It also nearly ended my life, or the next thing to it at any rate. The last time I used my mist cloak I made the mistake of wearing it too long, and bit by bit it started hiding me so well that no one would have been able to find me, ever. The thought of that still creeps me out, and I’m not sure what would have happened if Arachne hadn’t pulled me out of it. I’d checked and rechecked obsessively with my divination, and I was as sure as I could be that as long as I only used it for a little while, the same thing wasn’t going to happen again.

Probably. I pressed up against the tree and held still.

Running footsteps sounded and Haken came into view, red light glowing about his hands. He came to a halt, looking left and right, frowning, and I knew he was looking through the trees, trying to pick out my heat signature. I kept my breathing slow and steady, not letting myself move. Haken stood, listening, and I could guess his thoughts. He couldn’t hear me running, he couldn’t sense my body heat, so where was I?

There was a soft rustle of movement. Haken turned sharply, the light at his hands brightening. He stared across the grass for a second, then I saw his stance shift. A shield of fire sprang up around him, and he lifted a hand to point towards an empty patch of grass. “Show your face or I’ll burn you out.” His voice was sharp and dangerous.

For a moment the landscape was silent, then a man seemed to fade into view, standing on the grass only twenty feet from Haken. The gun he’d been using was nowhere to be seen, and the glow of Haken’s fire magic reflected off his face. “No need for threats,” Cerulean said.

“Why were you shooting at Verus?”

“Because I wanted to kill him,” Cerulean said. He nodded over Haken’s shoulder. “Haven’t you got something to do?”

Cerulean looked far too relaxed for someone in his situation. Despite everything that had happened there was something bland about him—my eyes kept wanting to slide over him, and I had to keep dragging them back. “I’m getting really tired of your shit,” Haken said. “Give me a good reason I shouldn’t fry you right now.”

Cerulean shrugged. “For one thing, you wouldn’t make it off the estate alive. Where’s Verus?”

“Gone, since you decided to fuck things up.”

“I didn’t shoot until he ran.”

Haken swore. “That’s how diviners work, you moron. It doesn’t matter if you’re invisible. All he has to do is look into the future to see what would happen if he runs, and if he sees you shooting, he knows you’re there!”

Huh, I thought. Haken’s got a pretty good understanding of divination. Would explain how I’d been having so much trouble spying on him. Though right now, I was a little bit too well placed for spying on them, at least for my own comfort. Maybe if I waited until they were busy with each other, then edged away . . .