“The use of the word ‘old’ is the only thing you just said that I believe,” Swansong said.

Ingenue smiled.

“Jump, Spawner. Go, Leister, Usher, Captain.”

Spawner jumped. He crunched as he hit the ground below. The three thralls jogged in Swansong’s general direction. She stepped clear out of their way, and let them pass by, wary.

The hand didn’t stop moving. Small movements of eyelids betrayed that Swansong’s eyes were moving constantly too. It had to be obnoxious.

“Honey,” Ingenue said. “You and me. I can tell you what Teacher has upstairs. I won’t get in your way when you want to go or if you want to go to Valkyrie. In exchange, you give me a pass.”

“A pass.”

“A good word,” Ingenue said, squinting her eyes a bit. She smiled again. “Say I helped, I didn’t realize what Teacher was up to until I was in too deep. You can keep me out of trouble, if you think the information I provide is useful enough.”

“Playing both sides?”

“Don’t we all? Kind of?” Ingenue asked.

“Start talking then,” Swansong said. She approached at a careful walk. As she got closer, she brought her hands together. She seemed to concentrate for a moment, then manifested her power—a knot of darkness contained within her hands, a loose, swirling, noisy little sphere. It snarled and scraped in a way that made Ingenue think of chainsaws, knives on blackboards, and wolves, all together.

“And that?” Ingenue asked.

“If you use your power to try to affect mine—”

“Requires touch,” Ingenue lied.

“Maybe you have filaments of your own flesh extending along the floor, too thin to see.”

With the way your eyes are twitching, you couldn’t see if they weren’t too thin.

“No filaments.”

“It could be any number of things. I’d rather play it safe. Talk.”

“About which part? The upstairs? His plan? I’m an open book.”

The Black Goat looked spooked. Probably because any outcome was a bad outcome for him, the way this was going.

“Upstairs,” Swansong said.

“I’ve only had glimpses, but he has a mechanism for—”

Swansong brought her hands apart. Ingenue threw herself back as the contained power lunged out. It had almost hit her.

A twist of the hand directed the power, which flared out into a full, cone-shaped blast with its own snarling, chainsaw-on-blackboard noise.

Swansong kicked Ingenue in the stomach, so the backwards stumble became a fall. She stepped forward, looking down, power crackling at her hands—

A momentary hesitation.

Just long enough for Spawner’s tongue to lash up from twenty feet below, grabbing her wrist, and pulling it away as she used her power again. It missed Ingenue.

The tongue hauled down, bringing Swansong to her knees and nearly pulling her from the ledge. Ingenue took the opportunity to roll to one side and scramble back, eyes wide.