Tim Lebbon - Echo city

"When the sun rises fully, we'll need to get away from here," Peer said. "If we're seen loitering, there'll be questions."

"I'm doing my best."

"You're just sitting there! You have been all night."

"I'm trying to find my way back to them," Nophel said, leaning in close. Peer was sure she caught a whiff of rot from the man's distorted face, and she saw several smears of dried fluids from where some of his boils had burst. She had to keep reminding herself that he had saved their lives.

"Look harder," Peer said. "The Blades will have our descriptions by now, and when one of their own is killed…" She let the sentence trail off, because it did not need finishing. They won't take us into custody.

Nophel sat up straighter. "Hit me," he said.

"What?"

"Strike me. I don't yet have control over this, but last time it manifested was in self-defense."

"I really don't think-"

Nophel gasped, turned away from Peer, and then she saw his shoulders slump as he relaxed. His head nodded forward, and for a moment she thought he'd fallen asleep or worse. She glanced back at Malia-still asleep. She almost laughed.

"And neither do I," Nophel said. "But, Alexia, we need your help."

"Nophel?" Peer asked. She stood and backed away, scanning around the disfigured man to see who or what he might be talking with. There was no one there. Nophel glanced at her.

"No, she's safe."

"Who are you-"

"She's a Watcher," he continued, nodding at the sleeping Malia.

"Malia!" Peer said. She glanced back and forth along the wide head of the Marcellan Canton wall, at the benches and walls and small towers that marked the stairwells leading down. No one was there with them, but that would change soon. If Nophel was planning something, now would be the time. "Malia!"

Malia snapped awake and stood, drawing her short sword with a comforting hiss of metal on leather.

"Don't be scared," Nophel said. "She's here." He pointed beyond the end of the stone bench, to a place where the paved stone surface seemed shadowed with moisture. "And she recognizes you, Peer. She says to say sorry. Your torture is a weight on her mind."

"My torture?"

"She…" Nophel paused, head to one side. "Three years ago. She was the guide for the Blades who took you."

"What's happening?" Malia asked.

"We have to follow," Nophel said.

"I can't even see her," Peer said.

"But I can." He stood and smiled into space, reaching out one hand and clasping the air. "Really, you can trust them," he said quietly. "Somewhere private, and I'll tell you what we need."

"I can't even hear her," Malia said. She was still wielding the sword, but there was no threat in the air.

"Could we, in time?" Peer asked. Nophel nodded, evidently pleased that she'd acknowledged what was happening.

"I think so," he said. "I hope so."

"So we follow you?"

"Yes."

"We don't have much time," Peer said. "If you want to take advantage of the lead the Bellowers gave us, tell your Unseen friend to hurry."

"She hears you well enough."

She hears and sees us; we hear and see nothing, Peer thought. It was not a good place for trust to begin. But the sun was rising, time was passing, and she felt urgency plucking at her heart. Perhaps the time for caution was over.

Peer nodded. "We should go."

"I was watching you for a while. There's something strange about you. Those other two were like every other person we see and covet, their flesh glowing with substance. But you… A friend came and told me you were back, and I thought you'd come to join us. Thought you'd given in. But, instead, you've done something different. The Blue Water's effect is about you-I can smell it, taste it, and I haven't smelled or tasted anything in a while-but you're not Unseen. They follow you following me, and they can't hear a word of this, can they? They really can't."

"Not now they can't," Nophel said. "But maybe I can change that."

"How? Why?"

He thought about that as they followed Alexia's slight gray form around the central staircase column. They were almost back down to the street, and he could hear Peer's and Malia's nervous footsteps behind him.

"What's she saying?" Malia asked, but Nophel shook his head without turning around. He had the advantage here.

"Because I need the Unseen to help us," Nophel said. Alexia laughed a little, a gentle coughing sound that was barely audible. He guessed she did not laugh very much.

"The man beneath the domes," she said.

"What do you-"

"Somewhere private," Alexia said, and she spoke no more. She led them across a narrow street and into a bustling square, where traders and food vendors were jostling for space. She barged through without a care, and anytime she shoved into someone, it was Nophel they laid eyes on when they turned around. He was familiar with the expressions he saw-brief anger, turning into fearful disgust. No one would punch him even if they wanted to, for fear of dirtying their hands.

She's doing this on purpose, Nophel thought, angry at Alexia's behavior. But he supposed she had reason to feel jealous. He was flesh and blood again, after all.

They entered a building with one tumbled wall and a fire-blackened facade. Alexia had no need to be secretive, but Nophel signaled for the others to halt, making sure they were not observed. Alexia called something tauntingly from inside the open door, but Nophel could not quite hear her words.

The coast clear, the three of them entered the ruined building. It had been a large home once, but fire had gutted the insides, leaving only scorched walls standing. Timber floors were burned away to expose the sunken basement beneath, and, looking up, Nophel could see dawn sky through the remains of the roof. But he could make out no other Unseen, and for that at least he was glad. She had brought them somewhere deserted to talk, not a place where he would be surrounded by fading, sad remnants. He had no desire to be reminded of what he might become.

But I'm different, he thought. Even she noticed that. He looked down at his hand and willed invisibility, but all he conjured was Alexia's nervous question.

"Lost the talent, Nophel?"

"Not all the time," he said, and thought, Has she ever seen anyone like me?

Alexia was looking at Malia with undisguised dislike, and at Peer with uncertainty.

"Why should I trust them?"

"Why shouldn't you?"

Alexia regarded him for a few moments but did not reply.

"You mentioned the man beneath the domes?" Nophel said.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have."

"Peer," Nophel said, "could you describe Rufus?"

"Where is she?" Peer asked, and Nophel pointed. "Touch her face," Peer said. Nophel did so.

Peer came forward and narrowed her eyes. "I see… shadow."

"Now that you know she's there, you see more than most," Nophel said, and Alexia reached out quickly to touch Peer's face.

Peer pulled back, startled, and pressed her hand flat across her mouth.

"Rufus is tall," Malia said. "White hair. The greenest eyes I've ever seen. Wears strange clothes-light and strong but not leather. And if they haven't taken it from him, he carries a shoulder bag with unusual things inside."

Alexia was frowning at the description, and Nophel knew that she recognized it. So without any prompting from Peer and Malia-and without pausing to consider whether it was a good or bad idea-he told the Unseen who Rufus was and where he came from.

A loaded silence gripped them all. Nophel expected Malia to berate him, but she did not. He thought Alexia might laugh dismissively, but she simply stared at him.

It was Peer who broke the silence. "So you see why we have to get him back."

"And I should help why?" Alexia asked.

Nophel told the others what she had said, but already the answer was with him, obvious in his flesh and blood.