“I don’t have time for twenty questions,” Crow said, becoming agitated when Dancer didn’t respond. “They are torturing him. They will torture him until he tells them what they want to know, and then they’ll kill him. You must rescue him.” Crow caught himself as if suddenly aware of the irony. “I cannot believe I am asking a Bayar to rescue a Waterlow from a Bayar.”

Dancer hesitated. Maybe Crow wasn’t telling the whole truth, but he seemed genuinely distraught. Still, even if he wanted to go after Han, how could he hope to get into Aerie House? Assuming he managed to avoid the two armies in the way.

As if Crow had heard Dancer’s thoughts, he said, “I can help you get into Aerie House.”

“Just like you helped Hunts Alone?” Dancer couldn’t help saying.

Crow flinched as if taking a direct hit. “Look,” he said, “I beg you to do this. Alister…he’s all I have to show for a life that otherwise ended in disaster. He’s all that’s left of what I had with…with Hanalea. To see him…” Crow’s voice trailed away. “I have no flash of my own. All I can offer is knowledge. I’ll teach you anything you want to know about magic. Nothing is off the table.”

Dancer shook his head. “I don’t need to make a trade to help my friends. The difficult part is deciding whether to trust you.” He sighed. “How do I get into Aerie House?”

“You can enter the tunnels near Marisa Pines,” Crow said eagerly. “They will take you across the Vale to Gray Lady. But…” Here he faltered and shifted his eyes away. “There are many tricks and traps along the way. You’ll have a hard time getting through safely without help.”

“Meaning?” Dancer said, a sinking in the pit of his stomach.

“Meaning I can help you, but you would have to agree to—”

“No,” Dancer said. “I’m not removing the talisman. I won’t allow you to possess me.”

“I don’t want to possess you,” Crow said quickly. “Just be present in your head, and speak to you. To be a…a kind of guide.”

Dancer shook his head. “No. Risk is one thing, foolhardiness is another.”

Crow paced back and forth. “It’s a dangerous path, and I’m the one who laid it down. There is no way you could remember it all, and you cannot carry notes from Aediion to the real world.” He swung around, facing Dancer, tears streaming down his face. “Please. I’ve been helping him, giving him some relief, and I don’t know how long he’ll last on his own.”

“Helping him? What do you mean?”

“By possessing him, I am able to stand in for him and give him some relief from pain,” Crow said, hollow-eyed and haunted. “It’s not much, but—”