“Yeah. That’s my primary goal. I’m seeing who might be thinking of causing trouble and gently encouraging them, but in a way they don’t suspect me as the cause. Division will make it easier to find a chink in their organization. Not easy, let me tell you.”

I rub my temples, the flashing lights of Mirage getting to me. “This keeps getting more and more complicated.”

“That’s how I’ve felt ever since I went undercover. The deeper you go, the crazier everything seems to be.”

“But you’ve still never met Ensi.”

“No. I’m too much of a Knight. There’s an upcoming party they’ve invited me to, though, this weekend. He’s meant to be there. After two years, I might finally meet him.”

“I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to help with all of this.”

“To be honest, a lot of it depends on how far Tila has delved into the inner circle. The fact she rose to working in the Verve lounge so quickly is impressive, but it’s difficult to see the bigger picture. Sometimes she seems to be a relatively little fish, despite being a dreamsifter, but other times I suspect she’s almost reached upper management.”

A shiver runs down my spine, and my flesh breaks out into goosebumps. Tila not only involved with the Ratel, but in deep? Without telling me, without asking for my help. Why has she done this in the first place? What does she hope to gain? Money? Tila’s never struck me as greedy, not in that way. What, though, do I really know about her? She’s been living a whole different life. I bite back a sob.

“Let’s go see what this Mia can tell us, if anything,” he says.

“And if she’s plugged in, we have to go in? Instead of waiting for her to come out?” That’s the part that gives me the biggest pause. I don’t want to go into her dreams and see what her deepest, darkest desires are. I had a secondhand view, watching her relapse, and that was awful enough. Zealscapes can be unpredictable—especially, I hear, in these off-grid lounges. For some, they’re almost like the real world. For others, they’re twisted nightmares. I fear Mia’s will be more like the latter.

“Depends on how long she has left. If she has more than twelve hours, we can’t wait that long.”