“I’d like to think so too, but let’s not let our vanity rule what we consider as likely.” Abi tried to think of something useful, but nothing sprang immediately to mind. “They’re going to keep doing these things,” she said. “Making things worse, wrecking things. That’s why they’re here in the first place. We need to catch them and stop them before they do something that gets someone killed.”

“Better idea,” Jicks interrupted. “We need to send your Masters home before they get killed. This time it was just a wall, an inconvenience, and people were just annoyed at us. The next time, like you said, someone could get killed, and your Masters are going to find themselves dancing on the end of a rope before we can convince anyone that we’re innocent. Mobs are impossible to reason with.”

Abi bit her lip. Stev nodded. “You’re right. And let’s not forget the fact that when we catch up with these imposters, one of them is a Mage who controls demons. The Masters can’t protect themselves, and I don’t want to see them turned into hostages.”

“But what about fixing what these Karsites are breaking?” Abi retorted. “We need the others! If we don’t do that, we don’t fix Valdemar’s reputation!”

“You’re a Master,” Jicks pointed out, and waited while she tried to think of a response to that.

I am, but . . .

She didn’t have the depth and breadth of experience the other three did. She hadn’t known how to make concrete, for instance!

So you would have gotten them to cut and fit a stone slab for the new footings. There’s always more than one answer. Isn’t Valdemar built on that very premise?

But there were so many things she didn’t know!

So you improvise, using what you do know. You’re not Mags’ daughter if you can’t improvise. . . .

“I . . . can try,” she said.

“Good.” Jicks nodded her head. “So let’s figure out how we can convince your three Masters to go home, and head out on the track of these Karsites.” She looked ready to start right that very minute. It occurred to Abi that thus far Jicks’ life had been very tame. And while she might have enjoyed that for about a moon, clearly she was itching to bash something in the head again.

“Wait—this isn’t what you signed up for,” Stev said, holding up a hand. “What do you mean by ‘we’?”