Tess walked out of the Liaison’s Office, took two steps away from the building, and stopped. She couldn’t see a damn thing in this fog, and she didn’t want the embarrassment of tripping over something—or someone.

Taking a step back, she held one hand behind her and felt the reassuring metal handle on the door.

Main Street should be directly in front of her, just beyond the delivery area and the sidewalk. But she didn’t hear the sound of cars; she heard fast-running water.

Meg would be disappointed if the young plants in the kitchen garden drowned or were smashed beyond recovering by the hail and pounding rain. The rest of the human pack would be disappointed too, but they didn’t quite belong with the terra indigene in the same way that Meg did, and their disappointment wouldn’t ripple through the Courtyard.

Nothing she, or anyone else, could do about saturated ground and runoff and streets turned into streams.

Whispers. Muffled curses. The splash of an animal fording water. The yelp as one of them lost his footing and was swept away.

Tess pushed the hood off her head. No need to maintain a veneer over her true form in order to lessen the impact of looking at her; the fog would serve that purpose now. After all, she wanted to harvest enough life from her prey to make them fatally ill but not immediately. Let them scurry back to the cars parked across the street or their companions in the Stag and Hare who probably had cheered them on when they proposed striking at the terra indigene under the cover of the storm. Too bad they hadn’t realized that the storm had been shaped for the benefit of the other predators who moved through the city now.

Clear stripes in the fog, as if something had raked claws over a gray blanket. Tess saw figures approaching. Four, five, six. Did they have weapons? She had to assume they did, and even one of Namid’s most ferocious predators couldn’t afford to be careless about weapons like guns.

<Nyx, six monkeys are in the delivery area. Can you block the access way in case any of them get past me?>

<I’ll help if you agree to let two get past you,> Nyx replied. <I’m hungry.>

<They’re full of liquid courage.>

Nyx sighed. <I don’t want to get drunk on a meal. One, then.>

<One.>

Six flashlights turned on, beacons that said, We’re here, come eat us!

Seeing no reason not to oblige, Tess moved swiftly, heading in the direction of the man who was closest to the shoulder-high brick wall between the delivery area and Henry’s yard. Her shoulder hit an arm. The man swore and looked directly at her as he tried to grab her.