I looked at him. “You swear you’ll paint over this as soon as I’m through it?” I felt pretty sure that would destroy the gateway.

He nodded, a sly, shy grin curving his lips. “Been meaning to redecorate, anyway.”

I laughed under my breath.

The door to his office burst open and Nik strode in, his eyes honing in on me. “Good, you’re still here.” A long, black sport bag was slung across his shoulder, probably now filled with countless vials of blood.

“For about two more seconds,” I said, nodding to the active gateway to Garth’s condo on the wall adjacent to the door.

Nik studied it for a moment, scanning the area through the gateway and frowning, then looked at Dorman. “Can you give us a minute?”

After a nod, Dorman left the office.

I raised my eyebrows and planted my hands on my hips. “What’s up?”

“I have something for you,” Nik said, moving forward and placing his bag on the chairs in front of the desk. He unzipped the bag and pulled out the leather shoulder harness that was usually attached to my sword’s scabbard. Except right now there was no scabbard or sword in sight. He held the harness out to me.

I took a step toward him and reached for the harness, not quite understanding. “Um . . . thanks, but—” My eyes widened when my fingers closed around more than the worn straps of leather. The scabbard—I could feel it in my hand, and from the weight of it, I knew that Mercy, my sword, was sheathed within. I shook my head. “How . . .”

Nik stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and hunched his shoulders, looking adorably bashful. It was all an act, of course, but it was still cute. Or as cute as Nik could ever get. “I transformed the whole thing, scabbard and all, into At, then made it invisible.”

My mouth fell open. I’d known that Lex’s sheut enabled her to imbue At with various properties, like glowing or appearing invisible, but I’d had no idea that Nik could do it, too. I eyed him, wondering what other powers he’d been hiding from the rest of us.

“You left your sword behind because it would draw attention.” Nik shrugged. “Now it won’t.”

Eyes stinging, I found the invisible hilt with my right hand and drew the sword. Mercy’s blade slid free with a pristine ring. The entire thing, pommel to blade, was completely invisible.

Nik flashed me a devilish grin. “Now the trick is re-sheathing it . . .”

“This is incredible.” I stared at, well, nothing with wide eyes, absolutely awed.

“Just don’t drop it.”

I glanced at Nik, frowning. What if I did drop it? I’d have to grope around until I stumbled over the damn thing.

“But just in case you do manage to lose it,” Nik said, seeming to read my thoughts, “I can always find it again, you know, because I can sense anything made of At.”