Glain said nothing to that, but after a moment, she nodded. “You didn’t want me looking into the subject because you already were.”

“And they watch us, Glain,” he said. “All of us.” It was burning his tongue to tell her the truth, but he knew, knew how she’d take it. And he was too tired. He wanted to tell her in better circumstances, when the clock wasn’t ticking down. If there was an exercise, she needed her focus more than he did . . . or, at least, that was what he told himself.

“Which brings us to the point: stay away from Wolfe. You know it’s not safe, for him or you.”

“I won’t ask again.”

“Dismissed, then, Brightwell. We’ll talk later.”

He nodded and jogged away to put space between them. Curious that Captain Niccolo Santi had passed the message, and Wolfe hadn’t sent it himself. But, then, their teacher had been a barbed puzzle since the start.

Wolfe was not a kind man or a natural teacher, but he’d tried his best to save his students. That didn’t make him a friend, exactly, but Wolfe would want to know the truth about Thomas, too. Once he did . . . No wonder Captain Santi wants to keep me away from him, Jess thought. Wolfe wouldn’t let it go. No more than Jess could. Or Glain, once he told her. Good that he had a little more time to think. He needed a plan before he set that particular cat among the pigeons, didn’t he?

His back ached, and his head pounded from the heat and exertion. Dinner was as fast as breakfast, fuel he ate without really noting it, and afterward Jess fell into bed for a few short hours—far less than he needed—before dragging himself up. He still had things to do that couldn’t be done in the open.

He showered, changed into civilian clothing, shoveled down food in the common dining hall, and slipped away from the High Garda compound into the embrace of a rich, sea-cooled Alexandrian evening, beneath a blue-black sky scattered with hard stars.

This was work better done in the dark.

EPHEMERA

Excerpt from report from Obscurist Gregory Valdosta to Obscurist Magnus Keria Morning

. . . regarding our new problem child, Morgan Hault, I have seen little improvement and much to worry me. I’d have thought six months of intensive training and supervision here in the Iron Tower would have wrought some changes in her, but she remains stubborn, sly, and dreadfully smart. Only this morning I found that when I put her to work writing out standard representational formulae for changes to the Codex, she instead came up with a system to disguise entries—in effect, to hide them. I gave her a simple task of alchemical preparation of a calix of gold, and instead she seized the opportunity to try combining mercury, vitriol, common salt, and sal ammoniac to create a virulent mixture to melt the thinnest part of her collar. She was unsuccessful, of course, and is being treated for a burn, but the concern is that she came very close to discovering a compound that might work.