A blast of air took her off her feet, threw her onto the stairs. She cried out. The pain and shock muddied her reflexes. She reached for the Litany of Breath too late.

Long whips of air pulled her back up. Threw her against the wall again. She saw a splash of blackness across her vision. For a moment, she thought she had lost all sense, because though she knew it was air that held her, she could not see the blue particles of Para’s breath. Whatever power this was, she was blind to it.

A tall, dark man approached her, dressed all in tattered black. He wore a long coat and an expression to match. It had been many years since she last saw a sanisi, but the look he gave her was familiar.

“Neat work you did here,” the sanisi said, walking across the bloodied floor.

Her head ached. She tried to focus. Still, she saw no breath of Para. Poor time for the star to elude her.

“Stop that,” he said. “I’m stronger and better trained, and Oma gives me access to the power of every satellite. You’ll exhaust yourself to no purpose. Where is the girl?”

Saiduan had omajistas, then. Things were progressing very fast indeed. She caught a hint of Para. Drew deep, battered at his barriers. Her concentration faltered. She dropped the litany once, twice, a third time.

“I told you to stop,” the sanisi said.

“This game is bigger than you,” Kalinda said, “played between many different worlds far more powerful than this one. You will lose.”

“She’s just one,” he said. “There are others.”

“Among how many millions?” she said. “How long did it take you to find her? And how much longer do you have until it’s all over, until they’ve destroyed you so utterly that you become as we are here?”

“Ah, but you aren’t from here, are you?” the sanisi said. “You’re one of them.”

“It’s a long contest.”

The sanisi walked toward her. Leaned in. They were separated only by a sheet of tangled, translucent air. “A contest I am better suited to in this moment. Let’s discuss.” He drew his weapon, a plain steel blade.

“Crude,” Kalinda said. But she did not doubt his ploy would be effective.

She gritted her teeth and hissed out one final litany. The air she had trapped within the glass bead embedded in her arm burst, spilling the poison it carried into her blood.

Her body began to tighten and seize. They had told her there would be no pain.

The sanisi did not drop his barrier. She remained caught against the wall while her muscles tightened. Her jaw locked.