Mind made up, I hurried around a group of people who were waiting to cross the street and hung back from Suit Demon. I stuck close to the buildings so that I wouldn’t run into anyone, hoping that Suit Demon stayed under the glow of the streetlamps.

When the pedestrian light turned green, he crossed to the next block. A non-jaywalking demon. How unexpected.

I had no plan as I followed him past a shuttered bank and several closed administrative offices, but that didn’t stop me.

Suit Demon hung a sharp right, disappearing from my view. Cursing, I picked up my pace and realized he’d entered a dimly lit, narrow alley between two buildings that were dozens of floors tall. I hesitated at the mouth, scanning the relatively clean breezeway. It was empty—

My gaze lifted. “Holy crap.”

I caught a glimpse of a blurry shape pulling a Spider-Man, scurrying up the side of the building. I looked over my shoulder, but no one was pointing with their mouth hanging open.

That was a good thing. Even though the general public was aware of Wardens, the vast majority had no idea that demons were real. Due to a whole set of celestial rules about free will and blind faith, humans weren’t supposed to know that there were most definitely consequences in the afterlife for deeds committed while alive.

People thought Wardens were some kind of genetic crossbreed between humans and who knew what. I had no idea how they convinced themselves any of that was even remotely possible, but human nature demanded logical answers, even if the answer was, in fact, illogical.

To humans, Wardens were like legends and stone come to life, superheroes who often helped law enforcement. But Wardens weren’t out there hunting criminals.

I entered the alley, stumbling over uneven pavers I couldn’t see. Halfway down, I spotted a fire escape several feet off the ground.

“Ugh,” I muttered, glancing back at the mouth of the alley and then to the fire escape, judging the distance between the ground and the bottom landing.

Smart Trinity demanded that I head back to where Zayne had told me to wait. I didn’t have a plan, and if someone saw what I was considering doing, it would be hard to explain.

Impatient Trinity screamed DO IT like a battle cry.

“Double ugh,” I growled as the latter won out.

I ran across the alley and launched myself into air with a prayer that I didn’t face-plant the building, because that was sure to sting.

My palms smacked onto the metal rung. I swung forward, muscles in my arms stretching. I planted my feet on the side of the building and pushed off hard. Swinging back, I twisted as I let go, springing over the railing.