Alex grabbed for his rucksack and frantically searched until he found the flier. Then he was running, already in the road, ignoring Harry’s calls.

He hurdled the barrier in the center, dodged a lone car that swerved around him, horn blaring. All the while he squinted up, trying to keep his eyes fixed on the two vague figures bouncing around the museum complex’s roofs.

His grandfather suddenly changed direction, springing back the way he had come, flying past his pursuer. Mid-leap, at the peak of their arcing jumps, the two dark figures struck out at each other. The old man’s thrusting cane caught the tall man under the chin, snapping back his head. At the same time, Alex’s grandfather shuddered and spun from an unseen blow.

Both fell, disappearing from Alex’s sight. He was too close to the building to see them now unless they were at the very edge of the roof. Far along the road to his right, he caught the blue glimmer of a distant police car’s flashing light.

Almost by instinct, he pulled out the old toy robot. It grinned up at him.

Kenzie. He couldn’t do it.

He stuffed it away, pulled out the flier, unwrapped the sock from its eyes, and rammed home the lock of his hair from his jeans pocket. He hesitated as his skin remembered the sting of salt on his fingertips in the hotel the last time he had used it. “Always a price to pay,” he whispered. Very well. He’d pay it. He steadied his mind, then threw the little machine up, building his mental bridge faster than ever, chasing the flier with a thought that took it higher.

A vague aerial view of the roofscape came to him in staccato flashes. Two figures fighting and jumping wildly. His grandfather was trying to head toward the old section of the museum. The tall figure crouched and sprang, hurtling ahead, cutting him off.

Alex sent the flier plummeting toward the tall man, barely thinking about what he was doing. Seconds before he struck, the figure turned his face up, sunglasses staring. The distraction was enough for the old man to hop away, but he was caught by a vicious swipe from somewhere as he jumped—it seemed to have come from behind, but Alex couldn’t work out how. The tall man was too far away. Did he have a flier of his own in the fray?

Alex abandoned the question as he went into attack with his own machine, striking out with his hook and blade. The dark figure flinched, dropping his knife to clutch at his face with both hands. Then Alex was struck by another wicked blow he hadn’t seen coming, and sent spinning sickeningly through the air.