“Two words. Nigga rig.”

We bust out laughing and slap hands.

“Glad you got her rolling again,” I say.

Taavi comes up, hands on the push handle of her mother’s cart. She tucks a strand of her mother’s hair behind her ear. “I got it. I’ll be pushing my mother here on out. We all ready then?”

The Seer lays a hand on Taavi’s, and I gaze in the other direction for a moment because it feels private. Something good has happened between them. Near-death experiences tend to have that effect.

“Ready?”

All nod, but Zora frowns. “Rue, we have a problem.” She holds the flashing geolocation device on her armor.

“What is it?”

She lets out a huge breath. “Shaun has declared himself King. And Bati’s been locked up.”

I have to lock my knees to keep myself from staggering. “How do you know? What…”

She fingers the blinking on her armor, the same one Kai used to summon her girls when we’d escaped prison. “This is more than geolocation. It’s two-way communication.”

Wait, why hasn’t she mentioned this capability before now? Jhamal wouldn’t have had to leave. Is she… keeping secrets?

“I just heard from saisa Doile.”

Doile? Not Kai?

I chew my lip and swallow my questions, knowing the answers wouldn’t change anything. “If Shaun declared himself King and turned on Bati…” I tap my foot, thinking, remembering. He could have turned on others. Getting the spell ingredients is more important than ever. With magic back, our people could protect themselves from anyone. “We need to shift our plans. I’ll introduce the Macazi to everyone later. We need to get the ingredients first.”

Zora nods. “What do we need?”

I skim my brain for the Seer’s words. “Jpango sap.”

Bri rummages around her bag and flicks out a vial of a honey- looking substance the color of eggplant. “How much? I have some.”

The Seer didn’t say.

“We’ll try to make this work.” One less thing we have to find. I take it from her. “I also need hair from the head of an Elder and one from the enemy. But the Elders are dead, soooo.” I knew this would be a problem. I’d just hoped some sort of solution would’ve popped in my head by now. Oh, wait! “Bati is a direct descendant of the Elders, right?”

Zora nods.

“Then maybe we can use his hair? Genetically, it’s gotta be similar, right?”

“I mean, maybe,” Bri says, pushing her lips sideways. “But potions can be finicky. The whole reason I hadn’t done that memory one for you is because it calls for an albino quello root.” She plucks out a knobby purple root vegetable. “And all I have is a purple one.”

Really, Bri? She could have at least tried. She must read my mind because she averts her eyes, stuffing the quello back in her bag.