“I will, but you’re evading the question. Either you are the Gutenberg I knew, in which case you have your own agenda. Or else you’re this idealized version, in which case I don’t know you.”

“You must be cautious. Not your strong suit, I understand. But the world is at a turning point. So are you. It’s what you’ve been struggling with for months, for years, really. It’s why you keep reaching out to me. You hope I’ll help you find the right answer.”

“Answers are easy. What’s the question?”

“Don’t worry. You’ll see it when you’re ready.”

“What if I don’t?”

“I suspect you’ll probably get yourself killed.”

NIDHI AND LENA dropped me off at the Detroit airport at three in the morning. The next available flight to Las Vegas wasn’t until noon, meaning the only way I could possibly get back to New Millennium before my niece’s procedure was to use magic.

Given how twitchy I was, and the amount of magic I’d used in the past twenty-four hours, teleportation was out of the question. Some sort of superspeed would be marginally safer, but I was still far more likely to smear myself across a mountainside than I was to reach Vegas in one piece.

Even the tiny bit of illusion I’d used to sneak Smudge past airport security had exacerbated the ashy smears in my vision. My eyes kept shivering with the excess energy, making the whole world jump and skip like a scratched DVD.

I called the New Millennium main line and left a message with Kiyoko letting her know I’d be getting in later than expected. I thought about calling my brother next, but it was past midnight in Vegas, and I didn’t want to disturb them.

Or maybe I just didn’t want to hear his disappointment when I told him I wouldn’t be there for them. Again.

I hiked the full length of the terminal three times, trying to burn off the manic energy. I passed a number of people napping, stretched out across chairs. There was no way I’d be able to do the same, but maybe if I kept moving long enough, I could calm my nerves enough that I wouldn’t spend the entire flight bouncing and jostling my seatmate.

I finally wore myself out enough to sit and rest. I bought a newspaper and caught up on the details of yesterday’s other attacks. In each case, at least one public figure who’d been outspoken against inhumans had been killed. The attack in New York had been the worst. A pair of lake trolls had killed more than twenty-three people before being gunned down.