Where Hunter had gone wrong was that Amy had been in charge of the girl, had altered the mind to alter the power, and let something in by accident. Removing it was too hard, because what had opened could not be closed.

Now they did the same thing, but with form. They did it intentionally.

“Who is it?” Amy belatedly asked, as the figure grew so tall she could touch only the leg.

“Chevalier. Courtesy of one trip Breakthrough made to the Wardens’ headquarters. I had my ‘gaming device’ with me. Stole a scan of the big man.”

The man moved. A giant, now. And as he moved, she could feel how he existed in three places at once. Overlapping, shifting qualities between forms. She could feel through him how he touched the floor and sensed its qualities, reached out for the wall—

“Don’t!” she called out. She pulled away, stepping back.

The giant obeyed. Second by second, however, it continued to come apart. She worried it would collapse into constituent parts, but it didn’t. A storm of overlapping identities and bodies. And one piercing eye, as it focused its gaze and looked down at her.

With every step she took backwards, the figure seemed to clarify. She took a step forward, and saw it separate apart again.

Not wholly of this world’s rules. Closer to Chevalier’s power than Chevalier himself.

One giant leap closer to having their hands in the meat and gristle of this alien biology. When she looked at Chris, the man was smiling. Her own heart pounded, and she didn’t not feel like smiling, herself.

It was a victory. She laid her hand over her heart, fingers digging in.

We did it.

Did you want me to do this, Princess Shaper? she asked, knowing her power would never answer. Was that why it was easier than fixing my sister’s body?

Of course there was silence.

“Three more,” Chris said. “Then we break for lunch. Seven more by the end of the day.”

Amy nodded, exhaling.

“Shin’s leadership will be happy. Tools and weapons like these.”

Amy nodded.

“I’ll pass on the good news,” Marquis said. “I’m sure they’re anxious.”

“Thank you, Marquis,” Chris said, sounding too formal, simultaneously almost jovial, even though the eye contact he made with Amy was level, cold.

The door closed above them. Amy stared up at the shifting giant.

It had to be Endbringer strong.

They would have nine more by the day’s end.

“If you wanted to treat yourself, I wouldn’t begrudge you,” Chris said.

“I don’t—” Amy started. “No idea what you mean.”

He lunged, moving closer, and she backed up. She gave a thought to asking the shifting giant for help, and then thought twice of it. If it was as strong as she suspected, it would destroy everything in the course of saving her.