is he trying to do?

I spot Grag’s eyes darting around the shop.

“No offense, but wait outside,” I say.

He parts his lips to rebut, but Zora tightens her grip on her rod. He disappears through the glass doors.

Death is pungent in the air. They were looking for something or destroying something. Or both. But I can’t puzzle out the Chancellor right now. Tears sting my eyes. She was so good to me. The only place I had that was safe. That I knew I could go. The last time I saw her she put a tem tem pastry in my hand and saved me from being snatched. I sigh, but the weight of the world still feels like it sits squarely on me.