He was out of the car in a flash, and a couple of seconds later, so were we, once Sydney had shifted the car into park. He tore off down one side of the street, losing himself in the crowds of tourists and lunchgoers without looking back. Some might have considered it abandonment, but Marcus knew us well enough by now to trust we knew what to do in situations like this. Be unpredictable. Hide among crowds and businesses. Meet back up when we’d lost them.

That was assuming, of course, that they even followed us. There’d been two cars between them and us on the road, so there was a chance they might not have seen us ditch our car. When the light turned green and traffic didn’t move, they would figure out that something had gone wrong. The question was how far Sydney and I could get before then and whether they’d follow Marcus or us.

They followed us, of course.

“Faster,” I said, clutching her hand as we tore off down the sidewalk.

A series of honks let me know when the light turned green, as angry drivers found themselves unable to get around our abandoned car. Shouts behind us were a tip-off that something else was awry, and when I glanced back, I saw a man and woman in beige suits barreling down the sidewalk toward us, oblivious to the pedestrians in their way. So much for not making a scene.

Ahead of us, the sidewalk looked even more packed than usual as people clustered around something. Great. Not the slowdown we needed. Another quick look behind me showed the Alchemist man—who was nearly as tall as me—gaining ground. I approached the crowd and saw they had stopped to admire displays of clothing that a shop had set out on the sidewalk as part of some sort of promotion. Dresses, gauzy scarves, and more created a brightly colored display that made even the most indifferent passerby stop and admire it. Sydney and I squeezed our way into a group of women admiring a purple silk dress and saw the Alchemists mere feet behind me.

Sydney glanced around, and a smile unexpectedly crossed her lips. She spoke a magical incantation that was lost in the noise of the street, but the power it invoked had an immediate effect. All of that beautiful clothing around us exploded into rainbow-colored wisps of fabric. It rained down around us, making it nearly impossible to see. Chaos ensued as people cried out in wonder, unsure if it was an attack or some sort of publicity stunt.

“Come on,” she said, picking up the pace again.